Date: 3 July 1911
Location: London
Speaker: Aga Khan III
Source: Speeches of Aga Khan III – K K Aziz
Full Text
Numerical strength of Muslims in India – their ties with the British Crown – their importance in the defence of India – the unifying bond of Islam – Muslim self-organization and expression vs. Indian nationality – potential influence of the upper classes – no unifying centrifugal force – need for a head of State – present gulf between the rulers and the ruled – the role a Prince Regent would play relations between Hindus and Muslims – the All India Muslim League – the London Muslim League’s work – education in India – the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College – subscriptions for raising the College to a University level- a mosque in London outlook full of hope – the role the Aligarh University will play in India.
It was with hearty pleasure that I accepted the invitation of the Council of this Festival to speak on the position of the Maho medan subjects of King George in the British Empire and more particularly in India: for while I feel that there are others better qualified than myself, by reason of frequent participation in the work of the platform to address you, I also feel that it is eminently fitting that in this auspicious Coronation year the sentiments, hopes, and aspirations of the many-millioned Moslem subjects of the King-Emperor should be brought to your notice by one who may at least claim that he has special opportunities to acquaint himself with those sentiments and aspirations …
The Indian Census of 1901 records a total of no less than 621 million Mahomedans, and from the date of the first general / 2 Census in that Dependency, twenty years earlier, their proportion to the general population had been steadily rising. While in 1881 out of every 10,000 of population there were 1,974 Mussulmans the proportion had risen to 2,122 ten years ago. We have still t~ learn the distribution of the Indian population by religion at the fourth general enumeration in March last; but as the aggregate for the country has risen by 201 millions in the <;lecennium it / 2 may safely be assumed that the total strength of Ip.dian Moslems is now much nearer 70 millions than 60 millions~ It is well known to all students of Indian history that the ties binding the Mussulmans of India to the British Crown are of the strongest kind. The de jure right of Britain to the three rich provinces of Bengal, Behar and Orissa (as we are reminded by one of the beautiful tableaux in the Indian Court of this Festival) was derived by express grant from a Moslem Sovereign. Sub sequently the defeat of Scindia and the release of the Mogul Emperor from Mahratta tutelage sealed the transfer of the rightful tide to Indian overlordship from the Mussulmans to the English. As my friend the Right Honourable Syed Ameer Ali has pointed out, the British Government is working to this day with the legacy left behind by the Moslem rulers. “The revenue system still proceeds on lines laid down by the great Akbar. You have still the laccavi (the advances to peasants) of the Moguls; you have still the ryotwari settlement-the very word _ryot has been left to you by them.” And this close historical connexion has been cemented by the blood of many a Moslem soldier fighting for his British Sovereign. You are well aware that the Indian Mahomedans form a very large proportion of the Native Army a circumstance illustrated to the vast crowds which witnessed the Coronation Procession and Royal Progress both by the compo sition of the Indian Contingent and by the coincidence that the King’s Indian orderlies this year are Moslems. The Frontier Militia and the independent tribes of the North West Frontier all valiant fighters – are Mussulmans to a man; and Great Britain has in her friend the Ameer of Mghanistan an ally having at his disposal between 65,000 and 70,000 regular troops, and 20,000 irregulars- all Moslems and all potential elements in defending India from external aggression. Nor must it be forgotten that the lascars who go down to the sea in ships and do business on great waters, thereby contributing greatly to the development of India’s ever-expanding seaborne commerce and forming a potential source of strength as stokers, etc., in times of naval warfare, are, almost without exception, followers of the Prophet.
I mention these considerations in no spirit of vainglory but in order that you may recall that history, tradition and presentday conditions contribute to that steadfast loyalty which, as all observers attest, has been shown by the Mahomedans of India under recent circumstances of excitement and unrest. But there is a still greater bond to be referred to – the bond of certain · central religious convictions (essentially Semitic) held in common. The Mahomedans are much more closely drawn to the Western world in this all-important aspect of life and thought than they are to their Indian compatriots. They know that there are close similarities between the Old Testament and the Koran and they reverence the name and record of the Founder of Christianity. The existence of the bond will probably be most fully realised in Great Britain than at present when the movement for the erection of a mosque for Mahomedan worshippers resi dent in or visiting London duly materialises. The Moslems differ greatly among themselves in the stages of their respective advancement, but Islam is so unifying a power that in the respect I have mentioned as in many others, there is identity of sentiment from men of high culture down to the untutored hill tribes.
