User:Ali4Baig/NAWAB MOOSA KHAN

1872-1944

An outstanding Politician, a leading Freedom Fighter and a eminent Scholar

Nawab Moosa Khan Sherwani, who actually laid the foundation for the formation of the All India Muslim League, there years before it was formally launched at Dacca, was born at Mecca  in 1872. No wonder he had the good of the Millat at heart that his efforts to organize the Muslims of India on one Platform turned out to be so fruitful.

His fater, NawabFaizAhmjed Khan had migrated to Mecca after the British occupation of India. NawabFaiz Ahmed Khan belonged to the well knownSherwaniPathan family of Aligarh. The family had migrated form Afghanistan and held high positions during the reigns of MahmoodGhaznavi, QutbuddinAibak and BehlolLodhi, SikandarLodhi sent a military expedition to Thatta (Sindh) under the command of Isa khan Sherwani, the Great-Grand-father of NawabFaiz Ahmed Khan. After the conquest of Sind, Isa Khan Sherwani was made Governor of “Koil”, NOW Aligarh. Henceforth, the SherwaniPathans settled down permanently at Aligarh and its adjoining districts of Bulandsheher and Etah in U.P., India.

I 1803 A.D the British Army, under the command of Lord Lake, attacked Aligarh and occupied it after fierce fighting. The “Dataoli” estate of SherwaniPathans in Aligarh was occupied by the Jats with the assistance of the British. However, later on Murad Khan Sherwani, the Grand-Father of NawabFaiz Ahmed Khan, defeated the Jats and re-occupied the estate of “Dataoil” where NawabFaizahmed Khan was born in 1826.

Inspired by the 1857war of Independence, NawabFaiz Ahmed Khan donated a large amount of money in support of the last Mughal Emperor, due to which the British arrested the Nawab and put him in Bulandsheher Jail. After his release, NawabFaiz Ahmed Khan migrated to Mecca along with his family, leaving behind his vast estate, and settled down there permanently. He purchased extensive properties in Mecca, Madina and Taief, which included many properties just surrounding the KABA in Mecca. Nad built many mosques, rubats, gardens and residential buildings there. Due to his acts of generosity, charity and love for common man, NawabFaiz Ahmed Khan son became known in the Arab world as “Khawaja Hindi” in Mecca, at thetpp of which NawabFaiz Ahmed Khan had built two of his residences, was named after him and is still called “Jabal—eHindi” Similarly, the Grand Mosque at Taief built by him is known as “Al-Masjid-e-Hindi”, even today.

When Resia attacked Turkey in 1857, NawabFaiz Ahmed Khan, at the personal appeal of the Khilafat-e-Usmania. The Nawab was honoured with the highest civil award and an entitlement of 8 Guns’ Salute within he limits of Ottoman Empire. NawabFaiz Ahmed Khan, died in 1878 at Taief. The Nawab had attained such a high position in the Muslim world that his Ghaibana-Namaze-Janaza were held in almost all the cities of Arabia and Turkey, including the Harams fo Mecca and Madina, and the government offices as well as the commercial establishments remained closed for 3 day in mourning thereof.

After the demise of NawabFaiz Ahmed Khan, the family returned of India leaving behind the vast propertied in Arabia intact. When his son, NawabMoosa Khan came to India, he was only 6 years old and could hardly speak Urdu. It was only afterwards that he acquired extensive knowledge of Urdu, ability that sir Syed Ahmad Khan appointed him one of the Trustees of the M.A.O. College at an early age of 19. He had thus acquired the unique honour of becoming the youngest Trustee of that great Institution. NawabMoosa Khan was also an outstanding orator and Sir Syed always used to take him along on his educational and political tours of the country.

When Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was contemplating to esxtablish a School in India, of the lines of Cambridge and Oxford of England, but was impeded of want ot active support, required finances and other resources, it was NawabIsmail Khan, the eldest brother of NawabMossa khan and an odl acquaintance of Sir Syed Ahmed, who actually inspired and persuaded Sir Syed to establish M.A.O. College at Aligarh by ensuring full and unflinching support for the ensuingproject. Hence the M.a.o. Collage was first established in one of NawabShahb’sBangalows called “Phoonswalla Bangla” at Aligarh and Naawab Ismail Khan and later on NawabMoosa Khan became Trustees of the College.

Somehow, Sir Syed never had cordial relations with his son, Justice Mahmood. So much so that later in his life Sir Syed left home and permanently settled in one of the family residences of NawabMoosa Khan Known as “DarulUns” at Aligarh. Henceforth, he spent rest his life in that Banglow anddied there on 27th March, 1898 at 7:30 p.mIronically, there was nobody at his bad side at het time of his demise.

