Shaukat Kaifi with her daughter actor Shabana Azmi, lyricist Javed Akhtar, Tanvi and Baba Azmi. File | Photo Credit: PTI
In the world of films she is best known for her work in M.S. Sathyu’s Garm Hava, Muzaffar Ali’s Umrao Jaan and Sagar Sathadi’s Bazaar.
Veteran theatre and film actor and writer Shaukat Kaifi is no more. According to a family source she was in her 90s and ailing for a long while and passed away on Friday evening at her Juhu home in the arms of her daughter, actor Shabana Azmi.
Shaukat Aapa, as she was called, along with her husband, Urdu poet and film lyricist, Kaifi Azmi had been the leading light of the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) and the Progressive Writers Association, the cultural wings of the Communist Party of India (CPI).
In the world of films she is best known for her work in M.S. Sathyu’s Garm Hava, Muzaffar Ali’s Umrao Jaan and Sagar Sathadi’s Bazaar.
Shaukat Kaifi’s memoirs , Kaifi and I had been turned into a theatrical rendition Kaifa aur Main with Shabana and Javed Akhtar reading the parts of Shaukat and Kaifi respectively.
She is survived by her daughter Shabana, son and noted cinematographer Baba Azmi, daughter in law actor Tanvi Azmi and son-in-law, poet, writer and lyricist Javed Akhtar. She has passed away even as the year-long Kaifi centenary events roll on.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Entertainment> Movies / by Special Correspondent / Mumbai – November 22nd, 2019
Rofikul Islam is a professional wildlife guard and much in demand for his amazing knowledge of birds and animals. Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is among his top clients.
Quack! The gander gives away the nest’s position behind an arbour of foliage. Mrs White-Winged Duck responds with a quick quack-quack. Rofikul Islam raises an arm, winks at his team. And they, finger on trigger, behold Assam’s state bird—so elusive and endangered that perhaps only 200 pairs remain in the wild on this planet—with unabashed sideways glances of looky-loos. They go click, click, click. But the light is low; the sun has just yawned out on this island in the Jia Bhoroli, the livewire of Nameri national park straddling Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
____________________________________
Will he stop prying into Mr and Mrs DUck’s private moments? He won’t.
____________________________________
Rofikul, a professional wildlife guide with AllIndiaBirdingTours, has prepared well for the sortie. This morning is a long trek—boating, fording, and pushing their trusty legs to their limits. Waking up to a burst of tweets, retweets, pa-chip-chip-pa-tip (sounds like potato chip and dip?), breakfast is hearty in the camp. “By noon, the team logs nearly 80 species of birds,” says Rofikul, a Kaziranga native who turned 30 this November. Growing up near the famous park helped him hone a guide’s primary asset: like telling a Crested Kingfisher from a finch by their calls. Booked through the year, his adventures are on unplumbed land—jungles on the Assam plains, in the Northeast’s hills and snowcapped Sikkimese mountains. His guest list? Long and impressive; includes Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia.
Back to camp, lunch, another expedition (short; sundown gathers pace), tea/cookies/Maggi, and it’s almost time for dinner around a bonfire. The thatch-and-bamboo cottages, the snug beds wait invitingly. But the guardian owl is on his nightly run. Hoot hoot! Everything screeeeeee-s to a halt.
source: http://www.outlookindia.com / Outlook / Home> Magazine> National / by Rituparna Kakoty / November 21st, 2019
Bushra Arshad is being lavished with praise for achieving 6th rank in UPPCS, after the results were recently announced, and for being selected as SDM. This girl from Saurikh village is the only Muslim participant to become SDM in UPPSC-2017. She is the same Bushra Arshad who scored 277th rank in UPSC, results of which were announced in July, and subsequently was selected for the IRS, but she was not satisfied with her achievement.
She is not satisfied even with her latest achievement shows her grit and passion to achieve her dream of being in top 20 in IAS. The reality, however, seems that Bushra is fond of breaking the myths and proving the stereotypes wrong.
Her family, relatives, and husband all believe that she will not settle for anything less. They have a good reason for their belief: If a village girl, married with kids, after four surgeries and overcoming the pain of those surgeries, could score such a high rank in one of the prestigious exams and stamp her presence, then everything is possible for her.
Bushra smiles and reacts: Though we could find exemplary achievements from persons faced with each of those obstacles, my facing every one of those hurdles, probably, resulted in my being strong-willed in my quest.
Bushra’s father is a farmer and her mother is a housewife. A lone brother and a sister are also well-educated. Both parents are graduates. But Bushra, in her mother Shama’s words, is definitely the “Extra-ordinary” one, packed with talent and way better than us.
Bushra graduated at the age of seventeen and a half. She had an MBA degree before she turned 20. She completed her studies up to class XII from Kannauj and went to Kanpur for graduation.
Bushra says that she wanted to give the UPSC exam right away, but couldn’t since she didn’t meet the minimum age requirement. Her mother says that Bushra was admitted directly into the second class at the age of four and a half years. She adds “She already had learned so much at home itself that she never came even second (in her class).” She says Bushra is habituated to be a topper. My multi-talented daughter topped in everything”.
““Make this girl a collector” was the constant advice of anyone and everyone who visited us to my Abbu and Ammi,” says Bushra. “It got me fixated. (Again) Since I did not meet the minimum age requirement of UPSC, I prepared and appeared for JRF test.”
She cleared JRF in her first attempt and achieved a Ph.D. in Distress Management from AMU and that’s how the title “Doctor” got associated with her name. Right after that, she married Asmar Hussain. A little while later Engineer Asmar Hussain and Bushra moved to Saudi Arabia. Asmar started his studies at Jazan University, while Bushra obtained a high-ranking position. Leaving a well-placed position and an excellent package that came along with it, Bushra returned to India along with her husband.
Bushra says, “There was only one reason for our return to India, limitless love and ‘patriotism’, I often used to contemplate that the knowledge that I gained in my country through its residents, the skills born from that knowledge ought to benefit the same citizens, and that is their right.”
Her husband, Asmar Hussain, says that after this he took up a job at Coal India, they had two children. His wife underwent four major surgeries. It has been ten years since, but her desire to become a collector from within egged her constantly.
Bushra adds: “I did my job honestly. I did my duty as a mother. I also performed the responsibilities of a wife without neglecting my husband. I did not use the excuse of constant pain after surgeries to set me back and now I am appointed a deputy collector.”
Asmar Hussain, who is pursuing a Ph.D. from AMU, is a resident of Aligarh. He says that Bushra sits in the front seat of the car as a habit. Once she sets her sight on something, she achieves it at all costs.
Mohammad Akmal, a youth from Kannauj, says, “In four months, this is the second news that a girl from Saurikh has made history.Four months ago, this same girl did wonders. Bushra’s success proves that excuses are for weak-willed people. She is truly an example of positivity and she is the talk of Kannauj ”.
source: http://www.twocircles.net / TwoCirlcles.net / Home> Indian Muslim> Lead Story> TCN Positive / by Aas Mohammed Kaif , TwoCircles.net / October 29th, 2019
A Muslim woman is taking Sikh boys and girls in Srinagar closer to their religion by teaching them kirtan singing. Tasleema Langoo is a regular at Gurduwaras and finds applause even in the Golden Temple. Shazia Yousuf reports.
As she recited ashabad from Guru Granth Sahib at the Golden Temple Amritsar, almost everyone was engrossed in the melody of the kirtan. As soon as she finished, an old woman came towards her, almost crying, kissed her hands and hugged her.
“Now you are the voice of Sikh women. You have done what no girl could do, you are the honour of your Sikh community now.” The old woman said while taking off her golden earrings and gifting these to her.
She didn’t know the girl she was praising was a Kashmiri Muslim.
It is a three year old incident, but Tasleema Langoo’s association with kirtan is almost two decades old. The 26-year-old from Shaheed Gunj Srinagar has been teaching Kirtan to Sikh boys and girls since she was 14. She is perhaps the only kirtan tutor for the community in Srinagar.
She comes from a family of musicians. Her great grandfather sang for Maharaja Pratap singh, her grandfather Ghulam Qadir Langoo was a court singer of Maharaja Hari Singh. Her uncles and aunts have worked as musicians with Radio Kashmir. Tasleema’s father Abdul Majeed Langoo teaches music at Women’s college MA road.
Tasleema was five or six years old when some Sikh girls approached her father for learning music for religious purposes. “They were my father’s students from college. They would call him Langoo Veerji and wanted to learn harmonium and tabla from him for kirtan singing. I was the youngest daughter and would follow him like his shadow, watching and observing him,” Tasleema says while composing a shabad for her students at her Alochi Bagh residence where the family has recently moved in.
Every morning, Sikh girls would come with a shabad from Guru Granth Sahib and Tasleema’s father would compose it for them, “I would sing with them. Though there was music in every room of our house, but kirtan would excite me most,” she says.
It went on for many years. The students kept changing. And Tasleema’s love for kirtan compositions kept growing. She insisted on joining her father’s class where she would help his students in playing instruments who in turn would write shabads in Urdu (Arabic script) for her, “I was first hesitant, I thought it is disrespecting to sing something we don’t believe or mean. But she loved and respected it more than them,” says Tasleema’s father Majeed.
The class swelled with every day. It was now Tasleema who would sing to the compositions of his father for the students. “They were thrilled to hear her mesmerising voice that they couldn’t find in their community for years. Even the parents of students would come to listen,” says Majeed.
In 1998, when Tasleema was in 8th standard, she decided to start her own coaching class. “By now I was fully trained. The only difficulty was reading Granth Sahib in Punjabi. My father got a Urdu version from Amritsar for me,” she says. Tasleema says, she would start her day with morning prayers (Namaz) and recitation from Quran. “Then I would open Granth Sahib, memorise a new shabad and compose with the help of my father, for my students.”
In 2000, Tasleema left her studies after high school. The same year she gave her first performance in a gurdwara. Tasleema sang in the Gurdwara at Lal Chowk Srinagar on the invitation of a Sikh family. “First not many people were attentive, but when I sang, they were all humming and praising in Punjabi language.” She could hardly understand their words and kept pleading the family not to reveal her Muslim identity.
But when they came to know of her Muslim identity, she earned many blessings. More and more invitations for kirtan darbars followed. “There are two to three invitations in a month. On Sundays I sing in Chatti Padshahi Gurdwara. I sang in many kirtan darbars outside the state. People invite me to sing at Baisakhi and other festivals,” she says.
In 2001, a known singer Harjinder Singh spotted her in Chatti Padshahi gurdwara and advised her to go to Radio Kashmir. She went for an audition, qualified, and began singing kirtans for Radio Kashmir.
Afterwards, late Ghulam Nabi Sheikh encouraged her to go for Kashmiri auditions too. She did and thus began to sing in Kashmiri too for the radio.
Most of her time, however is spent in teaching. She has taught more than 200 Sikh boys and girls. At present she has 15 students. She charges Rs 300 each. And what about her neighbours and relatives. How did they react?
“Our home in Shaheed Gunj was adjacent to mosque. Once I was singing loudly with my students when the mosque imam entered our house. I was ready for a reprimand, but to my surprise, he gave his blessings and told me that I was doing a wonderful job by maintaining communal harmony at a time when our place needed it most,” she says.
Tasleema, however, gave in to her apprehensions in testing times. After the Chattisinghpora Massacre in which 36 Sikhs were killed by unidentified assailants, she stopped her classes. However she could not keep herself away for long and resumed her classes.
For the small Sikh community of Kashmir, she is a saviour of their traditions. “You cannot imagine what she is for our community. It is she who teaches us verses from our holy book every day,” says her student Supinder Singh of Bemina, a postgraduate student at University of Kashmir.
“We never feel she is different from us, she absorbs herself in every verse,” says another student, Manpreet Singh, an engineering graduate.
In 2007, when her magical voice reverberated in the Golden Temple, Sikh religious leader, Harbans Singh visited her house to thank him. “He told me, ‘you are doing us a favour’ and he gave me some money as well,” she says.
source: http://www.kashmirlife.net / Kashmir Life / Home> Faith> Music / by Shazia Yousuf, Kashmir Life / June 27th, 2010
Mayank Pratap Singh from Jaipur is set to become the youngest judge in India
Jaipur:
A total of 06 Muslims have cleared the Rajasthan Judicial Services (RJS) exams result of which was announced Wednesday. Five of the six Muslims who cleared the coveted exam are female.
Youngest Judge In India
According to the result of Civil Judge Cadre 2018 under the Rajasthan Judicial Service Rules, 2010 declared early in the morning Wednesday 197 candidates successfully cleared the exam. Of them 127 are women.
