On the centenary of the end of the Caliphate, everyone should be educated with its lessons. , Mustafa Kemal had said in the Turkish Parliament, Us In any case, the new republic has to be built on good foundations and scientific structures. The Caliphate and the Ottoman remnants must go. We have to remove religious laws and create a modern scientific civil code. Secular government schools have to be established in place of madrassas. If Gandhiji had heeded Jinnah’s warning and stayed away from the Khilafat movement., And if importance had been given to people like Jinnah instead of Mullahs, then Indian Muslims could have been influenced by secular modernity like Mustafa Kamal.
When Mustafa Kamal ended the Islamic Caliphate!-2
This Khilafat movement was going on in India – and only in India – for four years. Meanwhile, on 24 November 1923, two prominent Indian Muslims – the Aga Khan and Amir Ali – wrote a letter of protest on behalf of Indian Muslims to Turkish Prime Minister Ismet Inonu. In this there was a demand to restore the honor of the Caliph. A copy of this letter was also sent to Turkish newspapers. Which was published in three newspapers even before it reached the Prime Minister! President Mustafa Kamal called it a serious conspiracy. He warned in the Turkish Parliament that foreigners would continue to try to stage a coup in Türkiye under the guise of the Caliphate. By showing that letter as new evidence, Kamal recommended the abolition of the Caliphate, because it was proving to be a threat to the country, and in the name of Islam, the Turkish people were again being forced to bear the yoke of the Muslims of the world.
Kamal’s allegation was true because Aga Khan was like a wealthy European with an English lifestyle. Many British leaders and ambassadors were his friends. The British had given him great respect as the representative of Indian Muslims. So it was easy to consider him a British pawn. Mustafa Kamal described Aga Khan as a ‘special British agent’ who wants to break Turkey. The Caliphs are becoming his tools.
Mustafa Kemal said in the Turkish Parliament, “We have to save our republic at all costs. The Ottoman Empire was a haphazard structure built on shaky religious foundations. The new republic is to be built on good foundations and scientific structures. The Caliphate and the Ottoman remnants must go. We have to remove religious laws and create a modern scientific civil code. Secular government schools have to be established in place of madrassas.” In this way, Kemal convinced the Turkish Parliament that the Republic and the Caliphate were at odds with each other. As a result, on March 3, 1924, the Parliament unanimously decided to abolish the Caliphate and exile the Caliph. The same night the Caliph was thrown out of the country. Two days later, his family was also packed up with the same rudeness and sent across the border. There was not a single protest on this in the whole of Türkiye.
Thus, the Indian Muslim leaders who were most anxious for the Caliphate became the reason for its destruction! The empire of the Turkish Caliphate was falling apart for decades. Muslims around the world were aware of this. The Arab countries themselves were away from the Caliphate. Many Arab rulers sided with European countries. In India, Jinnah also considered the Caliphate as a ‘dead’ thing. He had forbidden Congress and Gandhiji from joining the Khilafat movement. Jinnah had warned them that they were making a grave mistake by giving political platform to Mullahs and Maulvis. According to Jinnah, the Khilafat movement will lead to huge conflict between Muslims and Hindus. That movement will only lead to devastation, anarchy, and mob hysteria.
In fact, Mustafa Kamal was Jinnah’s ideal. Even later, Kemal’s biography ‘Grey Wolf’ (1932) written by Harold C. Armstrong was Jinnah’s favorite book. From this we can understand that if Gandhiji had heeded Jinnah’s warning and stayed away from the Khilafat movement, and had given importance to people like Jinnah instead of Mullahs, then Indian Muslims could have been influenced by secular modernism like Mustafa Kamal. Anyway, till then common Indian Muslims were unfamiliar with Islamic fundamentalism. He was almost a Hindu in his thoughts and behaviour, due to which the staunch Islamic leaders here had been boasting for centuries that he was a Muslim ‘in name only’! So, it was the Khilafat movement which gave them the way to convert the common Muslims here into real Muslims. Therefore, if Jinnah’s warning had been listened to, not only India but also the direction of the world could have changed.
