A popular
and dynamic national political leader, a courageous
journalist and a poet par excellence, Maulana Muhammad
Ali Jauhar was the greatest Muslim leader of the 20th
century before the emergence of the Quaid-e-Azam.
Maulana Muhammad Ali was born in Rampur and was educated
at Aligarh Muslim University and the Oxford University(1898-1902).
First of all, he served in the Education Department
of the Rampur State, then he joined the Gaekwad Civil
Service. Except for a few years he remained active in
the affairs of the All India Muslim League from 1906
to 1928. He launched his famous English weekly "Comrade"
from Calcutta in 1911 and his Urdu weekly "Hamdard"
from Delhi in 1913. For four years after 1911, he remained
involved in the Kanpur Mosque affair, The Pan-Islamic
movement and the Aligarh University movement. He was
sentenced to four years' imprisonment(1911-15) for his
fearless championing of the Turkish [Khilafat] cause
and violation of the Defense of India Rules. Upon his
release he became a principal leader of the Khilafat
Movement. He led the Indian Khilafat delegation to London
in 1920. In 1924 he renewed the publication of "Hamdard".
In 1928 he left the Indian National Congress, opposed
the Nehru Report tooth and nail, supported the fourteen
points of the Quaid-e-Azam and advised the Muslims to
dissociate themselves from the Civil Disobedience movement
of 1930. In the same year he became the president of
the Khilafat Conference and attended the first Round
Table Conference, where he delivered a memorable, fiery
oration against the subjugation of India and in favor
of immediate independence.
Maulana Muhammad Ali died in London and was buried in
Bait-ul-Maqdis. During his illness he had willed that
he be buried in Bait-ul-Maqdis( Jerusalem) for he did
not want to return to a slave country. He was accordingly
buried there.
No discussion of the Ali brothers will be complete
without mentioning their mother, known as Bi Amaa. She
was not only responsible for the training of Ali brothers,
but herself active in politics.
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