Socio-Religious

Reform Movements
Part - III
By – Chauhan Sir
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Vishal Chauhan

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• Islamic Reform Movements
• The decline of Mughals followed by the Anti-
Muslim attitude of the British led to the
decline of the Muslim society.
• Hostility against the British prevented them
from embracing reform initiatives of the British
Government and as a result the orthodoxy
gained strength.
• The Islamic reform movements in India were
also reactions to the increasing stronghold of
the radical and orthodox versions of Islam.
• Various reform movements attempted to rid
the Muslim society of various social evils and
connect them to the stream of progress.
• Aligarh Movement
• Sir Syed Ahmad Khan made Aligarh the centre
of his reform activities.
• Thus, the wide range of his activities are
known as Aligarh movement.
• It emerged as a liberal and modern trend
among the Muslim intelligentsia based in
Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College, which
was set up by Syed Ahmad Khan in 1875.
• The movement had objectives such as-
• Spreading modern education among Indian
Muslims.
• Promoting among Muslims, social reforms
related to purdah, polygamy, divorce, widow
remarriage, women's education etc.
• The movement and their followers sought to
harmonize Islam with modern liberal culture.
• However, Syed Ahmad Khan was used by the
colonial government to further their policy of
divide and rule as he enthusiastically promoted
the educational and employment interests of
the Muslims.
• In later years, he started propagating
divergence between the Hindu and Muslim
interests.
• Titu Mir
• Titu Mir (1782-1831) a peasant leader who
resisted the oppression of the local zamindars
and European indigo planters on the peasantry
with the ultimate object of liberating the
country from British domination.
• He was a leader of the tariqah-i-muhammadiya
in Bengal, and his movement initially aimed at
socio-religious reforms, elimination of the
Practice of shirk (pantheism) and bidat
(innovation) in the Muslim society and at
inspiring the Muslims to follow Islamic
principles in their day to day life.
• Ahmadiya Movement
• It emerged in reaction to the missionary
activity of the Christians and the influence of
Arya Samaj in the regions of Punjab.
• It was begun by Mirza Ghulam Mohammad in
Qadian, Punjab in 1889.
• His movement drew influences from Brahmo
Movement, western liberalism as well as Hindu
reform movements.
• He also claimed to be a reincarnation of Jesus
and Krishna.
• This movement aimed for the reforms within
the Islamic society and propagated humanist
ideals.
• It opposed jihad (war against non muslims)
and believed in the universal religion of all
humanity.
• Deoband Movement
• Organised by the orthodox elements among
the Muslim ulemas, The Deoband Movement
was estlabished in Deoband in Saharanpur
district (United Provinces) in 1866 by
Mohammad Qasim Nanotavi and Rashid
Ahmed Gangohi to train religious leaders for
the Muslim community.
• It was a revivalist movement.
• It had two aims:
• To propagate pure teachings of the Quran and
Hadis among Muslims.
• To keep alive the spirit of jihad against the
foreign rulers.
• At times it cooperated with the Congress in its
activities and opposed the Syed Ahmad Khan's
activities.
• It believed that the idea of nationality is based
upon the unity of all religious groups and no
Islamic principles are in violation with the
concept of nationality.
• Wahabi Movement.
• The Wahabi movement was a revivalist
movement which tried to purify Islam by
eliminating all the un-Islamic practices which
had crept into Muslim society through the
ages.
• It offered the most serious and well-planned
challenge to British supremacy in India from
1830's to 1860's.
• Syed Ahmad of Rae Bareli, the leader of this
movement in India was influenced by the
teaching of Abdul Wahab of Arbia, but even
more by the preaching of the Delhi saint Shah
Waliullah.
• Syed Ahmed condemned all accretions to and
innovations in Islam and advocated a return to
the pure Islam and society of Arabia of the
Prophet's times.
• For the achievement of the desired objectives,
Syed Ahmad looked for
• (i) the right leader,
• (ii) a proper organisation and
• (iii) a safe territory from where he wanted to
launch his Jihad
• Syed Ahmad had a countrywide organisation
with an elaborate secret code for its working.
• It was strong at Sithana in the North-Western
tribal belt and at Patna though it had its
missions in Hyderabad, Madras, Bengal, Uttar
Pradesh and Bombay.
• Wahabism spread very rapidly in Bihar, Bengal,
Uttar Pradesh and North-Western India.
• Since Dar-ul-Harb was to be converted into
Dar-ul-Islam & Jihad was declared against the
Sikh kingdom of the Punjab ruled by the
kingdom of Ranjit Singh.
• Peshawar was captured in 1830, but lost to the
Sikhs the following year with Syed Ahmad
losing his life in action in the battle of Balakot
against the Sikhs (1831).
• After Saiyad Ahmad's death Patna became the
centre of this movement.
• After the overthrow of the Sikh ruler and
incorporation of the Punjab into the base India
company's dominion in 1849 the sole target of
the Wahabi's attack became the English
dominion in India.
• Faraizi Movement
