AIOU Code 538 Solved Assignments Autumn 2022.pptx

Course: Genesis of Pakistan Movement (538) Semester: Autumn, 2022
Level: M.Sc
ASSIGNMENT No. 1
Q.1Discuss the contribution of Syed Ahmad Khan’s successor in the growth of
separate Muslim political identity.
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan KCSI FRAS (17 October 1817 – 27 March 1898; also Sayyid
Ahmad Khan) was an Indian Muslim reformer, philosopher, and educationist in
nineteenth-century British India. Though initially espousing Hindu-Muslim unity, he
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became the pioneer of Muslim nationalism in India and is widely credited as the father of
the two-nation theory, which formed the basis of the Pakistan movement. Born into a
family with strong debts
the Quran and Sciences within the
to the Mughal court, Ahmad studied
court. He was awarded an honorary LLD from
the University of Edinburgh in 1889.
In 1838, Syed Ahmad entered the service of East India Company and went on to become a
judge at a Small Causes Court in 1867, retiring from 1876. During the Indian Mutiny of
1857, he remained loyal to the British Raj and was noted for his actions in saving European
lives. After the rebellion, he penned the booklet The Causes of the Indian Mutiny – a daring
critique, at the time, of various British policies that he blamed for causing the revolt.
Believing that the future of Muslims was threatened by the rigidity of their orthodox
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outlook, Sir Ahmad began promoting Western–style scientific education by founding
modern schools and journals and organising Islamic entrepreneurs.
In 1859, Syed established Gulshan School at Muradabad, Victoria School at Ghazipur in
1863, and a scientific society for Muslims in 1864. In 1875, founded the Muhammadan
Anglo-Oriental College, the first Muslim university in Southern Asia.[11] During his career,
Syed repeatedly called upon Muslims to loyally serve the British Raj and promoted the
adoption of Urdu as the lingua franca of all Indian Muslims. Syed criticized the Indian
National Congress.
Sir Syed maintains a strong legacy in Pakistan and among Indian Muslims. He strongly
influenced other Muslim leaders including Allama Iqbal and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. His
advocacy of Islam's rationalist tradition, and at broader, radical reinterpretation of
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the Quran to make it compatible with science and modernity, continues to influence the
global Islamic reformation. Many universities and public buildings in Pakistan bear Sir
Syed's name.
Aligarh Muslim University celebrated Sir Syed's 200th birth centenary with much
enthusiasm on 17 October 2017. Former President of India Pranab Mukherjee was the
chief guest
Having recognized the steady decline in Mughal political power, Sir Syed decided to enter
the service of the East India Company. He could not enter the colonial civil service because
it was only in the 1860s that Indians were admitted. His first appointment was as
a Serestadar (lit. Clerk) of the Criminal Department in the Sadr Amin's office in Delhi,
responsible for record-keeping and managing court affairs. In February 1839, he was
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transferred to Agra and promoted to the title of Naib Munshi or deputy reader in the office
of the Commissioner. In 1841 he was appointed as the Munsif or Sub-Judge of Fatehpur
Sikri and later transferred to Delhi in 1846. He remained in Delhi until 1854 except for two
short-term postings to Rohtak as officiating Sadr Amin in 1850 and 1853. In 1855 he was
promoted to the post of Sadr Amin in Bijnor.
Acquainted with high-ranking British officials, Sir Syed obtained close knowledge about
British colonial politics during his service at the courts. At the outbreak of the Indian
rebellion, on 10 May 1857, Sir Syed was serving as the chief assessment officer at the court
in Bijnor. He stood by the British officers of Bijnor and saved the lives of many officers
and their family members from the revolting soldiers. The conflict had left large numbers
of civilians dead. Erstwhile centres of Muslim power such as Delhi,
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Agra, Lucknow and Kanpur were severely affected. He lost several close relatives who
died in the violence. Although he succeeded in rescuing his mother from the turmoil, she
died in Meerut, owing to the privations she had experienced.
In 1858, he was appointed as Sadarus Sudoor, a high-ranking post at the court
in Muradabad, where he began working on his most famous literary work, The Cause of
the Indian Revolt. In 1862, he was transferred to Ghazipur, and later to Aligarh in 1864. In
1864 he was sent to Banaras and elevated to the position of a Sub-Judge of Small Causes.
In April 1869, he accompanied his two son Syed Mahmood, who had obtained a
scholarship for study in England and Syed Hamid to England.
Sir Syed retired from government service in 1876 and settled in Aligarh. In 1878, he was
nominated as an additional member of the Imperial Legislative Council, which he served
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from July 1878 to July 1880. He got the second term that lasted until 1883. He served the
Legislative Council of the Lieutenant Governor of the North- Western Provinces for two
terms from 1887 until 1893.
Influences
Sir Syed's early influences were his mother Aziz-un-Nisa and maternal grandfather Khwaja
Fariduddin both of whom took special interest in his education. Apart from serving as a
Wazir in the Mughal court Khwaja Fariduddin was also a teacher, mathematician and
astronomer. He was also disposed towards Sufism, which left its impact on Sir Syed since
his early childhood. His maternal uncle Khwaja Zainuddin Ahmad, who was an expert in
music and mathematics also influenced him in his early days.
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Sir Syed's early theological writings demonstrate the influence of three school of religious
though on his outlook - the Naqshbandi tradition of Shah Ghulam Ali Dahlavi, Shah
Waliullah Dehlawi and his teachings, and the Mujahidin movement of Syed Ahmad
Barelvi and his earliest disciple Shah Ismail Dehlvi. While Sir Syed shared the desire for
religious forms in India with the Mujahidin movement, he was opposed to the Indian
Wahhabi movement.
During his formative years in Delhi he came in contact with Ghalib and Zauq whose
exquisite style of prose and poetry influenced Sir Syed's style of writing. He would often
visit Imam Baksh Sahbai and Sadruddin Khan Azurda Dehlawi in his learning
years. Another influence on him was his teacher and friend in Agra, Nur al Hasan of

Kandhala, a teacher in Arabic at Agra College in the early 1840s who encouraged and
corrected his early works.
He was also influenced by the works of the Tunisian reformer Hayreddin Pasha and
adopted his approach of utilising freedom of expression for bringing reforms in the Muslim
community.
The western writers who most influenced his political thoughts were the Utilitarians such
as John Stuart Mill whose works he often quoted in his own writings. He was also
influenced by the essays of Joseph Addison and Richard Steele and modelled his own
journals after their Tatler and Spectator.
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Q.2Discuss the nature and purpose of Khilafat movement: Critically examine the
impact of this movement on the subsequent development of Muslim politics in
India.
The Khilafat movement (1919-1924) was an agitation by Indian Muslims allied with
Indian nationalism in the years following World War I. Its purpose was to pressure
the British government to preserve the authority of the Ottoman Sultan as Caliph of Islam
following the breakup of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the war. Integral to this was the
Indian Muslims’ desire to influence the treaty-making process following the war in such a
way as to restore the 1914 boundaries of the Ottoman Empire, even though the Turks, allies
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of the Central Powers, had been defeated in the war. Indian supporters of the Khilafat cause
sent a delegation to London in 1920 to plead their case, but the British government treated
the delegates as quixotic pan-Islamists, and did not change its policy toward Turkey. The
Indian Muslims’ attempt to influence the provisions of the Treaty of Sevres thus failed, and
the European powers, most notably Great Britain and France, went ahead with territorial
adjustments, including the institution of mandates over formerly Ottoman Arab territories.
Significance and Leadership
The significance of the Khilafat movement, however, lies less in its supposed pan-Islamism
than in its impact upon the Indian nationalist movement. The leaders of the Khilafat
movement forged the first political alliance among western-educated Indian Muslims and

