handed over to non- Muslims. This became a dominant issue during the
fi nal days of the Ottoman Empire, when Eu ro pe an powers were seeking
to place its Arab areas under an Anglo- French mandate. The Zionist po-
liti cal aspirations in Palestine came into confl ict with the Indian Muslim
struggle for the preservation of the caliph. The formation of Indian opin-
ion critical of Zionist aspirations in Palestine occurred during this pe-
riod, when the Indian nationalists, including Mahatma Gandhi, were
making common cause with the Muslims on a religious issue.
Furthermore, the potential of Indian Muslims to impede Jewish aspi-
rations in Palestine was exacerbated by another player: Hajj Amin al-
Husseini, the grand mufti of Jerusalem. Ever since his appointment to
that position in May 1921, al- Husseini was quick to recognize the Islamic
nature of the problem in Palestine. He faced a twin challenge— strong
internal opposition from other powerful Arab families such as the Na-
shashibis and growing Zionist activities in Palestine, especially immi-
gration. The British administration was a new and unknown phenome-
non, and he was not sure of gaining its confi dence, let alone support. The
mufti realized that his ability to confront the threats posed by Jewish im-
migration rested on the expansion of his support base beyond Palestine.
Islam could be an eff ective instrument, and expanding the problem into
a larger Arab and Islamic agenda was tempting. Instead of seeing Jewish
immigration as an assault on the Palestinians, the mufti projected it as
a threat to the Islamic world.^69 Such a worldview naturally drew him to
India. In the early 1920s, he sent a three- member delegation to raise
funds for the restoration of the dilapidated al- Aqsa mosque.^70 The delega-
tion managed to persuade rich and philanthropic Muslim rulers of India
to contribute generously and raised £22,000; the nizam of the princely
state of Hyderabad in southern India alone contributed £7,000.^71
Unlike the Zionists, the mufti had one distinct advantage: the ability
to reciprocate. While seeking India’s support, he projected the prevailing
po liti cal climate in Palestine as an anticolonial struggle; the British were
the enemies of Indians as well as the Arabs. For a staunch anti- imperialist
like Nehru, the mufti, who was despised by the Zionists, emerged as a
genuine nationalist fi ghting for the liberation of the Arabs of Palestine.^72
This ideological convergence overshadowed all the other contradictions
between the mufti’s brand of Arab nationalism and Gandhian nonvio-
lence. The mufti’s reliance on violence, Islamic orientation, and his Nazi
connections during World War II became secondary to the Indian na-
tionalists. Much to the chagrin of the Jews, the mufti’s personal meeting
60 the congress party and the yishuv