Marmaduke Pickthall Islam and the Modern World (Muslim Minorities)

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chapter 5

Pickthall’s Islamic Politics

M.A. Sherif

India in the early 1920s was in political ferment. It was also a time of fragile
political consensus, bringing together Muslims, Hindus and other religious
communities. For Muslims, the dominant concern was the future of Ottoman
Turkey and the Caliphate. A news report published in the Urdu journal Muslim
conveys the atmosphere at Bombay’s Parsi Assembly Hall one evening in April
1922, in the aftermath of the Treaty of Sèvres:

When Pickthall arose to deliver his speech, the hall resounded with

shouts of pleasure. He first thanked the audience and then noted that

the people of Hindustan must surely be astounded by the conditions im-

posed on Turkey by the Paris Peace Conference but he was not surprised.

[He said] “I knew beforehand that the Paris Peace Conference would not

arrive at any sensible decision [...] Gallipoli and the north of the Sea of

Marmara is being given to Greece even though it has no rights over these

[...] moreover the Angora Government will not accept these conditions.

[...] When I was in Paris I met Muslim representatives from all over the

world. In my opinion, the Muslims of Hindustan should not have hopes

that the demands of the Turkish freedom-seekers on the Khilafat will be

the same as those they have presented.

The reality is that Hindustan’s Muslims sided with Britain in the war

against the Turks, and I too am in the same boat. I joined the battle on

behalf of Britain. In the promises made to us it was clearly expressed that

it would not be against the welfare of Islam and the jaziratul Arab. With

our help Britain was victorious over the Khalifatul muslimeen. It is now

our obligation to restore the jaziratul Arab to the Khalifatul muslimeen.

The responsibility is not so much on the Turks as it is on us. That is why

Hindustan’s Muslims need to stand more firm on the Khilafat demands

than the Turks. We should insist that Britain fulfils all the promises it had

made. If we review our efforts of the last two years we must not be dis-

heartened because a lot has been achieved. We should not change our

policy – only the rash ones will do so. What we have learnt is Innallaha

m‘a as-sabireen.

Now I would like to say a few words in my capacity as editor of The

Bombay Chronicle. People are objecting that under my tenure it has