Early life Azad was born on 11 November 1888 in
Mecca, then a part of the
Ottoman Empire, now a part of
Saudi Arabia. His real name was Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin, but he eventually became known as Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. while his mother was Sheikha Alia bint Mohammad, the daughter of Sheikh Mohammad bin Zaher AlWatri, himself a reputed scholar from
Medina who had a reputation that extended even outside of Arabia. Azad settled in
Calcutta with his family in 1890.
Education and influences Azad was
home-schooled by the teachers hired by his family. Following fluency in
Arabic as a first language, Azad began to master several other languages including
Bengali,
Hindustani,
Persian, and English. was teaching a class of students, most of whom were twice his age, when he was fifteen; and completed the traditional course of study at the age of sixteen, nine years ahead of his contemporaries, and brought out a magazine at the same age. At the age of thirteen, he was married to a young Muslim girl, Zulaikha Begum. He contributed articles to Urdu magazines and journals such as
Makhzan,
Ahsanul Akhbar, and
Khadang e Nazar. He then joined
Al-Nadwa, the Islamic theological journal of the
Nadwatu l-Ulama on
Shibli Nomani's invitation. He worked as editor of
Vakil, a newspaper from Amritsar from April 1906 to November 1906. He shifted to Calcutta for a brief period where he was associated with
Dar-ul-Saltunat. He returned to Amritsar after few months and resumed the editorship of
Vakil, continuing to work there until July 1908.
Struggle for Indian Independence In 1908, he took a trip of Egypt, Syria, Turkey and France where he came into contact with several revolutionaries such as followers of Kamal Mustafa Pasha, members of Young Turk Movement and Iranian revolutionaries. Azad developed political views considered radical for most Muslims of the time and became a full-fledged Indian nationalist. and was influenced by their fervent
anti-imperialism and
Arab nationalism. With the onset of
World War I, the British stiffened censorship and restrictions on political activity. Azad's
Al-Hilal was consequently banned in 1914 under the
Press Act. In 1913, he was founding member of the
Anjuman-i-Ulama-i-Bangala, which would become the Jamiat Ulema-e-Bangala branch of the
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind in 1921. His work helped improve the relationship between Hindus and Muslims in Bengal, which had been soured by the controversy surrounding the
partition of Bengal and the issue of separate
communal electorates. In this period Azad also became active in his support for the
Khilafat agitation to protect the position of the
Sultan of
Ottoman Turkey, who was considered the
Caliph or Khalifa for Muslims worldwide. The Sultan had sided against the British in the war and the continuity of his rule came under serious threat, causing distress amongst Muslim conservatives. Azad saw an opportunity to energise
Indian Muslims and achieve major political and social reform through the struggle. Azad started a new journal, the
Al-Balagh, which also got banned in 1916
Non-co-operation Movement Upon his release, Azad returned to a political atmosphere charged with sentiments of outrage and rebellion against British rule. The Indian public had been angered by the passage of the
Rowlatt Acts in 1919, which severely restricted civil liberties and individual rights. Consequently, thousands of political activists had been arrested and many publications banned. The
killing of unarmed civilians at Jallianwala Bagh in
Amritsar on 13 April 1919 had provoked intense outrage all over India, alienating most Indians, including long-time British supporters, from the authorities. The Khilafat struggle had also peaked with the defeat of the
Ottoman Empire in World War I and the raging
Turkish War of Independence, which had made the caliphate's position precarious. India's main political party, the Indian National Congress came under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, who had aroused excitement all over India when he led the farmers of
Champaran and
Kheda in a successful revolt against British authorities in 1918. Gandhi organised the people of the region and pioneered the art of
Satyagraha— combining mass civil disobedience with complete non-violence and self-reliance. Taking charge of the Congress, Gandhi also reached out to support the Khilafat struggle, helping to bridge Hindu-Muslim political divides. Azad and the Ali brothers – Maulana
Mohammad Ali and
Shaukat Ali – warmly welcomed Congress support and began working together on a programme of
non-co-operation by asking all Indians to boycott British-run schools, colleges, courts, public services, the civil service, police and military. Non-violence and Hindu-Muslim unity were universally emphasised, while the boycott of foreign goods, especially clothes were organised. Azad joined the Congress and was also elected president of the
All India Khilafat Committee. Although Azad and other leaders were soon arrested, the movement drew out millions of people in peaceful processions, strikes and protests. This period marked a transformation in Azad's own life. Along with fellow Khilafat leaders
Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari,
Hakim Ajmal Khan and others, Azad grew personally close to Gandhi and his philosophy. The three men founded the
Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi as an institution of higher education managed entirely by Indians without any British support or control. Both Azad and Gandhi shared a deep passion for religion and Azad developed a close friendship with him. He adopted the Islamic prophet Muhammad's ideas by living simply, rejecting material possessions and pleasures. Becoming deeply committed to
ahimsa (
non-violence) himself, Azad grew close to fellow nationalists like
Jawaharlal Nehru,
Chittaranjan Das and
Subhas Chandra Bose. He along with the editor of
Paigham, Abdul Razzak Mahilabadi was arrested by the government and sentenced to one year imprisonment. During the course of 1922, both the Khilafat and the non cooperation movement suffered blow while Azad and other leaders like the Ali brothers were in jail. The movement had a sudden decline with rising incidences of violence; a
nationalist mob killed 22 policemen in
Chauri Chaura in 1922. Fearing degeneration into violence, Gandhi asked Indians to suspend the revolt and undertook a five-day fast to repent and encourage others to stop the rebellion. Although the movement stopped all over India, several Congress leaders and activists were disillusioned with Gandhi. By 1923, Ali brothers grew distant and critical of Gandhi and the Congress. Azad's close friend
Chittaranjan Das co-founded the
Swaraj Party, breaking from Gandhi's leadership. Despite the circumstances, Azad remained firmly committed to Gandhi's ideals and leadership. In 1923, he became the youngest man to be elected
Congress president. Azad led efforts to organise the
Flag Satyagraha in
Nagpur. Azad served as president of the 1924 Unity Conference in Delhi, using his position to work to re-unite the Swarajists and the Khilafat leaders under the common banner of the Congress. In the years following the movement, Azad travelled across India, working extensively to promote Gandhi's vision, education and social reform.
Congress leader (1946) with
Rajendra Prasad,
Jinnah and
C. Rajagopalachari Azad served on the
Congress Working Committee and in the offices of general secretary and president many times. The political environment in India re-energised in 1928 with nationalist outrage against the
Simon Commission appointed to propose constitutional reforms. The commission included no Indian members and did not even consult Indian leaders and experts. In response, the Congress and other political parties appointed a commission under
Motilal Nehru to propose constitutional reforms from Indian opinions. In 1928, Azad endorsed the
Nehru Report, which was criticised by the Ali brothers and Muslim League politician
Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Azad endorsed the ending of separate
electorates based on religion, and called for an independent India to be committed to
secularism. At the 1928 Congress session in
Guwahati, Azad endorsed Gandhi's call for
dominion status for India within a year. If not granted, the Congress would adopt the goal of complete political independence for India. Despite his affinity for Gandhi, Azad also drew close to the young radical leaders Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhash Bose, who had criticised the delay in demanding full independence. Azad developed a close friendship with Nehru and began espousing socialism as the means to fight inequality, poverty and other national challenges. Azad decided the name of Muslim political party
Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam. He was also a friend of
Syed Ata Ullah Shah Bukhari, founder of All India Majlis-e-Ahrar. When Gandhi embarked on the
Dandi Salt March that inaugurated the
Salt Satyagraha in 1930, Azad organised and led the nationalist raid, albeit non-violent on the
Dharasana salt works to protest the salt tax and restriction of its production and sale. The biggest nationalist upheaval in a decade, Azad was imprisoned along with millions of people, and would frequently be jailed from 1930 to 1934 for long periods of time. Following the
Gandhi–Irwin Pact in 1931, Azad was amongst millions of political prisoners released. When elections were called under the
Government of India Act 1935, Azad was appointed to organise the Congress election campaign, raising funds, selecting candidates and organising volunteers and rallies across India. Azad occupied the time playing
bridge and acting as the referee in
tennis matches played by his colleagues. In the early mornings, Azad began working on his classic Urdu work, the
Ghubhar-i-Khatir. Sharing daily chores, Azad also taught the Persian and Urdu languages, as well as Indian and world history to several of his companions. The leaders would generally avoid talking of politics, unwilling to cause any arguments that could exacerbate the pain of their imprisonment. However, each year on
26 January, which was then considered
Poorna Swaraj (Complete Independence) Day, the leaders would gather to remember their cause and pray together. Azad, Nehru and Patel would briefly speak about the nation and the future. Azad and Nehru proposed an initiative to forge an agreement with the British in 1943. Arguing that the rebellion had been mistimed, Azad attempted to convince his colleagues that the Congress should agree to negotiate with the British and call for the suspension of disobedience if the British agreed to transfer power. Although his proposal was overwhelmingly rejected, Azad and a few others agreed that Gandhi and the Congress had not done enough. When they learnt of
Gandhi holding talks with
Jinnah in
Mumbai in 1944, Azad criticised Gandhi's move as counter-productive and ill-advised.
