When Maulana Azad played sitar at the Taj

Mohammed Wajihuddin Freedom fighter Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1888-1958) spent close to 10 years in British prisons. Out of these, three years (1942-1945) were spent at Ahmed Nagar Fort. The faint-hearted prisoners would have blamed their fortune, complained of the hardships of prison life. Maulana Azad used the time to pour out his heart into writing letters.
No, he didn’t write letters to the government, to God or to any among hundreds of his ardent admirers in the subcontinent. Out of dozens of close friends, he, in those solitary moments, thought of Nawab Sadar Yar Jung Bahadur Maulana Habibur Rahman Khan Sherwani, Nawab of Bhikampur near Aligarh. He kept writing letters to him. The letters were not posted.
Why did Maulana Azad choose Habibur Rahman Khan, out of his legion of friends, to address the letters which were compiled, post-release from prison, as  Ghubar-e-Khatir . It became instant hit and flew off the shelves. These are not just letters. They carry commentaries on life, religion, behaviour of birds nested inside the old fort, change in season and the history of tea. Nobody enjoyed making and sipping tea like Maulana Azad did. The book is a milestone in Urdu prose’s history? So, who was Habibur Rahma Khan to whom Maulana Azad wrote letters from prison? Belonging to the nawab family of Bhikampur, Habibur Rahman Khan’s father Mohammed Taqi Khan built a citadel adjacent to Bhikampur for his son and named it Habib Ganj. The citadel or garhi in Urdu had a beautiful garden and opulent mansions.
Unlike scions of many contemporary Maharajas, Rajas and Nawabs who kept harem and stable where horses of Arab breed received royal treatment, Habibur Rahman Khan had lost his heart to books. He loved reading and writing, prolifically penned prose and poetry and created a rich library that stocked many rare books and manuscripts.
His reputation as a patron of arts, scholars and scholarship spread far and wide. He also headed AMU’s Theology department and the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan, appointed him head of religious affairs of the Hyderabad State. He became even first Vice-Chancellor of Osmania University on its founding in 1919. Acknowledging his love for letters and services, Mir Osman Ali conferred the title of ‘Sadar Yar Jung Bahadur’ on him. Habibur Rahman returned to Habib Ganj in 1930 and got himself associated with several educational institutions and remained engaged in seeking and spreading knowledge till his death in 1950.
Habibur Rahman Khan first met Maulana Azad in 1906 in Lucknow where the latter assisted Maulana Shibli Numani to edit  Al Nadwa,  the mouthpiece of Islamic seminary Nadwatul Ulema. Shibli, after quitting Sir Syed Ahmed Khan’s MAO College in Aligarh had joined the Hyderabad state but returned to Lucknow to edit  Al Nadwa . Shibli was 48 and Maulana Azad 17 when the two first met in Bombay in 1905.  A story has it that when legendary poet and Sir Syed’s biographer Altaf Hussain  Hali  first met Maulana Azad at a function in Lahore, Azad was so young that  Hali  mistook him for his son. He thought Azad had sent his son on his behalf.