Table of content

 Definition
 Background
 causes
 objectives
 Treaty of Sevres
 khilafat delegation
 non-cooperation movement
 hijrat movement
 Moplah uprising
 Chauri Chaura incident
 end of khilafat movement
 results of khilafat movement
 conclusion
Definition:

It was an Indian Muslim movement. It aimed to rouse public opinion against the harsh

treatment towards the Ottoman empire after World War I and specifically against the treatment

of the Ottoman sultan and caliph (khalifa). The movement began in 1919 and, under the

leadership of the Ali brothers, Muhammad Ali (1878–1931) and Shaukat Ali (1873–1938),

assumed a mainly political character in alliance with the Indian National Congress, adopting the

non-cooperation program in May 1920. The Khilafat movement had considerable support from

Muslims but was extinguished in 1924 after the abolition of the caliphate by Atatürk.

It 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 (1919–1924) was an agitation on the part of some Indian

Muslims, allied with the Indian nationalist movement, during the years following World War I.

Its purpose was to pressure the British government to preserve the authority of the Ottoman

sultan as caliph of Islam. Integral to this was the Muslims' desire to influence the treaty-making

process following the war in such a way as to restore the 1914 boundaries of the Ottoman

empire. The British government treated the Indian Khilafat delegation of 1920, headed by

Muhammad Ali, as quixotic Pan-Islamists, and did not change its policy toward Turkey. The

Indian Muslims' attempt to influence the treaty provisions failed, as the European powers went

ahead with territorial adjustments, including the institution of mandates over formerly Ottoman

Arab territories.
Background:

Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II (1842–1918) launched his Pan-Islamist program in a bid

to protect the Ottoman Empire from Western attack and dismemberment, and to crush the
democratic opposition at home. He sent an emissary, Jamal Uddin Afghani, to India in the late
19th century. The cause of the Ottoman monarch evoked religious passion and sympathy amongst
Indian Muslims. Being a caliph, the Ottoman sultan was nominally the supreme religious and
political leader of all Sunni Muslims across the world. However, this authority was never
actually used.
A large number of Muslim religious leaders began working to spread awareness and
develop Muslim participation on behalf of the caliphate. Muslim religious leader Maulana
Mahmood Hasan attempted to organize a national war of independence against the British with
support from the Ottoman Empire.
Abdul Hamid II was forced to restore the constitutional monarchy marking the start of
the Second Constitutional Era by the Young Turk Revolution. He was succeeded by his
brother Mehmed V (1844–1918) but following the revolution, the real power in the Ottoman
Empire lay with the nationalists. The movement was a topic in Conference of London (February
1920); however, nationalist Arabs saw it as threat of continuation of Islamic dominance of Arab
lands.
After the First World War in 1918, British and its allied powers decided to divide Turkey
among themselves. Turkey supported Germany in the First World War. Germany lost the war and
Turkey had to face the music. British and its allies also resolved to dissolve the designation of
Khilafat. The designation of Khilafat always remained holy and sacred in the Muslim history.
Khalifa is considered the vicegerent of Allah on the Earth. Therefore, the Muslims became
infuriated on this unholy act of the British government. Maulana Mohammad Ali Johar and
Maulana Shaukat Ali Johar along with other Muslim leaders started a movement called the
Khilafat movement.
The Khilafat Movement was started to save the Ottoman Empire and it extended to India
against the British power. During the 1st world war, Turkey helped Germany to war against
British. The Khilafat Movement expanded to South Asia under the leadership of Ali brothers.
In 1920 British imposed a harsh treaty on the Turkish sultan or khilafa. People got furious
about this as they have been about the jalianwala bagh massacre.
Also Indian Muslims were keen that khilafa be allowed to control over Muslim sacred
places as British removed khilafat to control over sacred places khilafat movement was started.
Causes:
Fears of Muslim disunity were aroused by the decline of the Ottoman Empire the
preeminent Islamic power whose sultan, as caliph, was seen by pan-Islamists as the leader of the
worldwide Muslim community. The caliphate was endangered first by Italian attacks (1911) and
the Balkan Wars (1912–13) and later by the empire’s defeat in World War I (1914–18).
 Fears of the loss of the caliphate were intensified by the Treaty of Sevres (August 1920),
which dismembered the empire, not only detaching all non-Turkish regions from the empire but
also giving parts of the Turkish homeland to Greece and other non-Muslim powers.