‘ulema over the religious symbol of the khilafat (caliphate). This leadership included the
‘Ali brothers – Muhammad ‘Ali (1878-1931) and Shaukat ‘Ali (1873-1938) – newspaper
editors from Delhi; their spiritual guide Maulana Abdul Bari (1878-1926) of Firangi
Mahal, Lucknow; the Calcutta journalist and Islamic scholar Abu’l Kalam Azad (1888-
1958); and Maulana Mahmud ul-Hasan (1851-1920), head of the madrasa at Deoband, in
northern India. These publicist-politicians and ‘ulema viewed European attacks upon the
authority of the Caliph as an attack upon Islam, and thus as a threat to the religious freedom
of Muslims under British rule.
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The Khilafat and Indian Nationalism
The Khilafat issue crystallized anti-British sentiments among Indian Muslims that had
increased since the British declaration of war against the Ottomans in 1914. The Khilafat
leaders, most of whom had been imprisoned during the war because of their pro-Turkish
sympathies, were already active in the Indian nationalist movement. Upon their release in
1919, they espoused the Khilafat cause as a means to achieve pan-Indian Muslim political
solidarity in the anti-British cause. The Khilafat movement also benefited from Hindu-
Muslim cooperation in the nationalist cause that had grown during the war, beginning with
the Lucknow Pact of 1916 between the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League,
and culminating in the protest against the Rowlatt anti-Sedition bills in 1919. The National
Congress, led by Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), called for non-violent non-cooperation
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against the British. Gandhi espoused the Khilafat cause, as he saw in it the opportunity to
rally Muslim support for nationalism. The ‘Ali brothers and their allies, in turn, provided
the non-cooperation movement with some of its most enthusiastic followers.
Importance and Collapse of the Movement
The combined Khilafat Non-Cooperation movement was the first all-India agitation against
British rule. It saw an unprecedented degree of Hindu-Muslim cooperation and it
established Gandhi and his technique of non-violent protest (satyagraha) at the center of
the Indian nationalist movement. Mass mobilization using religious symbols was
remarkably successful, and the British Indian government was shaken. In late 1921, the
government moved to suppress the movement. The leaders were arrested, tried, and
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imprisoned. Gandhi suspended the Non-Cooperation movement in early 1922. Turkish
nationalists dealt the final blow to the Khilafat movement by abolishing the Ottoman
sultanate in 1922, and the caliphate in 1924.
Q.3Give a critical appraisal of the partition of Bangal of 1905 focusing on Hindu
Muslim relations.
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The first Partition of Bengal (1905) was a territorial reorganization of the Bengal
Presidency implemented by the authorities of the British Raj. The reorganization separated
the largely Muslim eastern areas from the largely Hindu western areas. Announced on 19
July 1905 by Lord Curzon, the then Viceroy of India, and implemented on 16 October
1905, it was undone a mere six years later.
The nationalists saw the partition as a challenge to Indian nationalism and that it was a
deliberate attempt to divide Bengal on religious grounds, with a Muslim majority in the
east and a Hindu majority in the west.
The Hindus of West Bengal complained that the division would make them a minority in
a province that would incorporate the province of Bihar and Orissa. Hindus were outraged
at what they saw as a "divide and rule" policy, even though Curzon stressed it would
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produce administrative efficiency. The partition animated the Muslims to form their own
national organization along communal lines. To appease Bengali sentiment, Bengal was
reunited by Lord Hardinge in 1911, in response to the Swadeshi movement's riots in protest
against the policy.
The Bengal Presidency encompassed Bengal, Bihar, parts of Chhattisgarh, Orissa, and
Assam. With a population of 78.5 million it was British India's largest province. For
decades British officials had maintained that the huge size created difficulties for effective
management and had caused neglect of the poorer eastern region. The idea of the partition
had been brought up only for administrative reasons. Therefore, Curzon planned to split
Orissa and Bihar and join fifteen eastern districts of Bengal with Assam. The eastern
province held a population of 31 million, most of which was Muslim, with its centre at
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Dhaka. Once the Partition was completed, Curzon pointed out that he thought of the new
province as Muslim. Lord Curzon's intention was to specifically divide Hindus from
Muslims, but not to divide Bengalis. The Western districts formed the other province with
Orissa and Bihar. The union of western Bengal with Orissa and Bihar reduced the speakers
of the Bengali language to a minority. Muslims led by the Nawab Sallimullah of Dhaka
supported the partition and Hindus opposed it.
Partition
The English-educated middle class of Bengal saw this as a vivisection of their motherland
as well as a tactic to diminish their authority In the six-month period before the partition
was to be effected the Congress arranged meetings where petitions against the partition
were collected and given to impassive authorities. Surendranath Banerjee had suggested

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that the non-Bengali states of Orissa and Bihar be separated from Bengal rather than
dividing two parts of the Bengali-speaking community, but Lord Curzon did not agree to
this. Banerjee admitted that the petitions were ineffective; as the date for the partition drew
closer, he began advocating tougher approaches such as boycotting British goods. He
preferred to label this move as swadeshi instead of a boycott. The boycott was led by the
moderates but minor rebel groups also sprouted under its cause.
Banerjee believed on that other targets ought to be included. Government schools were
spurned and on 16 October 1905, the day of partition, schools and shops were blockaded.
The demonstrators were cleared off by units of the police and army. This was followed by
violent confrontations, due to which the older leadership in the Congress became anxious
and convinced the younger Congress members to stop boycotting the schools. The

president of the Congress, G.K. Gokhale, Banerji and others stopped supporting the
boycott when they found that John Morley had been appointed as Secretary of State for
India. Believing that he would sympathise with the Indian middle class they trusted him
and anticipated the reversal of the partition through his intervention.
The day of partition (16 October 1905) also coincided with Raksha Bandhan day, which
celebrates sibling relationships. In protest, renowned novelist Rabindranath Tagore made
it compulsory for every individual to tie rakhi, especially to Muslims, to emphasize inter-
religious bonds and that Bengal did not want partition.
Political crisis
The partition triggered radical nationalism.
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Nationalists all over India supported the Bengali cause, and were shocked at the British
disregard for public opinion and what they perceived as a "divide and rule" policy. The
protests spread to Bombay, Poona, and Punjab. Lord Curzon had believed that the Congress
was no longer an effective force but provided it with a cause to rally the public around and
gain fresh strength from. The partition also caused embarrassment to the Indian National
Congress. Gokhale had earlier met prominent British liberals, hoping to obtain
constitutional reforms for India. The radicalization of Indian nationalism because of the
partition would drastically lower the chances for the reforms. However, Gokhale
successfully steered the more moderate approach in a Congress meeting and gained support
for continuing talks with the government. In 1906 Gokhale again went to London to hold
talks with Morley about the potential constitutional reforms. While the anticipation of the

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liberal nationalists increased in 1906 so did tensions in India. The moderates were
challenged by the Congress meeting in Calcutta, which was in the middle of the radicalised
Bengal. The moderates countered this problem by bringing Dadabhai Naoroji to the
meeting. He defended the moderates in the Calcutta session and thus the unity of the
Congress was maintained. The 1907 Congress was to be held at Nagpur. The moderates
were worried that the extremists would dominate the Nagpur session. The venue was
shifted to the extremist free Surat. The resentful extremists flocked to the Surat meeting.
There was an uproar and both factions held separate meetings. The extremists had
Aurobindo and Tilak as leaders. They were isolated while the Congress was under the
control of the moderates. The 1908 Congress Constitution formed the All-India Congress

