Rafiq Zakaria

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Rafiq Zakaria (April 5, 1920, Nala Sopara — July 9, 2005, Mumbai) was an Indian politician and Islamic scholar. He was closely associated with India's freedom movement and the Indian National Congress party.

Zakaria spent over 25 years in public service, including years as a cabinet minister in the union state of Maharashtra, and later as a Member of the Indian parliament, serving as Deputy Leader of the Congress Party under Indira Gandhi. He was a moderate Muslim who criticized the policies of Muslim appeasement in India, an issue on which he parted company with the Congress Party. Zakaria represented India in many countries and also at the United Nations in 1965, 1990 and 1996.

Zakaria had won the Chancellor's Gold Medal in the MA examination of Bombay University and received a Ph.D. from the University of London. He was called to the bar from Lincoln's Inn in England and practised law in Mumbai, where he was appointed Chief Public Prosecutor.

Zakaria founded a number of schools and colleges in his political constituency, Aurangabad, including a women's college of arts and sciences and the Indian Institute of Hotel Management. He was Chancellor of the Jamia Urdu, Aligarh (U.P.) and President of Maharashtra College in Mumbai.

His many books include A Study of Nehru (ed.), The Struggle Within Islam, Muhammed and the Quran, The Price of Partition, and Communal Rage in Secular India.

He was the father of four children by two wives:

  • Mansoor and Tasneem by his first wife, Shehnaz, the daughter of a Bhopali aristocrat.
  • Arshad and Fareed Zakaria, the famous journalist, by his second wife, Fatima. [1]

He is buried in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India.

[edit] Books authored

Zakaria mostly wrote on Indian affairs, Islam and British imperialism.

  • A Study of Nehru
  • The Man Who Divided India
  • Razia: Queen of India
  • The Widening Divide
  • Discovery of God
  • Muhammad and the Quran
  • Rise of Muslims in Indian Politics
  • The Struggle Within Islam
  • Conflict Between Religion and Politics
  • Iqbal, the Poet and the Politician
  • The Price of Partition
  • Gandhi and the Break-up of India
  • Indian Muslims: Where Have They Gone Wrong?
  • Sardar Patel and Indian Muslims
  • Communal Rage In Secular India (On the aftermath of the Godhra Riots)

He had earlier worked for the News Chronicle and The Observer in London, United Kingdom. Zakaria also penned a bi-weekly column for the Times of India newspaper.

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