A campaign in defense of the caliphate was launched, led in India by the brothers Shaukat

Ali and Muhammad Ali and by Abdul Kalam Azad. The leaders joined forces with Mahatma
Gandhi’s noncooperation movement for Indian freedom, promising nonviolence in return for his
support of the Khilafat movement. In 1920 the latter movement was marred by the ḥijrat (Urdu:
“exodus”; recalling Muhammad’s Hijrah from Mecca) from India to Afghanistan of about
18,000 Muslim peasants, who felt that India was an apostate land. It was also tarnished by the
Muslim Malabar rebellion in south India in 1921, the excesses of which deeply stirred Hindu
India. Gandhi’s suspension of his movement and his arrest in March 1922 weakened the Khilafat
movement still further. It was further undermined when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk drove the
Greeks from western Asia Minor in 1922 and deposed the Turkish sultan Mehmed VI in the
same year. The movement finally collapsed when Atatürk abolished the caliphate altogether in
1924.

The treatment meted out by the British government to the Caliph of Turkey disturbed the
Indian Muslims as he was seen as the irreligious head. As a result, they started
the Khilafat Movement.

Gandhi saw this as an opportunity to achieve the much desired Hindu-Muslim unity. He
advised the Khilafat Committee to adopt a policy of non-cooperation with the British
government. The Khilafat leaders agreed and campaigned accordingly. Thus,
the Khilafat Movement furthered the cause of the Non-cooperation Movement.
The Rowlatt Act of 1919 authorised the British government to arrest and imprison any
person without trial and convict him in a court. Also, the Act implied severe restrictions on
movements of individuals and suspension of the Right of Habeas Corpus. This was seen as a
major breach of trust by Indians who were expecting the British to deliver on their promise of
providing self-government. Gandhi appealed to the Viceroy to withhold his consent to the Act
but his plea fell on deaf ears.
The Jalianwala Bagh massacre and the subsequent British reaction to it was a watershed
event in the Indian freedom struggle. It led to a huge furor all over the country and hardened the
Congress resolve to attain self-government.
The Rowlatt satyagraha had been a widespread movement, it was still limited mostly to
cities and towns. Gandhi now felt the need to launch a more broad-based movement in India
which finally resulted in the launching of the Non Cooperation movement. 
Objectives:
The objectives of khilafat movement was to protect the Holy place of Turkey and to restore
the Territories of Turkey to restore the Ottoman Empire.

The Khilafat issue was not directly linked to Indian politics but it provided the immediate
declaration to the movement and gone and added advantage of cementing Hindu-Muslim unity
against the British.The Khilafat Movement was against dismemberment of Turkey.
 The British attempt at clipping the power of the Sultan of Turkey and fragmentation of his
territory after the World War I aroused publics are against British in India. In early 1919 a
Khilafat Committee was famed. It demanded first that the Khalifa’s control over Muslim sacred
places should be restored and secondly, he should be left with sufficient territories.

Initially the Khilafat leaders limited their actions to meeting, petitions deputations in favor
of the Khilafat. However, later on a militant trend emerges demanding an active agitation such as
stopping all cooperation with the British. The All India Khilafat Conference held in Delhi in
November 1919, a call made for Boycott of British goods.

The Khilafat leaders also clear spilt out that unless peace terms after the war were
favorable to Turkey, they would stop all cooperation with the government. The movement
succeeded in bringing a radical nationalist trend among the Muslim youth. It made traditional
Muslim scholars critical of the British.

The Congress-support made it inter-religious and mass based. Its most important success
was that it ensured Hindu-Muslim unity which was inevitable for the success of freedom
struggle. The Khilafat issue, however, lost its value and merged along the Non-cooperation
Movement of 1921.

