Contributions Of Muslim Freedom Fighters Of India (With Photos & Pdf)

Muslim freedom fighters of India

Many Muslim freedom fighters who fought and died for India’s independence have been deliberately omitted from the record.


Why? Isn’t it only because of their religious identity? The other reasons except their association to Islam are hardly acceptable.


If anyone ask you to list the names or prepare speech on contributions of Muslim in freedom struggle of India, what would you do? Aren't only few famous and countable names that come to your mind? If I didn’t guess it wrong, Maulana Azad is one of them. 


This is injustice to other thousands of other Muslim heroes whose names had been intentionally erased, let alone the tributes they deserve. In this post, first we will discuss the names of some Muslim freedom fighters in detail and then will go on listing the other in brief. 


By the time you finish this post, you will know enough to deliver a speech on it. I have also compiled this post in a pdf format and a video both of which have been attached at the end. So, let’s start by discussing the famous heroes.


List Of Top 10 Muslim Freedom Fighters Of India.

Here is the list of top 10 freedom fighters who were Muslims and their contributions in Indian independence: 


1. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.

The contributions of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad both before and after Indian freedom struggle is something that cannot be neglected. But the space this Muslim freedom fighter must get in Indian history, sadly the historians didn’t attribute him.


He was a great scholar who went on to become the first education minister of India. Maulana Azad was one of the most important leaders of that time. Prominently leading the cause of Hindu-Muslim unity, he also encouraged secularism and socialism.

The credit for the establishment of IITs (Indian Institute Of Technology) and UGC (Union Grant Commission) goes to him.


A certain section of the people who allied with the British rule during our freedom struggle still finds it difficult to accept Maulana Abul Kalam Azad as a hero even that his contributions are much more than the legacies of their ideals.


2. Maulana Hasrat Mohani.

Did you know that Maulana Hasrat Mohani was the first freedom fighter to demand complete Independence (poorna swaraj) for India? Indian National Congress under the leadership of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru passed a resolution for this demand on 26th January 1930.


His slogan “Inquilab Zindabad” is more famous than his own identity. Maulana Hasrat Mohani mobilised youths and encouraged others through his works including Urdu poetry. 


He championed in the cause of freedom struggle movement. The British rule put him in the jail for many years. Hasrat Mohani was one of the member of the constituent assembly who drafted the Indian constitution. 


3. Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan.

Role of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan in the Independence movement is immense. He was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi. That's why people called him with the title of “Frontier Gandhi”. 


He was one of the many Muslim freedom fighter who opposed the partition of India. Being a strong opponent of the two nation theory, he had to subsequently go to jail for this reason.

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan is known for using his non-violent method of opposition against his enemies. He founded the Khudai Khidmatgar movement, the success of which led to his harsh repercussion from the British rule.


 4. Dr Zakir Hussain.

The first Muslim president of India, Dr Zakir Hussain Zakir Hussain actively encouraged the Indian war of independence through his untiring efforts and educationalist movement. 


He was the co-founder of Jamia Millia Islamia. The institutions became one of the leading centres which also played important role in the Indian freedom struggle.


The Indian government conferred him with the Bharat Ratna award. Dr Zakir Hussain subsequently went on to become the first Muslim president of independent India. 


He actively advocated the non-violent movement that drove out the British rule.


5. Mohammad Sharfuddin Quadri. 

Muslim freedom fighters of Bengal

In the above photo, the former president of India, APJ Abdul Kalam is honouring Mohammad Sharfuddin Quadri with the Padma Bhushan in 2007 for his active role in Indian independence movement.


Sharfuddin Quadri is also among the unsung heroes of India just because he was a follower of Islam. He joined Mahatma Gandhi in the famous Salt March. This Muslim freedom fighter of Bengal was imprisoned with Mahatma Gandhi in the Cuttack jail.


After Indian independence, he chose to stay away from politics but continued his contributions to the country. Being an Unani practitioner, Sharfuddin Quadri used to treat more than 100 patients per day free of cost.


He died on the 30th of December, 2015 in Kolkata, West Bengal at the age of 114.


6. Asaf Ali.

A notable lawyer, Asaf Ali fought the legal battles for many Indians who were jailed during the independence movement. One of them was Bhagat Singh.

Beside his legal battles, he closely participated in the “Quit India Movement” and was imprisoned along with Jawaharlal Nehru.

But the history did hardly mention about this Muslim hero.

7. Maulana Mazharul Haque. 


This Bihari Muslim freedom fighter donated every bit of his property for educational movements before he died. 

Maulana Mazharul Haque actively involved in both, Non-Cooperation movement and Khilafat Movements. He was also the part of Champaran Satyagraha. There are several institutions in Bihar after his name.


8. Saifuddin Kitchlew.

Saifuddin Kitchlew strongly stood against the Muslim league’s two-nation theory which led to the creation of Pakistan. He is mostly honoured for the protest against the implementation of Rowlatt Act which landed him to jail with Mahatma Gandhi.


