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