| Allama Inayatullah Khan Mashriqi علامہ مشرقی |
|
|---|---|
| Born | 25 August 1888 Amritsar, Punjab, British India |
| Died | 27 August 1963 (aged 75) Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan |
| Other names | Allama Mashriqi |
| Alma mater | University of the Punjab University of Cambridge |
| Organization | Khaksar movement |
| Political movement | Indian independence movement Pakistan Movement |
| Religion | Islam |
Allama Mashriqi (Punjabi: علامہ مشرقی (Shahmukhi), अलामा मशरिक़ी (Devanagari)), also known as Inayatullah Khan (Punjabi: عنایت اللہ خان (Shahmukhi), इनायतुल्ला ख़ान (Devanagari)) (born in Amritsar, 25 August 1888; died in Lahore, 27 August 1963) was a South Asian mathematician, logician, political theorist, Islamic scholar and the founder of the Khaksar movement.
Mashriqi was a noted mathematical intellectual who became a college Principal at the age of 25, and then became an Under Secretary, at the age of 29, in the Education Department of the Government of India. He wrote an exegesis of the Qur'an which was nominated for the 1925 Nobel Prize. He was offered an Ambassadorship to Afghanistan at age 32 and Knighthood at the age of 33 years, but he declined all honours.
He subsequently resigned government service and in 1930 founded the Khaksar Movement, aiming to advance the condition of the masses irrespective of any faith, sect, or religion.[1] As its leader, he was imprisoned several times. Through his philosophical writings, he asserted that the Science of Religions was essentially the science of collective evolution of mankind.
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Mashriqi was born into an eminent Muslim Rajput family in Amritsar on 25 August 1888. His father, Khan Ata Mohammad Khan, had inherited a large property from his father. His ancestors had held prominent positions during the Mughal Empire. Khan Ata was also well-connected with the Muslim luminaries of the time such as Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Jamal Ud Din Afgahani, Shibli Nomani, and Mirza Ghalib.[2]
Khan Ata owned a bi-weekly publication, Vakil ("Lawyer"), published from Amritsar. Vakil discussed political issues with a Muslim focus. Shibli Nomani requested that Khan Ata let Abul Kalam Azad work at Vakil. Azad went on to work as an editor of Vakil. Mashriqi was thus raised in an intellectual Muslim environment.[3] Khan Ata Mohammad Khan noticed the genius in his son and he guided him accordingly.
Mashriqi had a passion for mathematics from his childhood.[1] He completed his Master's degree in Mathematics from the University of the Punjab at the age of 19 and broke all previous records. In October 1907 he went to Britain and matriculated at Christ's College, Cambridge, to read for the mathematics tripos. He was awarded a college foundation scholarship in May 1908.[4] In June 1909 he was awarded first class honours in Mathematics Part I, being placed joint 27th out of 31 on the list of wranglers.[5] For the next two years, he read for the oriental languages tripos in parallel to the natural sciences tripos, gaining first class honours in the former and third class in the latter.[6][7]
After three years' residence at Cambridge he had qualified for his Bachelor of Arts degree, which he took in 1910. In 1912 he completed a fourth tripos in mechanical sciences, and was placed in the second class. Following the year, Mashriqi was conferred with D.Phil. in mathematics receiving a gold medal in his doctoral graduation ceremony.[8] He left Cambridge and returned to India in December 1912.[9] During his stay in Cambridge his religious and scientific conviction was inspired by the works and concepts of the professor Sir James Jeans.[10]
On his return to India, Mashriqi was offered the premiership of Alwar, a princely state, by the Raja. He declined owing to his interest in education. At the age of 25 he was appointed Vice Principal of Islamia College, Peshawar, by Chief Commissioner Sir George Roos-Keppel. He was made Principal of the same college in 1917.[11] In Oct 1917 he was appointed Under Secretary to the Government of India in the Education Department in succession to Sir George Anderson (1876–1943).[12] He became headmaster of the High School, Peshawar on 21 October 1919.
Aged 32, he was offered an ambassadorship to Afghanistan, which he declined. The following year, he was offered a British knighthood, which he also turned down.[13] Mashriqi was among the youngest Indians to have been offered such positions.
According to Subroto Roy's "Lessons from the 1962 War" (published in the Sunday Statesman on January 13, 2008), in 1926 Mashriqi became a friend of Adolf Hitler and later "claimed to have affected Hitler’s ideology." The same article claims that Mashriqi's Khaksars were "modelled on the Nazi SA."
