NAWAB MOHSIN-UL-MULK
Life History of nawab mohsin ul mulk
(1837-1907)
There was settled at Etawah for many generations a family of Barah Syeds, whose worldly fortune did not stand high at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Mir Zamin Ali was the head < link rel = "cononical" href = "https://seehistory1.blogspot.com/2022/07/nawab-mohsin-ul-mulk.html"/> of that family, which could not boast of having produced any outstanding scholar or leader of men. Mir Zamin Ali, not a literate person himself, however, was married to the daughter of Maulvi Mahmood Ali, an eminent alim, who had risen to be a minister at the court of the Principality of Tonk. Mir Zamin Ali continued to live a modest life after marriage, and in this family was born a son on 9th December, (1837), at Etawah, whom they fondly named Sayed Mehdi Ali.
Maulvi Mahmood Ali was very fond of his young grandson, and he saw to it that from an early age Sayed Mehdi Ali received the best of education from the best of teachers that were available in and around Etawah at that time. According to the best traditions of education in those days, Sayed Mehdi Ali was given a thorough grounding from a very early age both in Persian and Arabic, and at the same time a maulvi taught him to read the Quran.. Within a few years after he started taking his first lessons, his progress in Persian and Arabic had been so rapid that he was put under the personal charge of the most famous scholar of the time in that district, namely, Maulvi Inayat Husain, and later on under Maulvi Salamatullah Cawnpori.
The young boy showed brilliance out of the ordinary and proved to be wise beyond his years. On the one hand there was a pull on his conscience to pursue his studies further, and on the other, the strained circumstances of the family were forcibly compelling him to give up his life in an atmosphere of secluded academic pursuits and to seek employment in the matter-of-fact world around him. At first he could find only employment that carried with it little work of originality and a small salary.
But he had supreme confidence in himself, and he worked at this humble Government post with devotion and diligence. It was not long before he was able to catch the eye of his superiors, who found in him a willing worker, an intelligent and honest young man well mannered, and ready to accept all that went under the general term of 'discipline'. It was customary in those days to start Government service on Rs. 5 per month, and after proving one's worth and merit, one could after some years be entitled to a job carrying a salary of Rs. 10 per mensem. Studious by nature, he would sit in the office after closing time, and would be busy learning the rules and regulations governing the work of the Kutchery of the Collector. One night, as the Collector was on his rounds of the city, he saw lights in one of the rooms of his office. Prompted by curiosity, the Collector went inside, only to find the young Sayed Mehdi Ali busy learning the code of business.
The Collector was very pleased and raised him to a job carrying a higher salary per month. Recalling. his early days in service, Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk told Khan Bahadur Maulvi Bashiruddin in later life, “The real pleasure that I got out of a life on Rs. 10 a month, I have never experienced again in other posts that I have subsequently held with much higher salaries". This admission in itself is an indication of his humble nature, a life dedicated to hard work, and entirely devoid of ostentatiousness-a life of simple living and high thinking. An Englishman, Allen Hume, who was Collector of the district, took personal interest in the young, intelligent and industrious Mehdi Ali, and soon raised him to the post of Serishtedar. Hume found that his trust and confidence in young Mehdi Ali were quite justified, and he spoke of him very highly to other English officers. At the age of twentyfour, Mehdi Ali got yet a higher promotion, being appointed a Tehsildar, a post considered to be very high for an Indian Government servant of such young age.
Once again, Mehdi Ali proved equal to the task that was entrusted to him, and won the admiration and respect of all his superiors. He had an ambition to rise to the highest post within the reach of an india with that end in view he devoted all his spare time to preparing himself for the Provincial Civil Service examination. When he sat at this competitive examination in (1867), he easily topped the list of successful candidates, and was soon thereafter appointed a Deputy Collector in Mirzapur in what was at one time the United Provinces, on a monthly salary of Rs. 340. In this last appointment, he proved a great success, and the Collector of Mirzapur wrote in his confidential service book at the end of the year, "I am in a position to say with confidence that there is no other Government servant as intelligent, as honest as Mehdi Ali".
Two years later there was famine, and Mehdi Ali rose equal to the occasion, working tirelessly to render relief to the stricken people of his district. On this Allen Hume wrote in a confidential note in his service book, "As I am acquainted with the work and character of Maulvi Mehdi Ali, I have no hesitation in praising him..... Wisdom, tolerance, tact, intelligence, these are some of his admirable qualities. . . . . He has successfully accomplished the most difficult task entrusted to him”. As a Muslim, holding a very high Government post, and as a man, who had done so much good work for his district, Sayed Mehdi came to be personally known to Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, and this was to prove to be an important milestone in his life. Sir Syed developed a keen appreciation for young Mehdi Ali's talents and accomplishments, and recommended his name for appointmert to a high Government post to Nawab Salar Jang of Hyderabad, Deccan.
