Paper short abstract:

The Great War changed Indian Muslim politics as both the religiously-inspired and the secular-minded were all stirred to become actively engaged in politics in response to the danger posed to the Caliph and by the failure of the British to introduce more liberal constitutional reforms.

Paper long abstract:

In 1913 the All-India Muslim League called for a "suitable" system of self-government for India compatible with Muslim sentiment. In 1916 Mohammad Ali Jinnah advocated the Lucknow Pact with the Indian National Congress. The Great War brought together the traditionally-educated and secularly-minded Muslims to offer a common front of Muslim sentiment toward the colonial regime. The defense of the Caliphate and the fate of Turkey were of great concern and a handful of Deobandi leaders openly engaged in 'fifth column' work and traveled to the Hijaz to link up with the Turks; another worked with German and Turkish agents in Afghanistan to arouse the tribesmen of the North-West Frontier Province against the British. The Ali brothers were interned but an agreement between the League and Congress in 1916 came about as the result of the work of young Muslim leadership in the United Provinces and the Congress. Conservative leaders in the United Provinces disliked the pact but the political initiative was held by young Muslims stirred by war against the Ottoman Empire and their link with like-minded anti-British ulema. By the end of the war an alliance had been forged between the modern-educated Muslims, and the traditionally-educated ones that exploded in the Khilafat Movement. The result was the transformation of Muslim sentiment in India during the war. In December 1918 leading ulema attended the Muslim League session indicating that all sections of Muslim India were united. This paper attempts to analyze the transformation of Muslim sentiment during the war.