Mohsin Aziz

(Residential halls of Aligarh Muslim University: Person behind the name series/ blog 7)

Chupke chupke Raat din ansoon bahana Yaad hai

Humko abtak ashiqui Ka wo zamana Yaad hai

(Maulana Hasrat Mohani)

Hasrat Mohani Hostel

Hasrat Mohani hostel is one of the hostels in Sir Shah Sulaiman Hall. It is a boys hostel.

Birth and Early Life

Syed Fazlul Hassan popularly known as Maulana Hasrat Mohani was born in town Mohan of district Unnao, Uttar Pradesh in 1875. It was the year when Sir Syed was laying the foundation of Madrastul Uloom at Aligarh which later developed into Mohammadan Anglo Oriental College in 1877 and later into Aligarh Muslim University in 1920.

He passed middle school in 1894 from Mohan Middle School and got government scholarship based on his extraordinary performance in the whole district. In September 1894 he was admitted to government high school in Fatehpur in class 2. Within three months on 1st December 1894 he was promoted to class 4th based on his performance. When in May 1895 exams were held he topped the exams and by July 1895 he was again promoted, this time to class 6th. In class 6th the teachers were so impressed that within one month i.e. on 15 August 1895 he was again promoted to class 7th. He again scored highest marks in class 7th. By 1899 Hasrat passed the exam of inter, again securing highest marks in his class (Khalique Anjum, 1994)

At Aligarh

After passing Inter in1899 Hasrat decided to go to Aligarh for higher studies. At that time Sir Dr. Ziauddin Ahmad was professor of Mathematics at Mohammadan Anglo Oriental College. When Sir Ziauddin saw Hasrat’s name in official Gazette as a topper he immediately invited Hasrat to come to Aligarh for higher education (Majrooh Gorakhpuri, 1951).

Hasrat reached college on ekka. He was wearing loose pyjama, old shoes and was carrying his pandaan in one hand. Immediately someone called him khala Jaan. Hasrat had truly arrived at Aligarh in style. But soon he became favourite of students at the college and students gave him title of Maulana which became part of his name till death.

While at college his name was thrice written in discipline book. It became a reason for not allowing Hasrat to stay in College premises. When Hasrat came to Aligarh he was a brilliant student. However Hasrat got himself involved in so many cultural activities at Aligarh that he managed only second division in Graduation.

Urdu e Mualla

After graduation in 1903, Hasrat started a magazine by the name of Urdu e Mualla from Aligarh. Urdu e Mualla published articles against the imperialists. Hasrat had to pay heavy price for this. When in 1908, Hasrat criticized British police action in Egypt in Urdu e Mualla. He was imprisoned for his writings.

When Urdu e Mualla was closed, Hasrat opened Swadeshi Store at rasalganj area of Aligarh. It was called Mohani Swadeshi Store. On his indomitable spirit Allama Shibli said in amazement ‘tum aadmi ho ya Jin? Pehley shayar they phir sayasatdaan baney, ab baniye baney huye ho’. Similarly in his inimitable style Akbar Allahabadi quipped

Bhai Sahab ab tum Rakh do apna qalam

Hath main lo ab tejarat Ka alam

It is generally believed that Swadeshi movement was Started by Congress but the fact is that it was Hasrat who was the first person to not only give the but actually walk the talk by opening the Swadeshi store where only different Indian products were sold.

Politics

In 1904 he joned Congress and in 1905 he joined swadeshi tehreek run by Bal Gangadhar Tilak. In 1921 he coined the slogan Inquilab Zindabad which was later popularized by Bhagat Sigh. In fact the slogan became the most popular slogan of the freedom movement and still remains one.

Hasrat was involved in the communist movement in India from the very beginning. He was one of the founders of communist party of India (CPI). CPI’s first office was innaugrated in 1925 in Cawnpur (Kanpur). It was innaugrated by Hasrat Mohani by waving red flag. He was the president of the reception committee of All India Conference of Communists held in Kanpur on December 25-26, 1925 (Raza Naeem, 2018). In his own words he was a Muslim Communist:

Darweshi-o-inqilab maslak hai mera

Sufi momin hoon, Ishteraqi Muslim

He joined Muslim League as well for sometime. He parted ways with Jinnah as Hasrat did not want India to be partitioned. He was also an important member of Progressive Writers Association. He wore many hats at the same time.

Inquilab Zindabad

Hasrat Mohani was the first to propose to propose the concept of complete Independence or purna swaraj in 1921. However, Gandhi accepted the idea only 10 years later as Gandhi thought in 1921 that its time has still not come (Telangana Today, 2022)

Jail

In 1908 Hasrat was jailed for his political thoughts. At that time he was member of Congress. He was given imprisonment for two years and a fine of 500 rupees. To recover the fine police auctioned his personal library which contained some rare handwritten manuscripts. According to Hasrat many of those had no second copy. In Hasrat’s words the valuable books were put in a gunny bag like wood or sawdust and auctioned at a very low price.

After his release from prison he was again politically active. On 10th April 1916 Hasrat attended Aligarh Muslim University committee session at Lucknow. Still it was a college and the committee was holding sessions to press the demand for university status to the college. After attending the event Hasrat reached Aligarh and was arrested on 13th April 1916 from his home in Aligarh. This was his second arrest and imprisonment. He was imprisoned for being invited to be part of the Provisional Government of India-in-exile which was formed in Kabul by some prominent freedom fighters. It was composed of Raja Mahendra Pratap as President, Maulana Barkatullah as Prime Minister, Maulvi Ubaidullah Sindhi as home minister, Maulvi Bashir as war minister and Champakraman Pillai as foreign affairs minister. Before invitation could reach Hasrat, the British government got wind of it and arrested him. However he was allowed home cooked food and visits by family members.

