Khilafat Movement and its impact on India.

There are few movements in world history that are not limited to political demands, but rather become symbols of identity, faith and ethnic unity. For Muslims in India, the Khilafat Movement was one such chapter—one that was both connected to the religious sentiments and traditions of the Muslim people and, on the other hand, a renaissance of political consciousness. It was a struggle through which Indian Muslims imagined themselves for the first time as part of a global ummah and, at the same time, established their own position in the struggle against colonialism.

The Khilafat Movement began in the early twentieth century, especially in the aftermath of World War I (1914–1918), when the future of the Ottoman Caliphate was in doubt. The British defeated the Ottomans during the war, and at the end of the war, the Ottoman Empire was dismantled. At that time, deep and extreme anxiety spread throughout the Muslim world. This move by the British was seen by Indian Muslims as a direct blow to the Caliphate. Because the Ottoman Caliph was not just a king, he was the spiritual leader of the world Muslim Ummah.

For the Muslims of India, the status of the Caliph was a religious symbol. This loyalty to the Ottoman Caliphate did not come from emotion alone, but was the result of deep history and religious consciousness. Under British rule, Muslims had lost their power, were excluded from politics, and suffered cultural degradation, reaching a point where they saw the fall of the Caliphate as a threat to their existence. In this situation, Muslim leaders started the Khilafat Movement, led by the brothers Muhammad Ali and Shawkat Ali, whose names are immortalized in history as the “Ali Brothers”.

The main objective of the movement was to re-establish the Ottoman Caliphate and pressure the British government to abandon its repressive policy against Turkey. At the same time, efforts were made to shape public opinion to keep the status of the Caliph intact. Surprisingly, this movement became a symbol of political and religious demands in the Indian subcontinent, which provided an unprecedented opportunity to form a common front against the British.

Mahatma Gandhi stood by the Muslims in this movement. He linked the Khilafat movement with the Non-Cooperation Movement in India. This simultaneous movement of Muslims and Hindus created a huge public awakening at that time. Despite the differences in religion, the Khilafat movement became a symbol of extraordinary solidarity in Indian politics. Thousands of Muslims responded to the call of the Non-Cooperation Movement by quitting government jobs, boycotting British courts and expressing nationalist sentiment through boycotting foreign goods.

However, the most emotional and historic chapter of the movement was the ‘Hijrah Movement’. Many Muslims believed that British-ruled India was ‘Darul Harb’, i.e. the land of infidels. Therefore, they wanted to migrate to ‘Darul Islam’. In this context, thousands of Muslims left India and set off for Afghanistan, hoping to live in an Islamic land. But the reality was cruel. The Afghan government refused to accept them, many emigrants died on the way, many returned empty-handed and started a new life.

The end result of the Khilafat movement was very sad. When a nationalist government was established within Turkey under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and declared the Khilafat abolished in 1924, the Khilafat movement in India collapsed in one fell swoop. The British strategically weakened the leadership of the movement, on the one hand imprisoning the Ali Brothers, and on the other hand creating divisions among the Muslims.

On the other hand, the unity of the Muslim leadership with Gandhi and the Congress also broke down. The Hindu-Muslim unity that had reached new heights through the Khilafat movement quickly shattered when it was seen that the Congress had mainly used the Khilafat issue for their own interests. After the fall of the Khilafat, deep despair arose in the Muslim community. A large section of Indian Muslims came to believe that it was not possible to protect their political interests by uniting with Hindus.

This failure brought about a radical change in future Muslim politics. Muslims began to have new confidence in the Muslim League. The failure of the Khilafat Movement showed them a new vision of the political future of Muslims. This failure ultimately turned into the sowing of the seeds of the demand for a separate state of Pakistan.

Although the movement failed, the Khilafat Movement created a renaissance in the consciousness of Indian Muslims. For the first time, Muslims realized that they were not just a nation, but part of the global Muslim Ummah. This movement linked them to international politics and inspired them to think deeply about their own identity.

The Khilafat Movement teaches us that when a belief comes to the center of state politics, it changes not only the rulers but also the consciousness of the people. This is a unique chapter in the formation of political unity among Muslims. It is as much a rise of emotion as it is the brutal reality of politics—where religion, brotherhood, and nationalism, in a strange mix, change the course of history.