Name Nawab Khan | ||
Nawab Moosa Khan of Aligarh was the founding secretary of the All India Muslim League in 1906.
Khan, who laid the foundation for the formation of the All India Muslim League there years before it was formally launched at Dacca, was born at Mecca in 1872. His father, Nawab Faiz Ahmjed Khan had migrated to Mecca after the British occupation of India.
Khan came to India when he was 6 years old and could hardly speak Urdu. He was appointed one of the Trustees of the M.A.O. College at the age of 19.
Khan started taking part in Indian politics and movements for independence. His father’s associations with the Ottoman Empire and the miserable after-effects of the wars of the Balkans and Turkey, were fresh in his mind. This, along with his personal friendship with Moulana Mohammad Ali Johar, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Doctor Ansari soon attracted him towards Khilafat Movement. He was first elected the President of the U.P. Khilafat Committee and then Secretary of the Central Khilafat and Motial Nehru and the joined the Indian National Congress, where he was soon elevated to its High Command.
Khan’s residence “Musharraf Manzil” at Aligarh became the centre of Indian politics, remaining the headquarters of freedom fighters for quite a long time, where political leaders of India and the elite such as Ali Brothers, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Dr. Ansari, the Agha Khan, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Motilal Nehru, Sir Ali Imam, Justice Amir Ali, Ubaidullah Sindhi, Nawab Ismail Khan, Sir Umar Hayat Tivana, Raja Mahmoodabad, Sir Raza Ali and many others used to gather and stay.
Khan was among the first Muslim politician who, as early as in 1902, sensed the Hindu mentality and perceived the Anti-Muslim game of the Congress High Command and decided to dissociate himself from that party.
In 1902, after his resignation from the Congress, Khan called a meeting of eminent Muslim Leaders to discuss “Urdu-Hindi Controversy” at Lucknow. Thereafter, he travelled throughout the country in order to observe the helpless conditions of the Muslim masses and also to assess and ascertain the potential of a separate Muslim political Party in India. After his study-tour, he called an initial meeting on 25 July 1930 to discuss the formation of a separate Muslim Political Party in which Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk, Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk, Sahibzadaaftab Ahmed Khan and Shaikh Mohammad Abdullah participated.
Khan called a grand assembly of the Muslim elders, eminent scholars and known politicians at Aligarh that became a cornerstone for the establishment of a separate Muslim political party on modern lines in India
. He was elected Secretary of the All India Muslim League and the Central Office of the League was established in his residence “Musharraf Manzil” Aligarh.
The first public meeting of the All India Muslim League was also called and organized by Khan in 1908 at Amritsar. It was at the initiative of the Khan that a joint meeting of the Muslim League and the Congress was held at Lucknow in 1917, which resulted in the well known “Lucknow Pact” it was also at the behest of Khan that a branch of the All India Muslim League was established in Sind, at a time when it was still included in the Bombay Presidency; and it was the NawabSaheb who proposed and got the Sind Muslim League affiliated with the All India Muslim League at its Council meeting held on 18 July, 1920. It was, however, after 15 years hence that, in 1935, the province of Sind was created out of the Bombay Presidency.
In 1933, Khan had an attack of Parkinson's disease. The disease gradually restricted his powers of movement and speech to an extent that he had to limit his political activities. He gradually become invalid and decided in 1938 to retire from politics altogether. Remaining completely disabled for many years, he died in March, 1944 at Aligarh.
Khan was also a scholar and wrote as many as 11 books on Seerat-un-Nabi, Khilafat, politics and education. The “Institute Gazette” of the M.A.O. College and University was also published under his guidance and patronage.