Question

What is khilafat movement?(3 marks)

Answer 1

The Khilafat movement, also known as the Indian Muslim movement (1919–24), force that arose in India in the early 20th century as a result of Muslim fears for the integrity of Islam. These fears were aroused by Italian (1911) and Balkan (1912–13) attacks on Turkey—whose sultan, as caliph, was the religious head of the worldwide Muslim community—and by Turkish defeats in World War I. They were intensified by the Treaty of Sèvres (August 1920), which not only detached all non-Turkish regions from the empire but also gave parts of the Turkish homeland to Greece and other non-Muslim powers.

Answer 2

1. The khilafat movement initiated by Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali was a mass movement against the reduction of temporal powers of Caliph after defeat of Ottoman-Turkey in the First World War.
2. To defend Khalifa's temporal powers, Khilafat Committee was formed in 1919 as he was considered as the spiritual head of Muslim.
3. Gandhiji supported it because he saw it as an opportunity to bring Muslims under the umbrella of a unified National Movement.