Maulana Hasrat Mohani was born in Mohan, U.P., India in 1881. His full name is Syed Fazlul Hasan Hasrat Mohani.
He was a distinguished freedom fighter, a legendary parliamentarian, a revolutionary Muslim and the first activist to demand complete freedom from the British in 1921 from an All –India Congress Forum.
As a renowned Urdu Poet he was an exponent of ‘Jadeed’ ghazal who rejuvenated the genre with fresh and simple images.
Soon after his graduation, from Aligrah Muslim University, he launched the monthly "Urdu-e-Moalla", a Literary-cum-political magazine.
Lack of financing forced him to do the job of editing, printing and publishing himself, but he had the unflinching support of his wife, Nishatunnisa Begum. Due to his anti-British ideas published in Urdu-e-Moalla, this magazine was banned. He was imprisoned. His books and precious documents were confiscated and sold out cheaply but he remained unbending and that was how he lived his life.
"Hai mashq-e-sukhan jaari, chakki ki mashaqqat bhi.
Ik turfa tamasha hai Hasrat ki tabiyet bhi"
In short, Hasrat had a versatile personality. He was a poet, political worker, a visionary, a great journalist and one of the pioneers of Urdu journalism. For him journalism and politics were a sacred mission. As a political worker-cum-journalist-cum-poet, he struggled for the cause of Muslims and other oppressed people. He breathed his last on 13th May, 1951. Some of the books authored by him are:
- Kulliyat-e-Hasrat (Hasrat’s ghazals and poetry)
- Nukaat-e-Sukhan (Important aspects of poetry)
- Mushahidat-e-Zindan (Observations in prison of British Raj)
- Sharah-e-Kalam-e-Ghalib (Explanations of some of the poem of Mirza Ghalib)