the role of muslims in india

8/2/2019 The Role of Muslims in India

1/218

Ulama Freedom Struggle And Concept Of Pakistan1

Ulama Freedom Struggle and

Concept of Pakistan

Mohammed Anwer Hussain

The advent of nineteenth century saw the East India Company

emerge as the major political power in India. Not only was the

power of the Mughal Empire broken but also most of theindependent principalities that had come in to existence as a

result of its disintegration were subjugated by the British. In1799 Tipu Sultan (1750-99) was defeated and killed and his

territory annexed. Bengal, Bihar and Urissa and a major part of

the United Province had already passed in to the hand of theforeigners. Awadh was a British allay and Hyderabad was

virtually ruled by a British Resident. The Maratha though

divided and fighting among themselve, remain the only sourceof anxiety and danger for the British. But in the second Marathawar (1803-1805) the British authority successfully manoeuvred

to remove this obstacle in their way to aggrandizement on theirrefusal to come into the fold of subsidiary alliance on Britishcondition was declared against them and they were defeated in

the various engagement and were forced to come to terms

dictated by the British interest. Of these battles, the crushing

defeat of Sindhia of Gowaliar at the battle of Delhi in 1803 wasthe most significant and had far-reaching political

consequences. It laid to the British protection of the Moghal

Emperor Shah Alam, now a miserable blind old man of eighty-three seated under a small tattered canopy. The British forces

marched in to the city and by show of their strength convince


2/218


the imperial seat that from Calcutta to Delhi they were real rulerof India (PE Roberts. History of British India Oxford University

Press London 1952 P.P. 257) In the North-West of the country

the Sikh feudatories were getting exhausted by internecine warsto be united and ruled by Sikh statesman, Ranjit Singh (1780-

1839) who concluded a peace treaty with company. And on the

whole the Muslim supremacy had come to an end.

Under these circumstances Shah Abdul Aziz (1746-1824) the

illustrious son of Shah Waliullah Dehlawi (1703-62) issued thefamous Fatwa in 1803 declaring that India had ceased to be aDarul Islam. This Fatwa from religion-politico point of view

was a landmark in the history of India in general and in that

Muslim of India in particular. It amounted to a call to religiousconscientious Muslims to mobilize them in the absence of a

powerful Muslim rular, under whose popular leadership they

would rise in defense of foreign power. The original Fatwa,which is in Persian, say, "in this city (Delhi) the Imamul

Muslimeen (The spritual head of the Muslim community)

wields no authority. The real power rests with the Christians

Officers. There is no check on them: and promulgation of thecommand of the Kufr (Infiedelity) means that in administration

and justice in matters of law and order, in the domain of trade

finance and collection of revenue everywhere the Kuffars(infidels) are in power. Yes there are certain Islamic rituals e.g.

Friday and Id (Muslim festival) prayers, Azan Prayers call) and

cow slaughter with which they had no objection. But the veryroot of these rituals was of no value to them. They demolished

mosque without the least hesitation and no Muslim or any

Dhimmi (Non- Muslim citizens of Islamic State) can enter intothe city or its Suburbs without their permision. It is in their own


3/218


interest if they do not object to the traveler and traders to visitthe city. On the other hand, distinguish persons like Sujaul

Mulk and Wilayat Begam can not dare visit the city without

their permision. From here (Delhi) to Calcutta the Christians arein complete control there is no doubt that in principalities like

Haydarabad, Rampur and Lucknow etc. they have left

administration in the hand of local authorities. But it is becausethey have accepted their leadership and have submitted to their

authority".

Thus after analyzing the existing situations and referring to theestablished legal positions on the point and instances from the

early period of Islamic history, Shah Abdul Aziz, gave his

opinion that India was no more a land of peace and securityboth for Muslims and Dhimmies. W.W. Hunter, summaries this

Fatwa in his own words when he quoted Shah s.b declaring

"when infidel get hold of Muhamdan country and it becomeimpossible for the Muslim of the country, and of the people of

neighboring district to drive them away or to retain reasonable

hope of ever doing so, and the power of infidels increasing to

such an extend that they can abolish or retain the ordinance ofIslam according to their pleasure, and no one is strong enough

to cease on the revenue of the country without the permision of

infidels. And the Muslim inhabitant does no longer live sosecure as before. Such a country is politically a country of the

enemy (Darul Harb) (W.W. Hunter the Indian Musalman. The

comrade publishers Calcutta 1945.

2 Shah Abdul Aziz Fataw Azizi Matbah Mujtaba Delhi 1311

A.H. P. 17.


4/218


With the gradual consolidations of the British power, thedecision of the doctors became more and more distinct as to

India being Darul Harb (enemy country) Shah s.b and other

Ulama who gave the decision to that effect were consciencekeeper of the Muslim community bewildered by the rapidity of

British expansion. It founded the ground sleeping from their

feet and in the time of its bewilderment and distress it lookedtowards the religious leaders for guidance.

However it is significant to note that during the period (1782-1803) when the Maratha Chief wielded suzerainty over Delhiand Mughal emperor, a mere figure head was under their

protection, no Fatwa as to India being Darul Harb (enemy

territory) was given. Shah s.b was in Delhi and his very eyes theNon Muslim Maratha soldiers were perpetrating all sorts of high

handedness on the peaceful citizen of Delhi and its suburbs, yet

he did not come out with a declaration that India has ceased tobe a Darul Islam (land of peace) for the Muslim. One possible

interpretation that can be put forward is that inspite of Shah s.b

bitter criticism of Maratha's ruthless behavior and the general

spread of chaos and confusion due to their tyrannical exactionof (chawth) (three fourth) from all who fall a victim to their

greed and lust He had no consideration that Muslim supremacy

had come to an end. He might have interpreted the rise ofMaratha power as a rebellion and have thought that it was a

temporary phase, perhaps he believe that some Ahmed Shah

Abdali would again appear and drive the unuly Maharashtrianout of Delhi. In hisFatwa he use the word Dhimmi, not Hindu

not Non-Muslims which indicated that he did not interpreted the

situation which tantamount to final collapse of the Muslimsadministration in India. To him it still existed. It needed


5/218


rejuvenation. The Maratha have no doubt weakened it but theyhave not replaced or shown any desire to replace it by any new

set-up. On the other hand in the ascendancy of East India

Company, he certainly saw the seed of total disintegration of theMuslim society and the final decline of the Muslim authority

beyond any hope of recovery. He was a man of keen insight. He

was fully aware of British doing in Mysure, Bengal, Awadh andthe land of Ruhila's. He fully realized the danger that lay in the

new situation. Hence theFatwa and call for resistance.

Shah s.b was not content only with the pronouncement ofFatwa. He went futuree and gave lead in organizing the

resistance moment. As he was too old to participate in it

actively he asked his spiritual disciples, Sayyed Ahmed Barelwi(1786-1831) to go to the camp of Ameer Ali Khan in Rajputana

who in collaboration with the Jaswantrao Holker, a Maratha

chieftain, who was putting up a stubborn resistance to theBritish. Sayyed. Ahmed Baralwi was a man of strong moral

character, a perfect activist and a born leader of man. His

mystique training had given him a unique spiritual position

among the Ulama trained in Waliullahi tradition. Shah s.b wasso impressed by his spiritual attainments that he commanded his

whole family, relatives and friends to swear fealty to him and

accept his leadership.

Sayyed Ahmed lived in Rajputana for seven years, preaching to

the soldier of Amir Ali Khan, giving advise in organizationaland strategically matters and even fighting sword in hand

against the British forces. W.W. Hunter, partly because of his

ignorance and partly due to his prejudices, refers to his activitiesin Rajputana in the following words "he began his life as a


6/218


horse soldier in the service of a celebrated freebooter (Amir AliKhan) and for many a year harried the rich opium growing

village of Malva". W.W. Hunter, O.P. Cit-Pu.

However in 1817 when Amir Ali Khan decided to sign a peace

treaty with the British, Sayyed Ahmed left his camp and came

to Delhi where he was received by Shah s.b. with the submisionof Amir Ali Khan to the enemy the last ray of hope for

resistance under the banner of warlord had vanished. Now the

Jihad was to be continued through popular support. In order topopularize the cause and to enlist support in man and moneySayyed Ahmed with the blessing of Shah s.b toured the country.

His success was tremendous and within a short spans of time he

turned the land between Delhi and Calcutta in to a rebelliouscamp. In 1822 he made a religious journey to Makka and in

1824 made his appearance among the wild mountains of the

Peshawar Frontier preaching a holy war against the rich Sikhtown of Panjab.

Sayyed Ahmed and his followers have been charged with

making of frantic endeavor to establish an Islamic state in India.It is said that they were revivalist and strove to bring back the

vanished glory of pristine Islam but this allegation was not true.

