Abdur Rahim Popalzai II

Maulana Abdur Rahim Popalzai II was a freedom fighter, religious scholar, poet, and journalist in the united India. Born in 1890 in Peshawar, Popalzai spent his entire life in the struggle to liberate the people from slavery and the exploitative capitalist system. Popalzai established a seminary at Masjid Qasim Ali Khan, launched an organization, Nojawanan-i-Sarhad, and a newspaper, Chingari, to educate the people and create awareness among them about their rights. Maulana Abdur Rahim Popalzai led demonstrations against discriminatory laws like the Frontier Crimes Regulation against the people of the province. Maulana Popalzai married in 1918. He had a daughter, Safia Begum, and a son, Abdul Rauf. He died in 1944.

Role in the Freedom movement Popalzai took part in the Khilafat Movement in his teens. He regularly published a journal by the name of Sarfaroosh and remained engaged in the freedom movement against the British throughout his life. With his leftist leanings, he and other "comrades" set up a youth organisation called Nawajan Bharat Sabha. When the British banned Nawajan Baharat Sabha, he was elected head of the Socialist Party. Abdur Rahim Popalzai II played a leading role in the events which lead up to the Qissa Khwani massacre and was sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in the uprising. Popalzai borrowed his anti-imperialist ideology from Maulana Obaidullah Sindhi and Maulana Hussain Ahmed Madani. In 1939, Abdur Rahim Popalzai II protested in Bannu against the British bombing of Waziristan, for which he was sentenced to five years imprisonment.

Political Education He attached himself to the movement of Shah Waliullah under the able leadership of Mahmud-ul-Hassan who trained him on particular lines and introduced him to all the workers of the movement in and outside India. Maulana was very much impressed by the methods and tactics of the Marxists and it was one of the reasons that he was dubbed in his lifetime as "Marxist Maulana".