Tag Archives: Haider Abbas – UP State Information Commissioner

Mustafa Kamal Sherwani (1952–2025): The Man and His Magnificence — One of the Foursome in the Babri Masjid Conundrum

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Etah District / Lucknow, UTTAR PRADESH :

Mustafa Kamal Sherwani

Mustafa Kamal Sherwani, was Doctor in Law (LLD), a senior Law faculty in Shia Post Graduate Degree College, Lucknow, belonged to Lucknow in all its totality. He was the Principal of the institution too. He had in himself all. Ingrained in Muslim historical legacy, feudal ancestry grounded to the masses, Muslimness never brooding to exclusiveness and a diehard human rights campaigner-all to the hilt. He passed away to heavenly abode on March 3, 2025, leaving a void, which would never be filled, in a community otherwise resigned to the fate in this present political squall.

He represented the post-Babri Masjid demolition genre and hit the political windscreen as a flag bearer of All India Muslim Forum in 1993, he assiduously pursued the agenda to sensitize Muslim political consciousness, and definitely succeeded to carve a special niche for Muslim space in Lucknow, the citadel of communal cauldron, during the high days of Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gutpa, Rajnath Singh, all Bhartiya Janta Party Chief Ministers and Prime Minister AB Vajpayee.

His able mentorship made Muslims not recede into a cocoon but instead there was hardly a month, which passed, and Lucknow did not witness AIMF protests, on streets, many times opposite Vidhan Sabha. In fact, MK Sherwani, political credibility, is what made it all, as even when there were no mobile phones, MK Sherwani, could mobilize around 100 AIMF workers and supporters in one hour.

I too had interactions with him on many sundry afternoons. Despite political one-upmanship, when he was betrayed by his friends and colleagues, which also is a hallmark of Muslim polity, he never betrayed a sign of acrimony but instead was always with his trademark infectious smile. Yet, surely, the dent was inside. He never would divulge the name of those who passed AIMF meetings information to local intelligence sleuths and onto the political establishment those days. He however was very skeptical to the politicization of Muslim clergy, and would argue, that Hindu religious leaders perpetuate the Hindu political leadership, but instead, Muslim religious personnel kill their own political voices, of course, in exchange for the worldly charms.

His stint as a former Vice Chancellor of Zanzibar University and Department Head of Law and Shariah at the same university, never dimmed the belonging he had for his first love. AIMF. He would tell me that even before he would have tea there, he would log on to all Hindi/Urdu and English newspapers with dateline Lucknow to keep a tab on events back home, and issue statements on it. He made a stint to Finland, for his landmark 75 lecture series, on India’s cultural heritage and diversity. A great feat unto itself.

He was an old Aligarh Muslim University alumina and was once accused of sedition. He had to pass through a 15 years ordeal, which he would transform in a form of a book Secular Horror which is available on Amazon. I had done its review long back. The torment started after he had published an article ‘Secularism vis-à-vis Hindu chauvinism’ in Radiance Viewsweekly, the mouthpiece of Jamaat-e Islami Hind. His treatise Iblees ( Satan) and the Mullas was his uneasy exhortation as to how Muslim political aspirations have been killed at the altar of Muslim clergy machinations. A leaf he took from Allama Iqbal from whom he was greatly influenced. His ceaseless efforts in the form of I am a Citizen of the World, dedicated to Hindu-Muslim unity, Tribute to Hazrat Imam Husain, are still available on his facebook page.

His legal acumen made him a constant figure at the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court. He made into a perfect stature who would hog the courts with petitions to safeguard Muslims rights.

He would unequivocally apprise Muslim masses, through his speeches on streets and seminars, as to how assembly seats in UP with sizeable Muslim presence, have been categorized as reserved for Scheduled Caste/Tribes! In stark violation of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.

