Ashfaqulla Khan
Encyclopedia
Ashfaqulla Khan (22 October 1900 – 19 December 1927) was a Muslim
freedom fighter in the Indian independence movement
who had given away his life along with Ram Prasad Bismil
. Bismil and Ashfaq, both were good friends and Urdu
poets (Shayar). Bismil was the pen name
or Takhallus of Ram Prasad whereas Ashfaq used to write poetry with the pen name of 'Hasrat
'. Both were hanged on the same day, date and time but in different jails.
, a historical city of Uttar Pradesh
. His father, Shafiq Ullah Khan belonged to a Pathan
family who was famous for militancy. His maternal side was more knowledgable where so many members had served in the police and administrative services of British India. His mother Mazhoor-Un-Nishan Begum was an extremely glamorous lady. Ashfaq ullah was the youngest amongst all his four brothers. His elder brother Riyasat Ullah Khan was a class mate of Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil. When Bismil was declared absconder after the Mainpuri
Conspiracy, Riyasat used to tell his younger brother Ashafaq about the bravery and shayari Urdu poetry
of Bismil. Since then Ashfaq was very keen to meet Bismil, because of his poetic attitude. In 1920, when Bismil came to Shahjahanpur and engaged himself in business Ashfaq tried so many times to contact him but Bismil paid no attention.
In 1922, when Non-cooperation movement
started and Bismil organised meetings in Shahjahanpur to tell the public about the movement, Ashfaq ullah met him in a public meeting and introduced himself as a younger brother of his class mate. He also told Bismil that he wrote poems under the pen-names of 'Warsi' and 'Hasrat'. Bismil listened to some of his couplets in a private get- together at Shahjahanpur and since then they became good friends. Ashfaq often wrote something and showed it to Bismil who immediately corrected or improved the same. Thus a very good poetic alignment between Ashfaq and Bismil developed and it was so familiar that whosoever listened to them in any of the poetic conferences called Mushaira
in Urdu language was overwhelmed with surprise.
incident in 1922, so many Indian youths were left dejected. Ashfaq was also one of them. He felt that India should become free as soon as possible and so he decided to join the revolutionaries
and also win the friendship of Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, a famous revolutionary of Shahjahanpur.
Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, an active member of Arya Samaj
, Shahjahanpur was eager to explain the greatness of the Hindu religion to those belonging to other religions, although he never bore in mind any prejudice against any religious community. This was the only reason behind it that won the heart of Ashfaq and he became a confident friend of Bismil. Although Ashfaq was a devout Muslim
yet both of them had the common objective of a free and united India. They sacrificed their lives on the same day of 19 December 1927 as martyrs for India, but in different jails of Faizabad and Gorakhpur.
was large and strong yet very few Englishmen had conquered India due to its cowardice and non violent policy adopted by Indian National Congress
leaders like Gandhi and others. The withdrawal of the non cooperation movement by so called leaders of Congress united revolutionaries scattered throughout the country. But the newly started revolutionary movement required money to support its need. One day while traveling on a train from Shahjahanpur to Lucknow
Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil noticed every station master bringing money bags into the guard's cabin which was kept there in cash chest. This cash chest was handed over to the station superintendent of Lucknow junction. Bismil decided to loot the government money and utilise it against the same government who had been continuously looting India for more than 300 years. This was a beginning of a Dacoity called Kakori train robbery
.
To give a fillip to their movement and buy arms and ammunition to carry out their activities, the revolutionaries organised a meeting on August 8, 1925 at Shahjahanpur. After a lot of deliberations it was decided to loot the government treasury carried in the 8-Down Saharanpur - Lucknow passenger train. On 9 August 1925, Ashfaqulla Khan and eight other revolutionaries looted the train under the leadership of Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil. They were Rajendra Lahiri
from Varanasi, Sachindra Nath Bakshi from Bengal, Chandra Shekhar Azad from Unnao, Keshab Chakravorthy from Calcutta, Banwari Lal
from Rai Bareli, Mukundi Lal from Etawah, Manmath Nath Gupta
from Benaras and Murari Lal from Shahjahanpur. These facts are given here from the book Swadhinta Sangram Ke Krantikari Sahitya Ka Itihas.
deployed the Scotland Yard
Police to investigate the case. Within a month the C.I.D. collected the clues and decided to arrest almost all the revolutionaries overnight. On the morning of 26 September 1925, Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil and others from Shahjahanpur
were arrested by the police but Ashfaq was the only one untraced by the police. Ashfaq went into hiding and moved to Banaras, from there he went to Bihar
where he worked in an engineering company for about ten months. He also wanted to go abroad and meet Lala Har Dayal for his concrete help in the freedom struggle. He went Delhi
to find out the ways how to move out of the country. In Delhi, he took the help of one of his Pathan
friend who in turn betrayed him by informing the police who arrested Ashfaq.
