Maulana Azad (Abdul Kalam Muhiyuddin Ahmed)

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Maulana Azad (Abdul Kalam Muhiyuddin Ahmed)
Abul Kalam Muhiyuddin Ahmed, also known as Maulana Azad (azad means free), was a prominent
leader of the Indian national independence movement. Maulana Azad was born in Mecca (Saudi
Arabia) to a Muslim Indian family of Afghan descent. A brilliant student, he supplemented his
traditional Islamic education by studying in diverse fields, before turning to journalism. Attracted to
politics, he joined the Khilafat Movement (pan-Islamic and pro-independence mobilization in
1919-1924 to restore the position of the Caliph in the declining Ottoman Empire), supported by
Gandhi (to whom he was very close). He, then, along with other Khilafat leaders, established the
Jamia Millia Islamia (National Islamic University, JMI) in Delhi as a nationalist institution of higher
education, in which the British could not interfere. Maulana Azad gradually became one of the
leading figures of the struggle for India’s independence. A Congress leader and fierce defender of
secularism, he strongly criticized the Muslim League and its “Two-Nation theory.” During the
wide-spread violence that accompanied Partition, Azad set up refugee camps, offered guarantees of
security to Muslims who were to remain in India, and tried his best to ensure their safety. He
subsequently became India’s first education minister and a member of the Constituent Assembly in
which he defended the principle of secularism and the protection of Indian minorities. His unrelenting
faith in Hindu–Muslim harmony earned him a prominent place in India's history.
AZAD, Maulana A.K. 1959. India Wants Freedom. Calcutta: Orient Longman.
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