Maulavi Barkatullah
Encyclopedia
Maulavi Abdul Hafiz Mohamed Barakatullah or Maulana Barkatullah (c. 7 July 1854 – 20 September 1927) was a staunch anti-British Indian revolutionary
with sympathy for the Pan-Islamic movement. Barkatullah was born on 7 July 1854 at Itwra Mohalla Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh
, India
. Barkatullah fought from outside India, with fiery speeches and revolutionary writings in leading newspapers, for the independence of India. Even in the face of adversity and discouragement, Barkatullah rose to a position of pre-eminence in more than one sphere of life by sheer force of merit and hard work. He did not live to see India free but his contribution did bring independence much nearer.
for his higher education. He was a meritorious scholar and mastered seven languages: Arabic, Persian
, Urdu
, Turkish
, English
, German
, and Japanese
. Born of parents in rather indifferent circumstances he had nothing but his own brilliance and firmness of purpose to help him at school and colleges. Even so, he topped the list of successful candidates in most of the examinations for which he appeared, both in India
and England
. He became the Quondam Professor of Urdu
at the Tokyo University Japan
.
Son of Munshi Shaikh Kadaratullah, employed in the service of Bhopal State, Barakatullah lost his father at the age of twelve. Barakatullah “was a very clever youth, (who) left home about 1883 and was employed as a tutor in Khandwa
and later in Bombay,” notes J.C. Ker. In 1887 he came to London, giving private lessons in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu, while himself learning German, French, and Japanese. He was invited by the British convert Abdullah Quilliam to work at the Liverpool Muslim Institute
. While there he got to know Sirdar Nasrullah Khan of Kabul
, brother of the Amir. He reportedly kept the Amir informed about English affairs in India, issuing a weekly news-letter to the Amir’s agent at Karachi
from 1896 to 1898. He left for the USA in 1899.
, son of the Raja of Hathras
. He became a friend of Afghan Emir and the editor of the Kabul newspaper Sirejul-ul-Akber'. He was one of the founders of the "Ghadar" (Rebellion) Party
in 1913 at San Francisco. Later he became the first prime minister of the Provisional Government of India
established on 1 December 1915 in Kabul
with Raja Mahendra Pratap
as its President. Prof. Barkatullah went to several countries of the world with a mission to rouse politically the Indian community and to seek support for the freedom of India from the famous leaders of the time in those countries. Prominent amongst those were Kaiser Wilhelm II, Amir Habibullah Khan, Mohammed Resched, Ghazi Pasha, Lenin, Hitler.
In England, in 1897, Barakatullah was seen attending meetings of the Muslim Patriotic League. Here, he came across other revolutionary compatriots around Shyamji Krishnavarma. After about a year spent in America, in February 1904 he left for Japan, where he was appointed Professor of Hindustani at the University of Tokyo. In the autumn of 1906, at 1 West 34th Street in New York
City, a Pan-Aryan Association was formed by Barakatullah and Samuel Lucas Joshi, a Maratha Christian, son of the late Reverend Lucas Maloba Joshi; it was supported by the Irish revolutionaries of the Clan-na-Gael, the anti-British lawyer Myron H. Phelps and of the equally anti-British Swami Abhedananda
who continued the work of Swami Vivekananda
. On 21 October 1906, at a meeting of the United Irish League
held in New York, Barakatullah asked Mr O’Connor, representative of the Irish Parliamentary Party
whether, "in the event of the Indian people rising against the oppressive and tyrannical rule of England in India, and in case England should concede Home Rule
to Ireland," would O’Connor "be in favour of the Irish people furnishing soldiers to the British Army to crush the Indian people.” No answer is recorded. According to a report in the Gaelic American, in June 1907, a meeting of Indians, held in New York, passed resolutions “repudiating the right of any foreigner (Mr. Morley) to dictate the future of the Indian people, urging their countrymen to depend upon themselves alone and especially on boycott and swadeshi, condemning the deportation of Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh
, and expressing detestation of the action of the British authorities in openly instigating one class of Indians against another at Jamalpur
and other places." (Source: Ker, p225).
