Shaukat Ali (10 March 1873– 26 November 1938; Urdu: مولانا شوكت علي) was an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

Muslim member of the Khilafat Movement. He was the elder brother of the renowned political leader Mohammad Ali Jouhar.

Early life

Shaukat Ali was born in 1873 in Rampur state in what is today

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

in India but later played role in partition of India on religious lines. He was educated at the Aligarh Muslim University. He was extremely fond of playing

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

, captaining the university team. Ali served in the civil service of the United Provinces of

Oudh The Oudh State (, also Kingdom of Awadh, Kingdom of Oudh, or Awadh State) was a princely state in the Awadh region of North India until its annexation by the British in 1856. The name Oudh, now obsolete, was once the anglicized name of ...

and

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra i ...

for 17 years in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

Khilafat movement

Shaukat Ali helped his younger brother Mohammad Ali Jouharto publish the

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

weekly ''Comrade''. In 1915 he published an article which said Turks were right to fight the British. These two weekly magazines played a key role in shaping the political policy of Muslim India back then. In 1919, while jailed for publishing what the British charged as seditious materials and organizing protests, he was elected as the last president of the Khilafat conference. He was re-arrested and imprisoned from 1921 to 1923 for his support to

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

and the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

during the

Non-Cooperation Movement The Non-cooperation movement was a political campaign launched on 4 September 1920, by Mahatma Gandhi to have Indians revoke their cooperation from the British government, with the aim of persuading them to grant self-governance.

(1919–1922). His fans accorded him and his brother the title of '' Maulana''. In March 1922, he was in Rajkot jail and was later released in 1923. Though he is widely known as an advocate of non-violence in the struggle against the British colonialists, he supplied guns to Indian revolutionaries like

Sachindra Nath Sanyal Sachindra Nath Sanyal (3 April 1890 — 7 February 1942) was an Indian revolutionary and co-founder of the Hindustan Republican Army (HRA, which after 1928 became the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association) that was created to carry out ...

Nehru report

While still a supporter of Congress and its non-violent ethos, Ali even surpassed some of his colleagues in also providing support to the revolutionary independence movement. To this end, he supplied guns to Sachindranath Sanyal. He opposed the 1928

Nehru Report The Nehru Report of 1928 was a memorandum All Parties Conference in British India to appeal for a new dominion status and a federal set-up of government for the constitution of India. It also proposed for the Joint Electorates with reservation of ...

. Instead, he demanded separate electorates for Muslims and finally the Khilafat Committee rejected the Nehru Report. Shaukat Ali attended the first and second

Round Table Conferences (India) The three Round Table Conferences of 1930–1932 were a series of peace conferences organized by the British Government and Indian political personalities to discuss constitutional reforms in India. These started in November 1930 and ended in De ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1930-31. His brother Jouhar died in 1931, and Shaukat Ali continued on and organized the World Muslim Conference in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. In 1936, Ali became a member of the All India Muslim League and became a close political ally of and campaigner for Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the future founder of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. He served as member of the 'Central Assembly' in British India from 1934 to 1938. He travelled all over the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

, building support for India's Muslims and the struggle for independence from the British rule in India.

Death and legacy

Shaukat Ali died on 26 November 1938 at the residence of Begum Mohammad Ali Jauhar, the widow of his brother, in Karol Bagh, a neighbourhood in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

. His body was buried near

Jama Masjid A congregational mosque or Friday mosque (, ''masjid jāmi‘'', or simply: , ''jāmi‘''; ), or sometimes great mosque or grand mosque (, ''jāmi‘ kabir''; ), is a mosque for hosting the Friday noon prayers known as ''jumu'ah''.* * * * * * * ...

, mina bazar in Shaukat Ali Masjid, Delhi on 26 November 1938.

Commemorative postage stamp

Pakistan Postal Services issued a commemorative postage stamp in his honor in 1995 in its 'Pioneers of Freedom' series.

Roads

A street in Mumbai (formerly

Grant Road Grant Road (named after Sir Robert Grant, the Governor of Bombay between 1835 and 1839, formally Maulana Shaukatali Road) is a locality in South Mumbai. Grant Road railway station serves this area. Grant Road along with Tardeo and Mumbai Cent ...

) is named after him.

References

External links

Maulana Shaukat Ali materials in the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaukat Ali, Maulana 1873 births 1938 deaths Indian independence activists from Uttar Pradesh Leaders of the Pakistan Movement People from Rampur, Uttar Pradesh Aligarh Muslim University alumni Indian Muslims