Mohamed Barakatullah Bhopali, known with his honorific as Maulana Barkatullah (7 July 1854 – 20 September 1927), was an Indian

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

from Bhopal. Barkatullah was born on 7 July 1854 at Itawra mohalla,

Bhopal Bhopal (; ISO 15919, ISO: Bhōpāl, ) is the capital (political), capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes,'' due to ...

in what is today

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. He fought from outside India, with fiery speeches and revolutionary writings in leading newspapers, for the independence of India. He did not live to see India's independence. He died in San Francisco in 1927 and was buried in the Old City Cemetery in Sacramento,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. In 1988, Bhopal University was renamed Barkatullah University in his honour. He was also Prime Minister of first

Provisional Government of India The Provisional Government of India was a provisional government-in-exile established in Kabul, Afghanistan on 1 December 1915 by the Indian Independence Committee during World War I with support from the Central Powers. Its purpose was to ...

established in Afghanistan in 1915.

Policy of revolution

While in England he came in close contact with

Lala Hardayal Lala Rudra Dayal Mathur ( Punjabi: ਲਾਲਾ ਹਰਦਿਆਲ; 14 October 1884 – 4 March 1939) was an Indian nationalist revolutionary and freedom fighter. He was a polymath who turned down a career in the Indian Civil Service. His sim ...

and

Raja Mahendra Pratap Raja Mahendra Pratap (1 December 1886 — 29 April 1979) was an Indian freedom fighter, journalist, writer, revolutionary, President in the Provisional Government of India, which served as the Indian Government-in-exile during World War I from ...

, son of the Raja of

Hathras Hathras () is a historical city in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is the headquarters of Hathras district, formed on 3 May 1997 by merging parts of Aligarh, Mathura and Agra. It is part of the Aligarh Division. The primary spoken language is a di ...

. He became a friend of Afghan Emir and the editor of the Kabul newspaper ''Siraj-ul-Akbar''. He was one of the founders of the

Ghadar Party The Ghadar Movement or Ghadar Party was an early 20th-century, international political movement founded by expatriate Panjabi s to overthrow British rule in India. Many of the Ghadar Party founders and leaders, including Sohan Singh Bhakna, ...

in 1913 at San Francisco. Later he became the first prime minister of the

established on 1 December 1915 in

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

with

as its president. 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 The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

. 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 Clan-na-Gael; lawyer Myron H. Phelps; and

Swami Abhedananda Swami Abhedananda (2 October 1866 – 8 September 1939), born Kaliprasad Chandra, was a direct disciple of the 19th century mystic Ramakrishna Paramahansa and the founder of Ramakrishna Vedanta Math. Swami Vivekananda sent him to the West to ...

who continued the work of

Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda () (12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindus, Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. Vivekananda was a major figu ...

. 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 The Swadeshi movement was a self-sufficiency movement that was part of the Indian independence movement and contributed to the development of Indian nationalism. Before the BML Government's decision for the partition of Bengal was made public in ...

, 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). More vehement was his letter in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, which appeared in the ''Urdu Mualla'' of

Aligarh Aligarh (; formerly known as Koil) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capital, New Delhi. ...

, 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, p. 226).

Activities in Japan

In June or July 1911, he left for

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

and

Petrograd Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

, returned to Tokyo in October and published an article referring to the advent of a great pan-Islamic Alliance including

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

which he expected to become "the future Japan of Central Asia". In December he converted to Islam three Japanese: his assistant Hassan 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 (p. 133). 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 (p. 135), "it surpassed in violence Barakatullah's previous productions, and was modelled more on the style of the publications of the

Ghadar party The Ghadar Movement or Ghadar Party was an early 20th-century, international political movement founded by expatriate Panjabi s to overthrow British rule in India. Many of the Ghadar Party founders and leaders, including Sohan Singh Bhakna, ...

of San Francisco with whom Barakatullah now threw in his lot".

The Ghadar episode

In May 1913, G. D. Kumar had sailed from San Francisco for the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

and had written from Manila to

Tarak Nath Das Taraknath Das (or Tarak Nath Das; 15 June 1884 – 22 December 1958) was an Indian revolutionary and internationalist scholar. He was a pioneering immigrant in the west coast of North America and discussed his plans with Tolstoy, while organ ...