In August 1907, the New York Sun published Barakatullah’s letter stating how Englishmen were getting nervous “because of the Hindus and the Muslims are drawing together and the success of nationalism seems to be nearer.” More vehement was his letter in Persian, which appeared in the Urdu Mualla of Aligarh, U.P., in May 1907, in which Barakatullah strongly advocated the necessity for unity between Hindus and Muslims, and defined the two chief duties of Muslims as patriotism and friendship with all Muslims outside India. This prophetic argument preceded by four years the publication of Germany and the Coming War, by Bernhardi
, warning England to be aware of the extreme danger represented by the unity of Hindu and Muslim extremists in Bengal, as reported by the Rowlatt Commission (Chapter VII). He thought that the performance of both these duties depended entirely upon one rule of conduct, namely concord and unity with the Hindus of India in all political matters. (Ker, p226). In October 1907, Madame Cama reached New York and declared to journalists : “We are in slavery, and I am in America for the sole purpose of giving a thorough exposé of the British oppression (…) and to interest the warm-hearted citizens of this great Republic in our enfranchisement.” On 16 August 1908 arrived from Kolkata Bhupendra Nath Datta, Vivekananda’s hot-blooded brother. Invited by George Freeman to edit the Free Hindustan from the Gaelic American newspaper office, Taraknath Das went to New York to join his old colleague Datta. In March 1909 Barakatullah left again for Japan.
.
In June–July 1911 he left for Constantinople
and Petrograd, returned to Tokyo in October and published an article referring to the advent of a great pan-Islamic Alliance including Afghanistan
which he expected to become “the future Japan of Central Asia”. In December he converted to Islam three Japanese: his assistant Hassan U. Hatanao, his wife, and her father, Baron Kentaro Hiki. This is said to be the first conversion to Islam in Japan. In 1912, Barakatullah “became at once more fluent in his use of the English language and more anti-British in his tone,” observes Ker (p133). Discussing in his paper the “Christian Combination against Islam,” Barakatullah singled out the Emperor William of Germany as really the one man “who holds the peace of the world as well as the war in the hollow of his hand : it is the duty of the Muslims to be united, to stand by the Khalif; with their life and property, and to side with Germany.” Quoting a Roman poet, Barakatullah reminded that the Anglo-Saxons had been sea-wolves, living on the pillage of the world. The difference in modern times was the added “refinement of hypocrisy which sharpens the edge of brutality.” On 6 July 1912, the entry of the paper into India was prohibited, before the Japanese Government suppressed it. Meanwhile, since September, copies of another paper called El Islam appeared in India, continuing Barakatullah’s political propaganda. On 22 March 1913 its importation was prohibited in India. In June 1913, copies were received in India of a lithographed Urdu pamphlet, “The Sword is the Last Resort”. On 31 March 1914 Barakatullah’s teaching appointment was terminated by the Japanese authorities. It was followed by another similar leaflet, Feringhi ka Fareb (“The Deceit of the English”) : according to Ker (p135), “it surpassed in violence Barakatullah’s previous productions, and was modelled more on the style of the publications of the Gadhar party of San Francisco with whom Barakatullah now threw in his lot.”
, Shanghai
. Professor Barakatullah is all right in Japan.” (Ker, p237). On 22 May 1914, Barakatullah returned to San Francisco with Bhagwan Singh
alias Natha Singh, the granthi (priest) of the Sikh temple at Hong Kong and joined the Yugantar Ashram and worked with Taraknath Das. With the outbreak of the War in August 1914, meetings were held at all the principal centres of the Indian population from Asia in California and Oregon and funds were raised to go back to India and join the insurrection : Barakatullah, Bhagwan Singh
and Ramchandra Bharadwaj were among the speakers. (Portland (Oregon) Telegram, 7 August 1914; Fresno Republican, 23 September 1914). Reaching Berlin on time, Barakatullah met Chatto
or Virendranath Chattopadhyay and sided Raja Mahendra Pratap
in the Mission to Kabul. Their role was significant in indoctrinating with anti-British feelings the Indian prisoners of war held by Germany. They arrived at Herat
on 24 August 1915 and were given a royal reception by the Governor.
in Afghanistan
, during First World War. It was a government-in-exile of Free Hindustan with Raja Mahendra Pratap
as President
, Maulana Barkatullah, Prime Minister
, Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi
, Home Minister. Anti-British forces supported his movement. But, for some obvious loyalty to the British, the Amir kept on delaying the expedition.
Then they attempted to establish relations with foreign powers.” (Ker, p305). In Kabul, the Siraj-ul-Akhbar in its issue of 4 May 1916 published Raja Mahendra Pratap
’s version of the Mission and its objective. He mentioned : “…His Imperial Majesty the Kaiser himself granted me an audience. Subsequently, having set right the problem of India and Asia with the Imperial German Government, and having received the necessary credentials, I started towards the East. I had interviews with the Khedive of Egypt and with the Princes and Ministers of Turkey, as well as with the renowned Enver Pasha and His Imperial Majesty the Holy Khalif, Sultan-ul-Muazzim. I settled the problem of India and the East with the Imperial Ottoman Government, and received the necessary credentials from them as well. German and Turkish officers and Maulvi Barakatullah Sahib were went with me to help me; they are still with me.” Unable to take Raja Mahendra Pratap
seriously, Jawaharlal Nehru
will write later, in An Autobiography : “He seemed to be a character out of medieval romance, a Don Quixote who had strayed into the twentieth century.”(p151) Under pressure from the British, the Afghan government withdrew its help. The Mission was closed down.