He was sharp-as-a-tack, who would always dither into narratives with warmth and wit, much always to the laughter and lighting of the mood during his speeches. Masses would start to chuckle on his disarmingly simple eloquence which made even ordinary look like an art. He made everything relevant. His would allure everyone with comfortable ease to make ordinary become extra ordinary. He was in constant search for a tonal alchemy where there was to be a moral entity, and where, justice would ultimately be served (read to Muslims).

There is no denying the fact that he, along with the likes of Saleem Peerzada and Zafaryab Jilani, Muhammed Azam Khan, was a preserve of a tortured genius with traumatic back stories. Hashimpura, Malina, Bhagalpur, Meerut, Babri Masjid riots etc.

He was always by the side of Zafaryab Jilani, on every Babri Masjid demolition anniversary ( December 6, 1992), emphatically on the probe, that the possibility of order be restored. But, then, last but not the least, he belonged to an era where even the best of minds are ordained ( sic) for cynicism and fatalism! Yet he, as were his friends, did not choose escapism. Zafaryab Jilan was the convener of Babri Masjid Action Committee and Saleem Peerzada had founded of Parcham Party of India.

He was a friend of friends. Today he is no more, so are Zafaryab Jilani and Saleem Peerzada. They made a great camaraderie. A coterie which had thronged the Vidhan Sabha street, against the then BJP supported UP CM Mayawati, when she had refused to issue a fresh notification to Central Bureau of Investigation, to restart the case against LK Advani, the then main accused of Babri Masjid demolition, after he was exonerated by the CBI court in 2003, which of course he is now. It is ironic that today, after 40 years; a grandiose Rama Temple has come on the site of demolished Babri Masjid. But, no one demolished it?

Today three of them are not there. Death may be permanent but certainly not defining. The passage of time is however never irrelevant as strive for justice cannot be dampened. The zest for it always feels possible. The mark of hope can never be condescended. MK Sherwani is survived by his wife, two daughters and two sons, Zafaryab Jilani by his wife, a daughter and two sons, Saleem Peerzada did not marry. Three of them were LLM. Muhammed Azam Khan until his first year, before he was arrested during ‘emergency’. Saleem Peerzada was a civil engineer. All the four were from AMU. MK Sherwani will be remembered long time for his LLD thesis Quran and Modern Jurisprudence and it is here yours truly also played a role. I had taken the copy to the publisher to get it published.

Muhammed Azam Khan is right now undergoing a tortuous survival in jail. When will the discontent end? Their lives of struggle will always be the yardstick to give a whiff of element even in the event of hoping against hope.

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The writer is a former UP State Information Commissioner.

source: http://www.muslimmirror.com / Muslim Mirror / Home> Obituary / by Haider Abbas / August 29th, 202

Mirza Javed Murtuza: The measure of his times

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Lucknow, UTTAR PRADESH :

Mirza Javed Murtuza

The measure of a man is worth his memories after his death.

This is towards a particular reference to Mirza Javed Murtuza, who despite having been born in a Lucknow elitist family, with roots from Faizabad, took for him a road less travelled. His contrast was his campaign, which he undertook, with his utmost commitment, to educate masses and classes, to seek from the Almighty God, on their own, and not through any intermediary. This was his avowed stand against the institutional clergy, which ironically, had always been ‘in consonance’ with the ruling dispensation.

Lucknow had been a seat of power, for centuries, a La Feudal state, which continued to flourish, even after Britishers had taken over. Even after the ouster of the last king of Avadh, Wajid Ali Shah ‘Akhter’, and the subsequent ‘silencing’ of the mutiny or the first war for independence of 1857, there was a ‘virtual or a real’ silence in Lucknow, for the next 90 years. Until came the dawn of independence. India, became a throbbing democracy, but the elite of Lucknow fell into a morass of decadence, in terms of social, economic, educational standards etc, and to make it worse, were the ‘debates and discussions’ over religious denomination’s considered ‘superiorities over each other’. Thus, was enamored on Lucknow’s landscape.