Mayank Pratap Singh from Jaipur who has also cracked the Rajasthan judicial services 2018 exam at just 21 years of age, will be the youngest judge in India.
Muslims in the list
The six Muslims in the list of successful candidates are Sania Manihar, Sajida, Sana, Huma Khohri, Shehnaz Khan and Faisal Khan.
Sajida who belongs to Jodhpur secured 37th, Sana Hakim Khan bagged the 130th position, Huma Khohri 136 and Shehnaaz Khan got 143rd rank. The lone Muslim man in the list Faisal Khan got the 107th rank.
This is the first time five Muslim females have cleared the Civil Judge exam.
In the top ten, eight are women. Only the topper and the 10th ranker are men.
Selected candidates will join the service as a judicial magistrate after a two-year probation period.
The original age requirement for appearing in the judicial services exam was 23 years, which was reduced to 21 years by the Rajasthan High Court this year.
source: http://www.ummid.com / Ummid.com / Home> India> Education & Career / by ummid.com News Network / November 22nd, 2019
Justice Kureshi has succeeded Chief Justice Sanjoy Karol, who has been appointed as Chief Justice of the High Court of Patna.
Newly appointed Chief Justice of the High Court of Tripura, Justice Akil Abdulhamid Kureshi being administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Ramesh Bais during at ‘Durbar Hall’ of Old Raj Bhawan in Agartala on Saturday. (ANI Photo)
Justice Akil Abdulhamid Kureshi was sworn in as the new Chief Justice of the High Court of Tripura on Saturday. He was previously serving with the Gujarat High Court.
Governor Ramesh Bais administered the oath of office and secrecy to Kureshi at Old Raj Bhawan in Agartala. He has assumed office as the 5th Chief Justice of Tripura High Court. The oath-taking ceremony was held at 11 AM in the presence of Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Devvarman, cabinet ministers, Tripura High Court Justices Subhashish Talapatra, Arindam Lodh and others.
Justice Kureshi has succeeded Chief Justice Sanjoy Karol, who was has been appointed as Chief Justice of the High Court of Patna.
Justice Akil Abdulhamid Kureshi interacting with different officials of Tripura, during the oath-taking ceremony held at ‘Durbar Hall’ of Old Raj Bhawan in Agartala on Saturday. (ANI Photo)
In 2010, Justice Kureshi had sent incumbent Union Home Minister Amit Shah in police custody in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. A Special CBI Court had later discharged Shah from the case due to lack of evidence in 2014.
Earlier, the Supreme Court Collegium had recommended Justice Kureshi, who was the senior-most judge from Gujarat High Court, for appointment as Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. However, the Collegium later revised its recommendation with the modification that Justice AA Kureshi might be appointed as Chief Justice the High Court of Tripura.
The High Court of Tripura was established in 2013 with Deepak Gupta as its first Chief Justice. Previously, trials of High Court cases from the state were held at Agartala Bench of the Gauhati High Court.
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> North East India / by Debraj Deb / Agartala – November 16th, 2019
The book “Resilience: Stories of Muslim Women” was released by noted journalist and author Sagarika Ghose at a function at the India International Center, New Delhi on Wednesday. — Photo: Caravan Daily
‘Resilience: Stories of Muslim women’ released in New Delhi
New Delhi :
At a time when her stereotypes as meek and submissive entity are used by a political class to further its agenda, a new book catches Muslim woman in her multidimensional persona and in the process blasts many a myth surrounding her. In each of the varied fields of human endeavour, these Muslim women have come out in flying colours.
The book “Resilience: Stories of Muslim Women” was released by noted journalist and author Sagarika Ghose at a function at the India International Center here on Wednesday in the presence of many woman activists.
Speaking on the occasion, Ghose said the book negated the stereotype image of Muslim women as it illustrates that no matter what the economic impediments or social taboo, given the means and empathy Muslim women could also scale the height of success.
The book explores the lives of 11 resilient Muslim women who fought against all odds and got the opportunity to study in a tiny adult education centre. She congratulated these women and lamented in the scientific age woman have to face many odds and discrimination in every community.
The book release ceremony was followed by a discussion on the condition of women moderated by Nazia Erum, author and media advocacy head of Amnesty International India.
