Muslims freedom fighters

The impression of the Muslim youths of today is that in addition to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad there must have been two or three other Muslims who participated in the freedom struggle of India against the British imperialism.
The fact is the Muslims are the ones who started freedom struggle. They were arrested, tortured and imprisoned. Their number is so large that the Muslims can tell with pride that the Muslims have shed maximum blood for the freedom of India. Attempts are being made to belittle the role of the Muslims in the freedom struggle.
It should surprise many that most enthusiastic support for the Indian National Congress from amongst Muslims came from the Orthodox Ulama of Deoband School. I must state here that the Ulama had participated in the 1857 war of independence and had thrown everything into it. They made great sacrifices and hundreds of them were given what was then known as kalapani i.e. exiled to Andaman-Nicobar and also many to Malta, an island to the south of Italy. I have visited the Malta cemetery and saw graves of hundreds of Ulama who died there and could never return to their dear country. Some of the Ulama exiled were very prominent like Maulana Fazal Kahirabadi (though there is some confusion with person of similar name, who had no parallel of his in North India then).
Once the Indian National Congress was formed the founder of Darul Ulum Deoband, Maulana Qasim Ahmed Nanotvi, a prominent alim himself, issued a fatwa urging Muslims to join Indian National congress and throw the British out of the country. He not only issued a fatwa but also collected hundred such fatwas and published them in the form of a book and named it Nusrat al-Ahrar i.e. for the help of freedom fighters. These Ulama were mass leaders and were determined to throw out foreign rulers.
Another very eminent Alim Maulana Mahmudul Hasan took part in what came to be known as Reshmi Rumal conspiracy (i.e. silken kerchief conspiracy) in which Hindus and Muslims had hatched to defeat Britishers through passing on messages to others in India for uprising. Besides Maulana Mahmudul Hasan several other Ulama and ordinary Muslims took part in this ‘conspiracy’
Ali Brothers i.e. Maulana Mohammad Ali and Shaukat Ali were product of this Khilafat movement. Both of them played very crucial part in realizing freedom of India. Their mother was equally committed to freedom movement. When their mother heard the rumour that her sons Muhammad and Shaukat Ali are thinking of tendering apology to come out of jail (it was only a rumor) she, a lady observing purdah (veil) came on the public stage and said if they ever do that mein unka doodh mu’af nahin karungi) i.e. I will never pardon them till I die. Maulana Muhammad Ali had developed sharp differences with Gandhiji towards end of his life but while dying he said burry me in Jerusalem as I do not want to die in slave India.
Another charismatic figure for freedom movement was Maulana Husain Ahmed Madani who opposed partition tooth and nail and in this respect took on mighty Iqbal, a great poet-philosopher and challenged him on the issue of nationalism and wrote a book Muttahida Qaumiyyat aur Islam i.e. Composite Nationalism and Islam. He challenged two nation theory of Jinnah too and proved from Qur’an and hadith that two nation theory has no Islamic sanction. This book has recently been translated into English also by Jami’at al-Ulama-e-Hind and many more people can benefit from it. Maulana Husain Ahmed was abused and greeted with garlands of shoes by Muslim league activists.
And of course who can forget the yeoman services of Maulana Azad and Sarhadi Gandhi Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan to the cause of freedom of India. Both remained committed to India’s freedom till they breathed their last. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan was the only leader who never reconciled with the partition of the country and consistently opposed it in the CWC even when leaders like Nehru and Sardar Patel accepted it as fait accompli.