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Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah

Sheikh Abdullah
شیخ محمد عبد اللہ
Sheikh Abdullah.jpg
Sheikh Abdullah
4th Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir
In office
25 February 1975 – 26 March 1977
Succeeded by Governor's rule
In office
9 July 1977 – 8 September 1982
Preceded by Governor's rule
Succeeded by Farooq Abdullah
2nd Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir
In office
5 March 1948 – 9 August 1953
Preceded by Mehr Chand Mahajan
Succeeded by Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad
Member of Constituent Assembly of India
In office
9 December 1946 – 24 January 1950
Personal details
Born 5 December 1905
Soura, Kashmir and Jammu, British India
Died 8 September 1982 (aged 76)
Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Political party Jammu & Kashmir National Conference
Spouse(s) Begum Akbar Jahan Abdullah
Children Farooq Abdullah, Suraiya Abdullah Ali
Alma mater Islamia College Lahore
Aligarh Muslim University
Religion Islam

Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah (Urdu: شیخ محمد عبد اللہ‎) (Born, 5 December 1905 – Died, 8 September 1982) was an Indian politician who played a central role in the politics of Jammu and Kashmir, the northernmost Indian state. The self-styled "Sher-e-Kashmir" (Lion of Kashmir), Abdullah was the founding leader of the National Conference and thrice served as the head of government in Kashmir. He agitated against the rule of the Maharaja Hari Singh and urged self-rule for Kashmir.

He was the Prime Minister of the state of Jammu and Kashmir after its accession to India in 1947 and was later jailed and exiled. He was dismissed from the position of Prime Ministership on 8 August 1953 and Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad was appointed as the new Prime Minister. The expressions ‘Sadar-i-Riyasat’ and ‘Prime Minister’ were replaced with the terms ‘Governor’ and ‘Chief Minister’ in 1965. Sheikh Abdullah again became the Chief Minister of the state following the 1974 Indira-Sheikh accord and remained in the top slot till his death on 8 September 1982.

Sheikh Abdullah was born in Soura, a village on the outskirts of Srinagar, eleven days after the death of his father Sheikh Mohammed Ibrahim. His father was a middle class manufacturer and trader of Kashmiri shawls. He was a descendent of a Kashmiri Pandit named Ragho Ram Kaul, who was converted to Islam in 1722 by the saint Rashid Balkhi and after conversion changed his name to Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, as per Abdullah's autobiography Atish-e-Chinar.

According to Sheikh Abdullah, his step brother mistreated his mother and his early childhood was marked by utter poverty. His mother was keen that her children should receive proper education and, so, as a child, he was first admitted to a traditional school or Maktab where he learnt the recitation of the Koran and some basic Persian texts like Gulistan of Sa'di, Bostan, Padshanama, etc. Then in 1911 he was admitted to a primary school where he studied for about two years.


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