But Gandhiji ignored people like Jinnah in the greed of Muslim mob support. Whereas Maulana did not even give him equal respect. Muhammad Ali publicly talked about converting ‘poor’ Gandhi to Islam. But Gandhiji continued to serve those Mullahs and Maulvis like an ideal Dhimmi. Even after the end of the Caliphate, he proudly said that had he known this earlier, he would have fought with the same dedication for the Caliphate.
However, here the Caliphate leaders misjudged Mustafa Kemal’s determination. Because Kamal ended the Caliphate on the basis of the activities of Indian Muslims only! That also proved to be a good move. Turkey made huge progress in just a few years. Ten years later, the Turkish Parliament gave Mustafa the title of ‘Ata-Turk’ i.e. Father of the Turks. Years after his death, in 1951, Turkish law declared showing disrespect towards Mustafa Kemal a punishable offense, which still exists today! No other historical figure in Türkiye holds such a distinguished position. From this also we can understand the importance of Mustafa Kamal’s anti-Islam legacy.
A hundred years is enough time to properly evaluate any step. If Mustafa had made a mistake towards Islam, Turkish society would have understood it. But neither Türkiye, nor any other Muslim country again thought of creating a Caliphate. This is proof that the Islamic Caliphate is a thing of the past. Most of its rules and beliefs too. All the Mullahs and Maulvis impose all this on the Muslim people only through force and violence. Those rules and beliefs have no validity in themselves.
In fact, there are historical lessons in the end of the Caliphate. On which Muslims as well as Hindus should consider. First of all, Mustafa Kamal showed that Muslim society can also be freed from religious superstitions and linked to human values. These values and scientific ideas are appropriate, which led to the progress of Türkiye. Even Türkiye became a member of the most powerful international organization NATO. But the second lesson for us is more serious. India’s Mullah leaders and Gandhiji caused incalculable loss to India by running the Khilafat movement. In the two hundred years following the fall of the Mughals, Islamic influence on Indian life had waned.
As a result, the upper-class Hindu-Muslim divide between the ruled and the ruler ended and an easy relationship of equality was formed among themselves. It was badly spoiled by the high-handedness of the Khilafat movement. Caliphate leaders Maulana Azad, Jauhar, Ali brothers, etc., infused jihadi enthusiasm among Muslims against ‘infidels’ through political speeches ‘for Islam’. India was declared ‘Darul Harab’ i.e. the area of Jihad war. Poor Hindu people from Multan to Malabar became terrible victims of Jihadi frenzy. But Congress remained silent under pressure from Gandhi. Dr. Ambedkar has written that the Congress Working Committee did not even pass a condemnation motion. Due to such cowardice of the leaders, the Hindu society became inferior. Psychological imbalance again arose between the Hindu-Muslim upper classes. Which is still known as Barayanam. In the politics here, ‘appeasement’ and ‘gratification’ are shameful forms of the same.
In this way, Jinnah’s warning proved to be more than correct. Communal hatred and distrust spread in India. Due to this, soon the partition of India took place. Then the newly formed country of ‘Pak’ further supported global jihad. Run world-famous ‘Jihad factories’ like Haqqani Madrassa. All these developments were the poisonous consequences of the Khilafat movement. This has been noted by every honest historian.
Therefore, the centenary of the Khilafat movement in India was completely veiled. Because all the actions and results of that movement were extremely harmful. When we remember it, we look at our leaders and their exploits. So, there is gross ignorance on this subject in India. Otherwise, on the centenary of the end of the Caliphate, it would have been appropriate to educate everyone with its lessons. But education itself was sacrificed so that the divinity of false gods could be preserved! But by doing so the new generations remain in the dark. As the rule then goes, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. So more or less the same scenario is repeated in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.