Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi (Aged 66) born on March 3, 1900, in village Dihuli, Block Sakra of District Muzaffarpur in British India, belonged to a zamindar family. He was a political activist from Bihar and was prominent in the Indian independence movement. Ajazi became a disciple of Ajaz Husain Budayuni, the Khalif of Fazle Rahman Ganj Muradabadi, and assumed the title of ‘Ajazi’. His father, Hafizuddin, had organized the peasantry against the European indigo planters, and he gained his patriotism from him.
To follow Mahatma Gandhi, Ajazi left his studies at B.N. College Patna and joined the Non-cooperation movement in 1921. He was married to Azizul Fatima, and after the nikah ceremony, which was attended by Shafi Daudi, Binda babu (later on Speaker, Bihar Assembly), and Deep babu (later on cabinet minister, Bihar), it was completely transformed into a public meeting for freedom struggle where anti-British Raj and pro-freedom slogans were raised.
Ajazi raised funds for the freedom struggle through the ‘Muthia’ drive, which involved taking out a fist of grain before every meal. Once, he accidentally visited his cousin’s house in a remote village and asked about ‘Muthia’, but his cousin didn’t know about it. He refused food and water, but when his sister promised to donate the dues, he agreed to have a meal.
In 1921, he attended the AICC session in Ahmedabad and supported Hasrat Mohani’s motion on ‘Complete Independence’, which was opposed by Mahatma Gandhi and failed. He also met Gandhi at Sabarmati Ashram. Sri Aurbindo had advocated for Poorna Swaraj in 1907, going against Dadabhai Naoroji’s proposal for colonial Self-Government. Ajazi, along with Tilak and Pal, reinforced the call for Complete Independence. Despite the Congress’s push for dominion status, Ajazi believed that India should not remain under British imperialism and supported Complete Independence for India, going against many Congress leaders of his time.
Ajazi launched a Seven Point Programme to raise funds for the Congress and Khilafat Committees of Muzaffarpur, which included selling khadi clothes, burning foreign clothes, boycotting foreign goods, collecting grains from households, and fundraising for the freedom movement. At a public meeting in his ancestral village, he burned a bonfire of his own western clothes. By the end of October 1921, Muzaffarpur district had become an important center of the Non-cooperation movement. Ajazi was arrested and put behind bars along with other leaders during a police raid on Daudi’s house. In the Gaya Congress session of 1922, Ajazi met C.R. Das and campaigned for Congress candidates in the municipal polls. At the special session of Congress in Delhi in 1923, Ajazi protested the discriminatory seating arrangements for Bihari delegates and fought against discrimination based on faith, caste, or place of origin.
Ajazi was a prominent leader who represented the Central Khilafat Committee and participated in various conferences on the Nehru Report. He was arrested for participating in a protest march led by Subash Chandra Bose and led demonstrations against the Simon Commission in 1928. He also worked extensively in relief operations during the 1934 Nepal-India earthquake and joined the Individual Civil Disobedience movement in 1941. Despite suffering serious injuries during a peaceful protest, he took part in the Quit India movement and played an important role in adopting the resolution demanding complete independence from the British government during the AICC session held in Bombay on 8 August 1942. Due to his active involvement in the movement, an arrest warrant was issued in his name, and he was arrested and put behind bars along with other national leaders by the British authorities to quell the movement.
Ajazi was against the creation of a separate Pakistan and opposed Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He founded the All-India Jamhur Muslim League in 1940 to counter Jinnah’s All-India Muslim League and served as its first general secretary. Despite increasing communalization of Indian politics in the 1940s, he remained firm in his belief that Muslims and Hindus could work together for the common good and take the nation forward through cooperation.
Ajazi was the chairman of the 1960 Urdu Conference in Muzaffarpur, where a resolution was passed demanding that Urdu be recognized as an official language in Bihar (which became a reality 15 years later). He founded the Anjuman Khuddam-e-Millat, modeled after Sir Syed’s Educational Society, which established a school, renovated the Company Bagh Mosque (now the largest mosque in Muzaffarpur), built a rest house, and provided funeral services for unclaimed bodies.
Ajazi was also a poet and writer in the Urdu language as well as an orator. His papers, diaries, letters, and files are preserved in the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library in New Delhi, National Archives in New Delhi, and the Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library in Patna. The Government of India has decorated his photograph in Azadi Ke Deewane Museum of Lal Qila, Delhi, with the caption “Opposed Jinnah’s Two Nation Theory and founded All India Jamhur Muslim League to counter it.” Ajazi passed away on 26 September 1966 in Muzaffarpur at his own residence, Ajazi House.
Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi
(1900 – 1966)
Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi (Aged 66) born on March 3, 1900, in village Dihuli, Block Sakra of District Muzaffarpur in British India, belonged to a zamindar family. He was a political activist from Bihar and was prominent in the Indian independence movement. Ajazi became a disciple of Ajaz Husain Budayuni, the Khalif of Fazle Rahman Ganj Muradabadi, and assumed the title of ‘Ajazi’. His father, Hafizuddin, had organized the peasantry against the European indigo planters, and he gained his patriotism from him.
To follow Mahatma Gandhi, Ajazi left his studies at B.N. College Patna and joined the Non-cooperation movement in 1921. He was married to Azizul Fatima, and after the nikah ceremony, which was attended by Shafi Daudi, Binda babu (later on Speaker, Bihar Assembly), and Deep babu (later on cabinet minister, Bihar), it was completely transformed into a public meeting for freedom struggle where anti-British Raj and pro-freedom slogans were raised.
Ajazi raised funds for the freedom struggle through the ‘Muthia’ drive, which involved taking out a fist of grain before every meal. Once, he accidentally visited his cousin’s house in a remote village and asked about ‘Muthia’, but his cousin didn’t know about it. He refused food and water, but when his sister promised to donate the dues, he agreed to have a meal.
In 1921, he attended the AICC session in Ahmedabad and supported Hasrat Mohani’s motion on ‘Complete Independence’, which was opposed by Mahatma Gandhi and failed. He also met Gandhi at Sabarmati Ashram. Sri Aurbindo had advocated for Poorna Swaraj in 1907, going against Dadabhai Naoroji’s proposal for colonial Self-Government. Ajazi, along with Tilak and Pal, reinforced the call for Complete Independence. Despite the Congress’s push for dominion status, Ajazi believed that India should not remain under British imperialism and supported Complete Independence for India, going against many Congress leaders of his time.
Ajazi launched a Seven Point Programme to raise funds for the Congress and Khilafat Committees of Muzaffarpur, which included selling khadi clothes, burning foreign clothes, boycotting foreign goods, collecting grains from households, and fundraising for the freedom movement. At a public meeting in his ancestral village, he burned a bonfire of his own western clothes. By the end of October 1921, Muzaffarpur district had become an important center of the Non-cooperation movement. Ajazi was arrested and put behind bars along with other leaders during a police raid on Daudi’s house. In the Gaya Congress session of 1922, Ajazi met C.R. Das and campaigned for Congress candidates in the municipal polls. At the special session of Congress in Delhi in 1923, Ajazi protested the discriminatory seating arrangements for Bihari delegates and fought against discrimination based on faith, caste, or place of origin.
Ajazi was a prominent leader who represented the Central Khilafat Committee and participated in various conferences on the Nehru Report. He was arrested for participating in a protest march led by Subash Chandra Bose and led demonstrations against the Simon Commission in 1928. He also worked extensively in relief operations during the 1934 Nepal-India earthquake and joined the Individual Civil Disobedience movement in 1941. Despite suffering serious injuries during a peaceful protest, he took part in the Quit India movement and played an important role in adopting the resolution demanding complete independence from the British government during the AICC session held in Bombay on 8 August 1942. Due to his active involvement in the movement, an arrest warrant was issued in his name, and he was arrested and put behind bars along with other national leaders by the British authorities to quell the movement.
Ajazi was against the creation of a separate Pakistan and opposed Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He founded the All-India Jamhur Muslim League in 1940 to counter Jinnah’s All-India Muslim League and served as its first general secretary. Despite increasing communalization of Indian politics in the 1940s, he remained firm in his belief that Muslims and Hindus could work together for the common good and take the nation forward through cooperation.
Ajazi was the chairman of the 1960 Urdu Conference in Muzaffarpur, where a resolution was passed demanding that Urdu be recognized as an official language in Bihar (which became a reality 15 years later). He founded the Anjuman Khuddam-e-Millat, modeled after Sir Syed’s Educational Society, which established a school, renovated the Company Bagh Mosque (now the largest mosque in Muzaffarpur), built a rest house, and provided funeral services for unclaimed bodies.
Ajazi was also a poet and writer in the Urdu language as well as an orator. His papers, diaries, letters, and files are preserved in the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library in New Delhi, National Archives in New Delhi, and the Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library in Patna. The Government of India has decorated his photograph in Azadi Ke Deewane Museum of Lal Qila, Delhi, with the caption “Opposed Jinnah’s Two Nation Theory and founded All India Jamhur Muslim League to counter it.” Ajazi passed away on 26 September 1966 in Muzaffarpur at his own residence, Ajazi House.
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