In March–May 1921, he accompanied Chatto
in a delegation of Indian revolutionaries to Moscow; Agnes Smedley
, Bhupendranath Datta, Pandurang Khankhoje, Biren Dasgupta, Abdul Hafiz, Abdul Wahid
, Herambalal Gupta
and Nalini Dasgupta were among the other delegates. Smedley’s animosity against M.N. Roy, who had preceded them and had already secured a mandate from Lenin himself, the delegation did not cooperate with Roy. Hence, a Commission of the Comintern examined the differences between the two factions before making its recommendation. The Commission was composed of Michael Borodin, August Thalheimer
(the leader and theoretician of the German Communist Party), S.J. Rutgers (Holland), Mátyás Rákosi
(Hungary), Tom Quelch and James Bell
(Great Britain) : according to Sibnarayan Ray
, after sitting for three days, they refused to give the Berlin Committee the status of a recognised group; Thalheimer compared this batch to the “bourgeois democrats of nineteenth century Germany who used to pose themselves as social democrats.”
started an Indian News and Information Bureau in Berlin, Datta refused to accept his old friend’s leadership and formed a rival body called India Independence Party, with Barakatullah as its president. It did manage to be financed by Moscow. According to Sir Cecil Kaye, this support to Barakatullah set-up was provided by the Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs Commissariat (Narkomindel
), headed by Chicherin
who considered it worthwhile to cultivate at the same time the non-communist group of revolutionary nationalists. (Kaye, pp56–57). It is learnt from Russian State Archives of Socio-Political History, Moscow (RGASP) that Maulana Barakatullah sent to the Comintern two documents outlining a secret plan for collaboration between the Comintern and the Indian national revolutionaries through Jawaharlal Nehru
. He wanted the reformulation of certain tactics which were damaging the cause of anti-imperialist struggle. The first letter to the Comintern
was written from Berlin on 6 May 1926 : “It was only lately that I saw the famous Indian revolutionary, Jawhar (sic!) Lal Nehru, in Switzerland, who has been especially delegated to me from India in order to explain to me the diametrically opposite effect of the propaganda of Comintern in India to the intentions of the said association, and to ask me to communicate the standpoint of the Indian revolutionaries to the Comintern. If necessary, Mr. Nehru is himself willing to come over to Berlin and explain to you the whole situation of the propaganda of the Comintern in India himself./ ...the whole thing falls into the hands of the English agents with the only result that the true Indian revolutionaries are being exposed and put to all sorts of troubles by the police... I, therefore, propose that a meeting should be convened to take place at Berlin with the participation of Mr. Nehru and the representatives of Comintern including Mr. Roy and other comrades concerned in this propaganda. In this case we shall be able to find out the proper way of crushing our mutual enemy, which can only be done if we work hand in hand and not against each other.” (RGASP 495-68-186). This was followed by a note of Barakatullah’s to the Comintern, dated Berlin 2 February 1927, suggesting better organisation and communication channels by involving the Comintern more closely in the activities of India’s nationalist revolutionaries; it added: “M. Barakatullah Maulavie and Jawahar Lal Nehru will be the only Indian representatives to come into personal contract with the representatives of the Comintern, in order to maintain secrecy’. (RGASP 495-68-207).
Earlier, in June 1926, Barakatullah had sent with Lakha Singh twenty thousand rupees to India, for helping the families of Sikh prisoners. In May 1927, he accompanied Mahendra Pratap to revisit the United States and, encouraged by Smedley, contacted Sailendra Nath Ghose, follower of Bagha Jatin
. Invited by the United India League, they went to Detroit in June. Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru met Prof. Barkatullah in Berlin and later at the Brussels Conference in 1927 and was highly impressed with his revolutionary thoughts and deeds. After the Brussels Congress, he and Raja Mahendra Pratap went to USA to carry on their mission.
Barakatullah died in San Francisco on 20 September 1927. His body was taken from San Francisco to Sacramento. Then his coffin was taken to Maryville where he was buried in the Muslim Cemetery with the promise that after the freedom of his country, his body would be transferred to his own motherland, to Bhopal. His remains nonetheless lie buried in Sacramento
City Cemetery, California
.
With a view to perpetuate the name of a learned scholar and the revolutionary son of the soil amongst the youth of future generations, Bhopal University was rechristened as Barkatullah University
in 1988, after the name of Maulana Barkatullah Bhopali.
Revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either actively participates in, or advocates revolution. Also, when used as an adjective, the term revolutionary refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.-Definition:...
with sympathy for the Pan-Islamic movement. Barkatullah was born on 7 July 1854 at Itwra Mohalla Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
, 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...
