German Ideology ஜெர்மன் சித்தாந்தம்

 I have recently read the book of Dr Aijaz ahmad, professor of Haryana regarding the valiant role played by Muslims. I have given here some highlights

Indian Muslims Against British Rule (Ahmad, Aijaz)-

(A book bringing the glorious fight and martyrdom  of Muslim Leaders against British during 1857 Uprising)

A particular class within the Muslim society, the Ulema along with huge Muslim followers actively participated not only during the Uprising of 1857 but even before and after the same upheaval.

It happened the first time in India or perhaps in the whole world when a religious class en mass rose against their tyrant ruler

Dadhi-topi wala (Muslim cleric) and Tilakdhari (Hindu cleric), joined the hands together

World saw the miracle of the rainbow of Indian culture. The diversity of Indian culture greatly influenced the greatest social thinker

Bahadur Shah Zafar, the only national symbol at that time, who met the brutal revenge of the British,

History proves that the Indians either Hindus or Muslims were not only the great rulers but the great conquerors as well. The great masses of India, both Hindus and Muslims were strongly attached to their native system of Government devoted to their modes of faith with an obstinate and inveterate bigotry which has no parallel in the British system of Government

The Hindus and Muslims rose simultaneously to protect their ‘Dharma’ and ‘Din’

A total of about 50 European men (including soldiers), women and children were killed in Meerut by Sepoys and local crowds.

As a letter sent out by the rebels’ leaders subsequently put it: “The English are people who overthrow all religions ... As the English are the common enemy of both (Hindus and Muslims), we should unite in their slaughter ... By this alone will the lives and faiths of both be saved.”

The church and every house occupied by Christian or Europeans were attacked and rifled, and no quarter was given to age or sex. They not even left the Indians who were converted to Christianity

The 82 years-old EmperorBahadur Shah Zafar was formally declared the Emperor of Hindustan. The formal court was held, which was abandoned 15 years ago. The court was attended by many excited or unruly Sepoys

Allahabad Sepoys joined the Uprising on 6th June 1857. Badayun and Moradabad joined the rebellion on 1st and 3rd June. At Nimach, Sepoys rebelled on 6th June and Gwalior, Mehidpur (Malwa) and Nowgong the Sepoys revoted on 9th June.The Sepoys of Indore revolted on 1st of July 1857.At Punjab, the Sepoys of Ambala, Amritsar, Lahore, Peshawar, Mardan, Dera Ismail Khan, and Mianwali were dispersed and disarmed. The Sepoys at Ferozpur and Jallandhar were mutinied on 14th May and 7th June 1857. At Jaunpur, Ghazipur, and Mirzapur, the Sepoys were disarmed.

Patna, Arrah, Azamgarh, Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Faizabad, Fatehpur, Jhansi, Lucknow, Kanpur, Etawah, Fategarh, Gwalior, Shahjahanpur, Agra, Bharatpur, Rohilkhand, Mathura, Agra, Hatras, Delhi, Meerut, Bareilly and Roorki, etc. emerged as storm-centres of the Revolt.

According to Karl Marx, “It is the first time that Sepoy regiments have murdered their European officers; that Musalmans and Hindus, renouncing their mutual antipathies,

In the last days, there were only the Mujahideen in the city to resist the disciplined British force. However, unfortunately, they could not harm a lot to the British soldiers and martyred while fighting at the front and in the streets. The total loss of lives of the revolutionaries was innumerable and the property which was looted and burnt was estimated in hundreds of millions.          The Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah along with his family took shelter in the Humayun’s Tomb but on the persuasion of Hodson and his spy Maulvi Rajab Ali, the Emperor and hisMost of the Emperor’s 16 sons and grandsons were tried and hanged, while two sons, Mirza Mughal, Mirza Khizr Sultan, with the grandson, the son of Mirza Mughal, by name Mirza Abu Bakr, were shot in cold blood, having first freely given up their arms,

The mutiny commenced in Jhansi and the European by leaving their women and children in the Town Fort remained themselves in the cantonment.

The Rani remained in power until April 1858, when by the advent of a British army and its operations against the doomed city the situation was again changed. Major-General Sir Hugh Rose launched an attack on Jhansi in March 1858, and got a tough resistance from the Rani and her forces.Rani was having a garrison of eleven thousand five hundred men, including fifteen hundred Sepoys who had been trained in the British army. The column of troops with General Rose was also equal in number. On the bravery of Rani, Hugh Rose described about her, “The best and bravest military leader of the rebels”.42        The battle was started on 25th of March with great enthusiasm among the forces of Rani.Tatya Tope joined the forces of Rani, their number increased vehemently about twenty-two thousand in total. However in a pitched battle, the revolutionary forces under Tatya Tope met a crushing defeat with a loss of fifteen hundred dead and wounded along with several guns.

Tatya Tope was captured by Captain Richard Meade on 7th April, and executed at Sipri on the 18th of April, 1859. Rani fought gallantly but she too bound to flee after her defeat. However, her horse in crossing the canal near the cantonment stumbled and fell. Then a Cavalry soldier, ignorant of her sex and her rank, cut her down.

