OF all the Muslim leaders in India and Pakistan, it was Abdullah Haroon who enjoyed the status of a role model when it came to philanthropy. A pivotal figure in the freedom movement, the rags-to-riches story of Haroon, who died 74 years ago today, is testimony to his hard work and initiative.

He was a business magnate, committee man, an organiser and a philanthropist who founded several religious trusts, organised social work agencies and established educational institutions. He was also a political leader of merit.

It was not an easy ride. He suffered huge losses in business at least twice, and experienced political discomfiture in the Sindh provincial elections in 1937. Yet, he did not give up and refrained from resorting to dubious short cuts. Honest and fair in his dealings, he was a role model for political leaders and businessmen.

A bare recital of his endeavours would fill many columns, but suffice it to say he built several welfare institutions. These include the Jamia Islamia Yateem Khana, the Cutchi Memon Madressah-i-Binat for Girls and the Muslim Gymkhana. His contribution is also seen in the building and maintenance of numerous mosques in Karachi and the rest of Sindh.

His contributions to institutions and causes outside Sindh were equally impressive, and the recipients of his generosity included the Muslim University Aligarh, the Muslim Ladies Hall at Delhi, Maulana Mohammad Ali’s Hamdard, the Angora Fund Turkey and the Smyrna Fund. (The last two were meant for rehabilitating the sufferers in the Turkish liberation war.)

It was a measure of Abdullah Haroon’s contribution to civic life in Karachi that he was elected to the Karachi Municipal Committee and became chairman of the Karachi Port Haj Committee and of the Karachi Club which he had helped found in 1907. While he worked to ameliorate the lot of the poor and orphans, he also wanted to politically awaken the downtrodden. Abdullah Haroon was involved with major political organisations. These included the Indian National Congress (1917), the All India Khilafat Committee (1919-29), the Sind Provincial Political Conference (1920-30s), the All Parties Conference (1928), the All Parties Muslim Conference (1930-34), the Azad Sind Conference (1930), and the Muslim League (1937-42).

From 1925 onwards, he became active in the movement for the separation of Sindh from Bombay, lobbying for it at all-India moots, arguing for a resolution on Sindh’s separation. Haroon was secretary of the Sind Financial Inquiry Committee (1930-35), and member of the Sind Administrative Committee (1933) and Sind Delimitation Committee (1935). He also chaired the Reception Committee of the second session of the Sind Azad Conference (1934) that aimed to counter the propaganda against Sindh as an autonomous province.

Of all the Muslim leaders of Sindh, he made the most impact on all-India mainstream politics. His first step came in 1917 when he joined the Congress. From 1918, he was closely linked with the Khilafat movement. From 1919 to 1924, he was president of the Sind Provincial Khilafat Committee — his home was a centre for khilafat activities. In 1928, in recognition of his services and generous contributions, he was elected president of the All-India Central Khilafat Committee.

In 1923, he won a seat in the Bombay Legislative Council, and later one in the Indian Legislative Assembly, which he retained until his death. He was president of the Sind Provincial Muslim League, and from 1925 onwards was active in the All-India Muslim League. He held prominent posts in the All-India Mus­­­lim Con­­ference and worked tirelessly towards its integration with AIML.

Abdullah Haroon could see the problems of Sindhi Muslims in an all-India context and the importance of establishing linkages between the Sindhi component and the pan-Indian Muslim community. Indeed, his contacts with all-India leaders and involvement in Muslim politics were only next to that of Mian Muhammad Shafi. Abdullah Haroon was president of at least six all-India conferences.

However, his role in the Muslim League from 1937 surpassed all other achievements of his political career. In that year, he organised the League in the province, and held the first Sind Provincial Muslim League Conference at Karachi, with himself as chairman of the Reception Committee in 1938. In 1939, he became president of the Sind Provincial Muslim League, and the chairman of the AIML’s foreign sub-committee; in 1940 he was nominated member of the AIML working committee; in 1941 he presided over the Punjab Muslim Students Conference. However, the Sind Provincial Muslim League Conference in 1938 represented his most important contribution to Indo-Muslim politics.

The writer is an HEC Distinguished National Professor.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2016