Assignment No.

01

Name Zain Ul Abidin

Reg. # FA16-BEE-053

Class BEE-5B

Date April 05, 2019

 Question No. 01
Background
The Khilafat or "caliphate" movement of 1919 to 1924 was a political and religious movement
among Muslims in the British colony of India. The goal of the movement was to save the
Ottoman caliphate as the spiritual center of Islam irrespective of the defeat of the Ottoman
Empire in World War I. In world war I there were two groups formed one is “Elite group” and
other one is “Central group”. In Elite group France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy and USA made
one combine force against Central group. On the other hand, in Central group included
Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria. When the first world war broke
out in 1914, the circumstances compelled the Ottoman Empire to fight against the allies.
Therefore, Turkey joined hands with Germany. The Indian Muslims naturally attached their
sympathies with their Turkish brothers. The British made a stick policy to keep the Muslims
under control and did not allow them to raise their voice in favour of the Ottoman Empire. The
first world war ended in 1918 with the allies emerging as conquerors. The victorious allies
were ready to demolish the Ottoman Caliphate of Turkey which had fought by the side of
Germany. The allies divided its territories like Samarna, Thrace and Anatolia were distributed
among European countries. At that time the Indian Muslims stood against this work of British
government then they made a movement against government called Khilafat movement. There
were three main aims behind it
 The holy places should remain in the hands of Muslims.
 The Turkish Empire should not be dismembered.
 The institution of Caliphate must be retained.
Failures of Khilafat Movement
Khilafat movement ended without achieving its prime objective of safeguard the institution of
Caliphate. There are many reasons for its failure.
 The Hindu-Muslim unity which is achieved at Lucknow, disappeared in the beginning
of the movement and cannot be recaptured.
 Gandhi’s action of calling off the non-cooperation movement after Chauri Chaura
tragedy without consulting other leaders was a severe blow to the movement.
Chauri Chaura Tragedy
Chauri Chaura was a small village in Farakhabad district in India where the trouble
started between the mobs and the police. Some people were peacefully protesting and
demonstrating against the British. However, the mob ignited a fire at the police station,
causing 22 police men to die. Gandhi, who at that time was in jail was so devastated by
the incident that he called off the non-cooperation movement and moved on. This
infuriated the Muslims who saw this decision as a weakening spot for the movement.
This decision caused many Hindus to leave the campaign, leaving a small number of
Muslims behind.
 The government arrested all important leaders of the movement like Maulana
Mohammed Ali Johar and his brother Maulana Shoukat Ali and Abul Kalam Azad
which left the Muslims leaderless who drifted aimlessly from one sided to the other.
  The members of the khilafat movement were more concerned for the Khalifa than the
western powers and the people of Turkey.
 The Hindus and the Muslims had different aims. The Hindus just wanted independence
(Sawraj) from the British while the Muslims had the aim of return power back to the
Caliph.
 The Hijrah Movement also failed. The emigrants found themselves in a crisis when
they returned. They became busier in settling themselves than to carry their attention to
the Movement.
Hijerat Movement
Maulana Anu-ul-Kalam and Maulana Abdul Bari the two most prominent leader of
Khilafat movement issued the fatwa that India was a “Dar-ul-Harab” (Home of war),
where the religion of Muslims, Islam is not safe. They urged the Muslims to migrate
from a place where their image and religion was not safe. With the issuance of this
fatwa almost eighteen thousand Muslims left their home and migrated to Afghanistan
as a religious protest against British government. The
 The unity of Muslim and Hindu Indians was shaken by several incidents, including the
emigration to Afghanistan of more than 18,000 Muslims as well as the violence of the
1921 Moplah rebellion by Indian Muslims. The Afghan government welcomed the
migrants in the beginning but refused to accept as refuges increases beyond control.
The Afghan government sent back the refugees. When the return they find themselves
shelter less and without respectable means of income.
 The extremist Hindu movements, Shuddi and Sanghtan, began converting the Muslims
to Hinduism which provided a new cause of bitterness between Hindus and Muslims.
 The communal clashes and riots erupted in the country which adversely affected the
political condition of India.
