Moulana Hassan Ahmed Madani

MOULANA HASSAN AHMED MADANI

Date of Birth: 6^th October, 1879 and Date of Death: 6^th December, 1957

            Moulana Hassan Ahmed Madani, who fought not only against the British for freedom but also against the separatists who wanted the partition of India, was born in 6^th October, 1879 in Uttar Pradesh.  He travelled to Mecca and Madina, where he spent about 16 years in getting religious education and became a spiritual scholar.  He participated in the ‘Conspiracy of Silk Letters’ along with the famous Nationalist Moulana Mohammed Hassan and was sentenced to prison in 1916 for three years by the British Government.  He returned to India in 1920 and took active role in the Khilafat and Non Cooperation Movement.  He gave a call to the Indians in the British Army to come out of it and fight for independence, for which he was detained under the charges of treason.  Since Hindus and Muslims were both facing the atrocities of the British and spending life like slaves, he appealed to them that the right course of action was to fight against the British.  He also declared that mutual friendship and harmony between the Hindus and Muslims should be strengthened to achieve the goal of defeating the British.  Moulana Madani played a vital in the Salt Satyagraha and Civil Disobedience Movements.  He was imprisoned during the Quit India Movement in 1942.  He was imprisoned several times during the Indian Freedom Struggle.  Moulana Madani opposed the separatist ideology of the All India Muslim League.  He warned that the provocation of communal hatred is not wise and the ‘two nation’ theory of the Muslim League is dangerous to the common interests of the people.  He very severely criticized the leaders of the Muslim League in his speeches and writings.  During the post-Independence ear he concentrated on spiritual and educational fields.  Hassan Ahmed Madani worked as the Head Master of the ‘Dar-ul-Uloom’ of Deoband where exactly he was educated during his childhood.  He also led the ‘Jamai-ul-Ulama-Hind’ and was its guiding spirit.  He was regarded as ‘Shaik-ul-Islam’.  He was honoured with ‘Padma Bhushan’ title by the Government of India in 1954 for his role in the Indian Freedom Movement and also in Independent India.  He loved his motherland so much that he expressed his desire to take his last breath in India.  As he wished for, Moulana ‘Shaik-ul-Islam’ Hassan Ahmed Madani breathed his last on 6^th December, 1957 in Delhi, capital of India.