Committee, made up of elected members. Thronging the meetings would no longer work
for the extremists.
Q.4write a brief note on the history on Hindu Muslim relationship as it evolved
through the period of Muslim supremacy in India, (712 to 1707).
Interactions between the followers of Hinduism and Islam began very soon after the
advent of the latter in the Arabian Peninsula, in the 7th century, mainly through trade across
and around the Indian Ocean. Historically, these interactions formed contrasting patterns
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in northern and southern India. In the north of India there is a history of conquest and a
legacy of Hindus living under the domination of Muslim rulers stretching back to the Delhi
Sultanate of the 13th century. The relations between Hindus and Muslims have historically
been largely peaceful in Kerala and Tamil Nadu (except during Mappilla
rebellion, Coimbatore bomb blasts and Marad riots).
Hinduism and Islam share some ritual practices such as fasting and pilgrimage but differ
in their views on various aspects. Their historical interaction since the British colonial rule
in India has witnessed periods of cooperation and syncretism, as well as periods
of religious discrimination, intolerance, and violence. As a religious minority in India,
Muslims are part of the Indian culture and have lived with Hindus over a period of 13
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centuries. The boundaries between Islam and Hinduism remained flexible to some extent
until the period of British colonial rule.
Hinduism is an Indian religion and a way of life of the Hindu people, primarily practiced
in the Indian subcontinent and other regions which have experienced Hindu
influence since ancient and medieval times. Hinduism mostly shares common terms with
the Dhārmic religions that it influenced, including Buddhism, Sikhism,
and Jainism. The scriptures of Hinduism are the Śruti (the four Vedas, which comprise the
original Vedic Hymns, or Samhitas, and three tiers of commentaries upon the Samhitas,
namely the Brāhmaṇas, Āraṇyakas, and Upanishads); these are considered authentic
knowledge and wisdom of the past, collated, compiled and codified into written form, for
future generations. Furthermore, Hinduism is also based on the Smṛti literature, which
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includes the Rāmāyana, Mahābhārata, Bhagavad Gītā, and Purānas, also considered to be
sacred Hindu texts.
Islam is a monotheistic religion that originated in the Arabian peninsula, in which God
is Allah, the final Islamic prophet being Muhammad, who Muslims believe delivered the
central Islamic scripture, the Qurān. Islam shares common terms with the Abrahamic
religions which pre-date it─those religions claiming descent from Abraham. It influenced
many faiths such as Sikhism, the Baháʼí Faith, and others. The Quran and
the Ḥadīth literature are the primary Islamic scriptures, while the sunnah consists of the
Islamic traditional customs and practices which all Muslims are expected to follow.
Comparison between Islam and Hinduism
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Theology and concept of God
Hinduism is a system of thought in which the concept of God varies according to its diverse
traditions. Hinduism spans a wide range of beliefs such
as henotheism, monotheism, polytheism, panentheism, pantheism, pandeism, monism, at
heism and nontheism. One popular theological interpretation is the Advaita
Vedanta tradition, which relies mainly on the Upanishads and declares absolute monism,
exemplified in the concept of Brahman (the ultimate reality). When a person is devoid of
ignorance (Avidyā), he/she finds the truth by realizing that his/her true nature, pure soul,
or inner Self (Ātman) is identical to Brahman. Until then, he/she is usually ignorant of the
ultimate reality and therefore believes that the material world around him/her is real and
indulges in it, when it's actually not and is an illusion (Māyā). The Brahman, which is
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absolute and pure, and the Ātman, which is also absolute and pure, are the same in
this school of Hindu thought, which exemplifies the Hindu concept of God.
Islam is a system of thought that believes in the concept of the unity and uniqueness of
God (Tawḥīd), which declares exclusive monotheism, is considered to be the defining
doctrine of the Islamic religion. God in Islam is conceived as the absolute one, the all-
powerful and all-knowing ruler of the universe, and the creator of everything in
existence. According to Islam, God is transcendent, therefore Muslims do not attribute
human forms to God. God is described and referred to by several names or attributes.
Muslims are required to affirm daily (in five canonical daily prayers each include a
recitation of the Shahada), as one of the five pillars of Islam, the Shahada, declaring that
"There is no other god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah."
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Scriptures and messengers
The sacred scriptures of Islam are the Qurān and the Ḥadīths i.e. reports about what
Muhammad said and did. Ḥadīths are varied and have many versions. According to
the Islamic doctrine, Jesus Christ was also one of the messengers from God. Muslims
believe that Muhammad was the last messenger and the Qurān was the last revelation from
God, delivered to him through the angel Jibrīl. The Ḥadīths contain the sunnah, or the
reports of Muhammad's life, sayings, actions, and examples he set. The Qurān and the
reliable Ḥadīths are considered in Islam as the sources of Islamic law, or Sharīʿah.
Unlike Islam, Hinduism doesn't have centralized religious authorities, governing bodies. It
has some defining historical and religious texts, the sacred Hindu scriptures, traditional
ecclesiastical order, incarnations, and the legal code Manusmṛti. Spiritual knowledge of
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Hinduism is contained in texts called Śruti ("what is heard") and Smṛti ("what is
remembered"). These sacred texts discuss diverse topics,
including theology, cosmology, mythology, philosophy, rituals and rites of passage, and
many others. Major scriptures in Hinduism include the Vedas and Upanishads (both Śruti),
the Epics (Rāmāyana and Mahābhārata), Purāṇas, Dharmaśāstras, Āgamas,
the Bhagavad Gītā (all Smṛti).
Similarities
and
According to Islam, one after death either enters Paradise (Jannah) or Hell (Jahannam),
depending on their deeds. Unlike Muslims, Hindus believe in cycle
of reincarnation. However, the concept of higher and lower realms of existence can be
found in Hinduism, though the realms are temporary places.
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Both know demons (Shaitan/Asura), who are constantly war against human's desires and
the Divine. Asuras are part of Hindu mythology along
with Devas, Yakshas and Rakshasas. Asuras feature in one of many cosmological theories
in Hinduism. Asuras are sometimes considered nature spirits. They battle constantly with
the devas.
Similarities can still be found at the concept of the Divine and the world. Both belief in the
existence of an entirety supreme power, either called Brahman or Allah. Brahman is
a metaphysical concept which is the single binding unity behind diversity in all that exists
in the universe, while Allah is the Arabic word for God in Abrahamic religions.
Assimilated in local lore, the Islamic concept of God became comparable to the notion of
the ultimate reality expressing itself through different names as the creator, the maintainer
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and the destroyer. Some Islamic scholars belief that the worlds created by God will perish
and created anew resembling the Hindu notion of an endless process of generation and
decay.
Pilgrimage is found in both religions, Hajj to Mecca in Islam, while Kumbh
Mela and Tirtha Yatra in Hinduism. Muslims performs 7 rounds around Kaaba during Hajj
which is called Tawaf. Hindus also perform one or more rounds around the center
(Garbhagriya) of a temple (one to twenty-one which is called as Parikrama (known in
Sanskrit as pradakśiṇā). Both of them are commonly called circumambulation.
By some members of the Ahmadiya Muslim Community, Islamic Prophet Muhammad is
believed to be the Hindu Avatar Kalki; some of the Muslim scholars and a few of the Hindu
scholars including also argued that Kalki is mentioned indicating Muhammad in some
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Hindu scriptures. Ved Prakash Upaddhayya, a Hindu scholar, claimed Muhammad as
Kalki in his book Kalki Avatar Aur Muhammad Saheb, which argument was both
welcomed and criticised by both Hindu and Muslim scholars.
Sufism
The 10th-century Persian polymath Al-Biruni in his book Tahaqeeq Ma Lilhind Min
Makulat Makulat Fi Aliaqbal Am Marzula (Critical Study of Indian Speech: Rationally
Acceptable or Rejected) discusses the similarity of some Sufism concepts with aspects of
Hinduism, such as: Atman with ruh, tanasukh with reincarnation, Moksha with Fanaa,
Ittihad with Nirvana: union between Paramatman in Jivatma, Avatar or Incarnation with
Hulul, Vedanta with Wahdat al-Wujud, Mujahadah with Sadhana.
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Other scholars have likewise compared the Sufi concept of Waḥdat al-Wujūd with Advaita
Vedanta, Fanaa to Samadhi, Muraqaba to Dhyana and tariqa to the Noble Eightfold Path.
Al-Biruni observed in his history of India that the fundamental ideas behind
metempsychosis or reincarnation in Hinduism are not so very different from the sense of
the immanence of God in all things and the idea of a universal soul in some Sufi doctrines,
and that for Sufis who believe in such things, "the course of metempsychosis is of no
consequence".
The Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi wrote verse that played on such themes:
I died as mineral and became a plant,
I died as plant and rose to animal. I died as animal and I was man.
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Why should I fear?
When was I less by dying? Yet once more I shall die as man
To soar with angels blest;
But even from angelhood I must pass on..
— Jaladuddin Rumi (Translation by Arberry, A.J. Classical Persian Literature. London:
George Allen and Unwin, 1958.)
The 9th-century Iranian mystic Bayazid Bostami is alleged to have imported certain
concepts from Hindusim into his version of Sufism under the conceptual umbrella
of baqaa, meaning perfection. Ibn al-Arabi and Mansur al-Hallaj both referred to
Muhammad as having attained perfection and titled him as Al-Insān al-Kāmil. The Sufism
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concept of hulul has similarly been compared with the idea of Ishvaratva, that God dwells
in some creatures in Hinduism and Buddhism, and godhood of Jesus in Christianity.
Q.5 How did the establishment of Muslim league contribute towards the
emergence of Muslim Nationalism in India?
The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party established in Dhaka in 1906
when a group of prominent Muslim politicians met the Viceroy of British India, Lord
Minto, with the goal of securing Muslim interests on the Indian subcontinent.
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The party arose out of the need for the political representation of Muslims in British India,
especially during the Indian National Congress-sponsored massive Hindu opposition to
the 1905 partition of Bengal. During the 1906 annual meeting of the All India Muslim
Education Conference held in Israt Manzil Palace, Dhaka, the Nawab of Dhaka, Khwaja
Salimullah, forwarded a proposal to create a political party which would protect the
interests of Muslims in British India. Sir Mian Muhammad Shafi, a prominent Muslim
leader from Lahore, suggested the political party be named the 'All-India Muslim League'.
The motion was unanimously passed by the conference, leading to the official formation
of the All-India Muslim League in Dhaka. It remained an elitist organization until 1937,
when the leadership began mobilising the Muslim masses, which turned the league into a

popular organization. The Muslim League's paramilitary wing was the Muslim National
Guard.
In the 1930s, the idea of a separate nation-state and influential philosopher Sir Muhammad
Iqbal's vision of uniting the four provinces in North-West British India further supported
the rationale of the two-nation theory. This aligned with the ideas proposed by Syed
Ahmad Khan who, in 1888 at Meerut, said, "After this long preface I wish to explain what
method my nation — nay, rather the whole people of this country — ought to pursue in
political matters. I will treat in regular sequence of the political questions of India, in order
that you may have full opportunity of giving your attention to them. The first of all is this
— In whose hands shall the administration and the Empire of India rest? Now, suppose
that all English, and the whole English army, were to leave India, taking with them all their
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cannon and their splendid weapons and everything, then who would be rulers of India? Is
it possible that under these circumstances two nations — the Mahomedans and the Hindus
— could sit on the same throne and remain equal in power? Most certainly not. It is
necessary that one of them should conquer the other and thrust it down. To hope that both
could remain equal is to desire the impossible and the inconceivable." When the Congress
party effectively protested against the United Kingdom unilaterally involving India in
World War II without consulting the Indian people, the Muslim League went on to support
the British war efforts. The Muslim League played a decisive role in the 1940s, becoming
a driving force behind the division of India along religious lines and the creation
of Pakistan as a Muslim state in 1947.
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After the Partition of India and the establishment of Pakistan, the All-India Muslim League
was formally disbanded in India in December 1947. The League was officially succeeded
by the Pakistan Muslim League, which eventually split into several political parties. Other
groups diminished to a minor party, that too only in Kerala, India. In Bangladesh, the
Muslim League was revived in 1976, but it was reduced in size, rendering it insignificant
in the political arena. In India, a separate independent entity called the Indian Union
Muslim League was formed, which continues to have a presence in the Indian
parliament to this day.
Foundation
With the sincere efforts by the pioneers of the Congress to attract Muslims to their sessions
the majority of the Islamic leadership, with exception of few scholars like Sir Syed Ahmed

Khan and Syed Ameer Ali, who focused more on Islamic education and scientific
developments, rejected the notion that India's has two distinct communities to be
represented separately Congress sessions.
In 1886, Sir Syed founded the Muhammadan Educational Conference, but a self-imposed
ban prevented it from discussing politics. Its original goal was to advocate for British
education, especially science and literature, among India's Muslims. The conference, in
addition to generating funds for Sir Syed's Aligarh Muslim University, motivated the
Muslim upper class to propose an expansion of educational uplift elsewhere, known as
the Aligarh Movement. In turn, this new awareness of Muslim needs helped stimulate a
political consciousness among Muslim elites, For a few of them, many years after the death
of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan the All-India Muslim League was formed in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
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The formation of a Muslim political party on the national level was seen as essential by
1901. The first stage of its formation was the meeting held at Lucknow in September 1906,
with the participation of representatives from all over India. The decision for the re-
consideration to form the all-Indian Muslim political party was taken and further
proceedings were adjourned until the next meeting of the All India Muhammadan
Educational Conference. The Simla Deputation reconsidered the issue in October 1906 and
decided to frame the objectives of the party on the occasion of the annual meeting of the
Educational Conference, which was scheduled to be held in Dhaka. Meanwhile, Nawab
Salimullah Khan published a detailed scheme through which he suggested the party to be
named All-India Muslim Confederacy.