The other objectives of Khilafat Movement were to protect the Usmania Khilafat of
Turkey the protection of sacred and religious places of Muslims i.e. BAT-ULMUQADDAS.
The protection of limits of Turkey if it is defeated in the world war.
Treaty of Sevres:
The Treaty of Sevres (French: Traité de Sèvres) was a 1920 treaty signed between
the Allies of World War I and the Ottoman Empire. The treaty ceded large parts of Ottoman
territory to France, the United Kingdom, Greece and Italy and created large occupation zones
within the Ottoman Empire. It was one of a series of treaties that the Central Powers signed with
the Allied Powers after their defeat in World War I. Hostilities had already ended with
the Armistice of Mudros.
The treaty was signed on 10 August 1920 in an exhibition room at the Manufacture
nationale de Sèvres porcelain factory in Sèvres, France.
The Treaty of Sèvres marked the beginning of the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire and
the dismemberment of the empire. The treaty's stipulations included the renunciation of most
territory not inhabited by Turkish people and their cession to the Allied administration.
The ceding of Eastern Mediterranean lands saw the introduction of novel polities, including the
British Mandate for Palestine and the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon.
The terms stirred hostility and Turkish nationalism. The treaty's signatories were stripped of their
citizenship by the Grand National Assembly, led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, which ignited
the Turkish War of Independence. Atatürk led the Turkish nationalists in the war to defeat the
combined armies of the signatories of the Treaty of Sèvres. The 1923 Treaty of Lausanne saw
the establishment of the Republic of Turkey.
Khilafat delegation:
The khilafat delegation left for England in march 1919 under the leadership of Maulana
Mohammed Ali Johar and met the Prime Minister Lloyd George. The Prime minster refused to
accept any arguments extended by the Khilafat Delegation and it failed without achieving its
purpose. While the delegation was still in Europe the terms of the treaty of Severs with turkey
was announced. According to these terns; institution of Khilafat was abolished. Turkey was
reduced only to Turkish origin area. Allied divided the non-Turkish part of Ottoman Empire
among themselves.
Non-cooperation movement:
The Non-cooperation movement was launched on 5th September, 1920 by Mahatma
Gandhi with the aim of self-governance and obtaining full independence as the Indian National
Congress (INC) withdraw its support for British reforms following the Rowlatt Act of 20 March
1919, and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 13 April 1919.
The Rowlatt Act in March 1919, suspended the rights of defendants in sedition trials, was
seen as a "political awakening" by Indians and as a "threat" by the British. Although it was never
invoked and declared void just a few years later, the Act motivated Gandhi to conceive the idea
of satyagraha (truth), which he saw as synonymous with independence. This idea was also
authorised the following month by Jawaharlal Nehru, for who the massacre also endorsed “the
conviction that nothing short of independence was acceptable”.
Gandhi's planning of the non-cooperation movement included persuading all Indians to
withdraw their labour from any activity that "sustained the British government and economy in
India", including British industries and educational institutions. In addition to promoting “self-
reliance” by spinning khadi, buying Indian-made goods only and doing away with English
clothes, Gandhi ‘s non-cooperation movement called for the restoration of the Khilafat in Turkey
and the end to untouchability. The resulting public held meetings and strikes (hartals) led to the
first arrests of both Jawaharlal Nehru and his father, Motilal Nehru, on 6 December 1921.
It was one of the movements for Indian independence from British rule and ended, as
Nehru described in his autobiography, "suddenly" in February 1922 after the Chauri Chaura
incident. Subsequent independence movements were the Civil Disobedience Movement and
the Quit India Movement.
This is the act against the British government and loyal to Indians Through non-violent
means or Ahimsa, protesters would refuse to buy British goods, adopt the use of local handicrafts
and picket liquor shops. The ideas of Ahimsa and non-violence, and Gandhi's ability to rally
hundreds of thousands of common citizens towards the cause of Indian independence, were first
seen on a large scale in this movement through the summer of 1920. Gandhi feared that the
movement might lead to popular violence.
Hijrat movement:
Hijrat movement was launched against the aggressive policies of British government and
for the restoration of Ottoman Empire. World War 1 broke out in the year 1914 between Allied
forces and Germany. The Ottoman Empire was very weak and made alliance with Germany.
Muslims of the Indian sub-continent had spiritual attachment with Ottoman Empire and refused
to join Britain in their war against Ottoman Empire. British government promised that they will
fight only against Germany and no harm would be done to the Ottoman Caliphate. When Allied
forces defeated German the promise was broken. In the Treaty of Serves the territory of Ottoman
Empire was distributed between French and Britain and small portion to Turkey. Khilafat
Movement was launched for the restoration of the Ottoman Caliphate, Congress supported the
movement and mass mobilization was at its peak. The British government issued Rowlett Act in
1919, indefinitely extending emergency measures to control public unrest and root out
conspiracies. The British government became more aggressive due to mass mobilization and
