Nawab Mohammad Ismail Khan

Politician (1884 1958)

Nawab Mohammad Ismail Khan (August 1884 – 28 June 1958) was an eminent Muslim politician and a leading activist of the All India Muslim League, who stood in the forefront of the Khilafat Movement and Pakistan Movement. Nawab Mohammad Ismail Khan is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan due to the roles that he fulfilled for the cause of it. His position was described as only second to that of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He was born to Nawab Mohammad Ishak Khan of Jehangirabad and was the grandson of the Urdu and Persian poet, Nawab Mustafa Khan Shefta (sometimes spelled as 'Shaifta') – 'Shaifta/Shefta' being his Urdu pen name. Upon completing his early schooling in India, he proceeded to England, at the age of twelve to continue his studies as a full time boarder at Tonbridge School in Tonbridge, Kent. He went on from there to attain his undergraduate credentials from St John's College, Cambridge to thereafter become a barrister of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple (Inns of Court School of Law). It was the Nawab Sahib who with his band of colleagues, like Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman and Liaquat Ali Khan, kept the Muslim banner aloft in the United Provinces.

In 1945, when the Simla Conference was held, Nawab M. Ismail Khan played a great part. Later, in June 1946, his name was proposed for the Interim Government along with eminent leaders such as the Quaid i Azam, Pandit Nehru, and Sardar Patel. But it was reported that Nawab Ismail Khan himself refused to join the Interim Government for undefined personal justifications.

In 1937, the 25th Annual Conference of the All India Muslim League was held in Lucknow under the chairmanship of Quaid e Azam (The Great Leader), Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Nearly seventy eminent people were summoned at Butler Palace. What was to ensue after that day would prove to be a decisive moment in the course of history. Prior to attending this historic session, Nawab Mohammad Ismail Khan suggested that the day held an auspicious meaning. It was a day when the Indian Muslim population earnestly embraced and hailed Muhammad Ali Jinnah as their foremost leader. Perceiving it to be apt, Nawab M. Ismail Khan took his Samoor Cap and generously offered it to M. A. Jinnah insisting that it would suit him well. Jinnah accepted Nawab Sahib's offer, to thereafter wear a traditional Sherwani/Achkan along with it. The outcome was visually pleasing as it greatly added to his personality. When the Quaid appeared on the dais in his indigenous attire, the massive crowd, consisting of 50,000 people, burst into loud cheers. The slogans of "Allah ho Akbar" (God, The Great) dominated the atmosphere and the clapping continued for a long time. Since that fateful day, Nawab Mohammad Ismail Khan's Samoor Cap was dubbed and came to be known as the iconic "Jinnah cap" all over the Indian subcontinent and elsewhere in the world. Over the active years of the All India Muslim League, before eventually Pakistan was consummated, Nawab Sahib's cap would be lent to M. A. Jinnah on several occasions.

After the independence of Pakistan and India in 1947, Nawab M. Ismail Khan remained a member of the Legislative Assembly of India. He accepted in 1947 to become the vice chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University for the second time, only to confront the challenge facing the very existence of the Muslim character of the Aligarh Muslim University – it was Nawab M. Ismail Khan who invited Jawaharlal Nehru and Mrs. Sarojini Naidu to the convocations of the university whereby giving it the official recognition of the Indian government. The moment he sensed that the university might suffer on account of his presence, he resigned immediately and returned to Meerut in 1948. His association with the Aligarh University was deeply rooted due to his father, Nawab M. Ishak Khan, who had served the institution with passion and devotion as its trustee and secretary when it was the M. A. O. College. Nawab M. Ismail Khan also served the university for many years as its trustee. Several efforts were made to bring him to Pakistan but legend has it that when he first visited the country, Prime Minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan offered him a carte blanche, but, as has been aptly said by Raja Amir Ahmed Khan of Mahmudabad: 'His self respect and great nobility of character did not allow him to accept any such offer'. After withdrawing from politics, he visited Pakistan twice, once in 1951 and then in 1955–56. His three sons G. A. Madani, Ikram Ahmed Khan (Kaiser) and Iftikhar Ahmed Khan (Adani) were all members of the Civil Service of Pakistan. G. A. Madani and I. A. Khan (Kaiser) started their careers in the Indian Civil Service in 1937 and 1939 respectively and rose to the highest civil offices in the bureaucracy. Dotingly known as 'Adani' was a literary figure and wrote books on Mirza Ghalib and Urdu poetry.

Nawab Mohammad Ismail Khan died on 28 June 1958 in Meerut, India at age 73.