His third arrest was in 1922 from Kanpur. A year earlier in Ahmedabad session of Congress in 1921 he presented the concept of complete Independence. The speech which he delivered in the session was considered revolt by the Raj and he was again imprisoned for two years. He was arrested from Kanpur and brought to Ahmedabad and put in baramati jail. This time sentence was rigorous imprisonment. He has himself described it in the following couplet:

Hai mashqey sukhan jaari, chakki ki mushaqqat bhi

Hai ek turfa tamasha Hasrat ki tabiyat bhi

His imprisonment could not deter him or break his spirits. In his own words:

Rooh azaad hai khayaal azaad

Jism e hasrat ki qaid hai bekar (Dewaney Hasrat Mohani, 1914)

When during his rigorous imprisonment ramzaan came Hasrat did not miss his fast. In his own words:

Kat Gaya qaed main mahey ramzaan bhi Hasrat

Garchey samaan sehar Ka tha na iftari Ka

Krishna loving Maulana

Hasrat never hid his love for Krishna. In fact he went to Mathura to play Holi. In his words

Mathura keh hai Nagar ashiqui Ka

Dam bharti hai aarzoo usi Ka

Har zarrah sarzameen e Gokul

Dara hai Jamal e dilbari Ka

Visit to Europe

In April 1939 Hasrat visited England by ship from Karachi. From Karachi he went to Basra. From Basra he went to Baghdad. From Baghdad he went to Beirut. From Beirut his ship went to Marseilles and onward to London. In London he met many people including Mr. MC Donald and Colonel Muir and discussed various political issues. Hasrat stayed in London for two months. According to Hasrat he travelled third class and spent 16 pounds sterling for his journey by ship. His discussions in London focussed on five topics: Indian federation, Government of Nizam Hyderabad, Albania, Palestine and Hijaz railway (Hasrat Mohani, 1939).

After Independence

Hasrat was among the lucky freedom fighters who saw India’s freedom in their lifetime. After Independence Hasrat became both member of parliament as well as member of Constituent Assembly. Both the memberships allowed him liberal allowances but Hasrat never took allowances. He did not even avail the facility of free housing for which he was entitled. Whenever he attended session of the parliament or Constituent Assembly he would stay in a mosque near parliament or stayed in Dar ul Amaan in Ballimaraan.

Poet

Hasrat was poet par excellence. He knew the art of writing ghazal in very simple language which could be understood by everybody. He considered Mir Taqi Mir as master poet.

Sher merey bhi Hain purdard wa lekin

Meer Ka Sheva e guftaar kahaan se laun

At the same time Hasrat was very proud of his poetry as well and expressed it several times in his poetry.

Hasrat teri is pukhta kalami ki hai kya baat

paya hai kisi aur sukhanwar ne hai kab rang

Hasrat teri shagufta kalami pe aafreen

Yaad a gain naseem ki rangeen bayaniyaan

(Dewaney Hasrat Mohani, 1914)

Wife

Hasrat got married to Nishat un Nisa in 1901. She was daughter of Syed Shabib Hassan Mohani who was lawyer in Hyderabad High Court. She was educated in Urdu, Arabic and Persian languages. She was a huge support to Hasrat. When Hasrat went to jail she wrote “Tolerate the trouble you have faced with like a man. Don’t worry about me or house at all. Beware you should not feel any type of weakness“. She even came to the court and fought the case of Hasrat with bravery.

Death

On 13 May 1951 Maulana Hasrat Mohani breathed his last in Lucknow after prolonged illness. His death was widely covered in national newspapers and journals. Many poets wrote on his death. Asar Rampuri said:

Kaamlaney Adab o Sher pe Aya hai wo Saal

Jis main aksar ne piya sagharey sahbai e ajal

(Asar Rampuri)

Thus ended the life of a freedom fighter who did not give an inch to the Britishers and valiantly fought his entire life for the freedom of India. His frequent visits to the jail could not deter him. He died on his own terms true to what he wrote in one of his jail terms,

Dushman ke mitaaney se na Mita hoon Na mitonga

Aur Yun to main faani hoon, fana meray liye.

References:

Khalique Anjum (1994) Hasrat Mohani. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India: New Delhi.

Hasrat Mohani (1914) Intekhab Deewaney Hasrat Mohani, Matba Faizey Aam, Aligarh.

Telangana Today (2022) Hasrat Mohani: The poet who first called for complete independence, coined ‘Inquilab Zindabad’. 14 August.

Saleem, Anika & Bayat, Ali (2022) Hasrat Mohani’s letter writing from British prison. Zaban o Adab. Vol. 15. No. 1.

Majnoon Gorakhpuri (1951) Hasrat Number, Urdu Adab, p. 81.

Hasrat Mohani (1939). Hasrat Mohani Ka Safar e Europe. Mustaqil (January -August), Kanpur, Pp. 1-4.

Raza Naeem (2018) Protecting the memory of Maulana Hasrat Mohani, Muslim and Communist. The Wire. Available at: https://thewire.in/history/maulana-hasrat-mohani-muslim-communist. Accessed on 25 January 2024.