Muslim Politics in Bihar

Changing Contours

Mohammad Sajjad

• Publisher: Routledge India
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781138500242
• eBook ISBN: 9781317559818
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Indian & South Asian History
• Index: History

This book studies the engagement of various Muslim communities with Bihar politics from colonial times to present-day India. It debunks several myths in highlighting Muslim resistance to the Two-Nation theory, and counters the 'Isolation Syndrome' faced by Muslim communities after Independence. Using rare archival sources and hitherto unexamined Urdu texts, this book offers a nuanced exploration of complex themes such as the struggle against Bengali hegemony, communalism, regionalism and alienation before Independence, recent language politics, the political assertion of low-caste Muslims in current Bihar, as well as their quest for social and gender justice.

An important contribution to the study of South Asian Islam, this book will interest students and scholars of modern Indian history, politics, sociology, religion, gender, and minority studies.

1

Community Consensus

An Overview of Muslims in
Bihar Politics until 1940

In the nineteenth century, Bihar emerged as a strong nerve-centre of the anti-colonial movement known as the ‘Wahabi’ Movement. It began as a socio-religious reform movement with revivalist elements, but soon gathered strong anti-British political overtones. Its influence continued, particularly in Bihar, till the 1880s.¹ From 1830s to 1860s, the ‘Wahabi’ movement offered the most serious and well-planned challenge to British supremacy in India. According to the British, the movement was supposed to have been influenced by the teaching of Abdul Wahab (1703–92) of Arabia. The leader of this movement in India, Syed Ahmad (1786–1831) of Rae Bareilly, was influenced by preaching of the Delhi saint Shah Waliullah (1703–62). Ahmed condemned all additions to and innovations in Islam and encouraged a return to the pure Islam and society of Arabia of the Prophet’s times. The Wahabis played an important role in spreading anti-British sentiments during the revolt of 1857, for which they suffered colonial reprisal. Taqi Raheem traces the roots of such deep seated and lingering anti-colonial sentiments of the Muslims of Bihar, in the ‘Wahabi’ movement. He says: ‘In fact the leaders of the “Wahabi” movement like Wilayat Ali and Enayat Ali had injected strong hatred against British colonialism into the Muslims of Bihar so effectively that this tendency could never peter out and kept manifesting in the 1940s also’.²

As a consequence of the repressions of the Raj, the Muslim protagonists of the ‘Wahabi’ Movement gradually realized that they would have to come to terms with the British Raj, and thus turned their attention towards modern education to gain access to public employment in the colonial administration. Both the ulema and the modernists responded to Sir Syed Ahmad’s campaign for modern education, resulting in the Muslims of Bihar eagerly showing interest in acquiring an English education. There were large number of madrasas and maktabs in the various districts of Bihar imparting traditional education and religious teachings. However, unlike in other parts of India, even the traditionalists of Bihar quickly moved away from these towards modern education and learning.

Western Education in Bihar

The ‘Wahabi’ Movement had a very significant and distinctive impact on the political and cultural landscape of Bihar. No doubt the ‘Wahabis’, or more appropriately Ahl-e-Hadis or Tariqa-e-Muhammadiya (they did not subscribe to the four Sunni schools of jurisprudence, hence called themselves ghair muqallid), apart from leaving a corpus of literature on social reforms, came to be known for setting up a number of maktabs and madrasas, orphanages and craft training centres among the Muslims of India. Madrasa Islah-ul-Muslemeen (Patna), Muzakira-e-Ilmiya (Arrah), and Darul-Uloom Ahmadia Salfia (Darbhanga) are a few such institutions. The Salfia Madrasa (Darbhanga) had its own press and brought out the newspaper Al Huda.³ However, their educational endeavours were centred not only on the creation of madrasas as they also started many schools and colleges imparting modern education in Bihar. In 1878, the elite Muslims of Patna helped set up ‘Sir Syed Memorial Fund’ with generous contributions.⁴ The embrace of modern education is well attested in the founding of the Anglo-Arabic School of Patna in March 1884 by Shams-ul-Ulema Mohammad Hasan, son of Wilayat Ali (d. November 1852), the famous ‘Wahabi’ leader. This was an offshoot of the Aligarh Movement. The Mohammedan Education Committee, Patna, was founded in 1884 on the pattern of Aligarh, with its principal objective being to encourage modern education and European sciences among the youth of Bihar. Its constitution was drafted under the guidance of Syed Mahmud (1850–1903), son of Syed Ahmad (1817–98) of Aligarh. The first Secretary of the Mohammedan Education Committee, Patna, was Shams-ul-Ulema Mohammad Hasan. This Anglo–Arabic School had students drawn from both Hindu and Muslim communities. The term ‘Anglo-Arabic’ re-assured the religio–cultural concerns of the Muslims. Qazi Syed Raza Husain (d. 1891) endowed an estate with an annual income of