Thus it is clearly evident that before the formation of Indiannational Congress Hajrat Shah Abdul Aziz and his colleagues

had already formed an organization which had started liberation

struggle against the British Government. It is also interesting tonote that Hindu too was participating in the struggle with the

Muslim. But leadership lay in the hand of Muslim community.

Shah Abdul Aziz R.A. and his disciple wrote that Muslims were


7/218


torch bearer of freedom struggle in India. (Naqshe Hayat P. 8-M.P.K)

Hazrat SayyadAhmedShah and his movement

The revolutionary political party formed by the Shah Waliullah

and Shah Abdul Aziz have rendered valuable contribution in thefreedom movement in the beginning of the nineteenth century

Sayyed s.b and his colleagues had influence the mind of

common Indian masses to oust the British government from theIndian soil. He had burning zeal to see Indian Muslim live withdignity therefore he had entered in to effective alliance with the

Hindus.

It was sheer bad luck for India that Sayyed Ahmed Shaheed had

to fight with the Sikhk rulers in the initial phase of his freedom

struggle and unfortunately was killed by Sikh solddiers atBalakote in 1831.His sad demice was great relief for the

British.If he would have lived for few more years the political

scenario in early19th century India could have been quite

different. The British rulers were quite apprehensive of hisintention and had remained under constant fearpsychosis. That

is why the British ruler had sigh of relief when Sayyed Ahmed

Shaheed had turned his struggle against Sikh instead of BritishGovernment.

However, the real intention of Sayyed Ahmed Shaheed wasdistruction of British Empire that had caused unprecedented

socio-economics havoc for Hindu and Muslim. To achieve this

sole objective he affected alliance with the Hindus to oust theBritish from this land This was soul reason that he had invited


8/218


Hindus and told them in clear term that British was their deadlyenemy and their ouster from this country was only solution to

their degradation. But the question of who will rule this country

would be decided amicably and whosoever will be capable ofruling would rule. For this purpose the letter written by him to

the Maharaja of Gawaliar Daulat Rai Sindhia and his brother

Hindu Rao is worth reading. His letter to these brothers clearlydefines his vision for this country. The letter reads as follows.

The following letter have been copied from Musalmanoke

Tanazzul Se Dunya ko Kiya Nuqsan Hua by Sayyed AbulHassan Ali Nadwi (P. 274-276)

Your Excellency! You are well aware of the fact that British

ruler who are originaly traders have now become ruling powerin our country. They have disgracefully trampled under feet the

dignity and respect of many great rulers of this country. Those

who are capable to rule this country are sitting on the fence andhave become idle therefore, few poor and people without any

recourses at their command had come in forefront to save their

religion. They have abandoned their home only for Allah. They

did not aspire for material gain. The moment British will leavefrom this country we will fullfill our mision. Those who intend

to rule this country would be given maximum opportunity to

rule and those who seek power will get it. It will strengthen ourcountry. We humbly request the rulers (custodian) of various

states to start their struggle under the banner of Islam and

remain the ruling power of this country. (Naqshe Hayat P. 14)His letter to a Muslim official in the state of Gualiar is also

worth reading he wrote.


9/218


"Under this circumstances it appear quite appropriate that youbrought the kind attention of the Raja Hindu Rao to this matter

that large chunk of Indian Territory has fallen into the hand of

foreigners. Everywhere they are perpetrating atrocities to theindigenous peopulation. The power of Indian rulers has become

ineffective and now they are completely under foreign

domination. Therefore, few people without any resourse at theircommand have taken the difficult task of over throwing alien

rulers from this land. It is prime duty of those who have been

ruling this land for long time to lend their helping hand for thiscause because it will certainly strengthen their rule.

It was quite evident from above two letters written by Sayyad

Ahmed Shaheed that his intention was not to impose pristineform of Islam but his main target of attack was British

Government.Sayyad Ahmed Shaheed had to confront with the

sikh rulers in his initial phase of political struggle and wastragically killed at Balakote.With his sad demice his moment

suffered severe setback. His army got dispersed and division

crept into the rank and file of his army. However after his death

the Mujahidin had established their headquarter at Sittan(Sihan) in the Swat valley in the frontier from there they had

continued their fight with the help they received form

Hindustan.

Role ofUlama in the revolt of 1857

"If one read through the official and the British records of 1857

one gathers the vague impression that the Muslim revivalistgroup and the Wahabis in particular had something to do with

it. There are casual call for Jihad (Holy war) in almost all the


10/218


places, toFatwa (religious decree) of Maulavi, to the display ofgreen flag in important rebel center- all of which suggest a

certain Muslim revivalist coloring to the event of 1857." (K.M.

Ashraf Ahyae Islam Ke Hami Awar 1857 Ka Inqilab P. 86.Teanslated from Urdu)

Now the question is why the Muslim theologians' in particularand general Muslim masses were so active during the revolt of

1857. These factors need detailed discussion.

Religious causes for revolt- the rumors about the BritishGovernment. Secrete design of promotinge conversion to

Christianity had inflamed the heart and mind of the sepoy. The

Government-misionary nexus gave credence to the rumour forwhich Indian masses had become sensitive to this issue. In

some cantonments misionary were permitted to preach openly

about Christianity and their diatribe against other religions v.i.zHinduism and Islam was welknown that had anger the sepoys.

The reports about the mixing of pig fat in the flour and the

introduction of enfilled rifes had increased the sepoy growing

disaffection with the Government.

The reforming zeal of British officers under the influence of

utilitarianism had rose considerable suspicion, resentment anddiscontentment. The orthodox Muslim feared that by

government patronage and through social legislation the British

rulers were trying to destroy the religion and culture of theIndian. Moreover they believed that legislation was under taken

to aid the misionaries in their quest for evangelization. The

orthodox and religious therefore arrayed against the British.Particularly the Muslim theologians who had concern for their


11/218


religion, were seeing before their eyes that Islamic granduerwas losing its vitality. The last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah

Zafar was sadly watching the destruction of grand Mughal

Empire. The situation has come to such a sorry state of affairethat between Asar (late afternoon prayer) and Maghrib (evening

prayer) the Christian misionary Finder usesd to deliver speeches

about the Christianity at the gate of Jama Masjid Delhij. In hisspeech he was severally criticizing Islam and Islamic principle

(this is an excerpt from the report of Madarsa-e Saulatia Hind

Nidae A'am 1357 A.H.

In fact misionary Findar was not alone in his mision

topropagate Christianity but he had a band of Christian

misionary with him who were trying to convert entire Indiansubcontinent into Christiandom. This process represents the

unique mixture of religion and politics of which Muslims were

most sufferers.

To counter the growing influence of Christianity Maulana

Rahmatullah Usmani Kiranawi who was a prominent Isslamic

scholar aaand aaaalso descendent of Makhdum JalaluddinPanipati was in forefront to counter misionary Finder and his

missionary activities.

Maulana Kiranawi had started correspondence with misionary

Finder to assess his intellectual capability. Afterward he had

started religious debate with him in which respected Hindu,Muslim and Christian were invited as audience and also as a

judge.


12/218


The first Christian Muslim debate was held between MaulanaKiranawi and misionary Finder on 1270 A.H.By the blessing of

Allah Maulana Rahmatullah Kiranawi spoke for three days

against the latest Bible and human interpolation in it. He provedby citing nuemerous examples in his speech that latest Bible of

which entire Christians were proud of was completely

interpolated by the human agency.

The hapless misionary was helpless and had to submit before

Maulana Kiranawi's argument against Christianity. After facingthis humiliating defeat at the hand of Maulana Kiranawimisionary Findar was not seen again in India. The next debate

scheduled to be held could not be undertaken due to non-arrival

of missionary finder at debating table, therefore entire audiencegave their pronouncement against Christianity. (Ulama-e Haque

P. 33-34-35)

A respected rich Muslim from Agra published the entire

proceeding of this religious debater in a book form. The

Christian misionary bought this book on massive scale and tried

to dump it to ennsure that no single record of this proceedingcould be available to succeeding generationof the Muslum

ccommunity. However some copy of this precious book could

be found in many educated Muslim family of India.

To furthere counter the nefarious influence of Christianity

MaulanaRahmatullah kairanwi had writtene many books V.I.Z.Izharul Haque, Izalatul Awham, Izalatu-l Shukuk, Ejaze Iswi,

(Miracle of Jesus) Asahul Hadith Fi Ibtali-l Taslis, Baruqul

Amea etc.


13/218


Educational policy pursued by the British Government and

its effect on Muslim community

While Christianity was being spread freely during the Britishperiod, educational system too was also organized in such a

manner, which were detrimental to Muslim and Islam.