: "I am going to establish base at Manila (P.I.) forwarding Depôt, supervise the work near China, Hong Kong, Shanghai. Professor Barakatullah is all right in Japan". (Ker, p. 237). 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 The Yugantar Ashram was the building in San Francisco, California, US that housed the headquarters of the Ghadar Party, the liberation movement of British Raj, India during rule by Great Britain. First headquarters was at 436 Hill St, San Francisc ...

and worked with Tarak Nath 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

Ram Chandra Bharadwaj Ram Chandra Bharadwaj, also known as Pandit Ram Chandra was the president of the Ghadar Party between 1914 and 1917. As a member of the Ghadar Party, Ram Chandra was also one of the founding editors of the Hindustan Ghadar and a key leader of th ...

were among the speakers. (''Portland (Oregon) Telegram'', 7 August 1914; ''Fresno Republican'', 23 September 1914). Reaching Berlin on time, Barakatullah met Chatto or

Virendranath Chattopadhyaya Virendranath Chattopadhyaya (31 October 1880 – 2 September 1937), also known by his pseudonym Chatto, was a prominent Indian revolutionary who worked to overthrow the British Raj in India using armed force. He created alliances with the German ...

and sided

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 Herāt (; Dari/Pashto: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Se ...

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 A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revoluti ...

of India at

, during

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. It was a

government-in-exile A government-in-exile (GiE) is a political group that claims to be the legitimate government of a sovereign state or semi-sovereign state, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile usu ...

of Free Hindustan with

as president, Maulana Barkatullah, Prime Minister, Ubaidullah Sindhi, Home Minister.Contributions of Raja Mahendra Prata by

Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman is an Indian scholar of Unani medicine. He founded Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine and Sciences in 2000. He had earlier served as Professor and chairman, Department of Ilmul Advia at the Ajmal Khan Tibbiya Colleg ...

, International Seminar on Raja Mahendra Pratap & Barkatullah Bhopali, Barkatulla University, Bhopal, 1–3 December 2005. 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, p. 305). In Kabul, the ''Siraj-ul-Akhbar'' in its issue of 4 May 1916 published

's version of the Mission and its objective. He stated: "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 The Khedivate of Egypt ( or , ; ') was an autonomous tributary state of the Ottoman Empire, established and ruled by the Muhammad Ali Dynasty following the defeat and expulsion of Napoleon Bonaparte's forces which brought an end to the short-li ...

and with the Princes and Ministers of

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, 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 German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and Turkish officers and Maulvi Barakatullah Sahib were went with me to help me; they are still with me." Unable to take

seriously,

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 ...

later wrote in ''An Autobiography'' (p. 151): "He seemed to be a character out of medieval romance, a

Don Quixote , the full title being ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'', is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, the novel is considered a founding work of Western literature and is of ...

who had strayed into the twentieth century."

References

Sources

*''Dictionary of National Biography'', ed. S.P. Sen, Vol. I, pp. 139–140 *''The Roll of Honour'', by Kalicharan Ghosh, 1965 *''Political Trouble in India: A Confidential Report'', by James Campbell Ker, 1917, Reprint 1973 *''Sedition Committee Report'', by Justice S.A.T. Rowlatt, 1918, Reprint 1973 *''Les origines intellectuelles du mouvement d’indépendance de l’Inde (1893–1918),'' by Prithwindra Mukherjee, PhD Thesis, 1986 *''In Freedom’s Quest'', by Sibnarayan Ray, Vol. I, 1998 *''Communism in India'', by Sir Cecil Kaye, compiled & edited by Subodh Roy, 1971 *"The Comintern and the Indian revolutionaries in Russia in 1920s" by Sobhanlal Datta Gupta, in ''Calcutta Historical Journal'', Vol. XVIII, No.2, 1996, pp. 151–170.

External links

Maulana Barkatullah materials in the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barakatullah, Abdul Hafiz Mohamed 1854 births 1927 deaths Ghadar Party Hindu–German Conspiracy India House Indian expatriates in Japan Indian expatriates in the Soviet Union Indian expatriates in the United States Indian independence activists from Madhya Pradesh 20th-century Indian Muslims Islam in Japan Politicians from Bhopal Writers from Bhopal Indian political writers 19th-century Indian non-fiction writers 19th-century Indian politicians 20th-century Indian non-fiction writers 20th-century Indian politicians People from Bhopal State Academic staff of the University of Tokyo