Role of Muslims in India’s Freedom Struggle

Authors

  • Mrs.R. Mary Stella Assistant Professor, P G & Research Department of History, Arignar Anna Government Arts College. Musiri.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46947/jarj31202227

Keywords:

freedom struggle, muslims contribution,unity of hindus and muslims,great sacrifice.

Abstract

Indian Freedom is written in Muslim blood, since their participation in freedom struggle was much more, in proportion to their small percentage of the population.” There are 95300 names of freedom fighters written on India Gate Delhi, out of these 61945 are Muslims which means 65% freedom fighters are Muslims. Muslims were allowed to build mosques, intermarry with Indian women, and very soon an Indian-Arabian community came into being. Early in the 9th century, Muslim missionaries gained a notable convert in the person of the King of Malabar. To break the myth of every person who believes Muslims have given no contribution to India's history, we have tried to come up with a list of 11 Muslim fighters who fought for India's Independence and are still present somewhere in India's history. “The Musalmans of India are, and have been for many years, a source of chronic danger to the British Power in India. The generations brought up over this narrative believe that either the Indian Muslims were pro-British or aloof from the freedom struggle. In this age of social media, we find people questioning the patriotism of the Indian Muslims based on this false understanding of the freedom struggle. In fact, almost 30% of the total martyrs mentioned in ‘Dictionary of Martyrs of India’s Freedom Struggle (1857-1947)’ launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019 are Muslims. The unity of Hindus and Muslims in 1857 threatened the British like never before. They resorted to a policy of divide and rule after that. Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah of Faizabad, Fazl-e-Haq of Khairbad, Imdadullah Muhajir Makki of Muzaffarnagar and Azimullah Khan, an associate of Nana Saheb, were propagating the idea of taking up the arms against the colonial rulers among the sepoys and common man for years before the revolt. In Tamil Nadu, Abdul Rahim organized the workers during the 1930s against the oppressive colonial rule. V. M Abdullah, Sharif Brothers, and Abdul Sattar were other prominent Muslim leaders in South India who led nationalist movements and braved torture and imprisonments. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan led Pathans posed a non-violent challenge to the British. In 1930, the British fired upon a crowd protesting against the arrest of Ghaffar Khan at Qissa Khwani Bazar, Peshawar. Hundreds of Pathans laid their lives for the service of the motherland.

References

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Published

2022-08-11