When the offer for a tempting appointment reached Maulvi Mehdi Ali, his first reaction was that the Government of Hyderabad should take on loan his services from the Government of India and that he should hold a lien over his substantive appointment On this, Nawab Salar Jang wrote to Sir Syed Ahmed, “No one can serve two masters at the same time. If Maulvi Mehdi Ali has confidence in our Government, he should resign and join our service. It is not recorded how far Sir Syed Ahmed was instrumental in influencing his decision, but the fact is on record that Maulvi Mehdi Ali resigned from his post as Deputy Collector in (1874), and proceeded to take up his new assignment in a specially created post as an officer of the Government of the Nizam.
Mehdi Ali served in Hyderabad State for twentytwo years where he earned the general admiration for his work devotedly carried out in the interests of the State itself. He held many important positions during these two decades, and he was the recipient of many honours. The Nizam conferred on him the titles of Munir Nawaz Jang and ( Nawab Mohsin-ud-Daula Mohsin-ul-Mulk ) in recognition of his long and meritorious services. It was because of this that he is commonly known as Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk, and it is by this name that he is linked with Aligarh and the Aligarh movement, as the successor of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. He succeeded in giving a new orientation to the administrative machinery of Hyderabad State, and he began to take a growing interest in the educational progress of the Muslims of India.
In (1888), he visited England on State business, and utilised this opportunity in studying the impact of modern education on the progress of the West, realising that if Indian Muslims were determined to find an honourable place in the national life of India, they must take to modern education. In (1893) he retired from Hyderabad State service on a life pension, and decided to settle permanently at Aligarh, in order to be of assistance to Sir Syed Ahmed in spreading the message of Aligarh. Five years later, Sir Syed Ahmed died, and his talented and brilliant son, Syed Mahmud, succeeded his father as Secretary of the Mahommadan Anglo-Oriental College. Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk gave him his willing cooperation, as the cause of Aligarh was very dear to him.
During the lifetime of Sir Syed there were many attacks on him in the press and on modern education that was being imparted at Aligarh. Mohsin-ul-Mulk often strongly defended Sir Syed and refuted all insinuations against him through his writings in ( Tahzib-ulAkhlaq ). His writings played an important role in popularising the ideals for which Aligarh stood. "He often replied to the criticisms against Sir Syed Ahmed in such an appealing and humorous style and with such brilliance and eloquence that his critics were rendered completely silent". During the last few years the Muslim Educational Conference had been doing splendid work in the cause of Muslim education but its guiding force, Sir Syed Ahmed, was dead and it was difficult to find a suitable successor.
Mohsin-ul-Mulk had been associated with the work of the Conference, and on him fell the choice of Secretaryship of the Conference on the death of Sir Syed. He had already presided over the annual sessions of the Conference in ( 1893 ) and ( 1896 ), so Mohsin-ul-Mulk assumed the reins of office with confidence and courage. He undertook long tours popularising the work and the ideals of the Conference through the spoken and the written word, and it was his untiring efforts that soon raised the Conference to be the real mouthpiece of the Muslims of India in their demands in the field of education. Its annual sessions now began to be held outside the United Provinces, thus helping to spread its popularity throughout India. Meeting in Calcutta in 1899, the Conference called upon the Muslims to set up Muslim schools in each big city and district, as a result of which a number of them soon came to be established.
Towards the beginning of the twentieth century, there raged a bitter controversy in the United Provinces over Urdu versus Hindi, in which some top Englishmen, particularly MacDonald, gave their support to Hindi as against Urdu. Mohsin-ul-Mulk took up the pen in defence of Urdu, and wielded it vigorously and fearlessly. He seemed to take up this task, where Sir Syed had left it, and he was not going to rest until the importance of Urdu was universally recognised. On 18th August 1900 was held at Lucknow a conference under the auspices of the Urdu Defence Association. While addressing this conference, Mohsin-ul-Mulk said, “Though we do not wield the pen and our pen is not powerful which is why we are seldom seen in offices, yet we have the strength to wield the sword, and our hearts are full of love for the Queen..... We cannot for a moment imagine that the Government will forsake and ignore us or allow those things on which our life depends to come to grief.