Tasadduk Husain, the then superintendent of police tried to play communal politics between Bismil and Ashfaq. He also tried to win the confidence of Ashfaq by provoking him against Hinduism
but Ashfaq was a strong willed Indian who surprised the S.P. Tasadduk Husain Khan by saying- "Khan Sahib!, I know Pandit Ram Prasad better than you, he is not such a person as you say but even if you are right then I am also quite sure that a Hindu India will be much better than your British India to whom you are serving like a servant."
Ashfaqulla Khan was detained in the Faizabad
jail. A case was filed against him. His brother Riyasat Ulla Khan deployed Kripa Shankar Hajela, a senior advocate to plea his case as a counsellor. Mr Hajela fought the case till the very end but he could not save his life. While in jail, Ashfaq daily performed five times Islamic prayer (in Urdu 'Namaj') and reciting the hymns from Quran to convince his God
or Allah
in favour of his revolutionary activities. The case of the Kakori conspiracy was concluded by awarding death sentence to four daredevils viz. Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Rajendra Lahiri
and Thakur Roshan Singh. The sixteen others were awarded the rigorous punishment varying from four years up to life sentence.
By an eyewitness account, on a Wednesday, four days before he was hanged, two English
officers looked into the solitary cell where Ashfaqulla Khan was lodged. He was in the middle of his namaz. "I’d like to see how much of that faith remains in him when we hang the rat", quipped one of them. But Ashfaq continued his prayer as usual and both of them went away murmuring like a wind's way.
On Monday, 19 December 1927, Ashfaqulla Khan is known to have taken two steps at a time, as he walked up to the post. When his chains were released, he reached for the hanging rope and kissed it by saying these words: "My hands are not soiled with the murder of man. The charges framed against me are a bare false. God will give me the justice." And at last he recited in Urdu the shahada
. The noose came around his neck and the movement lost one of its shining stars in the sky.
'. But very few people know that he had also written in Hindi
as well as in English
. While he was confined in the solitary cell of Faizabad Jail, he started writing a diary. Few words of English are reproduced hereunder from his diary:
In another letter written to his beloved mother, sisters and nephews he writes: "We too had done some of the works which we could, but those were the days, we had the glamour on face and strength in the chest. But now is the hope only hope from you, you are now grown up and we are at the verge of setting like a sun in the west." In Urdu he had written:
"किये थे काम हमने भी जो कुछ भी हमसे बन पाये,ये बातें तब की हैं आज़ाद थे और था शबाब अपना;
मगर अब तो जो कुछ भी हैं उम्मीदें बस वो तुमसे हैं,जबाँ तुम हो लबे-बाम आ चुका है आफताब अपना."
and his affection to his motherland is unmatching. A Hindi
poet Agnivesh Shukla had written a very good poem titled Ashfaq ki aakhiri raat (en. the last night of Ashfaq) in which he had depicted the real sentiments of this great son of India
. The original poem has been given in Hindi Wikipedia
whereas it's English translation by an Indian poet laureate
is reproduced hereunder along with its Hindi version in Devnagri script:
"जाऊँगा खाली हाथ मगर ये दर्द साथ ही जायेगा, जाने किस दिन हिन्दोस्तान आज़ाद वतन कहलायेगा?
बिस्मिल हिन्दू हैं कहते हैं "फिर आऊँगा,फिर आऊँगा,फिर आकर के ऐ भारत माँ तुझको आज़ाद कराऊँगा".
जी करता है मैं भी कह दूँ पर मजहब से बंध जाता हूँ,मैं मुसलमान हूँ पुनर्जन्म की बात नहीं कर पाता हूँ;
हाँ खुदा अगर मिल गया कहीं अपनी झोली फैला दूँगा, और जन्नत के बदले उससे यक पुनर्जन्म ही माँगूंगा."
starrer hit bollywood movie Rang De Basanti
, where his character role was played by the film actor Kunal Kapoor
.