• Faraizi movement was the nineteenth century
religious reform movement launched by Haji
Shariatullah.
• The term Faraizi is derived from ‘Farz’ meaning
obligatory duties enjoined by Allah.
• The Faraizi Movement became very popular
among the Muslim peasantry in various
districts of Bengal during the British Rule.
• The Movement was founded to give up un-
Islamic practices and act upon their duties as
Muslims.
• The movement was also concerned with the
British influence upon Muslims and a call for
social justice was raised.
• Sikh Reform Movements
• The Sikh society was not left untouched by the
reform movements of the 19th century.
• They countered the superstitious and corrupt
practices that had consolidated their place in
the Sikh society over a period of time.
• Important Sikh reform movements are as
follows:
• Nirankari Movement
• This movement was initiated by Baba Dayal
Das (1783-1855) in 1840s.
• He believed that God is formless or nirankar.
• The Nirankaris started a movement against the
dogmas, rituals and traditions which had crept
into Sikhism.
• It emphasized the elimination of the worship
of several deities and revived simplicity,
austerity and purity in rituals and ceremonies
of birth, marriage, death, etc.
• It was accommodative and kept its folds open
for other sects and traditions like sahajadharis,
keshdharis, etc.
• Namdhari Movement
• It began as an extended offshoot of the
erstwhile Kuka movement of the 19th century.
• It was led by Baba Ram Singh and his disciple
Balak Singh.
• It aimed to spread the true spirit of Sikhism
devoid of unnecessary customs and
mannerism, which had been growing among
the Sikhs.
• Based upon the ideas propagated by Guru
Govind Singh while initiating the Khalsa, the
Namdharis initiated their struggle with a
similar zeal.
• Several steps were taken to improve the
conditions of Sikh women.
• Widow remarriage was encouraged while
dowry and child marriage were discouraged.
• The Namdharis also contributed to the
freedom struggle.
• They propagated their teachings even among
the British Indian Army, which led to the
British growing suspicion of their designs.
• Several of its leaders were caught and exiled to
far off places like Burma.
• Singh Sabha
• Founded by Thakur Singh Sandhawalia and
Gyan Singh on 1st October, 1873 at Amritsar,
Singh Sabha was aimed at re-establishing the
values and core tenets of Sikh religion among
the people.
• It took over the work of editing and publication
of Guru Granth Sahib in its own hands and
subsequently "Gurmat Granth Pracharak
Sabha' was established for this purpose.
• The two main objectives of this movement
were:
• To counter the missionary activities of the
Christians as well as the influence of Hindu
organizations.
• Introduction of modern education to bring
reforms in the Sikh community.
• For this purpose, a chain of Khalsa schools was
established across Punjab.
• As a follow up to this movement, Lahore Singh
Sabha as well as Khalsa Diwan was
established.
• Though all these organizations had minute
differences among them, they shared many
common aims, including the importance of
propagation of education.
• By 1905, these organizations were successful
in clearing the Golden temple of various
superstitious practices as well as Hindu beliefs.
• This movement is also believed to have played
an important role in establishing Sikh religion
as distinct from the Hindu religion.
• This movement is also known as the
forerunner of the Akali Movement.
• Gurudwara Reform Movement
• The institution of Gurudwaras underwent
decay as the Mahants and corrupt priests
established their stronghold over them.
• The British were supportive of these corrupt
elements as they served the purpose of
keeping the communities under control and
support them in their anti-Indian policies.
• The two instances of support of the
Gurudwara authorities to the British
Government aroused the condemnation from
the Sikh population.
• They are:
• There was a condemnation passed against the
Ghadarites calling them traitors.
• General Dyer who was responsible for
hundreds of deaths at Jalian Wala Bagh was
decorated with a saropa.
• This movement began in the aftermath of 1920
and soon it came under the influence of the
Akalis who launched a non-violent Satyagraha.
• It ultimately forced the Government to pass
'Singh Gurudwara Act' in 1922 which gave the
control of Gurudwaras to the Sikhs with
Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee
as the apex body.
• Subsequently, this movement got divided into
a liberal reformist and nationalist, British
loyalist and Sikh communalist factions.
• Zoroastrian Reform Movements
• The numerically small community of Parsis (the
branch of Zoroastrians who came and settled
in India) did not remain unaffected by the
reform movements.
• Several modern, educated Parsis like Naoroji
Furdonji, Dada Bhai Naoroji, K.R. Cama and S.S.
Bengali took an initiative in 1851 to launch
Rahnumai Mazdeyasan Sabha which was
aimed to "regenerate the social conditions of
the Parsis and restore the Zoroastrian religion
to its highest purity".
• It started the publication of 'Rast Goftar' to
propagate its ideas of anti-Purdah, education
among women and raising the age for
marriage.
 Chauhan_Sir_History

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