Partition of India ,
Sardar Patel,
Subhash Bose. With the end of the war, the British agreed to transfer power to Indian hands. All political prisoners were released in 1946 and Azad led the Congress in the elections for the new
Constituent Assembly of India, which would draft India's constitution. He headed the delegation to negotiate with the
British Cabinet Mission, in his sixth year as Congress president. While attacking Jinnah's demand for
Pakistan and the mission's proposal of 16 June 1946 that envisaged the partition of India, Azad became a strong proponent of the mission's earlier proposal of 16 May. The proposal advocated a federal system with a limited central government and autonomy for the provinces. The central government would have Defence, Foreign Affairs and Communication while the provinces would win all other subjects unless they voluntarily relinquished selected subjects to the Central Government. Additionally, the proposal called for the "grouping" of provinces on religious lines, which would informally band together the Muslim-majority provinces in the West as Group B, Muslim-majority provinces of Bengal and Assam as Group C and the rest of India as Group A. While Gandhi and others expressed scepticism of this clause, Azad argued that Jinnah's demand for Pakistan would be buried and the concerns of the Muslim community would be assuaged. Under Azad and Patel's backing, the Working Committee approved the resolution against Gandhi's advice. Azad also managed to win Jinnah's agreement to the proposal citing the greater good of all Indian Muslims. Muslim League politicians accused Azad of allowing Muslims to be culturally and politically dominated by the Hindu community. Azad continued to proclaim his faith in Hindu-Muslim unity: Amidst more incidences of violence in early 1947, the Congress-League coalition struggled to function. The provinces of Bengal and
Punjab were to be partitioned on religious lines, and on 3 June 1947 the British announced a proposal to partition India on religious lines, with the
princely states free to choose between either dominion. The proposal was hotly debated in the
All India Congress Committee, with Muslim leaders
Saifuddin Kitchlew and
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan expressing fierce opposition. Azad privately discussed the proposal with Gandhi, Patel and Nehru, but despite his opposition was unable to deny the popularity of the League and the unworkability of any coalition with the League. Faced with the serious possibility of a civil war, Azad abstained from voting on the resolution, remaining silent and not speaking throughout the AICC session, which ultimately approved the plan. Azad, committed to a united India until his last attempt, was condemned by the advocates of Pakistan, especially the Muslim League. Patel argued that the commissioner was not biased, and if his dismissal was forced it would provoke anger amongst Hindus and Sikhs and divide the city police. In Cabinet meetings and discussions with Gandhi, Patel and Azad clashed over security issues in Delhi and Punjab, as well as the allocation of resources for relief and rehabilitation. Patel opposed Azad and Nehru's proposal to reserve the houses vacated by Muslims who had departed for Pakistan for Muslims in India displaced by the violence. Azad remained a close confidante, supporter and advisor to prime minister Nehru, and played an important role in framing national policies. Azad masterminded the creation of national programmes of school and college construction and spreading the enrolment of children and young adults into schools, to promote universal primary education. He was elected to the lower house of the
Indian Parliament, the
Lok Sabha in 1952 from
Rampur Lok Sabha seat. In 1957 he re-contested Rampur and also dually contested the
Gurgaon Lok Sabha seat in Punjab (modern-day Haryana), where he won on both seats. Gurgaon had a significant Muslim
Meo population making it a safe seat for Azad. Azad supported Nehru's socialist economic and industrial policies, as well as the advancing social rights and economic opportunities for women and underprivileged Indians. In 1956, he served as president of the
UNESCO General Conference held in Delhi. Azad spent the final years of his life focusing on writing his book
India Wins Freedom, an exhaustive account of India's freedom struggle and its leaders. About 30 of the pages of this book were published about 30 years after Azad's death in 1988 as per his own wish. As India's first Minister of Education, he emphasised on educating the rural poor and girls. As Chairman of the Central Advisory Board of Education, he gave thrust to adult literacy, universal primary education, free and compulsory for all children up to the age of 14, girl's education, and diversification of secondary education and vocational training. Addressing the conference on All India Education on 16 January 1948, Maulana Azad emphasised, Under his leadership, the Ministry of Education established the first
Indian Institute of Technology in 1951 and the
University Grants Commission in 1953., He also laid emphasis on the development of the
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and the Faculty of Technology of the
Delhi University. He foresaw a great future in the
IITs for India: == Literary works ==