It should be noted that Lord Macauley while presiding over theeducational commity on 7 March 1835 had emphasized the need

for imparting education in English language. The main thrust of

educational policy formulated and persued by the BritishGopvernment in India was as follows "we should create agroup of educated people who would be channel of

communication between the British Government. and thousands

of coror of indigenous Indian masses. These educated peoplewould be Indian by colour but British by test (Ulama-e Haque

awar Unke Mujahidana Karname (P. 38-39)

The Muslims

Community was apprehensive that with the spread of English

education in India, Islamic education will received sever

setback because Chistianity and Islam was poles a part and nomeeting of mind between the two waring ideologies was

possible. In comparisoin to Hindu community, the Muslim

community was not mentally prepare to let their children remainunder the misionary influence under the garb of new

educational policy, because already Muslim were gradually

pushed backward. The British government was vehementlypushing ahead their educational agenda that can be summarised

as follows:

1- To create the hardened supporter of British Raj.


14/218


2- If Muslim would follow Quranic injuction, it was impossiblefor themto remain liyalto the British Raj. Therefore massive

effort was made by way of education to make Muslim

irreligious.3 The syllabus of education should be devised in such a fashion

that its readers would become an obedient slave of the British

Government. As a result respect for religion, and Ulama

(Muslim theologian) sense of nationalism and mutual co-

operation between the Hindus and the Muslim would acquire

secondary importance. The effect of this policy would be thatpeople would fight together. Thus divide between the Hindusand Muslim divide would become more eminent and British

would continue their policy of divide and rule.

The ill effect of British educational system was imminent

during the short span of time in all parts of the country. The

union jack was unfurled every where in the country. TheChristian misionary increased their activities on massive scale.

The destruction of Indian educational system and replacement

of it by the British system had disastrous consequences on the

young impriosonable mind of the Indian.

Taking into consideration the events described and discussed in

the preceding page, the general atmosphere of discontentmentthat prevailed during the first half of the 19 century and the

policy of annexation and exploitation carried on by the British

through that period, on can only conclude that the rebellion of1857 was accumulative effect of various social economic and

political causes. . The presence of foreign power which was

considered responsible for all these social upheavals hadawakened a sense of Muslimness in the Muslim community. As


15/218


a logical corolary to their sentiment. Muslim Ulama hadmobilized the public opinion for arousing anti-British feeling in

the name of religion and culture to which the Muslim masses

are most sensitive.

As for the Muslim, the rising of Indian Muslim in Vellor (1806)

the revolt of Faraidise in 1804 the peasants riots organized bythe Dudu Mian in the thirties and forties of the nineteenth

century, the movement led by Sayyed Ahmed Beralawi and the

activities of Mujahidin after him- all these happenings suggestthe deep suspicion, frustration and discontent. Among themwhose leadership went mainly into the hand of religious

reformer. Therefore we find a religious string also in the final

attempt in 1857 to drive the British out of India, and also largebody of Ulama who lead the masses and at various places

actually fought against the British forces and led the masses to

and all out war against the British Government. Therefore afterthe war the main targets of the British attack were the Muslim

and therefore many of them were publicly hanged and

prosecuted.

The tradition established by Sayyed Ahmed Shahid in (1781-

1831) of course with the blessings of Shah Abdul Aziz were

taken up and followed by their successors and those who werereligiously and politically oriented to them. In Delhi the famous

Fatwa declaring Jehad against the infidel foreigners signed by

the many Alim of repute and authority stirred a large number ofpeople to fulfill the obligation enjoined therein. In 1858 at

Lacknow the welknown trial of Allama Fadhle Haque

Khairabadi a very learned Alim educated at the feet of ShahAbdul Qadir (1826) the younger brother of Shah Abdul Aziz in


16/218


connection of his Fatwa suggest the magnitude of influence aFatwa could wield on the minds of discontent Muslims. In

Lucknow the famous Maulvi of Faizabad from all account can

legitimately claim to be brain and the hand of conspiracy. It canbe asserted with confidence that he was working in close co-

operations with the Wahabi group and the folower of Sayyed

Ahmed Beralawi (Ashraf Op. Cit. P. 87)

The Wahabi sentiment had permeated the heart and mind of

rugged soldiers like Bakht Khan who was the dominating figureof the revolt and the leader of central Government. at Delhi(Ibid Ashraf) he arrived in Delhi with a bend of Wahabi and

appointed his spiritual guide Maulavi Sarfraz Ali (Ashraf O. P.

C. I. T 98) as the Imam of the contingent of religious warriors(Mujahidin) numbering several thousands (Ashraf OPCIT P.

87)

Intizamullah Shihabi in his two treatises Ghadar Ke Chand

Ulama (Naya Kitab Ghar Delhi) East India Company Aur Baghi

Ulama gives a list ofUlama who were very active in the days of

1857 and played a prominent rule in providing the rebellion aconsistent anti British- ideology altogether with a religious

fervor which had sometime led people to read a revivalist trend

in this great Musslim upprising.

The founder ofDarul Uloom Deobandactively participated in

the rebellion and had organize the masses out side Delhi torevolt and for a while had succeeded in ousting the British

authority form the area where the were working.


17/218


Jehade Shamli (introductions)

Jehade Shamli and Thana Bhawan is an important milestone in

our freedom struggle. It was a major effort on behalf ofUlamaof Deoband to oust the foreign yoke from Indian soil. But

unfortunately there is non-availability of any authentic

document and reliables source material on this grand chapter ofMuslim historiography. Few books for instance (Tazkiratul

Rashid, i.e biographies ofMaulana Rashid Ahmed Ganguhi and

Maulan Ashique Elahi Mirathi, Sawaneh Qasmi i.e (biographiesof Qasim nanotwi) Hazrat Maulana Qasim Nanatawi byMaulana Monazir Ahsan Ghilani, Ulamae Hind ka Shandar

Mazi by Muhammad Mian and few books by Sayyed Ahmed

Khan and by some book written by English writers, we findsome reference about the Jehad of Shamli, but detail account of

this Jehad is not available to the readers of history. Among the

few prominent Ulama and Mujahidin who had written on thismonumental event, the name of Shaikh Muhammad Thanwi

who was an outstanding Alim and writer find special mention

among galaxy of writers.

By intellectual reasoning Maulana Thanwi was not mentally

prepared to jump in this war, but he had the company ofUlama

like Qasim Nanatawi before him whose decision to wage Jehad(holly war) against the British Government had been hailed by

the majority of Ulama who were gathered to deliberate upon

how to initiate the decisive holly war against the British forces(Jahade Shamli wa Thanabhawon P.3)


18/218


Background

The main inspiration behind Jehade Shamli and ThanaBhawanwas Qazi Enayat Ali Rais (feudal lord) of ThanaBhawan. When

the British Government publicly hanged his innocent younger

brothers and many friends of him. He had become furious andwas adamant to wage war against the British Government. His

voice was echoed by the Ulama of Waliullahi order, who had

already psychological hang over of Jehad in their mindstherefore were unanimous on the pronouncement that this war

would be regarded as full fledge Jehad, because atrocities on the

indigenous Indian population had reached to an intolerable

scale. Hence Haji Imdadullah Mahajire Makki and Hafiz ZaminAli led the Jehad in which thousands of their followers have

participated.

Qazi Inayat Ali, Haji Imdadullah Mahajire Makki and Hafiz

Zamin Ali belong to the Faruqi clan who have played

pioneering rule in initiating the revival of Islamic cultures andtraditions in the region of Thana Bhawan. His illustrous

ancestor, Qazi Nasrullah had come to settle here and acquiredprestigious positions during reign of Akbar the great. His family

had produced many outstanding scholars in academic field. LikeTaqiul Ulama (Pious Muslim theologian) Muhammad Sabir,

Qazi Muhammad Ali Thanawi and Muhammad Mukarram were

an authority on commentary on the Holly Qura'an. Few of themwere outstanding spritual personalities like Haji Imdadullah

Makki and Hafiz Zamin Ali Shahid, and few were highly

talented in administrative fields like Shaik Ahmed Faruqi, QaziKutbuddin and Qazi Nijabat Ali.


19/218


Due to extraordinary talent, the Mughal rulers appointed themembers of his family from very beginning on high positions.

In majority of cases judge and accountant were appointed from

this respectable family alone. A part from this, Mughal rulershad given them huge portion of land therefore they were

regarded among few big landlords of the country. Mughal rulers

had also conferred upon them with numerous titles. It isinteresting to note that during the decline of Mughal rulers this

family continued to be prosperous and respected one.

