Author: Sayyed Musleh Uddin
Deoband: Mother of Religious Schools in the Indian Subcontinent (Part Two)
The Impact of Colonialism on Indian Muslims
Colonial Control over India
British colonialism in India began with the rise of the East India Company. After establishing a presence in Calcutta, England, under the guise of the Company’s activities, gained complete control over India by 1857 AD. Over time, it expanded its colonial rule throughout the subcontinent, suppressing local resistance from princes, maharajas, nawabs, and the populace.
The East India Company conquered the states of Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Benares, and Ghazipur in 1179 AH/1765 AD. British forces defeated Siraj al-Daulah and Shuja al-Daulah, two prominent Muslim rulers of India, respectively in 1757 AD (corresponding to 1207 AH) and in 1764 AD (corresponding to 1214 AH). They limited the power of Shah Alam Timurid to the Allahabad region. Moreover, Tipu Sultan, the Muslim ruler of India, was martyred on May 4, 1799, in a battle against British colonialists in Sirangapatna. In summary, according to the British press, these victories allowed them to weaken and humiliate Muslims, declaring that they were no longer afraid of the Indian populace or the Timurid dynasty.
The End of Monarchy, Society, and Culture
The impact of British rule was most acutely felt by the Muslims. Hunter, a British officer in Bengal, wrote about the condition of Muslims in India in 1871: “They are a people who have been injured in every way under British rule.”
The policy of colonialists aimed to exclude Muslims from governance. In the North-Western Provinces, which included territories acquired by the Nawab of Odisha in 1801 and those that came under British control following the defeat of the Marathas, Muslims constituted the majority of subordinate officials in the judicial service. However, by 1857, the British allocated 72 percent of judicial posts, including positions up to Sardar Amin (judge of small claims), to Hindus.
With the advent of colonialism, the plight of Muslim landlords also worsened. Many Muslim landlords in the northern states who had been removed from their posts in Bengal realized they had to lead a difficult life in a closed society, losing all hope of attaining royal positions. The establishment of British rule not only destroyed the source of income for Muslims but also disrupted their way of life. Eventually, when Delhi was captured by Lord Lake, Shah Alam and other servants of the East India Company gradually became part of the British government’s paymasters, losing their independence even in personal matters.
Lord Wellesley commended Lord Lake to Shah Alam, stating that he was fortunate that the means for His Majesty’s return to a great and peaceful state came under the attention of the British Royal Government. Shah Alam responded by granting Lord Lake the rank of Commander-in-Chief of the army. When Lord Lake seized Shah Alam’s treasury, Shah Alam presented it to Lord Lake’s army as a gift. The British perceived Shah Alam as a paymaster of the Queen of England and allocated a salary of one million one hundred and fifty thousand rupees to him. After Shah Alam’s death, his son Akbar II was purportedly his successor, but the British did not recognize his right to appoint a successor. Lord Hastings, during his tenure as Commander-in-Chief of India, even refused to stand in Akbar’s presence, signaling that the Timurid kings had become mere pensioners. By the 1840s, the British abandoned any pretense of respect they had previously shown to the monarchy.
Lord Allan Burrow, the British ruler, abolished the customary practice of gifts from lower to higher officials in 1844. By 1851, Bahadur Shah received a monthly pension of only 833 rupees instead of a gift. In 1849, Mirza Fakhruddin was recognized as the heir apparent to the throne with the approval of the British commander Dalhousie, provided the royal family vacated the Red Fort in Delhi after Bahadur Shah’s death, as Dalhousie intended to repurpose it as a gunpowder store. Consequently, the British systematically dismantled the institution of kingship. In 1856, Lord Canning, the Governor-General, recognized Mirza Muhammad Kulash as the Amir of the Timurid dynasty, merely designating him as the head of the family and not as a king. After the British recaptured Delhi following the defeat of the 1857 revolution, although the Mughal dynasty in Delhi did not cease to exist through death and exile, its members were relegated to remnants of nobility who, by the benevolence of the British, resided near the Qutb Minar.
Cultural Changes and Impact on Persian
During the Muslim rule of India, Persian was the official language, with all educated Indians—Muslims and Hindus alike—commonly speaking it. The British initially recognized the status of Persian as the official language and conducted their correspondence in it until a British official named Macaulay famously proposed changing the official language to English. Consequently, in 1835, it was announced that English would be taught in high schools and would replace Persian as the official language. Following this decree, the use of Persian in government offices, businesses, and courts was banned, and all law books were translated from Arabic and Persian into English. Muslims perceived this language change as a conspiracy to undermine their culture and religion, resulting in a strong negative response, which included withdrawing from cultural institutions.
In Bengal, the British rulers neglected the Muslims, viewing them as relics of the former ruling class and fearing potential uprisings. As a result, Bengali Hindus initially monopolized almost all administrative and governmental affairs under British rule and were often relocated to other regions and northern states.
The British dealt a severe blow to Islamic culture by cutting off funding for Muslim schools. When they came to power in Bengal, vast tracts of land known as moafis—exempt from taxes—were prevalent. Many of these lands were privately owned, and the income generated from them was allocated as endowments for educational institutions. Numerous traditional schools and higher educational establishments teaching Persian relied on donations from these exempt lands for operational funding. The East India Company aimed to maximize profits for its shareholders in England, putting relentless pressure on company managers and directors to pursue this goal. They enacted a policy of confiscation of these exempt lands, demanding that administrators prove their exempt status. Since the relevant documents were often old, missing, or destroyed, the authorities seized the lands and ousted their administrators. Consequently, schools and colleges dependent on these resources lost their financial backing, leading many families to bankruptcy and educational institutions to closure.
British domination in India meant absolute loss for Muslims. Despite constituting one-fifth of the Indian population and having ruled India for centuries with substantial cultural influence, the British government viewed them as its primary adversary and regarded any form of dissent, rebellion, or resistance as a threat. The notable British author William Hunter wrote in 1871 in his book The Muslims of India: “Indian Muslims have been and continue to be a source of danger to the British government in India, both in the past and present.” To consolidate their power and dominate Muslims, the colonialists sought to change their beliefs by promoting rituals and ideologies contrary to Islam.
Continues…
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