Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk, Munir Nawaz Jang, also known as Syed Mir Mehdi Ali () (born 9 December 1837 – 16 October 1907), was an

Indian Muslim Islam is India's Religion in India, second-largest religion, with 14.2% of the country's population, or approximately 172.2 million people, identifying as adherents of Islam in a 2011 census. India also has the Islam by country, third-larg ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. He was a close friend of

Syed Ahmed Khan Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (17 October 1817 – 27 March 1898), also spelled Sayyid Ahmad Khan, was an Indian Muslim reformer, philosopher, and educationist in nineteenth-century British India. Though initially espousing Hindu–Muslim unity, he ...

, was involved in the Aligarh Movement and was one of the founders 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 Muslim interests in South Asia. Although initially espousing a united India with interfaith unity, the Muslim League lat ...

in 1906.

Family and early life

Syed Mir Mehdi Ali was born on 9 December 1837 in the town of

Etawah Etawah (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''Iṭāvā''), also known as Ishtikapuri, is a city situated on the banks of Yamuna River in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Etawa ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

, British India as the son of Syed Mir Zaamin Ali. He belonged to a branch of the

Sadaat-e-Bara Sadat e-Bara sometimes pronounced Sadaat-e-Bahara, are a tribe of Islam in Uttar Pradesh, Indian Muslim Sayyids, originally Elite or Noble Sayyid families situated in the present-day Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh in India. This commu ...

tribe in Etawah. Most of his early education was in and around

. As was common in those days, he received a thorough basic education 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 ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

. In 1867, he sat for the Provincial Civil Service examination and topped the list of successful candidates. He was appointed as Deputy Collector in the

North-Western Provinces The North-Western Provinces was an Presidencies and provinces of British India, administrative region in British Raj, British India. The North-Western Provinces were established in 1836, through merging the administrative divisions of the Cede ...

. His first posting as Deputy Collector was in Mirzapur district (present-day Uttar Pradesh). His elder brother was Syed Mir Ghulam Abbas and younger brother was Syed Mir Amir Hassan. In 1874, Syed Mir Mehdi Ali proceeded to

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

to enter into the service of the

Nizam Nizam of Hyderabad was the title of the ruler of Hyderabad State ( part of the Indian state of Telangana, and the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka). ''Nizam'' is a shortened form of (; ), and was the title bestowed upon Asaf Jah I ...

. For his meritorious service for more than a decade, he was granted the titles of Munir Nawaz Jang in 1884 and Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk in 1887, by the

. Mohsin-ul-Mulk converted to

Sunnism Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mus ...

despite being born a

Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

and authored the book Ayat-i Bayanat in which he showed why the Sunni faith was preferable.

Relationship with Syed Ahmed Khan

He was serving as a Tehsildar in Etawah, When Mohsin-ul-Mulk met

Syed Ahmad Khan Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (17 October 1817 – 27 March 1898), also spelled Sayyid Ahmad Khan, was an Indian Muslim Islamic modernist, reformer, philosopher, and educationist in nineteenth-century British Raj, British India. Though initially esp ...

for the first time. This meeting resulted in a long lasting companionship and Nawab Mohsinul Mulk became a staunch supporter of Syed's vision and mission for the rest of his life. Very few friendships have been as stable and strong as the friendship of these two. Mohsin-ul-Mulk retained a very high level of respect despite difference of opinion for his dear friend. Thereafter Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk, became one of the strongest supporters of Syed's mission and Aligarh Movement.Sir Syed's importance in the emerging situation (scroll down to read under this title)
Dawn (newspaper), Published 16 October 2002, Retrieved 3 September 2023 He became a member of the Scientific Society from its inception in 1864. He wrote passionate articles in ''Tahzeebul Akhlaq'' to support Syed's vision and spread his mission and became a spokesperson of Syed's social thoughts and the Aligarh Movement. When Syed Ahmed Khan formed The Committee of the Supporters of the Advancement of Muslim Education, Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk was his key companion, and started collecting donations for the cause of the newly formed committee. After 19 years of service, he retired in 1893 from

State of Hyderabad 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 ...

, he came to Aligarh and offered his services to Syed Ahmad Khan to assist him in spreading the message of Aligarh Movement. Upon the death of Syed, he was appointed as the Secretary of the Muslim Educational Conference in 1899. After Syed's death in 1898, he became Secretary of the MAO College management and took Syed's burden on his own shoulders and was given as much respect as his forerunner. He continued the mission of Syed while paying special attention to bringing religious and oriental stream scholars together on one platform, i.e. the MAO College so that the students could benefit from the scholars to have a proper understanding of religion alongside modern scientific education. He appointed a committee under the Chairmanship of Maulana Habibur Rahman Khan Sherwani to improve the religious studies courses at MAO College. Mohsin-ul-Mulk remained the Secretary until his death in 1907. He was thus instrumental in the development of MAO College, which eventually became the

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University is a Collegiate university, collegiate, Central university (India), central, and Research university, research university located in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Kh ...

in 1920. In later years, the

(AMU) honored him by naming a hall of residence for students after him. The foundation stone of the Hall was laid by the then Vice Chancellor, Mr. Badruddin Mohsin Tyabji on 4 November 1963. It started with an initial strength of 400 and is now one of the largest student residential halls both in size and strength, having 900 students and six different hostels: Allama Shibli Hostel (Previously this was Sir Ziauddin Hostel), Ameen Hostel, Majaz Hostel, Maulana Hali Hostel, Maulana

Mohammad Ali Jauhar Muhammad Ali Jawhar (10 December 18784 January 1931) was an Indian politician and activist of the Indian independence movement. He was a co-founder of the All-India Muslim League and Jamia Millia Islamia. Born into an anti-colonial family, Jaw ...