In 1930 he was passed over for a promotion in the government service, following which he went on medical leave. In 1932 he resigned, taking his pension, and settled down in Ichhra, Lahore.[14]
In 1924, at the age of 36, Mashriqi completed the first volume of his book, Tazkirah. It is a commentary on the Qur'an in the light of science. It was nominated by the Nobel Prize Committee in 1925,[15] subject to the condition it was translated into one of the European languages.[11] Mashriqi, however, declined the suggestion of translation.[16]
Mashriqi's fellowships included:[10]:
Mashriqi was interested in the conflict within various religions. Instead of getting disgusted with the conflict and discarding Religion, he tried to fathom the fallacy. To him, messengers from the same Creator could not have brought different and conflicting messages to the same creation. He could not conceive of a contradictory and conflicting state of affairs in the Universe, nor could he accept the conflict within various religions as real. Either Religion was a fraud and the prophets were impostors who misguided and disrupted mankind, or they were misprojected by their followers and misunderstood by the mankind.
He delved into the religious scriptures and arrived at the conclusion that all the prophets had brought the same message to man. He analysed the fundamentals of the Message and established that the teachings of all the prophets were closely linked with evolution of mankind as a single and united species in contrast to other ignorant and stagnant species of animals.
It was on this basis that he declared that the Science of Religions was essentially the science of collective evolution of mankind; all prophets came to unite mankind, not to disrupt it; the basic law of all faiths is the law of unification and consolidation of the entire humanity.[10] According to Markus Daeschel, the philosophical ruminations of Mashriqi offer an opportunity to re-evaluate the meaning of colonial modernity and notion of post-colonial nation-building in modern times.[17]
How Mashriqi became aware of the Quranic concept of a Knower has been narrated by him in a footnote on page 185 of his famous book, the "Hedith-ul·Quran", He says (translated from Urdu): "In this connection a strange incident is worth mentioning here which occurred in 1909 when I was at University of Cambridge. I entered Cambridge in 1907 and a year later topped in the entire University in a preliminary test in mathematics. I was only 19 then and, with this distinction, amongst the most aggressive students. It is customary at Cambridge that students seldom enter into conversation with Professors, who remain busy in their research and live in an entirely different world. One day I saw one of the most notable Professors of mine (Sir James Jeans) walking in the bazar with a copy of the Bible under one arm and umbrella under the other though it was raining heavily. I instantly stepped forward and greeted him. When he smiled back, I got encouraged and said almost sarcastically, 'Sir, you are the most reputed scientist of the world. How is it that you believe in the Bible?·. 'Come to my place on Thursday", he said and wended his way. I reached his house on the appointed day--I was accompanied by a fellow student, an English boy, to test whether I was bluffing or the Professor had really invited me. We arrived there at 4 p.m.; exactly at that time the door opened, a lady asked my name and took me inside. The Professor received me very kindly, offered tea and said that he had called me to answer my questi'on. I was already scared and apologised that the question was impertinent. But he kept me there and for full one hour explained what this Book of Nature is, how deeply they were absorbed in it, what immensities they found in it. At the end he uttered precisely these words,? "I say it on my honour that the hair on my body stand on end out of Fear of God since the day I started the study of Nature". I was astonished, because in our India science-educated "half-baked" professors were mostly atheist. In short, when I read these words two years later in the Quran while preparing for Tripos in Arabic and pondered over the words meaning. "Those truly fear God from amongst His servants who are the Knowers" and "The hair on their skins stand on end', I understood that the Ulema(Knowers) are not these Maulvies but they are the Scientists who have created such a stir in the world. From then on the sublimity of the Quran began to be manifest to me. This incident was the first window of light about the Quran which accidentally opened on me, otherwise I would have been deprived of the Quran after having studied science.
Mashriqi is often portrayed as a controversial figure, a religious activist, a revolutionary, and an anarchist; while at the same time he is described as a visionary, a reformer, a leader, and a scientist-philosopher who was born ahead of his time.[1]
After Mashriqi resigned from government service, he laid the foundation of the Khaksar Tehreek (also known as Khaksar Movement) in 1930.[19] He played a role in directing the Muslims towards the independence of British India. Mashriqi was repeatedly imprisoned, along with his family, and a large number of Khaksars.[20] Mashriqi was opposed to the partition of India which he believed played into the hands of the British.[21]
Al-Islah (Khaksar Tehrik weekly)[22] was the weekly newspaper of the Khaksar Tehrik. It was started in 1934 by the founder of the Khaksar Tehrik, Allama Mashriqi.
Allama Mashriqi’s grandson, Nasim Yousaf, has completed a massive undertaking to compile historic copies of the Khaksar Tehrik’s weekly newspaper, “Al-Islah,” into a digital format. Prior to this effort, “Al-Islah” had not seen the light of day since 1947 for political reasons. This publication is extremely important in understanding not only the history of the freedom movement of the Indian sub-continent, but also the true driving force behind the British transfer of power in 1947. By painstakingly compiling a digital version of the newspaper, Mr. Yousaf has taken an important step towards making the publication accessible to a wide audience.
