Khilafat Movement [1919-1924]

The Lucknow pact showed that it was possible for middle-class, English-educated Muslims and Hindus to arrive at an amicable settlement on Hindu-Muslim constitutional and political problems.This unity reached its climax during the Khilafat and the Non-Cooperation Movements. 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. The Muslims of India had a strong feeling of identity with the world community of Islam.They had seen the decline in the political fortunes of Islam as the European powers conquered the Muslim lands one after the other.The Anglo-Russian convention of 1908 had reduced their next-door neighbor Iran to a mere dependency.Afghanistan also suffered as it was a bone of contention between Russia and Britain, and was now under the latter's sphere of influence. The general impression among the Muslims of India was that the western powers were waging a war against Islam throughout the world in order to rob it of all its power and influence.The Ottoman Empire was the only Muslim power that had maintained a semblance of authority and the Muslims of India wanted to save the Islamic political power from extinction. As an institution,the Khilafat had a checkered past.It had originally migrated from Medina to Damascus and from Damascus to Baghdad. For sometime it was located in Egypt,then it fell to the lot of Turkey, very much as a prize.

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. There was absolute unanimity among the Indian Muslims. Though separated from Turkey by thousands of miles, they were determined to fight Turkey's

battle from India.

Rioting started in Amritsar on April 10, 1919. On April 13, 1919, a crowd assembled at the Jalianwala Bagh. These protestors were unaware of a ban that had just been imposed by the martial law administrators on public meetings. Sir Michael O'Duiyer opened fire on the crowd, resulting in 379 dead and 1,200 wounded. This incident is known as the Jalianwala Bagh Tragedy. When the terms of the Treaty of Serves were announced in 1920, it caused deep resentment among the Muslims. They felt betrayed. In June 1920, 90 influential Muslims wrote to Lord Chelmsford, the Viceroy, informing him of their intent to start a non-cooperation movement against the government from August, until the terms of the treaty with Turkey were revised.

Gandhi linked the issue of Swaraj with the Khilafat Movement

But this was to no avail as the British Prime Minister Lloyd George was an implacable enemy of Turkey and by association, of the Indian Khilafat Movement. When the Indian Khilafat deputation visited England in 1920 to put their views before the British Government, he ignored them and the deputation met with failure. A tragic offshoot of the Khilafat Movement was the Hijrat Movement proposed by Jamiyat-al-Ulema-i-Hind. When a land is not safe for Islam, a Muslim has two options; Jihad or Hijrat. Around 925 General Duiyer eminent Muslims signed this fatwa. According to one version, the idea of Hijrat was originated from Maulana Abul opened fire on the crowd assembled Kalam Azad. at Jalianwala Bagh

Dr. Ansari, Abdul Rehman Siddiqui, Shoaib Qureshi

In the North West Frontier Province and Sindh, hundreds of families sold their land and property and departed in the direction of the Khyber Pass, to migrate to Afghanistan, a brotherly independent Muslim state. In the month of August alone, some 18,000 Indian Muslims migrated to Afghanistan. Afghanistan, a poor country, was unable to absorb so large an influx of population and sealed its borders. It is difficult to establish who was responsible for misleading such a large number of Muslims. and Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman took a medical mission to Turkey Another tragic event was the Moplah Uprising. In mid of August 1921, agrarian riots broke out in Nilambur. The Moplah peasants revolted against the Hindu landlord's oppressive policies, which are in alliance with the British. The Hindu landlords redistributed their lands and the Moplahs, who had been suffering, rose in revolt. A pitched battle between the British regiment and the Moplahs killed several Europeans. Four thousand Moplahs were killed in action and tens of thousands were injured. Then there was the notorious Moplah Train Tragedy. Around a hundred prisoners, confined in a closed and almost airtight goods van, were transported by rail. When the door was opened, 66 Moplahs were found suffocated to death and the remaining 34 were on the verge of collapse.