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
freedom fighter in the Indian independence movement
Indian independence movement
The term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia...
who had given away his life along with Ram Prasad Bismil
Ram Prasad Bismil
Ram Prasad Bismil Ram Prasad Bismil Ram Prasad Bismil (Hindi: राम प्रसाद 'बिस्मिल', Gujarati: રામપ્રસાદ બિસ્મિલ, (Malayalam: രാം പ്രസാദ് ബിസ്മിൽ, Tamil: ராம் பிரசாத் பிஸ்மில், Born: 11 June 1897, Executed: 19 December 1927) was an Indian revolutionary who participated in Mainpuri Shadyantra of...
. Bismil and Ashfaq, both were good friends and Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
poets (Shayar). Bismil was the pen name
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
or Takhallus of Ram Prasad whereas Ashfaq used to write poetry with the pen name of 'Hasrat
Hasrat
Hasrat is a popular pen name for Urdu poets in India and Pakistan. It is an Urdu word meaning "unfulfilled wish", which is derived from the Arabic word "Hasrah". One reason this word is favored by Urdu poets is that it has melancholy undertones. Notable Urdu poets that use this pen name include:...
'. Both were hanged on the same day, date and time but in different jails.
Early life
Ashfaq ullah Khan was born on 22 October 1900 in ShahjahanpurShahjahanpur
Shahjahanpur is a municipal board, town and district headquarters of Shahjahanpur District in Uttar Pradesh, India.-History:During the reign of Shahjahan, Mughal forces demolished the city of Kant...
, a historical city of Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
. His father, Shafiq Ullah Khan belonged to a Pathan
Pathan
Pathan may refer to a member of the:*Pashtun people; an ethnic group native to Pakistan and Afghanistan*Pathans of Punjab*Pathans of Rajasthan*Pathans of Uttar Pradesh*Pathans of Bihar*Pathans of Gujarat*Rohilla...
family who was famous for militancy. His maternal side was more knowledgable where so many members had served in the police and administrative services of British India. His mother Mazhoor-Un-Nishan Begum was an extremely glamorous lady. Ashfaq ullah was the youngest amongst all his four brothers. His elder brother Riyasat Ullah Khan was a class mate of Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil. When Bismil was declared absconder after the Mainpuri
Mainpuri
Mainpuri is a city and a municipal board in Mainpuri district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of the Mainpuri district and is situated to the north-east of Agra.-Geography:...
Conspiracy, Riyasat used to tell his younger brother Ashafaq about the bravery and shayari Urdu poetry
Urdu poetry
Urdu poetry is a rich tradition of poetry and has many different types and forms. Borrowing much from the Persian language, it is today an important part of Pakistani and North Indian culture....
of Bismil. Since then Ashfaq was very keen to meet Bismil, because of his poetic attitude. In 1920, when Bismil came to Shahjahanpur and engaged himself in business Ashfaq tried so many times to contact him but Bismil paid no attention.
In 1922, when Non-cooperation movement
Non-cooperation movement
The non-cooperation movement was a significant phase of the Indian struggle for freedom from British rule which lasted for years. This movement, which lasted from September 1920 to February 1922 and was led by Mohandas Gandhi, and supported by the Indian National Congress. It aimed to resist...
started and Bismil organised meetings in Shahjahanpur to tell the public about the movement, Ashfaq ullah met him in a public meeting and introduced himself as a younger brother of his class mate. He also told Bismil that he wrote poems under the pen-names of 'Warsi' and 'Hasrat'. Bismil listened to some of his couplets in a private get- together at Shahjahanpur and since then they became good friends. Ashfaq often wrote something and showed it to Bismil who immediately corrected or improved the same. Thus a very good poetic alignment between Ashfaq and Bismil developed and it was so familiar that whosoever listened to them in any of the poetic conferences called Mushaira
Mushaira
Mushaira is a poetic symposium. Its a term in Urdu used to describe an event where poets gather to perform their works. A mushaira is a beloved part of the culture of Pakistan and North India, and it is greatly admired by participants as a forum for free self-expression.-Forms:A mushaira can take...
in Urdu language was overwhelmed with surprise.