Similarly the bond of Islam unites the Indian, the Arab, and the Persian with the Negro followers of Islam …
These considerations cannot be neglected by those who are labouring with earnest purpose for the building up of an Indian nationhood in which religious and racial differences will be largely forgotten and overshadowed by the sentiment of geo graphical and political or national unity. On historical, sentimental and moral and religious grounds the Indian Mussul mans are bound to incline to self-organisation and self-expression and to the traditions associated with English rule. At the same time, the great economic developments in progress and the intel lectual forces of modern civilisation must work upon their minds in favour of the evolution of Indian nationality. The task of statesmanship will be to reconcile these apparently opposing factors, or at all events, not to allow them to come into conflict injurious to the common interests and the general welfare.
In the solution of this great problem of the future the cultured and leisured classes may be expected to be more adaptable to the spirit of the age than the middle and working classes, the rank-and-file on both sides, who have yet to learn the spirit of what is called in Europe toleration – of “live and let live.” It has been justly observed that the best way to bring about toleration and mutual understanding in a country like India is to work, not so much up from below as down from above. The upper and leisured classes, who have a degree of influence not adequately understood in this country, should first be brought into har~ monious association. That the middle and ultimately the lower classes would follow their example is certain. Of course progress will be slow, comparatively speaking, in a country where the intermarriage of people of differing race on equal terms is practi~ cally impossible, and must long remain so. But modern experience has shown that such intermarriage is not essential to a large measure of social fusion. In the United States where the tide of immigration from many countries of Europe provided a similar problem, the social unity exhibited by the settlers has largely nullified racial differences though these are still, in con~ siderable degree, recognised in selective marriage there.
Though some little progress has been made by the educated classes under the unifying influence of English speech, social unity is still a long way off in India. Yet it is by way of social unity that any real development of Indian nationality can best be pro moted. One obstacle to its development is the absence of a visible and unquestionable head of Indian and Anglo-Indian society.
Hindus, Mahomedans, Christians, Parsis mingle from time to time to go back to their several communal customs and detach ments of life, largely because there is no unifying centrifugal force, such as exists in Great Britain in the Person of the -Sover eign. Custom and political convenience ordain that Viceroys and heads of provinces should reign only for five years, and in that short period they cannot do more than leave a fleeting impression upon the social customs and progress of the country.
The Viceroy may and does invite to social functions, but he is too busily occupied in his vast administrative responsibilities to be in the fullest sense the formative centre of Indian social life.
As was remarked in a noteworthy article in the Empire Day edition of The Times: “It is admitted by all who know the facts that the Viceroy has a load which is too heavy for one man.
Decentralisation is a comfortable word, but the Viceroy is held responsible by Great Britain and by the world, and his load cannot be lightened.”
