Afg̱ẖānī's Indian Contacts

Afg̱ẖānī's Indian ContactsAuthor(s): Aziz AhmadSource: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 89, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1969), pp. 476-504Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/596617 .

Accessed: 16/06/2014 04:34

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

American Oriental Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal ofthe American Oriental Society.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 185.44.78.76 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 04:34:54 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aos

http://www.jstor.org/stable/596617?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


AFGHANI'S INDIAN CONTACTS'

Aziz AHMAD

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

To establish definitively the precise extent of JamMl al-din Afgbanl's influence on Islamic India, one has to turn not only to printed sources, but also especially to unpublished documents such as F.O. 60/594 and the letters to Afgban! of his Indian friends (published with this article for the first time) in the National Library at Tehran.

Pan-Islamism was a movement in India even before Afghamn became its symbol. AfgbAn! visited India four times, of which the fourth visit (1880-1882) is the most important when his polemical work against Sayyid Ahmad Khan and his movement as well as other Persian articles were written and personal contacts were established. Letters from these contacts date from 1883 to 1885, and give the exact measure, and reveal the precise nature of Af- ghani's influence over them, as well as the precise extent of the propagation and dissemina- tion of Afgh ni's ideas by them in India. During this fourth visit AfghanI also made some other contacts like Sayyid Husayn Bilgrami who were critical of him.

The theory recently advanced that AfghAni's religious ideas were either influenced by Sayyid Ahmad Khan or were at least parallel to his cannot stand a critical examination.

After 1885 Afghan! lost touch with his Indian contacts; and it was not until 1890's that the AfgbAn! legend began to develop. It took its present shape in the twentieth century, influenced in part by the references of Muhammad Iqbal and Abu'l Kalam kzdd to him.

LIKE MOST WHOLLY OR PARTLY MUSLIM COUN-

TRIES, Islamic India also generally pays homage to JamMl al-din Afgban! for inspiring its pan-Islamic trends in particular and its religio-political awak- ening in general. It has to be carefully assessed to what extent such an attribution is based on facts. The actual influence of Afghqni has to be carefully measured and distinguished from the Afghani legend, which shows the first traces of formation in the eighteen-nineties and which did not fully develop until well into the twentieth century.

Pan-Islamic trends developed in India inde- pendently of Afghani's influence; it was much later that he came to be accepted as their symbol. The Urdu press of the 1870's already reveals pan-Islamic, especially pro-Ottoman trends before Afgbani's first works were published in India and long before the publication of al-'Urwa al-wuthqd.

Afghdni's early visits to India actually pre- date this locally evolved pan-islamic trend; but they are not visibly connected with it.

Afghdni's first visit to India is generally dated 1854. Lutf-Alldh Asaddbadd who claims to be Afghani's nephew and is a strong advocate of his Asaddbddi, Iranian origin holds that, due to the opposition of some Irani 'ulamd' to Afghani's religious views when he was only sixteen years old, his teacher Shaykh Murtada Ansari sent him to Bombay in 1854 where he stayed for a year and a few months, and that he also spent a few months in Calcutta at the house of one 1ajji 'Abd al-Karim2 about whom no other information is available. Browne,3 A'zami4 and Qddi 'Abd al-Ghaffdr5 who all prefer the theory of his Afgban origin mention this visit to India. According to A'zam! this visit lasted until 1857; and Nikki Keddie is also inclined to think that this first visit lasted much longer than a year.6 There

1 I am grateful to Dr. Iraj Afshar and Professor Nikki R. Keddie for supplying microfilms of the letters of Af- gharii's Indian friends in the Tehran collection, and to

Professor Keddie for supplying photocopies of some other documents.

2 Lutf-Allah Asadabadi, Sharh-i hal-i Sayyid Jamdl al-din Asadabadi, Tabriz, 1327 Shamsi, pp. 18-21.

3 E. G. Browne, The Persian Revolution, London, 1966, p. 5.

4 GhulAm JIlAni A';amI, "Jamal al-din Afghani", Kdbul 2 (7 July, 1931).

5 QadI 'Abd al-GhaffAr, Athar-i Jamal al-din Af- ghini [Athar], Delhi, 1940, pp. 32-37.

6 Nikki R. Keddie, "Sayyid JamMl al-din al-Af- ghlni's first twenty-seven years: the darkest period",

476



AHEMAD: Afghdni's Indian Contacts 477

seems to be a general unanimity among AfgbAni's biographers that this was a significant and for- mative visit and to it could be dated not merely AfgbdnI's first contact with Western ideas and sciences,7 but also according to tAnhlir! his first absorption of certain heterodox ideas.8

If Afghan! had any active or ideological contacts with the BAbis in Iran, as conjectured by Keddie,9 it is possible that he was in touch with Bab! refugees in Bombay when he arrived there in 1854.10 Until more evidence is forthcoming Keddie's view that Afghani's anti-British political attitude begins with this visit" has again to be regarded as conjectural. Equally conjectural, but challenging, is her theory that during this visit Afghan! absorbed this anti-British attitude from the Mujahidin,2 the followers of Sayyid Ahmad of Bareilly, known in British Indian records and writings as "Wahabis" and confused with the Wahhdbis of Nejd by whom they may or may not have been influenced. There has been lively controversy whether the movement of the Mujd- hidin was anti-British from the outset; there is no doubt, however, that it had become anti- British after the liquidation of the Sikh state by the British in the 1840s, when they also inherited the hostility of the Frontier Mujdhidin. In 1854 the Mujdhidin were definitely anti-British; the

problem to be examined, therefore, is whether there is any evidence or any chance that Afghani came in contact with them or fell under their influence. If he did stay in Calcutta for a few months, as Luff-Allah Asadqbddi holds, the chances are strong that he may have met one or more of the Mujdhidin there as, next only to the North-West Frontier, east India was the principal theatre of their activities. But whatever official "Wahab!' records or private papers have been studied so far do not mention any one by the name of Jamdl al-din or any of the names he assumed at various times.

In Bombay, where Afghans stayed, by all accounts for most of the time during the 1854-55 visit his contact with the Mujdhidin (so-called "Wahhabis") is not impossible, though improbable. For the movement of the Mujdhidin Bom- bay was very much a backwater. Yet the Mujd- hidIn had some contact with Bombay. As early as 1239/1823 the founder of the movement, Sayyid Ahmad Barelw!, spent a few days at Bombay on his return from the hajj; and then sailed by the same ship to Calcutta."3 There is no record of his having made any converts or having made any significant contacts there. But there is evidence that at least in the late 1820s one Mu- h. ammad 'Ali Rd'ipdr! was Sayyid AImad's emis- sary in Bombay, and at an uncertain date (probably 1830) he was replaced by a well-inown mem- ber of the movement, Wildyat 'Ali who, however, did not stay there very long but returned to Patna, hearing of the disastrous defeat and death of Sayyid Ahmad Barelw! at Balakot in 1831.14

We next hear of the M\lujdhidin (Wahhdbis) in Bombay in 1869, when nearly a hundred of them were living in that city; but according to the evidence available to the privincial government of Bombay they had no connection with the anti- British political activists in Bihar and Bengal, though one of them, Barkat-AllUh, had preached jihdd against the British at Poona before he moved to Bombay and established contact with 'Indyat-Alldh, a wealthy "WahhAb!'.'5 The evi-

Middle East Journal, 20/4 (1966), pp. 517-33, at pp. 526-27.

7Lutf-Allah AsadAbAd!, op. cit., p. 21; Browne, op. cit., p. 5; A'gami, op. cit., loc. cit.; Keddie, op. cit., p. 527.

8 Salim al-'Anhliri's brief sketch of Afghani in Rashid Rida, Td'rikh al-Ustddh al-Imam, Cairo, 1931, pp. 43-44.

9Keddie, op. cit., 524-25. She mentions that Amin Banani and Homa Pakdaman hold similar views (loc. cit., note 24).

Cf. Kdvih, 2/9 (1921), p. 11. 1l Keddie, op. cit., p. 527. 12 For studies of the MujAhidin see, GbulAm Rasuil

Mihr, Sayyid Ahmad Shahid, Lahore, 1952; idem,Jama'at-i Mujdhidin, Lahore, 1955; item, Sarguzasht-i Mujdhidin, Lahore, 1956; Qeyamuddin Ahmad, The Wahabi Move- ment in India, Calcutta, 1966; W. W. Hunter, The Indian Musalmans, Calcutta 1871; I. H. Qureshi, The Muslim Community in the Indo-Pakistan Sub-Continent, 'S- Gravenhage, 1962, pp. 193-211; Aziz Ahmad, Studies in Islamic Culture in the Indian Environment, Oxford, 1964, pp. 209-17.

