When Urdu book on Prophet got publisher killed, earned India blasphemy law

India Today

3 days ago

"Wait and wait for the order of God, if you are prepared for a jehad [crusade] for Rasul... The kafir [Rajpal] will not go free..." proclaimed Maulana Mohammed Ali from Delhi's Jama Masjid in July 1927. Addressing an impassioned crowd stirred by the publication of a controversial Urdu pamphlet 'Rangeela Rasool', he declared a kind of religious war.In less than two years, in April 1929, Maulana Ali's rhetoric had turned real. The publisher of the book, Mahashe Rajpal, was stabbed to death inside his Lahore bookshop.advertisementIlm-ud-Din, a 19-year-old Muslim carpenter, had passed by a mosque where a huge crowd had gathered, shouting slogans against the "Hindu publisher". The speaker in the masjid roared: "Oh Muslims! The devil Rajpal has sought to dishonour our beloved Prophet Muhammad with his book". The 19-year-old was so inflamed that he decided to take matters into his own hands.
Rajpal's murder, an example of fighting "blasphemy with bigotry", became a watershed moment in India's pre-Partition communal history. Protests, riots and murders among Sikh, Hindu, and Muslim communities were no longer isolated bursts. It was when satire, religious reform, and provocation, especially in Punjab, where the Arya Samaj's fiery reformation movement had already stirred society, hardened communal lines.'Rangeela Rasool', the opposition to it, the legal battles and the aggressive fallout were directly linked to the enactment of the Penal Code Amendment Act XXV of India in 1927, which for the first time, criminalised "deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings", in such explicit terms that even intent, not just affect, became punishable.Nearly a century later, in 2022, the gruesome murder of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal Teli, who had shared a social media post supporting BJP leader Nupur Sharma's remarks on Prophet Muhammad, shook India. The incident has returned to the nation's consciousness, this time, because of a new movie, Udaipur Files: Kanhaiya Lal Tailor Murder. The Supreme Court is currently reviewing the allegations of "vilification of the Muslim community" through the movie.The Supreme Court, which will hear the case on July 21, has asked the Centre to decide on the film's release by then.The debate around hate, hurt sentiments, and free speech isn't new to India's legal and social history. Among the earliest and most defining of such episodes was the Rangeela Rasool case in pre-Partition India.THE TURBULENT 1920s AND PUBLICATION OF 'RANGEELA RASOOL'The publication of 'Rangeela Rasool' in 1924 came at a time when Punjab, and especially Lahore, was a cauldron of sectarian polemics.The Arya Samaj, a Hindu reformist group founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswati, had aggressively taken on orthodoxy, including in Islam, through print. In retaliation, Muslim scholars and publishers produced books using derogatory and provocative language to counter Arya Samaj's denunciations of Islam.The titles and content of the books vilified Hindu deities.advertisementThis phase was not yet marked by extremes, but over time, scattered tensions resulted in clashes and riots across Malabar, Bombay, United Provinces, and the region that is now Bihar, Odisha, and Bengal."Coming to the year 1927-28, the following facts stare us in the face. Between the beginning of April and the end of September 1927, no fewer than 25 riots were reported. Of these, 10 occurred in the United Provinces, six in the Bombay Presidency, and two each in the Punjab, the Central Provinces, Bengal, and Bihar and Orissa, and one in Delhi," BR Ambedkar wrote in his 1945 book, 'Thoughts On Pakistan'."The majority of these riots occurred during the celebration of a religious festival by one or other of the two communities, whilst some arose out of the playing of music by Hindus in the neighbourhood of mosques or out of the slaughter of cows by Muhammadans. The total casualties resulting from the above disorders were approximately 103 persons killed and 1,084 wounded," Ambedkar added.It was in this charged atmosphere that 'Rangeela Rasool' dropped like a match on dry grass.advertisementTHE BOOK ON THE PROPHET THAT IGNITED A STORM IN INDIADespite its salacious title, the book, which has also been referred to as a pamphlet, took a tone that was more theological and argumentative than crude.It was a reading of Prophet Muhammad and his personal life, including his marriages.The book was written using the pseudonym Pandit Champovati.It must be said to the credit of the publisher that he refused to disclose the name of the real author of the book despite the immense pressure and threats he had to bear.The book was in Urdu, the normal language of communication on the intellectual plane, according to Girja Kumar's 1997 book 'The Book on Trial: Fundamentalism and Censorship in India'.The contents of the book enraged Muslim leaders of India.Between 2024 and 2025, protests kept erupting across Punjab. The book was banned, and cases were filed.In 1926, legal proceedings began. Mahashe Rajpal was charged with promoting enmity between communities.But in May 1927, Justice Dalip Singh of the Lahore High Court ruled that Rajpal could not be prosecuted under the existing law.There was simply no legal provision at the time that addressed insults to religious figures. While the judge described the book as "malicious", he had to acquit Rajpal.advertisementThis verdict only added fuel to the fire. Massive protests, which saw the use of inflammatory language and threats of retribution, took place across several regions in India.In response to the violent protests, and to fill the "legal vacuum" exposed by the 'Rangeela Rasool' case, the British colonial government moved to amend the Indian Penal Code. Later in 1927, Section 295A was introduced, making it a criminal offence to deliberately and maliciously insult religious beliefs. This is how India got its law on blasphemy.But by then, death diktats had been issued and Mahashe Rajpal, the publisher, was a marked man.The Urdu press of Lahore made matters worse with its reporting and editorial pieces, which were criticised by Mahatma Gandhi. He called the tone "filthy".In Delhi, Maulana Mohammed Ali, addressing thousands outside Delhi's Jama Masjid, called the verdict, which led to Rajpal's release, a betrayal. He declared a "jehad" against Rajpal, the judge, and the colonial system. His words were not idle threats. They laid the ideological groundwork for extreme violent vigilantism, which we have seen in the controversies over Satanic Verses, and MF Hussain's painting of Bharat Mata.advertisementYOUNG CARPENTER TURNED KILLER OVER 'RANGEELA RASOOL'By 1929, Mahashe Rajpal had dodged two assassination attempts.On April 6, he was stabbed to death in his shop by Ilm-ud-Din, who had travelled from Lahore's walled city carrying a newly bought dagger concealed in his robe.At just 19, Ilm-ud-Din was tried and sentenced to death by hanging."After Ilm-ud-Din was convicted and sentenced to death, his trial lawyer requested Jinnah to represent him during the hearing of his appeal before the Lahore High Court. Jinnah's strategy was to attack the prosecution evidence produced before the trial court as insufficient. He also challenged the death penalty as being too harsh a punishment given the defendant's age," noted Ahmed Assad, in his 2018 book 'A Brief History of the Anti-blasphemy Laws'."But these arguments [by Jinnah] were rejected, and the sentence was affirmed. Ilm-ud-Din was executed and buried on October 31, 1929 in Mianwali. Shortly thereafter, at the request of leading members of the Muslim community, including Allama Muhammad Iqbal, the colonial authorities allowed him to be reburied in Lahore on November 14," he added.For many Muslims, he was no murderer. Ilm-ud-Din, whose appeal was unsuccessfully argued by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was seen as a "ghazi" (warrior for the faith). His funeral procession drew thousands, and both Allama Iqbal and Jinnah attended it.In Pakistan, he is still celebrated. A full-length film glorifying Ilm-ud-Din has even aired on state-run television, PTV.Allama Iqbal not only attended Ilm-ud-Din's funeral but also delivered a graveside eulogy.With tears in his eyes, Iqbal reportedly placed Ilm-ud-Din's body in the grave and said, "This young man left us, the educated men, behind," noted columnist, public speaker, and activist Avatans Kumar, in his 2013 piece in The Times of India.THREE LEADERS, THREE RESPONSES: GANDHI'S GRIEF, JINNAH'S DEFENCE, IQBAL'S PRAISEGandhi, who had earlier denounced the contents of 'Rangeela Rasool', later responded to the publisher's killing by comparing it to the Assembly bombing by Bhagat Singh.In Young India (June 1924), Gandhi called the book "highly offensive" and asked, "What the motive could possibly be except to inflame passion?" He wrote that it had "no value whatsoever" for religious discourse. After the 1929 assassination of publisher Mahashe Rajpal, Gandhi compared the act to the Assembly bombing by Bhagat Singh, saying both followed the "same philosophy of mad revenge and impotent rage". He rejected violence as a means of protest or justice.Rajpal, meanwhile, is remembered in Arya Samaj and broader Hindutva circles as a martyr for free speech.In response to the incident, the British swiftly passed Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code in 1927, making deliberate and malicious insult to the religious beliefs of any class of citizens a criminal offence. The blasphemy law, born out of outrage, murder, and communal protests, remains in place in India to this day -- just like communal divisions and the failure to contain extremism do.- EndsMust Watch