Rubina J Murtuza at the release of Hayat-e-Javed (2010) / Photo Courtesy: Twocircles.Net

After the post-1977 Emergency government, Iranian revolution of 1979, Muradabad riots of 1980, Javed Murtuza took to the stage, of Ali Congress as its Patron, as he could see and also foresee that the clergy, their pageboys and footmen, were all too incapable to relate to the arising situations. Babri Masjid locks were also opened in 1986. He was an advocate and started championing the cause of Muslim rights, articulated the ‘reasoning and argumentation’ not only for self emancipation but also for seeking a place in social-hierarchy in terms of getting a place in government jobs, awareness towards reservation enshrined through Constitution etc.

The issues confronting the community were with a crystal ball clarity to him. He was ahead, to clergy by a goodly margin, which was too involved, and wants to remain still, like a caged mouse on a wheel. Unable to augment any forward path! He was never an extremist showboat, but had earned a personal flak , from administration, when he had printed Ram Aur Islam, extracting excerpts from Dr. BR Ambedkar book, Riddles of Hinduism, that small booklet was a rage, in those days, after Babri Masjid had been demolished. There were reportedly raids to confiscate its copies. He even had organized a function, in the memory of martyrs of Babri Masjid, for those who had been killed in the aftermath of the demolition.

He became the proverbial deacon of a church! Without having attended any conventional religious seminary! Out of his sheer grit, as onlookers still remember him, he would drive his scooter, memorizing Quranic verses to verbalize the gospel. He had arrested the attention of the youth. There was an ever growing numbers to his followers. Young boys with their beards primed, thronged the altar of his speeches. He had to incur the wrath, and was therefore, subjected to a murderous assault, during an auspicious Ramzan night, but only the next day, he would sit, his head, hands and face ‘bruised and bandaged’, soliciting his next homily. Yours truly was present when the assault had taken place.

His avowal that community had to search for its lost self-esteem, was perhaps, his only and long standing forte. He would pass on a road with utmost humility. Always so unassuming. A true picture of keeping a low profile yet exuding high intensity. The campaign spearheaded to safeguard the Auqafs, may perhaps, has lost its steam, but he was much farsighted in his approach, as finally, the government today, is contemplating to bring all Auqafs under its thumb. Had an ear was lent to his call then, perhaps, this situation might never have occurred. But, this is how community, can share its long time complacency towards the gems of its yore.

His persona still resonates around those who sought from his brilliance. He was an engineer by profession. Edited and published Payam-e-Nau (The New Message) in both Urdu and Hindi scripts, and editorialized his vision, which was a true reflection of his time and beyond.

His father and younger brother retired as Justice from High Courts.

His daughter wrote Hayat-e-Javed (The immortal Life) in Urdu language as an ode to the long standing memories of her father. His 15th death anniversary fell on November 9.

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The writer is a former UP State Information Commissioner.

source: http://www.muslimmirror.com / Muslim Mirror / Home> Indian Muslim> Personality / by Haider Abbas / November 15th, 2024

Manzoor Nomani was ‘intrinsically Indian’ in the first place

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Lucknow, UTTAR PRADESH :

Maulana Manzoor Nomani. Courtesy: Quranwahadith.

Maulana Muhammed Manzoor Nomani (1905-1997), most arguably was one of the five prime most Muslims of the Indian sub-continent in the last century. He was the founding member of Jamaat-e-Islami and later got associated with Tablighi Jamaat and was also the member of founding committee of Muslim World League.

Maulana Khalil-ur-Rehman Sajjad Nomani is his son who gives every credence to his father, as that is what has made him, potentially what he is today; the most potent Muslim voice in the nation.

Sajjad Nomani’s command on Arabic, Quran, Hadith, Urdu, Hindi and English, in the same verve, depth and gravitas, apart from being an eloquent speaker, an indefatigable champion of Muslim cause, a voracious reader and a writer with an unquestionable command on the intricacies of linguistic theory and cultural praxis, are all the qualities he has embodied and imbibed from his late father.

