Jazirat-ul-Arab
Topic: The National Movement: Gandhian Era · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 3 "Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement"
Meaning
Jazirat-ul-Arab means "the island of the Arabs". It refers to the Arab lands that hold Islam's holy places. In Khilafat movement demands, it covered Arabia and also Syria, Iraq and Palestine. After the Ottoman defeat in the First World War, Britain and France were taking over these lands. Indian Muslims saw this as a threat to Islam.
Example
The Khilafat Committee, formed in Bombay in March 1919 under Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali, made a firm demand. The Khalifa had to keep control of the Muslim sacred places. And jazirat-ul-Arab had to stay under Muslim rule, not non-Muslim rule. Gandhi took up these demands in the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1920–22.
Don't confuse with
- Lahore Resolution, 1940: the Muslim League's demand for self-rule in the Muslim-majority areas of India. Jazirat-ul-Arab was about Arab lands outside India.
Related concepts
- Hind Swaraj
- Swaraj
- Khilafat movement
- Ali brothers
- Caliphate
- Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
- Calcutta special session 1920
- Nagpur session 1920
- Non-cooperation movement
- Louis Fischer