Date: 2 November 1914
Location: London
Speaker: Aga Khan III
Source: Speeches of Aga Khan III – K K Aziz
Full Text
Turkish entry on the German side a matter of sorrow – Indian Muslims’ duty to remain loyal to Britain.
With deep sorrow I find that the Turkish Government has joined hands with Germany, and acting under German orders is madly attempting to wage a most unprovoked war against such mighty sovereigns as the King-Emperor and the Tsar of Russia. This is not the true and free will of the Sultan, but of German officers and other non-Moslems who have forced him to do their bidding.
Germany and Austria have been no disinterested friends of Islam, and while one took Bosnia the other has long been plot ting to become the Suzerain of Asia Minor and of Mesopotamia, including Kerbela, Nejef and Baghdad. If Germany succeeds, which Heaven forbid, