By Zafarul-Islam Khan, IOL Correspondent
NEW DELHI, 12, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – India's veteran politician, eminent Muslim scholar and distinguished writer and commentator Dr Rafiq Zakaria was laid to rest Monday, July 11, in his home town of Aurangabad in the western state of Maharashtra.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said late Zakaria, who passed away in Mumbai on Saturday, 9 July, at the age of 79, was a true patriot and nationalist, cherishing his personal association with him.
Opposition leaders too were very unanimous in their appreciation of Zakaria's role.
"An acclaimed thinker and writer, Dr Zakaria was a staunch nationalist. He played a remarkable role in India's freedom struggle," said former premier AB Vajpayee and former deputy prime minister LK Advani said in a joint statement.
Born on 5 April 1926, Zakaria is survived by a wife, a daughter, and three sons.
Fatima, his wife, is a reputed journalist in her own right and was editor of the Times of India for many years.
His daughter Tasneem is convenor of INTACH, an organization working for preservation of heritage and monuments in India.
As for his sons, Fareed is managing editor of the American weekly magazine Newsweek, Arshad, a former managing director of Merrill Lynch, USA, is currently an independent investment banker, and Mansoor heads an IT company in the US.
Muslim Intellectual
Zakaria will be remembered as one of the few prominent Indian Muslim intellectuals who could squarely confront the obscurantism that threatened Indian Islam from within, while maintaining a consistent critique of the majoritarian forces threatening the community from without.
"I can’t think of any Muslim in recent times who has done as much as Rafiq Zakaria," said noted author and columnist Khushwant Singh.
Noted journalist MJ Akbar, editor of The Asian Age newspaper, agreed.
"I can’t think of another reading, writing, thinking politician of his caliber…His books on Islam are a treasure to behold. Long before 9/11, he sought to challenge the demonisation of Islam by cold logic and argument."
Zakaria headed a number of Muslim educational societies which run schools and colleges in Mumbai and Aurangabad.
He was instrumental in setting up about 10 colleges in his home state in addition to dozens of schools.
He strongly felt that the only way Indian Muslims can prosper is through education.
A prolific writer, Zakaria authored 15 books including A Study of Nehru, Rise of Muslims in Indian Politics, Struggles Within Islam, Conflict Between Religion and Politics, The Price of Partition, Gandhi and The Break-up of India, Indian Muslims: Where Have They Gone Wrong?, Sardar Patel and Indian Muslims and Muhammad and the Qur'an.
He wrote this last book in reply to Salman Rushdie's claims in his famous novel.
Zakaria's interest in literature and journalism went back to his student days when he wrote for the News Chronicle and The Observer in London.
On his return, he wrote a regular bi-weekly column in The Times of India, India's leading English-language newspaper.
In recent years, Zakaria wrote and spoke bitterly advising Indian Muslims to chart a new path.
In the wake of the Gujarat carnage in 2002 he said: "Indian Muslims must open their eyes to the ground reality that an increasing number of Hindus have begun to hate them...Indian Muslims must now see the light of the day and move in a different direction. They must discard their worn-out prejudices and outmoded habits and adjust themselves to the requirements of the changing times."
In his last book, Communal Rage in Secular India, he wrote: "Instead of coming out openly against Pakistan and taking a strong stand against the jihadis, these so-called guardians of Indian Muslims spend most of their time in running their own political shops to buttress their communal leadership...They must, without compromising the Qur'anic injunctions, agree to the introduction of certain much-needed, essential changes in their personal law, particularly the enactment of monogamy; this will bring them on par with non-Muslims."
Veteran Politician
An outstanding academic achiever, Zakaria won medals for exceptional performance in his bachelor and masters degrees in Bombay University.
He participated in the freedom struggle and was a vocal opponent of Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s two-nation theory which led to the creation of Pakistan and in effect divided the Indian Muslim community into three parts.
Zakaria joined the freedom struggle by participating in the Quit India movement of 1942.
Jinnah, an Indian Muslim nationalist, led the movement demanding a separate homeland for Muslims in South Asia and served as Pakistan's first Governor-General.
Zakaria received a PhD from the University of London and his law degree from Lincoln's Inn.
Back in India, he practiced law for some time while closely working with the Congress Party.
He spent over 25 years in public service as a minister in Maharashtra state government from 1962 to 1977, and then as the deputy leader of the Congress Party in Indian Parliament's upper house in 1978.
Zakaria also represented India in many countries and at the United Nations in 1965, 1990 and 1996.
On a number of occasions he was sent to Islamic countries as a special envoy of the Indian government to cultivate better relations.
With Zakaria's demise India and Indian Muslims have lost a great son.