. Barkatullah fought from outside India, with fiery speeches and revolutionary writings in leading newspapers, for the independence of India. Even in the face of adversity and discouragement, Barkatullah rose to a position of pre-eminence in more than one sphere of life by sheer force of merit and hard work. He did not live to see India free but his contribution did bring independence much nearer.
Early life
He had educated from primary to college level at Bhopal. Later he went to Bombay and LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
for his higher education. He was a meritorious scholar and mastered seven languages: Arabic, Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
, 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...
, Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
, 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...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, and Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
. Born of parents in rather indifferent circumstances he had nothing but his own brilliance and firmness of purpose to help him at school and colleges. Even so, he topped the list of successful candidates in most of the examinations for which he appeared, both in 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...
and England
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...
. He became the Quondam Professor of 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...
at the Tokyo University Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Son of Munshi Shaikh Kadaratullah, employed in the service of Bhopal State, Barakatullah lost his father at the age of twelve. Barakatullah “was a very clever youth, (who) left home about 1883 and was employed as a tutor in Khandwa
Khandwa
Khandwa is a town in the Nimaad region of Madhya Pradesh, an Administrative State in central India. It is the administrative headquarters of Khandwa District, formerly known as East Nimar District.Khandwa is an ancient town, with many places of worship, like many other towns in India...
and later in Bombay,” notes J.C. Ker. In 1887 he came to London, giving private lessons in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu, while himself learning German, French, and Japanese. He was invited by the British convert Abdullah Quilliam to work at the Liverpool Muslim Institute
Liverpool Muslim Institute
The Liverpool Muslim Institute was founded by the Liverpudlian William Abdullah Quilliam in 1887.After proclaiming himself to be a Muslim, William Henry Quilliam changed his name to Abdullah and founded the Liverpool Muslim Institute with Mrs Elizabeth Cates. Within two years they had set up a...
. While there he got to know Sirdar Nasrullah Khan of Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
, brother of the Amir. He reportedly kept the Amir informed about English affairs in India, issuing a weekly news-letter to the Amir’s agent at Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
from 1896 to 1898. He left for the USA in 1899.
Policy of Revolution
While in England he came in close contact with Lala Hardayal and Raja Mahendra PratapRaja Mahendra Pratap
Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh was a freedom fighter, journalist, writer and revolutionary social reformist of India. He was popularly known as the Aryan Peshwa. He was born in Thenua gotra Jat Hindu princely family of state of Mursan in Hathras District of Uttar Pradesh on 1 December 1886. He was...
, son of the Raja of Hathras
Hathras
Hathras is a city and a municipal board in Mahamaya Nagar district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the headquarters of the district that was created on 3 May 1997 by incorporating parts of Aligarh, Mathura and Agra districts. It forms a part of Aligarh Division...
. He became a friend of Afghan Emir and the editor of the Kabul newspaper Sirejul-ul-Akber'. He was one of the founders of the "Ghadar" (Rebellion) Party
Ghadar Party
The Ghadar Party was an organization founded by Punjabi Indians, in the United States and Canada with the aim to liberate India from British rule...
in 1913 at San Francisco. Later he became the first prime minister of the Provisional Government of India
Provisional Government of India
Provisional Government of India was a provisional government-in-exile established by Indian Nationalists in Afghanistan during World War I with support from the Central Powers. Its purpose was to enroll support from both the Afghan Emir, as well as Tsarist Russia, China and Japan for the Indian...
established on 1 December 1915 in Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
with Raja Mahendra Pratap
Raja Mahendra Pratap
Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh was a freedom fighter, journalist, writer and revolutionary social reformist of India. He was popularly known as the Aryan Peshwa. He was born in Thenua gotra Jat Hindu princely family of state of Mursan in Hathras District of Uttar Pradesh on 1 December 1886. He was...
as its President. Prof. Barkatullah went to several countries of the world with a mission to rouse politically the Indian community and to seek support for the freedom of India from the famous leaders of the time in those countries. Prominent amongst those were Kaiser Wilhelm II, Amir Habibullah Khan, Mohammed Resched, Ghazi Pasha, Lenin, Hitler.
In England, in 1897, Barakatullah was seen attending meetings of the Muslim Patriotic League. Here, he came across other revolutionary compatriots around Shyamji Krishnavarma. After about a year spent in America, in February 1904 he left for Japan, where he was appointed Professor of Hindustani at the University of Tokyo. In the autumn of 1906, at 1 West 34th Street in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
City, a Pan-Aryan Association was formed by Barakatullah and Samuel Lucas Joshi, a Maratha Christian, son of the late Reverend Lucas Maloba Joshi; it was supported by the Irish revolutionaries of the Clan-na-Gael, the anti-British lawyer Myron H. Phelps and of the equally anti-British Swami Abhedananda
Swami Abhedananda
Swami Abhedananda was a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, who Swami Vivekananda sent to the West to head the Vedanta Society, New York in 1897, and spread the message of Vedanta, a theme on which he authored several books through his life, and subsequently founded the Ramakrishna Vedanta Math,...
who continued the work of Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda , born Narendranath Dutta , was the chief disciple of the 19th century mystic Ramakrishna Paramahansa and the founder of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission...