Nana and his associates arranged 40 boats for the escape of the Europeans. However, when the Europeans reached in the mid-stream and sailed towards Allahabad, Nana’s forces started firing. Most of them were killed and some of them surrendered and send back as captives..Nana rode away to an unknown destination in Nepal in 1859 and probably died in the forest

The Indians found the opportunity to uproot the British Empire in 1857 in order to save their religion and nation.Among the Hindus, the Brahmans were leading in the society. They suffered a lot from the British Government’s policies.The Muslim Ulema also suffered by the same above mentioned reasons.In 1856, Lord Canning promulgated the law, legalizing the remarriage of Hindu widows, and off course this was an act of the purest benevolence from a British point of view.The Government financial aid was also stopped to the Madarsas and Pathshalas (Muslim and Hindu schools) which were being received since long back.

Hindu Sepoy generals, Generals Sudhari and Hira Singh using the term of Jihad to describe their fight against the British

Undoubtedly, it was having a unique character that Hindus blindly followed the Muslims, and Muslims had full faith in Hindus. It was the first time when both the communities hoisted the flags and chanted the each other’s slogans.According to Prof. Irfan Habib, Hindu contingents would elect Muslims as their representatives; Muslim contingents would accept a Hindu Subedar major as their head.

Sher Ali attacked him with a sharp knife and The Viceroy left the world after a few minutes, and the security embarked the dead body of the Viceroy Lord Mayo from Rule Brittania to the Glasgow ship where his wife was eagerly waiting.He simply replied that, “I killed him by the Order of Allah!” He said that he had no associate in his crime, but that God was his partner. During his trial, Sher Ali admitted that part of his motivation arose from the act of his brother

After the assassination of Lord Mayo, the Viceroy by a Wahabi convict Sher Ali at Port Blair, vigorous measures were taken by the British to eliminate the Wahabi elements.

Maulvi Liaqat Ali also wrote a National Song which was sung by the revolutionaries, holding green flag in their hands. The National Song was as follows:

(India is ours. We are its owners India is ours. It’s the holy country of all the nations and is beautiful than the paradise. It’s our property; India is ours. The whole world is brightening by its spirit. India is ours. How friendly and better and different from the rest of the world. The water currents of Ganges and Jumna rivers make its land fertile. The snowy mountain to the top is our guard and in the bottom, there is beauty of sea. India is ours. Its mines are omitting gold, diamond, and mercury. There is the sound of victory of its splendor. Hindu Muslims and Sikhs are our dear brothers. This is the flag of freedom, and we salute it.)

He got arrested in 1872 before boarding to the ship. Liaqat Ali was brought to Allahabad,he was transported to the Andaman (Kala Pani). His property was confiscated. He left his wife Hajra Bagum and a daughter to survive. He breathed his last   .Liaqat Ali transported for life in Andaman on 17th of May 1892.

The mock trial of deceased Emperor Bahadur Shah was a process of humiliating the emblematic head of India and the charges of treason that were framed against the Emperor was nothing but to prove that the Company was the real sovereign power

Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, whatever did as a ruler was certainly not a tyranny or infidelity towards the British but a marvelous work of a successful ruler of India. Whatever he did was nothing other than patriotism to his nation and his duty of Kingship to protect..Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar died on 7th November 1862 in the Rangoon jail being buried in the night-time near his bungalow, so that none might know the resting-place of the last of the great Mughal Emperors.

Subedar Bakht Khan was described by one of his British superiors of the Bengal Native Artillery as 60 years of age, forty years of which were spent in the Company’s service.Bakht Khan and the Sepoys forced the British under Robert Alaxander, the Commissioner of Bareilly, to leave the city.Mohammad Bakht Khan was given the responsibility of virtually commanding the revolutionary forces while Mirza Mughal was still Commander-in-Chief in title.The Emperor was so unhappy with Bakht Khan, whom he ordered to go out of the city and fight with the British otherwise he ould leave the city and go wherever he wanted to. The situation came to a head on 29th of August,

Mr. Shakespeare and Syed Ahmad Khan, in order to prepare them from any danger and to save the life of the Europeans, raised a body of 100 Pathan horse and foot for their protection and also arranged intelligence for the daily news regarding the progress of the Uprising.53         About the end of May, the Uprising erupted at Bijnor but Sir Syed Ahmad Khan convinced the Roorki mutineers to bye-pass the Bijnor and advised Mr. Shakespeare to hide the treasury in the well.

Mirza Ghalib in his house started writing his diary which was known as Dastamboo in Persian and was meant to please the British.Mirza Ghalib says that everywhere the land was coloured with the blood of Englishmen and the revolutionaries never spared their innocent ladies and children.79        Mirza Ghalib further says, “Those sinful and tyrant killers have stayed place to place in the city.

 Babar addressed to his son Humayun as “So, this nation Hindustan has different religions. Thank Allah for giving us this Kingdom. We should remove all the differences from our heart and do justice to each community according to its customs. Avoid cow slaughter to win over the hearts of the people of this land and to incorporate the people in the matters of administration. Do not damage the places of worship and temples, which fall in the boundaries of our rule. Evolve a method of ruling whereby all the people of the Kingdom are happy with the King and the King is happy with the people. Islam can progress by noble deeds and not by terror. Ignore the differences of Shiya and Sunni, as this is the weakness of Islam. Keep the people following different customs integrated into a single whole, so that no part of the body of this Kingdom becomes diseased”. (Puniyani, Ram, Communal Politics Facts)