Khilafat Movement and Hindu-Muslim Unity in India
The Khilafat Movement (1919–1924) was an agitation by Indian Muslims to preserve the Ottoman Caliphate; Gandhi's alliance with the Khilafat leaders produced the greatest Hindu-Muslim unity of the independence movement and fused the Khilafat cause with Non-Cooperation in 1920.
Khilafat Movement (1919–1924) was a pan-Islamic agitation by Indian Muslims, led by the Ali Brothers (Mohammad Ali and Shaukat Ali) and supported by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, aimed at preserving the institution of the Islamic Caliphate (Khilafat) under the Ottoman Sultan-Caliph, which was threatened by the Allied powers' post-World War I dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire. Gandhi's decision to ally the Indian National Congress with the Khilafat cause produced the most significant Hindu-Muslim political unity of the independence movement: the combined Non-Cooperation and Khilafat agitation of 1920–22 brought hundreds of thousands of Indians from both communities into active mass protest against British rule for the first time.
The background to the Khilafat Movement lay in the Ottoman Empire's defeat in World War I. Indian Muslims, who had supported the British war effort expecting that Britain would treat the Caliph — the symbolic head of the world's Sunni Muslim community — with respect, were outraged by the Treaty of Sèvres (August 1920), which partitioned the Ottoman territories and threatened to abolish the Caliphate entirely. The Ali Brothers, who had been imprisoned during the war for writing an anti-British article, were released in 1919 and immediately launched the Khilafat Movement with the Central Khilafat Committee (established 1919).
Gandhi's alliance with the Khilafat Movement was a conscious strategic decision. He believed that Hindu-Muslim unity was indispensable to any effective mass movement against British rule and saw the Khilafat issue as an opportunity to bring millions of Muslims into the nationalist fold on an issue they cared deeply about. At the Amritsar Congress (December 1919), Congress formally supported the Khilafat demand. Gandhi promised the Ali Brothers that if the British did not restore the Caliph's powers, he would lead a Non-Cooperation movement. This promise, combined with the Jallianwala Bagh outrage (April 1919) and the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms' inadequacy, became the foundation of the Non-Cooperation-Khilafat agitation launched in 1920.
What Were the Main Events of the Khilafat Movement?
DateEventSignificance
1919 | Central Khilafat Committee formed; Gandhi joins | Formal Gandhi-Khilafat alliance begins
November 1919 | Khilafat Day observed across India | First mass demonstration linking Khilafat and Hindu-Muslim unity
August 1920 | Treaty of Sèvres signed; Gandhi launches Non-Cooperation | Non-Cooperation and Khilafat fuse into single movement
1920–22 | Combined Non-Cooperation-Khilafat agitation | Mass Hindu-Muslim protests; boycott of councils, courts, schools; picketing of liquor shops
August 1921 | Moplah Rebellion, Malabar | Muslim peasant uprising against Hindu landlords; fractured Hindu-Muslim unity
February 1922 | Chauri Chaura; Gandhi suspends Non-Cooperation | Movement loses momentum; Khilafat-Congress alliance weakens
1924 | Turkish National Assembly abolishes the Caliphate | Khilafat Movement's cause collapses; movement ends
Why Did the Khilafat Movement Collapse and What Was Its Legacy?
The Khilafat Movement collapsed due to two causes: the Moplah Rebellion (August 1921), in which Muslim peasants in Malabar attacked Hindu landlords and forced some to convert, fracturing the Hindu-Muslim unity the movement had built; and most decisively, the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's Turkish National Assembly in March 1924 — removing the very institution the movement had been organised to defend. The Ali Brothers' subsequent political paths diverged: Mohammad Ali became increasingly communal and died in 1931 in London still seeking support for an independent Muslim state; Shaukat Ali remained more moderate.
- Peak Hindu-Muslim unity: The 1920–22 Non-Cooperation-Khilafat agitation represented the high-water mark of Hindu-Muslim political cooperation in the independence movement
- Mass mobilisation: It was the first truly mass movement in Indian nationalism, reaching peasants, artisans, and urban workers beyond the educated elite
- Communal backlash: The movement's collapse was followed by a severe communal backlash — riots in 1923–25, the rise of the Tabligh and Tanzim movements in Islam and the Shuddhi and Sangathan movements in Hinduism
- Congress critique: Critics (including B.R. Ambedkar) argued that Gandhi's alliance with a religious-communal cause weakened Congress's secular foundations
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the Khilafat Movement and who led it?
The Khilafat Movement (1919–1924) was an agitation by Indian Muslims to preserve the Ottoman Caliphate (Khilafat) after World War I; it was led by Mohammad Ali and Shaukat Ali (the Ali Brothers) and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, with Mahatma Gandhi allying the Congress with the movement to achieve Hindu-Muslim unity.
Why did Gandhi support the Khilafat Movement?
Gandhi supported the Khilafat Movement as a strategic decision to build Hindu-Muslim unity — which he considered essential for an effective mass movement against British rule — and to bring millions of Indian Muslims into active nationalist politics on an issue that motivated them deeply; the Khilafat-Non-Cooperation alliance was the result.
What was the Moplah Rebellion of 1921?
The Moplah Rebellion (August 1921) was an uprising of Muslim peasants in Malabar, Kerala against Hindu landlords (jenmi) and British authority; while initially presented as part of the Khilafat-Non-Cooperation movement, it involved attacks on Hindus and forced conversions that fractured the Hindu-Muslim unity the movement had built.
How did the Khilafat Movement end?
The Khilafat Movement effectively ended when the Turkish National Assembly under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk abolished the Ottoman Caliphate in March 1924 — the very institution the movement had been organised to protect; without the Caliphate, the movement's cause disappeared and its organisational structure dissolved.
What was the long-term impact of the Khilafat Movement on Indian communal relations?
The collapse of the Khilafat Movement was followed by a period of severe communal tension and riots in 1923–25; the movement's failure deepened the sense among some Muslim leaders that their interests could not be guaranteed within a Hindu-majority nationalist framework, contributing to the dynamics that eventually led to the Pakistan demand in the 1940s.
Sources and Further Reading
According to IGNOU's BHIC-134, the Khilafat Movement represents both the greatest achievement and the greatest failure of Gandhi's strategy of Hindu-Muslim unity: it demonstrated that mass Hindu-Muslim cooperation was possible, but its collapse and communal aftermath showed how fragile that cooperation remained when based on a transient external cause rather than shared domestic interests.
- IGNOU BHIC-134: Units on Non-Cooperation and Khilafat Movement
- Gail Minault, The Khilafat Movement: Religious Symbolism and Political Mobilisation in India
- Bipan Chandra, India's Struggle for Independence
- Mushirul Hasan (ed.), Communal and Pan-Islamic Trends in Colonial India