I do not believe that Government will allow our language to die; it will keep it alive. It will never die. But there is no doubt that if the efforts being made by the other side to kill our language continue it may suffer a setback at any time in future. These fears have led us to take these efforts to keep alive our language and if we cannot, to take out its funeral bier with great eclate. When an entire nation is aggrieved by some problem the no need to work up an agitation or to arouse the people. At such a time our duty is to bring public opinion to a moderate level and remove false conceptions about Government's intentions and aims from the hearts of the people". Mohsin-ul Mulk continued to give all his support to the Urdu Defence Conference, as one more cause that was in the best interests of the Muslims of India.
Ever since the death of Sir Syed Ahmed, the affairs of the Aligarh College were in a deplorable condition, particularly its finances. With income not enough to meet the running expenses of the College, and with debts mounting every year, the office of the Secretary was daily besieged by countless creditors, whose dues had not been paid for a long time. Fraud committed by a Hindu accountant on the Collegel staff had shaken the confidence of the people and they were reluctant to donate to the College funds. The influx of new students began to stagnate and then to decline, and between ( 1895) and ( 1898) the strength of the College students had declined from 595 to 343. While Sir Syed lived, he could cope with these difficulties, but being succeeded by his son, Syed Mahmud, who was in a poor state of health, both physically and mentally, the College seemed to be heading for the rocks. Syed Mahmud's physical and mental ailments had made him extremely irritable, and he was quarrelling with every one around him, to the detriment of the interests of the College. The relationship between the Principal and some tutors was most unhappy, and this added to the problems arising out of an already complicated situation.
After a period of anxiety and uncertainty, the trustees decided to request Mohsin-ulMulk to become the Secretary of the College, a responsibility that he accepted even though he realised it was so difficult that it would give him many sleepless nights. Mohsin-ul-Mulk could not have taken over the reins of office of the College at a more difficult period of its history, and to add to his difficulties he was past the prime of life, being over sixty at the time. But he put his shoulder to the wheel and worked like a Trojan, not sparing himself in his task. A colossal task faced him, but its enormity did not dishearten him. It was a challenge, and he accepted it with the enthusiasm of a youthful missionary.
He undertook long and extensive tours all over India, carrying the message of Aligarh with him, and collecting money for its badly depleted funds. Before one can contribute to a cause, there must be goodwill in one's heart towards that institute. Inadvertantly, Sir Syed Ahmed's writings and speeches had given rise to a bitter antagonism between the religious ulema and what Aligarh stood for, and the task fell to Mohsin-ul-Mulk to win over this most potent and vocal sector of Muslim society in favour of Aligarh. He worked away tactfully and tirelessly at it, and it brought results.
The bitterness that had existed gave way to understanding, and understanding to appreciation. Some leading ulema were invited to visit Aligarh, and they were able to see for themselves the good work that the College was doing among the young Muslims, and from that time onwards the ulema also began to lend their support to the Mohamadan Educational Conference by attending its annual sessions in appreciable numbers. Orthodoxy had been converted as the supporter of Aligarh, and this considerably helped the cause of the Aligarh movement. Mohsin-ul-Mulk believed in publicising the activities of Aligarh College by inviting leading foreign dignitaries for a visit.
In this connection, when the Prince of Wales, later His Majesty King George V, visited India in 1906, Mohsin-ul-Mulk invited him to visit Aligarh. His Highness the Aga Khan reached Aligarh three days before the Prince of Wales and was busy, along with Mohsin-ul-Mulk, to make the visit a memorable success. The trustees were introduced to the royal visitor, and thereafter he inspected the classes being conducted in the College, the mosque and some rooms of the College hostel. A formal lunch in honour of the Prince of Wales was held in the Lytton Library, where Mohsin-ul-Mulk and the Aga Khan made speeches, explaining what Aligarh stood for.
To commemorate this occasion, with his consent, a science school was founded, which was to be named after the Prince of Wales, for the building of which Sir Adamji Pirbhoy of Bombay donated Rs. ( 100,000) and His Highness the Aga Khan and the Rajah of Mahmoodabad Rs. ( 35,000 ) each. The Muslims all over India were now becoming more and more awa the educational needs of their community and they began to contribute more generously to the funds of Aligarh College. As more and more buildings went up, more and more financial help kept pouring in, and more and more students came flocking to Aligarh, and it began to develop into a truly national institution of the Muslims of India.