All this was followed by Hindu-Muslim communal clashes, particularly in Multan and Bengal in September 1922. The Sanghattan and Shuddi movements were offshoots of these communal rioting, which were antiMuslim and aimed at Hindu revivalism. Besides other events, the arrest of the Ali brothers in September 1921 gave a severe blow to the Khilafat Movement. Gandhi, who was using this movement to accelerate India's advance towards Swaraj, also withdrew his support for the Muslim cause in the aftermath of the Chauri Chaura incident in February 1922. Using the excuse that the national volunteers were responsible for the murder of 21 policemen, thus leading to violence, he called off the whole movement. In 1924, Turks under Mustafa Kamal were consolidating their position in Turkey. They announced an end to the Khilafat. It was a great blow to Indian Khilafatists who had been campaigning on behalf of Turkey and

Khilafat. Gradually the enthusiasm of the people died down and the Khilafat Conference and Committee developed new interests and in a short time nothing but their name remained. Although the Khilafat Movement failed to achieve its declared objectives, it carried political awakening to large masses of Muslims. It was during the Khilafat days that representatives of Indian Muslims came into contact with eminent personages from other Muslims countries to save the semblance of unity in the world of Islam.

The Khilafat Movement was an asset for the struggle of Pakistan. It made clear to the Indian Muslims to trust neither the British nor the Hindus, but to look to their own strengths for self-preservation. The Khilafat movement (19191924) was a pan-Islamic, political campaign launched by Muslims in British India to influence the British government and to protect the Ottoman Empire during the aftermath of World War I. The position of Caliph after the Armistice of Mudros of October 1918 with the military occupation of Istanbul and Treaty of Versailles (1919) fell into a disambiguation along with the Ottoman Empire's existence. The movement gained force after the Treaty of Svres (August 1920) which solidified the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire.[1] In India, although mainly a Muslim religious movement, the movement became a part of the wider Indian independence movement. The movement was a topic in Conference of London (February 1920). Contents

1 History o 1.1 Ottoman Caliphate o 1.2 Partitioning 2 Khilafat in South Asia 3 Collapse 4 Legacy 5 See also 6 References 7 Notes

History Main article: Caliphate

The Caliphate is an Islamic system of governance in which the state rules under Islamic law. Caliph literally means "successor" or "representative" and emphasizes religious authority for the head of state. It was adopted as a title by the Ummayad Caliphs and then by the Abbasid Caliphs, as well as by the Fatimid Caliphs of North Africa, the Almohad Caliphs of North Africa and Spain and the Ottoman Dynasty. Most historical Muslim rulers were sultans or amirs, and gave token obedience to a caliph who often had very little real authority. Moreover, the Muslim clergy, the ulema and the various Sufi orders, exercised more religious influence than the Caliph. In the Turkish Ottoman Empire though, the emperor himself was the Caliph. Ottoman Caliphate Main article: Ottoman Caliphate Ottoman emperor Abdul Hamid II (18761909) had launched his Pan-Islamic program in a bid to protect the Ottoman empire from Western attack and dismemberment, and to crush the Westernizing democratic opposition in Turkey. He sent an emissary, Jamaluddin 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 emperor was the supreme religious and political leader of all Sunni Muslims across the world (although this authority was titular in practice). 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 Mehmud Hasan attempted to organise a national war of independence against the British with support from the Ottoman Empire. He was overthrown by a secretive nationalist group called the 'Young Turks.' Abdulhamid was succeeded by his brother Mehmed VI (18441918) but real power lay with the nationalists. Partitioning Further information: Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire See also: Occupation of Istanbul and Turkish War of Independence The Ottoman empire, having sided with the Central Powers during World War I, suffered a major military defeat. The Treaty of Versailles (1919) reduced its territorial extent and diminished its political influence but the victorious European powers promised to protect the Ottoman emperor's status as the Caliph. However, under the Treaty of Svres (1920), territories such as Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt severed from the empire. Within Turkey, a pro-Western nationalist movement arose, Turkish national movement. During the Turkish War of Independence (19191924) led by one of the Turkish revolutionaries, Mustafa Kemal Atatrk, abolished the Treaty of Svres with the Treaty of Lausanne (1923). Pursuant to Atatrk's Reforms, the Republic of Turkey abolished the position of Caliphate in 1924 and transferred its powers within Turkey to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Khilafat in South Asia

