Ajay Kumar at 19:05, 5 September 2023

2023-09-05T19:05:13Z

New page

The '''All India Azad Muslim Conference''' ({{lang-ur|{{Nastaliq|آل انڈیا آزاد مسلم کانفرنس }}}}), commonly called the '''Azad Muslim Conference''' (literally, "Independent Muslim Conference"), was an organisation of nationalist Muslims in India.<ref name="BCC"/> Its purpose was advocacy for [[composite nationalism]] and a united India, thus [[Opposition to the partition of India|opposing the partition of India]] as well as its underlying [[two-nation theory]] put forward by the pro-separatist [[All-India Muslim League]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mayaram |first1=Shail |title=Resisting Regimes: Myth, Memory, and the Shaping of a Muslim Identity |date=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-563955-1 |page=128 |language=English |quote=To counter the Lahore Resolution, the Jamiat convened the Azad Muslim Conference that promulgated the Jamiyat formula in 1942 that supported United Indian Nationalism or muttahidah qawmiyat and the protection of Muslim communal rights.}}</ref><ref name="QasmiRobb2017">{{cite book |last1=Qasmi |first1=Ali Usman |last2=Robb |first2=Megan Eaton |title=Muslims against the Muslim League: Critiques of the Idea of Pakistan |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108621236 |page=2 |language=English}}</ref> The conference included representatives from various political parties and organizations such as [[Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind]], [[Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam]], [[All India Momin Conference]], [[All India Shia Political Conference]], [[Khudai Khidmatgar]], [[Krishak Praja Party]], [[Anjuman-i-Watan Baluchistan]], [[All India Muslim Majlis]], and [[Ahl-i Hadith#Organizations|Jamiat Ahl-i-Hadis]].<ref name="QasmiRobb2017"/> The Canadian orientalist [[Wilfred Cantwell Smith]] felt that the attendees at the Delhi session in 1940 represented the "majority of India's Muslims".<ref name="Ahmed2016"/> ''[[The Bombay Chronicle]]'' documented on 18 April 1946 that "The attendance at the Nationalist meeting was about five times than the attendance at the League meeting."<ref name="Ali2017"/>

== History ==
The Azad Muslim Conference was established in 1929<ref name="BCC">{{cite book |title=The Indian Year Book |date=1942 |publisher=Bennett, Coleman & Company |page=866 |language=English |quote=The Azad Muslims' Federation was started in 1940 just as the All India Muslim Conference was started in 1929 to distinguish the bulk of the Indian Muslims from the attenuated League of those days.}}</ref> by [[Allah Bux Soomro|Allah Bakhsh Soomro]], a later [[Chief Minister of Sindh]], who had founded the [[Sind Ittehad Party]] (Sind United Party) a few years before.<ref name="Grover1992">{{cite book |last1=Grover |first1=Verinder |title=Political Thinkers of Modern India: Abul Kalam Azad |date=1992 |publisher=Deep & Deep Publications |isbn=9788171004324 |page=503 |language=English|quote=Within five weeks of the passage of the Pak resolution, an assembly of nationalist Muslims under the name of the Azad Muslim Conference was convened in Delhi. The Conference met under the presidentship of Khan Bahadur Allah Bakhsh, the then Chief Minister of Sind.}}</ref><ref name="Ahmed2016">{{cite web |last1=Ahmed |first1=Ishtiaq |title=The dissenters |url=https://www.thefridaytimes.com/tft/the-dissenters/ |publisher=[[The Friday Times]] |language=English |date=27 May 2016|quote=However, the book is a tribute to the role of one Muslim leader who steadfastly opposed the Partition of India: the Sindhi leader Allah Bakhsh Soomro. Allah Bakhsh belonged to a landed family. He founded the Sindh People’s Party in 1934, which later came to be known as ‘Ittehad’ or ‘Unity Party’. ... Allah Bakhsh was totally opposed to the Muslim League’s demand for the creation of Pakistan through a division of India on a religious basis. Consequently, he established the Azad Muslim Conference. In its Delhi session held during April 27–30, 1940 some 1400 delegates took part. They belonged mainly to the lower castes and working class. The famous scholar of Indian Islam, Wilfred Cantwell Smith, feels that the delegates represented a ‘majority of India’s Muslims’. Among those who attended the conference were representatives of many Islamic theologians and women also took part in the deliberations.}}</ref> In the 20th century, many Muslims in [[British Raj|British India]] "ferociously opposed the Muslim League’s demand for Pakistan".<ref name="Ashraf2017">{{cite web |last1=Ashraf |first1=Ajaz |title=India's Muslims and the Price of Partition |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/17/opinion/india-muslims-hindus-partition.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=17 August 2017|quote= Many Indian Muslims, including religious scholars, ferociously opposed the Muslim League’s demand for Pakistan.}}</ref> Allah Bakhsh Soomro stated:<ref name="Ahmed2016"/>
{{quotation|Whatever our faiths we must live together in our country in an atmosphere of perfect amity and our relations should be the relations of the several brothers of a joint family, various members of which are free to profess their faith as they like without any let or hindrance and of whom enjoy equal benefits of their joint property.<ref name="Ahmed2016"/>}}