On 16th January, (1907), His Majesty Amir Habibullah Khan the King of Afghanistan, visited the College. The city and the College wore a gala appearance, and on the occasion among the trustees to receive the King were Hakim Ajmal Khan and Maulana Hali. During the course of his private conversations with Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk, the King told him, "I have heard a lot of things about the College. Some of them are good, but most of them are damaging to the College. But Hazrat Ali has said that the distance between truth and lies is only four fingers, that is, the distance between the ears and the eyes. My ears have heard. Now my eyes will see.”
He visited the premises of the College, the Library, the hostel, and said his prayers in the College mosque. Thereafter he put difficult questions to students on Islamic theology, and was surprised at the high level of learning of the boys in Islamic studies. At the end of his visit, he was so satisfied that he repeatedly, and within hearing of others, told Nawab Moshin-ul-Mulk, sometimes in Persian and sometimes in English, "What I have seen is so different from what I had heard. What they said against Aligarh was all lies, all lies." In his drive for collecting funds for the College buildings, Mohsin-ul-Mulk went even to Rangoon, where lived so many rich and generous Muslims of Indian origin.
He spent over a month there and was able to collect substantial amounts from the merchant princes of that city. Temperamentally, Mohsin-ul-Mulk was so different from Sir Syed Ahmed. In his writings and in his speeches, he was more considerate towards his opponents than the latter was. He was a patient listener, and he disarmed opposition by his tact and his charming manners. If any person approached him for a letter of recommendation, he hardly ever refused, which was quite contrary to the established practice of Sir syed Ahmed. “We neither actively opposed nor supported Sir Syed. Our elders could not reconcile themselves with his politics, much less with his religious views.
Due to his obstinate nature, he would tenaciously hold on to his personal views, and differences followed. To make up for all this, a man open to compromise and high sensitivity was needed. Thank God that Mohsin-ul-Mulk succeeded Sir Syed Ahmed." Mohsin-ul-Mulk believed that if Aligarh was to progress and develop into a central University of the Muslims of India, it should enjoy the goodwill of all Muslims, at least no one should be hostile towards it. After the death of Sir Syed he found some leading political leaders opposed to Aligarh and he undertook to win them over to the cause of Aligarh. Sir Syed Ahmed had, in a speech delivered at the annual session of the Mohammadan Educational Conference, warned the Muslims not to join the Indian National Congress, which he said was not a friend of the Muslims. The annual session of the Congress that year was presided over by Justice Badruddin Tyabji of Bombay.
He interpreted Sir Syed's remarks as being not only hostile to Congress Muslims, but to himself in particular. From that day onwards, Justice Tyabji became a bitter critic of all that Aligarh stood for, and an acrimonious public controversy ensued between Sir Syed and Tyabji. Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk realised that it was good to have such powerful Muslims as the friends and supporters of Aligarh.' With this end in view, he proceeded to Bombay, and in his usual disarming and tactful manner he had long meetings with Justice Tyabji. His diplomatic mission succeeded, and Justice Tyabji stood converted. As a result of this, he agreed and presided over the annual session of the Mohammadan Educational Conference in 1903.
"There is not a Musalman in India, certainly not in Bombay, who does not wish all prosperity and success to Aligarh." Sir Anthony MacDonell, who was notorious for his antiUrdu leanings, had become the Governor of the United Provinces, and the supporters of Hindi expected that under his regime the drive against Urdu would be intensified. True to his noted antipathy for Urdu, his Government issued orders on 18th April, (1900), which sought to put an end to the position that Urdu had hitherto enjoyed in the province. While Hindus were elated at the news, it shook the confidence of the Muslims. Mohsin-ul-Mulk felt called upon to take up the cudgels in defence of Urdu, and to this end he set up the Urdu Defence Association, in order to protect the legitimate claims of Urdu.
A series of protest meetings were held under the auspices of the Association, the first of which was held at Aligarh on 13th May, ( 1900 ), over which the Nawab of Chattari presided. The Governor took this as a personal affront, and he threw his weight about with Muslim leaders to resign from the Association. While some fell under the pressure of the Governor, Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk held his ground firmly, and went on holding one protest meeting after another, recording the protest of the Muslims against the infamous Government orders. The Governor was not prepared to take defeat lying down, and he called a meeting of the Trustees of the College at Aligarh, addressed the meeting himself, and threatened them with dire consequences, including complete stoppage of all Government financial assistance, if this agitation was not called off.