Friendship with Bismil
When Mohandas K. Gandhi withdrew the Non-Cooperation Movement after the Chauri ChauraChauri Chaura
Chauri Chaura is a town near Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. The town is known most for an event in February 1922 during the British Raj when a police chowki was set on fire by a mob of angry citizens, killing 23 policemen inside.-Background:In the early 1920s, Indians, led by Mahatma Gandhi,...
incident in 1922, so many Indian youths were left dejected. Ashfaq was also one of them. He felt that India should become free as soon as possible and so he decided to join the revolutionaries
Revolutionary movement for Indian independence
The Revolutionary movement for Indian independence is often a less-highlighted aspect of the Indian independence movement -- the underground revolutionary factions. The groups believing in armed revolution against the ruling British fall into this category. The revolutionary groups were...
and also win the friendship of Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, a famous revolutionary of Shahjahanpur.
Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, an active member of Arya Samaj
Arya Samaj
Arya Samaj is a Hindu reform movement founded by Swami Dayananda on 10 April 1875. He was a sannyasi who believed in the infallible authority of the Vedas. Dayananda emphasized the ideals of brahmacharya...
, Shahjahanpur was eager to explain the greatness of the Hindu religion to those belonging to other religions, although he never bore in mind any prejudice against any religious community. This was the only reason behind it that won the heart of Ashfaq and he became a confident friend of Bismil. Although Ashfaq was a devout Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
yet both of them had the common objective of a free and united India. They sacrificed their lives on the same day of 19 December 1927 as martyrs for India, but in different jails of Faizabad and Gorakhpur.
Kakori train robbery
The revolutionaries felt that soft words of non violence could not win India its Independence and therefore they wanted to make use of bombs, revolvers and other weapons to instill fear in the hearts of the Britishers living in India. Although the British EmpireBritish Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
was large and strong yet very few Englishmen had conquered India due to its cowardice and non violent policy adopted by Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
leaders like Gandhi and others. The withdrawal of the non cooperation movement by so called leaders of Congress united revolutionaries scattered throughout the country. But the newly started revolutionary movement required money to support its need. One day while traveling on a train from Shahjahanpur to Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil noticed every station master bringing money bags into the guard's cabin which was kept there in cash chest. This cash chest was handed over to the station superintendent of Lucknow junction. Bismil decided to loot the government money and utilise it against the same government who had been continuously looting India for more than 300 years. This was a beginning of a Dacoity called Kakori train robbery
Kakori train robbery
The Kakori train robbery was a train robbery that took place between Kakori and Alamnagar near Lucknow, on 9 August 1925 during the Indian Independence Movement against the British.German-made Mauser C96 semi-automatic pistols with wooden stock were used in this historical event by the Hindustan...
.
To give a fillip to their movement and buy arms and ammunition to carry out their activities, the revolutionaries organised a meeting on August 8, 1925 at Shahjahanpur. After a lot of deliberations it was decided to loot the government treasury carried in the 8-Down Saharanpur - Lucknow passenger train. On 9 August 1925, Ashfaqulla Khan and eight other revolutionaries looted the train under the leadership of Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil. They were Rajendra Lahiri
Rajendra Lahiri
Rajendra Lahiri , also known as Rajendra Nath Lahiri,, was a Bengali Hindu Brahmin revolutionary, who participated in various revolutionary activities of the Hindustan Republican Association aimed at ousting the British forever from India.-Brief life sketch:Rajendra Lahiri was born on 23 Jun 1901...
from Varanasi, Sachindra Nath Bakshi from Bengal, Chandra Shekhar Azad from Unnao, Keshab Chakravorthy from Calcutta, Banwari Lal
Banwari Lal
Banwari Lal was a prominent Indian revolutionary who became an Approver in the historical Kakori conspiracy case of 1925.He hailed from Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh....
from Rai Bareli, Mukundi Lal from Etawah, Manmath Nath Gupta
Manmath Nath Gupta
Manmath Nath Gupta was an Indian revolutionary writer and author of autobiographical, historical and fictional books in Hindi, English and Bengali. He joined the Indian independence movement at the age of 13, and was an active member of the Hindustan Republican Association...
from Benaras and Murari Lal from Shahjahanpur. These facts are given here from the book Swadhinta Sangram Ke Krantikari Sahitya Ka Itihas.
Conspiracy case filed
British Government was astonished at the courage of revolutionaries. The ViceroyViceroy
A viceroy is a royal official who runs a country, colony, or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. A viceroy's province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty...
deployed the Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
Police to investigate the case. Within a month the C.I.D. collected the clues and decided to arrest almost all the revolutionaries overnight. On the morning of 26 September 1925, Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil and others from Shahjahanpur
Shahjahanpur
Shahjahanpur is a municipal board, town and district headquarters of Shahjahanpur District in Uttar Pradesh, India.-History:During the reign of Shahjahan, Mughal forces demolished the city of Kant...
were arrested by the police but Ashfaq was the only one untraced by the police. Ashfaq went into hiding and moved to Banaras, from there he went to Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
where he worked in an engineering company for about ten months. He also wanted to go abroad and meet Lala Har Dayal for his concrete help in the freedom struggle. He went Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
to find out the ways how to move out of the country. In Delhi, he took the help of one of his Pathan
Pashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...
friend who in turn betrayed him by informing the police who arrested Ashfaq.