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Pursuant to the decisions taken earlier at the Lucknow meeting and later in Simla, the
annual meeting of the All-India Muhammadan Educational Conference was held in Dhaka
from 27 December until 30 December 1906. Three thousand delegates attended, headed by
both Nawab Waqar-ul-Mulk Kamboh and Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk (the Secretary of the
Muhammaden Educational Conference), in which they explained its objectives and
stressed the unity of Muslims under the banner of an association. It was formally proposed
by Nawab Salimullah Khan and supported by Hakim Ajmal Khan, Maulana Muhammad
Ali Jauhar, Zafar Ali Khan, Syed Nabiullah, a barrister from Lucknow, and Syed Zahur
Ahmad, an eminent lawyer, as well as several others.

Separate electorates
The Muslim League's insistence on separate electorates and reserved seats in the Imperial
Council were granted in the Indian Councils Act after the League held protests in India and
lobbied London.
The draft proposals for the reforms communicated on 1 October 1908 provided Muslims
with reserved seats in all councils, with nominations only being maintained in Punjab. The
communication displayed how much the Government had accommodated Muslim
demands and showed an increase in Muslim representation in the Imperial and provincial
legislatures. But the Muslim League's demands were only fully met in UP and Madras.
However, the Government did accept the idea of separate electorates. The idea had not
been accepted by the Secretary of State, who proposed mixed electoral colleges, causing
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the Muslim League to agitate and the Muslim press to protest what they perceived to be a
betrayal of the Viceroy's assurance to the Simla deputation.
On 23 February Morley told the House of Lords that Muslims demanded separate
representation and accepted them. This was the League's first victory. But the Indian
Councils Bill did not fully satisfy the demands of the Muslim League. It was based on the
October 1908 communique in which Muslims were only given a few reserved seats. The
Muslim League's London branch opposed the bill and in a debate obtained the support of
several parliamentarians. In 1909 the members of the Muslim League organised a Muslim
protest. The Reforms Committee of Minto's council believed that Muslims had a point and
advised Minto to discuss with some Muslim leaders. The Government offered a few more
seats to Muslims in compromise but would not agree to fully satisfy the League's demand.
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Minto believed that the Muslims had been given enough while Morley was still not certain
because of the pressure Muslims could apply on the government. The Muslim League's
central committee once again demanded separate electorates and more representation on
12 September 1909. While Minto was opposed, Morley feared that the Bill would not pass
parliament without
representation with
the League's support and he once again discussed Muslim
the League leadership. This was successful. The Aga Khan
compromised so that Muslims would have two more reserved seats in the Imperial Council.
The Muslim League hesitantly accepted the compromise.
Early years
Sultan Muhammad Shah (Aga Khan III) was appointed the first honorary president of the
Muslim League, though he did not attend the Dhaka inaugural session. There were also six
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vice-presidents, a secretary, and two joint secretaries initially appointed for a three-year
term, proportionately from different provinces. The League's constitution was framed in
1907, espoused in the "Green Book," written by Mohammad Ali Jauhar.
Aga Khan III shared Ahmad Khan's belief that Muslims should first build up their social
capital through advanced education before engaging in politics, but would later boldly tell
the British Raj that Muslims must be considered a separate nation within India. Even after
he resigned as president of the AIML in 1912, he still exerted a major influence on its
policies and agendas. In 1913, Mohammed Ali Jinnah joined the Muslim league.
Intellectual support and a cadre of young activists emerged from Aligarh Muslim
University. Historian Mushirul Hasan writes that in the early 20th century, this Muslim
institution, designed to prepare students for service to the British Raj, exploded into
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political activity. Until 1939, the faculty and students supported an all-India nationalist
movement. After 1939, however, sentiment shifted dramatically toward a Muslim
separatist movement, as students and faculty mobilised behind Jinnah and the Muslim
League.
Communalism grows
Politically, there was a degree of unity between Muslim and Hindu leaders after World
War I, as typified by the Khilafat Movement. Relationships cooled sharply after that
campaign ended in 1922. Communalism grew rapidly, forcing the two groups apart. Major
riots broke out in numerous cities, including 91 between 1923 and 1927 in Uttar Pradesh
alone. At the leadership level, the proportion of Muslims among delegates to the Congress
party fell sharply, from 11% in 1921 to under 4% in 1923.
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Muhammad Ali Jinnah became disillusioned with politics after the failure of his attempt to
form a Hindu-Muslim alliance, and he spent most of the 1920s in Britain The leadership of
the League was taken over by Sir Muhammad Iqbal, who in 1930 first put forward the
demand for a separate Muslim state in India. The "Two-Nation Theory", the belief that
Hindus and Muslims were two different nations who could not live in one country, gained
popularity among Muslims. The two-state solution was rejected by the Congress leaders,
who favoured a united India based on composite national identity. Congress at all times
rejected "communalism" — that is, basing politics on religious identity. Iqbal's policy of
uniting the North-West Frontier Province, Baluchistan, Punjab, and Sindh into a new
Muslim majority state became part of the League's political platform.

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The League rejected the Committee report (the Nehru Report), arguing that it gave too little
representation (only one quarter) to Muslims, established Devanagari as the official writing
system of the colony, and demanded that India turn into a de facto unitary state, with
residuary powers resting at the centre – the League had demanded at least one-third
representation in the legislature and sizeable autonomy for the Muslim provinces. Jinnah
reported a "parting of the ways" after his requests for minor amendments to the proposal
were denied outright, and relations between the Congress and the League began to sour.
Conception of Pakistan
On 29 December 1930, Sir Muhammad Iqbal delivered his presidential address to the All-
India Muslim League annual session. He said:

I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province [modern-day Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa], Sind and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single State. Self-government
within the British Empire or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated
North-West Indian Muslim State appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at
least of North-West India.
Sir Muhammad Iqbal did not use the word "Pakistan" in his address. Some scholars argued
that "Iqbal never pleaded for any kind of partition of the country. Rather he was an ardent
proponent of a 'true' federal setup for India..., and wanted a consolidated Muslim majority
within the Indian Federation".
Another Indian historian, Tara Chand, also held that Iqbal was not thinking in terms of
partition of India, but in terms of a federation of autonomous states within India. Dr. Safdar
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Mehmood also asserted in a series of articles that in the Allahabad address, Iqbal proposed
a Muslim majority province within an Indian federation and not an independent state
outside an Indian Federation.
On 28 January 1933, Choudhary Rahmat Ali, founder of the Pakistan National Movement,
voiced his ideas in the pamphlet entitled "Now or Never". In a subsequent book, he
discussed the etymology in further detail: “'Pakistan' is both a Persian and an Urdu word.
It is composed of letters taken from the names of all our homelands ... That is, Panjab,
Afghania (North-West Frontier Province), Kashmir, Iran, Sindh (including Kachch and
Kathiawar), Tukharistan, Afghanistan, and Balochistan."
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The British and the Indian Press vehemently criticised these two different schemes and
created confusion about the authorship of the word "Pakistan" to such an extent that
even Jawaharlal Nehru had to write:
Iqbal was one of the early advocates of Pakistan and yet he appears to have realised its
inherent danger and absurdity. Edward Thompson has written that in the course of a
conversation, Iqbal told him that he had advocated Pakistan because of his position as
President of Muslim League session, but he felt sure that it would be injurious to India as
a whole and to Muslims especially.
Course: Genesis of Pakistan Movement (538) Semester: Autumn, 2022
Level: M.Sc
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ASSIGNMENT No. 2
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Q.1Critically examine the Boundary Commission report. How did it harm the Muslims interest?
The 1947 partition of South Asia has had lasting repercussions not only for the region, but also for the larger
international community. Border tensions between India and Pakistan have taken on a new magnitude since
both countries carried out nuclear tests in May 1998. Surprisingly, historians have paid little attention to the
creation of the Indo-Pakistani boundary, a key element of the 1947 division.1 This article analyzes the
problematic procedure and format of the body responsible for delineating that boundary through the province
of Punjab, the Radcliffe Boundary Commission.2 It is part of a larger project that will examine links between
the boundary-making process and the repercussions of partition, particularly mass violence. The commission
takes its name from its chairman, Sir Cyril Radcliffe. In the end, his boundary-making effort was a failure in
terms of boundary-making, but a striking success in terms of providing political cover to all sides. The British
seized the opportunity to withdraw from their onerous Indian responsibilities as quickly as possible; the
Indian National Congress, the avowedly secular but primarily Hindu party headed by Jawaharlal Nehru and

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Sardar Patel, took control of India, as it had desired for so long. The Muslim League, which claimed to
represent South Asia’s Muslims and was led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, won Pakistan, the sovereign Muslim
state for which it had campaigned.
Although the British had, in 1946, considered leaving India piecemeal, transferring power to
individual provences as they withdrew, they concluded that such an approach was impractical. without
defining the entity or entities that would come into power, they concluded that such an approach was
impractical. It would not be possible to hand over power without making it clear what international entity
would take on that power; in order to define a new international entity, a new boundary was necessary. From
a certain perspective, however, a rigorously and properly delineated boundary was not necessary to
accomplish these political ends—any boundary line would do. Due to this fact and to a myriad of political
pressures, the Radcliffe Commission failed to draw a geopolitically sound line delineated and demarcated in
accordance with accepted international procedure. The Punjab’s population distribution was such that there
was no line that could neatly divide Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs. Radcliffe’s line was far from perfect, but it