NawabMoosa Khan, who was an ardent lover of freedom and a magnanimous supporter of Muslim unity, soon started taking part in Indian politics and movements for independence. His father’s associations  with the Ottoman Empire and the miserable after effects of the wars of the Balkans and Turkey, were fresh in his mind. This, along with his personal friendship with Moulana Mohammad Ali Johar, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Doctor Ansari soon attracted him towards Khilafat Movement. He was first elected the President of the U.PKhilafat Committee and then Secretary of the Central Khilafat and Motial Nehru and his inherent longing for freedom, influenced him to join the Indian National Congress, where he was soon elevated to its High Command.

NawabMossa Khan’s towards freedom, his un-blemished character and political insight and his extraordinary intelligence and acumen alongwith untiring efforts, soon brought him in the fore-front of the Indian political leaders. His famous residence “Musharraf Manzil” at Aligarh became the Centre of Indian politics, where moves and strategies of freedom movement were formulated and devised and important political decisions taken. That residence had remained the headquarters of freedom fighters important political decisions taken. That residence had remained the headquarters of freedom fightes for quite a long time, where top political leaders of India and the elite such as Ali Brothers, Hakim AjmalKhan, Dr. Ansari, the Agha Khan, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Motilal Nehru, Sir Ali Imam, JusticeAmir Ali, Ubaidullah Sindhi, NawabIsmail Khan, Sir Umar Hayat Tivana, Raja Mahmoodabad, Sir RazaAli and many others used to gather and stay. Here an incidence may be interesting to quote, that during one of the usual gatherings of politicians at “Musharraf Manzil”Aligarh, while getting down the main stepof the Kothi, Motilal Nehru tumbled and fell down. Moulana Mohammad Ali Johar, who was also present, immediately came out with a verse “MOOSA KEE SEERION PAR MOTI LURAK RAHAI HAIN”.

Before the establishment of the Muslim league, the centreof freedom movement inIndia was the India National Congress and nearly all the known Muslim politicians had remained attached with the Congress in one way or the other. However NawabMoosa Khan was among the first eminent Muslim politician who, as early as in 1902, sensed the Hindu mentality and perceived the Anti-Muslim game of the Congress High Command and decided to dissociate himself from that party, while other Muslim Leaders including the Mr. M.A. Jinnah remained affiliated with the Congress for much longer period. It, however, took quite some time and considerable efforts to bring Quaid-e-Azaminto the Muslim League fold, for which NawabMoosa Khan’s contribution was outstanding.

In 1902, after the resignation from the Congress Nawab Khan called a meeting of eminent Muslim Leaders to discuss “Urdu-Hindi Controversy” at Lucknow. Thereafter, he travelled vastly throughout the country in order to observe the helpless conditions of The Muslim masses and also to assess and ascertain the potential of a separate Muslim political Party in Indai. After his study-tour, NawabMoosa Khan called an initial meeting on 25th July 1930 to discuss the formation of a separate Muslim Political Party in which NawabMohsin-ul-Mulk, NawabViqar-ul-Mulk, Sahibzadaaftab Ahmed Khan and Shaikh Mohammad Abdullah participated.

Later on, NawabMoosa Khan called a grand assembly of the Muslim elders, eminent scholars and known politicians at Aligarh. The meeting was so successful that it became a corner-stone for the establishment of a separate Muslim political party on modern lines in Indai. It was only at thinitiative of that momentous meeting and personal efforts of NawabMoosa Khan, that a delegation of Muslims, under the leadership of the Agha Khan, called on the Ciceroy, Lord Minto in 1906 at Simla, which ultimately resulted in the Morely-Minto reforms and seprate electorate for Muslims in India. Further, it was also at the decision taken in that meeting that the All India Muslim League was inaugurated at Dacca in 1906. Not only that NawabMoosa Khan was elected Secretary of the All India Muslim League, but the Central Office of the League was also established in his famous residence “Musharraf Manzil” Aligarh. The entalOffcie of the All India Muslim League remained in that Kothi for 6 years, when it was finally shifted to Lucknow in 1912. Hence the ground-work for the formation of the All India Muslim League, its establishment and its original success and progress owes a great deal to the guidance, political acumen and untiring efforts of NawabMoosa Khan.

During the period the Central Office of the All India Muslim League remained at “MushaffafManzil” Aligrah and NawabMoosa Khan was its Secretary, branches of the Muslim Legue were firmly established in almost all the provicesof  India including Burma. A Central Committee of the India Muslim League was also formed with 40 elected members, which included 7 each from U.P., The Punjab, East Bengal and West Bengal/Orisa; 4 from Bombay including Sind; 2 each from Madras, Behar/C.P. and Native States; and I each from Burma, and Frontier/Baluchistan.

