Caliphate
Also called: Khilafat · Topic: The National Movement: Gandhian Era · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 3 "Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement"
Meaning
The Caliphate, called Khilafat in India, was the office of the Caliph or Khalifa. Many Sunni Muslims saw the Khalifa as the religious and political head of the whole Muslim world. In the early 20th century, the Sultan of Ottoman Turkey held this title. The Ottomans lost the First World War, and the British-led peace terms threatened the Khalifa's power. Indian Muslims then started the Khilafat movement. Gandhi joined it to build Hindu–Muslim unity.
Example
Indian Muslims demanded that the Khalifa keep control over the Muslim holy places. In 1924, the new Turkish republic under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk abolished the Caliphate itself. This ended the cause the Khilafat movement had fought for.
Don't confuse with
- Khilafat movement: the protest campaign in India (from 1919) to defend the Caliphate. The Caliphate was the office itself.
Related concepts
- Hind Swaraj
- Swaraj
- Khilafat movement
- Ali brothers
- Jazirat-ul-Arab
- Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
- Calcutta special session 1920
- Nagpur session 1920
- Non-cooperation movement
- Louis Fischer