Hostel, and Saifi Hostel.

Political involvements

Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk carried on correspondence with the private secretary of the Viceroy to give his point of view on the necessity of separate representation for the Muslims in all legislatures and local bodies. He presided over the ninth session of Muhammadan Educational Conference which was held in Aligarh in 1894 where he proposed a resolution to help and support

Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama (translated as, House of Knowledge and Assembly of Scholars University) is an Islamic seminary in Lucknow, India. It was established by the Nadwatul Ulama, a council of Muslim scholars, on 26 September 1898. This ed ...

, the newly formed religious school in

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

. His impressive presidential remarks softened the hearts of modern educationists to support the cause of

Nadwatul Ulama Nadwatul Ulama is a council of Muslim theologians in India which was formed in 1893 in Kanpur. The first manager of the council was Muhammad Ali Mungeri and the incumbent is Bilal Abdul Hai Hasani Nadwi. The council established the Darul Uloom ...

. In 1906, he became Secretary of

at its founding session in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

. Along with

Nawab Waqar-ul-Mulk Kamboh Nawab Wiqar-ul-Mulk (born Mushtaq Hussain Kamboh; 24 March 1841 – 27 January 1917) was a British Indian Muslim politician and one of the founders of All India Muslim League. He was also the maternal uncle of Sir Ziauddin Ahmed, a mathe ...

, he was asked to draft the constitution of the League.'Dawn of freedom'
Dawn (newspaper), Published 20 June 2017, Retrieved 3 September 2023 At the beginning of the 20th century, the Hindi-Urdu controversy arose in the United Provinces. Mohsin-ul-Mulk took up the pen in defense of

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

in collaboration with the Urdu Defense Association. He authored the following books; * ''Mazaameen-e-Tahzeebul Akhlaq'' (Collection of his articles published in ''Tahzeebul Akhlaq'') * ''Taqleed-e-Amal'' * ''Kitabul Muhabbat-o-Shauq Makaateeb'' * ''Musalmano(n) ki Tahzeeb'' * ''Aayaat-e-Bayyināt''

Urdu Defence Association

The followers of Syed Ahmad Khan tried their best to save the

language. Mohsin-ul-Mulk was an outstanding person who organized the Muslims in defense of

language. Towards the beginning of the 20th century, the Hindi-Urdu controversy again flared up in the United Provinces. Mohsin-ul-Mulk took up the pen in defense of Urdu in collaboration with the Urdu Defense Association. Earlier, the success of the Hindi movement led Syed to further advocate Urdu as the symbol of Muslim heritage and as the language of all Indian Muslims. His educational and political work grew increasingly centered on and exclusively for Muslim interests. He also sought to persuade the British to give

extensive official use and patronage. His colleague, Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk] established

Urdu Defence Association The Urdu Defence Association was an organisation developed by Mohsin-ul-Mulk, starting in 1900, for the advocacy of Urdu as the ''lingua franca'' of the Muslim community of India. The association is regarded as an offshoot of the Aligarh Movement. ...

, committed to the perpetuation of Urdu and became its founding president. To Muslims in northern and western India, Urdu had become an integral part of political and cultural identity. However, the division over the use of Hindi or Urdu further provoked communal conflict between Muslims and Hindus in India.Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu – the movement lives on
Dawn (newspaper), Published 3 April 2011, Retrieved 3 September 2023 Syed Ahmed Khan and Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk's patronage of

led to its widespread use amongst elite Indian Muslim communities and following the

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 ...

its adoption as the national language of Pakistan.

Death

Mohsin-ul-Mulk died from chronic diabetes at age 69 on 16 October 1907 at

Simla Shimla, also known as Simla (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Himachal Pradesh, the official name until 1972), is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summe ...

Punjab, British India The Punjab Province, officially the Province of the Punjab, was a province of British India, with its capital in Lahore and summer capitals in Murree and Simla. At its greatest extent, it stretched from the Khyber Pass to Delhi; and from the ...

Commemorative postage stamp

Pakistan Post Pakistan Post () is a state enterprise which functions as Pakistan's primary and largest postal operator. 49,502 employees through a vehicle fleet of 5,000 operate traditional "to the door" service from more than 13,419 post offices across the ...

issued a commemorative postage stamp to honor him in 1990 in its 'Pioneers of Freedom' series.Profile of Mohsin-ul-Mulk on paknetmag.com website
Retrieved 3 September 2023

References

Sources

* ''Hayat-e-Mohsin'', a biography of Mohsin-ul-Mulk by Mr. Amin Zuberi : 1934 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mohsin-ul-Mulk 1837 births 1907 deaths All-India Muslim League politicians Politicians from Aligarh People from Shimla People from Hyderabad State Leaders of the Pakistan Movement Indian Muslims Founders of Indian schools and colleges Converts to Sunni Islam from Shia Islam