A Man Of Many Parts: Book Review Of Syed Mahmood: Colonial India's Dissenting Judge

In the late 19th-century Colonial India, a district judge, in Raebareli, ordinarily delivered a judgment in the case of Deputy Commissioner Rae Bareli v. Rampal (1884). The judgment involved the interpretation of an issue relating to the law of Mortgages. The judgment was brimming with erudition and was so reasonably constructed that the members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council tellingly remarked, ''so talented a person should not be wasted in the subordinate judiciary.'' Consequently, the judgment served as a launching pad for the judge and ultimately propelled him to the High Court Judgeship. The judge – in question – was none other than the remarkable Justice Syed Mahmood. In 1887, Syed Mahmood, the younger son of the eminent Indian social reformer, thinker and educationist Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, became the first Muslim and North-Indian to officiate as a permanent judge of a High Court (Allahabad High Court) in British India. In fact, his elevation made him the youngest Indian to don the robes of a High Court Judge – an accomplishment that remains unsurpassed, to this day. Syed Mahmood was not only a legal luminary – a perspicacious judge or a jurist, but was also, an intellectual par excellence, an academician of admirable fineness, a generous philanthropist, and a literary aficionado. He was an accomplished polyglot and polymath in the truest sense of the terms. Although, his invaluable contribution to diverse fields of Indian legal jurisprudence, marked with judicial integrity, unfaltering valour and altruistic approach, has been the hallmark of his legacy. Surprisingly, despite him leaving behind a monumental track record, not enough amount of ink was spilt on his life and work hitherto, save a handful of works, among which Alan M. Guenther's PhD thesis titled ''Syed Mahmood and Transformation of Muslim Law in British India'', submitted to the Islamic Studies of McGill University in Canada in 2004, continues to hold the field. Syed Mahmood: Colonial India's Dissenting Judge Mohammad Nasir and Samreen Ahmed's debut book titled 'SYED MAHMOOD: COLONIAL INDIA'S DISSENTING JUDGE', published in 2022, by Bloomsbury India, is a compelling attempt in this regard, to chronicle the life and work of Justice Syed Mahmood. The book, bordering on the genre of biography, draws upon the primary and secondary sources to lay bare the colossal legacy of Justice Syed Mahmood, which so far had remained cloaked in the mists of time and had only seen scattered documentation. The book offers a holistic view of Syed Mahmood's life, coalescing his professional and personal fields of action. The authors' caveat in the Introduction of the book that ''the biography is neither a hagiography nor an apologia” rings true all over the book. As one courses through the pages, it becomes vividly clear that the authors neither try to exaggerate nor intend to tone down the events that marked Syed Mahmood's life, but rather go on to spotlight these events with acuity and meticulous gaze, riding on a comprehensive body of research work and analytical rigour. The book begins with the foreword by the distinguished judge of the Supreme Court of India, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, whose judicial philosophy is well-known to the legal fraternity, and was recently on display for everyone to see – when he, through his judgment, set aside the Karnataka Government's hijab ban order. Justice Dhulia, in his forward, among other things, outlines various reasons that in his view make Justice Syed Mahmood a remarkable judge, including his scintillating judgments, his resounding dissents, and inter alia, his litigant-friendly approach within a specific social and political milieu. However, one might still pause, and ask – but what makes Justice Syed Mahmood, as a judge, so special to deserve a biography after so many years have passed? Or, were there not many judges in the past demonstrating similar characteristics as his; what exactly makes him stand out? Or, what distinction he holds, to rivet our attention and occupy a space in the annals of Indian legal history? Well, the answer to all these questions is spelled out in the book, and to a large extent, is mirrored by the title of the book itself – ''Colonial India's Dissenting Judge.'' This signals that Justice Mahmood had to serve and function as a judge during the colonial era, that is, within a limited legal framework and sans a 'democratic constitution'. Those were the times when the judiciary was considered the weakest branch of the state as it ''possessed neither the power of the purse nor the power of the sword.'' Despite such systematic and structural fetters, Justice Syed Mahmood showed exemplary courage and conviction. He never shied away from handing down impartial, and bold judicial pronouncements. He never flinched from ''resisting colonial power by espousing the cause of judicial...

A Man Of Many Parts: Book Review Of Syed Mahmood: Colonial India's Dissenting Judge

Amjed Ashraf Malla

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