Tasadduk Husain, the then superintendent of police tried to play communal politics between Bismil and Ashfaq. He also tried to win the confidence of Ashfaq by provoking him against Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
but Ashfaq was a strong willed Indian who surprised the S.P. Tasadduk Husain Khan by saying- "Khan Sahib!, I know Pandit Ram Prasad better than you, he is not such a person as you say but even if you are right then I am also quite sure that a Hindu India will be much better than your British India to whom you are serving like a servant."
Ashfaqulla Khan was detained in the Faizabad
Faizabad
City of Faizabad , previous capital of Awadh, is the headquarters of Faizabad District and a municipal board in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, situated on the banks of river Ghaghra . Faizabad has a twin city of Ayodhya, which is considered to be the birthplace of Rama...
jail. A case was filed against him. His brother Riyasat Ulla Khan deployed Kripa Shankar Hajela, a senior advocate to plea his case as a counsellor. Mr Hajela fought the case till the very end but he could not save his life. While in jail, Ashfaq daily performed five times Islamic prayer (in Urdu 'Namaj') and reciting the hymns from Quran to convince his God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
or Allah
Allah
Allah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...
in favour of his revolutionary activities. The case of the Kakori conspiracy was concluded by awarding death sentence to four daredevils viz. Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, Rajendra Lahiri
Rajendra Lahiri
Rajendra Lahiri , also known as Rajendra Nath Lahiri,, was a Bengali Hindu Brahmin revolutionary, who participated in various revolutionary activities of the Hindustan Republican Association aimed at ousting the British forever from India.-Brief life sketch:Rajendra Lahiri was born on 23 Jun 1901...
and Thakur Roshan Singh. The sixteen others were awarded the rigorous punishment varying from four years up to life sentence.
By an eyewitness account, on a Wednesday, four days before he was hanged, two English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
officers looked into the solitary cell where Ashfaqulla Khan was lodged. He was in the middle of his namaz. "I’d like to see how much of that faith remains in him when we hang the rat", quipped one of them. But Ashfaq continued his prayer as usual and both of them went away murmuring like a wind's way.
On Monday, 19 December 1927, Ashfaqulla Khan is known to have taken two steps at a time, as he walked up to the post. When his chains were released, he reached for the hanging rope and kissed it by saying these words: "My hands are not soiled with the murder of man. The charges framed against me are a bare false. God will give me the justice." And at last he recited in Urdu the shahada
Shahada
The Shahada , means "to know and believe without suspicion, as if witnessed"/testification; it is the name of the Islamic creed. The shahada is the Muslim declaration of belief in the oneness of God and acceptance of Muhammad as God's prophet...
. The noose came around his neck and the movement lost one of its shining stars in the sky.
Few words from Ashfaq's diary
Ashfaq was a very good Urdu poet who wrote beautiful couplets and ghazals with the pen-name of 'Warsi' and 'HasratHasrat
Hasrat is a popular pen name for Urdu poets in India and Pakistan. It is an Urdu word meaning "unfulfilled wish", which is derived from the Arabic word "Hasrah". One reason this word is favored by Urdu poets is that it has melancholy undertones. Notable Urdu poets that use this pen name include:...
'. But very few people know that he had also written in Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
as well as in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. While he was confined in the solitary cell of Faizabad Jail, he started writing a diary. Few words of English are reproduced hereunder from his diary:
- Patrotism brings with him all sort of troubles and pains, but a man who chooses it,all the troubles and pains become comforts and ease for him. That is why we remain cheerful up to our aim.
- Only for the love of our country I suffer so much.
- There is no dream, and if there is,there is only one to see you my children struggling for the same and for which I am expected to be finished.
- Brothers and friends will weep after me but I am weeping over their coldness and infidelity towards our motherland.
- Weep not children, weep not elders; I am immortal ! I am immortal !!