India is not and cannot for generations be vested with any constitutional system such as exists in this country: but there is one element of British Constitutionalism which could be trans planted to India with the most signal advantage, namely, a head of Society not directly responsible for the working of the adminis trative machinery yet higher in status and dignity than those who hold that responsibility. Such a position can only be taken by a . member of the Royal House who would make India his home, going out there as a young man, as the Indian Civilians do, identifying himself with the nation of which he was Regent and from time to time coming back to Europe for his holidays, thus keeping in touch with English sentiment and progress. There is a great and growing desire in India for the visible embodiment of that rule of the King-Emperor to which all classes of the community are intensely devoted. To no section of the popu lation would the change be more welcome than to the Mahomedans, with their traditions of the Mogul Court. The case is well put in the article I have already referred to: “The Prince Regent would have no political functions and the Viceroy, a Prime Minister of India, appointed for five years, would be responsible to the British Cabinet. In this departure we must not repeat the mistake which was made in education – the mistake which caused the present trouble in India. We must not be content with a cheap and soulless instrument, but must secure the highest and most noble of agencies. This is to be found in a Prince Regent of the Royal House. He would be the head of Society, and would discharge all the social and ceremonial duties which now trench so heavily on the Viceroy’s time …. The aspir ations of Indians are social rather than political, and at present we have no one to lead in social matters. There is a great gulf between the rulers and the ruled. With the best will in the world, the Viceroy and his over-worked officials have no time for things social, and the work which will be added by the reforms will give them still less leisure for social activities. And there is such a glorious field for the leader of Indian society!” The writer goes on to observe that if we want “to give India a social status in the world, if we want to see India bound by golden chains to the British Empire, we must have a Prince Regent as the social leader and arbiter, the fount of honour, and the symbol of con tinuity, to foster and guide India into the comity of civilised nations.”
I make no apology for emphasising this point in a lecture respecting the position of the Indian Moslems, since I hold that their future social development, like that of other communities is largely bound up in this question. The Prince Regent would powerfully and inevitably contribute to that social unity which must precede any other form of unity, whether political or racial.
Even with this centrifugal force at work social unity will be a plant of somewhat slow growth; while under the existing conditions I do not see how it can ever come to maturity. A system, under which the Viceroy is the ceremonial and social as well as the administrative head of a vast country with 315 million inhabitants must break down, since the political work of the Governor General of necessity absorbs, or at least greatly overshadows, the work of the King’s Viceroy.
I have indicated that the way of unity is made difficult by the traditions of life among the general population, ·and by the friction which unhappily occasionally springs up betWeen Hindu and Mahomedan in respect to local usages and circumstances.
As a result of discussions when I was last in England between Sir William Wedderburn on the one hand and Mr. Ameer Ali and myself on the other hand, a Conciliation Committee representa tive of both Hindus and Mahomedans has been formed to work at this problem and I earnestly trust it will be successful in nar rowing the area of possible friction, or at least in organising machinery for such friction to be removed by conference instead of being fanned by riotous outbreak. But facts have to be faced; and the fact that many of the people believe in their hearts that real social unity is unattainable affords in itself ample justification – if justification were needed – for the existence of organisations on communal lines, such as the All-India Moslem League ..
That the League, while specially responsible for promotion of the welfare of the Indian Mahomedans is always ready to work for the good of India as a whole is demonstrated – to take a case at hand – by the record of the London Branch. Its third annual report, passed at a meeting held within the last few weeks, showed that there has been serious and sustained activity in bringing before Government and the public the questions of the treatment of Indians in the self-governing Dominions, and the grievances they have had to face in British East Mrica. Representations have also been made on the important question of widening the opportunities for Indians of position to serve the King-Emperor in the Indian Army. In these and many other ways the League here – and the remark applies equally to the Central League and Indian Branches – has been working for the advancement of the general interests of India, and has been doing so in harmony and concert with the other Indian communities. A similar spirit is manifested in other quarters. Notwithstanding passing troubles from which we have still to emerge, the future of India is destined to be bright, provided the spirit of comprehension and toleration is allowed to grow naturally and that no forcing of this tender plant is attempted.
