Sad Anniversary

"Boli amma Muhammad Ali ki Jan beta Khilafat pai dedo"

A slogan in Urdu, which translates to: "so spoke the mother of Muhammad Ali. Son! Lay down your
life for the sake of hilafah"
March !, marks a "ery tragic e"ent in the history of #slam. $et, many Muslims don%t e"en reali&e it.
'ack in ()*+, the 'ritish with the help of their agent Mustafa amal destroyed the "ery #slamic State,
which was esta,lished ,y -rophet Muhammad .saaw/.
Muslims will not forget the &eal of reesta,lishing the hilafah shown ,y Muslims of that era today. #n
their call to reesta,lish the hilafah, Muhammad Ali 0ohar and Muhammad Ali Shaukat Ali 0ohar were
pioneers, ,etter known as the Ali ,rothers who headed the hilafah mo"ement in #ndia.
#n a ,ook entitled "My life a fragment", Maulana Ali, writes a,out his up,ringing and his e"entual
affinity to the #slamic go"ernmental structure and his foundation of a hilafat mo"ement which was to
prolong the long o"erdue prognosis of its elimination of the hilafah go"ernmental structure.
Maulana Ali, came to the reali&ation that the hilafah is the seat of succession to the -rophet .saaw/ or
in his words:
"...But the temporal losses of Turkey which we were advised by Europe to "cut" touched a peculiar
chord in our subconsciousness the !hord of "eli#ion$ for the "uler of Turkey was the Khalifah or
%uccessor of the &rophet and Emir'ul'Momineen or !hief of the (aithful and the Khilafah was as
essentially our reli#ious concern as the )ur*an or the %unnah of the &rophet."
#t should ,e noted that this is not only the understanding of Maulana Ali, ,ut also of the 1u2aha
.0urists/ ,efore him. 3hey ha"e reminded us that the position of the halifah as Succession of the
Messenger in carrying the functions of esta,lishing the 4een and maintaining the integrity of #slam, in
such a way that makes it an o,ligation upon all the Ummah to o,ey him.
Al5Mawardi defined it as: Succession of the -rophet hood aimed at protecting the 4een and ruling the
worldly life.
Al56a,hani, the founder of 7i&,5ut53ahrir defined the hilafah as: A general leadership for all
Muslims aimed at implementing the Shariyah of #slam and carrying the message of #slam to the entire
world.
Maulana Ali reali&ed that the "8ttoman 9mpire" was the seat of the hilafah. 7e o,ser"ed this with
admiration and o,edience. 7is admiration was such that throughout the ,ook he mentions his affinity
to the Seat of hilafat. Upon reali&ing that the Seat of the hilafah was in danger of its e"entual
,reakup, he and his ,rother Shaukat Ali, esta,lished a mo"ement which came to ,e known in the Su,5
:ontinent as the hilafat Mo"ement.
A resolution was adopted at the hilafat :onference held at arachi, #ndia in ()*(, according to
which, it was considered an irreligious act for the Muslims to enroll in the 'ritish army. 3his resulted
in the arachi trial, which commenced in 8cto,er ()*( in which Maulana Muhammad Ali, Shaukat
Ali, 7usain Ahamad Madni, and three others were sentenced to two years% rigorous imprisonment. 7is
imprisonment e"oked a countrywide protest. 3he resolution for which he was prosecuted was adopted
and pu,lished throughout #ndia. 3he statement gi"en ,y Muhammad Ali ,efore the court ,rings out his
truly #slamic spirit. 7e acknowledges the supremacy of the 4i"ine Law .Ahkam Shariyah/ o"er
manmade legislation. 3he ,oldness and daring e;hi,ited ,y him ,efore the court was ama&ing.