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is important to note that alternative borders would not necessarily have provided a significant improvement.
There is, in contrast, a great deal to be said about flaws in the boundary-making procedure—and why those
flaws existed.Significance
This territorial division is significant on multiple levels. As an episode in imperial history, it marked the
beginning of a global trend towards decolonization. For South Asian history, it meant independence for India
and Pakistan. Unfortunately, it also inaugurated Indo-Pakistani tension. Conflict between Hindus and
Muslims had existed on the subcontinent, to a greater or lesser degree, for many centuries, but the partition
brought that conflict to the international level—and exacerbated it. The results include three wars, in 1948,
1965, and 1971, as well as the Kargil conflict of 1999. The problem of Indo-Pakistani tension took on greater
urgency when both India and Pakistan tested their nuclear weapons in May 1998, and current events in South
Asia demonstrate the need for continued attention to and greater understanding of this vital region.
How did this division intensify the very conflict it was intended to resolve? Part of the answer lies in the
drawing of the boundary. My primary goal is to clarify and analyze the boundary-making process, but having

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identified specific flaws in this division, I hope to lay them out in terms that might be useful for decision-
makers considering partition as a tool to resolve conflict in other regions of the world.
Methodology
Because this project focuses on a controversial episode, which reasonable historians describe differently
according to their own national or political biases, my first research priority was balancing these varied
perspectives. Accordingly, I gathered archival material and conducted interviews in England, Pakistan, and
India. In all three countries, I focused on government documents, examining material relating to the work of
the Radcliffe Commission and to the repercussions of the Radcliffe Line. I also examined private papers,
mostly of British officials serving the raj, but also, where accessible, the papers of Indian and Pakistani
leaders. Regrettably, Radcliffe destroyed all his papers before he left India—in keeping, his biographer
claims, with a lifelong habit of discarding material he no longer needed.3 As a result, it may be impossible
ever to clarify Radcliffe’s thinking completely. I have attempted to compensate through archival research

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and through interviews with Radcliffe’s stepson and executor, with his private secretary on the Boundary
Commission, and with the last surviving Pakistani official associated with the Punjab Boundary Commission.
This research explores the balance between structural influences and the role of individuals. My story centers
on a small number of individuals: Radcliffe, the man who had responsibility for the boundary line;
Mountbatten, the last viceroy of India; Nehru and Patel, leaders of the Indian National Congress; and Jinnah,
head of the Muslim League. But my argument also has a great deal to do with the sweeping drives of British
imperialism, Indian and Pakistani nationalism, and decolonization. My conclusions about the forces that
shaped the Indo-Pakistani boundary would seem to support a structural approach, but the lessons of this
particular division could be read another way. If at any point enough individuals had decided to take another
path—for example, if Radcliffe had withdrawn his services once he reached India and was informed of the
August 15 deadline—the outcome could have been dramatically different. Alternatively, if the key
individuals had had different backgrounds—for example, if all the Indian leaders had not been lawyers, but
rather businessmen or engineers—the outcome could again have been very different. The story of the

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Radcliffe Commission concerns individuals attempting to do what they saw as best, and as a result both
bowing to and struggling against the pressures of larger structural forces.
Historical Context
The 1947 partition was shaped not only by decades of Indian nationalist pressure on the British Government
and by the rise of civil unrest in the subcontinent after World War Two, but also by Britain’s precarious
economic position in the aftermath of the war. After nearly two centuries as an economic asset, British India
had become a liability at a time when Britain could least afford it. In addition, American pressure to
decolonize the subcontinent influenced both international and British domestic opinion against the raj. British
India became a political and symbolic liability as well as an economic problem. These factors, combined
with domestic political considerations for the newly elected Labour Party, meant that ridding itself of its
responsibilities in India suddenly became a priority to His Majesty’s Government (HMG).
However, Indian independence had not always been such an urgent goal for the British Government. The
first half of the twentieth century saw a series of small steps towards self-government in South Asia.

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Traditional imperialist historiography holds that these ventures marked carefully incremented progress, part
of the process of training Indians to govern themselves. Other interpretations, including but not confined to
South Asian nationalist schools, argue that these steps were actually sops intended to keep nationalists
satisfied enough to prevent a more serious threat to British rule.5 This view holds that HMG had no intention
of letting go its “jewel in the crown”—until it had no choice.
Many historians, imperialist and nationalist alike, trace the roots of partition to the Morley-Minto reforms of
1909. These changes increased Indian participation in their own governance, anticipating an eventual move
to self-rule.6 By creating separate electorates for different religious groups, however, these reforms also
“embed[ded] deeply in Indian life the idea that its society consisted of groups set apart from each other. . . .
The result was the flowering of a new communal rhetoric, and ultimately, of the Pakistan
movement.” Politicians found religious rhetoric useful for rallying support, with dangerous results. The
elections of 1937 and 1945-46, in which both Congress and the Muslim League rhetoric played on communal
themes, provided further evidence of a lack of political cooperation at the highest levels.

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With the onset of the Second World War, the Government of India found itself in a difficult position. HMG
declared war on India’s behalf, without even a pretense of consulting Indian leaders. Indian politicians and
public opinion were outraged. The prospect of civil unrest loomed.8 In 1942, with the Allies in urgent need
of a reliable Indian base, Churchill dispatched Sir Stafford Cripps to India at the head of a Cabinet delegation
charged with exploring the possibility of self-government after the war. Cripps offered an implicit promise
that if India fought in World War II it would be granted freedom; Congress rejected this offer with Gandhi’s
memorable phrase that it was a “post-dated cheque on a bank that was failing.”9 In the aftermath of Cripps’s
failed mission, Gandhi launched the “Quit India” movement, which the British repressed violently. Most
Indians subsided into more or less supportive attitudes
With the end of the war, Indian leaders and people alike expected to be repaid, with independence, for their
wartime backing. In Britain, the Conservatives were voted out and the Labour Party took power, under
Clement Attlee. Meanwhile, the India Office was losing patience with its viceroy, Lord Wavell. Relations
between the India Office and Wavell had been steadily worsening throughout 1946. Wavell, a career military

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man whose stolid exterior concealed a bent for writing poetry, had been viceroy of India since 1943. Left
with the difficult job of guiding India through treacherous post-war waters, he sent increasingly blunt
warnings to London that their Indian policies were misguided and inadequate to the challenges ahead. Lord
Pethick-Lawrence, Britain’s Secretary of State for India, resented these warnings and paid less attention to
them as time went on. In particular, Wavell’s outline of potential partition boundaries, the first serious
discussion of the issue, received little attention. However, Wavell’s “Breakdown Plan,” calling for a
withdrawal of all British presence in South Asia, alarmed HMG. Attlee sent another cabinet mission to India
in hopes of negotiating a less drastic outcome.11 The resulting proposal, known as the “ABC Plan,” called
for a loose federation to consist of three groups of provinces, each of which had the option to “opt out” of
the federation. This proposal met a curious reception. It was first accepted, then rejected, by Congress; the
Muslim League initially announced that it would cooperate, but in the aftermath of the Congress decision it
renounced constitutional methods and declared “Direct Action” Day on August 16, 1946. “Direct Action

Day” became the “Great Calcutta Killing,” and the next thirteen months saw rioting and violence across
North India.
Q.2Give detailed account of the cabinet mission proposals. How would you justify Muslim Leagues
decision to accept those proposals?
A Cabinet Mission came to India in 1946 in order to discuss the transfer of power from the British
government to the Indian political leadership, with the aim of preserving India's unity and granting
its independence. Formed at the initiative of Clement Attlee (the Prime Minister of the United
Kingdom), the mission contained as its members, Lord Pethick-Lawrence (Secretary of State for
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India), Sir Stafford Cripps (President of the Board of Trade), and A.V. Alexander (First Lord of the
Admiralty). The Viceroy of India Lord Wavell participated in some of the discussions.
The Cabinet Mission Plan, formulated by the group, proposed a three-tier administrative structure
for British India, with the Federal Union at the top tier, individual provinces at the bottom tier, and
Groups of provinces as a middle tier. Three Groups were proposed, called Groups A, B and C,
respectively, for Northwest India, eastern India, and the remaining central portions of India.
The Plan lost steam due to the distrust between the Indian National Congress and the Muslim
League, and the British Government replaced Lord Wavell with a new viceroy, Lord Mountbatten,
to find new solutions.
Towards the end of their rule, the British found that their temporary patronage of the Muslim
League conflicted with their longstanding need for Indian unity. The desire for a united India was
an outcome of both their pride in having politically unified the subcontinent and the doubts of most
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British authorities as to the feasibility of Pakistan. This desire for Indian unity was symbolized by
the Cabinet Mission, which arrived in New Delhi on 24 March 1946, sent by the British
government, in which the subject was the formation of a post-independent India. The three men
who constituted the mission, A.V Alexander, Stafford Cripps, pethick Lawrence favoured India's
unity for strategic reasons.
Upon arriving in the subcontinent the mission found both parties, the Indian National Congress and
Muslim League, more unwilling than ever to reach a settlement. The two parties had performed
well in the elections, general and provincial, and emerged as the two main parties in the
subcontinent, the provincial organisations having been defeated. This was because of the separate
electorates system. The Muslim League had been victorious in approximately 90 percent of the
seats for Muslims. After having achieved victory in the elections Jinnah gained a strong hand to
bargain with the British and Congress.[3] Having established the system of separate electorates, the
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British could no longer reverse its consequences in spite of their genuine commitment to Indian
unity.
Plan
The mission made its own proposals, after inconclusive dialogue with the Indian leadership, seeing
that the Congress opposed Jinnah's demand for a Pakistan comprising six full provinces. The
mission proposed a complicated system for India with three tiers: the provinces, provincial
groupings and the centre. The centre's power was to be confined to foreign affairs,
defence, currency and communications. The provinces would keep all the other powers and were
allowed to establish three groups. The plan's main characteristic was the grouping of provinces.
Two groups would be constituted by the mainly-Muslim western and eastern provinces. The third
group would comprise the mostly-Hindu areas in the south and the centre. Thus provinces such as
UP, CP, Bombay, Bihar, Orissa and Madras would make Group A. Group B would comprise Sind,
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Punjab, Northwest Frontier and Baluchistan. Bengal and Assam would make a Group C. Princely
States will retain all subjects and powers (non central government's powers) other than those ceded
to the Union.
Reactions
Through the scheme, the British expected to maintain Indian unity, as both they and Congress
wanted, while also providing Jinnah the substance of Pakistan. The proposals almost satisfied
Jinnah's insistence on a large Pakistan, which would avert the North-Eastern Pakistan without the
mostly non-Muslim districts in Bengal and Punjab being partitioned away. By holding the full
provinces of Punjab and Bengal, Jinnah could satisfy the provincial leaders who feared losing
power if their provinces were divided. The presence of large Hindu minorities in Punjab and Bengal
also provided a safeguard for the Muslim minorities remaining in the mostly-Hindu provinces.
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Most of all, Jinnah wanted parity between Pakistan and India. He believed that provincial groupings
could best secure this. He claimed that Muslim India was a 'nation' with entitlement to central
representations equal to those of Hindu India. Despite his preference for only two groups, the
Muslim League's Council accepted the mission's proposals on 6 June 1946, after securing a
guarantee from Wavell that the League would be placed in the interim government if the Congress
did not accept the proposal.
The onus was now on Congress. It accepted the proposals, understanding it to be a repudiation of
the demand for Pakistan, and its position was that the provinces should be allowed to stay out of
groups that they did not want to join, in light of both NWFP and Assam being ruled by Congress
governments. However, Jinnah differed and saw the grouping plan as mandatory. Another point of
difference concerned the Congress position that a sovereign constituent assembly would not be
bound to the plan. Jinnah insisted it be binding once the plan was accepted. The groupings plan

maintained India's unity, but the organisation's leadership and, most of all Nehru, increasingly
believed that the scheme would leave the centre without the strength to achieve the party's
ambitions. Congress's socialist section led by Nehru desired a government able to industrialize the
country and to eliminate poverty.
Nehru's speech on 10 July 1946 rejected the idea that the provinces would be obliged to join a
group and stated that the Congress was neither bound nor committed to the plan. In effect, Nehru's
speech squashed the mission's plan and the chance to keep India united. Jinnah interpreted the
speech as another instance of treachery by the Congress. With Nehru's speech on groupings, the
Muslim League rescinded its previous approval of the plan on 29 July.
Interim government and breakdown
Concerned by the diminishing British power, Wavell was eager to inaugurate an interim
government. Disregarding Jinnah's vote, he authorised a cabinet in which Nehru was the interim
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prime minister. Sidelined and with his Pakistan of "groups" refused, Jinnah became distraught. To
achieve Pakistan and impose on Congress that he could not be sidelined, he resorted to calling for
his supporters to utilize "direct action" to demonstrate their support for Pakistan, in the same
manner as Gandhi's civil disobedience campaigns, though it led to rioting and massacres on
religious grounds in some areas. Direct Action Day further increased Wavell's resolve to establish
the interim government. On 2 September 1946, Nehru's cabinet was installed.
Millions of Indian Muslim households flew black flags to protest the installation of the Congress
government. Jinnah did not himself join the interim government but sent Liaquat Ali Khan into it
to play a secondary role. Congress did not want to give him the important position of home minister
and instead allowed him the post of finance minister. Liaquat Ali Khan infuriated Congress by
using his role to prevent the functioning of Congress ministries, demonstrating (under Jinnah's
instructions) the impossibility of a single government for India.

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Britain tried to revive the Cabinet Mission's scheme by sending Nehru, Jinnah and Wavell in
December to meet Attlee, Cripps and Pethick-Lawrence. The inflexible arguments were enough to
cause Nehru to return to India and announce that "we have now altogether stopped looking towards
London." Meanwhile, Wavell commenced the Constituent Assembly, which the League boycotted.
He anticipated that the League would enter it as it had joined the interim government. Instead, the
Congress became more forceful and asked him to drop ministers from the Muslim League. Wavell
was also not able to obtain a declaration from the British government that would articulate their
goals.
In the context of the worsening situation, Wavell drew up a breakdown plan that provided for a
gradual British exit, but his plan was considered fatalistic by the Cabinet. When he insisted on his
plan, he was replaced with Lord Mountbatten

Q.3Critically analyze the impacts of Congress rule of 1937-39 on the politics of the Muslims generally
and the Quaid-e-Azam particularly.
The Government of India Act of 1935 was practically implemented in 1937. The provincial elections were
held in the winter of 1936-37. There were two major political parties in the Sub-continent at that time, the
Congress and the Muslim League. Both parties did their best to persuade the masses before these elections
and put before them their manifesto. The political manifestos of both parties were almost identical, although
there were two major differences. Congress stood for joint electorate and the League for separate electorates;
Congress wanted Hindi as official language with Deva Nagri script of writing while the League wanted Urdu
with Persian script.
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According to the results of the elections, Congress, as the oldest, richest and best-organized political
party, emerged as the single largest representative in the Legislative Assembles. Yet it failed to
secure even 40 percent of the total number of seats. Out of the 1,771 total seats in the 11 provinces,
Congress was only able to win slightly more then 750. Thus the results clearly disapproved
Gandhi’s claim that his party represented 95 percent of the population of India. Its success,
moreover, was mainly confined to the Hindu constituencies. Out of the 491 Muslim seats, Congress
could only capture 26. Muslim Leagues’ condition was also bad as it could only win 106 Muslim
seats. The party only managed to win two seats from the Muslim majority province of Punjab.
The final results of the elections were declared in February 1937. The Indian National Congress
had a clear majority in Madras, U. P., C. P., Bihar and Orrisa. It was also able to form a coalition
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government in Bombay and N. W. F. P. Congress was also able to secure political importance in
Sindh and Assam, where they joined the ruling coalition. Thus directly or indirectly, Congress was
in power in nine out of eleven provinces. The Unionist Party of Sir Fazl-i-Hussain and Praja
Krishak Party of Maulvi Fazl-i-Haq were able to form governments in Punjab and Bengal
respectively, without the interference of Congress. Muslim League failed to form government in
any province. Quaid-i-Azam offered Congress to form a coalition government with the League but
the Congress rejected his offer.
The Congress refused to set up its government until the British agreed to their demand that the
Governor would not use his powers in legislative affairs. Many discussions took place between the
Congress and the British Government and at last the British Government consented, although it
was only a verbal commitment and no amendment was made in the Act of 1935. Eventually, after
a four-month delay, Congress formed their ministries in July 1937.

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The Congress proved to be a pure Hindu party and worked during its reign only for the betterment
of the Hindus. Twenty-seven months of the Congress rule were like a nightmare for the Muslims
of South Asia. Some of the Congress leaders even stated that they would take revenge from the
Muslims for the last 700 years of their slavery. Even before the formation of government, the
Congress started a Muslim Mass Contact Movement, with the aim to convince Muslims that there
were only two political parties in India, i.e. the British and the Congress. The aim was to decrease
the importance of the Muslim League for the Muslims. After taking charge in July 1937, Congress
declared Hindi as the national language and Deva Nagri as the official script. The Congress flag
was given the status of national flag, slaughtering of cows was prohibited and it was made
compulsory for the children to worship the picture of Gandhi at school. Band-i-Mataram, an anti-
Muslim song taken from Bankim Chandra Chatterji’s novel Ananda Math, was made the national
anthem of the country. Religious intolerance was the order of the day. Muslims were not allowed

to construct new mosques. Hindus would play drums in front of mosques when Muslims were
praying.
The Congress government introduced a new educational policy in the provinces under their rule
known as the Warda Taleemi Scheme. The main plan was to sway Muslim children against their
ideology and to tell them that all the people living in India were Indian and thus belonged to one
nation. In Bihar and C. P. the Vidya Mandar Scheme was introduced according to which Mandar
education was made compulsory at elementary level. The purpose of the scheme was to obliterate
the cultural traditions of the Muslims and to inculcate into the minds of Muslim children the
superiority of the Hindu culture.
The Congress ministries did their best to weaken the economy of Muslims. They closed the doors
of government offices for them, which was one of the main sources of income for the Muslims in
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the region. They also harmed Muslim trade and agriculture. When Hindu-Muslim riots broke out
due to these biased policies of the Congress ministries, the government pressured the judges;
decisions were made in favor of Hindus and Muslims were sent behind bars.
To investigate Muslim grievances, the Muslim League formulated the “Pirpur Report” under the
chairmanship of Raja Syed Muhammad Mehdi of Pirpur. Other reports concerning Muslim
grievances in Congress run provinces were A. K. Fazl-ul-Haq’s “Muslim Sufferings Under
Congress Rule”, and “The Sharif Report”.
The allegation that Congress was representing Hindus only was voiced also by eminent British
personalities. The Marquees of Lothian in April 1938 termed the Congress rule as a “rising tide of
Hindu rule”. Sir William Barton writing in the “National Review” in June 1939 also termed the
Congress rule as “the rising tide of political Hinduism”.
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Q.4Discuss and analyze the fundamental principles of Lahore Resolution.
The Lahore Resolution also called Pakistan resolution, was written and prepared by Muhammad
Zafarullah Khan and was presented by A. K. Fazlul Huq, the Prime Minister of Bengal, was a
formal political statement adopted by the All-India Muslim League on the occasion of its three-day
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At the outbreak of the World War II, the Viceroy proclaimed India’s involvement without prior
consultations with the main political parties. When Congress demanded an immediate transfer of
power in return for cooperation of the war efforts, the British government refused. As a result
Congress resigned from power. Quaid-i-Azam asked the Muslims to celebrate December 22, 1939
as a day of deliverance and thanksgiving in token of relief from the tyranny and oppression of the
Congress rule

