Abdul Majid Sindhi

Shaikh Abdul Majeed Sindhi (7 July 1889 – 24 May 1978) was a Sindhi writer, journalist and politician, described in the sources as one of Sindh's best-known people's politicians. Born into a Hindu family at Thatta under the name Jetha Nand, he converted to Islam in 1908, built a career in Sindhi journalism as editor of Al-Amin and then of the daily Al-Waheed, took part in the Silk Letter Movement and the Khilafat agitation, and after the separation of Sindh from Bombay was elected to the first Sindh Assembly in 1937 and became a minister in 1940. ^{1 2}

He was born on 7 July 1889 at Thatta, in Sindh, into a Hindu family; his birth name is given as Jetha Nand in the English article and as Jetha Anand in the Urdu article. ^{1 2} He matriculated from Thatta. ¹

The English article has a dedicated section on his conversion: he had been searching since childhood for a mystical path, and on 10 February 1908 he converted to Islam at Hyderabad in Sindh, at the hands of Shaikh Abdul Rahim. ¹ The Urdu article, citing Dawn's Urdu service and the Pakistan Chronicle, tells the same event in slightly different terms: at the age of twenty he accepted Islam at the hands of Abdul Rahim, who gave him the name Abdul Majid, and after protests from Hindus he was sent for a time to Ludhiana before returning to Karachi and then moving to Hyderabad. ² No source read names a school or order for him, and his record therefore records the conversion without a school.

He first worked as a munshi (clerk) for a senior advocate, Mr Deechand Ojha. ¹ At Hyderabad, Rais Ghulam Muhammad Khan Bhurgri made him editor of his newspaper Al-Amin and then his political adviser. ¹ The Urdu article adds that his journalism began with the Sindhi weekly Al-Haq, published from Sukkur. ² In 1924 he became editor of the Daily Al-Waheed, at the time Sindh's only daily newspaper, and used it, in the English article's words, to rouse the Muslim population politically; the Urdu article likewise says he used Al-Waheed to create political awareness among Sindhi Muslims and that he published its noted "Sindh Azad" number after the separation of Sindh. ^{1 2}

He was an active participant in the Silk Letter Movement (Reshmi Rumal Tehrik) led by Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi, and was imprisoned in 1919 for three years. ¹ After addressing an anti-British procession at Larkana in 1920 he was imprisoned again for two years; the Urdu article ties the second imprisonment to a speech against the British in the Khilafat Movement. ^{1 2} On 16 November 1929 he took part in the All-India Muslim League session at Allahabad, the All India Khilafat Conference at Ajmer, the All Parties Muslim Unity Conference and the Azad Sindh Conference at Karachi in 1930. ¹ His efforts for the separation of Sindh from Bombay Presidency, which came about in 1936, are recorded in both articles. ^{1 2}

In the first Sindh Assembly election of 1937 he stood from his own party and, defeating Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto, became a member of the assembly. ¹ In 1940, under the ministry of Mir Bandeh Ali Khan Talpur, he was made a minister in Sindh. ¹ In 1943 he left the Muslim League; the English article adds that he joined the All Pakistan Awami Tehrik associated with Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. ¹

His books, as the English article lists them, are: Fateh Spain, Hazrat Umer Bin Abdul Aziz, Karachi Sindh Khe Milan Ghurje ("Karachi should be joined to Sindh"), Al-Murtaza, Tareekh Jawahir, and Hazrat Ali & Hazrat Umer. ¹

He died on 24 May 1978 at Hyderabad in Sindh, and was buried at the historic Makli graveyard near the grave of the writer Makhdoom Mohammad Hashim Thattvi, as his will directed. ^{1 2} Wikidata gives the death date as 25 May 1978; the two articles agree on 24 May, and their date is the one recorded. ³

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