13 Q. Ahmad, op. cit., p. 38. 4 Ibid., p. 102.

15 Central Records Office, Calcutta. J. Jardine, Act-



478 Journal of the American Oriental Society, 89.3 (1969)

dence available points to the conclusion that though there was some presence of the M1ujahidin in Bombay, and certainly more of them passed through that city on their way to and fro from the 4ajj, it was never a significant center of their activities, not even to the extent of the southern cities of Hyderabad and Madras. The complexion of their activity in Bombay was religious and there they were generally apolitical. To this may be added that no British official records, or private papers of the Mujahidin so far discovered and studied, point to any contacts between them and Jamdl al-din Afghani. Internal evidence leads to the same conclusion. The conformist fundamentalism of the AMujdhidin was exactly the antithesis of the margin of heterodoxy in Afghdni's religious thought which Professors Kedourie and Keddie have taken such pains to establish.'6

There is evidence of a second visit of Afghqn! to Bombay in 1275/1859, unless it was an extension of the first visit. No details are available except an entry in Afghdni's notebook made on the occasion of the 'Id-i qadir (sic! Ghadir?) in HIjji Husayn mosque in Bombay.'7 Another entry in his notebook consisting of some verses of Mulld Hadi Sabziwari in the writing of 'Abd al-Jawwad Khurdsmn! shows Afghdni to be in Bombay again

ten years later in 1285/1869.18 On this occasion we have definite record of one contact, Sarllh M\lubammad al-Mashhiir (sic!) who has paid a compliment to Afghani's good taste (dhawq).19 This visit was undoubtedly on Afghdn's expulsion from Afghanistan by Amir Shir 'AlL.20 Ac- cording to the evidence of entries in his notebook21 as well as his traditional biographers this visit lasted only a month and was terminated by the British, who sent him off to Suez, and who, though they had treated him with respect, did not permit tulamd' or leaders of Muslim opinion to associate with him,22 presumably because of his anti-British and pro-Russian activities in Afghanistan.23

Afghin's fourth(?) and last visit to India was from 1880 to 1882. The Memorandum signed by A. S. Lethbridge, General Superintendent, Thaqi and Dakaiti Department, Government of India,24 gives the date of the arrival of Afgbdni (on his expulsion from Egypt by Khedive Tewfiq) as the "beginning of 1881". Unfortunately Lethbridge's Memorandum, on which Professors Kedourie and Keddie base several of their arguments, is not always reliable. It is wrong in this instance too. Documentary evidence catalogued by Iraj Afshar proves that AfghAni was already in Hyderabad from Rabi' al-thni, 1297/April, 1880 to Dhu'l lijja, 1298/October-November, 1881.25 According to Lethbridge, on his arrival in India Afghdni ing Under Secretary, Government of Bombay to Secre-

tary, Government of Bengal, Judicial Department no. 3999, dated 12 November, 1869.

16 Elie Kedourie, Afghani and 'Abduh, London, 1966; Nikki R. Keddie, "Religion and Irreligion in Early Iranian Nationalism", Comparative Studies in Society and History, 4/3 (1962), pp. 265-95, at pp. 278-84; idem, "Sayyid Jamal al-din al-Afghani's First Twenty Seven Years: the Darkest Period", MEJ, 20/4 (1966), pp. 517- 33. Muhsin Mahdi, like a number of Muslim scholars before him from Mehmet Akif onwards, is quite satisfied with Afghdn!'s orthodoxy (Muhsin Mahd!, "Islamic

Philosophy in Contemporary Islamic Thought" al- Abhath, 20/4 (Dec. 1967), pp. 1-17). But even this orthodoxy is very different from the rigid and conservative fundamentalism of the doctrine of the Mujahidin. Keddie has since changed her views and her new work, An Islamic Response to Imperialism. Political and Re- ligious Writings of Jamul ad-din "al-Afghan' ", Berkeley/ Los Angeles, 1967 is more balanced.

17 Iraj Afshar et Asghar Mahdavi, Documents inedits concernant Seyyed Jamal-al-DTn Afghani, [Documents],

Tehran, 1963, p. 5.

18 Documents, p. 5, 156. 19Ibid., 16. 20 Proceedings of the Government of India in the Foreign

Department, Political (Calcutta, 1869) "Cabul Diaries", a document to which Professor Keddie was the first to draw attention; cf. Keddie, "Afghani in Afghanistan", Middle Eastern Studies, 1/4 (1965), pp. 322-49 at p. 336.

21 Documents, pp. 5, 16, 156. 22 Browne, p. 6; Athar, 57-58; Murtada Mudarrisi

Chahardihi, Zindagani wa falsafa-i ijtima' wa siyasT-yi Sayyid Jamdl al-din Afghani, Tehran, 1334 Shamsi, pp. 12-14; C. C. Adams, Islam and Modernism in Egypt, London, 1933, p. 5.

23 Government of India. Foreign Department. Nl arra- tive of Events in Cabul from the Death of Dost Mahomed to the Spring of 1872 ... Cabul Prkcis 1863-74 (Simla 1866, 1874); Keddie, op. cit. in MES 1/4 (1965).

24 Hereafter referred to as Lethbridge, Memorandum; copy printed by the Foreign Office Press is No. 55, dated 1896, in Public Records Office, London, F. 0. 60/594.

25 Documents, 12, 157.



AHMAD: Afghdni's Indian Contacts 479

stayed for a short time in Bombay as a guest of one Muhammad 'Ali Rogay about whom no information is available. According to Lethbridge, during his stay in Hyderabad "he associated chiefly with the rising generation of freethinkers, the followers of Sayed Ahmad Khan of Aligarh".28 Kedourie relies heavily on this statement to make out a case for proving Afghani's irreligion or heterodoxy which leads to a theory of Afghani's "duplicity" consisting of the contrast between various facets of his religious thought on the one hand and between his political activism and actual life on the other.27 It is not intended to contest this theory, and indeed Keddie and Kedourie have added a new dimension to Afghqni studies which in due course, shorn of its excesses, would contribute to a re-evaluated perspective of his life and thought. Here it is intended to examine only the hypothesis presented by Keddie of the "similarity" of Sayyid Ahmad Khan with Afghdn! who severely attacked him and his doctrines.28 Keddie goes to the ex- treme of saying that "the religious reform ideas of Afghqn! and Sayyed Ahmad Khan were almost identical...."29 The confusion is further con- founded by the use of the term "nature" (fitra) as being identical with (Islamic) religion. Sayyid Ahmad Khan's doctrine was known in India as ntcharT (naturalist) by its opponents, while in reality his apologetic was based on the detailed interpretation of scriptural data in terms of natural law as then understood. The keynote of his doctrine was the formula: "Between the work of God (nature) and the word of God (scripture) there can be no contradiction. "30 There is a parallel emphasis on nature in Afghdni's later writings and preachings and the question arises whether he was actually influenced by Sayyid Ahmad's fol-

lowers in Hyderabad while he publicly so violently denounced his doctrines as materialism (dahriyya).3'

In a letter written during his last years in Istanbul to one of his unnamed Persian friends Afghan! wrote: "Nature is your friend and the Creator of Nature your ally".32 To this may be added Lethbridge's observation describing Af- ghmni's activities in Iran from 1889 to 1891: "He made a number of converts to his own particular faith which he calls 'Naturalism'."33

Now, these references to "nature" and "naturalism" do not seem to be structurally, apolo- getically or philosophically connected with Sayyid Ahmad Khan's elaborately worked out and detailed, modernist "naturalism" which Afghqn! so uncompromisingly attacked. Afghani's "naturalism" is, in fact, rooted in traditionalism and goes back to the Qur'dn 30:29; and to the frequent references to nature in the classical hadith literature.34 Especially famous in traditional literature is the hadith that all children are born according to (the order of) nature (i.e. Islam); later their parents convert them to Judaism, Christianity and Magianism.35 It was popularised in the kalam by al- Ghazd1!,36 and became even more popular with its use by Sa'd! in the Gulistan,37 which was a

26 Lethbridge, Memorandum, in F. 0. 60/594. 27 Kedourie, op. cit., passim; Keddie, "Religion and

Irreligion" in Comparative Studies in Society and History, 4/3 (1962), and idem in MEJ, 20/4 (1966).

28 For a comparison of their ideas see Aziz Ahmad, "Sayyid Ahmad Khan, Jamal al-din al-Afghani and Muslim India", Studia Islamica, 13 (1960), pp. 55-78.

29 Keddie, "Religion and Irreligion", pp. 279-80; also Kedourie, p. 36.

30 Sayyid Ahmad Khan, al-Tahrir ft- u.fzl al-tafalr, Agra, 1892, p. 11.

31 AfghAnI, al-Radd 'ala 'l-dahriyyin, Cairo, 1955; Fr. tr. A.-M. Goichon (Refutation des Materialistes), Paris, 1942; idem, FIaqiqat-i madhhab-i nichari wa bayan-i 01-i nichariyyan, Hyderabad, 1880; idem, "TafsIr-i mufassir", in Maqalat-i Jamaliyya, ed. 'Abd al-Ghafuir Shahbaz, Calcutta, 1884; idem, "al-Dahriyyuin fi'1 Hind", al-'Urwa al-wuthqa, Cairo reprint 1957, 382-87.

32 Cited in NaTim al-Islam Kirmani, Ta'rikh-i bi- ddri-yi Iran, i, 107-08; trans. into Eng. by E. G. Browne, in The Persian Revolution, London, 1966, pp. 28-29.

33 Lethbridge, Memorandum, F.O. 60/594. 4 Bukhari, 77: 63-64; 79: 51; Muslim, 2: 49-51, 56;

Abui Da'ud, 1: 29; 32: 16; Tirmidhi, 41: 14; Nasa'I, 1: 8-11; 48: 1; Ibn Maja, 1: 8; al-Muwatta', 49: 3; Wensinck, Handbook (Leiden, 1960), 204.

