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ABUL KALAM AZAD

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was a great Indian Muslim intellectual and freedom fighter. He had the rare combination of learning and revolutionary activity. He was one of the architects of modern India, along with Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.

Maulana Azad was an eminent scholar of Urdu, Persian and Arabic. He was a distinguished journalist and author. Maulana Azad was well versed in many languages viz. Arabic, English, Urdu, Hindi, Persian and Bengali. Maulana Azad was a brilliant debater, as indicated by his name, Abul Kalam, which literally means "lord of dialogue". He adopted the pen name 'Azad' as a mark of his mental emancipation from a narrow view of religion and life. Maulana Azad became independent India's first education minister. For his invaluable contribution to the nation, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was posthumously awarded India's highest civilian honor, Bharat Ratna in 1992.

Maulana Azad was an eminent Urdu writer with a philosophical bend. His works include Tarjuman-ul-Quran, Tazkirah and Ghubar-e-Khatir.

In 1912, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad started a weekly journal in Urdu called Al Hilal to increase the revolutionary recruits amongst the Muslims. Al-Hilal played an important role in forging Hindu-Muslim unity after the bad blood created between the two communities in the aftermath of Morley-Minto reforms. Al Hilal became a revolutionary mouthpiece ventilating extremist views. The government regarded Al Hilal as propogator of secessionist views and banned it in 1914. Maulana Azad then started another weekly called Al-Balagh with the same mission of propagating Indian nationalism and revolutionary ideas based on Hindu-Muslim unity. In 1916, the government banned this paper too and expelled Maulana Abul Kalam Azad from Calcutta and interned him at Ranchi from where he was released after the First World War in 1920.

At the age of 35, he was elected the President of the Indian National Congress in 1923. He was again the Congress President during the crucial period of 1940 to 1946. After the Indian independence in 1947, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad became the Minister of Education, a position he retained until he passed away in 1958. Maulana Azad instituted the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in 1950.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad served as the Minister of Education in Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet from 1947 to 1958. He died of a stroke on February 22, 1958.