The purpose of this research article is to share with the reader brief information about the contribution made by Muslim Nawabs, rulers, soldiers, and other sections to the freedom struggle of India. Around 65 per cent of those who were martyred during the freedom movement of India were Muslims. Sources of Information and data are available through contemporary newspapers and other historical accounts. The number of sacrifices, especially Muslim martyrs, who were martyred during the freedom movement may be even more. The reason for this was the lack of means of communication, the repressive policy of the British officers, poverty, and illiteracy in the Muslim society, and the Muslims of the rural areas of India silently making sacrifices for their cause to achieve independence.
The sacrifices made by many Muslims have been lost in the untold pages of Indian history. There are very interesting, serious, and inspiring persecution stories of the fierce struggles and collective martyrdoms of Muslim rulers, soldiers, rebels, and other freedom fighters in different parts of India during the struggle against the East India Company and the British Empire. First of all, the representatives of the East India Company were asked to leave India by the Mughal Emperor Moinuddin Mohammad Aurangzeb in Surat in CE 1686.
In 1871, British officer W.W. Hunter, in his book The Indian Muslims,wrote that Indian Muslims had been a serious threat to the British Empire for the last many years. Talking about its historical background, he has written that Hyder Ali of Mysore and his son Tipu Sultan had successfully formed powerful organisations against the British Empire in the years 1780 to 1790, which the British Empire had to work hard to deal with the two local powerful Muslim rulers.
After the Battles of Plassey (1757) and Buxar (1764), a joint military uprising was launched by Muslim fakirs and Hindu ascetics against the administrative and economic control and growing imperialist policies of the British East India Company over Bengal. Under the leadership of Majnu Shah, a Muslim Sufi Saint from Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), in the uprising, about 2000 rebels looted the government treasury and distributed it among the poor and needy people. From 1763 to 1786, Majnu Shah aggressively commanded activities against the British East India Company. He was a ‘dangerous rebel’ and was killed by British officers in Guerrilla warfare. After his martyrdom, Hindus and Muslims fought jointly against the British under the leadership of Musa Shah and the Hindu ascetic leader Bhavani Pathak.
In 1857, after the uprisings in cities like Ambala, Patna, Malda, Delhi, Meerut, and Rajmahal, Muslim leaders like Ahmadullah, Yahya Ali, Zafar, Ibrahim Madel, Rafiq Madel, and many others were arrested and sent to Andaman, where they were brutally punished and hanged. It was in Andaman that Sher Ali Afridi assassinated the British Viceroy Lord Mayo, the Governor General of India from 1869 to 1872.
Bipin Chandra Pal, a historian of great repute, in his autobiography,Memories of My Life and Times (1857-1864), mentions in detail the sacrifices, struggles, and battles of the Muslim people. He has written that the sacrifices of Muslim rulers, soldiers, and common people have a deep impact on his life. According to the famous revolutionary Trailokiya Chakraborty, “From the martyrdoms, unyielding attitude and courage of the Muslim revolutionary brothers, we get a lesson for patriotism, while we also get information about the mistakes made by those great patriots unknowingly.” The fierce rebellion of the rulers through guerrilla warfare under the leadership of a Rohilla Muslim Ibrahim Khan, in the state of Maharashtra, is worth mentioning.
In 1905, Sheikh-ul-Islam Maulana Masood Hasan and Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi started the Silk Letter movement. Under this, all the Indian states were to be united against the British Empire. Both the leaders were sent to Malta and Kalapani and were sentenced to death. During the peasant movement that started in Punjab in 1907, Sardar Ajit Singh and Lala Lajpat Rai were accompanied by Syed Haider Raza and many other Muslims, who actively participated in the Pagri Sambhal Jatta movement. The rebellions of Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi and Maulana Masood Hasan during the World War-I (1914-18) are also worth mentioning. In Punjab, hundreds of Muslims were martyred during the freedom struggle. Under the leadership of Dr.SaifuddinKitchlew and Asif Khan, a large number of Muslims participated in the Jallianwala Bagh Morcha. On 13 April 1919, out of the 379 unarmed people martyred in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, 58 were Muslims.
The Moplah Rebellion of 1921 in Malabar, Kerala, was a very ferocious one. The term Mopilah or Mapilah is used for the Muslims living in the Malabar area. This rebellion by the Malabari Muslims was so cruel, according to the historical, official records of the British officers, that 2337 Muslim rebels were killed, 1652 were injured, and 45000 were arrested. According to non-governmental reports, 4500 to 5000 Moplah Muslims were martyred.
Many Muslims also sacrificed in the strikes, agitations, and sessions launched by the Indian National Congress during the freedom struggle of India. Some of the prominent Muslim leaders of the freedom movement were Badruddin Tyabji, RahmatullahSayani, Muhammad Ali Ansari, Hakim Ajmal Khan, HasratMohani, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, Allama Iqbal, Aga Khan, Maulana Muhammad Ali, Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan, Chaudhry Rahmat Ali, Ashfaq Ullah Khan, Frontier Gandhi Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Dr.SaifuddinKitchlew, Mian Akbar Shah, Lieutenant Colonel Aziz Ahmed, Ehsan Qadir, Shah Nawaz, Dr. Zakir Hussain, Inayatullah Khan Mashriki, Syed Muhammad Sharfuddin Qadri, Abbas Ali and Bakht Khan, etc. In short, from the Mughal Emperor Mohiuddin Muhammad Aurangzeb to the achievement of Independence and the Partition of India in 1947, as mentioned above, Muslims from all walks of life, including Nawabs, Pirs, Fakirs, Mansabdars, Zamindars, the rich, the poor, soldiers, paramilitary forces, had given their sacrifice.
Contrary to the British policy of ‘Divide and Rule’ of the East India Company (1600-1857) and British Empire (1858-1947), every revolutionary uprising, whether it was the first war of independence of 1857, the Ghadar Party, or the Azad Hind Fauj, the Muslims actively participated in all major peaceful and revolutionary movements at large scale with great enthusiasm. Similarly, the Indian National Congress and regional parties had participated in various movements like Khilafat, Civil Disobedience, Non-Cooperation, and Quit India, along with national leaders like Mahatma Gandhi. According to Khushwant Singh, a famous scholar of modern India, Indian independence is written in the blood of Muslims. Their contribution to the Indian freedom struggle is immense, even though Muslims constitute a small percentage of the population.
This article is an attempt to mention in brief only those very important Muslim patriots, events, revolts, battles, and names of martyred Muslims that were very important. The patriotic Muslim freedom fighters were fully aware of three aspects: first, to achieve independence from the British Empire; secondly, to fight jointly against the British rule under the Hindu-Muslim common unity against the British policy of ‘Divide and Rule’; and thirdly, to maintain the integrity and unity of India under the nationalist policy.
[The writer is In-charge, Shaheed Udham Singh Chair, Punjabi University, Patiala. idris_history@pbi.ac.in]