3 Bukhari, 23: 80; 82: 3; Muslim, 46: 22-25; Abui Da'uid, 39: 17; Tirmidhi, 30: 5; al-Muwatta' 16: 52; Wensinck, Handbook, 43. Some hadit -collections sub- stitute milla for fit ra.

36 al-Ghazali, al-Munqidh min al-daltl, ed. Farid Jabre, Beirut, 1959, p. 11.

3 Sa'dI, Kulliyyat, ed. Muiammad 'Ali Furfighi, Tehran, 1321 Shamsi, p. 85.




prescribed textbook in almost all schools in Iran, India and what is now Afgbdnistan.38 Keddie's hypothesis that Afghbni's "evolutionary view of religion" which makes its appearance from 1866- 68 onwards goes back to his Indian experience" needs examination. There are traces of what may be called an "evolutionary view of religion" in Sayyid Ahmad Khan's doctrine of naskh as applied to Biblical criticism in his Commentary on the Bible.40 But then, in none of his polemical writings against Sayyid Ahmad Khan does Af- ghamn show any acquaintance with this particular work. As for Afgh'nis being "profoundly skeptical about all positive religions'"4' there is no trace of any such trend in the religious thought of Indian Islam to the present day.

We can now revert to Lethbridge who, while asserting that in Hyderabad Afghdni associated with the followers of Sayyid Ahmad Khan, goes on to say: "But in spite of all their kindness and hospitality towards him, he published a book in Persian against their doctrines".42 The book referred to is no doubt the Iaqiqat-i madhhab-i Nichart wa bayan-i hal-i Nichariyyan.43 But actually the most virulent attack on Sayyid Almad Khan's group and their political loyalism was an article Sharh-i hal-i Aghiiriyan which Afghani published in the Mu'allim-i shaftq, a Hyderabad periodical in Dhii-qa'da and Dhfl'l Iijja, 1298/Sep- tember and October 1881 in two instalments. Aghuiris are one of the lowest Hindu castes in the Hyderabad area; and this was the name used by Afghani for his attack on Sayyid Ah.mad Khan's followers. The special victim of this article is a person referred to by Afgbdn! as "Ndsatiida-i-

marg Khan" [or Nasatfida Marg Khan] (which can be roughly rendered as either "One rejected even by Death" or "Unglorified Death". Afghbni writes in this article:

"And they [associates of Sayyid Ahmad Khan] with the aim of creating doubt and ambiguity deliver speeches in meetings and gatherings, until in these days Nasatfida-i-marg Khan [or Nasatfida Marg Khan] patiently explained his loyalty [to the British] and elaborated upon the real purpose of his com- panions.... For the gift of a bone a dog wags his tail, flatters and lays his head on the foot of the donor.... Man is worse than dog.... It becomes man to exceed a dog a thousand-fold in flattery and self-abasement,- and if he has not got a tail, he has a beard which is as good [to wag]. Having realised this point Nasatfida-i- marg Khan has wished to raise his voice, wag his beard, and has been true to his salt."

We have now to examine who were the followers of Sayyid Ahmad Khan in Hyderabad in 1880-81; with whom among them did Afghbn! come in contact, if at all; and which one of them, if any, was Afghdn!'s NMsatfida-i-marg Khan.

The most eminent of Sayyid Ahmad Khan's associates in Hyderabad at that time and appointed there on his recommendation in 1874 was Sayyid Mahd! 'Ali (better known by his title MuIsin al-Mulk, 1837-1907). In 1876 he rose to be Revenue Secretary of the State" and he held that position during Afghmn!'s visit there in 1880-81. There is no evidence, however, that they ever met. It is possible that Wilfred Scawen Blunt met him at the house of Afgbani's host Ras-Gl Ydr Khn, if the name MahdI Iasan mentioned by Blunt is a corruption of Mahd! 'AA1i;45 but there is no hint in Blunt's account that he had ever met Afghani. In religious ideas Mahd! 'Ali's modernist views were much more moderate than those of Sayyid Ahmad Khan. HalI observes: "Sir Sayyid's writings were like lancet; those of Sayyid Mahdi

38 For a discussion of the traditional orthodox attitude to this hadith see T. P. Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, Lahore reprint, 1965, pp. 206-07; and D. B. Mac- donald, "Fitra" in EI2, ii, pp. 931-32.

39 Keddie, MEJ, 20/4 (1966), p. 532. 40 Sayyid Ahmad Khan, Tab'in al-kaldm, Ghazipur

1862-65. 41 Keddie, loc. cit. 42 Lethbridge, Memorandum, F.O. 60/594. 41 Published in Hyderabad, 1298/1880; second edition

with an introduction by the editor of Farhang, Bombay, 1298/1880; Urdu trans. under the same title by Sayyid 'Abd al-Ghaffir Shahbiz, Calcutta, 1883.

44Muhammad Amin Zubayri, Ifaydt-i Muhsin, Ali- garh, 1934, pp. 7-8.

4 Wilfred Scawen Blunt, Secret History of the English Occupation of Egypt (SH), Part ii, India. Being a Per- sonal Narrative of Events, privately printed, London, 1907, p. 116. Mahdi 'All was, in any case, familiar with Blunt's works and their admirer. (Cf. his Mulsalmdnon ki qismat ka faysala, Delhi n.d., pp. 94-95.



AHMAD: Afghani's Indian Contacts 481

'Ali served as ointment"." It is doubtful that he could have been Afgbi~ni's victim.

Much more radical in his theological speculation, in fact more so than Sayyid Almad Khan himself, was Chiragb 'Ali, also appointed in Hy- derabad state on his recommendation, where he held at the time of Afghani's visit the position of Assistant Revenue Secretary. Blunt met him at the residence of Rasfil Ydr Khdn 47 but does not record any contact between him and Afghans. Another close associate of Sayyid Ahmad Khan in Hyderabad was Mushtdq JIusayn, 1841-1917, (better known by his title Wiqdr al-Mulk), who was very influential and in 1879 in close contact with the British Resident.4" Although there is again no evidence that Afgbdn! knew him per- sonally, and even Blunt did not meet him, the possibility could not be ruled out that he could have been the original of Afghdn!'s NMsatida-i- marg Khan because of his influence with the British Resident in Hyderabad.49 These three:

Sayyid Mad! 'ATli, Chirgb 'ARi and Mushtdq JIusayn were Sayyid Ablmad Khan's principal followers in Hyderabad and there is no evidence that Afgbin! knew any of them, though possibly the first and certainly the second of them are recorded to have been invited to meet Blunt at the residence of Afghani's host Rasiil Ydr Khan.

In examining Lethbridge's evidence further we have to see whether in 1880-81 Afghani associated with, or at least knew any such persons who, though they cannot be called Sayyid AImad Khan's followers or associates, were, at least obliquely inspired by his modernism and were his admirers generally. Here we meet with more positive results. We have evidence that the two famous Bilgrrmi brothers Sayyid Ijusayn and Sayyid 'Ali knew Afghbni, though slightly, and though neither of them held a high opinion of him or was much impressed by him.

There is a letter in F.O.60/594, from Syed Hussein [Sayyid Husayn] to Cordery, the British Resident which reads:

20th June, 1883 My dear Sir,

About three years ago a man came here from Egypt who alleged that he had been turned out of the country by the orders of H.H. the new Khedive Towfik Pasha for preaching doctrines distasteful to the authorities. I gathered from his conversation that he was a free thinker of the French type, and a socialist, and that he had been got rid of by the authorities in Egypt for preaching the doctrine of "libert6, fraternit6, 6galit6' to the students and masses in that country. I found him to be a well-informed man for a Herati (he is a Herati by birth) though rather shallow in his acquire- ments. He could "hold forth" in Persian and Arabic with great easiness and purity of idiom. He talked a little French and used to say that it was his purpose to go and make Paris his headquarters for some time in order to get justice out of Towfik through the French.

I also understood from Captain Clerk that he was the author of a violently anti-English article in the periodical "Nahla" that used to be published in London. H.Ex. the late minister gave him a couple of thousand rupees to enable him to leave the country; but I know that he did not leave the country; but continued to live a rather retired life in the City, spending

48 Altdf Hlusayn Hall, Ijaydt-i Jawid [JIJ], Delhi, 1939, ii, p. 285.

47 SH, ii, 116. ChirAgh 'All disagreed with Blunt in his advocacy of an Arab Caliphate (Cheragh Ali, The Proposed Political, Legal and Social Reforms in the Otto- man Empire and Other Muhammedan States, Bombay, 1883). For the religious ideas of Chiragh "Ali and Sayyid Mahdi 'All (Muhsin al-Mulk) see Aziz Ahmad, Islamic Modernism in India and Pakistan 1857-1964, London, 1967, pp. 57-71.

48 Sayyid Ahmad Khan to MushtAq IHusayn, 1st February, 1879, in Sayyid Ahmad Khan, Maktizbdt (Maktfisbt-i Sir Sayyid), ed. IsmAll PAnIpati, Lahore, 1959, p. 231.