In the session of the Azad Muslim Conference held in [[Delhi]], from April 27 to April 30, over 1400 nationalist Muslim delegates participated.<ref name="Ahmed2016"/><ref name="Haq1970">{{cite book |last1=Haq |first1=Mushir U. |title=Muslim politics in modern India, 1857–1947 |date=1970 |publisher=Meenakshi Prakashan |page=114 |language=English|quote=This was also reflected in one of the resolutions of the Azad Muslim Conference, an organization which attempted to be representative of all the various nationalist Muslim parties and groups in India.}}</ref> 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."<ref name="Ali2017"/> 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.<ref name="Ahmed2016"/> ''[[The Bombay Chronicle]]'' documented on 18 April 1946 that "The attendance at the Nationalist meeting was about five times than the attendance at the League meeting."<ref name="Ali2017"/> The Canadian orientalist [[Wilfred Cantwell Smith]] likewise stated that he felt the attendees represented the "majority of India's Muslims",<ref name="Ahmed2016"/> as did the British press.<ref name="Sabrang2015">{{cite web |title=Saying No to Partition: Muslim leaders from 1940–1947 |url=https://sabrangindia.in/indepth/saying-no-partition-muslim-leaders-1940-1947?page=1 |publisher=Sabrang |accessdate=1 March 2019 |language=English |date=4 December 2015 |quote=It held its session in Delhi from April 27–30, 1940 with 1400 delegates from almost all parts of India attending it. The then British press which was mainly pro-Muslim League had to admit that it was the most representative gathering of Indian Muslims.}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Sajjad2014">{{cite book |last1=Sajjad |first1=Mohammad |title=Muslim Politics in Bihar: Changing Contours |date=13 August 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317559825 |page=29 |language=English}}</ref> From 27 December 1947 to 28 December 1947, the Azad Muslim Conference was convened in [[Lucknow]] by [[Hafiz Mohamad Ibrahim]] and [[Maulana Abul Kalam Azad]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Pakistan Journal of History and Culture, Volume 20 |date=1999 |publisher=National Institute of Historical and Cultural Research |page=41 |language=English}}</ref> This meeting was also supported by leaders like Zahid bin [[Maulana Shaukat Ali]] of Khilafat Andolan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.milligazette.com/news/15756-partition-of-india-and-patriotism-of-indian-muslims/|title = Partition of India and Patriotism of Indian Muslims}}</ref>

