By Khalid Bashir Ahmad
ARafiqi argued that the place where the gravestone was erected was not ‘near this spot’ but the actual spot where Bahadur Shah Zafar and his wife were buried. He shot a letter to the Private Secretary of the Viceroy of India on 24 January 1908, pointing out that there were many people around, besides the grandson of Bahadur Shah Zafar, who had taken part in the burial ceremony of the late King and they were thoroughly acquainted with the fact that he was buried at the very spot where the monument now stood. Among the descendants of Bahadur Shah who were living in Rangoon then included his grandson, Jamshed Bakht son of Crown Prince Jawan Bakht, his son, Prince Shah Abbas, and his son, Moazzam Sultan who was a clerk under an advocate of Rangoon.[26] Rafiqi demanded that the two graves be built separately, the words ‘near this spot’ be erased from the tombstone, and the engravings be done in Persian as well as English. He suggested that the Muslims should be permitted to build the graves if the Government was unwilling to incur any expenditure. However, Chief Secretary Rice, firmly told him that “nothing further can be done in the matter”.
Not to be overcome by a cold shoulder given by the Government, Rafiqi met Colonel Dunlop Smith, Private Secretary to the Viceroy at Simla in October 1908 and flagged the issue. Then, on 11 February 1909, in a letter to Rice, he reminded him that the grave built was in a condition that was “a disgrace to the greatness of the British Government, to my efforts and trouble, and to the profound sympathy of a man like you.”He reiterated his demand to remove the misleading phrase ‘near this spot’ from the tombstone, provide the sum of money for keeping up the memory like the Government had done in case of Sivaji or let the Muslims themselves build a befitting memorial. No action was taken by the Government until 1910 when Thirkell White was replaced with Harvey Adamson as the Lieutenant-Governor of Burma. On 27 August, Rafiqi met Adamson who seemed positively disposed towards his request. He, in fact, asked Rafiqi to officially write to the Government of India on the matter and get it done. Encouraged by the Lieutenant-Governor’s response, Rafiqi wrote to the Chief Secretary who, disappointingly, wrote back on 3 September 1910 that “the Lieutenant-Governor regrets that he is unable to take any further action in the matter.” The matter rested there.
Over the years, it appears that the graves of the last Mughal ruler and his consort were again lost to the vagaries of time until 16 February 1991, when “workers digging a drain for a new building stumbled upon the brick-lined tomb” which “contained an inscription, and the body’s identity was quickly confirmed.” The almost intact skeleton of the emperor was found wrapped in a silk shroud covered by flower petals. A mausoleum was built by the Government of Burma with the assistance of the Government of India which was inaugurated on 15 December 1994, and has since turned into a shrine visited by large number of people, especially on weekends.
In Rangoon, Rafiqi was known for his “prominence within the city’s ethnically diverse Muslim circles, as well as his eloquence and immaculate taste for ‘stylish’ English dress.”He was respected by the Muslim community of Rangoon for his efforts as “a renowned Urdu and Punjabi scholar in whom were merged the credentials of nobility, the Muslim modernism of Aligarh, and the eastern and the western sciences.” Besides fighting a long battle for honouring the memory of a fallen, unfortunate king of India, he established a business of teakwood export to Glasgow, Scotland and initially remained away from political activities. His home address in Rangoon was ’11–37th Street’ which was also the address of his business concern, ‘Abdul Salam Rafiqi Company’. According to some advertisements published in the Ar-Rafiq, besides teakwood, he also traded in type-writers and, at the same time, engaged himself in educational, social and political care of the Muslims.He developed trade, political, and intellectual connections with Japanese cities and north America.From the following advertisement published in the March 1907 issue of Ar-Rafiq, it appears that he also provided services to facilitate youth of different countries seeking education in Glasgow, as well as sold machines for factories [Translation]:
“From Rafiqi to Hafiz. Thankfully! With Mr. Abdul Salam Rafiqi in Rangoon and Abdur Rehman Hafiz in Glasgow, there is no shortage now. Traders of Rangoon and Burma can order things without any hesitation. Excellent machines for factories. The two gentlemen have full grasp of matters and are well- wishers of the nation. Through the medium of Mr. Rafiqi, hundreds of youths may come to Glasgow for learning arts and sciences. Mr. Hafiz will make good arrangements for them. Indian, Burmese, Chinese and Japanese traders can take benefit from their services.”