9 Qqdl 'Abd al-GhaffAr (AtAr, p. 146), however, suggests that he is someone also attacked in al-'Urwa al-wuthqa. The only associate of Sayyid Ahmad Khan attacked there (in "al-Dahriyyfin fI'l Hind", al-'Urwa, Cairo reprint, 1957, p. 386) is Sam!'-Allah Khan, as the arch-disciple of Sayyid Ahmad Khan and the "greatest of the materialists". In actual fact Saml'-AllAh Khan, who was never connected with Hyderabad, was a conservative, conformist Muslim, having no influence with the British authorities, and though an active worker in Sayyid Ahmad Khan's educational programme, often critical of him. (EfJ, ii, 238-39, 245). 1.Amid-AllAh, "the native Indian Judge" who informed Baring of the visit to Russia of "the well-known Gellal Eddin" is described as the son of Semeeullah. (Baring's Secret Letter from Cairo, No. 424 dated Oct. 23, 1886 in F.O.

60/594). It is not known whether this Semeeullah is the same Sam!'-Allh Kbhn.




his time in teaching and in philosophical discussions. When, however, the imbroglio in Egypt made a stir in the papers the Sheikh, Jamal-ud-din (for such was his name) suddenly disappeared from Hyderabad, and I was given to understand that he was gone to Burmah. I felt quite sure, however, that he was gone to no such place, and that either Cairo or Paris was his destina- tion.

Some months ago I was startled by having an Arabic periodical sent to me from Paris, and on opening it, I found that it was conducted by no other than the quondam philosopher of Hyderabad. Since then I have continued to be favoured with copies of it as have also many others in Hyderabad. It is printed on a double sheet of paper, and within the limits of four pages it contains nothing that is not anti-English. The paper in my humble opinion is not fit to be allowed into India, although fortunately, there are not many in this country who can read Arabic. It is certainly still less suitable for Egypt where even the lower orders will be able to read it-of this however the authorities in Egypt are the best judges. I only send you this account of the man, and the enclosed copy of the paper together with a translation of portions of it, thinking it my duty to let you know that such a paper finds its way to Hyderabad.

I may add that to my knowledge the man is penni- less, and must therefore have some kind of support in Paris. Whether he is or is not countenanced by the French Government it is not for me to say; perhaps the strained relations between France and England may account for his existence in Paris.

Syed Hussein

There can be no doubt about the identification of the writer of this letter, Syed Hussein with Sayyid Ilusayn Bilgrdmi (1844-1926),5? later recipient of the title of 'Imdd al-Mulk from the Nizdm, held in esteem by Sayyid Ahmad Khan "for his uprightness and rectitude",5' appointed in Hyderabad State Service as Personal Assistant to the Chief Minister Sdlar Jang I (M1ukhtdr al-Mulk) and probably holding the office of the Home Secretary in the state in 188352 when this letter to the British Resident was written. "Syed

Hussein" is the spelling used for his signature by Sayyid I.Iusayn Bilgrdmi and in references to him in the documents of the Hyderabad Secretariat. There are other strong grounds of identification. The writer of the letter knew French, a rare qualification in Hyderabad; so did Sayyid ilusayn Bilgrami who (as the writer of the letter also shows) had the even more unusual distinction of combining it with scholarship in Arabic and Per- sian.53 The letter describes Afghmn! as a socialist; this was also the view of Sayyid ilusayn Bilgrdm!'s brother Sayyid 'Ali Bilgrdm! (1851-1911), who had also met Afghani, as recorded by Blunt: "Of Sheykh Jemal-ed-din, whom he had known here, he said he was too much of a socialist and firebrand to carry through a reformation."54 Sayyid I.usayn Bilgrdmi must have known Afghani, for it was at the residence of his host Rasfil Ydr Khan that Blunt met him on several occasions.55

One now comes to the question: What were the motives which led Sayyid 1{usayn Bilgrdin! to write this letter to Cordery? It is possible to accept his action as purely official, of a Home Secretary of the Hyderabad State informing the British Resident of the antecedents and activities of an anti-British agitator. The action could also be explained as political loyalism, practised and preached by the leaders of the Aligarh movement. But it is possible that Sayyid HIusayn Bilgrdmi's action was motivated to win the favor of Cordery who was against the influential north Indian officers56 appointed by Sqlqr Jang I. Cordery's opposition took a strong form after the death of that Chief Minister on 8 February, 1883. He tried to remove Mahd! 'Ali and Sayyid IHusayn Bil- gramI57 from service. To Blunt, the British Resi- dent expressed his disapproval of the appointment of Sayyid 'Ali Bilgrdmi.58 Blunt takes upon himself the credit for reconsolidating the position of Sayyid JIusayn in Hyderabad in 1884.59 Sayyid

60 Some information regarding Sayyid ljusayn Bil- gram! was kindly supplied to me by his grandson Ali Yavar Jung.

51 JJ, ii, 445; Sayyid Ahmad Khan, Maktfzbat, 341-42. 62 Ni4mi Bada'fni, Qamus al-mashlhir, Badd'fin 1924-

26, ii, 100-01; 'Abd al-Halim Sharar, "Nawwab 'Imad al- Mulk Mawlaw! Sayyid Ijusayn Khan $Ahib Bahadur Bilgrdmi", Urdfl, 5/20 (October, 1925), pp. 531-45.

8 Ni4&mI Badd'fin!, op. cit., loc. cit. 64 SH, ii, 99-100. 66 Ibid., ii, 99, 116, 240. 66 Zubayri, pp. 20-22. 57 SH, ii, 233. 68 Ibid., ii, 98. 69 Ibid., ii, 233.



ARXMAD: Afghani's Indian Contacts 483

HJusayn's letter to Cordery seems in the light of this situation an effort on his part, at the height of the crisis, to establish the credentials of his own loyalty to the British, and to impress his dissocia- tion from all that Afghamn stood for; for if we are to believe Blunt, Cordery had actually thought of deporting Sayyid Ifusayn from Hyderabad.0

Finally the possibility cannot be ruled out that Sayyid HJusayn may have resented Afghdni's at- tacks on Sayyid Ahmad Khan's associates,61 especially the Sharh-i hal-i Aghiriyan, though com- pared to Mushtdq Iusayn he is less identifiable with Afghdni's Ndsatiida-i-marg Khabn, as Sayyid Husayn's connections with the Aligarh movement were oblique, and he cannot be described as a follower of Sayyid Ahmad Khan.

Lethbridge's remark about Afghdni's associ- ating with "the followers of Sayed Ahmed of Aligarh" has therefore a minimal and oblique validity.

There is a contradiction between Lethbridge's account and that of Sayyid Husayn (Syed Hus- sein), both in F.O. 60/594, regarding Afghdni's contact with Saldr Jang I (Mir Turdb 'Ali Khan Mukhtdr al-Mulk) the powerful Chief Minister of Hyderabad, and a patron of Sayyid Ahmad Khan's educational activities though not associated in any way with his religious ideas.62 Accord- ing to Lethbridge, Afghani struck a friendship with an Arab jam'dar (captain in the Nizdm's irregular Arab force) Sultan Nawdz Jang through whom he had an interview with Sdldr Jang I who gave him Rs. 5000, while he received financial assistance from the noblemen in Hyderabad; and with this money he left Hyderabad. According to Sayyid Ijusayn the money given by SIAlr Jang I was only a couple of thousand rupees to induce him to leave Hyderabad which AfghanT did not do.

A third account is given by Qddi 'Abd al-GhaffAr according to which Sdlar Jang I not only gave Afghan! Rs. 5000 but sent a message through "the Nizqm's teacher" Masih. al-zaman Khn, offering to employ him in the Nizdm's state service and to bestow upon him a manaab.63 Afghani declined this for fear that this might arouse jealousy in others.4 It will be seen that the sum mentioned by GhaffAr is the same as in Lethbridge, but the story of the offer of a job and a mantab which Afghan! is quoted to have told his Hyderabadi friends falls within a "credibility gap."

Qadd 'Abd al-GhaffAr's unnamed informant on the life and activities of AfghAn! in Hyderabad was a very old man with a failing memory in the 1920s or 1930s.65 This informant does not mention Afghdni's association with any of the followers of Sayyid Ah.mad Khan. On the other hand he asserts that quite a few 'ulamd' frequented Afghdni's com- pany and mentions two of them by name, 'Abd al-Samad and Mawlaw! Ibrdhim Jhanjhdnaw! with whom Afghdn! held spirited theological discussions.66 The latter's death was reported to Afghamn by Mawlaw! MuI. ammad Wail in a letter sent to Paris.7 The informant confirms that Afghans detested the so-called Nichar! (Natu- ralist) "sect", i.e. the modernist followers of Sayyid Ahmad KhAn.68 He also states that in Hyderabad Afghdn! followed the Sunni creed in his religious practices.69 Afghdni's servant 'Arif (Abi! Turdb) was with him in Hyderabad, and could partake in learned discussions.70

The only absolutely reliable material throwing light on the nature and extent of Afghani's Indian contacts is that catalogued by Iraj Afshar and Asghar Mahdavi in the Documents. But it is by no

6'Ibid., loc. cit. 61 Sayyid HJusayn and Mahdi 'Ali were very close

friends (Sayyid Ahmad Khan, Maktizbat, p. 344). 62 For his patronage of M.A.-O. College at Aligarh

see HIRi, HJ, i, 183; Niami Bada'iini, i, 278; on the other hand for his poor opinion of Sayyid Ahmad Khan we have the statement of his son LA'iq 'All Khan Salar Jang II quoted by Blunt (SH, ii, 223) which is, however, to be taken with some reserve, for Blunt's familiar weak- ness was to attribute his own ideas to others.

