Muslim Contributions to India’s Freedom Struggle - Part 3
By Professor Nazeer Ahmed
Concord, CA
The aggregate thrust of geopolitical forces was in favor of Europe. There was widespread resentment in India and its former ruling classes of the loss of power and increasing poverty thanks to the rapacity of the East India Company.
These tensions were inherent in the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized as well as the unbridled capitalism of the East India Company. But what finally ignited the spark of uprising was religion.
Increasing wealth tilted the balance of power in Europe towards the Protestant North (England, Holland, Germany) and away from the Catholic South. There was a Protestant resurgence and its impact was felt as far away as India and China. What seemed to have ignited the spark of uprising in India appears to be the increasing aggressiveness of Protestant ministers to preach their faith in India. In one of her proclamations, Begum Hazrat Mahal of Oudh, one of the principal leaders of the Uprising, describes her grievances against the Company (quotation from William Dalrymple, The Last Mughal, Viking Penguin 2006):
“To eat pigs and drink wine, to bite greased cartridges and to mix pig’s fat with sweetmeats, to destroy Hindu and Mussalman temples on pretense of making roads, to build churches, to send clergymen into the streets to preach the Christian religion, to institute English schools, and pay people a monthly stipend for learning the English sciences, while the places of worship of Hindus and Mussalmans are to this day entirely neglected; with all this, how can people believe that religion will not be interfered with?”
This historical document provides one of the few first-hand insights of what impelled the ruling classes of India to take up arms against the British.
The uprising started from Meerat and spread rapidly through Lucknow, Kanpur, Barielly, Jaunpur, Gwalior, Agra, Bulandsher, Bijnor, Jhelum and Sialkot. Many were the gallant men and women who fought in that First War of Independence and laid down their lives. Here we briefly highlight the names of some of the heroes of that war.
Begum Hazrat Mahal of Oudh was a wife of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. In the uprising of 1857, after Wajid Ali Shah had been exiled to Calcutta by the British, she and her supporters led by Raja Jailal Singh took control of Lucknow and expelled the Europeans. When the British recaptured Lucknow, she joined forces with Nana Sahib and made Shahjehanpur her base. She held the British at bay for more than a year but was ultimately forced to retreat and seek refuge in Nepal where she passed away in 1879.
Molvi Ahmedulla of Faizabad was a soldier, a patriot, who fought the British valiantly and won the praise of his adversaries for his courage, chivalry and code of honor. One of the British officers, Col. G.B. Malleson, writes this about the Molvi, “The Molvi was a very remarkable man. Of his capacity as a military leader, many proofs were given during the revolt. No other man could boast that he has twice foiled Sir Colin Campbell (hero of the Crimean War) in the field.” The Molvi was a Shaikh of the Qadariya Sufi Order. He arrived in Lucknow in 1856 and one of the first to preach a struggle against the British, traveling far and wide, as did other faqirs to Agra, Aligarh, Lucknow and Faizabad. With a large following of his disciples, he took control of Faizabad. He then proceeded to Lucknow where he joined forces with Birjis Qader, the Vali of Lucknow. After the fall of Lucknow, he continued the struggle from Muhammadi as an autonomous ruler but was assassinated by a rebel at Pawayan.
Bakht Khan, was appointed the Commander in Chief of the Mughal army by Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mogul emperor. An able soldier and administrator, Bakht Khan assisted the emperor in military as well as civil administration. When Delhi fell and Bahadur Shah was arrested, Bakht Khan fled and continued to fight until he was killed in the later stages of the Uprising.
Rae Ahmed Nawaz Khan Kharal was head of the Khurrul tribe in Western Punjab. In September 1858, he led the Uprising against the British in Neeli district. After some initial successes, Rae Ahmed laid down his life in battle with a contingent of British Punjab cavalry.
The names of Begum Hazrat Mahal, Molvi Ahmedulla, Commander Bakht Khan and Rae Ahmed stand tall along with the names of more commonly known heroes of the First War of Independence (1858-59) such as Bahadur Shah Zafar, Jhansi Ki Rani, Tantya Tope and Nana Saheb.
The First War of Independence was crushed and its aftermath was brutal. Several reasons may be advanced as to why it did not succeed. First, a great undertaking such as a national war of liberation requires a national focus and a great leader. These were absent. While some were fired by religious zeal like Maulvi Ahmadulla, others were fighting for privileges usurped by the British.
Bahadur Shah Zafar was an old man, a weak ruler and clearly lacked the skills required to lead a national Uprising. Secondly, the struggle was confined to a small part of India, notably, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Many rajas and nawabs either remained aloof or supported the British. Notable among these were the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Rajas of Bikaneer and Kashmir as well as the Sikhs in the Punjab. Bengal and the South were largely quiet. Even in the centers of the Uprising such as Lucknow there were internal tensions between the Shias and the Sunnis. Third, there was very little coordination among the leaders of the Uprising. The British clearly had the advantage of technology. The telegraph which had just been introduced into India enabled them to maintain effective communications. Lastly, by 1857, the British Empire was well established and the British navy ruled the oceans of the world. They were able to draw reinforcements from as far away as England and Australia. Lastly, from a global perspective, the Indian Uprising marked the last gasp of the Age of Soldiers, kings and rajas. It marked the onset of the Age of Merchants and Bankers.
Tipu Sultan of Mysore
In the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, there is a gallery which houses imperial artifacts from the British Raj. In a prominent section of the gallery that was opened by none other than Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, there is a collection of artifacts from Tipu Sultan of Mysore. The plaques attached to the artifacts pay glowing tribute to the Tiger of Mysore as a worthy foe who earned the respect of his enemies through his valor and undaunted courage.
Alas, the name of Tipu commands more respect in the museums of the British who fought him than in his homeland for which he laid down his life. The Sword of Tipu kept the British Empire at bay for forty years. He chose martyrdom over surrender, showing a path of dignity for his countrymen to follow. He is justly the First Freedom Fighter of India.
(The author is Director, World Organization for Resource Development and Education, Washington, DC; Director, American Institute of Islamic History and Culture, CA; Member, State Knowledge Commission, Bangalore; and Chairman, Delixus Group)
