REMEMBERING THE OBLIVION: SYED HASAN IMAM

Syed Hasan Imam: A sketch of his life and career by G.A. Natesan & Co., Publishers, George Town, Madras

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Let the motherland be the first in your affections, your province the second, and your community wherever thereafter you choose to put it.”

The abovementioned quote was stated by Mr. Syed Hasan Imam. There has been already much written about him on this webpage itself. People who have an interest in history do not have any second thoughts as to why heritagetimes.inis a zakhira(a hidden treasure) for them when they completely devour into it while unravelling the forgotten personalities.

Amongst several one of them is Mr Syed Hasan Imam who was born on 31st August, 1871 in Neora (Patna), Bihar. As we remember a man of a colossus stature like that of him on his 149th birth anniversary who donned multifaceted responsibilities, one tends to ponder how he is not celebrated amongst us today like others and remains to be in oblivion. We forget that he is forgotten and faded because we do not even care to know about him. All these despite the strict mandate of Article 51A (b) of the Indian Constitution which directs us ‘to cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle for freedom.’

Barrister Syed Hasan Imam
Barrister Syed Hasan Imam

The aforementioned issue can be vouched, evinced and corroborated with certainty by not merely asking the lawyers, law students having an affinity to legal history, but also from history students and the brass of politicians as well, especially the ones who are active in politics. One can be sure that most of them, if not all, will be found oblivious about him.

A Voice Against Separate Electorates

Nevertheless, it is certainly not a joke or a fluke that Mr Imam read most of the works of Shakespeare, Milton and Tennyson during his teenage years even before completing his fourteenth while many still grapple to read and comprehend them during their octogenarian stage. Clearly, Mr. Imam was way ahead of his time. The resistance he showed vehemently against the introduction of a separate electorate at the lower level by fiercely opposing it through a piece contributing to the ‘Indian Review’ and later on reiterating the same through his speech at the Allahabad Congress meet in 1910 can best be compared with the object behind the Poona Pact, 1932 which took place much later, more than two decades after the Allahabad Congress Session. Undoubtedly, he knew about the evils of having a separate electorate.


Sir Ali Imam, an icon of nationalism, as remembered by Sachchidananda Sinha


It is seldom that one shows magnanimity in equal proportion especially when prejudice and bias are rampant. Not many of us know that he donated equal amount of shares to Aligarh Muslim University and Banaras Hindu University. But his generosity was more of a routine than a rarity. Once, he generously handed over the entire sum of money to the Committee of B.N. College, Patna in order to save its affiliation when it was on the verge of getting disaffiliated. He did not stop there, rather he used to contribute Rs.1000/- annually to this college fund until it got acquired by the then government.

Breaking Barriers for Women’s Education

As the adage goes ‘Practice what you preach’, it is well known that both cannot always go hand in hand. But this was not the problem with Mr. Imam. In 1915, when he visited England for a short stint he made sure to take his daughters along with him. He provided them with the best available education to make them at par with his sons, all of whom had completed their studies in England. This decision of Mr. Syed Hasan Imam had wide ramifications. It made the Maharaja of Tekari spellbound, making an endowment of his entire estate, which was 3 Crore (approx.), so that Indian women could get educated and that no girl got left out.

It can be assessed with precision the deep impact he had left on the Maharaja through a single step taken by him towards social reform. The number of Hindu students he insisted upon going to England and studying there is unaccounted for. In terms of emancipating ‘Zenana’ he surely was ahead of his contemporaries and also advocated it openly with students. One such instance was when he told the same thing to all those who were assembled for ‘Gaya Students Conference’. Relating to the existing prejudices and practices prevalent amongst Hindus while practising their own law, he once made a remark to one of his Hindu friends that –“Worship the Sun, but also examine the laws of heat”.


Dr. Ali Sami: Early Life, Education, Return to India, Personal Life and Family


Defying the Draconian

It’s inaccurate to say he limited himself to his home for social change. He was an equal champion for the public cause. Despite facing the turbulence and fiasco within ‘The Beharee’, his mental resolve for setting up an independent publication to provide the voice of public opinion grew stronger.

