Molana Hasrat Mohani - The Man Who Personified Revolution

His parents named him Syed Fazl-ul-Hasan, but he was widely known by his pen name “Hasrat”. He was born in 1881, in a village named ‘Mohan’ in Unnao district of current Uttar Pradesh. He got his early education in Mohan and emerged as a promising poet in his young age, his remarkable ghazal ‘Chupke Chupke Raat Din’, composed by many contemporary and classical singers. He topped the board exams several times. Later, he got noticed for his brilliance in academics and was called by Aligarh Muslim University.

The political career of Hasrat is quite an adventurous journey. He was an enduring nationalist and criticised liberals and moderates of Indian National Congress. At a time when everyone had to choose sides, Hasrat refrained, and remained untamed and owned the wholeness of Indian spirit by opposing imperialism. He performed Hajj as a devoted Muslim and visited Mathura as a Hindustani.

After completing his education, he became a journalist. He defied oppression in all forms and struggled against British imperialism. He became a part of the Indian National Congress in 1903. He wrote various articles condemning the British and was charged with treason and even got imprisoned in 1909. Since he was unable to pay the fine, police seized his rare book collection. For most of the time during the National Movement, he was in different jails. He started the first Swadeshi Stores along with his wife Nishatunnisa Begum to benefit the cause of the National Movement. He played a crucial role in the Khilafat Movement, during which he toured Hyderabad several times to campaign for Khilafat and Non-Cooperation movements. He criticized the Non-Violence Movement and believed that it’s practical implication lacked wholeness, and even got appreciated by Gandhi. He was one of the founders of Communist Party of India and a vocal supporter of the socialist ideology. The restless soul joined Congress and later Muslim League as well. He was also a member of the Progressive Writers’ Association.

Hasrat’s all-inclusive views originated from three salient features:

Mohani in his address as the chairman of acknowledgment committee of first communist conference of India, defined ccommunism as:

"The Communist movement is the movement of peasants and workers. The people of India generally agree with the principles and aims and objects of the movement, but owing to certain misunderstandings, some weak and nervous people fear the very name of Communism.”

On another account he said,

"Some evil, disposed-off people blame Communism as necessarily an anti-religious movement. The fact, however, is that in matters of religion we allow the largest possible latitude and toleration”.

Mohani identified himself with the Marxist philosophy and tried to comprehend it in the light of Islamic concepts to bring the Muslim population closer to it. In an Urdu couplet, he identified himself as a Sufi and a Muslim communist.

Darweshi-o-inqilab maslak hai mera

(Asceticism and revolution is my creed)

Sufi momin hun, ishtiraki muslim

(For I am a Sufi believer, and a Communist Muslim)

Hasrat advocated a socialist revolution, and wrote many articles in support of socialism in the journal Urdu-e-Mualla, including:

For Maulana Hasrat Mohani, what some today view as his “contradictory behaviour” was the essence of what he stood for as a Muslim, a communist, an Indian and a human being.

Gandhi ki tarah baith ke kaatenge kyun charkha

(Why should we sit and spin yarn on the charkha like Gandhi)

Lenin ki tarah denge duniya ko hila hum

(Like Lenin we shall shake the world)

Hence, Mohani was the one who fearlessly became the flagbearer of resistance against imperialism. The today’s generation might not know his name and what he stood for. But there’s no one in the subcontinent who has remained untouched by the timeless slogan he coined, ‘Inquilab Zindabad’.