Mazharul Haque was born at Bahpura in Bihar on 22 December 1866. After his early education at  Patna  and  Lucknow, he proceeded to England for higher education. In England he came in contact with Mahatma Gandhi, Ali Imam and Sachchidanand Sinha. He formed the Anjuman-i-Islamia, a society for Indian students in England. He was called to the Bar in 1891, returned home and was appointed a Munsif in Awadh. After a few years, he resigned and started practice  at  Chapra. He did notable relief work during the famine in Saran District in 1897.

Mazharul Haque's public life commenced with the organisation of the Bihar Provincial Conference in the first decade of this century. He advocated the constitution of Bihar as a separate Province. A staunch nationalist, Haque vehemently opposed the separate electorate scheme particularly  in  the  local  bodies. But once introduced, he accepted it as a temporary evil. Under the  new  system  he was elected to the Imperial Legislative Council. He organised the Home Rule Movement in Bihar and  was its President in 1916. He also took active part in the Champaran Satyagraha in 1917. The most fruitful phase of his political career began with the Non-Cooperation and Khilafat Movements. He joined them with sincerity and enthusiasm giving up his lucrative practice and withdrawing from the Council's elections. He gradually got disillusioned with the idea of self-rule under the Crown and advocated complete Independence as "the birthright of every Nation". An ardent believer in democratic decentralisation, he  organised the Panchayats in Saran District.  An  advocate of compulsory and free primary education,  Haque suggested the formation of Education Leagues to induce people to send their children to school and pleaded for greater educational facility in the State.

In 1921, he started 'The Motherland', an English weekly (later bi-weekly) which soon became a mouthpiece of the Non-­Cooperation Movement. Besides being a journalist, he was also a poet and a writer. He helped in the foundation of the Bihar National College in 1925 and was elected Vice-Chancellor  of  Bihar Vidyapeeth which was set up to co-ordinate the activities of the new national institutions in the Province. At about the same time, he founded the Sadaqat Ashram which functioned as the headquarters of the Congress in  Bihar.

Mazharul Haque was an ardent champion of communal harmony and regarded it as his "life's work" and the "question­-of-questions" on whose successful solution depended the Swarajya. During the last few years of his life, he retired from politics. He died in his home, 'Ashiana' on 2 January 1930.

Indian P & T Department is privileged to issue a commemorative postage stamp in his honour.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India