The All India Azad Muslim Conference ( ur, ), commonly called the Azad Muslim Conference (literally, "Independent Muslim Conference"), was an organisation of nationalist Muslims in India.
Its purpose was advocacy for
composite nationalism
Composite nationalism ( Hindustani: ''mushtareka wataniyat'' or ''muttahidah qaumiyat'') is a concept that argues that the Indian nation is made of up people of diverse cultures, castes, communities, and faiths. The idea teaches that "nationali ...
and a united India, thus
opposing the partition of India as well as its underlying
two-nation theory
The two-nation theory is an ideology of religious nationalism that influenced the decolonisation of the British Raj in South Asia. According to this ideology, Indian Muslims and Indian Hindus are two separate nations, with their own customs, ...
put forward by the pro-separatist
All-India Muslim League
The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party established in Dhaka in 1906 when a group of prominent Muslim politicians met the Viceroy of British India, Lord Minto, with the goal of securing Muslim interests on the Indian subcont ...
.
The conference included representatives from various political parties and organizations such as
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind or Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind () is one of the leading organizations of Islamic scholars belonging to the Deobandi school of thought in India. It was founded in November 1919 by a group of Muslim scholars including Abdul Bari F ...
,
Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam
Majlis-e Ahrar-e Islam ( ur, مجلس احرارلأسلام), also known in short as Ahrar, is a religious Muslim political party in the Indian subcontinent that was formed during the British Raj (prior to the Partition of India) on 29 Dece ...
,
All India Momin Conference,
All India Shia Political Conference
The All India Shia Political Conference ( ur, ), commonly called the Shia Political Conference was a political party in British India that was organized in Lucknow in 1929.
In October 1937, it urged its members to support the Indian National ...
,
Khudai Khidmatgar
Khudai Khidmatgar ( ps, خداۍ خدمتګار; literally "servants of God") was a predominantly Pashtun nonviolent resistance movement known for its activism against the British Raj in colonial India; it was based in the country's North-West ...
,
Krishak Praja Party,
Anjuman-i-Watan Baluchistan
The Anjuman-i-Watan, Baluchistan ( bal, ), commonly called Anjuman-i-Watan, was a political party in British India based in the province of Baluchistan. It was led by Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai.
It was a member of the All India Azad Muslim Confer ...
,
All India Muslim Majlis, and
Jamiat Ahl-i-Hadis.
The Canadian orientalist
Wilfred Cantwell Smith
Wilfred Cantwell Smith (July 21, 1916 – February 7, 2000) was a Canadian Islamicist, comparative religion scholar, and Presbyterian minister. He was the founder of the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University in Quebec and later th ...
felt that the attendees at the Delhi session in 1940 represented the "majority of India's Muslims".
''
The Bombay Chronicle
''The Bombay Chronicle'' was an English-language newspaper, published from Mumbai (then Bombay), started in 1910 by Sir Pherozeshah Mehta (1845-1915), a prominent lawyer, who later became the president of the Indian National Congress in 1890, an ...
'' documented on 18 April 1946 that "The attendance at the Nationalist meeting was about five times than the attendance at the League meeting."
History
The Azad Muslim Conference was established in 1929
by
Allah Bakhsh Soomro
Allah Bux Muhammad Umar Soomro ( sd, اللهَ بخشُ سوُمَرو) (1900 – 14 May 1943), ( Khan Bahadur Sir Allah Bux Muhammad Umar Soomro OBE till September 1942) or Allah Baksh Soomro, was a ''zamindar'', government contractor, Ind ...
, a later
Chief Minister of Sindh, who had founded the
Sind Ittehad Party
The Sind United Party or Sind Ittehad Party ( Sindhi: سنڌ اتحاد پارٽي) was a political party in Sind, British India. The party was founded in June 1936, the same year that the Sind province had been created. The party was modelled on ...
(Sind United Party) a few years before.
In the 20th century, many Muslims in
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
"ferociously opposed the Muslim League’s demand for Pakistan".
Allah Bakhsh Soomro stated:
In the session of the Azad Muslim Conference held in
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...
, from April 27 to April 30, over 1400 nationalist Muslim delegates participated.
Allah Baksh Soomro, the leader of the conference, stated "No power on earth can rob anyone of his faith and convictions, and no power on earth shall be permitted to rob Indian Muslims of their just rights as Indian nationals."
The participants primarily belonged to the working class of Muslims in British India, unlike the All India Muslim League, whose membership was largely composed of the elite.
''
The Bombay Chronicle
''The Bombay Chronicle'' was an English-language newspaper, published from Mumbai (then Bombay), started in 1910 by Sir Pherozeshah Mehta (1845-1915), a prominent lawyer, who later became the president of the Indian National Congress in 1890, an ...
'' documented on 18 April 1946 that "The attendance at the Nationalist meeting was about five times than the attendance at the League meeting."
The Canadian orientalist
Wilfred Cantwell Smith
Wilfred Cantwell Smith (July 21, 1916 – February 7, 2000) was a Canadian Islamicist, comparative religion scholar, and Presbyterian minister. He was the founder of the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University in Quebec and later th ...
likewise stated that he felt the attendees represented the "majority of India's Muslims",
as did the British press.
Meetings of the Azad Muslim Conference were frequent in the 1940s, especially in 1942, and continued in several cities, which worried the rival Muslim League.