One of the greatest services that can be rendered to the cause of social unity in India is to give her people the best type of education possible. So far as the Mahomedans are concerned they demand that their education shall not be entirely divorced from the religious and moral teaching or the traditions of the past, handed down to them by pious forefathers. The illustrious Sir Syed Ahmed Khan recognised this need in the principles he laid down for the formation of the Mahomedan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh. That College, based on a residential system, has had a most vitalising and beneficent effect upon the ideals and efforts of the Moslems of India. It has met a need which the State colleges, strictly bound by principles of religious neutrality, could not supply; and its alumni have gone forth into the world and won high repute for character and culture. The hope that the college would one day reach the status of a University, and thus become in a fuller sense than at present, the centre of Indian Moslem culture, has long been cherished; and last cold weather a movement was started to provide initial funds to enable the community to submit its petition for a Charter and make a beginning with the project as a memorial of the forthcoming visit of their Majesties to India. The eagerness and enthusiasm with which the Moslems of all parts of India took up the matter was to me a source of pride and thankfulness. I asked for a minimum subscription of Rs. 30 lakhs, (equivalent to £133,333) and within three months this large amount was forthcoming. All classes of the community evinced their practical interest in the movement, for subscriptions came from poor cultivators as well as wealthy land-owners, from the humble trader as well as the Ruling Chief. No one realises more clearly than I do that this is only a beginning and that further sacrifices and effort are called for. But I am confident that these will be forthcoming, for enough has been done to show that the community realises that as the Times of India observed the other day, “this University movement is really the index of Moslem sincerity and progress; it is valuable not only for what it effects but for what it symbolises – a reviving consciousness of the destiny of the race, a test of its enlight enment.”
The provision of a Mosque in London, to which I made passing reference earlier in this address, is, to my mind, an essential corollary to the University scheme, having regard to the large and growing number of Aligarh students and other young Indian Moslems who came here to complete their preparations for pro fessional, official, or business careers. The two or three years they individually spend in this country, far removed from home and family influence, constitutes a time of testing and peril; and the promoters of the Mosque Fund believe that one of the most valuable of safeguards against shipwreck on this sea of temp tations will be the provision of religious facilities such as have been open to the young men in their own land. They are the men who will have the future of their community in their hands, to a very great degree; and a house of prayer for t;hem in the Imperial capital will, we are persuaded greatly contribute to their remaining both good Mussulmans and loyal and self-respecting citizens. It is proposed to attach to the Mosque a reading-room and library, to organise suitable lectures, and to adopt such other measures as may be found best calculated to make it a helpful centre of the best Islamic culture.
Of course the Mosque will not be for the Indian student alone.
The fullest right of access will be secured by the Trust deeds to Moslems from any part of the King’s dominions or elsewhere in the Islamic world, without distinctions of sect of nationality, or social condition. Both the Sultans of Turkey and the Shah of Persia have subscribed liberally to the Fund, and the great Moslem dominions they rule are represented on the governing body. This house of prayer will be provided alike for the aristoc racy of Islam and for the humble lascars who, to the number of some thousands in the course of each year, come to London in the crews of great merchant vessels and spend days or even weeks here awaiting the return journey. The object lesson thus supplied in the brotherhood of Islam will help to remove ancient preju dices and to draw closer bonds of sympathy between the British people and the followers of Mahomed. The Board of Trustees, though preponderatingly Moslem in composition, includes two English noblemen, and there are also influential British sympath isers upon the Committee of the Fund, which is under the chairmanship of the first Moslem to be called to His Majesty’s Privy Council – Mr. Ameer Ali. The undertaking is one of Imperial importance, and I am confident that as time goes on it will receive to an increasing degree the sympathy and practical support of English friends of Islam.
Altogether the outlook for the Mahomedan subjects of His Majesty in India is full of hope. The reception accorded the appeal to raise Aligarh to the status of University affords the strongest possible proof that the traditional spirit of the Moslem people is not dead and that the rich and poor, learned and ignorant alike perceive the need for intellectual regeneration and progress if the community is to play its part fittingly and well in the India of the future. There underlies this great movement no thought of a decadent spirit fortifying itself behind a rampart of isolation, but the thought of the true culture which will bring in its train, not only immediate benefit to the community, but adaptation to the reasonable wishes and prejudices of other sec tions. By the University will be created the atmosphere which will enable the leaders to co-operate for the good of India with all others, of whatever community, who seek her good on lines conserving and consolidating that British administration of the country which alone has rendered possible the dream of Indian nationality.
Source: The Times of India, Bombay, 22 July 1911. A brief report was carried by The Times, London, on 4 July.
The lecture was delivered under the auspices of the Council of the Festival of Empire at the Crystal Palace Theatre, London. Lord Ave bury was to preside, but he could not come, and his place was taken by Lord Middleton.