Azad, Abu'l-Kalam
(1888–1958), president of the Indian National Congress. Born in 1888 in Mecca, Islam's main center of pilgrimage, to a family of Afghan origin, Azad Abu'l Kalam settled with his parents in the Indian city of Calcutta in 1890. Here, his father became famous as spiritual guide and religious scholar (maulana). Azad was taught at home, receiving a traditional Islamic education, though he secretly studied English and the writings of the Indian Muslim reformer Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817–1898). Nevertheless, his religious ideas were traditional, far from Islamic modernism and reformism: God was the supremely authoritative center of the universe, and man's duty was to admire, obey, and worship Him.
Around 1910, he joined the Hindu anti-British revolutionaries of Bengal, in spite of their anti-Muslim attitude. In 1912 he started publishing an Urdu weekly, Al-Hilal (The Crescent), which had a wide circulation among the Indian Muslim community. Due to its radical political and religious ideas, the British banned the weekly in 1914. Granted the honorific title of maulana, Azad became one of the leading political nationalists, fighting against both the British presence and the partition of India into two different states for Hindus and Muslims. He supported the concept of a confederation of autonomous provinces with their own constitutions, but with strong central ties.
Repeatedly deported and arrested by the British for his ideas, in 1923 he became the youngest president of the Indian National Congress. In 1928 he presided over the Nationalist Muslim Conference. Between 1940 and 1946 he held, for the second time, the position of president of the National Congress. After partition, he served as minister in the Indian government.
Further Reading
Azad, Abulkalam. (1978) India Wins Freedom: An Autobiographical Narrative. New Delhi: Sangam.
——. (1990) Selected Speeches and Statements, 1940–47: Maulana Azad. Edited by P. N. Chopra. New Delhi: Reliance.
Hameed, Syeda Saiyidain. (1998) Islamic Seal on India's Independence: Abul Kalam Azad: A Fresh Look. Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press.
Minault, Gail, and Christine W. Troll, eds. (1988) Abul Kalam Azad: An Intellectual and Religious Biography. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
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