. On 21 October 1906, at a meeting of the United Irish League
United Irish League
The United Irish League was a nationalist political party in Ireland, launched 23 January 1898 with the motto "The Land for the People" . Its objective to be achieved through agrarian agitation and land reform, compelling larger grazier farmers to surrender their lands for redistribution amongst...
held in New York, Barakatullah asked Mr O’Connor, representative of the Irish Parliamentary Party
Irish Parliamentary Party
The Irish Parliamentary Party was formed in 1882 by Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nationalist Members of Parliament elected to the House of Commons at...
whether, "in the event of the Indian people rising against the oppressive and tyrannical rule of England in India, and in case England should concede Home Rule
Home rule
Home rule is the power of a constituent part of a state to exercise such of the state's powers of governance within its own administrative area that have been devolved to it by the central government....
to Ireland," would O’Connor "be in favour of the Irish people furnishing soldiers to the British Army to crush the Indian people.” No answer is recorded. According to a report in the Gaelic American, in June 1907, a meeting of Indians, held in New York, passed resolutions “repudiating the right of any foreigner (Mr. Morley) to dictate the future of the Indian people, urging their countrymen to depend upon themselves alone and especially on boycott and swadeshi, condemning the deportation of Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh
Ajit Singh
Ajit Singh may refer to:* Dekh Bhai Dekh, music composer/singer* Chaudhary Ajit Singh, founder and chief of the political party Rashtriya Lok Dal in Uttar Pradesh, India...
, and expressing detestation of the action of the British authorities in openly instigating one class of Indians against another at Jamalpur
Jamalpur
Jamalpur may refer to:Bangladesh* Jamalpur District* Jamalpur Sadar UpazilaIndia* Jamalpur, Munger, Bihar* Jamalpur, Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh* Jamalpur , West Bengal...
and other places." (Source: Ker, p225).
In August 1907, the New York Sun published Barakatullah’s letter stating how Englishmen were getting nervous “because of the Hindus and the Muslims are drawing together and the success of nationalism seems to be nearer.” More vehement was his letter in Persian, which appeared in the Urdu Mualla of Aligarh, U.P., in May 1907, in which Barakatullah strongly advocated the necessity for unity between Hindus and Muslims, and defined the two chief duties of Muslims as patriotism and friendship with all Muslims outside India. This prophetic argument preceded by four years the publication of Germany and the Coming War, by Bernhardi
Bernhardi
- People :* Friedrich von Bernhardi, Prussian general.* Johann Jakob Bernhardi, German doctor and botanist.* August Ferdinand Bernhardi, German linguist and writer.* Bartholomäus Bernhardi of Feldkirchen, 16th century German professor of physics and philosophy....
, warning England to be aware of the extreme danger represented by the unity of Hindu and Muslim extremists in Bengal, as reported by the Rowlatt Commission (Chapter VII). He thought that the performance of both these duties depended entirely upon one rule of conduct, namely concord and unity with the Hindus of India in all political matters. (Ker, p226). In October 1907, Madame Cama reached New York and declared to journalists : “We are in slavery, and I am in America for the sole purpose of giving a thorough exposé of the British oppression (…) and to interest the warm-hearted citizens of this great Republic in our enfranchisement.” On 16 August 1908 arrived from Kolkata Bhupendra Nath Datta, Vivekananda’s hot-blooded brother. Invited by George Freeman to edit the Free Hindustan from the Gaelic American newspaper office, Taraknath Das went to New York to join his old colleague Datta. In March 1909 Barakatullah left again for Japan.
Activities in Japan
Early in 1910, he started the Islamic Fraternity in TokyoTokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
.