Till 1803 this family was associated with Mughal Empire. Butsoon after the decline of Moghal ruler, Lord Leak had

established his rule in the Doaba region and this family had

came under the influence of British Government. When Britishhad sway over this region Qazi Kutbuddin was the guardian of

this family. He immediately declared his loyalty to the British

Government. Which has resulted into status quo as far as hisprestigious position was concerned. Many top British officials

trusted him and sought his help. And within one year he was so

much trusted by the British Government. That when (Halkar

Deck) was escaping from Bharatpur battle ground and washeading toward Panjab to seek some help, in the way he was

chased by lord. At this critical juncture he had sought logistic

support from Qazi Kutbuddin in 1805. Maulana ShaikhMuhammad Muhaddis narrates this story in the following

words. "When in 1803 governor Gen. Leak s.b established

suzerainty of British Government. By defeating and oustingMaratha Jaswant Raw, he issued a Farman (decree) to Qazi

Kutbuddin that there was shortage of logistic support therefore

his prompt assistence was needed at this critical moment Inresponse to this request Qazi had sent him massive material


20/218


support. Governor Leak was very happy for this timelyassistance and had conferred him rewards and titles."

Due to his family assistance to Lord leak, East India Companyhad lavishly rewarded Qazi Kutbuddin s.b. After the capture of

Doaba by company Bahadur, Qazi Kutbuddin remain loyal to

the British Government. till his last breath. East India companyhad also recognized his loyalty and had conferred him various

titles. During the life time of Qazi Kutbuddin the relation

between Qazi Nijabat Ali (younger brother of Qazi Kutbuddin)and company Bahadur had been firmly established.

After this brief introduction it is apparent that till the occupation

of Doaba (Beasts of earth) region by the Britsh Government. In1803, the friendly and mutual cordial relations between Faruqi

family of Thanabhavan and British had continued until

1857,and there was no single small incident by one party whichhave caused rupture of this agreement. To our surprise when

great rebellion of 1857 had started on 10th of May 1857 from

Meerut, its effect was felt in nearby cities and region. But

Thanabhavon was quite peaceful till August 1857. Feudal lordof village Thanabhavon Qazi Inayat Ali by exerting his

influence had created complete social harmony and did not

allowed single disturbing incident to take place which wouldhave led to social chaos. Business of life was going on as usual

and all credit for this could be attributed to Raiees of

Thanabhavan Qazi Enayat Ali.

Keeping in the mind such peaceful situation in Thanabhavan

every body could be amazed why suddenly every body in thevillage suddenly set a side all previous agreement turned hostile


21/218


to the British Government. . That too when strength of theMujahidin was getting weaker and in Delhi and the British

Government. was getting upper hand. Even resident of Shamli

was feeling helpless. If people of Shamli had any intention tojump in the war they would have started during the initial phase

of the revolt. In order to understand the sudden out break of

Shamli against the British Government. We should delve deepto know the causes and also we have to see who firstly violated

the agreement. It was Ulama orBritish Government?

In order to understand this great upheaval in proper perspectivewe have to understand the geographical contiguity among

Delhi, Thanabhavan and Saharanpur. The centrality of

Saharanpur, it's administrative and on going revolt in the nearbyareas should be kept in mind.

Presently Delhi is national capital of India and also an

autonomous state. Meerut, Thanabhavan, Shamli and

Saharanpur are important cities of U.P. Meerut was the

headquarter of all these commisionaries and has two district

v.i.z Saharanpur and Muzaffarnaghar. Thanabhavan and Shamliare two important villages of Muzaffarnaghar district, which are

located on the main railway line between Saharanpur andShehadra. There is also many important and famous villages

located on this line viz Rampur, Minharan, Nanota and

Jalalabaad. Before the outbreak of revolt in 1857 scenario wasquite different. Uttar Pradesh had no existence and all the cities

and villages were part of Delhi. Saharanpur was like an

autonomous state. There were thirty-six Mahal in it. Among

them was one Thanabhavan. This geopolitical setup hadcontinued from the reine of Akbar the Great. That was the


22/218


reason we find detail description of this village in themagnumopus book: Ainae Akbari: written by celebrated wrier

Abul Fazal. But the name of Thanabhavan in this book has been

written (Thanabhim). Before the outbreak of war in 1857 therewas no railway track that was reasion why Saharanpur, Rampur,

Thanabhavan, Shamli and Muzaffarnaghar were connected by

Grand National highway grant trunk road built by great Bihariruler Sher Shah Suri. This road was only means of

transportation by Vehicle, horse and other means of

transportation. Saharanpur was adjacent to Punjab therefore ithad acquired the status of military cantonment. All the armyrecruited at Punjab were stationed at Saharanpur and were

dispatched to the various places whenever situation demanded.

The collector of Saharanpur had wide-ranging military powertherefore naturally he has become an arrogant dictator.

When revolt had started on 10th

of May 1857 at Meerut thisnews had reached to Saharanpur on 12th of May 1857. Next day

all the children and women of the British officials were sent to

Dehradun as precautionary measure. After that the news of

revolt had reached to Delhi. Gozars and Ranghrod had takenfull advantage of the situation and had started looting in the

rural areas. Following this incident the security of the

Saharanpur was tightened and massive forces were deployed on21 of May 1857. The Gozars and Ranghord had assembled at

south of the Pargana Saharanpur and had looted British treasury

at Halni too. To counter the growing deterioration the Britishofficials along with massive military force had arrived at the

scene. The magistrate had with him twenty police and 39th

regiment when Gozar (name of martial cast of this sub-continent) and Ranghord saw these massive British forces they


23/218


had started running away and had thrown out all their booty onroads and fields. By that time all the prisoners at Meerut who

were fleeing from prison cell were arrested at Saharanpur.

Before this incident the British Magistrate had ask for help fromcommisioner of Ambala Here he found assistant commisioner

Mr. William Chechli who had come to Joghedhri. By that time

he had arranged some military forces and crossed the JamunaRiver. On 30th of May 1857 the Magistrate of Saharanpur along

with Mr. Plodon, Mr. Trench, Mr. Edward, Mr. Ravarts, Captan

Eed and Captan Gristan had launched a massive attack onvillage Mangnore. Gozars inhabited this village, and Umrawsiwas their village head. When the British forces had launched

attack all the villagers had run away due to fare. The British

forces had set a blaze entire village on fire. After that they hadarrested some villagers.

When bloody war was going on in the adjoining areas ofSaharanpur, Shamli and Thanabhavan was quite peaceful.

About the Shamli we can speculate that relation between its

Zamindar Mahars singh and Tahsildar Ibrahim Khan was not

cordial and doubt was expressed that former was havingcorrespondence with the king of Delhi. However this story may

had been fabricated by Ibrahim Khan as he was hostile to

Meharsi singh, and if we accept this story as true this was apersonal affairs of Raees of Shamli and it had nothing to do

with the Raees of Thanabhavan Qazi Enayat Ali. Thanabhavan

was itself very peaceful due to personal effort of Qazi EnayatAli. The reluctance of Qazi Enayat Ali to fight with the British

Government could not be presumed that he was pro-British and

loyal to British authority therefore he had no religious zeal dueto his inherent weakness. But we can say that when he had


24/218


raised the banner of revolt against the British authority theentire world was surprised at his religious zeal and sense of

nationalism. He not only compelled the British authority to eat

humble pie at Thanabhavan and Shamli but had also giventough fight to the British forces at Bijnor. No body could drive

wrong meaning by this sudden outbreak of Qazi Enayat Ali

against the British government that his action was dictated byself-interest. Because before entering into war against the

British Government. he had maintained peace in the

Thanabhavan and Shamli on four grounds.

1. The elder brother of Qazi Enayat Ali's grand father andgrand father Qazi Nijabat Ali had agreement with the British

government for the last fifty years that they would remainloyal to the British goveernment.

2. And only due to this agreement both these two persons hadeasy access in the British Darbar (court) and were frequently

conferred with honor and titles.

3. The father of Qazi Enayat Ali Qazi Saadat Ali had renewedhis loyalty to British government in 1856. He had also beenemployed as judge by Company Bahadur of Deoband.

4. After the death of his father, Qazi Enayat Ali had keptintact his agreement with the British intact.

5. After the death of his father, Qazi Enayat Ali had kept oncarrying the agreement reached by his father and the British

Government.


25/218


Those who understand the important of agreement in Islamwould have certainly hailed Qazi Enayat Ali for his attitude

towards the British Government. It was his sheer devotion to

Islam, which Islam by which guided him. In fact he wasemulating prophet Muhamad (pbuh) in this matter. As we now

that prophet had entered into the agreement with the Jews of

Madina and had kept his agreement intact until aagreement wasviolated by Jews themselve.

