Mohammad Amir Ahmed Khan , titled as the Raja of Mahmudabad (5 November 1914 – 14 October 1973) was a prominent politician and leader of the

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 subcontin ...

, during the Pakistan Movement. He served as Managing Trustee from 1940–1944 of Madrasatul Waizeen, a centre of Shia Islamic education founded by his father located in Lucknow.

Titles and honours

*Khan Bahadur Khan *Amirul Omara *Saeedul Mulk Muzzafar Jung Ghanzanfaru-daula

Literary and cultural aspects

He carried on the family tradition and was an accomplished poet in Urdu and Persian. He composed a number of ruba'iyat, salaams, and marsiya as well as some ghazals and nazms under the takhalus (nom de plume) of 'Bahr' and 'Mahbub'. One of his previously unpublished marsiya, entitled Jawn Martyr of Karbala Lamented, has been recently published in London.

Inheritance and legacy

He inherited the Estate of Mahamudabad in 1931 upon death of his father Maharaja Sir Mohammad Ali Mohammad Khan. After his demise, his Estate was taken over by the Government of India under 'Enemy Properties Act'. His wife Rani Kaniz Abid and his only son and heir Raja Mohammad Amir Mohammad Khan remained an Indian citizen and fought a case for recovery of their ancestral Estate for reclaiming their heritage worth millions of

rupees Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...

and the case is, at present, in high profile legal dispute in India. He won the case after 37 herculean years winning through district court, High Court of Bombay, and the

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme judicial authority of India and is the highest court of the Republic of India under the constitution. It is the most senior constitutional court, has the final decision in all legal matters ...

which gave a landmark judgement in 2005 ordering "vacant possession" to his properties. Yet to date, the order is far from implementation as the Indian Government continues to bring emergency ordinances in order to block the Supreme Court order; so the case is back in the courts.

Pakistan Movement

He was one of the youngest members of Working Committee of

in 1937. In the same year 1937, he founded

All India Muslim Students Federation The All India Muslim Students Federation (AIMSF) was an Indian Muslim students union affiliated with the All-India Muslim League. Splitting off from the All India Students' Federation in 1937, the body was organised under patronage of Muhammad A ...

, which later mobilized into a strong vocal support for Pakistan Movement.Profile and commemorative postage stamp info of Raja Sahib of Mahmudabad on findpk.com website
Retrieved 6 May 2018 However, he was against the

partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

. When the Muslim League passed the resolution at Lahore, he supported the creation of Pakistan. Later on, he changed his mind under the influence of

Muhammad Ali Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah (, ; born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the ...

, who was a long time family friend and eventually supported the idea of a separate Muslim state. Maharaja Mohammad Ali Mohammad Khan had created a trust with Motilal Nehru, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Deputy Habibullah and Chaudhary Bam Bahadur Shah amongst others to administer the estate as his son was still a minor. Motilal Nehru died before the Maharaja and after the latter's death in 1931, Mohammad Ali Jinnah became the dominant personality on the board. He said that "...the idea of a separate Muslim state in India stirred the imagination of the Muslims as nothing else had done before."

Migration

In 1945, before the

Independence of India The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

, he migrated to Iraq.The Riyasat of Raja of Mehmoodabad
by Farzana Behram Contractor. Retrieved 6 May 2018 He subsequently moved to Pakistan in 1957. He later settled down in London.

Life in London

He was the first Director of the

Islamic Cultural Centre The Islamic Cultural Centre is a centre for Muslims located in London, England, opened in 1944. It is part of the London Central Mosque, having been annexed. It campaigns on behalf of British Muslims to government, local authorities and official bod ...

in London, and devoted rest of his life in supervising the building of the ''Regent Park Mosque''. He was the moving force behind the World of Islam Festiva

held in 1976 in the United Kingdom.

Ali Allawi Ali Abdul-Amir Allawi (Arabic: علي عبد الامير علاوي) (born 1947) was Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister He is an Iraqi politician and scholar. From May 2020 to August 2022, he ran as Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister a ...

reminisces about the events of 1976.Ali Allawi, former Iraqi Minister, fondly remembers the instrumental role of Raja of Mahmudabad in the organisation of the Festival i
The Crisis of Islamic Civilization
Retrieved 6 May 2018

Death

He died in London on 14 October 1973 but was buried in

Mashhad Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. It serves as the capital of R ...

in Iran. He is survived by his two daughters, Bari Rajkumari Ammatul Hussein Imam and Choti Rajkumari Rabab Mehdi, and was succeeded by his son Raja Mohammad Amir Mohammad Khan who has been a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh.

Legacy

The Mehmoodabad area of Karachi is named after him. Raja Sahib of Mahmudabad used to practice strict self-denial and self-discipline for religious reasons in his personal life. That is why his house in

Karbala Karbala or Kerbala ( ar, كَرْبَلَاء, Karbalāʾ , , also ;) is a city in central Iraq, located about southwest of Baghdad, and a few miles east of Lake Milh, also known as Razzaza Lake. Karbala is the capital of Karbala Governorat ...

, Iraq and all his wealth was gifted to the Government of Pakistan. In 1990,

Pakistan Postal Services Pakistan Post ( ur, ) is a state enterprise which functions as Pakistan's primary and largest postal operator. 49,502 employees through a vehicle fleet of 5,000 operate traditional "to the door" service from more than 13,419 post offices acro ...

issued a commemorative postage stamp in his honor in its 'Pioneers of Freedom' series.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mohammad Amir Ahmed Khan 1914 births 1973 deaths All India Muslim League members Indian royalty Iraqi people of Indian descent Leaders of the Pakistan Movement Indian Shia Muslims Pakistani emigrants to the United Kingdom Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Pakistani Shia Muslims People from Sitapur district Pakistani expatriates in Iraq Poets in British India Burials in Mashhad Burials at Imam Reza Shrine