Jamal Mian was a highly respected product of Lucknow’s Farangi Mahall family and an important leader of the Pakistan movement. Based on the archives he left, in particular his personal diaries, Scholar, Sufi and Politician explores Jamal Mian’s life, from his education in the Dars-i Nizami and the spiritual traditions of his family, to his rise to leadership in the campaign for Pakistan.

Independence and Partition wrecked Jamal Mian’s family fortunes and he had to work in East Pakistan to support his family. Though he had retained his Indian citizenship, eventually, the Government of India forced him to choose between Indian and Pakistani citizenship. During the 1950s and 1960s he was close to both Iskander Mirza and Ayub Khan. After losing almost everything in the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war, he resettled in Karachi where he became involved in international Islamic organizations.

This book examines Jamal Mian’s relationships with Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Jawaharlal Nehru and Mirza Ahmed Ispahani; his close friendships with Hasrat Mohani, the Raja of Mahmudabad, Sadri Ispahani, and Mufti Amin al-Husseini; his consistent opposition to the Islamization of Pakistani politics; the extent to which his life was infused by poetry and spiritual devotion; and how long it took for the meaning of Partition in his life to be realized in full.