68 A manqab was merely the grant of an honorary salary in the Niiam's state and not a land grant as in the Mughal empire.

64 Ath4r, p. 123. 6" Ibid., 121-24. 66 A thar, 122. 67 Wail to Afghamn, 18 Rajab, 1301/14 May, 1884,

(Documents, No. 141, p. 34); [Plates XIV-XV]. 68 A thar, 122. "uIbid., 123. 70 Ibid ., 122-23.




means total or all-embracing. It is limited, as is other valuable material in that Collection, to only those of Afgbani's documents and papers which were left by him at the house of al-Hajj i\Muham- mad Ilasan during his stay with him in Tehran, twice, in 1304/1887 and 1307/1889-90 There may have been letters from other Indian friends, lost or at least so far undiscovered. In any case none of Afganm's letters to any of his Indian friends have so far been traced, with the exception of one to 'Adud al-din, his publisher in Calcutta.7'

The Document catalogues three letters of RasWl Ydr Khan, Afgbdn's host in Hyderabad, and later recipient from the Nizam of the titles Ras-ll Yar Jang and MuIyi al-Dawla.2 On his request Af- gbhna began work on an Arabic dictionary which remained unfinished.73 Blunt met him in 1883 and describes him as an Walim "of the Azhar type ... liberal, socialistic and a disciple of Jemal-ed-din".74 He knew Sayyid Ahmad Khan's followers Mahdi 'Ali and Chirdgh 'AIt and his admirers Sayyid HIusayn and Sayyid "Ali, all of whom Blunt met at his house.

The tone of all the three letters of Ras-lG Ydr Khan to AfghdnI75 is of utmost personal devotion. He addresses Afghdni as "sayyidc, maliki, mur- shidi, fidak ruhi" (my lord, my master, my preceptor, let my soul be an offering to thee). The first letter, dated the end of RabV al-thdni, 1300/early i\Iarch, 1883, is in answer to Afghdri's letter from London in which he had referred to a picnic at Chashma-i Bibi near Hyderabad. Rasll Ydr Khan dwells on the reminiscences of that picnic. There is a reference to Afghdn's constant tea-drinking and to his servant 'Arif. There is a promise to get Afghmni's articles printed (in book form).76 He informs Afghnii of his illness with dysentery, because of which he had to dictate this letter to one

HJfiz MAhib. He acknowledges receipt of some issues of al-Nahla, Ittihad al-tArabi and Abi Nazzdra sent to him by AfgAmnI. At the end of the letter there is a postscript from JJusayn YAr LKhan, presumably a son or a close relative of Rasill Yar Khan.

The second letter of Rastil Ydr Khan (dated 22 Ramadan, 1301/16 July, 1884)77 refers to an earlier letter, not so far traced, dated 20 Rab!' al-Awwal, 1301/19 January, 1884 written in answer to a letter from Afghan! sent through Blunt. Rastil Ydr Khan records his happiness at meeting the Blunts, acknowledges the receipt of al-Urwa al-wuthqa, and tells of his wife's and his own illness. There is again a postscript by ljusayn Ydr Khan and greetings and regards from other close relatives (presumably sons) 'Izzat Yar Khan, Malibbub Ydr Khan and HJaydar Ydr Khan.

Rasill Ydr Khan's third letter is a brief note dated 24 Dhua-qa'da, 1301/15 September, 1884,78 written in continuation of a letter (so far untraced) of 13 Dhti-qa'da, 1301/4 September, 1884, promis- ing to write later in greater detail. It is doubtful if he wrote ever again. There is nothing anti- British in Rasill Ydr Khan's letters and it is possible at this stage he may have become cautious and stopped writing to Afghahi.

Afghdni's next correspondent from Hyderabad is M~awlawi Muhammad Wd~il who in his letters reveals a streak of eccentricity. He was a school teacher, and in answer to his query Afgharil's IjaqjTqat-i madhhab-i Nichari was written. He was not an important or well-known person. Wdtil's first letter (dated 10 Rajab, 1301/9 May, 1884)79 is in answer to a letter from Afghdni. He complains that he received only one issue of the Journal (al-'Urwa) while others in the city had received three or four, promises to publish translations from it in Urdu periodicals, mentions the possibility of starting an Urdu periodical devoted solely to the translations of Afghdni's articles, goes on to say that he has enlisted some subscribers for al-' Urwa, enclosing their list, and holds out the hope that due to its cheapness the Journal

71 Published at the end of the Urdu version (tr. by 'Abd al-Ghaffir Shahb&z) of Igaqiqat-i madhab-i Ni- chari, Calcutta 1883.

72 A thr, 122. 73Ibid., 124. 74 SH, ii, 100.

75 Documents, Nos. 108, 109 and 110, p. 30; [Plates I-V, VI-IX, and X-XII.

78 Actually Rastil Yar Khan never did that. It was done by Shahbaz in Calcutta.

77 Documents, No. 108; [Plates VI-IX]. 78 Documents, No. 109; [Plates X-XI]. 79 Documents, No. 140, p. 34; [Plate XII].




would soon find thousands of subscribers in India, a very extravagant assessment. There is a compliment to the Mahdi of Sudan, coupled with the wish that he might act according to the advice of the "Caliph of Islam" ('Abd al-Hamid II). WAtil then recommends to Afghbn1 some articles in the Nineteenth Century on the evils of British rule in India and advises him to try to become the "Prime Minister of Constantinople" in the footsteps of the Tunisian Khayr al-din Pasha. The letter ends with an Urdu phrase apka khiadim (your servant).

The list8O of subscribers of al-'Urwa al-Wuthqa made in Hyderabad by Wd~il is interesting, as it gives some indication of the type of readership that could be attracted to it. Three of the twenty- two subscribers listed are noblemen, two of them titled whose subscription might have been merely a gesture of patronage in response to persuasion. Eight are Arabs, some of them jam'ddrs in the Nizdm's irregular force, one a school-teacher of Persian origin, and one from Baroda outside Hyderabad. The list includes one senior official of the State, Mul. ammad Siddiq, the Judicial Secre- tary. The rest are middle-class professional men.

Wdail's second letter (dated 18 Rajab, 1301/14 May, 1884)81 requests the despatch of a hundred or at least fifty copies of al-'Urwa for sale. It asserts that the arrangements for translation (into Urdu) have been made, refers to a letter from 'Arif claiming that the Journal had thousands of subscribers "in the country of Syria and Arabia", again recommends the anti-British articles in the Nineteenth Century and advises Afghan! to pla- giarise one of them in such a way that it may appear as one written by himself. This letter shows that Wdail knew Rasiil YAr Khan and visited him at his home. Wdsil proceeds towards the end to offer voluntary information regarding the activities of the leading noblemen in Hyderabad, an item of news in which Afghani could hardly be interested.

Waail's third letter (date 7 Dhii'l-hijja, 1301/28 September, 1884)82 prays for a long life of "a hundred and twenty years" for Afgbdni, acknowl-

edges the receipt of the first to seventh issues of al-'Urwa, expresses a wish to keep Afgbani's pho- tograph constantly before his eyes and asks for one, expresses puzzlement at receiving copies of al-' Urwa wrapped in a French newspaper, goes on to say that most people in India are afraid of the Journal and think the British "would hang them" if they subscribed to it, and presents an interpretation of Indian history which must have pleased Afghani. Wail says that 1\Iuslims had become contemptuous of their ancestors due to the English education, and due to it Hindus had come to regard Muslims as bloodthirsty tyrants. This had led to communal riots; there might even be Sunni- Shfl riots. Wail goes on to assert that cultured Indian Muslims regard Mr. (W. S.) Blunt "as their god" and believe that he will bring them a new life. The letter ends with the request to publish as an article in al-'Urwa the last passage of the letter, which bemoans the decline and fall from power and grace of Indian Muslims and sees some hope of revival if the NizAm of Hyderabad sets a good example by punctually going to the principal mosque in the city to offer Friday prayers. Needless to say this passage was not published by Afgbdn-1; and here their correspondence seems to end.

From December, 1880 to October, 1881 Afghamn wrote for a whole year without a break in the monthly Mutallim-i Shaftq, Hyderabad, contrib- uting altogether six articles,83 some in two or three instalments; this presupposes that he was in touch with the periodical's editor Muiiibb IIusayn, a conservative reformer and one of the early Indo-Muslim feminists, but opposed to the religious speculation of Sayyid Ahmad Khan. Blunt also mentions his friendship with a ShM'T divine in Hyderabad, Sayyid 'Ali Shustari,84 about whom nothing else is known.

In 1881 Afghan! left Hyderabad for Calcutta by a round about way passing through a number of towns. Malmfid 'Ali Khan, the Urdu translator of his Tatimmat at-baydn ft ta'rikh at-Afghdn, mentions that in that year Afghan! met his father

80 [Plate XIII]. 81 Documents, No. 141, p. 34; [Plates XIV-XV]. 82 Documents, No. 142, p. 34; [Plates XVI-XVII].