During his stay in Rangoon, Rafiqi was constantly under police watch. There was an incident when he was reported against for carrying a bundle of newspapers including The Indian Sociologist published from London and a poster with a photograph of Lala Lajpat Rai, a prominent Indian freedom movement leader, while he was travelling in a train. A police officer on noticing the newspapers on his person concluded that it was seditious material and that Rafiqi was not straight in political matters. In the weekly diary, ending 27 July 1907, of the Special Branch of the District Superintendent of Police, Hanthawaddy, he was accused of being a very tricky person with the reputation of not being straight in business transactions. The diary makes an interesting read:
“On the 23rd instant on my return from Rangoon to Kamayut, I travelled with one Mr. Rafiqui, a youth of 16, nephew of Mr. Inspector Coal, a Zarbaddi, and a Ticket Collector as my travelling companions in my 2nd class compartment. I had heard of Mr. Rafiqui as a gentleman who had applied to the Local Government for permission to act as Waquf, that is to say, to have authority to inspect the wills of wealthy deceased Mahomadans see that their charitable endowments had been strictly carried out by their surviving relatives. I also heard that His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor having seen through his plan refused his application. I also heard that he was a very tricky person and had the reputation of not being straight in business transactions. The Burma Nippon Kaisha Coy. and one Mr. Sayed Roumi of Sparks Street are I heard among his creditors.
Seeing him with a pile of newspapers headed “Amritika Bazar Patrika”, “India” and other Newspapers and journals in the Vernacular, I felt suspicious that he was not on the straight in regard to political matters, and I therefore picked up a packet out of his pile while conversing with him and having torn out the wrapper I hurriedly glanced through a few articles. I noticed that the articles were of a seditious nature and I therefore promptly resolved on having the paper, and so concealed the wrapper on my person and the paper on the person of Mr. inspector Cole’s nephew. Mr. Rafiqui in a little while noticing that I had not the paper became very much concerned and made several requests for the return. I pacified him as well as was able and informed him that the youth in his ignorance had thrown the paper out of the carriage. I also manged to appropriate the printed photo of Lala Lajpat Rai under the heading of supplement to the United Burma Vande Mataram and under the photo, Lal Lajpat Rai, the first deported Martyr.
Mr. Rafiqui was very much put out with what had occurred and as I got to the end of my journey, I got Mr. Inspector Cole’s nephew to put the paper into my pocket while Mr. Rafiqui was busy looking out and I then left them. I found that the packet I had seized was a copy of the “Indian Sociologist” for July 1907 and this together with the wrapper I attach.”
In 1906, Abdul Salam Rafiqi was elected member of the Provisional Committee of the All India Muslim League at its inaugural session held in Dacca (Dhakka) on 30 June. The Committee with Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk and Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk as Joint Secretaries, was tasked to frame the Constitution of the League within four months. He attended the session of the Muslim League and the Muhammadan Educational Conference at Karachi in December 1907 and was also elected Member of the Central Committee of the League at the party’s Aligarh Session on 19 March 1908. At the Amritsar Session of the party held on 30–31 December 1908, he was elected Member of a committee for drafting and adopting an address in response to the Reform Scheme of the Secretary of State, and to present it to the Viceroy of India.
Apart from being a religious scholar (molvi) and proficient in several languages, Rafiqi was a poet of substance and wrote verses in Persian language. A glimpse of his poetic excellence can be had from the following verses:
Neest mehrab-e-dilam juz kham-e-abroo-e-dost
Qibla-e-nafl-o-nimaz-e-man khayal-e-roo-e-dost
Murdam az beemaari-e-ishqash walay roz-e-jaza
Khu’n baha khawham nighah-e-nargis-e-jadoo-e-dost
Shahid-o-mashhood shud zanu ba zanu gosh kun
Dar ramooz-e-ishq bashad jumla guftugo-e-dost
Gar sar-e-zulfam paresha’n az hawa-e-ishq shud
Paich-o-taab a’mookhtam chu’n maar az
gaisoo-e-dost
Aarzoo-e-man Rafiqi neest ba’d az marg haich
Juz ki bashad khwabgah-e-naaz dar
pehloo-e-dost
TRANSLATION:
The arch of my heart is nothing but the
eyebrows of my beloved,
And the thought of the glorified face of my
beloved is the direction of my prayers.