“Al-Islah” was originally founded in 1934 by Allama Mashriqi (founder of the Khaksar Tehrik) and launched from Lahore. It quickly established a large following, including subscribers in British India, England, Bahrain, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia. “Al-Islah” played a key role in spreading Allama Mashriqi and the Khaksar Tehrik’s ideology and helped Mashriqi raise a well-disciplined private army of 5 million. In addition, “Al-Islah” inspired other Muslim as well as non-Muslim organizations to follow the Khaksar Tehrik and form similar organizations. The newspaper is essential to a complete understanding of the freedom movement because it describes the critical role played by the Khaksar Movement in bringing independence to the nation; without access to this publication, there would remain a large gap in the knowledge of the freedom movement. Thus, the digital compilation of “Al-Islah” is indeed momentous, as it will enable professors, students, researchers, historians and others to further study Allama Mashriqi’s role in the struggle for the freedom of British India and emergence of Pakistan and India as two separate countries.
In addition to compiling “Al-Islah,” scholar and historian Mr. Yousaf has so far written nine books (five primarily focusing on Allama Mashriqi and the Khaksar Tehrik and four on import and export of consumer products such as rugs, apparel, and textiles). He has presented papers at U.S. scholarly conferences and written many articles and books. In 2007, he presented at the New York Conference on Asian Studies on the military-style activities of the uniformed Khaksars; this is believed to be the first time anyone had presented a paper and slide show on the Khaksar Tehrik to an academic audience in the USA. Mr. Yousaf has also contributed articles to the “Harvard Asia Quarterly” and the “World History Encyclopedia (USA).” His forthcoming book entitled “Mahatma Gandhi & My Grandfather, Allama Mashriqi” uncovers many hidden realities behind the freedom of British India.[23]
Mashriqi was first imprisoned in 1939, by the Congress Government of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh (now Uttar Pradesh) during his efforts in resolving the sectarian conflicts between Sunnis and Shias. In 1940, he was arrested during a clash between the police and the Khaksars. The newspapers reported it as the "battle of spades and guns". He was only freed from solitary confinement in 1942 after he fasted for 80 days.
On 20 July 1943, an assassination attempt was made on Muhammad Ali Jinnah by Rafiq Sabir who was assumed to be a Khaksar worker.[24] The attack was deplored by Mashriqi, who denied any involvement. Later, Justice Blagden of Bombay High Court, in his ruling on 4 November 1943 dismissed any association of Khaksars.[25]
In Pakistan, Mashriqi was imprisoned at least five times: in 1950 prior to election; in 1958 for alleged complicity in the murder of republican leader Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan; and, in 1962 for suspicion on attempt to overthrow President Ayub's government. However, none of the charges were proved, and he was acquitted in each case.[10]
In 1957 Mashriqi allegedly led 300,000 of his followers to the borders of Kashmir, intending, it is said, to launch a fight for its liberation. However, the Pakistan government persuaded the group to withdraw and the organisation was later disbanded.[26]
Mashriqi became ill with cancer[27] and died on August 27, 1963 in Lahore (Pakistan). A gigantic crowd of 100,000 people attended his funeral, reflecting his popularity.[28] Condolences were received from, among others, Ayub Khan and Khwaja Nazimuddin. Ayub Khan wrote that Mashriqi was “a great scholar and organiser who had given up a brilliant academic future to serve the people, as he thought right.”[29] He is buried in near main market of Ichhra Lahore.
Nazimuddin wrote that Mashriqi had been “a very interesting figure who took prominent part in the politics of the South Asia”.[29]
Mashriqi's prominent works include:[30]
In 1945, Allama Inayatullah Khan Al-Mashriqi, founder of the Khaksar Tehreek, published "The Constitution of Free India, 1946 A.C." Also known as the Mashriqi Constitution or Khaksar Constitution, the document was created in order to prevent the partition of India.
The Constitution was formulated, under Mashriqi's guidance, by eminent personalities and intellectuals from various disciplines, such as politics, finance, and administration and law. The result was a monumental work that accommodated the rights of all — including Muslims, Hindus, Scheduled Castes, Sikhs, Jains, Parsees, Budhists, Jews and Christians. According to Mashriqi:
“We addressed almost every important element of India’s national life requesting it to send its declaration of interests so that in case the interests did not clash with those of other parties in the country they might be incorporated in the body of the Constitution ‘as far as possible, feasible and consistent with the interests of other parties.’ We addressed more or less 75 parties and over three hundred million people in the country accepted our invitation through their accredited leaders.”*
By December of 1945, 50,000 copies of the Constitution had been printed. Ultimately, however, the Constitution was not adopted for political reasons, and British India was subsequently partitioned in 1947. Nevertheless, The Constitution of Free India, 1946 A.C. serves as a lasting example of the Khaksars' efforts to bring the nation together — and how close they came to achieving the vision of a united, independent India.
Nasim Yousaf, has written and self-published several books on Mashriqi and his political struggle:
“World History Encyclopedia” (USA) includes scholar and historian Nasim Yousaf’s articles on Allama Mashriqi and the Khaksar Movement (Khaksar Tehrik). The 21 volume encyclopedia is published by globally renowned publisher ABC-CLIO (California, USA).[35][36]
"Encyclopaedia of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh" by OM Gupta includes article on Allama Mashriqi[36]