Although political activities and popular outcry on behalf of the caliphate emerged across the Muslim world, the most prominent activities took place in India. A prominent Muslim cleric and journalist, Maulana Mohammad Ali Jouhar had spent four years in prison for preaching resistance to the British and support for the caliphate. At the onset of the Turkish war of independence, Muslim religious leaders feared for the caliphate, which the European powers were reluctant to protect. Ali and his brother Maulana Shaukat Ali joined with other Muslim leaders such as Sheikh Shaukat Ali Siddiqui, Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, Raees-Ul-Muhajireen Barrister Jan Muhammad Junejo, Hasrat Mohani, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Dr. Hakim Ajmal Khan to form the All India Khilafat Committee. The organization was based in Lucknow, India at Hathe Shaukat Ali, the compound of Landlord Shaukat Ali Siddiqui. They aimed to build political unity amongst Muslims and use their influence to protect the caliphate. In 1920, they published the Khilafat Manifesto, which called upon the British to protect the caliphate and for Indian Muslims to unite and hold the British accountable for this purpose. In 1920 an alliance was made between Khilafat leaders and the Indian National Congress, the largest political party in India and of the nationalist movement. Congress leader Mohandas Gandhi and the Khilafat leaders promised to work and fight together for the causes of Khilafat and Swaraj. Seeking to increase pressure on the British, the Khilafatists became a major part of the Non-cooperation movement a nationwide campaign of mass, peaceful civil disobedience. The support of the Khilafatists helped Gandhi and the Congress ensure Hindu-Muslim unity during the struggle. Khilafat leaders such as Dr. Ansari, Maulana Azad and Hakim Ajmal Khan also grew personally close to Gandhi. These leaders founded the Jamia Millia Islamia in 1920 to promote independent education and social rejuvenation for Muslims. The non-cooperation campaign was at first successful. Massive protests, strikes and acts of civil disobedience spread across India. Hindus and Muslims collectively offered resistance, which was largely peaceful. Gandhi, the Ali brothers and others were imprisoned by the British. However, the Congress-Khilafat alliance began withering soon. The Khilafat campaign had been opposed by other political parties such as the Muslim League and the Hindu Mahasabha. Many Hindu religious and political leaders identified the Khilafat cause as Islamic fundamentalism based on a pan-Islamic agenda. Collapse In wake of these disturbances, the Ali brothers began distancing themselves from Gandhi and the Congress. The Ali brothers criticised Gandhi's commitment to non-violence and severed their ties with them after he suspended all non-cooperation movement after the killing of 23 policemen at Chauri Chaura in 1922. 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. 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. The Khilafat leadership fragmented on different political lines. Leaders such as Dr. Ansari, Maulana Azad and Hakim

Ajmal Khan remained strong supporters of Gandhi and the Congress. The Ali brothers joined the 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.[2] Legacy The Khilafat struggle evokes controversy and strong opinions. It is regarded as a political agitation based on a pan-Islamic, fundamentalist platform and being largely indifferent to the cause of Indian independence. Critics of the Khilafat see its alliance with the Congress as a marriage of convenience. Proponents of the Khilafat see it as a major milestone in improving Hindu-Muslim relations, while advocates of Pakistan and Muslim separatism see it as a major step towards establishing the separate Muslim state. The Ali brothers are regarded as foundingfathers of Pakistan, while Azad, Dr. Ansari and Hakim Ajmal Khan are widely celebrated as national heroes in India. The cause of establishing an Islamic State by reviving the caliphate system has been adopted by organisations such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Jamaat-e-Islami umbrella groups in South Asia, founded in 1941 by Maulana Maududi, Hizb ut Tahrir, as well as the Taliban in Afghanistan, AlShabaab in Somalia and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Non Cooperation Movement On Gandhis advice, the Central K Committee on 28/05/1920 accepted non-cooperation as the only acceptable line of action. The All India Congress Committee that met at Varansasi on 30/5/ urged the British government to recall the Viceroy and award punishment to Sir Michael ODwyer for the Jallianwala bagh massacre. It also protested against the peace terms offered to Turkey was in violation of the promises made by the Brit govt. The Congress protested but opposed the question of non-cooperation. At a meeting held on June 1, the Muslim leaders appealed to the Hindus to cooperate and support non- cooperation. Several Hindu leaders sympathized but disagreed with the remedy i.e. non- cooperation. Others welcomed it but thought the timing was not right. At a meeting on June 2 of the Central Khilafat Committee Gandhi told the Muslims that non-cooperation was the only way out. A resolution appointing Gandhi and six Muslim leaders was passed then, who were to decide the future course of action. The meeting also resolved that the Swadeshi movement should be undertaken in right earnest. In addition to complete hartal and public meetings, instructions were issued that no one must be forced to close shop, lawyers must be asked to suspend practice, and parents asked to remove their children from schools, titles must be surrendered. In August, 1920 Gandhi wrote a letter to the Viceroy and returned all the war medals