Social activist Shabnam Hashmi, the spirit behind the success of these women, said the book is like fresh air in the present political environment of the country in an oblique reference to the Modi Government’s push for enacting controversial Triple Talaq law which seeks to criminalise a civil matter like marriage.
She claimed stereotypical images of Muslim women are being used to further marginalise the minority community.
In early 1980, we started teaching the Nizamuddin Basti girls but it was a bumpy journey as girls had to struggle against severe hostility from the Basti residents whom Muslim girls going to study was “ anti-Islam or anti-Deen”, she added.
Shubha Menon, author, who documented the life of girls and women of Nizamuddin Basti, Delhi, said these were mostly dropouts or had not studied at all. She said she was touched by their stories and decided to bring the brighter side of the Muslim women.
On the occasion, many of these women narrated their stories of struggles.
Farida, who is a daughter of a Maulvi attached to Tablighi Jamaat, said she fought patriarchy, gender bias, poverty, and triple talaq to become a graduate. She said there was no discrimination on the basis of gender at home as her father loved her much but did not in favour of sending her to school. She told she was made to wear a burqa at 9, married off at 13 abandoned with two children at 16.
Farida, who now runs an NGO, has a sister Syeda whose story is also the same. “Both the sisters married to two brothers, unpaid labour in their matrimonial home, sloggers, beaten at the whims of a cruel matriarch, bearing children and hardship in one go. Their father, a Maulvi of Tablighi Jamaat, caught between the demands of his fellow Jamaatis and love for his daughters. The two sisters return home with meager belongings plus four pairs of mouths to feed. Then from rock bottom poverty, they extricate themselves. Their horizon widens and they rise and thanks to Seher Study Centre”.
Ayesha said she not only fought for her education but brought up her son to be an MBA and her daughter a Master in Science. Mussarrat, who now works for an international NGO, told that her grandmother kept her locked at home.
Other women Asma, Ishrat, Parveen, Shahjahan, Farhat, Parveen, and Najma’s stories are similar but not identical.
Shabnam said the mentors of Seher Study Centre in the Basti; teaching, counselling, chatting, encouraging the oppressed girls to break out of their fetters and manacles and ultimately from their cloisters.
From verbal threats to lathis, they not only bore them but spun them around to give great leverage to the girls they were grooming, she said.
The book, which chronicles the stories of successful women, also highlights the Markaz versus the Dargah which is another contradiction of the Basti. Stories of the Dargah dot the entire book. For example, Nizamuddin’s disdain for power is a poignant anecdote. Rulers of the Sultanate, Tughlaqs and Khiljis were not permitted to enter the Pir’s Khanqah. The Saint’s priority was not to pay obeisance to the ruler but to feed the poor and indigent no matter of what faith or of what caste while the Markaz propagates orthodox Islam. The author does not deride one practice at the cost of the other. Their parallel existence may occasionally clash but seldom becomes a major eruption.
She makes the reader a partner in her adventure as a reader is taken through the winding gulleys, narrow stairs, tottering houses, all the time surrounded by a mass of humanity; namely Muslims who live and breathe Nizamuddin. There is a constellation of girls who were transformed by the Seher Adult Education Centre. The stories unfold one by one.
The author Menon concludes that Seher comes out as a unique experiment, which not only transformed all those women who studied there but their future generations as well.
source: http://www.caravandaily.com / Caravan Daily / Home> Books / by Abdul Bari Masoud, Caravan Daily / August 29th, 2019
The Taj Mahal and 4 other monuments earned Rs 146.05 crore, more than half the total revenue generated by centrally-protected monuments, in 2017-18.
New Delhi:
Fringe Hindu groups and even some BJP leaders may have sought to belittle their significance but official data shows that India’s top five revenue generating monuments were all built by Muslim rulers – the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Qutub Minar, Fatehpur Sikri and Red Fort.
While Qutub Minar was built by rulers of the Delhi Sultanate, the rest were constructed by the Mughals.
These five monuments together earned the government Rs 146.05 crore in 2017-18, according Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) data. This is more than half the total revenue of Rs 271.8 crore generated by all centrally-protected monuments.
The Print
The Taj Mahal, which has been in the news for all the wrong reasons in recent years, with the Supreme Court last month pulling up the ASI for its poor maintenance, continued to be the highest earner at Rs 56.83 crore.
