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Maulana Azad, Islam and the Indian National Movement
Maulana Azad was the first education minister of India and a dynamic individual with multiple facets to his personality. He is equally known as one of the foremost freedom fighters, an Urdu poet who also wrote treatises on philosophy and religion.
Azad had hoped to lead not only the Muslims but all Indians to freedom. From 1903, when he picked up his pen to launch his first journal, till Partition, he never lost sight of his larger constituency-all Indians, regardless of religion. Why then is one who aspired and worked for national leadership remembered only as the leader of the Muslims of India? Why then did he lose to Jinnah, an individual who generally stood for everything which ran contrary to his beliefs? In this thought-provoking work, Syeda S. Hameed takes a fresh look at the works, politics, and life of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
Azad had hoped to lead not only the Muslims but all Indians to freedom. From 1903, when he picked up his pen to launch his first journal, till Partition, he never lost sight of his larger constituency-all Indians, regardless of religion. Why then is one who aspired and worked for national leadership remembered only as the leader of the Muslims of India? Why then did he lose to Jinnah, an individual who generally stood for everything which ran contrary to his beliefs? In this thought-provoking work, Syeda S. Hameed takes a fresh look at the works, politics, and life of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
325 pages, Hardcover
First published May 30, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 5, 2015
The breadth of material is impressive but critical scholarship is lacking.
August 20, 2020
This is a really great book by the author!
The book details the intellectual journey of Azad, and the role Islam played in his struggle for Independence. A lot of the book discusses how exactly did Azad engage with the Islamic texts such as the Qur'an. It presents a chronological account of Azad's life.
Pros
1. It is able to bring out the literary genius of Maulana Azad to an English speaking audience.
2. It takes a very comprehensive look at Azad. It tries to construct his own version of himself in a very good way.
3. Although written by an admirer, it is filled with really deep analysis of Azad using his own writings and a lot of other primary sources.
4. The author's critique of Azad's supposed autobiography, "India wins freedom", as narrated to Humayun Kabir, is really interesting and stimulating.
Cons
1. While the analysis of the author is really good, sometimes, I couldn't help but feel that there's a very strong urge to portray Azad as a Muslim perennialist within the author. To the best of my understanding, I feel that many of these claims weren't conclusively substantiated by the author. Which gets me to the second point.
2. Does the author have blindspots? Looking at the sources, sometimes, the author relies too much on secondary sources, such as V. N. Dutta's biography of Azad. Additionally, there's a total absence of Pakistani author's when the author talks about the historical events related to Indian independence. On top of that, Azad's involvement in the silk-letter movement and the influence of Maulana Mahmood Hassan on Azad has not been addressed. I can't make this claim conclusively but I do feel there are some notable absences.
3. The biography ends with the partition of India. I find this very disappointing. Azad lived for 11 years after the partition. Most of the biographers of Azad end his biography abruptly after Indian independence. I believe a lot of young Indian Muslims would find such a lack of discussion on this aspect of Azad's life, disappointing.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking to get a fresh look at Azad's thought.
The book details the intellectual journey of Azad, and the role Islam played in his struggle for Independence. A lot of the book discusses how exactly did Azad engage with the Islamic texts such as the Qur'an. It presents a chronological account of Azad's life.
Pros
1. It is able to bring out the literary genius of Maulana Azad to an English speaking audience.
2. It takes a very comprehensive look at Azad. It tries to construct his own version of himself in a very good way.
3. Although written by an admirer, it is filled with really deep analysis of Azad using his own writings and a lot of other primary sources.
4. The author's critique of Azad's supposed autobiography, "India wins freedom", as narrated to Humayun Kabir, is really interesting and stimulating.
Cons
1. While the analysis of the author is really good, sometimes, I couldn't help but feel that there's a very strong urge to portray Azad as a Muslim perennialist within the author. To the best of my understanding, I feel that many of these claims weren't conclusively substantiated by the author. Which gets me to the second point.
2. Does the author have blindspots? Looking at the sources, sometimes, the author relies too much on secondary sources, such as V. N. Dutta's biography of Azad. Additionally, there's a total absence of Pakistani author's when the author talks about the historical events related to Indian independence. On top of that, Azad's involvement in the silk-letter movement and the influence of Maulana Mahmood Hassan on Azad has not been addressed. I can't make this claim conclusively but I do feel there are some notable absences.
3. The biography ends with the partition of India. I find this very disappointing. Azad lived for 11 years after the partition. Most of the biographers of Azad end his biography abruptly after Indian independence. I believe a lot of young Indian Muslims would find such a lack of discussion on this aspect of Azad's life, disappointing.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking to get a fresh look at Azad's thought.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews