“North of India is a Muslim (region) and we will keep it as ‘Muslim’. Not only this (rather) we will make it a Muslim state; but we can do this only if we and our north are severed from India.
Since this is the first condition for it (command), the sooner we get rid of ‘Indianism’, the better it will be for all of us and for Islam.” {Excerpt from historical address given by Chaudhry Rehmat Ali, founder of Bazm-e-Shibli, student of Islamia College, Lahore at the founding meeting}
In the history of the world, there are a good number of famous personalities who have achieved a great feat, won the hearts of people, but negative revelations about their personality, private life and public activities have come to light. Nowadays, some people think that it is necessary or good to be famous to be famous and to be controversial to be famous. It is a coincidence that such good names are also included in this list whose private and public life is absolutely spotless and useful, useful and kind to everyone.
One such name is Chaudhry Rehmat Ali, who proposed the creation of not just one, but many separate independent, independent and prosperous states in the Indian region, named this region as ‘Dinya’ instead of a subcontinent or a continent and declared that this region is a whole continent and not a country. How can such a genius be controversial in his own country and nation? This is what happened to Chaudhry Rahmat Ali that according to the poet:
Gulastan needed blood, first of all our neck was cut
Still they say to me, these people of Chaman, this Chaman is ours, not yours
(Qamar Jalalavi)
In 1915, the students of Islamia College, Lahore (Railway Road) established an association in the memory of Allama Shibli Naumani named ‘Buz Mi Shibli’. Shibli had died last year and the echo of this tragedy remained in the academic and political circles. In such a situation, Chaudhary Rehmat Ali, a student of class 12, did this work, which lit a torch in the memory of a genius like Shibli. Addressing the founding meeting of this Bizm, the founder envisioned a separate, independent, sovereign Muslim state in North-West India, which he gave the unique name of ‘Pakistan’ in 1933.
{Regarding Chaudhry Rehmat Ali or those who prophesy, they also talk nonsense that a country named Pakistan already existed and then pointing to it, they say that, according to the false narrator, Chaudhry Sahib met a delegation of students who came from Turkestan, that is, the same country in Central Asia, then he thought of an easy way and named the independent Muslim country Pakistan in his outline. After explaining many times, today I repeat in this article that the name of the homeland of the Karakalpak people is Karakalpakstan, which is part of the present Uzbekistan and has the status of an independent republic.
(Khaksar’s online article titled “Alf Se Apna, Be Se Better, Pay Se Pakistan” by Serial Sakhansanzi, Daily Express Sunday Magazine, dated August 13, 2017 also includes this explanation: https://www.express.pk/story/903290/ alf-se-apna-be-se-bhtr-pe-se-pakstan-903290). There was, the famous columnist of linguistic research, the well-known journalist Khalid Ahmed, who saw this name written in a book by a Russian author, then according to his understanding, he spelled it as ‘Qal. Pakistan’. (From there, people took it that when a linguistic researcher is writing, it must be correct; one of them, while supporting Khalid’s words, also said that it would be read as ‘Pakistan’ according to Punjabi). It is not unlikely that Khalid did this because his own leader, Sir Zafarullah Qadiani, Pakistan’s second foreign minister, was opposed to Chaudhry Rahmat Ali’s ‘Pakistan Scheme’. Today, when I am writing this article on the occasion of Chaudhry Rahmat Ali’s birthday (November 16), I will also write in more detail so that those who fly the wings on social media will repent from their false propaganda by verifying with their “Uncle Google”. Qara Qalpakistan is located in the northwestern part of Uzbekistan. The republic covers an area of one hundred sixty six thousand six hundred square kilometers (km² 166,600). Its capital is Nukus, which is pronounced differently in different languages. A Turkic language called Karakalpak is spoken here, besides there are Uzbek, Kazakh and Turkoman peoples who speak their own languages. To the east, the republic encompasses the western part of the Kyzylkum Desert.
Today, there are countless people in Pakistan who know only the name of their great benefactor, and it happened that he named this country after him. How many ignorant people are there who are unaware of the key role of their unique leader, thinker and political leader with extraordinary vision in Pakistan Movement.
On the contrary, in 2011, a counter-campaign was started, the promoter of which was apparently an experienced researcher, but behind the scenes, there was only one point, that by inscribing the name of another (unknown) person on the title of Pakistan movement and establishment and other topics, people should be told that Chaudhry Rehmat Ali has no achievements. The response to this campaign was also given with research, first of all Raqim Sohail Ahmad Siddiqui in his article titled “Who is the creator of the word Pakistan?” …………Chand Makroozat”, published in Daily Express, dated 5th June 2011 (corresponding to 2 Rajab al-Murjib 1432 AH) rejected it, then other researchers including Professor Zaid bin Umar and Professor Jameel Ahmad Khatana wrote articles and this series continued, (The most interesting and commendable thing is that Professor Jameel Ahmad Khatana while continuing his research Interviewed Mr. Mukhlis Wijdani, a close friend of Allama Ghulam Hassan Kazmi, in which he clearly said that we never heard such a thing from Mr. Kazmi’s mouth. If there was such a thing, he would have at least told us.
