MAULANA ABUL KALAM AZAD
Maulana Abul Kalam was born in Mecca in 1888. He came with his family to
Calcutta, India in 1890. As he grew up, he adopted the pen name 'Azad' to indicate that he
was no longer tied to the inherited beliefs of his family. He tried to convince his Hindu
friends that they should not generalise from their experience of a few Muslim officers in
Bengal, and that they should not think that Muslims as a community were their enemies.
He joined the Congress party and became a close associate of Gandhiji. When
second world war started, Maulana Azad was of the view that India should cooperate with
the allies in war efforts against Hitler (even though domestically the principle of
nonviolence can continue to be followed), as long as there is progress toward India's
independence.
Maulana Azad was against partition of India and creation of Pakistan. He believed
that Muslims were citizens of India as much as Hindus. He was an education minister in the
government of free India and faithfully served the nation till the end of his life.
(From 'India Wins Freedom' by Maulana Azad.)
Comments
Post a Comment