ties that bind - sep 11

Ties that Bind
128 Ibid.
129 Ibid.
130 Ibid, p.41
131 Ibid, p.484-5
132 Ibid, p.83
133 Ibid.
134 Ibid.
135 Ibid.
136 Ibid.
137 The War, Moslem feeling:
Part 2 (1914), IOR/L/PS/10/518,
p.15, IOR, BL, London
138 Ibid.
34 | policyexchange.org.uk
‘For, after all, the Mussulmans are not an ungrateful people’, he noted, adding
they would do nothing ‘to embarrass Government at the present juncture’. 128
Again, Kalim’s approach to the dilemma which confronted many Muslim leaders
at the time was to objectively consider the facts of the matter, rather than insisting
Muslim loyalty automatically had to align along confessional lines. His letter also
revealed that assurances by the British government regarding the preservation of
Islam’s holy sites assuaged his concerns about the possibility that their sanctity
could be violated. 129
Mosques were keen to play their part, too. Government reports showed that
locals in Upper Burma had received a Union Jack from the Commissioner which
was flown at the mosque throughout the war. 130 Similarly, reports from
Hyderabad revealed that special prayers were offered daily for Britain’s success in
the war. 131
It was not only theological considerations that moulded Muslim opinion in
favour of the government. A speech by Muslim leaders in Devanhalli, a small town
just outside Bangalore in southern India, also noted the considerable assistance
Britain had offered the Sultan during times of crisis. 132 Indeed, it was held that
Britain had done so ‘in consideration of the Mussulmans in India’. 133 Among the
examples given were:
? During the Russian-Turkish Crimean War, when Britain helped the Ottoman
government by providing men and money.
? During the Russo-Turkish War, when the Russians reached Constantinople, the
‘help of our benign British turned away the Russians in despair’.
? During the Second Balkan War in 1913, Britain sent financial aid from India
and England to the Ottoman Empire at the request of Indian Muslims. 134
The Devanhalli meeting similarly observed that Britain, despite having been
betrayed by the Sultan, had vowed to preserve the sanctity of Islam’s holy sites
– a promise they felt no other government would have made in similar
circumstances. 135 The meeting ended with the recognition that Britain treated
Muslims and ensured their rights better than even Muslim governments had
done, something the Devanhalli delegates were keen to acknowledge. They
noted that ‘we wish to assure the government that the loyalty of the Indian
Mussulmans to the British will not be affected by the present turn of affairs in
the European War. They [Indian Muslims] will not turn their faces away from
this [Britain], the greatest Muhammadan power, under whose shadow they
enjoy the freedom which was denied even by Islamic governments. Our Islam
orders us to be obedient to the reigning sovereign’. 136
Similar sentiments were also expressed by the Moplahs – the name given to
those Muslims in Kerala of mixed Arab and Indian descent. The statement, read
by Bava Haji, noted that India had been ruled by the Mughals for almost two
centuries before the British and it is ‘a fact admitted even by Mussulmans that
during their administration this land was not so peaceful as it is now’. 137 While
acknowledging that the Sultan had ‘absolute control in religious matters’, he
reiterated the commonly held opinion within India that the Great War was not
a religious conflict and therefore Muslims owed Turkey no special favour. 138
Indeed, Haji warned, ‘any one lacking in devotion and loyalty to the British