Yours truly also did once saw Manzoor Nomani Sahab, at his Nazeerabad residence, Lucknow, as he sat on his wheel chair engrossed in an Urdu newspaper and also attended to his funeral at Aishbagh, Lucknow in 1997.

It would be worthy to recollect some of the anecdotes Sajjad Sahab shared about his late father, which all are a treasure trove to understand the ‘times’ about seventy-five years back.

He reminisced that Pakistan first Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan was very insistent that Manzoor Sahab visit Pakistan and become a part of Pakistan Constituent Assembly to ‘pave for the ingredients’ for Islamic Jurisprudence for the state of Pakistan, and ultimately even officially sought for it, as Manzoor Sahab was one of the most outstanding figures of Islamic Law and Jurisprudence at those times.

When India’s PM Jawahar Lal Nehru came to know of it, he communicated that though he does not want Maulana to volunteer it, yet if Maulana wanted then government of India was to facilitate it. But, there was no question of Manzoor Sahab even entertaining the idea as he was an unwavering Indian by his heart, not out of any chance but primarily for his choice, as Muslims after 1947 were to choose between India or Pakistan and Manzoor Sahab stood for India.

Maulana Khalilur Rahman Sajjad Nomani

Sajjad Sahab would also reflect that it was in 1976, when he was studying in Medina University, and had come to India on his vacations, that Manzoor Sahab kidneys collapsed all of a sudden and he went into coma. That was the time when emergency was in place. He informed that ‘intelligence inputs’ were given to PM Indira Gandhi that unless Maulana Ali Mian Nadwi, Maulana Manzoor Nomani and Qari Siddeeq Baandvi were to be arrested, Muslims were not relent to ‘vasectomy-sterilization’ and Indira Gandhi went to India’s President Fakhrudin Ali Ahmed, for his counsel on it, to which she was answered that all hell will break loose in the country in case of such an eventuality.

In the meantime, Indira Gandhi was also informed about the medical situation of Manzoor Sahab, and a chartered place to carry Maulana to Delhi was sent to Lucknow. The family members could not fathom for it, for they knew, that Maulana was be very angry once after the coma was to subside, the gesture of Indira Gandhi was hence refused, and fortunately by the midnight Maulana regained his senses, but then the next morning Indira Gandhi herself came down to Maulana’s residence. She would insist that Maulana may be flown to Delhi for his medical treatment, but all what Maulana sought from her was that she should implement justice as there was ‘tyranny’ all across the nation. He would address Indira Gandhi as his daughter and that when she played in her father’s courtyard, Maulana was to advice her father JL Nehru on critical issues.

Such has been the sense of belonging of Muslims for Manzoor Sahab , inherited too well by his son, is that while Jamshedpur raged under riots of 1979, Maulana went on to sit in a mosque for 21 days, draw into people and disbursed charity amongst the hapless Muslims, which continued for months. Maulana had an impeccable memory as Sajjad Sahab, relates, that shortly before his death, while he was searching for a Hadith, his ailing father, who was almost comatose, made him look for it on the exact page of Tirmezi- a great compendium of Hadith. Maulana Manzoor Sahab was a living authority and a luminary of Hadith-the sayings of Prophet of Islam.

Manzoor Nomani Sahab surely has left an indelible mark on Muslim civilization not across only in India but throughout the whole Muslim world. The best part however is that, it has all been very well innately translated into a relentless campaign for Muslim rights in India, by his son Sajjad Nomani, an activist always on his heels and one of the most credible voice of Muslims in the nation today. He is right now articulating the cause of Peace and Justice, a desperate call of the nation today. Sajjad Sahab is also the spokesperson of All India Muslim Personal Law Board, the Apex of Muslims in the country.

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The writer is a former UP State Information Commissioner and writes on political issues.

source: http://www.mulimmirror.com / Muslim Mirror / Home> Muslim Scholars / by Haider Abbas / June 20th, 2022