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One of the great Islamic scholars of our time who made his name in the early years of the last century was Maulvi Muhammad Ibrahim Sialkoti, a forebear, incidentally, of Professor Sajid Mir, the religious politician. He died nine years after independence, in 1956. If you grew up in Sialkot, it is impossible not to be aware of Maulvi Ibrahim. He is still remembered and revered, and one of the best-known mosques in the city is named after him.

I never thought I would make a connection with the great Islamic scholar in Washington, but the internet has shrunk the world in a way that can only be called miraculous. Some months ago, while gallivanting in cyberspace, my path crossed that of Dr Pervez Mir of New York who turned out to have a Sialkot connection. It transpired that he knew A Jalil Mir, a grandson of Maulvi Ibrahim, who, at his urging in 1992, had recorded his memories of old Sialkot in a 12 page handwritten note.

Those twelve pages recreate a world that is long vanished. Jalil Mir, who retired as postmaster general, writes about Sialkot’s antiquity, pointing out that the Aik Nullah that flows through the city is mentioned in the Upanishads. Sialkoti paper, also known as Man Singhi paper was famous all over the world. Papermaking here dates back to Emperor Akbar’s time and it was Raja Man Singh who, as governor of Kabul initiated the industry. The great saint of Sialkot, Imam Ali-ul-Haq, whom everyone calls Imam Sahib, lived in the 13th century, during the reign of Feroze Shah Tughlaq. Another renowned scholar produced by the city was Mullah Abdul Hakim, known in the Middle East as Fazil Lahori. Shah Jehan had him weighed in gold once and in silver twice. He is buried in Sialkot near the old Bijli Ghar.

Jalil Mir writes that around the middle of the 19th century Maulvi Ibrahim became a student of Maulvi Ghulam Hasan (whose grandson the late Munir Farooqi was a Lahore high court judge). Once Maulvi Mir Hasan, Iqbal’s teacher, came to Maulvi Ghulam Hasan’s mosque with his student to offer prayers, and Iqbal picked up Maulvi Mir Hasan’s shoes as a mark of respect. Maulvi Mir Hasan held Iqbal’s hand and told him, “If you must pick up anyone’s shoes, let those be Maulvi Ghulam Hasan’s, not mine.” Maulvi Mir Hasan was a great admirer of Sir Syed and would travel to Aligarh during vacations to see him.

Jalil Mir, however, finds the role of the people of Sialkot during 1857 “feeble-witted” because after joining the mutineers, they invited the local British commander to become their king. Mirza Ghulam Ahmed used to work at the Sialkot district courts. In Adda Pasrurian there used to be a buggy stand in front of the Lady Anderson Girls High School where he was often to be found counselling those who came to see him. A small mosque close to Allama Iqbal’s house became the first Ahmediyya mosque in the city. It was named after Hakim Mir Hisamuddin, first cousin of Maulvi Mir Hasan, who became a convert. In one of the side streets lived Mirza Ghulam Ahmed himself. The house next to the mosque was that of Maulvi Mir Hasan. The house preserved after Pakistan as Iqbal’s birthplace is not his, but that of his brother Babu Ata Mohammad, who became an Ahmedi. His son Sheikh Ijaz Ahmed retired as a joint secretary in the early years of Pakistan.

Maulana Obaidullah Sindhi, who was born a Sikh, was from Sialkot. He set up a “Hindustan Republic Government” in Afghanistan during World War I with Raja Mohinder Pratab as president and himself as prime minister. He knew Lenin and Trotsky personally and had lived in Turkey. Another Sialkoti who gained fame in those years was Dr Mohammad Iqbal Bhutta, a student of Maulvi Ibrahim. He exiled himself to Kabul and from there went to Russia, Turkey, Germany and Italy. It was on his account that Maulvi Ibrahim spent time in jail during World War Two and later remained under house arrest. Dr Bhutta, known as Dr Iqbal Shaidai, broadcast Axis propaganda from Rome. He then moved to Germany, but returned home after the Partition and lived with his nephew near the Lahore railway station. He was fluent in French, Italian and German and wrote in all three. He married abroad and one of his daughters was still living in Lyon in 1990, according to Jalil Mir.

Faiz Ahmed Faiz was a student of Maulvi Ibrahim. Sir Fazle Hussain started his legal practice from Sialkot, as did Sir Zafrulla Khan who came from Daska. Sir Fazle was one of the founders of the Anjuman-i-Islamia which is still active and runs several schools and orphanages. One of the most famous sons of Sialkot was Agha Mouhammad Safdar who lived in Adda Shahbaz Khan and was a member of the All Indian Khilafat Committee and a Congress leader.

The biggest name in the sports industry, Jalil Mir recounts, was that of Sardar Ganda Singh of Oberoi Sports. His brilliant deputy, Khawaja Hakim Din, ran the factory, whose entire workforce was Muslim. Sardar Ganda Singh would preside over one of the annual sessions of the Anjuman and also contribute to its funds.

According to Jalil Mir, the essential temperament of Sialkot is opposition to the government of the day. In 1931, Sialkot was the centre of the movement raging in Kashmir against the maharaja. The city was actively involved in the Khilafat agitation and became the base of the Ahrar. When the Pakistan movement gathered steam, Sialkot swung to its side and the Ahrar was routed. The city also rallied behind Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1970, but some years later wiped out the Pakistan People’s Party. Because of this volatility, the city hasn’t flourished, writes Jalil Mir. Because of Kashmir Sialkot has become a border town and although it earns Pakistan much foreign exchange, the city remains dirty and undeveloped.

Another great son was Khawaja Abdul Hamid Irfani, son-in-law of Iqbal’s elder brother Ata Muhammad. He it was who introduced Iqbal to Iran. The Indian politician Gulzari Lal Nanda also came from Sialkot. Another figure was the eminent philosopher Prof William Lilly of Murray College, who spent most of his working life there. His book on ethics remains a classic. Prof Lilly and Iqbal used to act as examiners in philosophy for Punjab University. “Iqbal was very strict when marking papers,” according to Prof Lilly. Jalil Mir also recalls that Indian journalist Kuldip Nayyar is the son of Dr Gurbakhsh Singh, LSMF, a “mona” Sikh from Sialkot, who ran his clinic from the city’s Trunk Bazar.

Sadly, Jalil Mir died in 2000, but had he been alive, in him we would have had a man who could bring back to us the history that we have forgotten. It has been said that those who do not remember their past, should not hope to have a future.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 20th, 2004 at 12:04 pm .