People in large numbers gathered Jallianwala Bagh to protest against their arrest. Then the infamous Jallianwala Bagh massacre followed.

9. Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi.

This Muslim rebel belonged to the sate of Bihar. He joined the non-cooperation movement in 1921. 

Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi firmly disapproved the Jinnah’s two-nation theory and the demand of a separate state for Muslims. 

1O. Yusuf Meher Ali. 

Did you know who coined the slogans of “Simon Go Back” and “Quit India”? Yes, it was Yusuf Meher Ali.

A Muslim hero about whom probably you know nothing but the slogans he gave haunted a lot to the anti-national forces.

If this surprises you, then you may like to know that Muslims coined the 5 most patriotic slogans for India.

List of other Muslim freedom fighters of India:

11. Abid Hussain (coined the slogan of Jai Hind). 
12. Ashfaqullah Khan 
13. Peer Ali Khan
14. Bakht Khan
15. Allah Bux Sumro
16. Professor Abdul Bari
17. Alauddin Hyder
28. Turrebaz Khan
29. Mahmud ul-Hassan
30. Abbas Ali
31. Moulvi Mohammad Baqir 
32. Vakkom Majeed
33. Muzaffar Ahmad
34. Mohammad Abdur Rahman
35. Mohammad Ali & Shaukat Ali (Ali brothers closely engaged in the Khilafat Movement).

This is not the complete list of all the Muslim freedom fighters and it is not that only these Muslims took part in the freedom struggle.

You can see the list of some Muslim female freedom fighters of India here in another post.

The above are only those who were famous and were subsequently more or less documented representing only the fractions. 

The list could not mention all the heroes due to the unavailability of authentic information about them. However, you can find information about some of them in encyclopaedic sources like Wikipedia.

We will gradually update the list upon getting the more names. You can help us with it. Do comment below the names of other Muslim heroes if you know any and mention the source from where did you get that.

Indian independence movement.

This is the history of the world’s longest freedom struggle led by the Indians against the British Raj starting from the rebellion of 1857 to 1947, the year when ultimately India got its independence. 

So, we have covered the story around the year 1947. The list is very long and outnumbers the other when it comes to documenting the role of Muslims in the revolt of 1857 and after that. 

We have another post in our other blog detailing the Revolt of 1857 and the Muslims who played a heroic role in that uprising (Role Of Muslims Of In the Revolt Of 1857).


To give an idea of how Muslims played a heroic role in the revolt of 1857, I am going to quote the statement of the British Army General, Tomson from his memoir:
If to fight for one’s country, plan and mastermind wars against occupying mighty powers are patriotism, then undoubtedly maulvis (read Ulama hanged by the British rulers) were the loyal patriots to their country and their succeeding generations will remember them as heroes.

- Rebellion Clerics, Page-49.

This statement should be an eye-opener for those who still rely on modern Indian historical sources to take an account of the story of the world’s longest independence movement.  

Muslims & non-Muslims both equally scripted the victory. 

Conclusion.

That’s all about the contributions of some Muslim freedom fighters of India in brief.

What forced us to write this article is the ignorance of those who instead of shouldering our freedom fighters sided with the colonial powers during the Indian war for independence.

They are nowadays questioning the legacy of our ancestors and are in fact subjecting the whole Muslim community to humiliation in the name of patriotism. 

To some extent, Muslims are also responsible for this as we never bother to dig up our own history. 

But, this independence day, let’s tribute all those unsung heroes who fought for this country, who struggled for us and who sacrificed their lives for our freedom. 

Let’s credit them for their heroic contributions. 

Let’s not become the fascist forces successful in their agenda. 

Do a bit by sharing this post with your friends, relatives and everyone and awake them with this piece of information.

Pdf & video on Muslim freedom fighters.

You may either present them the pdf version or the video of this article.

Video.

I have compiled this post in about 3 minutes long video. You can find it in YouTube by searching as “Independence day tribute to the Muslim freedom fighters of India”. 

PDF version. 

You can get the PDF version of this complete post. I have transformed this post in the form of a book. It can be downloaded in pdf format from our archive library.


Let us know in the comment box if you know the name of any Muslim freedom fighter of India who is not in the above list.

5 Comments

  1. Many Muslim freedom fighters fought during 1857 revolt

    ReplyDelete
  2. Biased article, only including Indian muslims, what about the Great Muslim's who got the independence to a muslim country? They were proven right in the long term to support the two nation theory!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I understand your concern... But as far as the title is concerned, I am on the right domain.

      Delete
  3. Your content is so knowledgeable, I have never seen such type of content, it’s so good. JazakAllah for sharing this knowledge.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am inspired by your way of delivering the right message, May Allah Bless you. If you want to learn more about Quran then visit online Quran teaching services in USA.

    ReplyDelete

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