Allama Mashraqi has been a reknowned personality - the only change was that
at present it went obscure because of the pygmies ruling us with their
novice brains and that too with irrelevant passion. Allama Mashriqi was a
misfit - a Mohammad Tughliq of his times and a friend of my uncle Dr A Rauf
Malick who had chosen the free nation - and a proud one at that - Germany -
and stayed there even during the WWII, till he was sent to Siberia after
the fall. He used to broadcast news for India from Radio Berlin. And as I
had learnt from my Father he spoke very high of Allama Sahib. May ALLAH
bless the souls of both of them who had the requisite Ghairat - a rare trait
now adays.
On 18 March 2011 11:31, Asghar Ali <asghar.ali@tetleyclover.com.pk wrote:
By Majid Sheikh
The first time I heard of the ' Khaksars ' was from my neighbour Haji Abdur
Rehman, a gentleman of the type they do not make any more. As a teenager I
experienced my first sight of them after Eid prayers at the Badshahi
Mosque.
My father whispered in my ear: "He was a friend of Hitler". The awe of
Mashriqi had set in.
Just last week, my friend Syed Sikander Shah lamented the fact that
Pakistan
is probably the only country that loves to forget its heroes. He mentioned
Mashriqi, and being a true Icchra (Lahore downtown) dweller he subtly
pushed forward the
proposition that Mashriqi had a beautiful car presented to him by Adolf
Hitler. That was bait enough for me to set off on a hunt for the gift from
Adolf Hitler. On Thursday evening I walked through the narrow streets
towards Zaildar Road .
Just before the main crossing, among the hundreds of vendors, is a cemented
house with a red flag. A forbidding grey iron door awaits. I pushed open
the
small gate and before me, just as in a showcase, stood a rust battered car.
There is no doubt about its vintage, for it is of the very highest order. I
had managed to reach the car that the Fuhrer had presented to "a mind of
the
very highest calibre, a man whose integrity can lead India to great glory".
Just next to the old decaying masterpiece is the grave of Allama
Inayatullah
Khan Mashriqi and his wife. It is simplicity itself. His grandson is
constructing a research library over the grave. Work stopped long ago, for
money is scarce among these exceptionally honest followers of the great
Allama, and they are not given to asking ... begging they call it. It is a
desolate place. It makes one think about how we honour our greatest minds.
The car is a 1942 model Renault-Benz. For those not interested in vintage
cars, let me inform that when the Nazi forces took over France , they
manufactured a limited number of high quality Pullman versions of the
Mercedes Benz. As they were made in the Renault factory, the car was named
a
Renault Benz. On the decaying front the name Renault is boldly written. The
tyres, now decayed, are on old spoke wheels. There is a starting handle
very
much in place just below the front grill.
I climbed into the driving seat, those beautiful leather seats had decayed,
and below the seat the chassis is very much intact. The chassis number is
381967. I shot off an email to the Renault company and promptly got a reply
that the car chassis number, according to their archives, was a gift given
by Adolf Hitler to Mr Inayatullah Khan Mushriqi of Lahore , India . It was
one
of only 1,000 produced in the world, and was a Pullman six-seater class of
the Renault Nervasport. It was a 4278cc-powered super luxury version.
The original paint was cream on the engine and sides, and black on the
wheel
covers, front lights and back. The present condition is such, that rust has
eaten into the entire paintwork. Adolf Hitler himself had six of them, and
he presented over 150 of them to honoured guests from all over the world.
He
even presented Field Marshal Rommel with one after his triumphal return
from
the African campaign in the Second World War.
The company had offered US$100,000 to the Mashriqi family for the car, but
they refused as ownership was disputed. That was way back in the 1970s.
Since then a new generation has come forth, and there seems little interest
in this million dollar vintage car. Locals report that till recently it was
in a garage with "pigeons living in it". It had become a reflection of our
times.
Just who exactly was Allama Mashriqi? I rang up five middle-aged "educated"
persons, and only one of them had a faint clue about the great man. The man
labelled as "the great test brain of British India" belonged to Lahore ,
and
yet Lahore does not know, or own, him. In case you label him with Hitler,
let me inform you that Cambridge University and the British newspapers of
the 1930s called him a "genius of untold possibilities".
The fact is that he was a liberal scientific person who expounded the
theory
that the "cultural ethos and history of India is such, that the people
behave exactly in direct proportion to the behaviour of their leaders. To
imagine that the people do not know what their leaders are up to is a gross
fallacy. They get to know every detail".
Allama Mashriqi was born in a wealthy family of goldsmiths on August 25,
1888, in Amritsar and died on August 27, 1963 in Lahore . A brilliant
student, he set new academic records that stunned everybody in Britain and
the sub-continent. He completed his masters ' degree in mathematics in one
year at the age of 19. He joined the Cambridge University and completed his
Tripose barely in four years.
Though he passed all subjects with distinction, his real fame were his
ability in mathematics. Due to his academic achievements, he earned a
"Foundation Scholar" and "Wrangler" from Cambridge University . The Times
of
London and The Daily Telegraph wrote editorials on "this brilliant
mathematician from Lahore ".
After completing his education at the age of 24, he came back to India and
served on different government positions under British rule. Keeping in
view
his personality, it was not a surprise even for British officials when he
slapped the then British deputy commissioner, Peshawar , for using
slanderous
and abusive language.
He even did not shut his mouth as a "government official" on the massacre
of
Pathans in the Kissa Khani Bazaar, Peshawar , on April 23, 1930, and
revealed
the truth of mishandling the situation by writing in British papers about
the reality of the situation. These columns shocked the British public.
When
Punjabi leaders criticized him for his views, he wrote: "The British
government has hired my knowledge for the salary and not my heart or
conscience". It was in this context that he refused kinghthood.
In 1931, Allama Mashriqi founded the Khaksar Tehrik (Movement of Humbles)
and abandoned the luxurious life that he was used to. The ideology of his
party was based on egalitarianism. There was no status quo and no wall
between the privileged and the unprivileged. Allama Mashriqi was among
those
people who accepted the hard fact that " Pakistan would face immense racial
and provincial prejudices because of the supremacy of feudalism and
class-based bureaucracy". "The end result of this equation is total and
complete disintegration. If they are removed, the end result will be
prosperity of untold proportions.
The choice is stark". The mathematician instinct wrote in 1953: "East
Pakistan , by my calculations, will declare its independence in 1970". He
did
not live to see that day. He also warned not to take the Kashmir issue to
the UN, because we would never be able to liberate it from India . "Accept
this fact now and you will be better off. It must remain a Pakistani
province, and we must struggle to regain portions of our lost province, or
one day we will accept the partition of Kashmir like we accepted the
partition of the Punjab ".
Need one say more about this remarkable Lahori who lived in a small,
obscure
lane in Icchra. Years later his nephew, the great Akhtar Hameed Khan set up
the Orangi Project. The ideas of the great man were at work. The results
were astounding. That Adolf Hitler presented him with the very best car did
not come as a surprise to the British. The condition of that very rare car
today is for all to see. It is about time that it was taken over by the
State, restored and exhibited in a science museum. I can already hear a
Loud silence.
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