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."<ref name="Sabrang">{{cite web |title=Saying No to Partition: Muslim leaders from 1940–1947 |url=https://sabrangindia.in/indepth/saying-no-partition-muslim-leaders-1940-1947?page=1 |publisher=Sabrang |accessdate=1 March 2019 |language=English |date=4 December 2015}}</ref> It called on Indian Muslims to work with Indians of other faiths to gain Indian independence from British rule.<ref name="Sabrang"/> [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] praised the Azad Muslim Conference as "very representative and very successful".<ref name="Nauriya2003">{{cite web |last1=Nauriya |first1=Anil |title=Allah Baksh versus Savarkar |url=https://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/2003/05/14/stories/2003051401081000.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030925045320/http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/2003/05/14/stories/2003051401081000.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 September 2003 |accessdate=1 March 2019 |language=English |work=[[The Hindu]] |date=14 May 2003}}</ref> The Azad Muslim Conference had support from the [[Deobandi]] school of Islam and their [[Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind]].<ref name="Moj2015">{{cite book |last1=Moj |first1=Muhammad |title=The Deoband Madrassah Movement: Countercultural Trends and Tendencies |date=2015 |publisher=Anthem Press |isbn=9781783084463 |page=84 |language=English}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Shodganga">{{citation |last=Qaiser |first=Rizwan |chapter=Towards United and Federate India: 1940–47 |title=Maulana Abul Kalam Azad a study of his role in Indian Nationalist Movement 1919–47 |publisher=Jawaharlal Nehru University/Shodhganga |year=2005 |hdl=10603/31090 |at=Chapter 5, pp. 193, 198}}</ref> [[Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow]], 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.<ref name="Shodganga"/>

== Member parties ==
*[[Sind Ittehad Party]]<ref name="Ahmed2016"/>
*[[Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind]]<ref name="QasmiRobb2017"/>
*[[Majlis-e-Ahrar-ul-Islam]]<ref name="QasmiRobb2017"/>
*[[All India Momin Conference]]<ref name="QasmiRobb2017"/>
*[[All India Shia Political Conference]]<ref name="QasmiRobb2017"/>
*[[Khudai Khidmatgar]]<ref name="QasmiRobb2017"/>
*[[Krishak Praja Party]]<ref name="QasmiRobb2017"/>
*[[Anjuman-i-Watan Baluchistan]]<ref name="QasmiRobb2017"/>
*All India Muslim Majlis<ref name="QasmiRobb2017"/>
*Jamiat Ahl-i-Hadees<ref name="QasmiRobb2017"/>
*[[Assam Valley Party]]<ref>Bhattacharjee, J. B. (1977). Cachar under British Rule in North East India. Radiant Publishers, New Delhi.</ref>
*[[Unionist Party (Punjab)|Unionist Party]]<ref name="Ahmed2016"/>
*[[Grand Mufti of India|All India Sunni Jamiyyathul Ulema]]/[[All India Sunni Conference]] (left in 1946)
*[[Muslim Independent Party]]<ref>Sajjad, Mohammad. "Mohammad Yunus (1884–1952), the 1st Chief Minister of Bihar". biharanjuman.org. Bihar Anjuman. Retrieved 31 May 2011.</ref>

== Slogans and events ==
The Azad Muslim Conference used several slogans, among them being: "[[Inquilab Zindabad]]", "Hindustan Azad", "Pakistan Murdabad", "Freedom through National Unity", and "We are Indian and India is our Home".<ref name="Ali2017">{{cite web |last1=Ali |first1=Afsar |title=Partition of India and Patriotism of Indian Muslims |url=http://www.milligazette.com/news/15756-partition-of-india-and-patriotism-of-indian-muslims |publisher=[[The Milli Gazette]] |language=English |date=17 July 2017}}</ref>

On 19 April 1940, the Azad Muslim Conference celebrated "Hindustan Day", in contrast to the pro-separatist Muslim League's "Pakistan Day".<ref name="Sajjad2014"/>

== See also ==
*[[Opposition to the partition of India]]
*[[All-India Jamhur Muslim League]]
*''[[Composite Nationalism and Islam]]''
*[[Akhand Bharat|Akhand Hindustan]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
*[https://www.huffingtonpost.in/rupa-subramanya/facts-dont-back-the-argument-that-most-indian-muslims-wanted-pa_a_22488885/ Facts Don't Back The Argument That Most Indian Muslims Wanted Partition by Rupa Subramanya] – ''[[The Huffington Post]]''

[[Category:History of the Republic of India]]
[[Category:Partition (politics)]]
[[Category:Islam in India]]
[[Category:1929 establishments in British India]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1929]]

All India Azad Muslim Conference - Revision history

Ajay Kumar at 19:05, 5 September 2023