Choudhry Rahmat Ali (16 November 1897 – 3 February 1951) was a Muslim nationalist activist who is credited with coining the name "Pakistan" for a separate Muslim homeland in British India and is sometimes regarded as the originator of the

Pakistan Movement The Pakistan Movement was a religiopolitical and social movement that emerged in the early 20th century as part of a campaign that advocated the creation of an Islamic state in parts of what was then British Raj. It was rooted in the two-nation the ...

. Born in Balachaur, Punjab, Rahmat Ali got his education in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

. His seminal contribution was when he was a law student at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

in 1933, in the form of a pamphlet " ''Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever?''", also known as the " Pakistan Declaration". The pamphlet was addressed to the British and Indian delegates to the Third Round Table Conference in London. The ideas did not find favour with the delegates or any of the politicians for close to a decade. They were dismissed as students' ideas particularly by

Muhammad Ali Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah (born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 187611 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the inception of Pa ...

but, by 1940, the Muslim politicians in the subcontinent came around to accept them, leading to the

Lahore Resolution The Lahore Resolution, later called the Pakistan Resolution in Pakistan, was a formal political statement adopted by the All-India Muslim League on the occasion of its three-day general session in Lahore, Punjab, from 22 to 24 March 1940, call ...

of the

All-India Muslim League The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party founded in 1906 in Dhaka, British India with the goal of securing Muslims, Muslim interests in South Asia. Although initially espousing a united India with interfaith unity, the Muslim L ...

, which was immediately dubbed the "Pakistan Resolution" in the press. After the creation of Pakistan, Ali returned from England in April 1948, planning to stay in the country, but his belongings were confiscated and he was expelled by Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan. In October 1948, Ali left empty-handed. He died on 3 February 1951 in Cambridge "destitute, forlorn and lonely". The funeral expenses of insolvent Ali were covered by

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mo ...

on the instructions of its Master. Ali was buried on 20 February 1951 at Cambridge City Cemetery.

Education and career

Rahmat Ali was born on 16 November 1897 into a Punjabi Muslim family. According to the historian K. K. Aziz, who knew Ali personally, he was from the Gorsi clan of

Gujjar The Gurjar (or Gujjar, Gujar, Gurjara) are an agricultural ethnic community, residing mainly in India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, divided internally into various clan groups. They were traditionally involved in agriculture, pastoral and nomadic ...

tribe. He grew up in the town of Balachaur in the

Hoshiarpur District Hoshiarpur district is a district of Punjab, India, Punjab state in northern India. Hoshiarpur, one of the oldest districts of Punjab, is located in the North-east part of the Punjab state and shares common boundaries with Gurdaspur district in ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. After graduating from Islamia College Lahore in 1918, he taught at Aitchison College Lahore and after this, he served as the Chief Advisor to Sir Nawab Murad Buksh Khan Mazari for six years. During this period, he also took on the role of teacher to Sir Nawab Murad Buksh Khan Mazari"s children, including Mir Balakh Sher Mazari who would later become the

Caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan The caretaker prime minister of Pakistan () is the acting head of government, head of the Caretaker government of Pakistan, Caretaker Government in Pakistan following the Dissolution of parliament, dissolution of the National Assembly of Pakistan, ...

, and Sardar Sherbaz Khan Mazari, who was the Leader of the Opposition (Pakistan) and the head of the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy.,before joining

Punjab University Punjab University may refer to: India * Punjab Agricultural University, a state agricultural university in Ludhiana, Punjab * I. K. Gujral Punjab Technical University, a state university in Kapurthala, Punjab * Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Techn ...

to study law. In 1930, he decided to move to England to study law at

which he joined in 1931. Subsequently, he obtained a

BA degree A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in 1933 and MA in 1940 from the

. In 1933, he published a pamphlet, " Now or Never", coining the word ''Pakistan'' for the first time. In 1943, he was called to the Bar, from

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

, London. In 1946, he founded the Pakistan National Movement in England. Until 1947, he continued publishing various booklets about his vision for South Asia. The final

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

disillusioned him due to the mass killings and mass migrations it ended up producing. He was also dissatisfied with the distribution of areas between the two countries and considered it a major reason for the disturbances.

Philosophy

Ali's writings, in addition to those of

Muhammad Iqbal Muhammad Iqbal (9 November 187721 April 1938) was a South Asian Islamic philosopher, poet and politician. Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...

and others, were major catalysts for the formation of Pakistan. He offered the name " Bangistan" for a Muslim homeland in the

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

region, and " Osmanistan" for a Muslim homeland in the

Deccan The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound by the mount ...

