Khilafat Movement
The khilafat (caliphate) was the unique position occupied by the Muslim emperor of the Turkish (Ottoman) empire who was also the spiritual head (khalifa or caliph) of the Muslim community worldwide. The Khilafat Movement was a protest movement by Indian Muslims angry at the decision of the British and Allied governments after World War I to dismember the Ottoman empire and thus disperse the Islamic holy shrines and the rule of their spiritual leader, Abdul Hamid II. The Muslims had fought gallantly for the British during the war on the assurance that their religious interests would be protected, and Britain's treatment of the Turks after their loss in the war was seen as a betrayal of this trust.
Some Muslim leaders formed themselves into a khilafat conference; 27 October 1919 was designated as Khilafat Day; and a joint conference was called with Hindu leaders on 23 November over which Mohandas Gandhi presided. A khilafat deputation to the viceroy on 19 January 1920 proved unsuccessful, and in May 1920, by the Treaty of Sevres, peace terms were formally signed, sealing the fate of the Ottoman empire. The khilafat leaders formally joined ranks with the Indian National Congress and adopted Gandhi's noncooperation agenda, which saw nationwide mass peaceful protests by the Indians against British rule from 1920 to 1922. Thus the khilafat issue served to unite the Hindus and Muslims politically in the nationalist cause. The Jamiat-ul-Ulema issued a fatwa (religious decree) advising Muslims to boycott elections under the new constitution, boycott schools and colleges, give up titles, and refuse to serve in the army. Though khilafat leaders like the Ali brothers— Muhammad and Shaukat—contended that all Indian Muslims were equally enraged by these developments, it is also true to argue that to an extent an emotive issue was utilized by certain Muslim organizations to further political gains and that the issue itself and the distance from India meant that few Muslims could be directly inconvenienced by Allied actions. Meanwhile Turkey itself was undergoing a revolution with the Young Turk movement capturing power, ousting Hamid and abolishing the khalifat. By the early 1920s, therefore, the movement itself had run out of steam.
Further Reading
Brown, Judith M. (1972) Gandhi's Rise to Power 1915–1922. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
Gopal, Ram. (1959) Indian Muslims: A Political History. London: Asia Publishing House.
Gordon, Richard. (1973) Locality, Province, and Nation. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
Minault, Gail. (1999) The Khilafat Movement. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Moin, Shakir. (1970) Khilafat to Partition. New Delhi: Kalamkar Prakashan.
Niemeijer, A. C. (1972) The Khilafat Movement in India. The Hague, Netherlands: Nijhoff.
Robinson, Francis. (1974) Separatism among Indian Muslims. London: Cambridge University Press.
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