Khilafat Movement (1919-1922)

The Khilafat movement was a very important event in the political history of India. The
Muslims of India had a great regard for the Khilafat (Caliphate) which was held by the
Ottoman Empire. During World War I, the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) joined the war in
favour of Germany. But Turkey and Germany lost the war and a pact commonly known
as Istanbul Accord was concluded between the Allied Forces on 3 rd November 1918.
According to this Pact the territories of Turkey were to be divided among France,
Greece and Britain.

During the war the Indian Muslims were in a very awkward position, because they had a
deep-rooted devotion to the caliphate. They had profound respect for this holy
institution. Therefore, their support to the British Government was subject to the
safeguard and protection of the holy places of Turkey and on the condition that Turkey
will not to be deprived of its territories. But the British Government could not fulfill both
of these promises. The Treaty of Savers 1920 was imposed on Turkey and its territories
like Samarna, Thrace and Anatolia were wrested from it and distributed among
European countries. A wave of anger swept across the Muslin World and the Indian
Muslims rose against the British Government. Muslim leaders like Maulana Abdul
Kalam Azad, Moulana Muhammad Ali Johar, Moulana Shoukat Ali and others reacted
against the British Government policy and were put behind the bars.

Thus, Muslims organized a mass movement, which came to be known as Khilafat

Movement. The aims of this movement were

(a) To protect the Holy place of Turkey

(b) To restore the Territories of Turkey

(c) To restore the Ottoman Empire.

In December 1919 both the Khilafat Committee and Congress held their meetings
simultaneously at Amritsar and a delegation was prepared which was sent to England
under the leadership of Maulana Mohammad Ali Johar to see the British Prime Minister,
Cabinet Member and Members of Parliament and to explain the Indian point of view
regarding the Khilafat. The delegation visited England in 1920. The leaders of the
delegation addressed the House of Commons and saw the British Prime Minister, Lloyd
George who paid no heed to the delegations demand. The delegation stayed at London
for eight months and won many hearts and sympathies of people in Britain delivering
speeches. However, the delegation returned to India unsuccessful in October 1920.

After the unsuccessful visit to England the leaders of Khilafat Movement realized the
fact that British were not in the mood to help them. Therefore, they realized that a new
strategy needed to be adopted in order to reinvigorate the zest and zeal for freedom
among a general populace. With this aim they decided to launch a movement of Non
Co-operation. When the leaders of Khilafat movement announced the Non Co-operation
Movement, the Congress extended its full support to the Khilafat Movement. The
leaders of the two met at Amritsar and resolved to launch a country wide agitation under
the leadership of Mr. Gandhi. The agitation was against the British government. The
Jamiat-ul-Ulama Hind issued a Fatwa of Tark-e-Mawalat. The following points were
included in it:

1.         Renunciation of all Government titles.

2.         Boycott of legislature and court.

3.         Withdrawal of student’s from educational institutions.

4.         Resignation from government posts.

5.         General civil disobedience.

As a result of this proclamation of fatwa, hundreds of thousands people returned the

titles and stopped sending their children to government schools and colleges. All those
highly educated young men who could have rose to high government positions bade
farewell to their bright future and accepted ordinary jobs in the private sector. The
vacuum created in government offices was joyfully filled in by Hindus, while the Muslim
government employees willingly accepted starvation for the sake of the Muslim cause.

Under the hypnotism of Mr. Gandhi, Muslim ulama had issued a verdict and declared
India as Dar-ul-Harab and the Muslims therefore needed to migrate to some other
country or Dar-ul-Salam. Thousands of families sold out their properties for a tenth of
their value and hastily left for Afghanistan, in August 1920. As many as eighteen
thousand people marched towards Afghanistan, which was unable to bear the influx of
the people. Thus, the Afghan authorities closed their frontiers. Eventually the
Muhajarins had to return to their homes. A great number of old man, women and
children died on their way during returning to homes and those who luckily reach alive
their former places. They found themselves homeless and penniless. In fact they faced
great difficulties. Even the preachers of Khilafat Movement realized the fact.

In January 1921, nearly three thousands students of various colleges and schools
boycotted their classes and a number of teachers most of them were Muslims tendered
their resignation. The Movement became so powerful that the Government was obliged
to pay attention to the problem. The British Government invited Seth Jan-Muhammad
Chutani, the President of Khilafat conference to visit London to discuss the issue. A
delegation under has leadership visited London and discussed the sentiment of Muslims
but the delegation also returned unsuccessfully.

The Khilafat Movement came to an end when thousands of Indians were put behind the
bar. The leaders in spite of their best efforts could not maintain the Hindu-Muslim Unity.
One of the main reasons which caused a death blow to Khilafat Movement was the
indirect announcement of Gandhi to discontinue the Non Co-operation Movement.
Gandhi used an incident of arson on February 1922, when a violent mob set on fire a
police choki at Chora Churi at district Gorakpur, burning twenty one constables to death
as an excuse to call off the non-cooperation movement. It adversely affected the
Khilafat Movement which thought to be integral part of movement. In 1924, Kamal
Ataturk set up a government on democratic basis in Turkey by abolishing Khilafat as a
system of government which served a finishing blow to Khilafat Movement in India and
people had lost whatever interest that they had in the movement.