After the war of Badar, (Battle of Badr) Banu Qainqa (Tribe ofBanu Qainqa) had misbehaved with our prophet as well as otherMuslims. And when prophet had made conciliatory effort with

them the Jews had not only misbehaved with the prophet but

also were adamant to wage war against the Muslim. Thisincident had resulted into war of Banu Qainqa during the period

of second Hizri.And after the war had ended the prophet had

kept the previous agreement with Banu Nasir. And also tried torenewed his previous agreement. But Jews kept on carrying out

their ancient and traditional rivalry with the Muslim and Islam.

On one hand they had kept the prophet engage in formulating

agreement, on the other hand they were hatching conspiracy toassassinate him. Therefor due to these entire treachery prophet

was compeled to wage war against the Jews and war driven

them away from Madina. In the affaire of Banu Quraiza samething had happened. Initially agreement was sign between Banu

Quraiza and Muslim, that if Madina was attack they would be

party along with the Muslim to defend it. But during the war ofGhazwae Ahzab (Battle of Ahzab) in fifth A.H. they had

clandestinely entered into alliance with the invading forces and

had put the Muslim under unprecedented danger. By that timetheir conspiracy had met with failure due to war strategic tactic


26/218


and wisdom of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). However after warthe prophet following with the commandment of Allah, had

surrounded entire village of Banu Quraiza and all the people of

their tribe were killed for violating agreement with the Muslims.Prophet Muhammad had followed the same method with the

idolater of Makka after the treaty of Sulhe Hudaibia. (The treaty

of Hiudaibiya)

Keeping in mind the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad, (Religious

rite ordained by the Holy Prophet) Qazi Enayat Ali fullyadhered to the agreement made with the British officials. Hetried his best to maintained peace in those areas, which were

under his sphere of influence. And due to his personal influence

not a single violent incident had taken place against the Britishofficials. Though fierse fighting was ensuing in adjacent area of

Thanabhaon. Also the inhabitant of Thanabhaon were

completely unaware that in their region war was going on andeven the king of Delhi was participating in it. In the village, life

was normal and marriages and other social program was being

celebrated without any disturbance. Even the Aqiqa (Party

thrown on seventh day of after new birth in the family)programme of newly born child of Qazi Enayat Ali's younger

brother Qazi Abdur Rahim was being celebrated with religious

fervor. No body could anticipate that this happy celebrationwould turn into a tragic one. The villagers were celebrating

birth of newborn child of Abdur Rahim at Thanabhaon and in

Saharanpur child fathers the British officials were executingQazi Abdur Rahim. The moment the news of his execution had

reached to Qazi Enayat Ali that his younger brother had been

publicly hanged he lost his sense and had become like mad.And this was quite natural because he had already lost his two


27/218


brothers and even his father had died one year ago. This was hisonly brother who was his right hand for him, but sadly British

forces had killed him mercilessly. The news of his killing had

spread to his village and all the members of his family werewailing and lamenting. But Qazi Enayat Ali's condition was

most critical. He was repeatedly saying that I would avenge the

killing of my brother. The entire family members of him wereadvising him to exercise restrain. Particularly his Uncle Qazi

Muhabbat Ali advised him not to play with the fire. But Qazi

Enayat Ali was adamant to fight with the British Government.Therefore he had angrily declared "I would not tolerate theatrocities of the British Government even for one minute I

would fight with them till my last breath. Either I would finish

them or they would finish me. Some elderly people of thatregion had narrated to Shamsul Haque Siddiqi, the author of

Jehade Shamli and Thanabhaon that Robert Spinsky had come

to know that few innocent peoples had been killed by the Britishforces and that Qazi Enayat Ali was adamant to revenge against

the killing of his innocent younger brother. Therefore he had

tendered his apology in order to preclude him from undertaking

war against the British government. For this purpose he hadsent massage to Qazi Enayat Ali which was as follows "I have

unintentionally killed your younger brother and I am sorry for

that. You keep patience and do not take any step, which woulddisturb the peaceful situatione. You keep quite I will gave you

enormous property and also accept you as a Nawab of

Thanabhaon".

But Qazi Enayat Ali had firmly decided not to step back. Haji

Imdadullah Mahajir Makki and his colleges who were inspiredby the great warrior like Sayyed Ahmed Shahid and Shah Ismail


28/218


Shahid had motivated and encouraged Qazi Enayat Ali toinitiate war against the British government. To deliberate upon

how to start war against the British government. they had

convened a meeting of Ulama at Thanabhaon in which allprominent Ulama of surrounding region had assembled. Few

outstanding Ulama who had attended this meeting were v.i.z

Haji Imdadullah Mahajir Makki, Hazrat Hafiz Zamin AliShahid, Hazrat Maulana Shaikh Muhammad Muhaddis, HazratMaulana Qasim Nanatwi, Hazrat Maulana Rashid Ahmed

Gangohi, Hazrat Maulana Muhamad Ihsan, Hazrat MaulanaMuhammad Ahsan and Hazrat Maulana Mazhar etc.

At the meeting of Majlise Shura two important issue came up

for discussion i.e.1 To start a full fledged war against with the British government

and

2 Weather this war would be regarded as fledged Jehad (HollyWar) or not.

During the deliberation upon these two crucial issues minor

differences have cropped up among the Ulama. Since fewUlama had express concern over the meager availability of

resources (war material, logistic support). They though that the

power of the British Government. Had expanded to such anextent that much powerful Government. (Principality

feudatories) were helpless before them. The British forces had

human resources as well as logistic support. And as far as warexperience was concerned they have no paralell. Under this

situation, to jump in the war at mere assurance given by some

feudal lord that they would extend their help during war was nota wise act. Because Muslim were armless and defeat was


29/218


imminent. This was the first objection raised. And according toMaulana Ashiq Elahi Meeruthi Maulana Shaikh Muhammad

Muhaddis had raised this objection (P 32 Jehade Shamli wa

Thanabhawan).

Who so ever had raised this objection, Maulana Qasim Nanatwi

had replied this objection in the following words "do we haveless power and war materials than Ashabe Badar (fighters in the

battle of Badar)" this sentiment of Maulana Qasim Nanatawi

obviously meant that a Muslim Should not rely upon theavailability of resources only (war material and logisticsupport).

In fact Maulana Qasim Nanotwi had silenced all dissentingvoice by this comprehensive one line sentence. After settling

first issue the second issue came up for deliberation was,

weather this war would be regarded as Jehad or not? On thiscontroversial issue Maulan Shaikh Muhammad Muhaddis

expresses his opinion in the light of Islamic teaching and said,

"we kept quite until Muslims in different regions were fighting

against British Government. to save Muslim and Islam. Nowthe British forces had killed some people and we were sseeking

revenge (though it is inevitable) then how we can term it as a

Jehad. Maulana Ashiq Elahi had not given any reference aboutthe objection raised by Maulana Shaikh Muhammad neither he

had hinted at who were other participant in the Majlise Shura

who had out rightly rejected his view. Also there is notavailable reliable historical record to refer what answer was

given to Maulana Shaikh Muhammad Khan. However we can

only anticipate that Maulana Qasim Nanatwi would havereplied as follows. "In stark violation of all previous agreement


30/218


the British Government. had executed many innocent Mulsimstherefore we are not under any obligation to abide by the

agreement. So we will wage war to avenge against the British

Government. To avenge the killing of our innocent Muslimbrothers and this would be regarded as Jehad (Holly war) He

sighted the example of Jange Mauta when Prophet Muhammad

(pbuh) had to wage war due to assassination of his emisary.

According to the statement of Maulana Ashiq Elahi that after

this short deliberation Ulama were unanimous on the decisionthat jehad (holy war) should be waged against the Britishgovernment. to establish an independent Islamic regime in the

village. If any body put hurdle in our objective of establishing

Islamic rule we would fight with them and this war would beregarded as full fledged Jehad".

After the decision was reached for undertaking Jehad againstthe British British, now the question arose that who will lead in

Jehad for the establishment of an Islamic Govternmen. Maulana

Manazir Ahsan Ghilani sheds some light in his voluminous

book: Sawaneh Qasmi; He wrote "Maulana Tayyeb, grand sonof Maulana Qasim Nanatwi recalls that Maulana Shaikh

Muhammad s.b Thanawi was disciple of Hazrat Muhammad

Shah Ishaq Muhaddis who had expressed excuse that if I acceptyour logic for initiating Jehad then importance of Imam would

acquire central importance. Therefore you tell me who is Imam?

