Khilafat Movement

Khilafat Movement

Introduction

The Khilafat movement was an agitation by Indian Muslims, allied with Indian nationalists, to pressure the British government to preserve the authority of the Ottoman Sultan as Caliph of Islam after World War I. While seemingly pan-Islamic, the movement was primarily a means of achieving pan-Indian Muslim political mobilization.

The Khilafat movement (1919–22) was a pan-Islamic, political protest campaign launched by Muslims of India to influence the British government not to abolish the Ottoman Caliphate.

The movement collapsed by late 1922 when Turkey gained a more favorable diplomatic position and moved toward secularism. By 1924 Turkey simply abolished the roles of Sultan and Caliph.

After World War I, the Ottoman Empire faced dismemberment. Under the leadership of the Ali Brothers, Maulana Muhammad Ali and Maulana Shaukat Ali, the Muslims of South Asia launched the historic Khilafat Movement to try and save it. Mohandas Karam Chand Gandhi linked the issue of Swaraj with the Khilafat issue to associate Hindus with the movement. The ensuing movement was the first countrywide popular movement.

It had two main demands, which were never accepted:

• Caliph Sultan must retain sufficient territories so that he is able to defend the Islamic Faith.
• The places which are called Jazirat-ul-arab, including the Arabia, Syria, Iraq and Palestine must remain under Muslim suzerainty.
  
  The leaders of the Khilafat Movement joined hands with Indian National Congress for the upcoming Non-cooperation Movement.
  
  Again March 19 1920 was observed as Khilafat Day and following that there was an all party conference in June 1920 at Allahabad. The agenda of the Non-cooperation Movement was finalized.
  The agenda was:
  Boycott of the Titles conferred by the Government Boycott of civil services, army and police and all other Government offices. Non-payment of taxes to the government.

The Khilafat movement came and went very quickly. It had lost its relevance when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk had abolished the Caliphate. The last Caliphate was Abdülmecid II, who was expelled with his family and took asylum in Istanbul (Constantinople), where he spent rest of his life catching butterflies. He died in 1948.

Khilafat Objectives

Muhammad Ali argued that for Muslims to accept mandates over Iraq, Syria and Palestine would amount to a total disregard of the wishes of the Holy Prophet (S. A. W.). Thus the Muslims of India launched the Tehrik-i-Khilafat. The objectives were as follows: 

1. To maintain the Turkish Caliphate. 

2. To protect the holy places of the Muslims.

3. To maintain the unity of the Ottoman Empire.

Support from Hindu leaders

Eminent Hindu personalities in Bengal who supported the Khilafat Movement were Bipin Chandra Pal, Dr Rai Kumar Chakravarty, PC Ghosh, Basanta Kumar Majumdar, Aswini Kumar Dutta, Pyarilal Roy, Gurucharan Aich, Sarat Kumar Gupta, poet Mukunda Das, Nagendra Bhattacharya, Satindra Sen, Dr Tarini Gupta, Sarol Kumar Dutta, Nishi Kanta Ganguly, Monoranjan Gupta, Sarat Kumar Ghosh, Nagendra Bijoy Bhattacharya, Nalini Das, Sailendra Nath Das, Khitish Chandra Roy Chowdhury and numerous others.

Collapsed of Khilafat Movement

The movement collapsed by late 1922 when Turkey gained a more favorable diplomatic position and moved toward secularism. By 1924 Turkey simply abolished the roles of Sultan and Caliph.

The Ali brothers criticized Gandhi's extreme commitment to non-violence and severed their ties with them after he suspended all non-cooperation movement after the killing of 22 policemen at Chauri Chaura in 1922. Due to this Gandhi ji became disturbed and very sad and called off the movement as he always believed in non-violence. However, it is also true that the immediate reason for the disposal of the committee was the much criticized embezzlement of 1.6 million rupees. The Ali brothers were severely criticized by Muslim politicians and the public. Although holding talks with the British and continuing their activities, the Khilafat struggle weakened as Muslims were divided between working for the Congress, the Khilafat cause and the Muslim League. After Hindu-Muslim riots of 1926–1927 many Muslim leaders like Mohammad Akram Khan lost interest in the movement.The final blow came with the victory of Mustafa Kemal's forces, who overthrew the Ottoman rule to establish a pro-Western, secular republic in independent Turkey. He abolished the role of Caliph and sought no help from Indians

Significance and Leadership.

The significance of the Khilafat movement, however, lies less in its supposed pan-Islamism than in its impact upon the Indian nationalist movement. The leaders of the Khilafat movement forged the first political alliance among western-educated Indian Muslims and ‘ulema over the religious symbol of the khilafat (caliphate). 

This leadership included the ‘Ali brothers – Muhammad ‘Ali (1878-1931) and Shaukat ‘Ali (1873-1938) – newspaper editors from Delhi; their spiritual guide Maulana  Abdul Bari (1878-1926) of Firangi Mahal, Lucknow; the Calcutta journalist and Islamic scholar Abu’l Kalam Azad (1888-1958); and Maulana Mahmud ul-Hasan (1851-1920), head of the madrasa at Deoband, in northern India. These publicist-politicians and ‘ulema viewed European attacks upon the authority of the Caliph as an attack upon Islam, and thus as a threat to the religious freedom of Muslims under British rule.

Role of Gandhi in Khilafat Movement

Please note that Gandhi had not called Maulana Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali to launch Khilafat Movement. First the leaders met, and then Published their Khilafat manifesto and after only that there was an unwritten pact between INC and Khilafat Movement to work and cooperate on agitation. Gandhi gave them a call to participate in NCM, because he (Gandhi) thought that it was only remedy for British.

Thanks.
Ali Haider