which were awarded to him by the Brits, Valuable as these honors have been to me, I cannot wear them with an easy conscience so long as my Muslim countrymen have to labor under wrong done to their religious sentiment. I venture to return these medals, in pursuance of the scheme of non-cooperation inaugurated today in connection with the Khilafat Movement". It is proved beyond doubt that the reason for the 1920 Non Cooperation Movement was incidents in Turkey and not the massacre of Indians in Punjab. The Special Session of the Congress held in Calcutta on 4/9/1920 was to yet to recover from the demise of the great Tilak. The Congress met in a tense atmosphere to decide upon the momentous but controversial issue of Non-Cooperation. Gandhi sponsored the Resolution for non-cooperation and adoption of Swadeshi and backed by the Ali Brothers, the entire Muslim block but a large section opposed it. It was opposed by Besant, C.R.Das, Jinnah amongst others. Remember that Gandhi had taken the Khilafat decision independent of the Congress before its session. Tilak, Lajpat Rai, Swami Shraddhananda supported Gandhi. However, prominent Muslims thought differently. Sir Syed strongly decried the belief that the Caliphs sovergeinity extended over the entire Muslim world. Jinnah too opposed the movement. So you see the Hindu leaders were so keen to prove their sincerity to the Indian Muslims that they went headlong into an agitation on events that did not concern them directly. It was probably the first time that religion and politics were mixed together with disastrous consequences for the sub-continent. Unfortunately Hindu leaders continue to behave the same way today. Is it because most of them grew up in British India or have their minds conditioned by the secular read anti-Hindu English press? On the other hand, Maulana Azad swore by the Caliphate. Indian leaders with a modern outlook should have known that the Caliphate had ceased to be an important for Muslims worldwide yet they stuck their neck out on the issue. Is it not ironical that they had sympathy for the Turks when they were themselves under foreign rule or did not think about the right of self-determination of the Arabs who were under Turkish rule? When later the Congress adopted non-cooperation for the sake of restoring the old status of the Caliph and Swadeshi, they were invoking two contradictory principles in the same breadth replacing nationalism by autocracy in the one case and autocracy by nationalism in the other. Despite weak foundations, it was due to Gandhis charisma that the movement caught on. The blind faith in Gandhi was limited to the Hindus but not shared by the Muslims.

On 17/9/24, Gandi undertook a fast for 21 days against serious communal riots; he was staying at the house of Muhammad Ali. Yet about a year later Ali said, However pure Gandhis character may be, he must appear to me from the point of view of religion inferior to any Mussalman, even though he is without character. Yes according to my religion and creed, I hold an adulterous and a fallen Mussalman to be better than Mr Gandhi. So much for the Muslim view of Gandhi although he had staked so much for the Khilafat cause. Said Jinnah I thanks you for your kind suggestion offering me to take my share in the new life that has opened up before the country. Your methods have already caused split between and division in the public life of the country, not only amongst Hindus and Muslims, but between Hindus and Hindus and Muslims and Muslims. Bottom line is Khilafat was the reason for the Non-cooperation movement. It was ratified by the Congress after the movement had started. Swaraj was incorporated later. The term was not corned by Gandhi for which we need to go back to the Partition of Bengal in 1905. We owe the word to Bengalis for popularizing it although it was used by men like Swami Dayananda earlier. The Prince of Wales was to visit India in November 1921. The Congress decided to boycott his visit. He landed in Mumbai on 17/11/ 1921 which observed a total hartal. Swelling crowds joined the meeting at the meeting that Gandhi addressed. However, the mob turned violent later damaging public property. The hartal was observed successfully through out India. Taken in by the sequence of events, the Government declared the Congress and Khilafat volunteer organization as unlawful. Large-scale arrests followed. Under the leadership of C.R. Das Calcutta witnessed large-scale mobilization of volunteers for the civil disobedience movement. This led to their arrests. During the visit of the Prince to Calcutta, the govt offered to remove the repressive measures if Das called off the boycott but Das stuck to his guns. Keen for a peaceful settlement with the Congress before the Princes visit to Calcutta, the Viceroy took the initiative and made an offer, is described in Subhash Chandra Boses words The offer that Malaviya brought was that if the Congress agreed to call off the civil disobedience movement, so that the Princes visit would not be boycotted by the public, the govt would simultaneously withdraw the notification declaring the Congress volunteers illegal and release all those who been incarcerated thereunder. They would further summon a Round Table Conference of the representatives of the Government of India and the Congress to settle the future