While some politicians sparked a controversy last year by arguing that the Mughal-era monument did not represent Indian culture, the number of visitors to it, both Indian and foreign, only increased since 2016-17.
A total of 64.58 lakh people visited the Taj Mahal in 2017-18 compared to 50.66 lakh in 2016-17.
Last year, the UP tourism department had even omitted the Taj Mahal, a UNESCO world heritage site, from a brochure listing the state’s principal attractions.
With total earnings of Rs 30.55 crore, Agra Fort built by Mughal emperor Akbar, another UNESCO world heritage site, was the second highest revenue generator in the last financial year.
While the Konark Sun Temple in Odisha came second after the Taj Mahal in terms of number of visitors (32.3 lakh), it generated only Rs 10.06 crore as revenue. This, officials said, is because the temple is mostly popular only with Indian tourists, with 32.21 lakh domestic visitors making the trip last year.
While Indian tourists are charged Rs 30 per head as entry fee to world heritage monuments across the country, foreign tourists have to pay Rs 500 each.
“It is impossible to communalise the entire Indian population through the meaningless political venom spewed by politicians,” said historian S. Irfan Habib, explaining the increase in visitors to the Taj.
“No matter what they say about the Taj Mahal and Red Fort, Indians will continue going there,” he added.
source: http://www.theprint.in / The Print / Home> India> Governanace / by Sanya Dhingra / June 07th, 2018
She passed away in Dhanuri village of Jhunjhunu district which has given the most number of war soldiers to the Indian army.
Saira Bano waited for six years for her husband’s return only to find out that he was martyred
Jaipur :
A chapter of sacrifice and dedication came to an end with the death of the country’s oldest, 103-year-old war widow, Saira Bano. She did not see the face of her husband after marriage, yet dedicated her life to him after his martyrdom.
She passed away in Dhanuri village of Jhunjhunu district which has given the most number of war soldiers to the Indian army.
District Soldier Welfare Officer Parvez Ahmed, Alsisar SDM Dr Amit Yadav arrived to pay homage to her on behalf of the administration.
Although Sair did not go to war, her fight was not less than that of a soldier’s.
Saira Bano got married to Taj Mohammad Khan during the second world war in 1939. The procession reached Dhanuri village on the day of Nikah. But Taj had to immediately go on duty which he never returned from.
After 6 years of waiting, she came to know that he was martyred. Even after this, Saira did not go to her own home. She did not marry because she loved him so much that she wanted to keep his martyrdom alive.
In an interview given a while back, she had said that her husband, Saeed Taj Mohammed, went to fight in World War II and while they were married, her ‘gauna’ did not happen.
“What did my husband’s face look like, I do not know till date, because I had never met him, had not even seen his face. After receiving the news of my husband’s death, my family and in-laws asked me to go for a second marriage, but I did not, because I wanted to remain in love with his martyrdom “, she had said.
Dhanuri village of Jhunjhunu is called the land of soldiers as there are soldiers in every household. Saira Bano was the Panch of Dhanuri village for 30 years.
The pension she received from the government was spent on teaching girls. In Dhanuri village, like Saira, there are 17 more bravehearts, whose husbands sacrificed their lives while fighting for the country.
Brigadier Ajit Singh Shekhawat, the General of the Kargil War, had recently visited Dhanuri village in Rajasthan, where he came to know about Saira’s story.
When he returned to Surat, he told his unit about her. It was then decided to honour her. In March 2019 Paramveer Shaheed Sahai Trust welcomed her. This was her first honour in Gujarat, with hundreds of people saluting her sacrifice.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Nation / by Rajesh Asnani / Express News Service / November 12th, 2019
Amidst well-organized and power-backed attempts to erase M-word from the history of India’s freedom movement, has come out a humble academic bid to preserve in black and white the key role of Ulema or Muslim clerics in the ‘bloody’ freedom struggle spreading over around one century. Written by a young writer Syed Ubaidur Rahman, who is just 44, the book ‘Ulema’s Role in India’s Freedom Movements: With focus on Silk Letter Movement (Reshmi Rumal Tehrik) captures Ulema’s sacrifices in the Mutiny of 1857 and 1858, Faraizi Movement and Sayyid Ahmad Barelvi’s movement besides mainly focusing on the Silk Letter Movement as the title declares.