arrested Muslims leaders including Ali brothers and Azad. Around thirty thousand Muslims were
detained. In the meanwhile, Jallian Bagh incident occurred whose purpose was to demand the
release of Muslims prisoners. Hijrat movement was the result of intolerable behavior of British
government.
When Khilafat movement was at its peak, in the meantime a voice arose from Lucknow
declaring the India sub-continent as Dar-ul-Harb (home of war), urging the Muslims to migrate
from their homeland on the plea of few Ulama of India as a result of their inability to compete
against the aggressive steps of the British, they ought to go somewhere else. Moulana Abdul
Kalam Azad, Moulana Abdul Bari Farangi, Moulana Muhammad Ali and Moulana Abdul
Majeed Sindhi issued a Fatwa which declared migration from India Dar-ul-Harb (home of war)
to Dar-ul-Aman (home of peace) desirable for the Muslims of India after World War I. Nazims
were appointed in every big city and a central office was established in Delhi known as
Khuddam-ul-Muhajireen to motivate Muslims for migration. Giving importance to the
announcement of Ulema most of the Muslims decided to migrate to the nearest Muslim country
Afghanistan, which was thought a suitable for their shelter. Muslims of the Indian sub-continent
were unable to spend their life according to teachings of Islam and Islamic culture under British
rule. Hijrat movement was considered such an important virtue that the Muslims were not even
made to hear a minor word in opposition of the movement and it became so dominant that even
Non-cooperation Movement paled before it.
Moplah uprising:
The Congress and Khilafat movement was organized in massive proportion in the
Malabar district of Kerala. The majority of population of most of the Talukas of that district
were Moplah Muslims. They were mostly poor peasants or Jenmis (Bonded labour) while the
landlords were mostly Hindus. Before 1921, the British rulers had almost always turned the
anger of Moplah peasants into communal lines and defeated them. This time Mahatma Gandhi
and Maulana Shaukat Ali jointly toured Kerala and propagated for Swaraj and Khilafat. The
response was tremendous and Khilafat committees were formed almost everywhere.
In August, 1921, the police issued rule 144 in the two Talukas of Ernad and
Valluvamad, because these two were strongholds of the Moplas. The police also tried to arrest
on 20th August 1921, the Secretary of the Ernad Khilafat Committee. The Moplas resisted this
arrest with swords and spears. Led by the Police Superintendent of Ernad, a huge police party
forcibly entered the Tirurangadi Masjid. At once, the protest movement spread like wild fire
and took the character of a mass rebellion. The Moplas captured police thanas one after
another, looted Government treasury and burnt official documents in the courts and the
Registry offices. Led by desperate rebel leaders like Ali Musaliar, the Moplah rebellion took
unprecedented form. According to historians of the Congress movement in Kerala by
28th August, 1921, the British rule totally collapsed in the areas of Malappuras, Tirurangadi,
Sazeri and Perinthalmanna. Historian Roland Miller wrote that while British controlled the
main cities, the entire rural area of Malabar was completely controlled by the Moplah rebels
for 3 whole months. More than a million people in 220 sub districts were involved in this
mass uprising. 
The British Government invoked Marshal Law to crush the rebellion. Then started the
reign of terror. An instance is the episode of 19 th November, 1921. On that day in a small
compartment of a train, 122 Moplas were packed like Sardines and were taken to Coimbatore,
90 miles away. At Coimbatore, when the doors of the compartment were opened, it was found
that 64 prisoners had been suffocated to death. All told at least 10,000 Moplas were killed in
the name of crushing down the rebellion and 3,000 more were sentenced to transportation for
life and shipped off to the Andamans. Except the revolt of 1857 and the Santhal revolt prior to
that so many people had never been killed by the British in any other single movement. Many
Hindus had also participated in the Moplah rebellion. No Hindu leader or even leaders of the
joint movement were allowed to enter the area during the rebellion. Among the 1 st 46 Moplah
rebels given life sentences, side by side with Maid Maulavi, Mahammad Abdul Rahman and
Hassan Koya were one Namboodri, one Menon, one Nayar and Narayan Menon, Madhaba
Nabi.
Chauri Chaura incident:
The Chauri Chaura incident took place at Chauri Chaura in the Gorakhpur district of
the United Province, (modern Uttar Pradesh) in British India on 4 February 1922, when a large
group of protesters, participating in the Non-cooperation movement, clashed with police, who
opened fire. In retaliation the demonstrators attacked and set fire to a police station, killing all of
its occupants. The incident led to the deaths of three civilians and 22 policemen. Mahatma
Gandhi, who was strictly against violence, halted the non-co-operation movement on the national
level on 12 February 1922, as a direct result of this incident.[1] Two days before the incident, on 2
February 1922, volunteers participating in the Non-co-operation Movement led by a retired
Army soldier named Bhagwan Ahir, protested against high food prices and liquor sale in the
marketplace. The demonstrators were beaten back by the local police. Several of the leaders were
arrested and put in the lock-up at the Chauri Chaura police station. In response to this, a protest
against the police was called on 4 February, to be held at the local marketplace.
On 4 February, approximately 2,000 to 2,500 protesters assembled and began marching towards
the market at Chauri Chaura. They had gathered to picket a liquor shop in the market place.
