Hasrat Mohani Birth Anniversary

 

Syed Fazl-ul-Hasan, known to the world as Hasrat Mohani, born on 1 January 1875, was an Indian activist, Freedom Fighter in the Indian independence movement, leader of All India Muslim League and a noted poet of the Urdu language. He coined the notable slogan Inquilab Zindabad in 1921. Together with Swami Kumaranand, he is regarded as the first person to demand complete independence for India in 1921 at the Ahmedabad Session of the Indian National Congress.

He was the only prominent Muslim of his generation to promote and champion the radical thinking of Tilak. He wrote strongly about him in his journal and also wrote many verses praising him, including the following at his demise: 

jab tak wo rahe dunya men rahe,ham sab ke dilon par zor unke,

ab rah ke bahisht men nizd-i-khud? 

hooron pe karenge raj Tilak

(So long as he lived he ruled our hearts, and now in Paradise,

Nearer to God, Tilak shall rule over the nymphs of paradise.)

A versatile writer and poet, some of Mohani’s publications include Kulliyat-e-Hasrat Mohani, Sharh-e-Deewan-e-Ghalib, Mushahidaat-e-Zindan, and Nikat-e-Sukhan.

A nationalist to the core, Maulana Hasrat Mohani once commented “My advice to my Muslim friends has always been to discard communalism once for all.”