. He also suggested ''Dinia'' as a name for a South Asia of various religions.

Conception of 'Pakistan'

In 1930, Ali moved to a house in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, on 3 Humberstone Road. It was in one of the rooms of this house that he is said to have written the word 'Pakistan' for the first time. There are several accounts of the creation of the name. According to a friend, Abdul Kareem Jabbar, the name came up when Ali was walking along the banks of the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...

in 1932 with his friends Pir Ahsan-ud-din and Khwaja Abdul Rahim. According to Ali's secretary Miss Frost, he came up with the idea while riding on the top of a London bus. Sir Mohammad Iqbal said that Rahmat Ali visited him in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

when he was there for the First Round Table Conference in 1930 and asked him what he would call the government of the Muslim state he had proposed in Allahabad. Iqbal told him that he would call it "Pakistan" as an acronym based on the provinces' names. On 28 January 1933, Ali voiced the idea in a pamphlet titled " Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever?". The word 'Pakstan' referred to "the five Northern units of India, viz., Punjab, North-West Frontier Province ( Afghania), Kashmir, Sindh and Baluchistan".: "At this solemn hour in the history of India, when British and Indian statesmen are laying the foundations of a Federal Constitution for that land, we address this appeal to you, in the name of our common heritage, on behalf of our thirty million Muslim brethren who live in PAKSTAN ic– by which we mean the five Northern units of India, viz., Punjab, North-West Frontier Province (Afghan Province), Kashmir, Sindh and Baluchistan – for your sympathy and support in our grim and fateful struggle against political crucifixion and complete annihilation." By the end of 1933, 'Pakistan' had become common vocabulary, and an i was added to ease pronunciation (as in Afghan-i-stan). Ali also wrote that this would be followed by "reintegration of the three Muslim 'Asian' homelands of Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan" into Pakistan, a reference to Northwest India's political, historical and cultural affiliations with West Asia. In a subsequent book, Ali discussed the etymology in further detail: 'Pakistan' is both a Persian and an Urdu word. It is composed of letters taken from the names of all our South Asia homelands; that is, Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh and Balochistan. It means the land of the Paks – the spiritually pure and clean. Historian Aqeel Abbas Jafari has argued that the name "Pakistan" was invented by a Kashmir Journalist, Ghulam Hassan Shah Kazmi on 1 July 1928, when he moved an application before the government in Abbottabad seeking a sanction for publishing a weekly newspaper, "Pakistan". This was probably the first time; the word Pakistan was used in the subcontinent. Choudhry Rahmat Ali is said to have suggested the name of the independent Muslim state Pakistan in 1933, 5 years after the name was adopted by Ghulam Hasan Shah Kazmi for his newspaper. Ali's pamphlet described the Muslims of his proposed 'Pakistan' as a 'nation', which later formed the foundation for the two-nation theory of the

: Ali believed that the delegates of the first and second Round Table Conferences committed 'an inexcusable blunder and an incredible betrayal' by accepting the principle of an All-India Federation. He demanded that the national status of the 30 million Muslims of the northwestern units be recognized, and a separate Federal Constitution be granted to them. Ali's biographer, K. K. Aziz writes, "Rahmat Ali alone drafted this declaration" (in which the word Pakistan was used for the first time), but to make it "representative" he began to look around for people who would sign it along with him. This search did not prove easy, "for so firm was the grip of ' Muslim Indian Nationalism' on our young intellectuals at English universities that it took me (Rahmat Ali) more than a month to find three young men in London who offered to support and sign it." Later on, his political opponents used the name of these signatories and other friends of Ali, as creators of the word 'Pakistan'. Choudhary Rehmat Ali was the personality who started independence movement in the name of Pakistan. He gave idea of two nations in 1915. He formed Pakistan National Movement in 1934 and also released fortnightly Pakistan newspaper in 1935

Opposition to "Indianism"

According to his writings, " Indianism" meant emphasizing the abode and culture of the "caste

Hindus Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

" as the primary and essential constituent of a subcontinent-wide nation. It was in his view Indianism was "the designation of a State created by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

for the first time in history", citing that the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

being established in 1885 as evidence that Indianism originated in the hands of the British in the service of British imperialism. He criticizes the notion of the unity of "the country of India"; instead he considers it a continent with a wide variety of nations, ethnicities and religions, and that the

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

Sikhs Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Sikh'' ...

