Q. Hijrat movement was the most important reason for the failure of the Khilafat movement.

Do you
agree? Explain your answer.

ANS. The Khilafat movement was launched in 1919 following the end of the First World War. It began to
protect the Ottoman Empire from division, to preserve the holy places of the Muslims from falling under
the control of the non-muslims and to preserve the seat of the Muslim khalifa and the Khilafat. Three
conferences were held between 1919 and 1921 to achieve its aims.

Throughout this time period, the Khilafat movement was a victim of various events which
resulted in its failure. In August 1920, the Hijrat movment began. Some muslim scholars gave a religious
decree declaring the India as Darul Harb and suggested to the Muslims to migrate to Afghanistan. An
estimated 18,000 Muslims from N.W.F.P and Sindh began to migrate. They were initially accepted but
later were sent back by the Afghan government. This was a bad decision which troubled the Muslims
unnecessarily as they had left India after selling their property and now had to return with nothing to
look forward to. This weakened Muslim faith not only towards their own Muslim brothers but the British
as well. However there were other reasons which also contributed towards the failure of the
movement.

The movement was also without any proper leader. Poor leadership was also another reason
which led to the failure of the movement. In the second conference in which the Muslim league and INC
participated, Gandhi offered his satyagraha (non-violent & Non-co-operation) which was not accepted
by Mohammed Ali Jinnah as he felt it was unconstitutional and would only create more problems
because violence was bound to occur. Jinnah’s statement proved true as later violence did take place
during the movement. Thus Jinnah withdrew his participation from the movement. In September 1921
the initial leaders of the movement, Ali brothers, were arrested for their rebellious speeches and
revolutionary activities. Following their arrest Gandhi replaced them as leader of the movement.

In August 1921, Moplah uprising took place which also led to the failure of the
movement. Moplahs were descendants of Arab Muslims settled in India. They were low class peasants
who had been mistreated by the British. The Moplahs revolted against the British and also targeted
Hindu Landlords as well for collaborating with the British. This negatively impacted the Hindu-Muslim
unity during the movement, ultimately resulting in its failure.

In February 1922 another incident took place which was known as the Chaura-Chauri incident. In
this communal took place and an angry mob burned down a police station. This resulted in the burning
alive of 22 policemen. Due to this reason Gandhi withdrew his support from the movement on the
grounds that violence had crept in which contradicted to his way of non-violence and non-cooperation.
Thus the movement was now leaderless and was bound to fail sooner or later.

In 1924 as Mustafa Kamal had been appointed as the new leader of Turkey, he abolished the
Khilafat. Although the failures had kept coming, the movement still had a chance of further proceeding
but this hope for the Muslims came to an end when the Khilafat was abolished.
Although there were multiple reasons which directly or in-directly led to the failure of the movement,
however, the abolition of the khilafat was the most important reason for the failure.