83 List in Documents, p. 26. 84 SH, ii, 105-06.




in Kabul where he stayed for four months,85 but this is obviously not correct as a visit to Kabul could not have escaped the notice of Thagi and Dakaiti (C.I.D.) Department, and Lethbridge would have certainly mentioned it. Lethbridge8" and MaImiid 'Ali Khan are, however, in agree- ment that en route to Calcutta Afghamn visited Bhopal, a small Muslim princely state, for a short while. Bhopal's chief minister and Prince Consort in those days was Siddiq Ilasan Khan, the famous theologian and the principal leader of the neo- traditionalist movement of the Ahl-i badlith. In Bhopal Afghani stayed with one Qadd 'Abd al- IHaqq, no information about whom is available. Maimiid 'Ali Khan points out that in Bhopal where the externalist Ahl-i liadith were then all powerful not much notice was taken of Afghan.87 It seems unlikely that Afghamn ever met Siddiq Hasan Khan, whose name is corrupted as "Siddiq Nawwdb Hasan Khan, ruler (malik) of Bhopal"88 in one of his articles, but whom he quotes with approval in regarding Sayyid Ahmad Khan as a latter-day Anti-Christ (dajjal).89

According to Lethbridge Afghan! stayed in Cal- cutta for five months and there he gave some lectures in Persian at the Calcutta Madrasa. Lethbridge also adds: "While here he offered his services to Government but they were declined with thanks."90 Kedourie's conclusion that this was an offer of a political nature, i.e., to act as a

British agent in Egypt,9' is open to criticism. In fact we learn from Sayyid IJusayn's letter to Cordery quoted above that Afghani was teaching in Hyderabad and Lethbridge confirms that he gave lectures at the Calcutta Madrasa and later in Madras; this leads one to conclude that he had quite possibly applied for a teaching job in one of the government colleges in Calcutta but was refused appointment due to his political views.

In 1881-82 when Afghan! visited Calcutta there was a group of moderate modernists there led by Nawwdb 'Abd al-Latif Khan (1828-93) whom Blunt regards as a conservative92 due to his rejection in detail of Sayyid Ahlmad Khan's speculative exegesis; but whose movement, in actual fact, was parallel to the Aligarh movement though only in- directly influenced by it. Actually 'Abd al-Latif Khan's political loyalism93 followed the same pol- icy as Sayyid Ahmad Khan; and the Muham- medan Literary Society founded by him in 1863 was an intellectual meeting-ground for Indo- Muslim intellectuals and British scholars and officers. He may have met Afghamn, as Afghans gave Blunt a letter of introduction to him;94 though Blunt asserts that he never met AfghanI who was 'under Government ban'.95

There are two correspondents of Afghan! from Calcutta catalogued in the Documents: his editor and translator 'Abd al-Ghafiir Shahbdz and his publisher 'Adud al-din. Shahbdz is intellectually the most important of Afghlii's admirers in India, and one who did most to disseminate Afghdni's writings and ideas in that country. A native of Patna ('Azimabad), most of his journalistic life was spent in Calcutta. He edited a number of periodicals including d5idq, Nftr-i baccrat and the better-known Dar al-saltanat which published translations from al-' Urwa al-wuthqa. Shahbaz had also been the Calcutta correspondent of Abu Na;zara;96 and one of his articles was published

85 Athdr, 154. 86 Lethbridge, Memorandum, F.O. 60/594. 87 Cited in Athdr, p. 155. 88 "al-Dahriyyuin fi'l-Hind" in al-'Urwa al-wuthqa,

Cairo, 1957, 385. 8 9Ibid., loc. cit.; the reference is to $iddiq Ijasan

Khan, Iqtirab al-sa'a, second edition Benares, 1322/1904, p. 4. On the doctines of the Ahl-i hadith see Aziz Ahmad, Islamic Modernism in India and Pakistan, London, 1967, pp. 113-22; and John Haywood, "$iddlq Ijasan Khan Bahadur (1248-1308 A.H.)" in Muhammad Enamul Haq (ed.), Muhammad Shahidullah Felicitation Volume, Dacca, 1966, pp. 189-200. In the classical and compre- hensive biography of Siddiq Hasan Khan by his son ('Ali Hlasan Khan, Ma'thir-i Siddiqi, Lucknow, 1342/ 1924) there is no mention of Afghan!.

90 Lethbridge, Memorandum, F.O. 60/594.

91 Kedourie, op. cit., p. 36 and the second footnote on the same page.

92 SH, ii, 134-35; 164-66. 93Ibid., ii, 169. 94 Ibid., ii, 134. 95 Ibid., ii, 136. 96 SH, ii, 167.




in al-'Urwa.97 He enjoyed the patronage of 'Abd al-Latif Khan in 1883,98 but lost it in 1884.99 Most of his life he was an impecunious journalist drifting from periodical to periodical, and living in between on remuneration for translations into Urdu from Arabic or English. The papers he edited seem to have had a limited readership in Eastern India in the Indo-Muslim conservative lower middle class.

The first letter from 'Abd al-Ghafir Shahbdz to Afghamn is dated 8 May, 1884.100 In this case again the initiative had come from Afgbamn who in a letter to 'Adud al-din, dated 11 April, 1884 had asked whether for some reason Shahbdz had been offended or estranged as he had not written to him. Shahbdz denied this, adding that in answer to Afghdni's letter of 22 February, 1884 he had dispatched ten copies of (the Urdu translation of) ffaqzqat-i madhhab-i Nichari, and had not written earlier as he had learnt from Blunt that Afghamn was leaving Paris for elsewhere. One or two pages of the letter are missing. On the last page"'0 he informs Afghamn that he has half completed the versification of his 'Fawd'id-i falsafa', (an essay originally published in the Mutallim-i shaftq, Au- gust, 1881). Shahbaz then mentioned that Blunt had requested him to translate his Whirl and Whirlwind into Urdu verse; informs that he had completed a mathnawi, 'Ishq-i siyasi and requests Afghan! to review it in al-' Urwa, for which he says he had already sent an article.'02 He informs Afghan! of his intention to edit his articles under the title Maqdlat-i Jamdliyyal03 and requests him to write an introduction to the volume as well as supplements to two articles: Asbdb-i haqiqat-i sa'adat wa shifa-i insan and Sharh-i hdl-i Aghiiri- ydn; and if supplements required time, then to send at least the introduction.

Shahbaz's second letter to Afghamn, dated 27

July, 1885104 has been regarded by Iraj Afshar as having been written from Hyderabad as the writer mentions his intention to proceed to Calcutta;'05 but in fact the name of the quarter of the city, Barfa Mutln al-din Chak (the address of the writer) is not in Hyderabad, and indicates the city in question being in north India.

The letter begins with an apology for writing after a long interval due to illness; acknowledges receipt of an issue of Pall Mall Gazette which contained articles by and on Afgban! (bar ahwal-i wala wa afkar-i 'dliya muhtaui bd), and informs that a translation of it was sent to Ashraf al- akhbar which did not publish it for fear of the "white Government"'06 but it was published in the Kiih-i nfr, Lahore, the editor of which claimed to have met Afghdn! in Hyderabad, and was copied in other papers such as Panjab! Akhbar, Lahore, Ddr al-Saltanat, Calcutta, Indian Chron- icle (Urdu edition), Patna and Nufrat al-akhbar, Delhi. Shahbaz then informs Afghdn! that he used to edit Niir-i bas!rat from Calcutta, which was closed down for financial and personal reasons by its editor Ghuldm Hadrat; adds that he was edit- ing a weekly, iidq, which he hoped to develop as a humorous periodical and requests Afghdn! to contribute humorous articles to it. Shahbaz says that he had started work on, but not completed, the versified translation of Blunt's Wind and Whirlwind for which he had chosen the title Maer-ashhb and quotes the first stanza from his Urdu translation.'07 He tells of his intention to translate an article by 'Abduh. The letter has two interesting points in the end. One is a rumor that Sayyid Ah.mad (Kban), the Nichari, may be appointed the Chief Minister of Hyderabad,'08 and

97 "Naptha fi'l-adab", al-'Urwa al-wuthqa, Cairo, 1957, pp. 292-93.

98 'Adud al-din to Afghani; [Plate XXV]. 9 Shahbaz to Afghani; [Plate XXIII]. 100 Documents, No. 113, p. 30; [Plates XVIII-XIX].

[Plate XIX]. 102 Probably the one published; see note 97 above. 10 Published, Calcutta, 1884.

104 Documents, No. 114, p. 31; [Plates XX-XXIIJ]. 105 Documents, p. 31. 106 Or "white devils" (diwan-i safid). One article by

Afghan! was, however, published in Ashraf al-akhbar, Documents, p. 90.

107 This raises the question whether AfghanI had learnt some Urdu. In one context he actually claimed to have read Sayyid Ah. mad Khan's Tafser al-qur'an, (Afghani, "Tafsir-i Mufassir", reprinted in Chahardihi, op. cit., 117-18).