In another letter written to his beloved mother, sisters and nephews he writes: "We too had done some of the works which we could, but those were the days, we had the glamour on face and strength in the chest. But now is the hope only hope from you, you are now grown up and we are at the verge of setting like a sun in the west." In Urdu he had written:
"किये थे काम हमने भी जो कुछ भी हमसे बन पाये,ये बातें तब की हैं आज़ाद थे और था शबाब अपना;
मगर अब तो जो कुछ भी हैं उम्मीदें बस वो तुमसे हैं,जबाँ तुम हो लबे-बाम आ चुका है आफताब अपना."
Last Night of Ashfaq
Ashfaq was a devout MuslimMuslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
and his affection to his motherland is unmatching. A Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
poet Agnivesh Shukla had written a very good poem titled Ashfaq ki aakhiri raat (en. the last night of Ashfaq) in which he had depicted the real sentiments of this great son of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. The original poem has been given in Hindi Wikipedia
Hindi Wikipedia
Hindi Wikipedia is the Hindi language edition of Wikipedia. It was launched in July 2003. As of September 5, 2011 it had 100,000 articles. In July 2010, Google announced that they had begun working with Hindi Wikipedians to translate English language articles into Hindi and had so far translated...
whereas it's English translation by an Indian poet laureate
Poet Laureate
A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...
is reproduced hereunder along with its Hindi version in Devnagri script:
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- "I will go empty-handed, but this woe will accompany me;
- Independent my country Hindostan would ever be.
- "I will go empty-handed, but this woe will accompany me;
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- Bismil is Hindu he utters- "Time again I will come,
- O Motherland! you dont worry, I will bestow you freedom."
- Bismil is Hindu he utters- "Time again I will come,
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- Me too prevails but religious binding are preventing me,
- Being Muslim for a rebirth may not think ever I.
- Me too prevails but religious binding are preventing me,
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- In case if I got God face to face then certainly,
- In place of heaven I will beg rebirth in this country."
- In case if I got God face to face then certainly,
"जाऊँगा खाली हाथ मगर ये दर्द साथ ही जायेगा, जाने किस दिन हिन्दोस्तान आज़ाद वतन कहलायेगा?
बिस्मिल हिन्दू हैं कहते हैं "फिर आऊँगा,फिर आऊँगा,फिर आकर के ऐ भारत माँ तुझको आज़ाद कराऊँगा".
जी करता है मैं भी कह दूँ पर मजहब से बंध जाता हूँ,मैं मुसलमान हूँ पुनर्जन्म की बात नहीं कर पाता हूँ;
हाँ खुदा अगर मिल गया कहीं अपनी झोली फैला दूँगा, और जन्नत के बदले उससे यक पुनर्जन्म ही माँगूंगा."
Popular media portrayal
The actions of Ashfaq Ullah Khan and his compatriots have recently been depicted in an Aamir KhanAamir Khan
Aamir Hussain Khan is an Indian film actor, director and producer who has established himself as one of the leading actors of Hindi cinema....
starrer hit bollywood movie Rang De Basanti
Rang De Basanti
Rang De Basanti is a 2006 Indian drama film written and directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. It features an ensemble cast comprising Aamir Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Madhavan, Kunal Kapoor, Siddharth Narayan, Sharman Joshi, Atul Kulkarni and British actress Alice Patten in the lead roles...
, where his character role was played by the film actor Kunal Kapoor
Kunal Kapoor
Kunal Kapoor is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi cinema.-Career:Kapoor began his career as an assistant director on the Amitabh Bachchan starrer Aks. He began his acting career training under theatre legend Barry John. He continued his theatre career with Motley, a theater group run by...
.
See also
- Hindustan Socialist Republican AssociationHindustan Socialist Republican AssociationHindustan Socialist Republican Association was a revolutionary organisation established in 1928 at Feroz Shah Kotla New Delhi by Chandrasekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and others...
- Communist Party of India (Marxist)Communist Party of India (Marxist)The Communist Party of India is a political party in India. It has a strong presence in the states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. As of 2011, CPI is leading the state government in Tripura. It leads the Left Front coalition of leftist parties in various states and the national parliament of...
- Sukhdev Thapar
- Chandra Shekhar Azad
- Rajguru
- Thakur Roshan Singh
- Salamullah TipuSalamullah Tipu-Early life and activism:Tipu was born to a lower-middle-class Muhajir family in Karachi, Pakistan. His grandfather, Ashfaqullah Khan , was a noted anti-British firebrand, who was hanged by the British in 1927....