“The word ‘Ulema’ has become a rather very misunderstood term in the present day Indian society. Like everything Muslim, a conscious effort has been made to malign and ridicule the Muslim clergy…Over the last few centuries, the Muslim scholars have contributed immensely in seeing to it that the nation remains a single, united and cohesive unit and have made significant contributions to this end,” writes the author in the introduction of the book.
While admitting that “Ulema’s role in the society has considerably shrunk over the last several centuries,” he says that Ulema “used to have a very important place in the Indian society during Muslim rule in the country and even after the dismantling of the Mughal empire…over the centuries, on many occasions, they have led not just on spiritual front but on temporal front as well.”
“Every time in the past, when the country found itself in challenging situations, they stepped in and tried to play a much bigger role than what is usually anticipated from them. This was seen during different phases of freedom movements beginning with the first war of independence of 1857,” writes Rahman, a journalist by career who has penned several books in the last one decade, besides regularly writing articles and columns for various periodicals.
The 280-page book deals with different phases of India’s freedom struggle “with special focus on Silken Letter Conspiracy, better known as the Reshmi Rumal Tehrik.”
Highlighting the need and relevance of the book, the author says: “Not much has been written on Reshmi Rumal Tehrik or the people behind it and thus it remains shrouded in mystery. The book also discusses at length the Mutiny of 1857 and 1858, Faraizi Movement that was anti-colonial movement launched and sustained by Islamic scholars, besides Tehrik-e-Jihad of Sayyid Ahmad Barelvi in North Western Frontiers and Kashmir.”
The author says: “Despite the slide of the Muslim empire and the subsequent dismemberment, first between Muslim nawabs in the North, Deccan and South India, and later the annexation of these territories by the East India Company, Muslim scholars remained instrumental in trying to keep the Muslim empire intact. They were at the forefront in trying to stop the slide, and in posing challenges, first against those who fought the Mughals and later against the British East India Company. Shah Waliullah, the legendary Islamic scholar and reformist, did everything to stop the Mughal Empire from going to dogs. But, when despite all his efforts nothing happened, he sent a later to Ahmad Shah Abdali and also to Nawab of Oudh and Hafiz Rahmat Khan, the shrewd Ruhella chieftain. The rest is history.”
Deliberating on the core topic of the book, that is the role of Ulema in India’s freedom movement, the author writes: “Muslim ulema’s role was not limited to merely giving advice to the rulers and then become mute spectators of what was taking place. On the contrary, when they realized that there was no one coming forward to lead the masses, they took up leadership role, and fought off the invaders. From Bengal to Balakot and from Delhi to Lucknow, Muslim ulema played prominent roles in all the uprisings against the British (mis)rule. Be it Faraizi Movement, first war of independence of 1857 or the Reshmi Rumal Tehrik, they were instrumental and took leadership role. During the Mutiny of 1857, ulema were at the forefront and paid heavy price for their leadership role.”
The book highlights the contributions of some Ulema during the Mutiny of 1857 and subsequent fights.
The author says: Maulavi Ahmadullah Shah was one of the most prominent leaders of the entire freedom movement, who led on many war fronts and collaborated with all other renowned freedom fighters. Despite being among the most prominent leaders of the 1857 Mutiny, Maulavi Ahmadullah Shah remains a rather unknown figure in the country.He was a stalwart, a shrewd military planner, a great scholar of Islamic sciences and above all a unifier beyond any iota of doubt. He allied with almost all the leading actors of the 1857 revolution, be it Tantia Topi, Nana Sahib, Begum Hazrat Mahal, Bakht Khan Ruhilla, Khan Bahadur Khan Rohilla of Bareilly or any other freedom fighter of repute. It is an irony that despite his military successes against the British East India Company in 1857 from Lucknow to Bareilly and Shahjahanpur, his name is not even mentioned. His military planning unnerved the colonial rulers and his bravery won praise from the British generals like George Bruce Malleson and Thomas Seaton.