Their leader was arrested, beaten and put in jail. Part of the crowd gathered in front of the local
police station shouting slogans demanding the release of their leader. Armed police were
dispatched to control the situation while the crowd marched towards the market and started
shouting anti-government slogans. In an attempt to frighten and disperse the crowd, the police
fired warning shots into the air. This only agitated the crowd who began to throw stones at the
police.
With the situation getting out of control, the Indian sub-inspector in charge ordered the police to
open fire on the advancing crowd, killing three and wounding several others. Reports vary on the
reason for the police retreat, with some suggesting that the constables ran out of ammunition
while others claimed that the crowd's unexpectedly assertive reaction to the gunfire was the
cause. In the ensuing chaos, the heavily outnumbered police fell back to the shelter of the
police chowki while the angry mob advanced. Infuriated by the gunfire into their ranks, the
crowd set the chowki ablaze, killing all of the Indian policemen and chaprassis (official
messengers) trapped inside. Most were burned to death though several appear to have been killed
by the crowd at the entrance to the chowki and their bodies thrown back into the fire. The death
count is reported variously in the literature as 22 or 23 policemen killed, possibly due to the
subsequent death of an additional burn victim.
End of the khilafat movement:
 Moplah Revolt Malabar Coast, near Kalicut Moplahs were the descendants of the Arab
Muslims settled in the Sub- Continent even before the arrival of Muhammad Bin Qasim.  In
August 1921, they revolted against Hindu landlords whose treatment was very cruel with them.
 Later this clash changed as Moplahs versus the Police and Hindu. This embittered the Hindu-
Muslim relations.  There was an increase in violence day by day and the Chora chori Incident
(UP) in February 1922 worsened the situation.  The Congress volunteers set a police station on
fire and 21 policemen were killed. Gandhi suddenly called off the movement.
Although holding talks with the British and continuing their activities, the Khilafat
movement weakened as Muslims were divided between working for the Congress, the Khilafat
cause and the Muslim League.
The final blow came with the victory of Mustafa Kemal Pasha's forces, who overthrew the
Ottoman rule to establish a progressive, secular republic in independent Turkey. He abolished
the role of caliph and sought no help from Indians.
The Khilafat leadership fragmented on different political lines. Syed Ata Ullah Shah
Bukhari created Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam with the support of Chaudhry Afzal Haq. Leaders such
as Dr. Ansari, Maulana Azad and Hakim Ajmal Khan remained strong supporters of Gandhi and
the Congress. The Ali brothers joined Muslim League. They would play a major role in the
growth of the League's popular appeal and the subsequent Pakistan movement. There was,
however, a caliphate conference in Jerusalem in 1931 following Turkey's abolition of the
Khilafat, to determine what should be done about the caliphate.[17] People from villages such
as Aujla Khurd were the main contributors to the cause.
Results of khilafat movement:
Initially, the movement became successful as it also gained support of the Congress. Due
to imprisonment of important leaders and withdrawal of Non-Cooperation Movement by Gandhi
after Chauri-Chaura incident, its force faded away. The movement became irrelevant as Turkey
itself moved towards secularism and abolished the Caliphate in 1924. The Khilafat Movement
contributed to Indian National Movement by bringing Hindu-Muslim unity in the freedom
struggle.
Khilafat movement was a great Muslim struggle which provided dynamic leadership to
Muslims and established foundations to launch further Muslim freedom movement on stable and
fixed basis. It confirmed to the Muslims that the Hindus mind can never be sincere to the
Muslims. The khilafat movement effectively demonstrated the religious enthusiasm of the
Muslims to the British. The British now seriously felt to give independence to India.
 The khilafat movement also cultivated a new outlook amongst the Muslims not to rely on
others support and wholly depend on self-determination for the achievement of national cause.
The khilafat movement developed a sense concern among the Muslims about their national
matters and inculcated among them the awareness about their future. The Khilafat Movement
strengthened the Two-Nation Theory which become the basis of establishment of Pakistan. The
Khilafat Movement added much to the economic miseries of the Muslims who resigned their
jobs.
Conclusion:  
The Khilafat movement was started to safeguard the Khilafat in Turkey, an issue which
essentially belonged to the Muslims. By the involvement of Hindus, the Movement grew forceful
and there was possibility of meeting the movement with success. The British Government was
the common enemy of the Muslims and Hindus. That is why, both the nations continued united
efforts against it. But the difference between the Hindus and Muslims became even more
pronounced and many other events showed that the opposition of Hindus to British Government
was not lasting. When Khilafat Movement reached at its success, the Hindus especially Mr.
Gandhi gave up from movement and leaved the Muslims alone and caused the failure of
Movement.
The Khilafat movement proved that Hindus and Muslims were two different nations as
they could not continue the unity and could not live together. The Khilafat Movement created
political consciousness among the Indian Muslims, which inspired them to constitute another
movement for then Independence. Thus, they started Pakistan Movement.