 The most important of all is the institution of Caliphate for which the Muslims had
struggled so sincerely, was abolished not by the enemies but by a Muslim hero, Mustafa
Kamal Ataturk, who established a nationalist government in Turkey. The grand
National Assembly of Turkey, under the influence of Kamal Ataturk, abolished the
institution of caliphate on November 1, 1922. That last Khalifa Sultan Abdul Majeed
was banished from Turkey in 1924. The Indian Muslims were stunned on the action of
Ataturk under whose leadership the Turks decided to make a new start.
Congress Role for movement failure
1n 1920, Indian National Congress started Non-cooperation movement in parallel to khilafat
movement of Muslims against the British government. Indian Nation Congress first proposed
this movement in All Parties conference held in Allahabad on June 1920. After this next session
was held in Calcutta on September 1920. The main objective of this movement is to get rid of
British government and make their own government and name of “Sawraj” (means complete
independence) came in history of India. So, the two movements one led by Maulana
Muhammad Ali Johar and other by Mahatma Gandhi merged into one movement against the
British government. The policy of progressive ,non-violent and non-cooperation movement has
following points
 Oppose the courts and educational institution.
 Resign from jobs.
 Oppose the British goods.
 Refuse to pay taxes.
 Return all government titles etc.
When both non-cooperation movement and Khilafat movement were at its peak and
government is about to accept their demands then tragedy of village Chauri Chaura took place
where 22 British police men were burnt alive in the police station and Mahatma Gandhi without
consulting Muslims leader withdraw from non-cooperation movement this decision was a huge
setback to the Khilafat movement. This is how Congress played its role in the failure of Khilafat
movement.
Question No. 02
Despite the khilafat movement failure, this made huge impact on Indian politics. It created
awareness with respect to politics in the Muslims and they learned how to protect their rights
without depending upon others. As khilafat movement failed but it left number of significant
factors for Muslims awareness and awakening. It was great struggle on part of Muslims which
not only provide leadership but also laid strong foundation for the Muslims to proceed the
freedom movement on stable and firm basis. The khilafat movement was started by the Hindu-
Muslim unity but it proved to be fake when Gandhi was without consulting Muslims leaders
unilaterally ended his non-cooperation movement at an important time when British
government was about to accept their demands. His sudden decision made the Muslims angry.
It confirmed the Muslims that their (Hindus) minds was not sincere for the cause of Muslims.
Gandhi’s action destroyed the Hindu-Muslims unity which had been accomplished through
sincere endeavors of the Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. With Gandhi assuming the
leadership, the khilafat movement turned to a purely political struggle thus putting aside the
prime objective of protecting the institution of Caliphate. In fact, Gandhi had no attachment
with the Caliphate he just uses the Khalifa movement to pressurize the government to give
“Sawraj” self-rule to India. The khilafat movement effectively explain the religious enthusiasm
of the Muslims to the British. It also introduced new look of the Muslims by not rely on others
support but only depend upon the self determination for the achievement of national cause. It
developed a sense of concern amongst thee Muslims about their national matters. The Khilafat
movement immensely strengthened the “Two Nation Theory” which became the basis of
establishment of Pakistan. Two Nation Theory states that two major communities in India with
different religion, culture and history cannot live together. India should be divided into two
territories. The area Muslims are in majority should be an independent state (later it was
suggested that the name of Muslims state was Pakistan by Choudhry Rahmat Ali in 1933)
where Muslims lived freely according to their culture and religion. The two nation is stated by
many leaders by their own ways. Quaid e Azam once said, “Pakistan was established the day
when the first Indian national embraced Islam”. Mahmud Ghaznavi in 1001 records his
experience of life in his famous book Kitab-ul-Hind and said, “the Hindu fanaticism is directed
against those who do not belong to them --- and more particularly against the Muslims whom
they call as Maleecha --- impure, forbid having any relation with them, be any kind of
relationship by sitting, eating and drinking with them”. Therefore, these are the basis for the
creation of Pakistan.