general session in Lahore on 22–24 March 1940. It was unanimously passed on 23rd March 1940.
The resolution called for independent states as seen by the statement:
That geographically contiguous units are demarcated regions which should be constituted, with
such territorial readjustments as may be necessary that the areas in which the Muslims are
numerically in a majority as in the North Western and Eastern Zones of (British) India should be
grouped to constitute ‘independent states’ in which the constituent units should be autonomous and
sovereign.
Although the name "Pakistan" had been proposed by Choudhary Rahmat Ali in his Pakistan
Declaration, it was not until after the resolution that it began to be widely used.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah's address to the Lahore conference was, according to Stanley Wolpert, the
moment when Jinnah, a former proponent of Hindu-Muslim unity, irrevocably transformed himself
into the leader of the fight for an independent Pakistan.
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Until the mid-1930s the Muslim leaders were trying to ensure maximum political safeguards
for Muslims within the framework of federation of India in terms of seeking
maximum autonomy for Muslim majority provinces. They got some safeguards through a system
of separate electorate on communal basis in the Government of India Act, 1935. As a result
of elections held under this Act, Indian National Congress formed government in six out of eight
provinces. During Congress rule from 1937 to 39, its "High Command whose iron control over its
own provinces clearly hinted at what lay ahead for the Muslim majority provinces once it came to
dominate the centre. The League criticised and directed against the Congress ministries and their
alleged attacks on Muslim culture; the heightened activity of Hindu Mahasabha, the hoisting of
Congress tricolor, the singing of Bande Mataram, the Vidya Mandir scheme in the Central
Provinces and the Wardha scheme of education, all were interpreted as proof of ‘Congress
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atrocities’. So, the Congress was clearly incapable of representing Muslim interests, yet it was
trying to annihilate every other party."
Therefore, by 1938–39, the idea of separation was strongly gaining ground. The Sindh Provincial
Muslim League Conference held its first session in Karachi in October 1938, adopted a resolution
which recommended to the All India Muslim League to devise a scheme of constitution under
which Muslims may attain full independence. The premier of the Bengal province, A. K. Fazal-ul-
Haque, who was not in the All India Muslim League, was quite convinced in favour of separation.
The idea was more vividly expressed by M. A. Jinnah in an article in the London weekly Time &
Tide on 9 March 1940. Jinnah wrote:
Democratic systems based on the concept of homogeneous nations such as England are very
definitely not applicable to heterogeneous countries such as India, and this simple fact is the root
cause of all of India's constitutional ills……If, therefore, it is accepted that there is in India
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a major and a minor nation, it follows that a parliamentary system based on the majority
principle must inevitably mean the rule of major nation. Experience has proved that, whatever the
economic and political programme of any political Party, the Hindu, as a general rule, will vote for
his caste-fellow, the Muslim for his coreligionist.
About the Congress-led provincial governments, he wrote:
An India-wide attack on the Muslims was launched. In the five Muslim provinces every attempt
was made to defeat the Muslim-led-coalition Ministries,...In the six Hindu provinces a
“Kulturkampf” was inaugurated. Attempts were made to have Bande Mataram, the Congress Party
song, recognized as the national anthem, the Party flag, and the real national language, Urdu,
supplanted by Hindi. Everywhere oppression commenced and complaints poured in such
force…that the Muslims, despairing of the Viceroy and Governors ever taking action to protect
them, have already been forced to ask for a Royal Commission to investigate their grievances.
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Furthermore, he added:
Is it the desire (of British people) that India should become a totalitarian Hindu State….? ….. and
I feel certain that Muslim India will never submit to such a position and will be forced to resist it
with every means in their power.
In his concluding remarks he wrote:
While Muslim League irrevocably opposed to any Federal objective which must necessarily result
in a majority community rule under the guise of Democracy and Parliamentary system of
Government...To conclude, a constitution must be evolved that recognises that there are in
India two nations who both must share the governance of their common motherland.
Lahore Conference
The session was held on 22–24 March 1940, at Iqbal Park, Lahore. The welcome address was made
by Sir Shah Nawaz Khan of Mamdot, as the chairman of the local reception committee. The various
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draft texts for the final resolution/draft were deliberated over by the Special Working Committee
of the All India Muslim League
The resolution text, unanimously approved by the Subject Committee, accepted the concept of a
united homeland for Muslims and recommended the creation of an independent Muslim state.
The resolution was moved in the general session by A. K. Fazlul Huq, the chief minister of
undivided Bengal, and was seconded by Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman from the United
Provinces, Zafar Ali Khan from Punjab, Sardar Aurangzeb Khan from North-West Frontier
Province, and Sir Abdullah Haroon from Sindh. Qazi Muhammad Essa from Baluchistan and other
leaders announced their support.
The statement
The resolution for the establishment of a separate homeland for the Muslims of British India passed
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in the annual session of the All India Muslim League held in Lahore on 22–24 March 1940 is a

landmark document of Pakistan's history. In 1946, it formed the basis for the decision of Muslim
League to struggle for one state [ later named Pakistan] for the Muslims. The statement declared:
No constitutional plan would be workable or acceptable to the Muslims unless geographical
contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be so constituted with such territorial
readjustments as may be necessary.
The Hindu press and leaders were quick to describe the resolution as the demand for the creation
of Pakistan; some people began to call it the Pakistan Resolution soon after the Lahore session of
the Muslim League. It is landmark document in history of Pakistan. Additionally, it stated:
That adequate, effective and mandatory safeguards shall be specifically provided in the constitution
for minorities in the units and in the regions for the protection of their religious, cultural, economic,
political, administrative and other rights of the minorities.
Most importantly, to convince smaller provinces such as Sindh to join, it provided a guarantee:
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That geographically contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be constituted, with
such territorial readjustments as may be necessary that the areas in which the Muslims are
numerically in a majority as in the North Western and Eastern Zones of (British) India should be
grouped to constitute 'independent states' in which the constituent units should be autonomous and
sovereign.
Q.5Critically analyse Allama Iqbal Allahabad address of 1930 in the light of the political demands of
the Indian Muslims.
The Allahabad Address (Urdu: ‫ابآ‬‫د‬
‫ہال‬
‫ہبطخ‬ )was a speech by scholar, Sir Muhammad Iqbal, one of the
best-known in Pakistani history. It was delivered by Iqbal during the 21st annual session of
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the All-India Muslim League, on the afternoon of Monday, 29 December 1930,
at Allahabad, British India. In this address Iqbal outlined a vision of an independent state for
Muslim-majority provinces in northwestern India, thus becoming the first politician to articulate
what would become known as the Two-nation theory—that Muslims are a distinct nation and thus
deserve political independence from other regions and communities of India.
Allama Iqbal defined the Muslims of India as a nation and suggested that there could be no
possibility of peace in the country unless and until they were recognized as a nation and under a
federal system, the Muslim majority units were given the same privileges which were to be given
to the Hindu majority units. It was the only way in which both the Muslims and the Hindus could
prosper in accordance with their respective cultural values. In his speech, he emphasized that
unlike Christianity, Islam came with "legal concepts" with "civic significance," with its "religious
ideals" considered as inseparable from social order: "therefore, the construction of a policy on
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national lines, if it means a displacement of the Islamic principle of solidarity, is simply unthinkable
to a Muslim."
Iqbal thus stressed not only the need for the political unity of Muslim communities but the
undesirability of blending the Muslim population into a wider society not based on Islamic
principles. However, he would not elucidate or specify if his ideal Islamic state would construe
a theocracy, even as he rejected secularism and nationalism. The latter part of Iqbal's life was
concentrated on political activity. He would travel across Europe and West Asia to garner political
and financial support for the League, and he reiterated his ideas in his 1932 address, and during
the Third Round-Table Conference, he opposed the Congress and proposals for transfer of power
without considerable autonomy or independence for Muslim provinces
The Hindu-Muslim question had great importance and stood crucial to British Indian history after
1857, especially in the 20th century. But the key issue for Muslims remained "separate identity."
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On several occasions and addresses, the issue gets highlighted that the Muslims are a separate
nation with different culture and civilization, interests and rights. The Two-Nation Theory was not
accepted by the Muslims, Hindus and the British peoples because they believed in "territorial
nationalism". The Congress' perspective of Hindu Muslim relationship was that any perceived rift
between the Hindus and Muslims was the product of the British divide and rule policy. According
to the Congress, the British had consciously created splits and divisions, therefore it was an artificial
issue which should not be emphasized. For Muslims it was the core issue, "I" was the central issue,
it related to their culture, civilization, heritage and the type of arrangement that were to be done in
the future political and constitutional arrangements of India.
The Idea of separate Homeland based on many issues, the first was the decline and degeneration of
the Muslims. Most of the Muslim states became the colonies of the European states. Then the
industrial; revolution, development of science and technology became a preserve of the European