In June–July 1911 he left for Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
and Petrograd, returned to Tokyo in October and published an article referring to the advent of a great pan-Islamic Alliance including Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
which he expected to become “the future Japan of Central Asia”. In December he converted to Islam three Japanese: his assistant Hassan U. Hatanao, his wife, and her father, Baron Kentaro Hiki. This is said to be the first conversion to Islam in Japan. In 1912, Barakatullah “became at once more fluent in his use of the English language and more anti-British in his tone,” observes Ker (p133). Discussing in his paper the “Christian Combination against Islam,” Barakatullah singled out the Emperor William of Germany as really the one man “who holds the peace of the world as well as the war in the hollow of his hand : it is the duty of the Muslims to be united, to stand by the Khalif; with their life and property, and to side with Germany.” Quoting a Roman poet, Barakatullah reminded that the Anglo-Saxons had been sea-wolves, living on the pillage of the world. The difference in modern times was the added “refinement of hypocrisy which sharpens the edge of brutality.” On 6 July 1912, the entry of the paper into India was prohibited, before the Japanese Government suppressed it. Meanwhile, since September, copies of another paper called El Islam appeared in India, continuing Barakatullah’s political propaganda. On 22 March 1913 its importation was prohibited in India. In June 1913, copies were received in India of a lithographed Urdu pamphlet, “The Sword is the Last Resort”. On 31 March 1914 Barakatullah’s teaching appointment was terminated by the Japanese authorities. It was followed by another similar leaflet, Feringhi ka Fareb (“The Deceit of the English”) : according to Ker (p135), “it surpassed in violence Barakatullah’s previous productions, and was modelled more on the style of the publications of the Gadhar party of San Francisco with whom Barakatullah now threw in his lot.”
The Gadhar Episode
In May 1913, G.D. Kumar had sailed from San Francisco for the Philippine Islands and had written from Manila to Taraknath Das : “I am going to establish base at Manila (P.I.) forwarding Depôt, supervise the work near China, Hong KongHong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
. Professor Barakatullah is all right in Japan.” (Ker, p237). On 22 May 1914, Barakatullah returned to San Francisco with Bhagwan Singh
Bhagwan Singh
Captain Bhagwan Singh was an Indian diplomat, army officer, and administrator, who served as High Commissioner of India to Fiji, and subsequent to his retirement was prominent in Jat causes.- Childhood :...
alias Natha Singh, the granthi (priest) of the Sikh temple at Hong Kong and joined the Yugantar Ashram and worked with Taraknath Das. With the outbreak of the War in August 1914, meetings were held at all the principal centres of the Indian population from Asia in California and Oregon and funds were raised to go back to India and join the insurrection : Barakatullah, Bhagwan Singh
Bhagwan Singh
Captain Bhagwan Singh was an Indian diplomat, army officer, and administrator, who served as High Commissioner of India to Fiji, and subsequent to his retirement was prominent in Jat causes.- Childhood :...
and Ramchandra Bharadwaj were among the speakers. (Portland (Oregon) Telegram, 7 August 1914; Fresno Republican, 23 September 1914). Reaching Berlin on time, Barakatullah met Chatto
Chatto
Chatto may refer to:* Chatto , Chiricahua Apache chief* Beth Chatto , plantswoman, garden designer and author* Virendranath Chattopadhyaya , prominent Bengali Indian revolutionary...
or Virendranath Chattopadhyay and sided Raja Mahendra Pratap
Raja Mahendra Pratap
Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh was a freedom fighter, journalist, writer and revolutionary social reformist of India. He was popularly known as the Aryan Peshwa. He was born in Thenua gotra Jat Hindu princely family of state of Mursan in Hathras District of Uttar Pradesh on 1 December 1886. He was...
in the Mission to Kabul. Their role was significant in indoctrinating with anti-British feelings the Indian prisoners of war held by Germany. They arrived at Herat
Herat
Herāt is the capital of Herat province in Afghanistan. It is the third largest city of Afghanistan, with a population of about 397,456 as of 2006. It is situated in the valley of the Hari River, which flows from the mountains of central Afghanistan to the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan...
on 24 August 1915 and were given a royal reception by the Governor.
Government of Free India
On 1 December 1915, Pratap's 28th birthday, he established the first Provisional Government of India at KabulKabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, during First World War. It was a government-in-exile of Free Hindustan with Raja Mahendra Pratap
Raja Mahendra Pratap
Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh was a freedom fighter, journalist, writer and revolutionary social reformist of India. He was popularly known as the Aryan Peshwa. He was born in Thenua gotra Jat Hindu princely family of state of Mursan in Hathras District of Uttar Pradesh on 1 December 1886. He was...
as President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
, Maulana Barkatullah, Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
, Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi
Ubaidullah Sindhi
Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi was a noted pan-Islamic leader a political activist of the Indian independence movement...
, Home Minister. Anti-British forces supported his movement. But, for some obvious loyalty to the British, the Amir kept on delaying the expedition.
Then they attempted to establish relations with foreign powers.” (Ker, p305). In Kabul, the Siraj-ul-Akhbar in its issue of 4 May 1916 published Raja Mahendra Pratap
Raja Mahendra Pratap
Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh was a freedom fighter, journalist, writer and revolutionary social reformist of India. He was popularly known as the Aryan Peshwa. He was born in Thenua gotra Jat Hindu princely family of state of Mursan in Hathras District of Uttar Pradesh on 1 December 1886. He was...
