The Khilafat Movement

The Khilafat Movement

What was the Khilafat?

The Caliph (Khalifa) was the religious and political head of the Muslim world, and the Ottoman Sultan of Turkey held the title. Muslims in India respected him as the guardian of the holy places (Makkah, Madinah and Jerusalem).

Origins and reasons for the rise of the movement

• Turkey fought on the side of Germany in the First World War. The British promised Muslims that they would not harm the Caliphate or the holy places.
• After the war, the victorious Allies planned to break up the Ottoman Empire. The Treaty of Sèvres (1920) took away much of Turkey's territory and the Caliph's power. Muslims saw this as a betrayal.
• Indian Muslims were also angry with the British because of the Rowlatt Act, the Amritsar Massacre and the failure of the reforms. The Muslim press, such as Zamindar (Zafar Ali Khan), Comrade and Al-Hilal (Abul Kalam Azad), whipped up feeling, and the leaders Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar and Shaukat Ali (the Ali Brothers) were arrested during the war.

The aims (objectives) of the Khilafat Conference

The Khilafat Conference was held at Delhi in 1918 (and the All-India Khilafat Committee was formed in 1919). The aims were to:

1. protect the Caliph and his position as head of Islam;
2. ensure that the holy places stayed under Muslim control;
3. prevent the break-up of the Ottoman Empire, and so to get fair terms for Turkey from the British.

Main features

Gandhi and the Non-Cooperation Movement

Gandhi joined the Khilafat Movement, which gave him the support of Muslims and made him the leader of the nationalist movement. He combined the Khilafat cause with the Non-Cooperation Movement (a boycott of schools, courts, councils, titles and foreign cloth, with non-payment of taxes). Together they produced the greatest Hindu–Muslim unity and mass participation of the period. Some Muslim leaders, such as Jinnah, opposed the mixing of religion and politics and left Congress.

Chauri Chaura (February 1922). At Chauri Chaura, a village in the United Provinces, a procession of Non-Cooperation supporters clashed with police on 5 February 1922. The police fired, and the angry crowd set the police station on fire, killing about 22 policemen. Gandhi, who insisted on non-violence, was shocked and called off the whole movement. Khilafat leaders felt that one local incident should not have ended a national campaign.

The delegation to England (1920). A Khilafat delegation under Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar spent several months in Britain, spoke to the public and to politicians, and met Lloyd George, who would not treat Turkey more leniently than the other defeated powers. It returned without success, which led the leaders to turn to Non-Cooperation.

Turkey's own change. The Treaty of Sèvres (August 1920) took away Turkey's lands. Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and his national government in Ankara rejected it, defeated the Greeks, ended the Sultanate (1922) and finally abolished the Caliphate (March 1924), so the Indian movement lost its purpose.

The Hijrat Movement (1920)

• Some ulama declared India Dar-ul-Harb (a land of war) and said that Muslims should migrate to Dar-ul-Islam, Afghanistan.
• About 30,000 Muslims, mostly from Sindh and the North-West Frontier, sold their property and set out for Afghanistan in 1920.
• Failure: the Amir of Afghanistan, Amanullah, did not welcome them (the country had no way to support large numbers), closed the border, and the migrants suffered hunger, disease and loss. Many returned penniless.

Reasons for the failure of the Khilafat Movement

• Mustafa Kemal abolished the Caliphate (1924), which made the aim meaningless: the Turks themselves had ended it.
• Gandhi called off Non-Cooperation in 1922 after Chauri Chaura, without consulting Muslims.
• Hindu–Muslim unity broke down: riots such as the Moplah (Malabar) rebellion (1921) and communal riots followed.
• Government repression: the Ali Brothers and other leaders were arrested.
• Hijrat failed, leaving the community poorer and disillusioned.
• Leaders quarrelled and the movement lacked a clear political plan.

Impact on Muslims in the subcontinent

• Positive: a mass political awakening of Muslims, including ordinary people and the ulama; cooperation with the Hindus; and the experience of organising and protest.
• Negative: disillusionment with Congress and Gandhi; Muslims realised that Hindu cooperation was only a matter of convenience; the hardship of the Hijrat; communal riots.
• Long-term: Muslims turned back to their own leaders and the Muslim League later grew, and the idea of separate interests grew.

Outline. The abolition of the Caliphate by Ataturk (1924); Gandhi ending Non-Cooperation (1922); government repression; the failure of the Hijrat Movement; Hindu–Muslim riots; poor organisation. Judgement: the abolition of the Caliphate removed the movement's purpose.

Outline. Successes: political awakening and mass participation; Muslim solidarity and experience of organising. Failures: it failed to save the Caliphate, broke Hindu–Muslim unity and left Muslims divided and discouraged. Judgement: partly successful in building political awareness, but its failure helped Muslims to see that they needed their own political path.