1200 for promoting English education among the Muslims.⁵

As early as 1836, Shah Kabiruddin of the Sasaram Khanqah (sufi shrine) had even demanded from the Governor General of India to appoint persons who could teach English in the madrasa.⁶ In 1852, Syed Md Taqi [Khan Bahadur], a reputed zamindar of Muzaffarpur, came forward with a gift of the entire village of Jogiara, Pargana Nandpur (now in Darbhanga, which was valued at

20,000). It fetched an annual rental income of more than

2,000, which were used to meet the expenses of maintaining an Arabic and Persian teacher in the Government Zilla School, Muzaffarpur (founded in 1845), ‘and for such other purposes in connection with that school, as its managing committee and the Council of Education may determine’.⁷ He also donated land to the college or Collegiate School that was founded on 7 November 1871,⁸ by the Bihar Scientific Society, Muzaffarpur. (French Orientalist Garcien de Tassey, 1794–1878, called it ‘Central College’, Muzaffarpur.) Syed Md Taqi was also the founding President of the managing committee of the Muzaffarpur Central College (Collegiate School).⁹ The Muslims, along with the Kayasthas, frequently submitted memorials against the substitution of Hindi for Urdu as the court language in Bihar.

Thus, the 1860s in Bihar witnessed the foundation of many societies, including the first literary society called the Anjuman-e-Islamia, which was established at Arrah in August 1866. The Society was opened by both Hindus and Muslims. In May 1866, Syed Imdad Ali (d. August 1886) started the Bihar Scientific Society, Muzaffarpur,¹⁰ which enjoyed the support of both Hindus and Muslims. It also had an Urdu fortnightly, Akhbar-ul-Akhyar, and sponsored the translation of many books into Urdu. The Society invited Lieutenant Governor Campbell (1871–74) to lay the foundation of the Collegiate School. In 1899, they handed over the School to the Bhumihar Brahman Sabha’s Langat Singh (1850–1912), a railway contractor of Muzaffarpur, to start a College there.¹¹ The Bihar Scientific Society had its branches in other towns and villages of Bihar. Its aim was to prepare the translation of English books into Urdu with a view to showing that even scientific instruction could be imparted through the mother tongue of the students. It is to the credit of the Society that it succeeded in getting many works on Trigonometry, Material Media, Optics, Animal Physiology, Chemistry, Dyeing, Geography, Botany, Physical History, Mechanics, Law of Hospitals, Mineralogy, Masonry, etc., translated into Urdu within a short period of time. It may be mentioned here that, in his efforts to dispel the prejudices of his community against English education, [Sir] Syed Ahmad [Khan Bahadur] also established a Scientific Society in Ghazipur in 1864 (where he was posted as sub-judge) which shifted to Aligarh once Syed Ahmad was transferred there. The objective of this Society was the same as that of the Bihar Scientific Society. Both Syed Ahmad (1817–98) and Imdad Ali (d. 1886) were serving as sub-judges. At both places (Muzaffarpur in Bihar, and Aligarh in UP), the respective Lieutenant Governors laid down the foundation stone of the college buildings. Explaining his motive for the establishment of the Bihar Scientific Society, Imdad Ali said:

The deplorable state of ignorance in which the greater portion of my countrymen have, for many years, been immersed, excited my deepest sympathies, and actuated by the desire of ameliorating as far as lay in my power their unenlightened condition. I took active and principal part in founding the scientific society.¹²

The efforts of Imdad Ali proved very successful, and under his inspiration, Anglo-Vernacular schools for teaching the European Sciences were also opened not only in the towns of Bhagalpur, Gaya, Saran but also in the Tirhut villages of Narhan, Jaintpur, Hardi, Paroo, etc. He received cooperation and financial help from the Hindu Zamindars of Narhan, Hardi, and Jaintpur. In this way, the Bihar Scientific Society was socially more inclusive than its forerunner, the Sir Syed’s Scientific Society. Further, the Bihar Scientific Society had its network spread over villages, apart from commanding a broader social base among both Hindus and Muslims. Two of the three vice presidents of the Bihar Scientific Society — Shiv Prasanna Singh (th...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Prelude
• 1. Community Consensus: An Overview of Muslims in Bihar Politics until 1940
• 2. The Polarizing Texture of Bihar Politics: A Survey till 1940
• 3. From Alienation to Exodus, 1940–47
• 4. Muslim Resistance to the Two-nation Theory in Bihar, 1940–47
• 5. Language Politics as a Tool of Empowerment: Political Landscape of Urdu in Bihar after Independence, 1947–89
• 6. Quest for Social and Gender Justice: Bihar Muslims since the 1990s
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• About the Author
• Index