The Governor had obviously stooped to adopting unfair and mean tactics. He refused to grant an interview to Mohsin-ul-Mulk, and said that he could communicate by a letter whatever he wanted to say. In the correspondence that followed, the Governor refused to address him by his recognised title and name, but went on addressing him as Maulvi Mehdi Ali. His opposition to the Government's orders over Urdu was costing the Aligarh College quite a lot, and Mohsin-ul-Mulk decided, magnanimously, his personal prestige should not stand in the way of the progress and the future of the College. He resigned from the Secretaryship of the College, in order to be free to carry on his campaign in the defence of Urdu. His friends and colleagues realised that if he ceased to be the Secretary of the College at this critical juncture, it may as well be its end.
They wrote to him, and sent deputations begging him to withdraw his resignation. In the end they succeeded, and Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk withdrew his resignation. He waited patiently for a time when MacDonnel would no longer be the Governor of the United Provinces. When that time came, he brought into being the Anjuman-i-Taraqui-e-Urdu, an adjunct of the Mohammadan Educational Conference. In order to protect it from any possible assaults by misguided Englishmen, he was wise enough to appoint Sir Thomas Arnold as the first Chairman of the Anjuman.
It was clear to every politically conscious leader in India in ( 1906 ) that representation to the Indian Legislative Councils would be liberalised. Mohsin-ul-Mulk was far-sighted enough to visualise that this was an opportunity which the Muslims should not miss, that they should press their point of view. on the Viceroy for separate representation to the Muslims in all the Legislatures, and in local bodies. Hithertofore, there were no seats reserved for the Muslims, and Muslim representatives had to contest in general constituencies, where Hindu voters preponderated.
The result was that neither did the Muslims get representation commensurate with their numbers in each province and in India as a whole, nor were most of them independent of Hindu pulls and pressures. With this end in view, Mohsin-ul-Mulk carried on correspondence with the Private Secretary of the Viceroy through Archibold, the Principal of Aligarh College. The Viceroy ultimately agreed to meet the deputation in Simla. A memorandum was drawn up demanding separate electorates for Muslims, and it was adopted in a meeting of Muslim leaders held at Lucknow on 16th September, ( 1906 ), under the chairmanship of Sir Abdur Rahim.
Thirty-six leading Muslims were selected to form the deputation, and His Highness the Aga Khan was selected to lead the deputation. The Simla Deputation, as it came to be known, was highly successful and in the Morley-Minto Reforms that followed the principle of separate electorates was conceded to the Muslims. A stage had been reached in the evolution of Muslim politics, when they must have their own separate political organisation. This idea was simultaneously agitating the minds of His Highness the Aga Khan, Mohsin-ul-Mulk and Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk. As a result of long correspondence between them, the outcome was a meeting of Muslim leaders at Dacca on 30th December. ( 1906 ).
At a time when the Muslim Educational Conference was holding its annual conference in that city. The idea was unanimously approved; Mohsin-ul-Mulk and Viqar-ul-Mulk were asked to draft the constitution of the new party, and His Highness the Aga Khan was to be its permanent president. This is the origin of the All-India Muslim League, which ultimately won for us our freedom and succeeded in having Pakistan established as the homeland of the Muslims of India.
Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk had been in indifferent health since ( 1888 ) , when he was working in Hyderabad for the Nizam. At that time, he visited England for a medical check-Up and was under treatment there for some time. But, never having a robust constitution, he was of and on having bouts of ill-health. In ( 1902 ), he was a victim of chronic diabetes, which had considerably weakened his health. The doctors were constantly advising him to give up his work and to have complete rest in order to give his tired heart a chance to recoup.
But he was wedded to his work, and he disdained all advice to give up work. It was 1907, and he was seventy. He told his friend, Maulvi Wahiduddin, “Maulana, on the face of it, I seem to be alright. But it seems as if something that was within me always is now dead. My heart has sunk, and now I don't feel interested in life as before". Towards the end of September of that year, he left for Simla, in order to be near the seat of Government, as far-reaching changes were being discussed in the constitution of India, which would make or mar the future of the Muslims of India. Although the high altitude of Simla was least suited for his poor state of health, he was there to do his little bit for the Muslims.
He called on the Viceroy; he discussed the case and the point of view of the Muslims with high Government officers. He was putting too much strain on his already badly strained heart. In the beginning of October, he was in bed, struggling for life. He died on 16th October, ( 1907 ) , at ( 6 p.m ) . He had expressed a desire that he be buried at Etawah in the ancestral burial ground of his family. But a grateful and admiring following that he had left behind thought it more appropriate that he be laid to rest at Aligarh, which stood eternally indebted to him.
Maulana Hali in one of his poems has paid a befitting tribute to Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk :
A friend of Muslims; the people's benefactor.
Freedom's battle he won, and fell a martyr.
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