Who will lead us in Jehad? Theses questions were askedaccording to Islamic tenets but reply came promptly from

Sayyedina Imamul Kabir Qasim Nanatwi who had said "there

was no problem in appointing an Imam.And it seem that afterhis candid reply this issue needed no much attention according


31/218


to Imamul Kabir. Perhaps his colleagues were thinking that thisissue would become complex about that but they were stunned

to know its easy solution. But inevitable had had happened and

Imamul Kabir suggested that all of us should do Bait at the handof Hazrat Murshide Barhq Haji Imdadullah s.b and immediately

after the Baait (Ritual for accepting a desciple oath of

allegience) Haji Imdadullah s.b was appointed as AmirulMu'minin (The Commander of the faithful)

After the formation of Majlise Shura they declaredindependence from the British government and had establishedan Islamic government. Haji Imdadullah Mahajir makki being

an Amir took central position of all administrative affaires in his

hand. Maulana Rashid Ahmed Gangohi and Maulana QasimNanatwi were appointed his assistant. At the end of village there

was some military barrack in which some British employ were

residing. They were promptly thrown out and barrack wasvacated from them. According to Maulanan Ashiq Elahi this

interim Islamic governmentt. had decided some cases according

to Islamic Sharia.

All these activities were going on in village Thanabhawon and

it is understood that the British government. knew about it. But

they had not paid any attention to it and had concentrated theirall attention at Shamli, Budhana and Muzaffarnagar. May be

they had regarded the affair of Thanabhaown as an insignificant

one, to be dealt with subsequently.

To know about the sequence of event regarding Jehade Shamli

and Thanabhawn we have many reliable source materials like


32/218


mutiny records, correspondence Tazkiratul Rashid and LailMuhammad.

According to series of events the incident of Bagh Sher Ali kaSarak come first. This incident had soon taken place after the

formation of Majlise Shura and after the establishment of an

Islamic state in Thanabhawan.

According to mutiny record Henry Malcolm, assistant

magistrate had presented report to Lieutenant W.T Hargai firstcommander of Panjab cavalry on 20

thof September 1857. He

wrote in the report that "as per instruction received from

Spenski we along with a bend of people left from Ram Kundi to

Muzaffarnagar, Shamli on 1857 Ath Mahe Rawan Me. In ourband following people were accompanying. One native official

thirty Dafadars and fourty five cavalries. I had separated one

Dafadars and five cavalry and assigned the duty to carryout theluggage and arm and ammunitions. I had also instructed the

people of this band to follow the same route, which I had

followed. But I felt sad to explain that the Tahsildar at Deoband,

partly due to wrong instruction and partly due to unawareness tothis region led this band from Thanabhawan route to Shamli.

Though this route was straight and shortcut but difficulty was

that at this place (Thana route) people had raised banner ofrevolt and were fiercely fighting against the British governt And

whenever any band of the British forces was passing from

Thana they were attacked from rebel who had alreadyassembled at this place. In this attack the leader of band (Risala

Sardar Partap Singh was killed and all our arms and

ammunition came under their control). Our men fought withgallant but were defeated because our enemy had nuemerical


33/218


strength and compratively powerful than us. ( Jehad Shamli andThanabhawan. P. 37-38.)

After this crushing defeat at the Thanabhawan, Henry Malcolmhad tentatively on 9th or10th of September 1958 led his

remaining troops via Muzaffarnagar to Shamli. Those British

forces that had survived at Thanabhawan had also joined them.These remaining forces might have been communicating this

news to British officials who were stationed at Shamli. The

prominent British officials who were stationed at Shamli wereHenry Malcolm, Collector of Muzaffar Nagar R.M. Adward andjoint magistrate C. Grant.

Now the question arises in our mind that why were allprominent British officials were stationed at shamli? And at this

critical juncture collector and joint magistrate both had left

district headquarters and was present at Shamli? To understandthis complex situation we should know the prevailing condition

of Shamli by that time.

Those days when momentous event of our history was takingplace, Shamli was the headquarter of Muzaffarnagar Tahsil and

also a thriving business centre. The Hindu constitutes the large

chunk of populations and Mehar Singh was an influentiallandlord of this village. Mehar Singh was not on good term with

another feudal lords of adjacent village, Ibrahim Khan. Mehar

Singh was under constant threat of rebellion from IbrahimKhan. And it was quite possible that due to enmity with Mehar

Singh Ibrahim Khan could have sent fabricated report about

Mehar Singh to the collector of Muzaffrnagar. This false reportcould might had served as threat and British officials were


34/218


compelled to take precautionary measure for their safety. Atseveral time the collector of District Muzaffarnagar had send

joint magistrate at C. Grant to Shamli for some administrative

arrangement. After the revolt of 1857 had come to an end theBritish Government. had recognized the service rendered by the

Ibrahim Khan. Mr. C. Grnat had issued a certificate to the son

of Ibrahim Khan in which they had hailed the service of IbrahimKhan. The citation of certificate reads as follows. "Particulay

during the initial phase of revolt we went from Meerut to

Shamli we stayed there for two days in the month of June, 12days in the month July and for 14 days in the month ofSeptember. During the stay of C. Grant in the month of

September at Shamli Mr. Edward had sent him arms and

ammunition and tanks. And after four days he had himselfarrived at Shamli. During his presence at Shamli Henry

Malcolm had sent him massive military forces from Saharanpur.

This way Shamli was virtualy converted in to a militarycantonment. And majorities of British officials were deployed

there.

It was a trouble time for the British Government becausesimultaneously they had to fight on several fronts. In the nearby

village (Hur Hur) people had raised banner of revolt. Several

British police have been in adjacent fort of Budhana and leaderof rebel Khairat Khan had established Tahsil in his own name.

Shamli also had become uncontrollable for the British

Government. (J.Sh.W.Th.Th. P.41)

The British officials were surprised by this sudden upheaval and

were busy in dealing with this complex situation. Meanwhilethose fighters who had escaped from Thanabhawan reached to


35/218


Shamli and conveyed full detail of the affair to the Sheir Ali.Sheir Ali was very angry at this incident and had withdrawn

from war sport. And was too busy to take any disciplinary

action or punish the people of Thanabhawan. Therefore he hadpostponded his disiplinary action and kept on working about his

previous programmes.

This was the prevailing condition in Shamli but Mujahidin

were not careless about the presence of British officials in

Thana. They were quite certain that British officials could turnto Thana Bhawan at any time to revenge theire previous loss.Therefore they clandestinely kept vigil on the movement of

British forces. When (Mujahidin) were about to make futuree

advancement towards the British officials, they were waiting sothat British army could advance towards Budhana and before

they could attack Thana Bhawan the Mujahidin would attack on

Shamli with all ferocity to destroy and weaken the centre ofthere power.

Henry Malcolm had narrated this story in the following words.

He said "Our forces had joined Mr. Edward at Shamli on 10th

ofSeptember and then we proceeded towards village Hur Hur,

where people had raised banner of revolt. When we had reached

to Hur Hur no one resisted and our forces easily surroundedentire village and arrested many of them. Governmental

property and arm and ammunition, which they had previously

looted, were recovered from them. After this adventure, whenthey were returning back to Shamli, a band of rebellion had

attempted to snatch away our arms and ammunitions. But

Dafadar Latif Khan along with four hundred cavalries hadfought bravely with them. The rebel had run away from the


36/218


battle of ground. And only one rebel was killed and another onewas arrested, who was letter on hanged".

All these minor incident of fighting was on with the Britishforces. But full fledge war with brutal force had started on 14th

of September 1857, at Shamli and all prominent Mujahidin like

Zamin Ali Shahid, Rashid Ahmed Gangohi, Maulana QasimNanatwi, Haji Imdadullah Muhajir Makki, Qazi Enayat Ali and

Maulana Munir Nanatwi had participated. Hafiz Zamin Ali

Shah, who was maternal uncle (khalu) of Qazi Inayat Ali waskilled by the British Army and breathed his last in the lap ofRasheedAhmedGangohi.Another great warrior Maulana Qasim

Nanutwi had fought with the British forces with all ferocity. He

along with Rasheed Ahmed Gangohi had acted as thecommander of the Mujahidin in this great battle.

Maulana Muneer Nanutwi following the instructions of HajiImdadullah Makki was personal guard of Qasim Nanutwi

during fight with British forces.

Haji Imdadullah who was Imam of this Jihad had migrated toMacca after the collapse of this uprising. His role in this battle

could be written in golden letters.

A part from prominent Ulama thousands of common masses

belonging to Shamli had also fought along with these Ulama in

this jihad, simply because Fatwa to fight against the Britishgovernment was issued by the outstanding Ulama of that

period. And also because despite many weaknesses, Muslims of

that period were filled with religious fervor and it was quite


37/218


certainly that majority of them would have taken part in thisgrand battle.