108 In fact there is no evidence that there was any such move.




if so "it was not unlikely that he would be assas- sinated." The letter shows that the charisma of Afghdn!'s personality had its effect on Shahbdz who poses the question why Afghdn! asked him several times during his stay in Calcutta whether he had a spiritual preceptor; and then answers that if he ever chose to become anyone's (Sudfistic) disciple, it would be Afghdni's. The letter ends with a promise of more regular correspondence; if kept these letters have not been traced.

The only letter of Afghdni's Calcutta publisher 'Adud al-din (dated 20 February, 1883/11 Rab!' al-thfqn, 1300)109 shows that Afghani had come to know him and his children well during his stay at Kolotola in Calcutta. 'Adud al-din acknowledges receipt of a letter of 'Arif (Abi! Turab) from Cairo and of a copy of Afghmni's history of Afghdnistan which he says he hopes to get translated into Urdu and published;"0 and informs Afghdn! that his articles in al-Nahla and al-Ittihad al-'Arabi had been translated and published. The most piquant point of 'Adud al-din's letter is his report of a rumor circulated by the "Mughals" (4adardt-i Mughliyya) of Calcutta that Afghani's visit there "was not merely for sightseeing", but that he had been deputed by (political) "gentlemen" (4adarat) of Europe to find out the conditions and ideas of the Muslims of India and Bengal. 'Adud al-din himself regarded these rumors as slander and fabrication, and was further convinced of their falsehood when he read his (anti-imperialist) articles in al-Nahla which he intended to get translated and published in Urdu periodicals to dispel the rumors. This is the first unmistakable evidence from a purely Indo-Muslim source that as early as the beginning of 1883 Afghdni's bona fides was suspect in the eyes of some people in India. "AMughals" of Calcutta may, in all probability, refer to 'Abd al-Latif Khan and his group. It may be recalled that (a few months later) Sayyid ljusayn suspected "ciphers" in the al-'Urwa al- wuthqa. 'Adud al-din also asks Afghdni whether the Egyptian government had released his library

which it had earlier confiscated, and restored to him the pension he formerly used to get.

Two letters from admirers Afghamn never met in India are catalogued in the Documents. One of these is from Nusrat 'Ali Khan,"' author, publisher and editor of Nu~rat al-akhbdr, Delhi. They had in common a stand of polemical opposition to Sayyid Ah. mad Khan. Nugrat 'Ali Khan sent him with the letter a copy of his own Tanq!4 al-bayan ft radd Tafssr al-Qur'an ii Sayyid Ahmad al-Dahri, and another work, Chihal zaban, a grammar of English and Urdu. The other letter showing some contact with Afghdni's friends in Calcutta and acknowledging receipt of al-'Urwa al-wuthqq is in Arabic, written by one 'Abd-Alldh from the French enclave of Chandannagar in Bengal.112

There is conflicting evidence regarding the date of Afghdni's departure from Calcutta, indeed, finally from India for Europe, presumably via Cairo."3 It is difficult to accept at its face value the date 8 November, 1883 (7 Mulharram, 1301) given by Shahbdz for a lecture he gave on education at the Albert Hall, Calcutta;1"4 this date has been accepted and copied by Iraj Afshar.1"5 Qqdi 'Abd al-Ghaffar also mentions that Afghamn left Cal- cutta towards the end of 1883. Other evidence is conclusively to the contrary. 'Adud al-din's letter written from Calcutta to Paris on 20 February, 1883/11 Rab!' al-thmni, 1300 shows that not only had Afghqn! left Calcutta for Europe sometime ago but that in the meantime a letter and a parcel had been received from Afghdn!'s servant 'Arif who accompanied him, sent presumably en route from Egypt. This presupposes the lapse of a few months between Afgbdni's departure and the date of 'Adud al-din's letter. Also the letter of Rasfil Yar Khan from Hyderabad dated Rab!' al-thmni, 1300/February, 1883 addressed to Afghanm c/o Sib-nji in London was in answer to Afghani's letter presumably received from abroad. It seems

109 Documents, No. 101, p. 29; [Plates XXIV-XXVII] 110 The translation was actually made and published

much later by Mah miud ,Ali Khan.

111 Text in Documents, p. 69; the letter bears a post- mark of Bombay with the date 24 June, 1884.

112 Documents, p. 62. 113 In view of 'Arif's letter to 'Adud al-din mentioned

above. 114 Reprinted in Maqadlt-i Jamaliyya, Calcutta, 1884. "I Documents, pp. 27, 157.



AHMAD: Afghdani's Indian Contacts 489

therefore that the date 8 November, 1883 given by Shahbdz for his Albert Hall lecture in Calcutta is a misprint for the same date in 1882. According to Lethbridge Afghmn! was expounding his religious views in Madras in September, 1882 and sailed from Calcutta in November, 1882 by S.S. India; and was in Paris in February, 1883.116 This is sound chronology. It is hardly possible that Afghan! could have returned to Calcutta from Paris to give his lecture in November, 1883 and then gone back again.

Another admirer of Afghani in Calcutta mentioned by Blunt is a Muhlammad Satld who was a moderate reformist."7 Blunt also asserts that the "moderate" Muslim students of Calcutta pro- fessed "something like worship" for Afghani.L"8 Another unidentified admirer mentioned is Mu- (1bammad) 'Ali Haydar."19

The letters to Afghani from his Indian friends which we have examined remain the most tangible material for the assessment of his direct impact on Muslim India. It will be noted that all this correspondence is confined to the years 1883 and 1884, also brought into relief by Blunt's visit to India during these years, who met these friends and revived Afghdni's memories. This was also the period when al-' Urwa al-wuthqa reached these friends and made varying impact on different in- dividuals. In almost all principal cases the initiative in correspondence was Afghdni's. Unless any new documents are discovered, it can be suggested that by 1885 contact between Afghdn! and his Indian admirers had begun to fade. For political reasons any correspondence between Afghdn! and his Indo-Muslim admirers during his Russian years (1886-89) seems highly improbable. There is no evidence to assume that it was resumed on his return from Russia to Iran and during his stay in Turkey until his death in 1897.

There is also no evidence of any significant

contacts of Afghdni with non-Muslims during his visits to India. The compliments he paid to the glories of Vedic civilization in his Albert Hall lecture'20 in 1882 are in the classical Islamic scholarly tradition of al-Birfin!2' and al-Jhizi1;'22 it will be an anachronism to read in them a message of "composite" Hindu-Muslim nationalism'23 which was non-existent at that stage when the Indian National Congress was yet to be born.

It was not until he went to Russia that he worked in close co-operation with the deposed Sikh Maharaja of the Punjab, Dalip Singh and under the inspiration of Katkov they issued anti- British manifestos under the imprint of the "Exec- utive of the Indian Liberation Society'".24 Evi- dence relating to their relationship and relative influence in Russia is conflicting. According to the Turkish ambassador to Moscow, Shakir Pdshd who had Afghdn! closely watched in Russia, his prestige diminished after the death of Katkov, and no Russian official took much notice of him except Pobedonostzov, the Proctor of the Holy Synod.'25 Lethbridge on the other hand asserts that Afghqn! made a "very good" impression in Russian society and soon overshadowed Dalip Singh. This led to an estrangement between them. Afghmn! then, "showed up Dalip Singh in his true colours" and informed M. de Giers that the deposed Maharaja had absolutely no following in India.'26

Afghani's exact relationship with Russia does not concern us here. Prima facie, Keddie's sugges-

116 Lethbridge, Memorandum, F.O. 60/594. 117 SH, ii, 141. 118 SH, ii, 150, 161; Blunt, India under Ripon, London,

1909, p. 112. 119 S. H. Taghizade (attributed to), "Le Panislamisme

et le Panturquisme", Revue du Monde musulman, 22 (1913), 179-220, at p. 188.

120 Also reprinted in the Iran edition of Maqaldt-i Jamdliyya, Teheran, n.d., pp. 88-96.

121 Abua Rayhan al-Biriani, Tahqiq ma li'l-Hind, Eng. tr. E. Sachau (Alberuni's India), London, 1910.

122 al-Jahii, "Fakhr al-siadan 'ala al-bidan" in Rasa'il, Cairo, 1906.

123 As suggested by QadI 'Abd al-Ghaffar, Athar, 147; he, however, dismisses the account of Afghani's contact with Bengali Hindu terrorists in Calcutta as improbable and unverified. (Athar, 128).

124 India Office, Political and Secret Department. Memorandum D83, Affairs of Maharajah Duleep Singh, 31 December, 1888.

125 Morier's Despatch from St. Petersburg, 27 August, 1887, F.O. 60/594.

126 Lethbridge,!Memorandum, F.O. 60/594.




tion and Kedourie's assertion127 that Afghdn! was a Russian agent is highly conjectural. Political leaders work in close co-operation with the enemies of their enemies. Gandhi worked in co-operation with the British during the First World War, while during the Second World War he was ac- tively sympathetic to the Japanese; and the Con- gress leader Subhash Chandra Bose actually cre- ated an Indian Liberation Army in Burma with the help of the Japanese. No one doubts their idealism or patriotism. Similarly we have no reason to doubt Afghdni's idealism, until more tangible proof to the contrary is available.

