Choudhary Rahmat Ali
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| Choudhary Rehmat Ali | |
|---|---|
| November 16, 1897––12 February 1951 | |
| Image:Chohdary rehmat ali.jpg |
|
| Alternate name: | Choudhary Rehmat Ali |
| Place of birth: | Balachaur, Hoshiarpur (present day India) |
| Place of death: | Cambridge |
| Movement: | Pakistan Movement |
| Major organizations: | Pakistan Muslim League |
Choudhary Rahmat Ali (Urdu: چودھری رحمت علی) (or Rehmat Ali Khan; Urdu: رحمت علی خان) (November 16, 1897 - February 12, 1951)a Gurjar born in Balachaur in Hoshiarpur (present day India) was the founder of the Pakistan National Movement, and was an early proponent of the formation of Pakistan. He is also credited with coming up with the name "Pakistan" along with Pir Ahsan-ud-Din and Khawja Abdul Rahim. Legend has it that the trio conceptualized the name while walking along the banks of the Thames in 1932 (reported by another friend Abdul Kareem Jabbar).
He completed his early studies in Lahore, and moved to the United Kingdom where he studied at Emmanuel College at the University of Cambridge and the University of Dublin, earning MA and LLB degrees.
In the early 1930s, Ali began writing about the formation of a Muslim nation in India, and voiced his ideas in the pamphlet entitled "Now or Never; Are we to live or perish forever?"[1]. He also gave birth to the term "Pakistan" to refer to the Muslim homeland that he envisioned in Northern India, as well as "Bang-i-Islam" for a Muslim homeland in the Bengal, and "Usmanistan" for a Muslim homeland in the Deccan.
Like Allama Iqbal, Ali believed that the Muslims of India had to undergo a reformation politically in order to remain a viable, and independent community there. Ali noted that Muhammad had succeeded in uniting fractured Arab tribes and that this example was to again be used by Muslims of India to pool together in order to survive in what he perceived to be an increasingly hostile India.
As such, Choudhary Rahmat Ali's writings, in addition to those of Iqbal and others were major catalysts for the formation of Pakistan. Ali dedicated a lot of time and energy to the idea of Pakistan, and after its formation in 1947, he argued on its behalf at the United Nations over the issue of Kashmir.
Interestingly, while Choudhary Rahmat Ali was a champion for the formation of Pakistan, he lived most of his adult life in the United Kingdom. The Cambridge-based pamphleteer had been voicing his dissatisfaction with the creation of Pakistan ever since his arrival in Lahore on April 6 1948. He was unhappy over a Smaller Pakistan than the one he had conceived in his 1933 pamphlet Now Or Never, and his criticisms were beginning to raise alarm while his claims of contribution to the Pakistan Movement were interpreted by his critics as boasting to be the real founder of Pakistan.
- "On his arrival in this country Choudhary Rahmat Ali has expressed his intention of launching a Pakistan National Liberation Movement with the object of securing a repudiation of the June 3 Plan, 'by agreement if possible and without agreement if necessary'..." The Pakistan Times reported on May 22.
Consequently, Rahmat Ali was denied a Pakistani passport, and later told to leave the country and he died in 1951, buried in Cambridge City graveyard. Recently,Pakistan Muslim League (PML) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said, that the coffin of Choudhary Rahmat Ali,would be brought to Pakistan from London on August 14, 2005.He also said that the Pakistan movement activist would be buried in the Choudhary Rahmat Ali Trust (Township) with official protocol. “I will personally receive his coffin at Cambridge City graveyard on August 12 and will bring it to Pakistan on a PIA flight on August 13. The coffin will be buried in Township the next day,” he added. However, for reasons not known Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain reneged on his word and Rahmat Ali continues to lay at rest in Cambridge.
[edit] Notes
[edit] See also
- Now or Never
- Grave of C. Rahmat Ali in Cambridge
- Qawwals 'Sabri Brothers' praying at C. Rahmat Ali's grave
[edit] External links
- Dedicated sites with works
- Ch. Rahmat Ali. Chaudhry Rahmat Ali Foundation.
- Rahmat Ali. Pakistan History.
- Chaudhary Rahmat Ali The man who conceived the idea of Pakistan. The Shelley family.
- Biographical pages
- Choudhary Rahmat Ali (1895-1951). Story of Pakistan.
