by ijlal ahmad
Before i discuss the role of Muslim press in India and its
importance in shaping the public opinion before the partition, it is imperative
that i take a brief look at the history of Muslims, their Invasions in India,
the fall of Mughal Empire, British Raj and financial and social condition of
Muslims in the 19th century as all of this has a relevance
with the political happenings that occurred later on.
Muslims have a very proud history in South Asia and especially
in India. The first Muslim foray into India was the invasion of Sindh in
712 A.D lead by Mohammad Bin Qasim who defeated Raja Dahir. After that, Muslims
never looked back and invaded India to spread Islam. Muslim rule in India
lasted for approximately a thousand years. Countless number of Hindu’s and
people from other religions converted to Islam. Some of the great Muslim
rulers of India include Mahmud Ghaznavi, Mohammad Ghouri, Qutub –ud-din Aibak,
Ghiyas-ud-din Balban, Tipu Sultan and the Mughal emperors like Babar,
Aurangzeb, Jehangir, Akbar, etc. and the last Mughal emperor was Bahadur
Shah Zafar II, who probably was not as strong as some of the previous Muslim
rulers. Bahadur Shah Zafar II took part in the Sepoy Mutiny, 1857 and after its
failure he was imprisoned. He died in 1862 and with him the Mughal rule came to
an end and that resulted in the end of Muslim dominance in India.
East India Company started trading in India since 1612 and they
gradually strengthened their roots in the economy of India and across South
Asia. Slowly but gradually, East India Company became so strong in India that
they started to influence the rulers and the governance in India. After the
1857 revolt, British officially took control of India and the time period
between 1857 till the partition of India in 1947 is called the British Raj.
The situation of Muslims was quite pathetic in the 19th century.
Muslims were quite backward as far as the education is concerned and as a
result they started to decline in every field of life.
By the start of the 19th century,
Muslims had lost control of India and these were the dying moments of Muslim
rule in the sub-continent but Muslims were not ready to accept it mentally
after such a long rule in India. That is why they always took the British as
their enemy, whereas the Hindus took advantage of the situation and got very
close to the British by showing them their loyalty. All this caused the British
to always give the first priority to the Hindus in every field as they started to
adopt the western lifestyle as well.
There was an impression within the British that Muslims were
behind the 1857 revolt (mutiny) and they tempted the Hindus and Sikhs as well.
The British started to take Muslims as their real enemy. This impression
amongst the British was enough to rub salt into the wounds of the Muslims.
Muslims were deprived of the better job opportunities and their financial
situation got extremely poor. Considering the state of Muslims after the 1857
revolt, it was very important for the Muslim newspapers, magazines and press in
general to start creating awareness amongst the Muslims about the importance of
education and the modern lifestyle. One of the major reasons behind this was
the fear amongst the educated Muslims that the Hindus might get closer to the
British Government, which would give them political benefit.
Urdu journalism started in India with Jam-e-Jahan Numa but the
real role and history of Urdu press started in 1836, when Maulvi Muhammad Baqar
started “Delhi Urdu Akhbar”. After 1836, large number of Urdu newspapers started
their operations from different parts of the Sub-continent and the main purpose
behind Urdu journalism was to create awareness amongst the Muslims, who were
slowly but gradually losing control of India.
In 1830, East India Company declared Urdu as the official
language of small government institutions and court of law. Government intended
to promote Western Studies in the sub-continent. Since Urdu newspapers were
appropriate medium for the purpose, the government used to purchase a certain
quantity of newspapers for officials, schools and colleges. The government
financially supported some of the newspapers.
Before the evolution of the Two
Nation Theory in the 20th century presented by Allama Mohammad
Iqbal which meant that Hindus and Muslims of the sub-continent were separate
nations and they cannot live together in the same culture. The objective of the
Muslim press during that period was generally to educate the Muslims and with
the passage of time it emphasized on self-awakening of the Muslims of India, so
that they can stand up and fight for their identity, religion and educational
and political rights. It ended up changing the public opinion amongst the
Muslims to demand and fight not only for the separate identity but also a
separate homeland where they can practice their religion and live a life free
of slavery. It was because of the press and inspirational leadership that
Muslims were able to unite themselves once again after the turmoil of 1857.
