Abdul Qadir (Muslim leader)

Sir Sheikh Abdul Qadir (15 March 1874 – 9 February 1950) was a Pakistani jurist, newspaper and magazine editor and a Muslim community leader in British India.[1] He was a judge of Lahore High Court in 1921.[2]

Abdul Qadir
Qadir in the late 1930s
Qadir in the late 1930s
Born15 March 1874
Ludhiana, British Raj (now Punjab, India)
Died9 February 1950 (aged 75)
Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Resting placeMiani Sahib Graveyard, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
OccupationJurist • newspaper editor • Muslim community leader
Years active1898 – 1950
Judge of Lahore High Court (1921)
Minister of Education (1935)
Leader of Anjuman-i-Himayat-i-Islam (1941)
Chief Judge of Bahawalpur (1944)
Notable worksEditor of Observer (1898)
Al-Makhzan (1901)

He led the famous Muslim organization, Anjuman-i-Himayat-i-Islam and used his position as the leader of this organization to form other, pro-partition, organizations. He was an early activist of the Pakistan Movement.[3][1]

Early life and career

Qadir was born in Ludhiana on 15 March 1874. He received his education at the Forman Christian College, Lahore, British India.[1] He was the editor of The Observer, the first Muslim newspaper published in English in 1895. In 1901, he launched the magazine Al-Makhzan, an Urdu language publication. This magazine published the early works of Muhammad Iqbal.[1][4][2]

In 1904, Qadir went to study law in London, and was called to the bar in 1907 at Lincoln's Inn[4] after which he returned to India, where he served as a member of the Punjab Legislative Council and the minister of education in Punjab, British India in 1925.[1][2]

He is famously well-known for being a judge of the Lahore Conspiracy Case Tribunal constituted in May 1930 especially for speeding up the trial of the suspects for the murder of Lahore Assistant Superintendent Mr. J. P. Saunders. The suspects also included the famous revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru. The trials were held at Poonch House registrar in Lahore. He was the second native Indian judge chosen after the reconstitution of the Tribunal in June after Justice Agha Haider of the first Tribunal had been removed on calumny charges for not maintaining neutrality during the trial. The final judgement that was pronounced in October 1930 was under his jurisdiction. He represented British India at the Organisation of the League of Nations in 1926.[4]

Qadir was knighted by the British in the 1927 Birthday Honours and in 1935 became a member of the governing council of India.[1][4][5]

Death and survivors

Sheikh Abdul Qadir died on 9 February 1950 at the age of 75 and was buried in Miani Sahib Graveyard, Lahore, Pakistan.[2]

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's book Mahatma Gandhi contains a chapter by Qadir, where he particularly relates his various experiences with the understanding of Gandhi in Europe in the 1930s.

His son, Manzur Qadir, was a prominent Pakistani jurist who served as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan during the military rule of Ayub Khan.[6]

References
  1. Profile of Abdul Qadir on UNESCO Archives website Retrieved 2 September 2023
  2. Profile of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Rekhta.org website, Retrieved 3 September 2023
  3. S. M. Ikram (1995). Indian Muslims and Partition of India. ISBN 9788171563746. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  4. Sir Abdul Qadir profile National Portrait Gallery of UK website, Retrieved 2 September 2023
  5. photo and very limited explanation about Qadir Islamic Review, Published March 1935, Retrieved 2 September 2023
  6. Without a foreign minister Dawn (newspaper), 19 September 2013. Retrieved 2 September 2023
  • S. M. Ikram. Indian Muslims and the Partition of India. (Atlantic Publishers, 1995) p. 282.
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