Maulana Mazharul Haque (22 December 1866 – 2 January 1930) was an educator, lawyer, independence activist, and freedom fighter of the Indian National Movement.
Early life and education
Maulana Mazharul Haque was born on 22 December 1866 in Bahpura, Patna, Bihar.
He attended Patna College and Canning College, Lucknow, and moved to England in 1888 to pursue legal studies. There he was introduced to Mahatma Gandhi.
He constructed a house in Faridpur, Siwan, Bihar and named it Ashiyana. Many Nationalists visited here, including Rajendra Prasad and Mahatma Gandhi.
Life after 1891
In 1891, he returned to India as a barrister and joined the judicial services. In 1896, he started practicing as a lawyer. In 1906, he left Chhapra and commenced practicing in Patna, and the same year he was elected Vice-President of the Bihar Congress Committee.
Between 1910-11 he was elected as a member of the Imperial Legislative Council of India (British Parliament). In 1911, a third “Bihar State Conference” was held under the chairmanship of Maulana, the conference to demand a separate Bihar state.
He was active in the Treaty of the Indian National Congress and Muslim League in 1916. He joined the Home Rule Movement started by Annie Besant in 1916 and actively participated in the Champaran Satyagraha in 1917. Mahatma Gandhi’s guest hospitality came to Patna for Champaran Satyagraha at “Sikandar Manzil”, his home.
In 1919, he was active in the Khilafat Movement, and in 1920 he joined the Non-Cooperation Movement on Gandhiji’s call. In 1921, Gandhiji was impressed and established “Sadaqat Ashram” (abode of truth) in Patna. From there, Haque started a weekly magazine called “Motherland”. He was a strong advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity. His statement was “Whether we are Hindus or Muslims, we are on the same boat. If we overcome, we will sink, we will sink together”.
He declared his retirement from active politics in 1926, but leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Maulana Azad, and Nehru never left him. He died on 2 January 1930. A residential colony in Siwan named after him (Maulana Mazharul Haq colony or MM Colony).
A stamp was issued in his honor by the Indian Postal Service in 1981. In 1998, Maulana Mazharul Haq Arabic Persian University established in Patna in his memory.