One is, however, puzzled that while Afghdn! was so hostile to British imperialism in India, Egypt and Sudan, he was hardly ever critical of Russian imperialism at the expense of the Muslim popula- tions of Central Asia and Caucasia. As for his frequent assertions, and his assurances to the Russians that Indian Muslims placed their sole reliance on Russia to free them from the British yoke,128 they were far removed from actual facts. The files of Urdu newspapers of the 1870s and 1880s show no trace of any such political views or any sympathy for Russia. Indo-Muslim public opinion was crystallised against Russia during the Crimean War (1853-56) and this trend reached its peak during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. By 1887 political loyalism had made considerable headway in relation to the British among the Muslim intelligentsia as a reaction to the Indian National Congress.

It can be said that until the end of the 1880s Afghmni's impact on Muslim India was limited. Only two prominent journalists, Shahbdz and Nugrat 'Ali Khan, admired him, of whom the first publicised his work. The fact that Ijaqfqat-i madhhab-i Nichar! was published twice in Persian and once in Urdu translation during 1883-84 shows more a trend of religious rejection of Sayyid Ahmad Khan's radical reformist views than acceptance of any positive message or credo of Afghmni. Mutallim-i shaftq of Hyderabad, in which

most of Afghn!'s reformist and religious articles were published, had a limited circulation of only local significance. There is no indication what impact, if any, these articles made when assembled and reprinted by Shahbdz in Maqalat-i Jamdliyya. I have not been able to trace any reference to the book or to its author in such Urdu press files of the 1880s and 1890s as I could get hold of. It is also remarkable that whereas Sayyid Ahmad Khan and some of his associates, especially Chirdgh 'ARi and IHah, take note of his religious adversaries, they nowhere make any mention of AfgbAni; which means his polemics neither attracted the attention of, nor irritated Sayyid Ahmad Khan's close friends sufficiently.

When and how, then, did the Afghani legend develop in India? We find its rudiments in the devotion of Shahbqz. But its first recorded appearance occurs suddenly and unexpectedly in the early 1890s in Shibli Nutmln! (1857-1914), theologian and historian, who had been closely associated with Sayyid Ahmad Khan's educational, but not his religious and political movement. Shibl! met 'Abduh in Cairo in 1893 and says of him: "He is a scholar of the old school, recognised as a master in Egypt and Syria.... He combines intellectual brightness with a familiarity with modern trends which is due to the influence of Sayyid JamMl al-din Afghdni."'19 Abu'l Kalam Azad (1888-1958) is the first Indian scholar and political leader in India to be directly under the influence of the writings of Afgbdn! and 'Abduh.'30 IqbMl chose Afghqni as his mouthpiece in outlining the ideal "Qur'dnic" state.'3' This was intensification of the legend; but Iqbdl seems to have been quite familiar with Afghdni's Arabic and Persian writings; and he saw in Afghdn! the only religious reformer of modern time who had the capacity of rethinking the whole system of Islam without breaking with the past, if only his "indefatigable but divided energy" could have devoted itself

127 Keddie, "Afghani in Afghanistan", MES, 1/4 (1965), p. 338; Kedourie, op. cit., passim.

128 Despatch from Morier, St. Petersburg to London, 20 July, 1887, no. 253, Secret, in F.O. 60/594.

129Shibli Nu'mani, Safarnama-i Miqr-u Sham, Agra, 1894, p. 16.

130 "Sayyid Mahm-ad's Contribution" in Humayun Kabir (ed.), Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, A Memorial Volume, Bombay, 1959.

131 Iqbal, Jawid Nama, Lahore n.d., pp. 65-92.



AHMAD: Afghdni's Indian Contacts 491

exclusively to religious thought.132 This view of Iqbdl has not formed an integral part of the Afghan! legend which continues to idolize him as a political idealist.

APPENDIX

List and identification of plates of the correspondence of Afghani's Indian contacts addressed to him, being published here for the first time, wvith the catalogue numbers given to them in Part I of Afshar et Mahdavi, Documents. Plates I-V. Documents no. 108. Ras-(l Ydr Khdnto

Afghan! written towards the end of Rabf' al-thdn!, 1300/M\larch, 1883.

Plates VI-IX. Documents no. 109. Rasfil Ydr Khdn to Afghbni, dated 22 Ramaddn, 1301/16 July, 1884.

Plates X-XI. Documents no. 110. Rasfil Ydr Khan

to Afghan! dated 24 Dhta-qa'da, 1301/15 September, 1884.

Plates XII-XIII. Documents no. 140. \Iaawlaw! i\tuiammad Wasil to Afghan! dated 10 Ra- jab, 1301/9 May, 1884. Plate XIII consists of the list of subscribers to al-' Urwa al-wuthqa made by Wdsil.

Plates XIV-XV. Documents no. 141. Wasil to Afghan! dated 18 Rajab, 1301/14 MIay, 1884.

Plates XVI-XVIJ. Documents no. 142. Wdsil to Afghan! dated 7 Dhfi'l-hijja, 1301/28 Septem- ber, 1884.

Plates XVIII-XIX. Documents no. 113. 'Abd al- Ghafuar Shahbdz to AfghbnI dated 8 M\ay, 1884.

Plates XX-XXIII. Documents no. 114. Shahbdz to AfghanI, dated 27 July, 1885.

Plates XXIV-XXVII. Documents no. 101. 'Adud al-din to Afghdn! dated 20 February, 1883/11 Rabr al-thdni, 1300.

132 Iqbdl, Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, London 1934, p. 92.



492 Journal of the American Oriental Society, 89.3 (19G9)

AIA P\~j e

IN alljj ~ ! It~~~~~~~~~?

N FA ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ -

ON

ON

* <~~.; * K~~~~ Y~~). ~~~ .~~~ \~~. *q\)~ON

U' A~~~~~~~~~~' ~~2 *~ *, ~ a

y~~~~~~~k A -3)ll

~ ~~~~~~ .V ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~i



AHMA D: Afghdtnis Indian Contacts 493

~~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~ 23 ~ - 5

15~~~~~~~~

'Ilk ~ ~ ~ ~

.-~~~~~~~~~~~I N eSll

~~~ ~~~~* -~~~~~~~ 1'~~~i

~~~~~~~~~~~A

-~~ '-~~~ 'k~~~k:2~~~&~'>

WI *t

$ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I-~~~~~~~~~~~~~0

-JO -N

~ ) \X?' v



494 Jourrnal of the American Oriental Society, 89.3 (1969)

N

IN

) ~~~~7



AHMA D: Afgh6nm's Indian Contacts 495

A~~~~~~~~~~~~

A '\.; 7. i

ON ~ *

IN N~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~(\ *~~~~~~~' ~~~~~~~~~'#\ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Z

> *~~~~~~*~~~2 ~~~~~ \' ~~~~~"

,Abu ~r 'z

'k~~~~~ 4~~~~'~~~S~~~ ~~~'~~~' l

j ~ ~ *~~ ~~ A

,,Z,



496 Journal of the American Oriental Society, 89.3 (190G9)

NN

N

'7%' V~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Z -~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~o

71~~~1 dTNj-

~~~~~~, . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ V~~~~~~~k

~~~~~ -'>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ \' S~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~b



AHMAD: Afghian i's Indian Contacts49

X~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~&.~ ~ ~ ~~~~N N~

4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'X

4~~~~1I

9z~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A4J~~~~J lz~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



498 Journal of the Amierican Oriental Society, 89.3 (1969)

\\.

4%,~ ~~j

~~~N ~~~~~~~\~N



AHMAD: Afghanti's Indian Contacts 499

~~~~~~~~ -

.V:



500 Journal of the American Oriental Society, 8.9.3 (l9G9)

91 C4~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~r al

N .)

( ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~0 i5

~~~~~tS(%4~~~~ag

NI(SI )N

- C

C,~~~~~~~~

- H~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I ~~~ ~~~~~

~~~~7

.~~~~~~~~~~' Al~ ~ ~ ~ d.)cNs

-N , e ~ -~-' I

J ~~~~~~~~ v~~~7 -a' C'.. r~~~

N\ ~ ~~ N



AHMAD: Afgdani's Indian Contacts 501

714W~~~~k

..... ,A -- .

. A~~~~~~~~~~~~.

;4,

'.'~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~

~~~' ..: .l8

.dSE Xl i i1 d1 !i!tXi0 l t :ft0ft000i

0.04;

R;0t ;t

tEC: ~ ~ ~ ~* .fl . ; 0. 0i ..:...00i.t0j;lttjt~ ~ ~t;0000i~E0000:00000000-t!ti tt 4 tt t



502

Journal of the American Oriental Society, 89.3 (1969)

- (7T7

\1

' :

V.

. N .

&qv .. A ... *q

u jw. ;

*

X...E\ &..

N

\ N N

. \. .. - 4'.

v, x.

*1

4

\

IL ........



AHMAD: Afghant's Indian Contacts 503

_ _ " S An . ,~~A .|. A_ at <~~~~




_ .-.'

"N ~ -

Z'

b~~~~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ o

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

% iA x A *"

,,

a>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~h il AN

-> _1 .'3 - - _i

Ar. N~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~J -s

~~~~~~~~ -~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~s - *~

\ a4.Nk. \ - - -

%Q ~ ~ ,

vK

