Pakistan's naming father: Who is Choudhry Rahmat Ali?

Rahmet Ali, the father of the name of Pakistan, the ardent defender who spent a lifetime with his dream, is the Prophet in the history of Islam. He was inspired by Muhammad's success in uniting the various Arab tribes in the early period of Islam.

When we think of Pakistan's independence process, the first names that come to mind are; Islamic poet Mohammed Iqbal, who put forward the theory of two nations, and Kaid-i Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the first leader of independent Pakistan. However, before these two names, the first defender of the establishment of the State of Pakistan was the Muslim nationalist Rahmet Ali. Rahmet Ali is known as the first person to come up with the idea of establishing a separate Muslim state at the time when the independence discussions in British India began.

Chaudhry Rahmat Ali (November 1897 – 3 February 1951) was a Pakistani nationalist who was one of the earliest proponents of the creation of the state of Pakistan. He is credited with creating the name "Pakistan" for a separate Muslim homeland in South Asia and is generally known as the originator of the Pakistan Movement.

Ali was born in November 1895 in Punjab, India. Since childhood, Rahmet Ali showed great promise as a student. After completing his primary education, he entered Lahore Islamic College in 1918 and later enrolled at Punjab University to study law. He then moved to Cambridge, England, to enter Emmanuel College in 1930. He earned his bachelor's degree in 1933 and completed his master's degree at Cambridge University in 1940. Rahmet Ali finished his education in England and graduated with honors from Cambridge and Dublin universities.

He founded the Pakistani National Movement in England in 1946. He continued to publish several pamphlets on his vision for South Asia until 1947. Ali was passionately committed to the establishment of separate Muslim homelands for the Muslims of South Asia and believed that the Muslims of India needed political reform to establish an independent state in which they could live freely.

He believed that Indian Muslims against Hindus should be united and united along the same lines. Rahmet Ali was deeply influenced by the philosophy of Allama Muhammed Iqbal. Ali's ideas, on the other hand, contributed significantly to the founding of Pakistan for Muhammad Iqbal and other Muslim leaders.

Famous for his Ottoman fez, Rahmet Ali was the first to coin the name "Pakistan" for Indian Muslims in South Asia and is known as the founding leader of the Pakistani National Movement. His unforgettable manifesto, written on 28 January 1933: “Now or Never; Will we live forever or will we perish?” It is the text where the word Pakistan is used for the first time. Rahmet Ali explains why Pakistan should be born as a separate nation.

In his famous 1933 manifesto, also known as the "Pakistan Declaration" in history, he wrote: "...At this important turning point in the history of India, we appeal to you on behalf of our common heritage, on behalf of thirty million Muslims: brothers living in Pakistan - that means India' Five Northern units of the...: Punjab, North-West Frontier Region (Afghan Region), Kashmir, Sindh, and Balochistan.

The name that Rahmet Ali discovered was welcomed by everyone. "Pakistan" literally meant "clean country". At the same time, each letter in the name Pakistan represented a province of the country, like a code. The letter 'P' in the name 'PAKISTAN' denotes the Punjab state, 'A' the Afghan Region, 'K' the Kashmir state, 'I' the religion of Islam (also the Indus River, which is the lifeblood of the country), the letter 'S' The '-tan' suffix symbolizes the province of Sind and the province of Balochistan. So Pakistan is the abbreviation of all these names:

“Punjab + Afghan + Kashmir + Islam + Sind + Balochistan = PAKISTAN”.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who made a note of his name in the pages of history as the father of Pakistan, went to a university student's house at a meeting in England in 1933. He is offered to lead the political struggle to establish an independent state called Pakistan, representing Indian Muslims. However, Jinnah rejects this offer, saying, "Your Pakistan is an impossible dream." The person who made an offer to the host student, Ali Cinnah, is Rahmet Ali.

Jinnah, whom Rahmet Ali wanted to see as a leader, was recommending a union between Hindus and Muslims at that time. About four years later - by a twist of fate - Jinnah, who realized in the 1937 elections that Hindus and Muslims could not live together, would become Pakistan's relentless defender and political leader.

While Rahmet Ali was one of the leading figures in the establishment of Pakistan, he spent most of his life in England. Since Pakistan, founded in 1947, was smaller than he envisioned in his 1933 "Now Or Never" manifesto, Rahmet Ali was deeply upset and disappointed. Rahmet Ali accused Jinnah of saying yes to a small Pakistan and declared him a traitor. Thereupon, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liakat Ali Khan, ordered Rahmet Ali to leave the country and his belongings were confiscated.

Forced to leave Pakistan in October, which he returned to in April 1948, Rahmet Ali died in England as a lonely and poor man on February 3, 1951, and was buried in New-Market Road Cemetery in Cambridge on February 20.

https://historypak.com/choudhry-rahmat-ali-1895-1951/