November 09, 2012

A Definitive Book on Ali Brothers by a Scion of the Family
By Syed Arif Hussaini

 

A voluminous work covering comprehensively the lives of the eminent South Asian leaders, the Ali Brothers, and their work in the cause of Muslims, particularly of South Asia, has just been published from Karachi. Written by Khalid Ali, their grandson, it is a highly valuable contribution to the history of Muslim struggle for a place under the sun after the exit of the British colonial power from the subcontinent. Although the book does touch on the salient events of their personal lives, it is essentially a narrative of the political history of the Muslim community and the part of the Ali brothers – Mohammed Ali and Shaukat Ali - in articulating accurately their aspirations and presenting them forcefully at all political forums. They infused a new spirit and zeal into a community that had grown morose and despondent after the loss of power to an alien ruler.

Since they took a leading role in the Khilafat Movement, many think that their work related solely to that struggle, while their activities spread over the entire spectrum of Muslim world’s problems during a tumultuous period that witnessed the defeat of Turkey in a world war and the winning powers’ intrigues to dismember and reduce to insignificance, if not abolish totally, the mighty Turkish empire.

The pressure built against that intrigue by the Khilafat Movement launched by the Indian Muslims stayed the hands of the British empire, the mighty colonial power of the time. The author has referred to several official documents describing how it had become almost impossible for the British government in India to control Muslim agitations. The Muslims, it was conceded, had to be pacified by abandoning the scheme to divide Turkish territories into colonies to be parceled out to the Allied powers. Undoubtedly, the Indian Muslims’ vehement protests against the intrigue served as the major factor in the shift of the Western colonial powers’ plot on the future of the Ottoman Empire. Indian Muslims enthusiastically hailed the new and dynamic Turkish leader, Kemal Ataturk. The Ali brothers’ Khilafat movement aligned itself with the fight of Ataturk to retain the independence of his country.

Mr. Khalid Ali makes it quite clear that the Khilafat movement was not meant to expound the merits of the theory of Khilafat but it was based on the concepts of fairness and morality and the sentiment of Islamic brotherhood .

The book sets out clearly the Ali brothers’ support for the British rule over India but without the ensuing loyalty turning into an abject servility. No wonder, Mohammed Ali’s commentaries in his paper, Comrade, often criticized the British conduct in India, particularly in incidents touching on the Muslim community’s interests.

The Ali brothers started with the Khilafat movement, but soon extended their interests and activities to all developments affecting the world Muslim community, particularly the community living in India. They took a leading role in the formation of the Muslim League and participated in all its sessions.

While the leaders of the majority community invariably presented Indian nationalism as the overarching factor, Mohammed Ali and his brother initially upheld this concept but were disillusioned subsequently by the insincerity of the majority community and started supporting forcefully the causes of the Indian Muslims.

They had an immense regard for the attainments of the British and therefore accepted the need of the British connection but without any servility. No wonder then that they played a leading role in the deliberations and decisions of the Muslim League.

Mohamed Ali participated in the very first annual session of the Muslim League held in Karachi in 1907 and played a leading role in the deliberations. He participated in subsequent annual sessions and made major contributions to the deliberations and decisions. He was employed as a civil servant in Baroda state, but he found that his job constrained his activities as a public figure, an educator, a thinker, patriot and columnist of Times of India. So, he decided to give up the comforts of a cushy job, and devote his entire time to the service of the people, Muslims in particular, through journalism, particularly as he wielded a powerful pen. That is how he started “The Comrade” from Calcutta to give vent to the Muslim point of view on the issues of the day: separate electorate for the Muslims, Hindu leadership’s opposition to Urdu as the national language, their aggressive anti-Muslim tone at the Shivaji celebrations, and their moves to lord over the Muslims just because they constituted the majority community.

Mohamed Ali began his journalistic odyssey with a strong plea for an understanding between the Hindus and the Muslims and the British rulers and “to the sons and daughters of India to work for unity”. And, about the British he argued: “Anything that brings India nearer to Great Britain should be welcomed.” As for the aspirations of the Muslim community, he aptly summed them up in the following words: “The religious traditions and historical associations had endowed them (Muslims) with an individuality which they regard as more precious and vital for their self-realization than the utter self-effacement implied in some of the aggressive demands of an Indian nationality.” They seek, he argued the “freedom to live and fit themselves for an honorable place in Indian unity”,

The Ali brothers were thus among the foremost pioneers of the concept of Muslim identity which years later was embodied in the Pakistan Resolution of March 23, 1940.

The paper “Comrade” launched by Mohamed Ali, became almost immediately the chief articulator and advocate of Muslim point of view on issues affecting the community. It also documented and recorded Muslim points of view on issues impacting the community. This enabled the author of the book under review to collect data which would have otherwise been difficult to acquire from other sources.

The book gives a good insight into the Indian Muslim leadership’s plight in getting the Aligarh University project accepted by the government. Aligarh had become a crucial issue for the unity of Muslim community and its future struggle. The Ali brothers’ efforts in this regard have earned them a prominent niche in the annuls of the Muslim struggle for a separate homeland.

The outbreak of the Balkan War (Oct.1912-Aug. 1913) prompted Ali brothers to launch a campaign against the European powers’ design to grab Turkish territories on some pretext. Apart from the denigration in their paper, Pioneer, of the evil-intentioned Balkan war, the brothers organized the dispatch of a medical mission to Turkey and a substantial amount of money collected through donations for the Turks.

The brothers, Mohamed Ali in particular, repeatedly called upon the Turkish leaders to avoid getting involved in the approaching World War.

His paper, the Comrade, kept criticizing the British policies and intentions towards Turkey; hence, it came under official wrath. The amount of security demanded by the government kept mounting and Mohammed Ali had eventually to cease its publication. Censorship and other restrictions strangulated the daily Hamdard too. Both brothers were interned, without giving any reason, under the Defense of India Act. They were released 28 months later.

The tenth annual session of the Muslim League was held in Calcutta in December 1917. The chair of the president was kept empty as Mohamed Ali, President-elect of the League was still in jail.

The Western colonial powers’ scheme to dismember the Ottoman Empire and divide Turkish territories among themselves continued to be nurtured. Indian Muslims, on the other hand, kept “devising historical, political and religious justification to protect the last significant Muslim secular power.”

Ali brothers participated fully in the Non-Cooperation Movement, which was seeking independence from the British rule. The book covers all subsequent political activities of the two leaders, but the constraints of space do not admit of their description in this column. I will sum up by saying that the book is a remarkable account of the contributions of the two brothers to the cause of India’s independence and to the evolution of a framework for accommodating the aspiration of Indian Muslims. The author has earned the gratitude of all students of the history of Indian struggle for independence by narrating objectively the contribution of Ali brothers towards that objective. arifsyedhussaini@Gmail.com