Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Biography

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Biography

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was one of the famous Indian freedom fighters and later became Union educational Minister for Independent India. He was born on November 11, 1888, to Maulana Khairuddin and his mother, Zaher Watri. His forefathers belonged to Afghanistan and migrated to India during the rule of the Mughal emperor Babar. His family follows orthodox Muslim traditions. He was educated in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu with a theological orientation. Hence Maulana Abul Kalam Azad had a passion for learning English on his own and also learned English. Since his childhood days, he has been interested in writing poetry.

As a Journalist:

Abul Kalam Azad travelled to Egypt, Turkey, Syria, and France and wrote many articles on various social issues. These made him build friendships with ‘Mustafa Kemal Pasha’ the publisher, and the Young Turks Movement leaders in Turkey. However, their interaction and ideas made Maulana believe that Indian Muslims should join with fellow citizens to fight against the British to get India free. These thoughts caused him to start a press and weekly by ‘Al-Hilal’ to bring awareness among the Indians about Independence. The weekly was very famous, and the circulation figure rose to 26,000 copies. The ideas of the magazine were distributed British Government, and the subsequent events made the government ban ‘Al-Hilal’ magazine named ‘Al-Balagh’ weekly.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad As a Freedom Fighter:

Apart from this publication, he participated in the Freedom movements like the Khilafat Movement Non-Cooperation Movement. Even he influenced The Civil Disobedience Movement and the Quit India Movement. Abul Kalam Azad had very far sight about the future of India after the British rule. So that he opposed the division of a united India as Pakistan and India due to only religious concepts. The division of India made him very disappointed. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad strongly emphasized internal communal harmony for the bright future of Indians. He campaigns for the importance of Peace and the need for Freedom for everyone. He used the power of writing and speeches to awaken the masses towards the freedom fight.

Here we need to recall a piece of speech, which needed to follow still by the Indians………..

                   “If an angel were to descend from the clouds today, settle on the Qutub Minar of Delhi and proclaim from there that India will attain Swaraj provided Hindu-Muslim Unity is renounced, then I would renounce Swaraj and not sacrifice Hindu-Muslim Unity, because if Swaraj is delayed, it is the loss to India, but if Hindu-Muslim Unity is lost, it is the loss to Humanity.”

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad As an Educational Minister:

After India gained Independence in 1947, Abul Kalam Azad worked as the Education Minister in Nehru Cabinet. He established many universities and promoted scientific research education to discover new thoughts. He brought many reforms in primary and secondary education. On February 22, 1958, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad passed away, and His Birth Anniversary celebrates as National Educational Day.