, the

Marathas The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern India, early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent List of Maratha dynasties and states, Ma ...

, the Achhūts (untouchables) and the

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

s were in fact separate nations, on whom the fetters of "Indianism" were fastened by imposing on all of them this "preposterous prefix of All-India".

Iqbal and Jinnah

On 29 December 1930, Muhammad Iqbal delivered his presidential address, wherein he said: According to some scholars, Iqbal had not presented the idea of an autonomous Muslim State; rather he wanted a large Muslim province by amalgamating Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and Baluchistan into a big North-Western province within India. They argue that Iqbal never called for any kind of partition of the country. On 28 January 1933, Choudhry Rahmat Ali voiced his ideas on 'Pakistan'. By the end of 1933, the word "Pakistan" became common vocabulary where an "I" was added to ease pronunciation (as in Afghan-i-stan). In a subsequent book Rahmat Ali discussed the etymology in further detail: "'Pakistan' is both a Persian and an Urdu word. It is composed of letters taken from the names of all our South Asia homelands; that is, Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh and Baluchistan. It means the land of the Pure."

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

had written in his book on the scheme: "Iqbal was one of the early advocates of Pakistan and yet he appears to have realised its inherent danger and absurdity. Edward Thompson has written that in the course of the conversation, Iqbal told him that he had advocated Pakistan because of his position as President of the Muslim League session, but he felt sure that it would be injurious to India as a whole and Muslims especially." In 1934, Choudhry Rahmat Ali and his friends met

and appealed for his support of the Pakistan idea. He replied, "My dear boys, don't be in a hurry; let the waters flow and they will find their own level."

Proposed maps and names

Ali published several pamphlets where he called himself the "''Founder of the Pakistan National Movement''". In these pamphlets he included maps of the subcontinent with potential Muslim states, including Haideristan, Siddiqistan, Faruqistan, Muinistan and Maplistan. Safiistan and Nasaristan were proposed on

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. In his maps he renamed the Indian subcontinent 'Pakasia' or more often 'Dinia' (an anagram of "India" with position of 'D' changed), meaning "Land of the Faith" in Arabic (from the word "deen"). Dinia was represented with dependencies Pakistan, Osmanistan (representing Hyderabad Deccan and neighbouring areas) and Bangistan (representing Bengal). He proposed the former Muslim provinces of

Eastern Bengal and Assam Eastern Bengal and Assam was a Presidencies and provinces of British India, province of British India between 1905 and 1912. Headquartered in the city of Dacca, it covered territories in what are now Bangladesh, Northeast India and North Bengal, ...

in East India to become Bangistan, an independent Muslim state for Bengali, Assamese and Bihari Muslims. He proposed the princely

Hyderabad State Hyderabad State () was a princely state in the Deccan region of south-central India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and the ...

, to become an Islamic monarchy called Osmanistan. Ali also renamed the seas around the Indian subcontinent, and referred the seas around landmass of Dinia as the Bangian, Pakian and Osmanian seas that were his proposed names for the Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean respectively. These alternate geographical maps of the subcontinent were followed by the mention of Rahmat Ali’s position as the "founder of the Siddiqistan, Nasaristan and Safiistan National Movements". Ali even referred to the Andamans as the "Ashur Islands" and the Nicobars as the "Balus Islands" in such maps. Mian Abdul Haq, a contemporary of Rahmat Ali at the University of Cambridge, stated that, after 1935, Rahmat Ali's mental makeup changed resulting from a study of "major Nazi works, of which he knew many passages by heart".

After the creation of Pakistan

While Choudhry Rahmat Ali was a leading figure for the conception of

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, he lived most of his adult life in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. After the partition and creation of Pakistan in 1947, Ali returned to

, Pakistan on 6 April 1948. He had been voicing his dissatisfaction with the creation of Pakistan ever since his arrival in Lahore. He was unhappy over a smaller Pakistan than the one he had conceived in his 1933 pamphlet. He condemned Jinnah for accepting a smaller Pakistan, calling him "Quisling-e-Azam." Ali had planned to stay in the country, but he was expelled from Pakistan by the then Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan. His belongings were confiscated, and he left empty-handed for England in October 1948.

Death

Ali died on 3 February 1951 in Cambridge. According to his secretary Thelma Frost, he was "destitute, forlorn and lonely" at the time of his death. Fearing (correctly) that he may have died insolvent, the Master of

, Edward Welbourne, instructed that the College would cover the funeral expenses. He was buried on 20 February at Cambridge City Cemetery in Cambridge, England. The funeral expenses and other medical expenses were repaid by the High Commissioner for Pakistan in November 1953, after what was described as a “protracted correspondence” between the London office and the relevant authorities in Pakistan.

