Abdur Razzaq Malihabadi

Abdur Razzaq Malihabadi (1875-1959?)^[1] was the autobiographer of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and a journalist. He was born in Malihabad, a suburb of Lucknow district, capital of Uttar Pradesh. He died in Mumbai due to cancer survived by two sons (elder son is currently Rajya Sabha MP & Journalist) and a daughter (home maker). His early schooling happened in Lucknow & Azamgarh but later went on to Saudia Arab to do his doctrate & he spent many years of his life there. He had a rock solid grip with languages like Urdu, Persian, Arabic, Pashto. He worked for few years in All India Radio heading Arabic Department in New Delhi. He was close to the Saudian Monarchy, Mahatma Gandhi & Pandit Nehru family during freedom struggle. Giving due recognition of his role in India's freedom struggle, he was offered a cabinet rank post independence in Nehru Government to which he declined. He was a journalist by soul and with his pen he wrote against British Raj and took their atrocities to common Indian man. Josh Malihabadi, another freedom struggle veteran & poet (fondly called as 'Shayar-e-Inquilab') was his cousin.

He wrote the books Zikar-e-Azad and Azad Ki Kahani Khud Azad Ki Zubani which was posthumously published after the death of Azad in 1959^[2] from Daftar Azad Hind publications. He participated in the Khilafat Movement where he was a staff member of Jihan-i-Islam a journal in Arabic and Urdu published from Istanbul. He was the founder editor of the Urdu daily Azad Hind published from Kolkata^[3] and was very close to Azad during his stay in the 19-A, Ballygaunge Circular Road, Kolkata where he stayed during his youth and the period of freedom movement of India.^[4] He is the father of current Rajya Sabha (Independent Candidate) MP Saeed Malihabadi who was the editor of Urdu daily Azad Hind after his death. At present the newspaper is owned by Saradha Group.^[5]

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