From 27 December 1947 to 28 December 1947, the Azad Muslim Conference was convened in
Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...
by
Hafiz Mohamad Ibrahim
Hafiz Mohamad Ibrahim, also spelled as Hafiz Muhammad Ibrahim (1889-1968), was a leader of Indian National Congress. He was governor of Punjab, India in 1965. Ibrahim was a member of Rajya Sabha from 1958 to 1962 and served as union minister of p ...
and
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. This meeting was also supported by leaders like Zahid bin
Maulana Shaukat Ali
Shaukat Ali (10 March 1873– 26 November 1938; Urdu: مولانا شوكت علي) was an Indian Muslim member of the Khilafat Movement. He was the elder brother of the renowned political leader Mohammad Ali Jouhar.
Early life
Shaukat Ali was ...
of Khilafat Andolan.
The Azad Muslim Conference concluded that the creation of Pakistan would be "impracticable and harmful to the country’s interest generally, and of Muslims in particular."
It called on Indian Muslims to work with Indians of other faiths to gain Indian independence from British rule.
Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
praised the Azad Muslim Conference as "very representative and very successful".
The Azad Muslim Conference had support from the
Deobandi school of Islam and their
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind or Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind () is one of the leading organizations of Islamic scholars belonging to the Deobandi school of thought in India. It was founded in November 1919 by a group of Muslim scholars including Abdul Bari F ...
.
The All India Azad Muslim Conference, despite its political strength, was sidelined by British officials, who referred to the organisation as "so-called" in their correspondences.
Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow
Victor Alexander John Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow, (24 September 1887 – 5 January 1952) was a British Unionist politician, agriculturalist, and colonial administrator. He served as Governor-General and Viceroy of India from 1936 to 1943 ...
, had referred to the organisation as "stage managed" in 1942 and eventually, the British were only willing to recognize the pro-separatist All India Muslim League as being the sole representative of Indian Muslims—a development that led to the partition of India.
Member parties
*
Sind Ittehad Party
The Sind United Party or Sind Ittehad Party ( Sindhi: سنڌ اتحاد پارٽي) was a political party in Sind, British India. The party was founded in June 1936, the same year that the Sind province had been created. The party was modelled on ...
*
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind or Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind () is one of the leading organizations of Islamic scholars belonging to the Deobandi school of thought in India. It was founded in November 1919 by a group of Muslim scholars including Abdul Bari F ...
*
Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam
Majlis-e Ahrar-e Islam ( ur, مجلس احرارلأسلام), also known in short as Ahrar, is a religious Muslim political party in the Indian subcontinent that was formed during the British Raj (prior to the Partition of India) on 29 Dece ...
*
All India Momin Conference
*
All India Shia Political Conference
The All India Shia Political Conference ( ur, ), commonly called the Shia Political Conference was a political party in British India that was organized in Lucknow in 1929.
In October 1937, it urged its members to support the Indian National ...
*
Khudai Khidmatgar
Khudai Khidmatgar ( ps, خداۍ خدمتګار; literally "servants of God") was a predominantly Pashtun nonviolent resistance movement known for its activism against the British Raj in colonial India; it was based in the country's North-West ...
*
Krishak Praja Party
*
Anjuman-i-Watan Baluchistan
The Anjuman-i-Watan, Baluchistan ( bal, ), commonly called Anjuman-i-Watan, was a political party in British India based in the province of Baluchistan. It was led by Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai.
It was a member of the All India Azad Muslim Confer ...
*All India Muslim Majlis
*Jamiat Ahl-i-Hadees
*
Assam Valley Party
Sir Syed Muhammad Saadulla KCIE ( as, ছাৰ ছৈয়দ মহম্মদ ছাদুল্লাহ; 21 May 1885 – 8 January 1955) was the Prime Minister of Assam in British India. He was also the chairman of Gauhati Municipality ...
*
Unionist Party
*
All India Sunni Jamiyyathul Ulema/
All India Sunni Conference
All India Sunni Conference (Hindi, आल इन्डिया सुन्नी कांफ्रेंस Urdu, آل انڈیا سنی کانفرنس ) was an organisation of Indian Sunni Muslims associated with Sufism and this Conference b ...
(left in 1946)
*
Muslim Independent Party
The Muslim Independent Party was a political party founded in India in 1935 by Abul Muhasin Muhammad Sajjad.
History
The party was founded in 1935 by Abul Muhasin Muhammad Sajjad, the Amir of Imarat-e-Sharia, Bihar, to represent Muslims in Bihar ...
[Sajjad, Mohammad. "Mohammad Yunus (1884–1952), the 1st Chief Minister of Bihar". biharanjuman.org. Bihar Anjuman. Retrieved 31 May 2011.]
Slogans and events
The Azad Muslim Conference used several slogans, among them being: "
Inquilab Zindabad
Inquilab Zindabad ( ur, ; hi, इंक़लाब ज़िन्दाबाद) is a Hindustani phrase, which translates to "Long live the revolution". It is a slogan used by revolutionary Indians before independence.
History
This slogan ...
", "Hindustan Azad", "Pakistan Murdabad", "Freedom through National Unity", and "We are Indian and India is our Home".
On 19 April 1940, the Azad Muslim Conference celebrated "Hindustan Day", in contrast to the pro-separatist Muslim League's "Pakistan Day".
See also
*
Opposition to the partition of India
*
All-India Jamhur Muslim League
The All India Jamhur Muslim League ( ur, ) was formed in 1940, to counter the Lahore resolution, passed by the All-India Muslim League, for a separate Pakistan based on Muhammad Ali Jinnah's Two nation theory.
The first session of the party was h ...
*''
Composite Nationalism and Islam''
*
Akhand Hindustan
References
{{reflist
External links
Facts Don't Back The Argument That Most Indian Muslims Wanted Partition by Rupa Subramanya– ''
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
''
History of the Republic of India
Partition (politics)
Islam in India
1929 establishments in British India
Organizations established in 1929