MAULANA MUHAMMAD ALI JAUHAR

A popular and dynamic national political leader, a courageous journalist and a poet par excellence, Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar was the greatest Muslim leader of the 20th century before the emergence of the Quaid-e-Azam. Maulana Muhammad Ali was born in Rampur and was educated at Aligarh Muslim University and the Oxford University(1898-1902). First of all, he served in the Education Department of the Rampur State, then he joined the Gaekwad Civil Serivce. Except for a few years he remained active in the affairs of the All India Muslim League from 1906 to 1928. He launched his famous English weekly "Comrade" from Calcutta in 1911 and his Urdu weekly "Hamdard" from Dehli in 1913. For four years after 1911, he remained involved in the Kanpur Mosque affair, The Pan-Islamic movement and the Aligarh University movement. He was sentenced to four years' imprisonment(1911-15) for his fearless championing of the Turkish [Khilafat] cause and violation of the Defence of India Rules. Upon his release he became a principal leader of the Khilafat Movement. He led the Indian Khilafat delegation to London in 1920. In 1924 he renewed the publication of "Hamdard". In 1928 he left the Indian National Congress, opposed the Nehru Report tooth and nail, supported the fourteen points of the Quaid-e-Azam and advised the Muslims to dissociate themselves from the Civil Disobedience movement of 1930. In the same year he became the president of the Khilafat Conference and attended the first Round Table Conference, where he delivered a memorable, fiery oration against the subjugation of India and in favor of immediate independence. Maulana Muhammad Ali died in London and ws buried in Bait-ul-Maqdis. During his ilness he had willed that he be buried in Bait-ul-Maqdis( Jeruslam) for he did not want to return to a slave country. He was accordingly buried there. No discussion of the Ali brothers will be complete without mentioning their mother, known as Bi Amaa. She was not only responsible for the training of Ali brothers, but herself active in politics. She was also a poetess