3his mo"ement sent delegations to 9urope and held conferences trying their utmost to preser"e the
entity of the hilafah. #t is true that this effort was not strong enough and was not planned well to
produce its results. 3his effort lacked the full awareness of the 'ritish plans to destroy the #slamic State
and to the e;tent to which they had their agents working for this goal. 'ut, ne"ertheless, this attempt
left a positi"e impact for the others to start new well5planned effort towards esta,lishing the hilafah.
#t should ,e noted that this was one of the more genuine #slamic Mo"ements that the Su,5:ontinent
produced which called for the adherence to the <rand #mam as Allah .swt/ and 7is Messenger ordered
us to do so!
Muhammad Ali was still in prison when Mustafa amal a,olished the hilafat, hence the mo"ement in
#ndia for its preser"ation also crum,led.
3he following are some ayah and 7adith from =ur%an and Sunnah that order the ruling of the people ,y
the 4een of Allah.
"O you who believe: Obey Allah, obey His Messenger, and the rulers who are in charge from
amongst you (Sarah 4:!""
3his Ayah o,ligates the o,edience to the ruler in charge, i.e., to the <rand #mam. 3hus, it is an
o,ligation to ha"e the grand #mam to ,egin with, ,efore he can ,e o,eyed. 8therwise, how could one
,e o,ligated to o,ey someone whose e;istence is not o,ligatory.
"And rule them by what Allah has revealed and do not follow their whims, de#arting from the
truth that you received$" (Surah :4%"
"And rule them by what Allah has revealed and do not follow their whims, and be cautious so
that they may not divert you away from any of what Allah as revealed to you$ (Surah :4!"$
3hese two ayah order the -rophet .saaw/ to rule according to what Allah .S>3/ has re"ealed .=ur%an
and Sunnah/. And since the order to the -rophet in the =ur%an is also an order to his Ummah, and so
the Ummah has the same o,ligation to esta,lish the rules of Allah .S>3/ and not to lea"e any part of
7is rules unimplemented.
"&hose are the ones to whom 'e have given the (oo), the authority to rule, and the *ro#het
hood$ And if these #eo#le disbelieved in any of them (the (oo), the authority to rule, and the
*ro#het hood"$ 'e shall entrust their charge to a new #eo#le who re+ect them not$" (Surah
,:%!"
3he following 7adith further elucidates this point of ruling authority:
3he -rophet .saaw/ said: >hoe"er ,reaks away from o,edience .to the halifah/ will ha"e no e;cuse
when he meets Allah. And whoe"er dies without owing a ,a%yah .allegiance to the halifah/, he shall
die as those who die in "0ahiliyyah." ?6arrated ,y Muslim@
3he 'a%yah as a term can only ,e gi"en to the halifah. 3he 7adith o,ligates e"ery Muslim to owe a
,a%yah to the halifah. 3his makes the e;istence of the hilafah who deser"es the ,a%yah an o,ligation
as well.
#n another 7adith, the -rophet .saaw/ said: "3he people of #srael used to ,e ruled ,y -rophets.
>hene"er a -rophet died, another -rophet would take o"er. And there will ,e no -rophet after # die.
'ut, there will ,e halifs. And there will ,e many of them. 3he Saha,ah asked: >hat do you
command us to doA 7e replied: 1ulfill the 'a%yah for them, one after another. And gi"e them their
rights. 1or Allah .S>3/ will ask them a,out that which he put them in charge of. ?6arrated ,y
Muslim@
Upon reflection of these Ayat and Ahadith, it ,ecomes clearly e"ident that the halifah must ,e
appointed and that the hilafah must ,e preser"ed.
7a"ing this understanding, Maulana Ali, launched a mo"ement to preser"e the hilafah. 3herefore,
what the hilafat mo"ement was calling was the adherence to the orders of Allah and 7is Messenger
.saaw/. #t can ,e concluded that the mo"ement was genuine in its adherence to the hilafah or the
authority of #slam.
#n contrast, other mo"ements of the Su,5:ontinent which fashioned #slam and the Muslims and roused
the masses to call for 6ationalism and Separatism as an alternati"e to hilafah ruling system. Upon
the dissolution of the hilafah different mo"ements emerged to fulfill the "acuum of the authority
"ested in the Muslim Ummah.
"boli amma Muhammad Ali ki ++ Jan beta Khilafat pai dedo"
"so spoke the mother of Muhammad Ali. %on lay down your life for the sake of Khilafah"
>ill the Muslims mothers today instruct their children with the same slogan A