Failure of the Movement:

1.         The abolition of Khilafat by Kamal Ataturk was a serious blow on Khilafat
movement in the sub-continent and he exiled Sultan Abdul Majeed, a helpless Caliph
and abolished Khilafat as an institution, due to this all agitational activities came to an
end in the Sub-continent.

2.         The Hijrat Movement made the Muslims disillusioned with the Khilafat
Movement due to the declaration of India as Darul-Harab. A large number of Muslims
migrated from Sindh and N.W.F.P to Afghanistan. The Afghan authorities did not allow
them to cross the border. After this tragic event those who had advocated the Hijrat
movement come to realize their mistake which resulted in failure of movement.
 

3.         When Khilafat movement became mature and was reaching its climax. A tragic
incident took place in the village of Chora Churi in which the police opened fire on the
procession of local resident. The agitated mob in counteraction set the police station on
fires which in result twenty one police constables were burnt alive. Due to this incident
the Ali brother and other Muslim leader were arrested and Mr. Gandhi put off the
movement. As a consequence the movement lost its intensity.

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.

llahabad Address (1930)

In this address, Allama Iqbal gave the lucid explanation of the inner feeling of the
Muslims of India. He narrated the basic principles of the Islam and loyalties of the
Muslims to their faith. He gave the idea and concept about a separate homeland in this
address because the Muslim were a nation and had a right that they got the
identification and passed their lives in order to the Islamic principles. Due to these
reasons, he expressed his thoughts in this address.
There were many reasons which caused Muslims to think about the separate homeland
and compelled to protect the rights of the Muslim. There was a two branched attack on
the Muslim interests. On the one side, Hindus were creating the restrictions in the way
of the Muslim and hurting the feeling of the Muslim to propose the Nehru report as the
ultimate constitution for India. On the other side, the British government totally ignored
the Muslim’s rights and other facilities were not being provided to them. They were
ignored in every field of life, especially in education and government.
In that critical condition, Allama Muhammad Iqbal realized that these eccentric problems
of the Muslims in North West India needed to be addressed. In order to solve these
problems, Allama Iqbal pointed a line of action.
In his address, Allama Iqbal explained that Islam was the major and determining factor
in the life of Indian Muslims. He defined the Muslims of India as a nation and
recommended there could be no possibility of peace in India without recognizing them
as one. Unless the Muslims are considered as a nation and their rights are protected, it
is impossible to establish peace and order in the land. Because there are many nations
in the land, every nation is distinguished from the other in their customs, traditions and
religion. The difference in the mind, difference in thoughts and religion furthermore,
difference in the customs and tradition make them unable to live together. So in these
condition, it is essential that Muslim have a separate homeland as without a separate
homeland they might face many difficulties for the rest of their life in united India.
As the permanent solution to the Muslim Hindus problem, Iqbal proposed that Punjab,
North West Frontier province, Baluchistan, and Sindh should be converted into one
state. He expressed that the northwestern part of the country should be established to
unite as a self-governed unit, within or without the British Empire.
Islam and Nationalism
In his address, Allama Iqbal explained that Islam was the major formative factor in the
life history of Indian Muslims. It furnished those basic emotions and loyalties, which
gradually unify scattered individuals and groups and finally transform them into a well-
defined people, possessing a moral consciousness of their own.
He defined the Muslims of India as a nation and suggested that there could be no
possibility of peace in the country unless and until they were recognized as a nation. He
claimed that the only way for the Muslims and Hindus to prosper in accordance with
their respective cultural values was under a federal system where Muslim majority units
were given the same privileges that were to be given to the Hindu majority units. In this
section, Iqbal addressed the idea the Islam and nationalism. Islam is a way of life in
which the Muslims spend their lives with peace and harmony, it gives the principles to
regulate and organize life and also form the identification of a separate nation within the
Muslim psyche. Islam provides the Muslims with a separate identification and
distinguishes them from others because its customs and traditions are different from
other religions and this faith stresses upon monotheism and acceptance of the Holy
Prophet’s principles.
As far as nationalism is concerned, it can be said that nationalism comes through Islam
in Muslims, Islam provides a different way of life. Although Islam is a religion yet it
declares the rules and regulations about the different aspects of life. On the other hand,
Europeans considered Islam as a private affair and thought that Islam should not guide
political conditions. Whereas Iqbal explained that Islam was not a private matter, the
demand of separate homeland was based on Islam as it did not neglect the common
life. “Man,” says Renan “is enslaved neither by his race nor by his religion, nor by the
course of rivers, nor by the direction of mountain ranges. A great aggregation of men,
sane of mind and warm of heart, creates a moral consciousness which is called a
nation.”
The question of unity
In this section of his speech, Iqbal narrated the principle of unity and whether unity in
different nations was possible or not. According to Iqbal’s point of view, there are many
nations in this sub-continent and every nation has its own social, political, and religious
structure. Without partition, establishment of peace and order in this land is impossible;
nevertheless they can pass their lives with peace. One reason is that one nation does
not accept the customs and traditions of other nations and consider them lower. This
thing expressed that peace and harmony can be established but only after the division
of the Indian sub-continent to facilitate the Muslims to implement their religion.
Muslim Indians within India
The unity of nations is not only territorial as is believed by European countries. India is a
continent of human groups belonging to the different races, speaking different
languages, and professing different religions. Their behavior is not at all determined by
a common race consciousness.
Conclusion
As a permanent solution of the problems was that division of continent was essential in
the sight of Iqbal that is why Allama Iqbal presented his ideas in this speech.