According to Henry Keen "Jihad of Shamli had continued forfull day. Mujahideen (Muslim freedom fighters) and their co-

fighters had numerical strength' therefore they had temporarily

tilted balance of war in their favour." (P.54 Jihad-e Shamli)

In this full day war One hundred and thirteen British armies had

been killed and Mujahideen had also suffered heavy loss of life.Though great Zamin Ali Shah was assassinated but Mujahideenhad attained their goal and had gain upperhand over the British

forces. All the army officials and staff had to flee from the area

and no one except one wounded British police had survived.The edifice of British war centre was destroyed and Mujahideen

had emerged victorious. (Jihad-e Shamli and Thana Bhawan

p.3-7-8-9-15-16 -17-18-21-22-23-30-31-32-33-34-35-37-39-40-41-42-47).

Darul Uloom Deobandand its role in the freedom

movement.

Deoband is a small town in the district of Saharanpur U.P at adistance of about ninety ninety miles from Delhi. Here in 1867

a small Arbic Maktab was raised to the status of Darul uloom

which soon began to attract the attention of students and loversof Islamic learning from far and near. Established within ten

years after the unsuccessful uprising of 1857 when bitter

frustration prevailed everywhere and futuree seemed dark andappallingly discouraging. It was undoubtedly a bold venture.

The guiding sprit of this venture was Maulana Qasim Nanutwi


38/218


who had already fought in the battlefield of Shamlin 1857.Thepart played byDarul Uloomin the religious, social and political

life of the Indian Muslims can be legitimately interpreted in

terms of the aims and objectives that lay behind the action of itsfounders during the days of rebellion. Shamli and Deoband are

as matter of fact, the two sides of one and the same picture. The

difference lies only in weapons. Now the pen and tonguereplaced the sword and spear. There at Shamli in order to secure

political independence and freedom of religion and culture,

resort was made to violence. Here at Deoband a start was madeto achieve the same goal through peaceful means.

Thus for the cause of religious politi cal freedom individuals

were produced. The roads though divergent from each other, ledtowards the same destination ie freedom of the country.

Deoband and freedom struggle

The founder of the Darul Uloom Deoband(Collage of rthodox

Islamic learning) represented the rebellion sprit of the

disgruntled Muslim, who since the days of Fraidiyah movementhad been manifesting their uneasiness and dissatisfaction in one

way or another, with state of affair created by establishment andperpetuation of a foreign rule in India. They were not going to

surrender before the resultant suffering after their suffering in

1857 and recoil into a fatal activity. They were fully conscious

of the fact that the British rule, now more powerful than beforewas not going to spared them in their efforts to leave up to the

standards of their religious and cultural heritage. Nor did they

believe in policy of compromise and appeasement. Yet theywere to march and they marched forward independently,


39/218


rejecting all official interference and depending entirely onDivine assistance and the sincere religiosity of their brethren.

So with these two pronged objectives in their mind i.e toeducate their brethern and complete the unfinished agenda of

rebellion1857 they fully cooperate with the newly emergent

Indian National Congress in 1885. Maulana Rashid Ahmed

Ganguhi who succeeded Maulana Qasim Nanatwi as the Ameer

Mohtamim (Rector) of Darul Uloom Deoband showed

progressive tendency in the field of politics while giving aFatwa declaring that in worldly matters cooperation with theHindus was permisible provided it did not violate any basic

principles of Islam. The occasion for thisFatwa arose with the

establishment of the Indian National Congress in 1885 and SirSayyed vigorous stand against it. This was a crucial point and it

created the political conflict between the traditionalist and the

modern Aligarh. It has been pointed out that in principle that thefounders of Darul Uloom were not opposed to the acquisition of

modern education ation by the Muslim Muslim but were

opposed to pernicious effect of english education on the Indian

for which they had fought vigourouslyduring the initial phase ofthe British Raj

The formation of Indian National Congress in 1885

and Ulama support to it

Seventy-two political workers founded the Indian National

Coingress in December1885. It was the first organized

expression of Indian nationalism on an all India scale. A. O.Hume, a retired English ICS Officer, played an important role

in its formations.


40/218


The foundation of the Indian National Congress was not asudden event, or a historical event. It was the culmination of a

process of political awakening that had its beginning in the

1860 and 1870 and early 1880s. The year 1885 marked aturning point in this process, for that was the year the political

Indian, the modern intellectuals interested in politics who no

longer saw them selves a spokesmen of a narrow group interestin politics but as a representative of national interest Visa-a-Vis

foreign rule as a national party saw their effort bear fruit. The

All India Nationalist body that they brought in to being was tobe the plate form, the organizer, the headquarter, the symbol ofnew national sprit and politics.

Before the formation of the Congress Indian politicians wereindividually complaining in the house of common (England)

about their grievances and complain but their appeal fell on deaf

ear. Their uneasiness grew day by day and now they approachedwith their problem to viceroy Dufferin. Here too their

grievances were not given a patient hearing. Instead Lord

Dufferin replied. Until now all of you are complaining about

your grievances in individual capacity. Why did not you forman organised group and collectively present your case before the

British Government. Therefore Indian National Congress was

set up in 1885, and its first session was held atBombay.Members of all casts, race, religion and sex were given

membership of the congress from its inception. In the first

session of Indian Congress at Bombay 78 members hadparticipated in which two Muslims, three Bengalis and

numerous Hindu and Zoroastrian of Mumbai had participated.

On behalf of Mumlim community the famous Muslim merchant


41/218


Seth Rahmatullah Sayani had participated. This first sessionwas presided over by Surendas Nath Banerjee.

The formation of the Indian National Congress was also awatershed event in our history because before its establishment

in 1885, The Indian had suffered unprecedented loss. British

forces had perpetrated all kinds of atrocities on Indian masses.Many freedom fighters were blown by tank, many were

trampled under the feet of elephant and innumerable people

were hanged. Common Indian masses in general and Muslim inparticularly were under shock and fear psychosis therefore theywanted to come out from this disaster. The Indian National

Congress had provided a forum from where they could ventilate

their genuine greivances. So after the first session of Congresspeople become conscious that there could be another way to

achieving independence. Therefore within short span of time the

Indian National Congress had registered phenomenal rise in itsmembership.

Therefore when second session of Indian National Congress

was held in 1886 at Calcutta under the presidentship of DadaBhai Noroji its membership had increased tremendously from

78 to 436 (within one month) in which 33 were Muslim

members. And when third session of the Indian NationalCongress was held in 1887 at Madras under the presidentship of

Badruddin Tayyebji its membership had gone up to 604 in

which Muslim members were eighty-three. It was quite naturalthat British officials were alarmed at this growing strength and

popularity of the Indian National Congress. Particularly Mr.

Beck (principal at Aligarh College) and other British officialsand staffs had become extremly worried for this national


42/218


concious. Therefore they tried theire best wanted to break theunity of the Indian National Congress. For this purpose Mr.

Beck had established (The Indian patriotic association)

(Anjuman Muhibbane Watan) Mr. Beck started tirade againstthe Indian national Congress by writting a series of articles

against the Indian National Congress. He had undertaken tours

at several places in India and had delivered public speechesagainst the Indian National Congress. He also pressurized Sir.

Sayyed Ahmed Khan to act against the Indian National C

ongress as a result Sir. Sayyed Ahmed khan had became anti-Congress. Now Sir. Sayyed came under the spell of Mr. Beckand started preaching Muslim community not to join Indian

National Congress. Sir SayyedAhmedKhan echoed his thought

and fervently appealed to the Muslim community to join Indianpatriotic association and show their allegiance to the British

government. He vehemently appealed to the common Indian

Muslim that participation of Muslims in the politics washarmful. He had persuaded few like minded Ulama to issue

Fatwa that participation of Muslims in the Indian National

Congress was Haraam (illegal) and it was a supreme duty of

Indian Muslim to join Indian Patriotic association. All theseanti- Congress activities of Sir. Sayyed Ahmed Khan continued

till 1888. Now Ulama of Deoband became active to counter Sir.

Sayyed Ahmed Khan anti Congress posture. Maulana RashidAhmed Ganguhi, Maulana Mahmudul Hassan and other

theologion of Deoband and Muslim from different parts of the

country opposed Sir. Sayyed Ahmed Khan and issued Fatwaagainst him. They had collectively issued Fatwa supporting

Muslims participation in the Indian National Congress and

barring them from joining the Indian Patriotic Association.Those Maulana who were in forefront to apposing sir sayed


43/218


Fatwa were Ulamai-Ludhiana Maulana Mohammed saheb andhis two brothers Maulana Aziz Saheb and Maulana Abdulllah

saheb.