With the downfall of the Mughal rule, Britain started offensive
invasion in the sub-continent. Wherever the Muslims were in majority, there was
quite a significant hatred for the British and people started privately-owned
secret handwritten papers in order to induce and stimulate more agony and
reaction against the British and especially the East India Company. In the 1857
war of independence, such papers played an important role.
The British rule in India had caused so much unrest amongst the
Indians that they decided to revolt against the British. However, the war of
independence was a total failure and Indians could not resist against the
strong British. At that time, there were a number of daily and weekly English
newspapers and magazines which were either owned by the British or the Anglo
Indians as compared to the Muslim newspapers which could be counted on
fingertips. Muslims had strong press only in Delhi and they tried their level
best. Some of the leading newspapers published from Delhi were Delhi-Urdu
Akhbar, Sadiq-ul-Akhbar and Siraj-ul-Akhbar. . Because of the British strength,
the Muslim press was very much suppressed by the East India Company. As
far as journalism and press is concerned, Muslims were detached of journalistic
practice and their newspapers were either banned or diminished. Some Muslim
newspapers had to shut their business down themselves in fear of the British
atrocities.
In 1853, there were approximately 35 vibrant Urdu newspapers but
only 12 had survived till 1857 in which just one newspaper was owned by a
Muslim. These incidents completely isolated the Muslims from journalism and the
journalistic practices in sub-continent. But later on, Muslim press developed
significantly with the efforts of some of the great Muslim leaders like Sir
Syed Ahmed Khan and competed with the Hindu and British press in India.
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was a great
Muslim reformer, educationists and politician of the Sub-continent. After the
revolt against the British, when the position of the Muslims in the
Sub-continent was quite pathetic and Muslims were going through a social and financial
crisis, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan came to the forefront and created awareness amongst
Muslims about the importance of education and a lifestyle which was closer to
the British. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan made sure that the Muslims understood the
importance of the modern education and science, so that they could compete with
the Hindus and could claim their rights for the job opportunities and a better
lifestyle.
Sir Syed started Aligarh Movement, which had a motto of
promoting education amongst the Muslims after the revolt of 1857. He fought
against the Hindu conspiracies against Urdu.
Risala-dar-Asbab-i-Bhagawati-i-Hind, Ahkam-i-Ta’am-i-Ahl-i-Kitab and Loyal
Mohammadans of India were some of his best works. He started various schools
and colleges where English language was taught with Urdu and Persian. He
founded a Scientific Society where he started the periodical which was first
called Scientific Society Papers and later, the Aligarh Institute Gazette.
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan played a significant role in reshaping the
public opinion amongst the Muslims. After 1857, Sir Syed had realized that it
is very hard for Muslims to survive with the Hindus but still he was in favour
of the United India until the Urdu-Hindi controversy.
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan would always be remembered in the history
books as a revolutionary leader who gave a new direction to the Muslims of the
Sub-continent which took them to the way of independence. Sir Syed’s role can
be referred as the root of the making of Pakistan and the separation from the
Hindus.
For the purpose of creating awareness amongst the Muslim masses
in India, Sir Syed used press to great effect during the late 19th century.
Khilafat movement was an effort by the Indian Muslims to save
the Ottoman Empire. It was a pan-Islamic movement between 1919 till 1924. Some
of the great journalists of that time like Maulana Mohammad Ali Johar and his
brother Maulana Shaukat Ali worked very hard for this cause with lots of other
important personalities. The Muslim press and newspapers also played an
important role amongst the Muslims about the importance of the Khilafat
Movement. Initially the movement was quite successful through strikes and
protests all over India but this movement could not gain a lot of success in
the long run. However, the role of Muslim press during that time would always
be remembered in history with golden words.
Although the Khilafat Movement was not a success, it united the
Muslims of Sub-continent and injected a new spirit amongst them which was the
real energy behind the independence movement later on.