Constitution of India. Maulana Azad and Deshabandhu Das sent a telegram to Gandhi recommending acceptance of the proposal. Gandhi replied that he insisted on the release of the Ali brothers and their associates as part of the settlement and also an announcement regarding the date and composition of the Round Table Conference. The Viceroy did not agree to Gandhis proposals. Many telegrams passed between Das and Gandhi. By the time Gandhi changed his views, it was too late, the govt had changed its mind. Das was beset with anger and disgust. The chance of a lifetime had been lost, he said. This goes to show the extent Gandhi held Indias future hostage to his love for the Ali brothers or must I say the mirage of Hindu-Muslim unity. On 01/02/1922, Gandhi wrote to the Viceroy that the people of Bardoli would embark on a civil disobedience movement. He added that he was willing to postpone the Civil Disobedience Movement of an aggressive character provided the govt readdressed the problems of Khilafat, Punjab or Swaraj. As India watched a great battle in the making at Bardoli, it was lost before it had begun. A dastardly crime committed by the people of Chauri Chaura in Uttar Pradesh made Gandhi call off the movement. At the A.I.C.C. meeting there was wide scale opposition to the calling off of the noncooperation duly supported by nationalists all over India. There is no doubt that the suspension of the non-cooperation movement had the disastrous effect of developing a spirit of frustration, and this may be regarded as the main cause of political inertia that followed. As very often happens, pent-up energy found an outlet in the Hindu-Muslim riots that followed in the next few years. The Govt correctly gauged the situation, took full advantage of Gandhis unpopularity, was tried and sentenced to six years simple imprisonment. A serious outbreak at Malegon in the Nashik district of Maharashtra caused considerable loss. The town, predominantly Muslim, was largely affected by the Khilafat agitation. The conviction of several Momins in April, 1921, for carrying arms at a mass meeting in contravention of orders, caused great commotion and a Police Constable was roughly handled. When the City Sub-Inspector proceeded to the town a large mob greeted him; the police had to fire some rounds of small shorts. Since the mob did not disperse, they took refuge in a temple. The mob burnt the temple and several neighboring houses. It is alleged that the mob burnt the temple because the inmates refused to surrender the police to the hands of the mob.

In Giridh, Bihar a mob of about 5,000 pelted the Sub-Inspector with stones and brickbats. In Aligarh a similar thing happened on the arrest of a political agitator Malkhan Singh. Similar incidents were reported elsewhere. In the Madras and Bombay Residencies mobs of hooligans, with the name of Gandhi on their lips, practiced subtle terrorism and intimidation that the govt found difficult to deal with while Khilafat preachers arouses the frenzy of the poor and ignorant Muslims with the cry Religion in Danger. The Non-Cooperation Movement was directly and indirectly responsible for much violence but the govt measures were often unnecessarily cruel and harsh, deliberately designed to terrorize the people. However, some of the worst excesses were committed by the people and the Congress was eager to minimize and explain away their enormities as the Govt. was keen to highlight them, justifying the actions of their own officials in Punjab. This is best illustrated by the terrorism of the Moplahs and attitude of the Congress, Khilafat towards the whole episode. Khilafat Movement was a religio-political Movement launched by the Muslims of the British India for the retention of the Ottoman Caliphate or khilafat-e-usmania and for not letting for the Muslim holy places go under the control of the Non-Muslims. During the 1st World War Turkey sided with Germany and as Germany started to loose Turkey also started loosing its territory. By the time 1st World War came to an end in 1918 Turkey had lost most of its territory. Therefore the issue at that time was how the allied powers would treat Turkey, the Ottoman Empire or the Khilafat-e-usmania and most of its territory had been occupied and this Movement was on its peak from 1919 to 1922, although it went on during the later years. Being brothers, the Indian Muslims realized their religious duty to help the Muslim country. It was the extra territorial attachments based on Islam. Another factor same to the first was that the Indian Muslims considered Ottoman Caliphate a symbol of unity of the Muslim world as Ummah. Goals: What were the goals of this Movement?