Legacy

Rahmat Ali is credited by Pakistanis for having coined the term "Pakistan" and envisioning a separate state for Muslims. Beyond that, his ideas are not explored in any detail.Karthik Venkatesh
All but forgotten: Choudhary Rahmat Ali, the inventor and first champion of Pakistan
Herald, 26 February 2018.

Works

* '' Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever?'', also known as the "Pakistan Declaration", (1933) *''What Does the Pakistan National Movement Stand For?'' (Cambridge: Pakistan National Movement, 1933) *''Letters to the Members of the British Parliament'' (Cambridge, 8 July 1935) *''Islamic Fatherland and the Indian Federation: The Fight Will Go on for Pakistan'' (Cambridge: Pakistan National Movement, 1935) *''Letter to The Times'', 8 December 1938 *''The Millat of Islam and the Menace of Indianism'' (Cambridge: Pakistan National Movement, 1942) *''The Millat and the Mission: Seven Commandments of Destiny for the 'Seventh' Continent of Dinia'' (Cambridge: Pakistan National Movement, 1942) in which Rahmat Ali proposed relabeling the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

as its anagram ''Dinia''. The word Dinia was made by moving the letter d that appears in the middle of the word 'India' to the beginning. *''The Millat and her Minorities: Foundation of Faruqistan for the Muslims of Bihar and Orissa'' (Cambridge: The Faruqistan National Movement, 1943) *''The Millat and her Minorities: Foundation of Haideristan for Muslims of Hindoostan'' (Cambridge: The Haideristan National Movement, 1943) *''The Millat and her Minorities: Foundation of Maplistan for Muslims of South India'' (Cambridge: The Maplistan National Movement, 1943) *''The Millat and her Minorities: Foundation of Muinistan for Muslims of Rajistan'' (Cambridge: The Muinistan National Movement, 1943) *''The Millat and her Minorities: Foundation of Siddiqistan for Muslims of Central India'' (Cambridge: The Siddiqistan National Movement, 1943) *''The Millat and her Minorities: Foundation of Safiistan for Muslims of Western Ceylon'' (Cambridge: The Safiistan National Movement, 1943) *''The Millat and her Minorities: Foundation of Nasaristan for Muslims of Eastern Ceylon'' (Cambridge: The Nasaristan National Movement, 1943) *''The Millat and her Ten Nations: Foundation of the All-Dinia Milli Movement'' (Cambridge: The All-Dinia Milli Movement, 1944) *''Dinia: The Seventh Continent of the World'' (Cambridge: Dinia Continental Movement, 1946) *''India: The Continent of Dinia, or the Country of Doom'' (Cambridge: Dinia Continental Movement, 1946) *''The Pakistan National Movement and the British Verdict on India'' (Cambridge: Pakistan National Movement, 1946) *''Pakasia: The Historic Orbit of the Pak Culture'' (Cambridge: The Pakasia Cultural Movement, 1946) *''Osmanistan: The Fatherland of the Osman Nation'' (Cambridge: The Osmanistan National Movement, 1946) *''The Greatest Betrayal: How to Redeem the Millat?'' (Cambridge: Pakistan National Movement, 1947) *''Pakistan: The Fatherland of the Pak Nation'', (Cambridge: Pakistan National Liberation Movement, 1947) *''The Muslim Minority in India and the Saving Duty of the U.N.O.'' (Cambridge: The All-Dinia Milli Liberation Movement, 1948) *''The Muslim Minority in India and the Dinian Mission to the U.N.O.'' (Cambridge: The All-Dinia Milli Liberation Movement, 1949) *''Pakistan or Pastan? Destiny or Disintegration?'' (Cambridge: The Pakistan National Liberation Movement, 1950) *''Complete Works of Rahmat Ali'', ed. Khursheed Kamal Aziz (Islamabad: National Commission on Historical and Cultural Research, 1978)

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Choudhry Rahmat 1897 births 1951 deaths Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Members of the Middle Temple People from British India Leaders of the Pakistan Movement People from Nawanshahr Pamphleteers University of the Punjab alumni Academic staff of Aitchison College Pakistan Movement activists from Punjab Burials at the Cambridge City Cemetery Government Islamia College alumni Expatriates from British India in the United Kingdom People from Punjab Province (British India) Muslim Gujjars