Long after his death, one of his sons started a campaign (due to indifference and inattention of the people concerned), in turn, on the basis of only one subject, first a gentleman was given an M.Phil in the same subject from a government university and then based on that, the name of Chaudhry Rehmat Ali was removed from the curriculum of the state of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The interesting thing is that the so-called ‘researcher’ considered the material given by the same ‘son’ to be ‘revealed’ and today more than fourteen years have passed, he could not write an answer to Khaksar’s article. In any case, especially in history, it is not advisable to take an ongoing matter without research and present it after stopping research!
Even before the official start of the anti-campaign about Chaudhry Rahmat Ali, people continued to bring out some point or the other and badmouth him and none of them ever took the trouble of research to see how true such and such allegation is by using the books and journals written during the Pakistan Movement. Today’s article will briefly review a few such allegations:
Is it proven that Chaudhry Rehmat Ali addressed the founding meeting of Bizm-e-Shibli and presented his plan?
This historic event and Chaudhary’s address were witnessed by many attendees and this testimony was quoted in many places. It has been mentioned in my previous articles; Moreover, Mian Ghulam Qadir (father of Mian Shujaur Rahman, former Mayor of Lahore) was present and in the audience. His statement is part of an interview included in the book “Yaran-e Maktab Az Bidar Malik”. In the same book, the heard tradition of Ghulam Rasool Mehr, Editor of Daily Revolution, Lahore is included. It is most likely that any such ‘movement’ by Chaudhry Rehmat Ali would have been prevented from being published in newspapers and magazines due to strict restrictions imposed by the government during World War I.
Fazal Karim Khan Durrani, a colleague of Chaudhry Rahmat Ali, confirmed his involvement in such revolutionary activities during his student days. In addition, Riyaz A. Qureshi’s statement published in an English newspaper, Pakistan Times, Lahore, on May 3, 1964, also confirms that in 1923, Chaudhry Rahmat Ali, his classmate at Lac College, Lahore, had become prominent and dangerous to Hindus by presenting the idea of a separate homeland for Muslim, Sikh and Dravidian minorities, so some Hindu students attacked the Hindu principal of the college. He also complained to Chatterji that Rehmat Ali talks about a separate homeland for Muslims. There is also a research that this organization was a secret organization (underground translated by some of our elders as ‘underground’) from which the founder himself is said to have separated because people of other religions were not at all interested in the idea of a separate state for Muslims. It was not unusual for a college student to show such political maturity.
In addition, Chaudhry Rahmat Ali was accused of being a fascist and an agent of the British government without any evidence. It was also suggested that Chaudhry Rahmat Ali’s pamphlet Now or Never was written by Iqbal, although Iqbal’s sermon in Allahabad did not include the demand for an independent Muslim state, even though he was part of such a movement. It has also been falsely alleged that his idea of a continental world supports a united India, although the opposite is true. It was also said that Chaudhry Rahmat Ali had given up on his vision of Islamic renaissance, while his entire life was devoted to this mission.
Chaudhry Rehmat Ali was not only a visionary of Pakistan, the region of India, but also of the entire Muslim Ummah, a visionary leader and a supporter of the country and the nation. Prof. Zayd bin Umar made the most and continuous efforts to highlight his achievements. His latest book “Chaudhry Rehmat Ali: A Review of Objections” is a very strong link in this series. The work of researching, translating, arranging and compiling with hard work and heart is not enough for everyone. We are grateful to the researcher for this excellent research.
Note: In addition to the essay on Chaudhry Rehmat Ali’s biography, thoughts and his services, the writings of Prof. Zaid bin Umar, Prof. Jameel Ahmed Khatana and many other researchers in Urdu and English have become the adornment of newspapers and online papers, but it is a matter of great regret that nowadays people who want to gain instant fame and wealth prefer to raise their knowledge through copying instead of research and criticism.
The latest information is that most of the articles on Chaudhry Rehmat Ali available on the internet are being compiled by copying (word by letter or some part of it) from my articles and the copyists are adding their own verses. Research is not enough for everyone, people do that when they come across any useful material, they quickly delete the author’s name and reference publication, put it on their own website or web patch under their own name so that more people are attracted to it and the copycats get good money.