The result was that ‘The Searchlight’ came into being on 15th June 1919. This was along with the assistance of Mr. Sinha at a time when draconian legislation, that was the Rowlatt Act of 1919 (commonly referred to as black law in common parlance) had just come into operation barely three months ago. This was not only repressive but also anti-press in nature. It is significant to mention that despite all the situations being completely averse to him, he not only contributed a major portion of his income for the establishment of ‘The Searchlight’ but simultaneously stood as a guarantor for incurring liability if the paper did any wrong.

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It will be a great irreverence if his contribution to the bar and bench went unnoticed and unexplained. His camaraderie was still the same with his existing clients in Bihar. Once he established his practice in Calcutta from Patna, his clientele in Bihar had not severed their connection with him. They continued to seek his legal advice from Calcutta. His insight into forensics was well acknowledged.

Championing Indian Passengers

Mr. Imam’s knowledge over law (both civil and criminal) and the evolvement of the British Jurisprudence to make it understandable for Indians was remarkable. Even his critics like Mr. Earldley Norton and Mr. Jackson recognised his contribution. One certainly cannot forget about the ‘Imam-Clayton’s case’.  He successfully contested for the Indian passengers. They used to be heckled, molested, and offended by the Europeans who considered it to be a daily routine affair. At least part of the credit, if not all, for the Indians who then travelled hassle-free, goes to him

A Legacy of Legal Excellence and Integrity

An interesting anecdote dates back to when he was serving as a Justice of the Calcutta High Court. This was when the Patna High Court came into being. The people in almost all the districts of the then Bihar (erstwhile comprising of Odisha and Jharkhand as well) passed a resolution for the transfer of Justice Imam from Calcutta High Court to the newly built bench of the Patna High Court. When the Lieutenant Governor, Charles Bayley, came to know about it, he got irked about it. At the same time, he threatened to resign if Justice Imam were to be transferred to the Patna High Court.

Surely, Mr. Bayley as a Lieutenant Governor succeeded but that did not deter Justice Imam from joining the precincts of the bar of the Patna High Court soon after resigning from the justiceship of the Calcutta High Court. However, climate woes and doctor’s advice led him to drier Patna pastures. There is no doubt as to why he chose health and integrity over British influence.

Syed Hasan Imam at the right. This is the last photograph of him. Taken towards the end of his life around 1932 perhaps in Patna.
Syed Hasan Imam at the right. This is the last photograph of him. Taken towards the end of his life around 1932 perhaps in Patna. (Photo: BULU IMAM)

Potential for Greater Impact

Certainly, his contribution and legacy is much more, beyond what has been aforementioned in several paragraphs. It is unfair to confine a person like Mr. Imam within the strictures of this article. Had he lived till India’s Independence, there would’ve been no doubt of him gracing the halls of the Constituent Assembly. The Assembly would have provided him the tailor-made situation which he must have embraced. His Assembly presence would have sparked debate across all levels. Not only among academicians and scholars but also among the general people.

There cannot be any second thought given to the fact that he would have enjoyed similar relevance and interest amongst all of us today, with the likes of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, B.N. Rau, Alladi Krishnaswamy Iyer, Rajendra Prasad, Professor K.T. Shah etc. Who knows better, that he may have been beyond them all in terms of an intelligentsia? It might have been, no one knows. With all due reverence, we must acknowledge their respective works and contributions in building this nation.


Syed Mehdi Imam: Barrister turned Bihar’s First English Dramatist


Uncovering the True Impact of Syed Hassan Imam

While embarking into the celebration of the 150th birth anniversary of Mr. Imam, we should understand it very well that him and his works need to be looked beyond namesake as apparent in the mirror as to who was the fourth Muslim president of the Indian National Congress?

One has to go beyond ‘Hasan Manzil’ by doing a thorough research upon him, digging out the contributions he made especially to humanity and to make it available in the public domain so that the posterity will remember him instead of being completely oblivious like the present generation. This can only be a fitting tribute to a man of a colossus stature like that of Syed Hasan Imam/ Advocate Imam/ Justice Imam/ Mr. Imam who donned different responsibilities in his lifetime and to his family. Till then, we can mark out his words and keep in our minds what he once famously said:

We have no Hindu, we have no Mahomedan, we are Indians”

Source of this article – Syed Hasan Imam: A sketch of his life and career by G.A. Natesan & Co., Publishers, George Town, Madras

Author’s bio: Amardeep Kumar is a pass out student of  KIIT,  Bhubaneswar. Contact him at kumaramaradeep021@gmail.com

(Views are Personal)


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