The Role of Popular Muslim Movements in the Indian Freedom Struggle

Abstract

We all know the old adage that “history belongs to the victors.” In the case of Muslim India, this is reflected in the historical accounts ofMuslim South Asia’s decline during the eighteenth century and its final defeat in 1857. Written mainly by European and Hindu historians who often had no contacts beyond the Mughal court’s outer fringes, they could hardly be expected to present theMuslim interpretation of events. Closer to our own time, the success of M. K. Gandhi’s (1869-1948) non-violent mass movement, which finally forced the British out of India, has overshadowed earlier Muslim efforts to obtain the same goal. In this article, a glimpse is offered into this often ignored history in order to remind people that Gandhi’s movement did not arise in a vacuum, but rather in a particular historical context in which Muslims had played a prominent role ...