I tasted death due to the disease of love
but on doomsday,
The blissful sight of my beloved will c
ompensate for this.
Both the witness and the witnessed sat side
by side and
Only talked of love and love alone.
Though the wind of love disturbed my trusses but
I learnt the twists by the trusses of my beloved.
My only desire, O’ Rafiqi, is that after the death,
I should lay side by side with my beloved.
Three years after his arrival in Rangoon, Rafiqi restarted the Ar-Rafiq in 1906 with regular publication for the next four years. The periodical carried nationalist and anti-colonial content. The Ar-Rafiq was his passion, for wherever he went — Srinagar, Calcutta, Rangoon — he published the periodical. He also worked for a while as a mail contractor for the Rangoon General Post Office, and was “imprisoned for six months for debt by his landlord.” In 1909, he set up his own printing press and, through pamphlets and posters, produced literature against the British occupation of India, appealing the Indians to unitedly fight against the foreign rule. The literature was clandestinely smuggled out to different parts of India but the British intelligence soon found out Rafiqi’s mind and money behind this. Simultaneously, he wrote some letters to the Government of India critical of it, demanding self-government for the Indians and asking the Indians to join the British Army, get trained as soldiers and then fight the British. He was arrested and a case of sedition filed against him. During the trial, he was told by his lawyer that he could be sent to the gallows in order to terrorise other nationalist Indians. While in custody, he somehow arranged to send his pregnant wife and son to Kashmir. With the help of pro-freedom Indians and Burmese sympathisers, he escaped from the prison, clandestinely travelled to Singapore and Japan from where he arrived in Tanjung Priok (Port of Jakarta), Indonesia in 1914. Indonesia, or the Dutch East Indies as it was known then, was under the Dutch occupation. Before disappearing from Rangoon in 1912, he allegedly left behind a note saying that he intended to take his own life and that his body would not be found.This he did perhaps to mislead imperial intelligence keeping a watch on him.
Rafiqi’s presence in Indonesia did not remain a secret for long and he was himself responsible for this. It so happened that he sent by ordinary mail a pamphlet to an Indian in Pahang in the Malay Peninsula calling for self-government and appealing to Hindus and Muslims to rise up. The British censor intercepted the letter and an investigation led by the postmark on the letter traced Rafiqi. The Dutch authorities were informed and Rafiqi was put under surveillance. He was seen visiting the German consulate several times and was arrested after it was discovered that he ordered the printing of an anti-British pamphlet.The Dutch were told that one of Rafiqi’s tasks was to act as a contact man between Theodor Helfferich, a prominent German politician, and British Indians visiting Batavia (Jakarta) to discuss the sending of arms and money to India.The Germans believed that Rafiqi was in the service of the British Police in Singapore while the British held him responsible for mutiny by Indian soldiers in Singapore. Pertinently, in 1915, he had predicted the February uprising in Singapore.The British Indian Government accused him, besides other things, of intention to cause rebellion in India in the name of building a tomb on the grave of Bahadur Shah Zafar.
Rafiqi filed an appeal with the Resident pleading that he had valid papers for his entry into Dutch East Indies and he had not violated any of its rules. He claimed that as per his undertaking given at the time of entry, he had not issued any pamphlet or poster and, hence, it would be in the interest of justice that he was not evicted from the country.The Resident forwarded the case file to the Dutch Governor-General. The Governor-General ordered Rafiqi to leave Dutch East Indies, holding, though, that the issue was not about the legitimacy or otherwise of his arguments or his stay permit but about the displeasure of the British Government and their mutual relations. He ordered him to leave the country within a month, recalling the British Government’s word that he would not be harmed.
Rafiqi petitioned the Governor-General, reiterating his argument that he had broken no law of the land or his word or violated law and order. He claimed that the pamphlets he had issued in Rangoon contained nothing more than asking from the British Government establishment, like in Australia and Canada, of internal self-government in India. His lawyer expressed serious concern about his life if he was expelled from Dutch East Indies. He sought Dutch Government’s intervention in having a passport issued to him by the British Government to let him go to America. Another representation sent by Rafiqi to the Governor-General seeking a meeting with him evoked favourable response. He was informed that the Governor-General was not happy with him for relations between the British and the Dutch governments were getting adversely affected because of him. However, he was offered political asylum and protection by the Governor-General at any place of his choosing in case he surrendered himself before him. Rafiqi agreed and, without the British Councillor getting any whiff of it, he was sent in a ship to Kupang in West Timor where he reached on 22 August 1915. He was allowed free movement within the city but debarred from leaving Kupang till the end of the World War I.
