Badruddin Tyabji was an Indian activist, lawyer, and politician. He was the third President of the Indian National Congress from 1887 to 1888. Badruddin Tyabji was the first Indian to practice as a barrister of the High Court of Bombay. He was the first Indian to hold the post of Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court.
In 1874, he founded the Anjuman-i-Islam College in Bombay. Today it has more than eighty institutions from pre-primary schools to graduate and postgraduate level.
Badruddin Tyabji's Early Life and Background
- Name : Badruddin Tyabji
- Birthday : 10th Oct, 1844 in Bombay
- Father Name : Mullah Tyab Ali Bhai Mian
- Mother Name : Ameena
- Wife Name : Rahat-un-Nafs
- Death : 19th Aug, 1906 in London
Badruddin Tyabji was born on 10 October,1844 in Bombay. His father was a scion of an old Cambay emigrant Arab family and a member of the Sulaimani Bohra community. He was inspired to join the bar by his elder brother Camruddin, was the first Indian solicitor admitted in England and Wales.
He joined the Elphinstone Institution in Bombay after learning Urdu and Persian at Dada Makhra's Madrassa. In April 1860 Tyabji went to England to study at the Newbury High Park College. Then he went to London University and the Middle Temple in 1863.
He returned to Bombay in late 1864 because he was suffering from deteriorating eyesight but in lste 1865, he resumed his studies at the Middle temple. While in India he married to Rahat-un-Nafs. In 1867 he was called to the bar.
Career
In 1867 Badruddin Tyabji returned to Bombay and became the first Indian barrister in the High Court of Bombay. In 1873, he was nominated to the Bombay Municipal Corporation. Between 1875-1905 he was the member of University of Bombay's senate.
In 1882, he was appointed to the Bombay Legislative Council but he resigned in1886 due to health problem. In 1885, he founded the Bombay Presidency Association alongside Pherozeshah Mehta and Kashinath Trimbak Telang.
Badruddin Tyabji was made a judge of the Bombay High Court in June 1895. He was the first Muslim and the third Indian to hold that position. He became the first Indian to hold the post of Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court in 1902.
Political Involvement
In 1885, he starts working for the Indian National Congress party. Badruddin Tyabji and his brother Camruddin were among the founding members of the Congress party's core team. He works to gain support from both Hindus and Muslims. He was elected as the third President of the Congress between 1887-1888 and he works on uniting the Muslim community.
Badruddin Tyabji found the Islam Club and the Islam Gymkhana for social interaction among the city's Muslims. At the 1888 Allahabad Congress session, he introduced Resolution No. XIII to bring Muslims closer to Indian National Congress. He was against the Zenana system.
Many Muslim leaders criticise BAdruudin Tyabji and were still doubtful of Congress's ability to represent them. Despite these criticisms, he continued to believe in Congress. In a speech of 1887 Madras Congress, Badruddin Tyabji stated to the group that, "I, at least--not merely in my personal capacity but on behalf of the Anjuman-i-Islam of Bombay--do not see anything which should induce any one community--be they Hindus, Musalmans, Parsis, or Christians--to stand apart from the others in their efforts to obtain those great general reforms, those great general rights which should be granted to us all - to be earnestly and unanimously pressed upon government."
Death
In 1906, Badruddin Tyabji died in London due to heart attack.
Badruddin Tyabji was the first Muslim to establish a secular political consciousness, and he was a national pioneer in making it the Indian ideal.