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nations. So, the question for Muslims was why the decline and degeneration have set in among the
Muslims. The second issue was how to work for revival and regeneration of Muslims in general
and how Muslims could overcome the decline and again assume their rightful place in the
international system. The third issue was specific to the Muslims of South Asia who shared the
problems of the Muslims as a whole, problem of decline and degeneration but in addition to this
certain specific problems which pertain to British India and one important problem which Muslim
faced was that that of minority, the majority were not Muslims and this makes the situation in
British India different from the situation in the Middle Eastern Countries where Muslims were in
majority. In British India the problem was that they could be overwhelmed by the other community,
therefore they were emphasizing on their identity, value, culture and also heritage and civilization
which they thought and emphasize time and again that it gave them a different, distinct and an

exclusive identity. They were not simply a minority but a community and a nation. The reason was
that they did not want to be absorbed into the majority community.
Phases of development
By 1930, this sentiment had developed very clearly which was very much demonstrated in the
development of History of India or the question of the relationship between the Muslims and the
other communities. It was in this context that Allama Iqbal delivered his presidential address. Iqbal,
political thoughts developed in three phases.
1st Phase: Pre-1905
The first phase pertains to the pre-1905 period, before delivering the address Iqbal addresses the
factors for the decline of the Muslims and he tries to focus on Indian nationality, nationhood or
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Indian unity. Iqbal explained about resolving differences in his book Bang-i-Dara and
writes Tarānah-i-Hindī and Naya shawala to reunite Muslims with Hindus.
2nd Phase: The Stay in Europe 1905-08
The second phase pertains the period from 1905 to 1908, Iqbal spent these years in Europe, during
his higher education and in Germany at Munich University for PhD. His stay in England helps to
crystallize his ideas. Iqbal appreciated certain things in the West, for example, the quest for
knowledge, their efforts for innovation and change. Iqbal was critical of materialism, capitalism
and competition an unrestricted and unlimited competition that was undermining the society and it
is during this period that he began to think philosophically and scientifically about the Muslims and
he emphasized on the importance of spiritualism in one's life.
3rd Phase: Return to India 1908 and onward
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The third phase occurs when Iqbal comes back to India after his education. Here his exclusive
attention and focus were on the Muslim. He talked about the centrality of Islam, the question of
submission to God, Oneness of God, He emphasized in his writings pros as well as poetry and he
talked about Muhammad (SA) as the ideal leader as the leader that the Muslims should try to follow.
However, his focus was on primarily Muslims of this region when he dealt with the political or the
constitutional issues of India. Iqbal got the title of SIR in 1922 in recognition of his intellectual
work. In 1927 Iqbal was elected to the Punjab Legislative Council, so far next little over two years
he served in the Punjab legislative council that is from 1927 to 1930, little over two years.
Revival of Islamic polity
Iqbal's six English lectures were published first from Lahore in 1930 and then by Oxford University
press in 1934 in a book titled The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam. Which were read
at Madras, Hyderabad and Aligarh. These lectures dwell on the role of Islam as a religion as well

as a political and legal philosophy in the modern age. In these lectures Iqbal firmly rejects the
political attitudes and conduct of Muslim politicians, whom he saw as morally misguided, attached
to power and without any standing with Muslim masses.
Iqbal expressed fears that not only would secularism weaken the spiritual foundations of Islam and
Muslim society, but that India's Hindu-majority population would crowd out Muslim heritage,
culture and political influence. In his travels to Egypt, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey, he promoted
ideas of greater Islamic political co-operation and unity, calling for the shedding of nationalist
differences. He also speculated on different political arrangements to guarantee Muslim political
power; in a dialogue with Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Iqbal expressed his desire to see Indian provinces
as autonomous units under the direct control of the British government and with no central Indian
government. He envisaged autonomous Muslim provinces in India. Under one Indian union, he
feared for Muslims, who would suffer in many respects especially with regard to their existentially
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separate entity as Muslims. The Muslims of subcontinent were degraded both by British people and
Hindus. After the advent of 1857, British people turn against Muslims thinking that they are only
culprits and similarly Hindus want complete control over Muslims and they want to change
constitution where Muslims should be suppressed and by not giving Muslims any importance. It
was the cause due to which Iqbal presents his idea of uniting Muslims and Muslim majority areas
such as Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan and NWFP.
Address 1930
Iqbal was elected president of the Muslim League in 1930 at its session in Allahabad, in the United
Provinces as well as for the session in Lahore in 1932. In his presidential address on 30 December
1930, Iqbal outlined a vision of an independent state for Muslim-majority provinces in
northwestern India.

The Address basis
In 1930 Iqbal delivered the Presidential Address the Allahabad Address, before address Iqbal also
delivered landmark lectures on Islam in 1928 and 1929 in Aligarh, Hyderabad and Madras.
Because Iqbal's address eye-plot was based on Islam. Iqbal's views on Islam and introversion with
the modern conditions and modern situation helps him to generate the Allahabad Address. In 1932,
Iqbal also presided over All India Conference that was held at Lahore and during that conference,
he repeated some of the ideas and some of the thoughts which he had presented in his Address at
1930.
The Address outline
In his address, Iqbal called for the creation of "a Muslim India within India", especially in North-
western India. Iqbal demanded the right of self-government for the Muslims. as he said:
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India is a continent of human groups belonging to different races, speaking different languages,
and professing different religions [...] Personally, I would like to see the Punjab, North-West
Frontier Province, Sindh and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single State. Self-government within
the British Empire, or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-West
Indian Muslim State appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of North-West
India.
Within his address, Iqbal also touched on his fear that Islam may have a similar fate as Christianity.
"To Islam, matter is spirit realising itself in space and time" whereas Europe had "accepted the
separation of Church and State and disliked the fact that their leaders were "indirectly forcing the
world to accept it as unquestionable dogma [...] I do not know what will be the final fate of the
national idea in the world of Islam. Whether Islam will assimilate and transform it as it has before
assimilated and transformed many ideas expressive of a different spirit, or allow a radical

transformation of its own structure by the force of this idea, is hard to predict. Professor Wensinck
of Leiden (Holland) wrote to me the other day: "It seems to me that Islam is entering upon a crisis
through which Christianity has been passing for more than a century. The great difficulty is how to
save the foundations of religion when many antiquated notions have to be given up."
Iqbal spoke of:
The unity of an Indian nation, therefore, must be sought not in the negation, but in the mutual
harmony and cooperation, of the many. True statesmanship cannot ignore facts, however
unpleasant they may be [...] And it is on the discovery of Indian unity in this direction that the fate
of India as well as of Asia really depends [...] If an effective principle of cooperation is discovered
in India it will bring peace and mutual goodwill to this ancient land which has suffered so long [...]
And it will at the same time solve the entire political problem of Asia.
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In regards to the army, Iqbal stated:
Punjab with 56 percent Muslim population supplies 54 percent of the total combatant troops to the
Indian Army, and if the 19,000 Gurkhas recruited from the independent State of Nepal are excluded,
the Punjab contingent amounts to 62 percent of the whole Indian Army. This percentage does not
take into account nearly 6,000 combatants supplied to the Indian Army by the North-West Frontier
Province and Baluchistan. From this, you can easily calculate the possibilities of North-West Indian
Muslims in regards to the defence of India against foreign aggression. Thus processing full
opportunity of development within the body politic of India, the North-West Indian Muslims will
prove the best defenders of India against a foreign invasion.
Iqbal also addresses how it was "painful to observe" the failed attempts to "discover such a principle
of internal harmony". However, he still felt "hopeful". He expressed great concerns that the British
politicians were "cleverly exploiting Hindu-Muslim differences regarding the ultimate form of
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Central Government" through Princes of the Princely States. He was also critical of the Simon
Report that it did great "injustice to Muslims" to not be given a statutory majority for Punjab and
Bengal. Furthermore, he demanded Sindh to be united with Baluchistan and turned into a separate
province as it did not have anything in common with Bombay Presidency.
Comparing the European democracy to Indian democracy, he justified the Muslim demand for a
"Muslim India within India", saying
The principle of European democracy cannot be applied to India without recognizing the fact of
communal groups. The Muslim demand for the creation of a Muslim India within India is,
therefore, perfectly justified. The resolution of the All-Parties Muslim Conference at Delhi is, to
my mind, wholly inspired by this noble ideal of a harmonious whole which, instead of stifling the
respective individualities of its component wholes, affords them chances of fully working out the
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possibilities that may be latent in them. And I have no doubt that this House will emphatically
endorse the Muslim demands embodied in this resolution.
Commenting on the Hindu fears of religious rule in the Muslim autonomous states, Iqbal said:
Muslim demand is not actuated by the kind of motive he imputes to us; it is actuated by a genuine
desire for free development which is practically impossible under the type of unitary government
contemplated by the nationalist Hindu politicians with a view to secure permanent command
dominance in the whole of India. Nor should the Hindus fear that the creation of autonomous
Muslim states will mean the introduction of a kind of religious rule in such states. I have already
indicated to you the meaning of the word religion, as applied to Islam. The truth is that Islam is not
a Church I, therefore, demand the formation of a consolidated Muslim State in the best interests of
India and Islam. For India, it means security and peace resulting from an internal balance of power;
for Islam, an opportunity to rid itself of the stamp that Arabian Imperialism was forced to give it,
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to mobilize its law, its education, its culture, and to bring them into closer contact with its own
original spirit and with the spirit of modern times.
In his concluding remarks, Iqbal said:
India demands complete organization and unity of will and purpose in the Muslim community, both
in your own interest as a community and in the interest of India as a whole [...] We have a duty
toward India where we are destined to live and die. We have a duty towards Asia, especially Muslim
Asia. And since 70 millions of Muslims in single country constitute a far more valuable asset to
Islam than all the countries of Muslim Asia put together, we must look at the Indian problem not
only from the Muslim point of view but also from the standpoint of the Indian Muslim as such.
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