They Had collected Fatwas against Sir sayyed from different

part of the country and compiled it in a comprehensive book

form v.i.z Nusratul Abrar.Maulana Mohammed Saheb in hisFatwa justified by his vehement argument that the participation

of Muslims in the Indian National Congress was permisible and

that they should keeping away from Indian patriotic association,which was founded by an English officer. For a reference theFatwa given by Maulana Rashid AhmedGangohi can be cited

in Nusratul Abrar page No. 19-20,26 and the Fatwa given by

Maulana Mohammed Hasan saheb and the fatwa of Ulama ofDeoband in page No. 23-24,Maulana Mohammed and the

Fatwa given by his two brothers can be cited on page No. 13-

19. In fact Nusratul Abrar containFatwa given by one hundredIndian Ulama in support of Muslim joining the Indian National

Congress and against Indian patriotic association. (Note Ref-

Indian struggle for Independence p.70 Naqshe Hayat, p 69, 70,

71.Nusratul Abrar)

It is also interesting to not that the Indian National Congress

during its initial phase of its formation was only confined toholding rallies and presenting memorandum to the British

government. On the other hand the Ulama of (Deoband) were

engaged in preparing plan and strategy and in envisagingstrategy to launch a comprehensive offence against the British

Government.


44/218


Shaikhul Hind Maulana Mahmudul Hasan and his

role in the Freedom Struggle

Maulana Mahmudul Hasan was educated at the feet of

reknowned and great Ulama of Deoband like Maulana QasimNanwatavi, Rashid Ahmed Gangohi and Haji Imdadullah

Makki. He was a favourite desciple of all these Ulama.

Maualana Mahmudul Hasan had spent several years under the

tutelage of those Ulama who were war hero of rebellion of1857. It was only due to bravery and supreme sacrifice of this

Ulama that the hold of British Government was weakened and

to a great extent completely wiped out from Shamli andThanaBhawan. Therefore Throughout their life anti-British fire

was burning in their chest and it was quit natural that Maulana

Mahmudul Hasan had to follow the path set by his ancestorsand kept anti-british activities throught his life to end the British

rule in India. Maulana Mahmudul Hasan had struggled against

the British government under very unfavourable and difficult

circumstances. He was sorrounded by such persons who weresecretly working for British interests had surrounded him and

no body could had even thought and dared to work against the

British government. The political scenario was so disccouragingthat even to talk about home rule and autonomy was considered

to be a great crime in the eyes of British government. He was

constantly under fear psychosis and great shocks because CIDwas after him and his own people had been conspiring for his

arrest Therefore firstly he had started preparing like-minded

people around him but soon he was disillusioned with Ulama

and Mashaikh. (Saintly guide) That was prime reason why hehad started brainwashing firstly to his students and Mureeds.

(Follower) Maulana Obaidullah Sindhi was his favoured


45/218


disciple who had responded to his call under very tryingcircumstances. Maulana Mahmudul Hasan had determinations

to complete the unfinished task of 1857. For this purpose he had

inspired thousands of his disciples at Deoband to fight againstthe British government. For this purpose he had formed

Samratut tarbiyah in 1878. This organisation was a training

centre for young students who were filled with patriotic fervor.In this organisation plans and strategies were devised how to

throw out foreign ruler from this country.

The first batch of students who had received military training inthe Samratut Tarbiyah (Fruit of upbringing) was students from

Punjab and Afghanistan. After receiving military training they

had started anti-British movement in the frontier region and hadplayed pioneering role for arousing nationalistic feelings among

tribesmen. (Aseeran-e- Malta, P. 8, 9)

Maulana Mahmudul Hasan wanted to achieve independence of

the country by the active support from all sections of Indian

society. Therefore he was assisted in his mision from

Mujahidin, Ulama and non-Muslim revolutionaries. MaulanaHussain Ahmed Madni wrote about Malana Mahmudul Hasan

that he had hired a permanent home near his residence that was

popularly known as kothi (Bunglow). The frequent visitors tothis house were those who were non-Muslim friends and

revolutionaries working with shaikhul Hind. These

revolutionaries were stayin here secretly and the Shaikhul Hindarranged all their arrangement like food etc. Many of these

revolutionaries had secret meeting with him and it was assumed

that these people were mainly Sikh Bengali or Hindurevoloutionries. At this meetings secrecy was top priiority


46/218


therefore their name is not known. However, it is assumed thatthey were mainlly mainly non-Muslim revoloutionaries.

Besides this there were thousands of anonymous freedom

fighters working with him which require detail discussion .Apart from Deoband branch there were five branches which

were known as under (1) Dinpur Shareef (2) Amrot Shareef (3)

Karachi Khadah (4) Delhi and (5) Chakwal.At all thesebranches people were working sincerely and were known as the

president of their branches. (Chiragh-e Muhammad p. 121)

(Naqshe Hayat vol.2 p.208-9)

Besides these numerous branches at home there were various

branches working abroad as well i.e Tokyo, China, Paris and at

Washington etc. From these revoulationary centres variousnewspapers and magazines were published. But important point

was that Shaikhul Hind Maulana Mahmudul Hasan was

supervising all these activities.

The late professor Karam Haidery had summed up the

independence struggle of Maulana Mahmudul Hasan in the

following words. He wrote "after the revolt of 1857 and duringthe beginning of 20th century an independent organisation v.i.z

(Ghadar party) was formed which was operating under the

guidance ofUlama of Deoband Maulana Mahmudul Hasan. Thevery name Ghadar party was pointer to the fact that the Ghadar

of 1857 was a bold step by the Indians and they were proud of

it. In the ghadar party there were nuemerous prominent MuslimUlama like Maulana Muhammad Ali, Maulana Shaukat Ali,

Maulana Obaidullah Sindhi, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and

Maulana Maqboolur Rahman. This organisation consisted ofmany great Hindu freedom fighters like Mohandas Karam


47/218


Chand Gandhi, Moti Lal Nehru, Lala Lajpat Roy, BabuRajindra Parshad and Mr.Hardyal who are regarded as hero of

our freeedom struggle and now theythey have truely become

historical personalities. .But the fact remained that Ghadar partywas spearheaded by Musim Ulama.Its programmes and policies

were formulated by them and all great Hindu freedom fighters

were mere activists(political activists of this party )

The Islamic Character of ghadar party was also evident by the

fact that for its publicity in foreign countries it had publishedmany newspaper and magazine which were modeled on Islamicpattern. For instance a bilingual i.e English and Japanese

magazines were published from Japan.Its name was Islamic

fraternity Society and it was published by the same organisationthat was founded by professor Barkatullah. A magazine was

also published under the auspiece of Ghadar party. An

association was found in Paris which was publshing a newspaper v.i.z Inqalab. Likewise the Ghadar Party was publishing

two newspaper from Washington v.i.z Ghadar and Inqalab.

The Ghadar party had fixed february 19th

1915 to start broadbased rebellion againsst the british government But due to

ongoing second world war the British government was

maintaining strict surveillence against its enemy, thereforeplanned revolt had little chance of success. Therefore all

prominent rebels who were operating outside India were

arrested by the active support of allied power of the Britishgovernment And all stalwart were interned in the island of

malta. After serving rigorous imprisonment they were released.

(Pag 122 Charagh-E -Mohammed. Mohammed Ali JinnahSeerat aur kirdar by prifessor Karam Haidry Merhoom)


48/218


Maulana Mahmudul Hasan and Hindu-Muslim

joint effort for Indias independence.

Before departing from India to Hijaz Maulana Mahmudul

Hasan was well aware with the international political scenarioas wel as prevailing political tussle among various nations. But

fortunately when he was interned at Malta he had acquired

political maturity by entering into dialouge and discussion with

the revoloutionaries from the different part of the world. Theworld war had left many Islamic countries weaker and weaker

and they were desperately trying to wriggle out from this

devastating situation. Turkey that was once famous for braverywas termed as sick man of Europe. During the internment at

Malta Maulana Mahmudlul Hasan was entering into political

dialogue or interacting with the fellow presioners who hailedfrom different countries. Therefore when he had returned to

India he had set two necessary condition to be followed during

the future course of the freedom movement. Firstly, the struggle

for freedom movement should be confind within the countryand for this purpose all sections of Indian society should be

brought together for this noble cause. This was also imperative

because after the Jalianawalan massacre at Amritsar the Hinduswere willing to co-operat with Muslims. And this cooperation

was seen during the khilafat agitation when all prominent Hindu

leaders comprising M.K. Ghandhi had rallied around theMuslim Community to restore Ottoman Empire in Turkey.

Though at this auspicious occasion Maulana Mahmudul Hasan

was fully aware of the political situation in the country.

Therefore Hindu Muslim joint effort was close to his heart butat the same time he wanted non-interference in the religious

affairs of each other. Therefore despite serious aillment he had


49/218


presided over the second session of Jamiat Ulama -e-Hindwhich was held at Delhi on Nov.19-2-1919.He had sent

Maulana Shabbir Ahmed Ushmani to deliver his presidential

adddress. The

the role of muslims in india

Documents