Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was born on November 11, 1888, in Mecca! This was because his father, Maulana Khairuddin, had participated in the First War of Independence in 1857, and after its failure, disliking the British Empire, he settled in Mecca from India! Some of his disciples established the Deoband religious institution in 1867! Maulana Khairuddin continued to guide the Deoband institution while living in Mecca!
According to Meccan tradition, the child born on November 11 was given two names! 1) Mohiuddin Ahmad, and as the future heir to the Muslim seat in Calcutta, the second name was Firoz Bakht! Maulana Azad himself chose the name “Azad” for his writings! Maulana Azad’s education in Mecca followed traditional Muslim methods! Due to his innate talent, he acquired extraordinary proficiency in Muslim theology, gaining fame throughout the Arab world, and was awarded the title of “Abul Kalam,” meaning scholar or Vidya Vachaspati! At that time, he was only eighteen years old! Because of this, both his childhood names were forgotten! And he came to be known henceforth as Maulana Abul Kalam Azad!
Due to the insistence of the followers of the Muslim seat in Calcutta, Maulana Khairuddin returned to India with his son; by then, the Indian National Congress had been established! The Deoband institution had fully supported Congress from the beginning! Naturally, when Maulana Azad returned to India, he joined Congress!
After returning to India, he pursued modern education, mastering Hindi, Urdu, and English languages; he had innate knowledge of Arabic! Thus, at the age of twenty in 1908, he traveled to Arabia, Egypt, Turkistan, and Iraq-Iran!
In 1912, he started a magazine called Al-Hilal from Calcutta for public awakening, and reading this magazine inspired Sarhad Gandhi Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan to join the Indian freedom movement! Through influential articles in Al-Hilal against the British Empire via the Quran! Seeing thousands of readers for Al-Hilal, the British arrested Maulana Azad and banned Al-Hilal! After release from jail, he started another magazine called Al-Balagh! In 1923, he was elected president of the Delhi Congress session! At that time, he was 35 years old! In these eleven years from 1912-1923, he had become one of the extraordinarily popular politicians!
Maulana Azad provided a revolutionary analysis of religious texts! Primarily as a commentator on the Quran, he published his work in 1930! Because of this, orthodox maulanas accused him of bid’ah, irtikab, and irtidad—the three sins! And the punishment for any one of these three sins was death by stoning! (And this was in 1930!)
The reason for such a severe punishment for Maulana Azad was that the authorized Quran was compiled and published in 933, three hundred years after Prophet Muhammad’s death! Those claiming it to be unchangeable, perfect, and divine were warned by Maulana Azad that ijtihad, qiyas—meaning rational thinking—is part of Islam! He demonstrated through logic and linguistics that contextuality, interfaith harmony, and pure humanity are the Quran’s core foundations! Concepts like jihad, kafir, dar-ul-harb are products of selfish, corrupt politics of those eras! In this way, for the first time in fourteen hundred years of history, a scholar of Islam emerged! According to Maulana Azad, hadith is human commentary and can contain errors! The meaning of the Quran three hundred years later does not bind me to the interpretation from Prophet Muhammad’s time! In this manner, he delivered a massive shock to the entire Islamic tradition! His main argument was contextuality! Insisting on applying the Quran, which emerged from seventh-century Arabian conditions, unchanged today is utterly wrong! This was his primary argument!
Maulana Azad interpreted the Quran in the context of Ummat-ul-Wahida! In Medina, there were five groups—Jews, Christians, Sabians, Magians, idol-worshippers—plus Islamic followers, making six communities! To unify prayer methods, Muslims who prayed facing Mecca began facing Jerusalem! God is everywhere, so what harm in praying toward Jerusalem? This question was posed by the Prophet himself, and there should be no force in becoming Muslim! This way, establishing a multi-religious government, ending old inhumane practices, respecting women and slaves, abolishing usury, and creating equal justice—this was the secular, democratic Islam of Prophet Muhammad’s time! Forming and sustaining a multi-religious government ‘Ummat-ul-Wahida’—that is true religion! And that is the Quran’s true meaning! This is what Maulana Azad wrote in his Quran commentary, for which some fanatic maulanas sentenced him to death by stoning ninety years ago!
Maulana Azad strongly opposed the creation of a separate Pakistan! It was wrong for both Hindus and Muslims! This was Maulana Azad’s honest opinion! He needed an undivided India for the experiment of multi-religious Ummat-ul-Wahida! He expected inclusion of modernity, science, and pure religiosity over hadith! If India had formed according to Maulana Azad’s ideas, there would be no trace of current communal politics! Issues like Jana-Gana-Mana, Vande Mataram, temple-mosque, triple talaq—exploiting emotions for cheap popularity—would not exist! In the year of celebrating 75 years of independence, on the occasion of Maulana Azad’s 133rd birth anniversary, to truly honor him, we must study his literary treasures: India Wins Freedom, Tazkirah, Ghubar-e-Khatir, Qaul-e-Faisal, Dastan-e-Karbala, and his Quran commentary! In 1924, he formed the Unity Council for Hindus-Muslims! Never in history has such a council been more necessary today! Because for the past thirty-fifty years, our country’s politics has centered solely on inflaming Hindu-Muslim emotions!
He was 70 years old when Maulana Abul Kalam Azad died of a heart attack on February 22, 1958! After independence, he worked continuously as India’s Education Minister for ten years! He did historic work in establishing IITs, UGC, the world-class science institution in Bangalore, and arranging sufficient resources for them! That is why his birthday on November 11 is celebrated as National Education Day! If people truly dream of making India Ummat-ul-Wahida (undivided India) per Maulana Azad’s thoughts, we must create an environment where every caste, religion, and gender in India feels this is our country—for all! This is possible only through love and mutual harmony, not by force of sticks or modern weapons! When we teach a small child at home with love and affection, even they learn—so what effect will force have on entire communities? On this 133rd birth anniversary, this is the true way to honor Maulana Azad! Otherwise, what will happen to his dream of India’s Ummat-ul-Wahida?
