Bharat Ratna Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, one of the country's leading freedom fighters and the first Education Minister of Azad India, was born on 11 November 1888 in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. He was also an eminent scholar and poet. He had knowledge of Arabic, English, Urdu, Hindi, Persian, and Bengali languages. Maulana Abul Kalam was from a Muslim family. His father Maulana Khairuddin was a Bengali Muslim of Afghan origin. He left India during the Sepoy Mutiny and settled in Mecca. Later he returned to Calcutta with his family in 1890.
Azad grew up and joined two revolutionary revolutionaries of Bengal, Arvind Ghosh, and Shri Shyam Sundar Chakraborty, in the revolutionary movement against British rule. Gradually, he created secret revolutionary centers all over North India and Bombay. He started a weekly Urdu magazine called 'Al Hilal' in 1912 to increase the feeling of patriotism among Muslims. In 1914 the government banned 'Al Hilal', after which he started another weekly magazine 'Al Balagh'.
However, the government also banned it in 1916 and expelled Azad from Calcutta, and detained him in Ranchi, later he was released after the First World War of 1920. After his departure, Maulana Azad supported Gandhi's non-cooperation movement and joined the Indian National Congress in 1920. Maulana Azad also strongly supported Gandhiji's Salt Satyagraha, due to which he was arrested in 1930 for violation of Salt Law.
In 1940, Maulana Azad became the President of the Congress and remained in the same position till 1946. Maulana Azad was a staunch opponent of Partition, the country’s partition caused him great grief. After independence, Pandit became the first Education Minister of the country in Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet. He died on 22 February 1958 due to a heart attack. In 1992, the Government of India posthumously honored him with the country's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna.
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