In the 25th session
of All-India Muslim League organized in Allahabad, Dr. Allama Mohammad Iqbal
presented the idea of two nation theory which states that Hindus and Muslims
are two separate nations and it is very hard for both of these nations to live
together in a same society. Muslims have a completely separate code of conduct
for life which is totally opposite to the Hindus, so it is better that Muslims
and Hindus should separate and India should be divided in two parts or may be
more.
Muslim press played a significant role in India to spread this
message in the Muslims of India. It was very important for the Muslims to be
united under one platform and one agenda because there was a school of thought
amongst the Muslims which was against the separation from Hindus and the
division of India. But the Muslim press did a great job in uniting the Muslims
and convincing them that they are not left with any other option apart from
demanding a separate country for themselves.
Some of the leading journalists of their time, Mohammad Ali
Johar, Zafar Ali Khan and Hasrat Mohani were extremely influential amongst the
Muslims of India and they did play a huge part in creating political awareness
in the country. That era was known for the ‘militant journalism’ because the
Muslims press had to face a lot of trouble in the presence of British
atrocities.
Some of the leading Muslim owned newspapers which played huge
part in the making of Pakistan are as follows:
Jang started its publications from Delhi in 1938. Mir
Khalil-ur-Rehman was the founder of this daily newspaper and Mir Javaid was the
chairman at that time. The basic goal of Jang was to update the Indian Muslims
about the latest happening in the political scene and All Pakistan Muslim
League. Jang played a crucial role in the Pakistan movement. Jang believed and
practiced freedom of expression. Good Urdu composing was the quality of
this newspaper even at the time when there were not much facilities available for
the Muslim journalists. Jang also provided International News to its readers.
Nawa-i-Waqt was launched on 23rd March 1940 which apparently is the day
when the Pakistan Resolution took place in Lahore. Hameed Nizami was the
founder of Naw-i-Waqt. It is also one of the pioneers in Urdu reporting with
Jang.
The Pakistan Times was launched on 4th of February, 1947. It was an English
daily and had more significance as it was launched by Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali
Jinnah. It catered the educated class of Indian Muslim.
Dawn was launched in 1940, again by Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali
Jinnah. Mr. Pothan Joseph was its first editor and later on in 1945 Mr. Altaf
Hussain became the editor of Dawn. The basic motto of Dawn was to represent the
Muslims of India and their point of view about the partition.
After the 1857 war of
independence, Muslims were deprived of some of the fundamental human rights
including Journalistic practices and freedom of speech. Muslims were facing
their worst time in the sub-continent since their arrival and the invasion in
the area. There were not enough jobs and the financial situation got bad to
worse. On top of that, the Hindus were able to convince the British that their
actual enemies were Muslims and not the Hindus. British Raj felt that Muslims
instigated the Hindus in the 1857 War of Independence. As compared to the
Muslims, Hindus did have the press freedom.
In this worst condition, the Muslim leaders and top journalists
stood up and changed the destiny of the Indian Muslims by creating awareness
amongst them and letting them know that they can no longer afford to neglect
modern education and the English language. Slowly but gradually, Muslims were
able to stand on their feet again through some inspirational leaders and that
would not have been possible without an effective press.
Initially, the Muslim press worked on shaping up the public
opinion so that they could understand the political scenario of India at that
time and could adjust with the Hindus and the British Raj in a same society and
culture. A sequence of events changed the political scenario of India and the
press successfully shaped up the public opinion amongst the Muslims of India
about the partition and the demand of a separate country. The poetry of Iqbal
and some other poets like Hasrat Mohani were inspirational in re-building the
morale of the Muslims. They gave them the direction to work upon.
Once the Muslims had decided mutually that they do not want
anything less than a separate country, the role of the Muslim Newspapers like
Dawn, Zameendar, Jang and Nawa-i-Waqt was influencing.
The newspapers made sure that the Muslims are
aware of the political activities of their leader Quaid e Azam and All India
Muslim League.
Overall, we can say that Muslim
press and journalists could not have done a better job considering the
circumstances. There were so many difficulties for the Muslim press but they
stood up to the challenges and proved their metal by shaping up the public opinion
in favor of the partition and eventually carving out a separate homeland in a
very short span of time.
Thanks for
reading