Haji Imdadullah Muhajir Makki was another alim of repute, known for his personal piety, scholarship, courage and military exploits during the Mutiny of 1857. A father figure among ulema of his time, his most renowned disciples include Maulana Qasim Nanotwi and Maulana Rasheed Ahmad Gangohi who not just fought alongside him in Thana Bhawan and Shamli but later went on to launch Darul Ulum Deoband. Maulvi Liaqat Ali, another alim was behind the uprising in Allahabad and evicting the East India Company out of the major North Indian town. It was his personal charisma and shrewd military planning that first brought together the mutineers and later successfully beat back the Company forces. Many more ulema played prominent roles during the uprising and paid dearly when the Company came back with a vengeance. Tens of thousands of ulema were hanged to death. Even those ulema who had nothing to do with the Mutiny were implicated, jailed, sent to kalapani and unceremoniously killed. However, this dance macabre didn’t stop them from taking to the same means to defeat the colonial rulers later.
Silk Letter Movement
The author says: “Reshmi Rumal Tehrik is a freedom movement that remains largely unknown. Not much has been written on it and both its top leaders, Mahmud Hasan and Ubaidullah Sindhi, despite their stellar roles and sacrifices, remain rather unknown. While Shaikhul Hind spent three years in trying circumstances in Malta, Ubaidullah Sindhi spent more than three decades in exile, first in Afghanistan and then in Turkey and Hejaz.”
Silk Letter Movement, known more widely as the Reshmi Rumal Tehrik, was launched by ulema of Deoband, particularly Mahmud Hasan and his renowned disciple Ubaidullah Sindhi, who later went on to become the Home Minister in the first provisional government established in Kabul. Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh was its President and Maulana Barkatullah Bhopali was its Prime Minister. The Reshmi Rumal Tehrik had a two-fold objective, one to incite the tribal people in North Western Frontier region and then forging alliance with other world powers including Afghanistan, Turkey and Germany. While Mahmud Hasan headed to Hijaz to seek help from Turkish officials, Ubaidullah Sindhi went to Kabul to forge alliance with Afghan amir. Both were very successful in their planning, but while Mahmud Hasan was still in Hijaz, Ottomans suffered heavy reverses against Sharif of Mecca who was being propped by Britain. At the same time, the entire planning of Ubaidullah Sindhi was discovered when the Silken Letters, sent by him to Mahmud Hasan were unearthed by the British CID. Hundreds of their supporters across Punjab, United Provinces and Delhi were arrested by British police.
In the introduction of the book, author Rahman says: “The pages that follow unravel a history that has been often suppressed and not much has been written on it. To many people, this side of the history may seem rather bewildering as I examine it and try to make sense as to what happened in our part of the world and how those brave men, despite the failure of 1857 mutiny rose repeatedly to defy the British Raj.”
How Important Is This Book when saffron eraser is moving fast on the canvas of freedom history of India?
Talking to India Tomorrow, the author responded to the question: “History needs to be preserved. It is the responsibility of the people, communities and the nations to preserve their histories and present right perspectives to what happened in the past. Indian Muslims have done precious little when it comes to presenting their perspective in right context. On the contrary, the Sangh Parivar, bent upon distorting the history of the last few centuries, has made strides in this field. Despite the fact they were never part of the freedom movement, they have claimed an important role for them, and have tried to co-opt major historic figures as part of their narrative. This began with Patel. Now they are trying to claim Gandhi and Ambedkar as their own, despite both being fiercely opposed to their ideology of hate. On the contrary, the Muslims have ignored this part completely. Hope this book serves its purpose and creates awareness among masses about what Muslim scholars and ulama did for the nation in the freedom struggle.”
The book has come out at a time when the BJP government in Karnataka has decided to scrap the state’s official celebrations around Tipu Sultan’s birth anniversary. Going one step ahead, the government announced to remove the lesson on the 18th century Mysore ruler from school history books.
Author Syed Obaidur Rahman
Given the communal hatred widening the gulf between Hindus and Muslims, the author wants the book reaches the masses.
“While this is of paramount importance to render this book in Hindi and other vernacular languages, this seems a hard nut to crack due to want of resources. God willing, I would definitely like to bring it in Urdu, Hindi and other regional languages,” says Rahman who has several other books to his credit, including Muslim Freedom Fighters: Contribution of Indian Muslims in the Freedom Movement, Understanding Muslim Leadership in India and Muslim Mujahideen e Aazadi, aur Tehrik e Azadi mein unki khidmaat (Urdu).
Book:Ulema’s Role in India’s Freedom Movements: With focus on the Silk Letter Movement (RESHMI RUMAL TEHRIK)
