ASSIGNMENT

Pakistan Studies

Submitted To: Dr. Hamida

Topics: Khilafat Movement

Submitted By: Zainab

Ahsan

Roll No. 09

BDS, Second Year

Session: 2020

Date of Submission:
Khilafat Movement
The Khilafat movement, also known as the Indian Muslim movement (1919–24), was a pan-Islamist
political protest campaign launched by Muslims of British India led by Shaukat Ali, Maulana
Mohammad Ali Jauhar, Hakim Ajmal Khan, and Abul Kalam Azad to restore the caliph of the Ottoman
Caliphate, who was considered the leader of the Muslims, as an effective political authority. It was a
protest against the sanctions placed on the caliph and the Ottoman Empire after the First World War
by the Treaty of Sèvres.

The movement collapsed by late 1922 when Turkey gained a more favourable diplomatic position and
moved towards secularism. By 1924 Turkey simply abolished the role of the caliph.

Background
Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II (1842–1918) launched his pan-Islamist program in a bid to protect the
Ottoman Empire from Western attack and dismemberment and to crush the democratic opposition
at home. 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 the caliph,
the Ottoman sultan was nominally the supreme religious and political leader of all Sunni Muslims
across the world.

Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire

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 sultan's status as
the caliph. However, under the Treaty of Sèvres (1920), territories such as Palestine, Syria, Lebanon,
and Iraq were severed from the empire.

Nationalist Movement in Turkey

Within Turkey, a progressive, secular nationalist movement arose, known as the Turkish national
movement. During the Turkish War of Independence (1919–1923), the Turkish revolutionaries, led by
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, abolished the Treaty of Sèvres with the Treaty of Lausanne (1923).
According to Atatürk's Reforms, the Republic of Turkey abolished the position of the caliphate in
1924 and transferred its powers within Turkey to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

Khilafat Movement in South Asia