The first public meeting of the All India Muslim League was also called and organized by NawabMoosa Khan in 1908 at Amritsar.It was at the initiative of the NawabSaheb that a joint meeting of the Muslim League and the Congress was held at Lucknow in 1917, which resulted in the well known “Lucknow Pact” it was also at the behest of NawabMoosa Khan that a branch of the All India Muslim League was established in Sind, at a time when it was still included in the Bombay Presidency; and it was the NawabSaheb who proposed and got the Sind Muslim League affiliated with the All India Muslim League at its Council meeting held on 18th July, 1920. It was, however, after 15 years hence that, in 1935, the province of Sind was created out of the Bombay Presidency.

History bears testimony that during the most difficult and chaotic period of early efforts for Muslim unity in the sub-continent, at a time when some of the front ranking leaders such as Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, NawabMohsin-ul-Mulk, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Moulana Mohammad Ali Johar were n o more; while others such as the Agha Khan, Sir Ali Imam and NawabSalimullah Khan of Dacca had, in sheer despair, refrained from taking active part in politics, so much so that Mohammad Ali Jinnah decided to leave India and settled down in England, NawabMoosa Khan and Justice Amir Ali together kept the Muslim League alive. During those perplexing and chaotic days of early Muslim political recognition, their political insight, dedication, selfless untiring efforts and hard work of those two eminent personalities held back the till then hard-earned Muslim unity from eventual collapse. Hence, when Quaid-e-Azam, on his return from London, took the difficult task of re-organizing the Muslim League, NawabMoosa Khan was one of those he contacted first.

However, earlier in 1933, NawabMoosa Khan had an attack of “Parkinsons”, a disease that ultimately disables the patient permanently. The disease gradually restricted Nawab Sahib’s powers of movement and speech to an extent that he had to limit his political activities to bare minimum. Hence, when Quaid-e-Azam invited NawabMoosa Khan to attend the first re-organization meeting of the Muslim League a his residence in Bombay, NawabSaheb regretted his presence due to his partial immobility and illness. However, on Quaid’s insistence, he at last agreed to take a long and tiring jurney by train to Bombay and took along with him his daughter, Rahil Begum Sherwani and his two grand-sons, MirzaHumayunBaig and MirzaJawadBaig. In the meeting, however, Muslim women were not represented. Hence, when Quaid-e-Azam saw RahilBagum he was pleased to invite her to join the meting, as the sole representative of the Muslim women of India.

After his return from Bombay, NawabMoosa Khan gradually become invalid and decided in 1938 to retire from politics altogether. Remaining completely disabled for many years, NawabMoosa Khan at last expired in March, 1944 at Aligarh; with which ended the 40 years, of long drawn hetic and tiresome political struggle for Muslim unity in the sub-continent, in which NawabMoosa Khan’s contributions were among the foremost.

NawabMoosa Khan was also an eminent scholar and wrote as many as 11 books on Seerat-un-Nabi, Khilafat, politics and education. The “Institute Gazette” of the M.A.O. College and University was also published under his guidance and patronage. After the demise of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, when undue interference of the British government increased in the affairs of the Aligarh Muslim University, NawabMoosa Khan called a meeting of Muslim elders at his residence, which recommended the establishment of another separate educational institution for Muslims. Accordingly, an educational institution by the name of “JamiaMilliaIslamia”: was inaguaurated and established in “KankarwaliKothi” one of the residence of nawab Sahib. That institution was later shifted to Delhi and is still functioning there very well.

The entire life of NawabMoosa Khan was spent in massive strive and selfless struggle for Muslim unity which could be cited as a model for the politicians of today. Apart from the extensive properties in Arabia, the estate of “Dataoli” consisted 119 villages, spread over 3 districts of Aligarh, Bulandsheher and Etah, yielding a revenue to the government, as per Revenue Record, amounting to rupees 65 thousand in 1864. However, NawabMoosa Khan, who was born with silver spoon in the outh, sacrifiedevery thing for the cause of freedom and Muslim unity, so much so that at the time Nawab Sahib had retired from politics in 1938, the estate of “Dataoli” was indebted heavily. Further, according to testaments, NawabMoosa Khan, whose suits, in early days, used to be sent to pairs for dry-cleaning and shoes bought from London, was according to his will, buried in the coffin of “Kaddar” hand-woven by a Muslim weaver of h is estate.