Khilafat Movement

Q) Was the saving of Caliph main reason for starting the khilafat
movement?

No, the saving of caliph was just one reason but there are other reasons
as well. During World War 1 the Britishers wanted Muslim soldiers and
Indian soldiers to help them and go to fight with Germany and Ottoman
Empire but as the caliph of Muslim ummah was in Ottoman Empire so
many Muslims refused to fight and resigned Jobs the Britishers were
nervous and went to higher authorities of Muslims and asked them to
please send soldiers to Europe and made a deal that after the battle has
ended they will not even touch the caliph. But after Battle finished
Germany was treated very badly under the Treaty of Versailles and
Ottoman Empire under treaty of Sevres in which Allies ceded large
parts of Ottoman territory to France, UK, Greece, and Italy in which
colonies were broken. At this point Muslims gave a reminder to
Britishers about their promise and hence started khilafat movement.

The next reason was the areas which the Britishers were fighting had
religious sites of Muslims including Masjid Al Haram in Makkah, Masjid
e Nabawi in Madinah and masjid e Aqsa in Jerusalem to ensure that the
Britishers should not harm their religious sides Khilafat movement was
started.

Another reason was that Allies asked Republic of Russia to help them
capture Balkan states (Persia and Afghanistan). After getting this
information as a protest khilafat movement started.
The British wanted to end the Ottoman Empire and force Turkey
to be treated like a normal country. The Muslims of India
eliminate this plan by starting Khilafat movement because
Turkey was the last great power left to them. They believed, if
Britain destroyed Turkey then Muslims will become like Jews,
people without a country of their own.
During this on other hand Britishers were making a highway but
a problem was encountered that in Kanpur on route of highway
a mosque came and was demolished by Britishers as a result
Muslims showed their aggression by starting Khilafat
Movement.
But saving of caliph was one of the reasons because the
treatment given out by the British government to the Caliph of
Turkey disturbed the Indian Muslims as he was seen as their
religious head. Protecting the Caliph was very important for the
Muslims because he was the symbolic religious and political
leader of all Muslims in the world. Similarly, the disintegration of
caliphate would harm the concept of Muslim Ummah. As a
result, they started the Khilafat Movement.
Q) What was the first khilafat conference?
It was held in Delhi in November 1919. Leading figures were
two brothers Maulana Shaukat Ali and Maulana Ali Jauhar and
Maulana Abdul kalam. Gandhi and Nehru were also present at
the Conference. A resolution was also passed asking the
Muslims as religious duty to adopt the policy of non
-cooperation with the British. They started boycotting the British
goods, in a way of economic policy which they were adopting
that they will not buy the British good which will ultimately affect
their economy. They will also not do participation in victory
celebrations of Britishers.
Q) what was second khilafat conference?
The second Khilafat Conference was held in Amritsar at Dec 1919. all
the major political parties participated in this conference and the most
significant thing was that Ali brothers who went to Britain to persuade
the British not to punish turkey had got detention for violating the
British law in protest against the British policies but were released and
they also joined. It was agreed that all three organizations should work
together to oppose plans to dismember the Turkish Empire. A
delegation was also sent to ask fair treatment with Turkey, but they
said same treatment will be done for turkey as for Germany.

Q) What was non-cooperation movement?

‘The Non-cooperation Movement’ of 1920-22 was made by the Indian

National Congress under the leadership and direction of Gandhi, when
every segment of the Indian society was filled with anger and wanted
to give punishment to British due to various reasons such as Rowlett
Act, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, martial law in Punjab, the neglect of
the Khilafat Committee aspirations, high prices of commodities,
drought and epidemics. The non-cooperation movement was launched
formally on 1 August, 1920.