Gone are the days when colleges and other institutions of higher education in Karachi were not so much politicised as are these days and the main focus of the teachers and students, too, was on education, research and publishing journals and college magazines. This golden age ended, perhaps, in the late 1980s.

Among Karachi's educational institutions that excelled both in academics and co-curricular activities in 1970s and 1980s was National College. Scholars such as Prof Husnain Kazmi, Prof Dr Ansar Zahid, Prof Dr Abu Salman Shahjahanpuri, Prof Shafqat Rizvi, Prof Anees Zaidi and many others made the college shine. The National College's magazine 'Ilm-o-agahi' was not just a college magazine; most of its issues dealt with some academic and historical topics and were well-received in literary and academic circles. They are still treasured in libraries and personal collections and are referred to by scholars.

Though the moving spirits behind 'Ilm-o-agahi' was, of course, Syed Imtiaz Hussain, the college principal, the person who really made the publication of the magazine possible and virtually wrote some of its almost entire issues was none other than Prof Dr Abu Salman Shahjahanpuri. A scholar and a researcher to the core, he truly made 'Ilm-o-agahi' a research publication. The issues that he brought out thrashed out the important historical issues and personalities such as the academic and literary institutions of Indo-Pakistan subcontinent, Quaid-i-Azam, Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar, Pakistan Movement, nationalist movements in the subcontinent and education in Pakistan. Some of the articles included in the magazine served as the only source as till then not much had been written on these topics.

Then there is another side of the coin Dr Abu Salman had to face many difficulties in making this happen but he magnanimously forgot and forgave those persons (he calls them 'friends') who created hurdles for him and the magazine (the usual dirty politics that has become our national pastime). But there is something he could not forget the material that could not be published because, as he puts it, it was 'censored'. Some portions of the articles and a number of entire articles related to political and nationalist movements in the subcontinent that were held back and were not allowed to be published in the magazine as the college was a government-run institution and had to keep in line with the government's point of view. But now, some two decades later, these articles have been published with full version in a new book 'Beesween sadi mein Hindustan ki milli tehreeken' (the nationalist movements in India in the twentieth century) by Dr Abu Salman.

Abu Salman Sahib has vividly described in the preface to this book why and how these articles were proscribed and how he had to re-arrange the whole pre-publication arrangements to comply with the orders of higher-ups, getting the magazine printed denuded of those 'banned' portions.

Published by Islamabad's Qindeel Publications, the book consists of four portions each of which is a book unto itself. The four sections deal with Tehrik-i-Khuddam-i-Kaaba, Tehrik-i-Reshmi Roomaal, Tehrik-i-Hijrat and Tehrik-i-Khilafat-o-Tark-i-Mawalaat. As every student of the history of the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent knows these movements were so vital that their impact was felt not only on the internal politics of India but the impact on international politics — notably during the World War-I — was quite perceptible. Some of the events that took place during the course of these movements stirred interest in the former Soviet Union as well and the political game played in the region between the Soviets and the British felt some undercurrents too.

An author of over 100 books, Dr Abu Salman is an authority on historical and political movements of the subcontinent and has dealt with the subject with a scientific detachment and objectivity. His approach is unemotional and he is not deterred by any big names. He is able to cut through the surface and see the crux of the matter. While discussing the Khilafat Movement, for instance, he ruthlessly exposes the immoral conduct of the subsequent British governments and how easily they broke their promises. During the war against Turkey, Briton had promised to Muslims of India that all holy places of Islam would be protected and due care would be taken to maintain their sanctity. He tells us how this was publicised on a massive scale in India and was “perhaps the most repeated promise in the human history” and how it was broken (for example, Jerusalem, the third holiest Muslim place was taken over by the British on December 9, 1917). In the same breath Dr Sahib blames Muslim religious scholars for shortsightedness and for falling for the British promises out of 'innocence or contrivance'. He thinks that it was perhaps the biggest mistake made by Muslims of India, which led not only to the desecration of holy Muslim places but contributed to the disintegration of the world's last great Muslim empire and the seat of Khilafat Turkey. Had the Muslims decided wholeheartedly not to support British in this war against Turkey, the British would have confronted one of the most lethal times in their colonial history.

Ironically, Dr Abu Salman's academic works have not been properly acknowledged and the reason is that he has his own views and he sees things from a different perspective. He, for example, has written many books on Abul Kalam Azad and Hussain Ahmed Madani, the politico-religious figures not viewed with much favour in Pakistan. But, as Mushfiq Khwaja once remarked, the difference of opinion is limited to his point of view or the conclusions he draws from his research alone and no one should underestimate the standard or the methodology of his research. The reason is that Dr Sahib never writes on any topic until he has authentic source material and historical evidence to prove his argument. What commands the respect of his peers is that his personal library brims with rare, original and untapped source material on the history of Indo-Pak subcontinent.

Commenting on the book Prof Dr Moinuddin Aqeel says that “Dr Abu Salman is the scholar who is a keen observer of the rise and fall of our nationalist and historic movements. This book of his unfolds before our eyes the history of the south Asian Muslim movements with all its grandeur and that too in a scholarly manner that has made the book a comprehensive reference on history. It has in compact form so many rare sources that no scholar or student of political science, history or religion can afford to miss it”.

It would not be out of place to mention here that Dr Abu Salman has been working on the editing of a 5000-page personal diary of Maulana Hussain Ahmed Madani and keeping in view its importance many students such as this writer have been waiting for its arrival anxiously. One sincerely hopes that Dr Sahib would soon bring it forth along with his other scholarly works. This nation badly needs to agree to disagree and to respect the difference of opinion.

—drraufparekh@yahoo.com