Patna, BIHAR :

Patna :

In an era of unprecedented majoritarian ascendance and anti-Muslim hatred, Bihar Collective, a platform of intellectuals and activists, has brought out a booklet highlighting the contribution of eminent Muslims in making the modern Bihar in the last 200 years.

The booklet titled Remembering Muslim Makers of Modern Bihar has been compiled and edited by renowned academician and writer Prof. Mohammad Sajjad on the initiative of Bihar Collective.

The booklet will be released at an event in Patna on Saturday (February 23).

On the occasion, a discussion will also be held with Prof Faizan Mustafa, Vice Chancellor, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad; Prof Vivek Kumar, JNU, New Delhi; and Prof Mohammad Sajjad, AMU, Aligarh as panelists.

A Brief about Booklet:

Pre-empting a reasonable question about the title of the booklet, Prof Sajjad, who has compiled and edited it, writes in its preface: “A simple and obvious question that may readily arise is: why only Muslim makers of modern Bihar? Why not others too? This is indeed a valid and pertinent question.”

Responding to the question, he further says: “Candidly put, this is because of an unprecedentedly menacing rise of majoritarianism, bigotry, and anti-Muslim hatred, with open support of the state.

The Muslim identities are ominously threatened. There are also unabated attempts to dilute (or even take away) whatever little accomplishments have been made by the forces of social justice and secularism.

Only the Muslim segment however is threatened by the jingoist, exclusionary, violent nationalists, to be thrown out to another country. As if the other country is a dustbin, owned by these bigots, into which they can throw away everything they dislike! As if only the religious majority constitutes the nation! Notably, these jingoists had aligned with the British and had stayed away from the national movement.”

“Muslim contributions in the nation-making (and in the freedom movement) remain under-acknowledged, forgotten or even omitted. Erasure of their histories and memories seem to have become even more pronounced and vociferous, now, than ever before…The Bihar Collective therefore decided to compile a short profile of these inspiring role models, history-makers…This is small and humble step towards retrieving and restoring the nationalist provincial pantheons bearing Muslim identities,” says Prof Sajjad.

He, however, admits that the list of Muslim heroes of Bihar given in the booklet is not exhaustive as “…many have been left out essentially because of lack of documentations and researches. Not many have left their own accounts/memoirs; the available memoirs/accounts have not written much about all the personalities. In many cases, even otherwise “resourceful” descendants and/or associates of the history-makers have not been able to provide us with adequate (and credible/verifiable) details.”

Prof Sajjad hopes this small exercise may lead to some big academic work on these history-makers. “In short, this kind of venture may be said to be an ongoing exercise. This effort may hope to open up (and obtain) more details about such history-makers and would also get to know about many more of such peoples and processes, we failed to include here in this hastily prepared tiny volume, amidst constraints of resources and time.”

Names of Muslim Makers of Modern Bihar Mentioned in Booklet:
1. Syed Imdad Ali (d.1886]
2. Khuda Bakhsh (1842-1908)
3. Syed Amir Husain (1843-1910)
4. Imdad Imam Asar (1849-1934)
5. Shah Badruddin(1852-??)
6. Syed Ali Bilgrami (1853-1911)
7. Rasheed-un-Nesa (1855-1926)
8. Syed Noorul Huda (1855-1939)
9. Justice Syed Sharfuddin (1856-1921)
10. Shaikh Gulab (1857-1920)
11. Sarfaraz Husain Khan (1860-1931)
12. Maulana Mazharul Haque (1866-1930)
13. Batakh Miyan Ansari (1867-1957)
14. Sir Fakhruddin (1868-1933)
15. Syed Ali Imam (1869-1932)
16. Syed Hasan Imam (1871-1933)
17. Salahuddin Khuda Bakhsh (1875-1931)
18. Shafi Daudi(1875-1949)
19. Khwaja Md. Noor(1875-??)
20. Abdul Wadood (d.1955)
21. Syed Abul Hasan (1878-1960)
22. Sir Sultan Ahmad (1880-1963)
23. Maulana Sajjad (1880-1940)
24. Pir Mohammad Munis (1882-1949)
25. Abdul Bari (1882-1947)
26. Syed Sulaiman Nadvi (1884-1953)
27. Mohammad Yunus (1884-1952)
28. Shah Md. Zubair (1884-1930)
29. Syed Abdul Aziz (1885-1948)
30. Zubaida Begum Daudi (1886-1972)
31. Syed Tafazzul Karim (1886-1964)
32. Mr. Mohammad Shafi (1888-1955)
33. Qazi Ahmad Husain (1889-1961)
34. Dr. Syed Mahmud (1889-1971)
35. Ali Husain Aasim Bihari (1890-1953)
36. Shah Mohammad Umair (1894-1978)
37. Abdul Ahad Mohammad Noor (1894-1975)
38. Hakeem Md. Kabiruddin (1894-1976)
39. Maulana Usman Ghani (1896-1977)
40. Manzoor Ahsan Aijazi (1897-1969)
41. Shah Md Ozair Muni’mi (1899-1961)
42. Maghfur Aijazi (1900-1966)
43. Syed Jafar Imam (1900-1965)
44. Syed Badruddin Ahmad (1901-1983)
45. Mohammad Tahir (1903-???)
46. Syed Jafar Imam (1903-1979)
47. Syed Fida Husain (1904-80)
48. Abdul Qaiyum Ansari (1905-1974)
49. Wajihuddin Minhaji (1907-1984)
50. Syed Md. Aiyub (1910-1964)
51. Abdul Sami Nadvi (1913-????)
52. Abul Hayat Chand (1914-1958)
53. Ahad Fatmi(1915-1980)
54. Zawwar Husain (1916-80)
55. Shafiqullah Ansari (1917-1980)
56. Shah Mushtaq Ahmad (1917-2002)
57. Abdul Ghafoor (1918-2004)
58. Col. Mahboob Ahmad (1920-1992)
59. Taqi Raheem (1920-1999)
60. Zahra Daudi(1923-2003)
61. Shakoor Ahmad (1924-1981)
62. Syed Hasan (1924-2016)
63. Yunus Lohia (1925-2019)
64. Ghulam Sarwar (1926-2004)
65. Syed Shahabuddin (1935-2017)

A Brief about Author:

Prof Mohammad Sajjad teaches late-colonial and post-independent Indian history at the Centre for Advanced Study in History, Aligarh Muslim University. He has written several books including Muslim Politics in Bihar: Changing Contours; and Contesting Colonialism and Separatism: Muslims of Muzaffarpur since 1857.

His articles are published in reputed academic journals from Routledge, Sage, EPW etc. and also in anthologies from the Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press.

Bihar Collective:
It is a platform of artists, intellectuals, journalists and activists to promote diversity, pluralism and constitutional values. It aims at bridging the gap between people working in various fields such as media, culture, law, science, arts, human rights, gender equality, films, music, etc.
Email: biharcollective@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/biharcollective

source: http://www.indiatomorrow.net / India Tomorrow / Home> Society / by India Tomorrow / February 21st, 2019