Rafiqi’s arrival in Kupang was reported by local newspapers, some accused him of being a spy of Japan, others a Turkish agent while a few took him for a prince or a nawab. There were also some newspapers that praised the Dutch Government for saving the life of an Indian political worker and supporting political rights of the Indians.Through these newspaper reports, the British Government came to know about Rafiqi’a presence in Dutch East Indies. It appointed C. M. Pilliat as Commissioner Agent at Kupang to watch his activities. Pilliat remained at Kupang till Rafiqi’s demise and, later, shifted to East Indonesia where he breathed his last.In 1952, Yaqub Rafiqi, Kashmir based grandson of Abdul Salam Rafiqi, went to Java to help his father, Yahya Rafiqi, in his business. There, he met Pilliat and heard from him some interesting stories about his grandfather. Pilliat told him that once the British Government sent a ship to Kupang to bring back Rafiqi to India but the latter agreed to board the ship only if it did not fly the Union Jack, a condition turned down by the British authorities. At another occasion, Rafiqi had wished to return to his homeland after spending 15 years in exile. The British Government agreed to grant his wish but on the condition that he would not indulge in politics. In response, he asked the British authorities to draw a line between politics and religion which the latter refused to do. The permission was withdrawn.
During the World War I, Rafiqi’s mansion, built on a hill by the riverside, was bombed twice, first by the Japanese and then by the American forces.After his arrival in Dutch East Indies, he had started a grocery shop. He purchased things from villages and sold in towns, and soon established a flourishing business. He became very popular among the local people who loved him and gave him the respectful sobriquet ‘Tuan’ meaning, variously, Master, Sir, Gentleman, Mister, Overlord and Sovereign. During Indonesia’s struggle for freedom from the Dutch, several politicians were, as punishment, despatched to Kupang where Tuan Selam became their advisor. Among his admirers was Koesno Sosrodihardjo Sokarno who, after becoming the first President of independent Indonesia, visited him several times. Rafiqi married twice. His first wife was the daughter of his uncle, Mohammad Yehya Rafiqi. The marriage was solemnised in Kangra and the couple had two sons, Mohammad Yehya Rafiqi and Mohammad Ishaq Rafiqi who were brought up by their mother in Kashmir. They took active part in the Kashmir Movement of 1931 against Dogra autocracy. Later, they joined their father in Indonesia, died there and were buried in Surabaya, Java.Rafiqi married a second time in Indonesia with a Javanese lady. From this marriage, he had a daughter, Noo-un-Nisa, who was married to a Dutch citizen and shifted to Holland.
Abdul Salam Rafiqi, the ‘Sun of Kashmir’ that shone over South-East Asia, finally set in Jakarta on 2 July 1941. After brief illness, he breathed his last at the private nursing home of Dr. Soeharto and was laid to rest in the Indonesian capital. Reporting his death, the Jakarta Daily wrote:
“On Wednesday 2nd July 1941, Tuan Selam passed away. He was buried in Karet de Betawi according to Islamic ways. In his Jinaza were people from India, Indonesia and most of the European officials. Mr Selam was born in Punjab, India and was active in politics. He was jailed and then exiled from India. He wrote in many languages, Urdu, Persian and Arabic. Mr. Haque spoke about al marhoom Mr. Selam’s life and thanked the people who had come for Jinaza, particularly Dr. and Mrs. Soeharto.”
Source : fb page of Khalid Bashir Ahmad
The author is grateful to Teren Sevea for sharing some very important material from Myanmar Archives on Abdul Salam Rafiqi including the latter’s pamphlet, Inversion of Times. Profound thanks also go to Prof. Ayaz Rasool Nazki and Abdur Rehman Kondu for passing on material relevant to this subject.
The author is an author, poet and a former Kashmir Administrative Services (KAS) officer.
