Maulana Abul Kalam Azad: Freedom Fighter and Scholar

1. Freedom Fighter and Scholar

• Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was a prominent leader of the Indian freedom struggle and a renowned scholar and poet.

2. International Exposure and Nationalist Transformation

• He embraced the pan-Islamic spirit and embarked on journeys to Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, and Turkey.
• During his travels, Azad met with exiled revolutionaries in Iraq, influential figures like Shaikh Muhammad Abduh and Saeed Pasha in Egypt, and absorbed the ideals of the young Turks in Constantinople. These experiences transformed him into a nationalist revolutionary.

3. Revolutionary Activities

• Upon returning to India, Azad joined the revolutionary movement against British rule.
• Recognizing that revolutionary activities were mainly confined to Bengal and Bihar, he played a pivotal role in establishing secret revolutionary centers across North India and Bombay.

4. Promoting Hindu-Muslim Unity

• During this period, many revolutionaries held anti-Muslim sentiments, believing that the British government used the Muslim community against India's freedom struggle. Azad worked to dispel these hostilities and promote Hindu-Muslim unity.

5. Al-Hilal: A Revolutionary Journal

• In 1912, he founded a weekly Urdu journal called Al-Hilal to recruit Muslim revolutionaries.
• Al-Hilal played a vital role in mending relations between Hindus and Muslims following the tensions caused by the Morley-Minto reforms. However, the British government banned it in 1914, deeming it as propagating secessionist views.

6. Al-Balagh: Propagating Indian Nationalism

• Undeterred by the ban on Al-Hilal, Azad started another weekly called Al-Balagh with the same mission of promoting Indian nationalism and revolutionary ideas through Hindu-Muslim unity. Unfortunately, this paper was banned in 1916.

7. Khilafat Movement

• After his release from prison following World War I in 1920, Azad ignited the Muslim community through the Khilafat Movement, aiming to reinstate the Khalifa as the leader of British-occupied Turkey.

8. Non-Cooperation Movement and Indian National Congress

• Azad supported Gandhiji's Non-Cooperation Movement and joined the Indian National Congress in 1920.
• In 1923, he was elected as the president of a special Congress session held in Delhi.

9. Salt Satyagraha and Imprisonment

• Azad was arrested again in 1930 for violating salt laws as part of Gandhiji's Salt Satyagraha and was imprisoned in Meerut for a year and a half.

10. Leadership and Opposition to Partition

• He served as the president of the Indian National Congress in 1940 (Ramgarh) and remained in that position until 1946.
• Azad vehemently opposed the partition of India and advocated for a confederation of autonomous provinces, each with its own constitution but common defense and economy. The partition deeply saddened him and dashed his dream of a unified nation where Hindus and Muslims could coexist harmoniously.

11. Minister of Education

• Maulana Abul Kalam Azad served as the Minister of Education, becoming independent India's first education minister, from 1947 to 1958.

12. Contribution to Education

• He played a crucial role in taking measures to promote primary and secondary education, scientific education, the establishment of universities, and the advancement of research and higher studies.

13. Posthumous Honor

• In recognition of his invaluable contributions, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was posthumously awarded India's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna, in 1992.

Maulana Azad's legacy lives on as a freedom fighter, scholar, and advocate of unity and education.