Ottoman Khilafat should be kept intact. Territorial solidarity of Turkey should be preserved. Control of holy places of the Muslims should not be given to nonMuslims that were Non-Muslim powers.

Effects This was the first major political Movement in India which involved the common man. Since the inception of the ML in 1906, the Muslims had started demanding certain safeguards from the British. They were also interacting with the other communities and the Congress party. However

politics during that time from 1906 to 1919 was the elitist politics. That is politics of educated people and also people who are well off who could spare time who could spare money were involved in politics. Khilafat Movement was the 1st movement where ordinary people were involved, or the ordinary Muslims were involved, people in the streets were involved and therefore politics at that time came down to the ordinary masses. Mobilization capacity of Islam Another important aspect of this Movement was that it showed the mobilization capacity of Islam amongst the Muslims. It showed the extent to which the Muslims of the British India held Islam and how much Islamic institutions are dear to them. So it clearly showed that Islam had a lot of mobilizational capacity and appeal for the ordinary people. Extra-territorial attachments Another aspect emphasizes the extra-territorial attachments of the Muslims of India based on Islam. Extra-territorial means that people feel attached to certain institutions and ideological framework that may be beyond the territorial boundaries of their own countries that is extraterritorial attachment. Amongst the Muslims extra-territorial attachments are always been very strong and these extra-territorial attachments are based on Islam. Two concepts of Islam are very strong force for the Muslims of British India. Concept of Ummah The concept of Ummah and this concept of Ummah that the Muslims living all over the World weither in any country belong to an ideological brotherhood of Islam. Its a community or sense of community based on principles and teachings of Islam, therefore the concept of ummah had a lot of pull for the Muslims and that could be seen during the period of the Khilafat Movement. The institution of Khilafat The second aspect which created extra-territorial sentiments amongst the Muslims of this region was the institution of Khilafat.The Khilafat-e-Usmania whose primary seat was in Turkey and Khilafat-e-Usmania was seen by the Muslims of the British India as a kind of continuity from the original institution of Khilafat in Islam. Therefore they always paid much attention to the institution of Khilafat.You can go to the earlier periods and you will see that the sentiment of attachment is based on Islam was very strong. The Balkan wars For example if you go back to 1911and1912 you will find the Balkan wars. There was a war between Turkey and Italy and Italy had also attacked Libya. Therefore during that time when Balkan wars were going on the Muslims of British India demonstrated strong sentiments for the Muslims, for Turkey and a medical delegation was sent to Turkey to provide medical assistance

to people affected by war, and now in 1919 when the same sentiment was emerging on the bases of Ummah and also on the bases of emotional attachment which the people had with the institution of Khilafat.Therefore there were lot of sentiments and lot of support for the demand that is the retention of Khilafat and for this reason Khilafat Movement becomes extremely important, If you want to know the political developments of India. Dimensions: During first three decades of 20th century, there were poets ,there were writers who were focusing on common themes, like the generation and the decline of the Muslims in general and Muslims of this region in particular because the Muslims of this region were a matter of their direct interest, so they were focusing on the generation and the decline of the Muslims. The writings of the Muslim intellectuals provoked the sentiments for the preservation of Khilafat and retention of the Muslims control of the holy places. The Muslims journalism played a vital role to steer the direction of the struggle.Secon theme which you find there was how to revive or how to regenerate the past glory. For example in the poetry of Allam Iqbal if you read Baal-e-jibril,if you read Shikwa and Jawab-e-Shikwa,you read Masjid-e-Kartaba where all these themes are very strong that Muslims could regain, recover from their problems if they focus on Islam, if they develop the genuine spirit of Islam. If you read Musaddas-e-Haali you will find the same story that how the Muslims were declined and how they come out of their problems which they were facing. So these kinds of sentiments were very strong when this Movement started. Zamindar of Zafar Ali Khan, Comrade and Hamdard of Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar, and AlHilal of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad etc. were the prominent newspapers and magazines which performed their duties to express their resentment. The Allies imposed humiliating terms on vanquished Turkey. These news papers were pleading the cause of the Muslims. The 1st WW ended in 1918 and in 1919 the major peace treaty, Treaty of Versil was signed and it was very obvious the kind of treaty that was that ultimately the Turkey would loose all it had and then in 1920 conditions of this treaty for Turkey were known and those were very humiliating for Turkey. It had lost most of its territory even on the Main land Turkey that is where Turkey stands today foreign forces were present and it was in this context that the Muslims of this region started a movement that is described as the Khilafat Movement. Protests in India: All India Khilafat Committee was formed at Bombay in July 1919 and this gradually shaped up of the Muslims point of activity regarding Khilafat and in this Khilafat committee session they were discussing the issues of Khilafat which held the 1st Khilafat Conference in Delhi in November 1919. The first Khilafat Conference at Delhi in November 1919 was arranged in which the Congress leaders like Gandhi and Nehru participated. Congress also started to support the Khilafat Movement for the reason that I will discuss later on. In this way, the major political parties joined hands to assault the injustice with the Muslim community. These steps were announced: No participation in victory celebrations was the 1st important step taken by the participants of this Conference. The British and the Allies had won the war and they were celebrating even in