’s version of the Mission and its objective. He mentioned : “…His Imperial Majesty the Kaiser himself granted me an audience. Subsequently, having set right the problem of India and Asia with the Imperial German Government, and having received the necessary credentials, I started towards the East. I had interviews with the Khedive of Egypt and with the Princes and Ministers of Turkey, as well as with the renowned Enver Pasha and His Imperial Majesty the Holy Khalif, Sultan-ul-Muazzim. I settled the problem of India and the East with the Imperial Ottoman Government, and received the necessary credentials from them as well. German and Turkish officers and Maulvi Barakatullah Sahib were went with me to help me; they are still with me.” Unable to take Raja Mahendra Pratap
Raja Mahendra Pratap
Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh was a freedom fighter, journalist, writer and revolutionary social reformist of India. He was popularly known as the Aryan Peshwa. He was born in Thenua gotra Jat Hindu princely family of state of Mursan in Hathras District of Uttar Pradesh on 1 December 1886. He was...
seriously, Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
will write later, in An Autobiography : “He seemed to be a character out of medieval romance, a Don Quixote who had strayed into the twentieth century.”(p151) Under pressure from the British, the Afghan government withdrew its help. The Mission was closed down.
Moscow Experience
Barakatullah returned to Germany, edited and published the Naya Islam. For a period he was attached to the German General Staff. On 18 April 1919, he wrote to Paul Kesselring in Switzerland : “It is four years now since I saw you last. I was 3 years and half in Afghanistan as the guest of the state. Being cut off from the civilised world, I used to get the news of the great war very late. The Afghan government did their best to make me and my companions comfortable. We had all sorts of luxuries provided for us during our stay in that country. Lately I saw Bokhara, Samarkand and Tashkend (sic!),- the region rich with historical associations./ It took me 22 days by train to reach Mascow (sic!) from Tashkend. I hope to go back to Tashkend before long. I should very much like to hear about your health, happiness & prosperity, as soon as postal communication between Russia & Switzerland is established./ I am in good health.”In March–May 1921, he accompanied Chatto
Chatto
Chatto may refer to:* Chatto , Chiricahua Apache chief* Beth Chatto , plantswoman, garden designer and author* Virendranath Chattopadhyaya , prominent Bengali Indian revolutionary...
in a delegation of Indian revolutionaries to Moscow; Agnes Smedley
Agnes Smedley
Agnes Smedley was an American journalist and writer best known for her semi-autobiographical novelDaughter of Earth. She was also known for her sympathetic chronicling of the Chinese revolution...
, Bhupendranath Datta, Pandurang Khankhoje, Biren Dasgupta, Abdul Hafiz, Abdul Wahid
Abdul Wahid
Abdul Wahid is a male Muslim given name, and in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words Abd, al- and Wahid. The name means "servant of the One", Al-Wāhid being one of the names of God in the Qur'an, which give rise to the Muslim theophoric names.The letter a of the al- is...
, Herambalal Gupta
Herambalal Gupta
Heramba Lal Gupta was an Indian Nationalist linked to the Berlin Committee and the Ghadar Party extensively involved in the Hindu-German Conspiracy, who later turned a British agent and passed in intelligence on Mahendra Pratap's Kabul Government....
and Nalini Dasgupta were among the other delegates. Smedley’s animosity against M.N. Roy, who had preceded them and had already secured a mandate from Lenin himself, the delegation did not cooperate with Roy. Hence, a Commission of the Comintern examined the differences between the two factions before making its recommendation. The Commission was composed of Michael Borodin, August Thalheimer
August Thalheimer
August Thalheimer was a German Marxist activist and theoretician.-Early years:August Thalheimer was born 18 March 1884 in Affaltrach, now called Obersulm, Württemberg, Germany.-Political career:...
(the leader and theoretician of the German Communist Party), S.J. Rutgers (Holland), Mátyás Rákosi
Mátyás Rákosi
Mátyás Rákosi was a Hungarian communist politician. He was born as Mátyás Rosenfeld, in present-day Serbia...
(Hungary), Tom Quelch and James Bell
James Bell
James, Jim, Jimmy and Jamie Bell may refer to:Entertainers*Jimmy Velvit, , US singer who used the pseudonym James Bell*James Bell , American character actor*Jamie Bell , English actor...
(Great Britain) : according to Sibnarayan Ray
Sibnarayan Ray
Sibnarayan Ray was one of the most renowned Bengali thinker, educationist, philosopher and literary critic of twentieth century India. A radical humanist, he is widely reputed for his works on Marxist-revolutionary Manabendra Nath Roy, and famous polymath Bertrand Russell, commenting on Ray, once...
, after sitting for three days, they refused to give the Berlin Committee the status of a recognised group; Thalheimer compared this batch to the “bourgeois democrats of nineteenth century Germany who used to pose themselves as social democrats.”
Last Years
In December 1921, when ChattoChatto
Chatto may refer to:* Chatto , Chiricahua Apache chief* Beth Chatto , plantswoman, garden designer and author* Virendranath Chattopadhyaya , prominent Bengali Indian revolutionary...
started an Indian News and Information Bureau in Berlin, Datta refused to accept his old friend’s leadership and formed a rival body called India Independence Party, with Barakatullah as its president. It did manage to be financed by Moscow. According to Sir Cecil Kaye, this support to Barakatullah set-up was provided by the Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs Commissariat (Narkomindel
Narkomindel
The Ministry of External Relations of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , formed on 16 July 1923, was one of the most important government offices in the Soviet Union. It was known as the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs , or Narkomindel, until 1946. The Ministry was known as the...
), headed by Chicherin
Chicherin
Chicherin is an old Russian noble family:* Boris Chicherin - Russian liberal jurist* Georgy Chicherin - Soviet Foreign Minister* Nikita Chicherin Russian soccer player...
who considered it worthwhile to cultivate at the same time the non-communist group of revolutionary nationalists. (Kaye, pp56–57). It is learnt from Russian State Archives of Socio-Political History, Moscow (RGASP) that Maulana Barakatullah sent to the Comintern two documents outlining a secret plan for collaboration between the Comintern and the Indian national revolutionaries through Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
. He wanted the reformulation of certain tactics which were damaging the cause of anti-imperialist struggle. The first letter to the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
was written from Berlin on 6 May 1926 : “It was only lately that I saw the famous Indian revolutionary, Jawhar (sic!) Lal Nehru, in Switzerland, who has been especially delegated to me from India in order to explain to me the diametrically opposite effect of the propaganda of Comintern in India to the intentions of the said association, and to ask me to communicate the standpoint of the Indian revolutionaries to the Comintern. If necessary, Mr. Nehru is himself willing to come over to Berlin and explain to you the whole situation of the propaganda of the Comintern in India himself./ ...the whole thing falls into the hands of the English agents with the only result that the true Indian revolutionaries are being exposed and put to all sorts of troubles by the police... I, therefore, propose that a meeting should be convened to take place at Berlin with the participation of Mr. Nehru and the representatives of Comintern including Mr. Roy and other comrades concerned in this propaganda. In this case we shall be able to find out the proper way of crushing our mutual enemy, which can only be done if we work hand in hand and not against each other.” (RGASP 495-68-186). This was followed by a note of Barakatullah’s to the Comintern, dated Berlin 2 February 1927, suggesting better organisation and communication channels by involving the Comintern more closely in the activities of India’s nationalist revolutionaries; it added: “M. Barakatullah Maulavie and Jawahar Lal Nehru will be the only Indian representatives to come into personal contract with the representatives of the Comintern, in order to maintain secrecy’. (RGASP 495-68-207).
Earlier, in June 1926, Barakatullah had sent with Lakha Singh twenty thousand rupees to India, for helping the families of Sikh prisoners. In May 1927, he accompanied Mahendra Pratap to revisit the United States and, encouraged by Smedley, contacted Sailendra Nath Ghose, follower of Bagha Jatin
Bagha Jatin
Bagha Jatin , born Jatindranath Mukherjee was an Bengali revolutionary philosopher against British rule....
. Invited by the United India League, they went to Detroit in June. Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru met Prof. Barkatullah in Berlin and later at the Brussels Conference in 1927 and was highly impressed with his revolutionary thoughts and deeds. After the Brussels Congress, he and Raja Mahendra Pratap went to USA to carry on their mission.
Barakatullah died in San Francisco on 20 September 1927. His body was taken from San Francisco to Sacramento. Then his coffin was taken to Maryville where he was buried in the Muslim Cemetery with the promise that after the freedom of his country, his body would be transferred to his own motherland, to Bhopal. His remains nonetheless lie buried in Sacramento
Sacramento
Sacramento is the capital of the state of California, in the United States of America.Sacramento may also refer to:- United States :*Sacramento County, California*Sacramento, Kentucky*Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta...
City Cemetery, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
With a view to perpetuate the name of a learned scholar and the revolutionary son of the soil amongst the youth of future generations, Bhopal University was rechristened as Barkatullah University
Barkatullah University
Bhopal University or Barkatullah University Hindi: बरकतउल्लाह विशवविधालय is an Indian university in Bhopal, renamed after the great freedom fighter, Prof. Barkatullah, who was born there. It is the main university of the capital city and provides degrees to most of the non-technical colleges in...
in 1988, after the name of Maulana Barkatullah Bhopali.