India because India being a part of the British Empire was on the side of the British therefore these people decided to boycott the victory celebration to show displeasure on the state of affairs and to express their point of view in an affective manner. Second decision which they made here was that they started boycotting the British goods, in a way a kind of economic polices which they were adopting that they will not buy the British good which will ultimately affect their economy. Non Cooperation with the Government was the 3rd important decision which they made at that time. It meant that not at this stage but at the later stage hey may also launch the Non cooperation movement. The second Khilafat Conference (Amritsar) was held in Dec. 1919 and this was very important occasion. Like the 1st one all the major political parties participated in this conference and the most significant thing was that Maulana Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali who were in British detention for violating the British law in protest against the British policies were released and they also joined the session after being released from prison.Infact you cant discuss the KM without discussing the contribution of Maulana M.A aJauhar and Maulana S.A.Jauhar and they were used to be described as the Ali brothers. They played very significant role in mobilizing the masses, they had formidable appeals at the common level and they also worked with the Congress party. And both the brothers along with other leaders went to jail for several times, they would come out demonstrate for Khilafat cause, lead Muslims the British arrest them along with other leaders but whenever they released they again come back and plead that cause with conviction. After that the Khilafat conference and the Congress party began to work together because there were issues in India which were agitating others as well. Those issues were important for Muslims but Muslims attention primarily focused on Khilafat.There were other issues which were agitating the congress and the congress thought that Muslims have a set of grievances against the British. They are agitating for the retention of the Ottoman Empire then the Congress also had grievances against the British. So hey thought if they worked together they cooperate with each other then they could have a more effective impact rather than the Movements working separately and the issues which were agitating at that time were one was the issue of the Rowlett Act,1919. Jallianwala Bagh Incident, April 1919: The second issue which was agitating was agitating the person across the divide was the incident related to the Jallianwala Bagh.Jallianwala Bagh was situated in the city of Amritsar and against the backdrop of the Rowlett Act a big meeting was held in that Bagh.There were so many kinds of people and the British govt was so agitated that they dispatched a unit of the Army that went into the garden blocked all the entrance points and began shooting directly on the people and several hundred people were killed and seriously wounded which created a major uproar throughout India. General Dyer opened fire to disperse the throng that cast huge human casualties (379). It is considered one of the great tragedies in India. It is during this period that the British imposed martial law in Amritsar and certain other cities of the province

of Punjab including Lahore, Gujranwala and a couple of other cities martial law was imposed. So in a way that became the 1st martial law in this region in the 20th century. So this Jallianwala Bagh incident also mobilized congress and other groups to move ahead and to pull their resources and to challenge the authority of the British govt. Moplah Revolt Malabar Coast, near Kalicut This incident took place in 1921.Moplahs were the descendents 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 brutal with them. The issue was not the religious. The uprising was against the injustice against the suffering which the Moplas were facing and as they revolted the police took the side of the landlords. The local Hindu unions began to project to this as the kind of Hindu Muslim issue, there was a lot of propaganda against the Muslims with reference to this uprising and there were calls from some of the Hindu organizations to wake up against to face the challenge which was emerging Later this clash changed as Moplahs versus the Police and Hindu. This embittered the Hindu-Muslim relations. This uprising had a negative impact on the Hindu Muslim unity that was being demonstrated in the Khilafat Movement. The Congress party and the Khilafat Committee were very cooperative and were working together. The Muslim leaders were addressing meetings along with Gandhi and others, so it was a rare demonstration of Hindu Muslim unity and that cooperative sentiment was undermined by this incident.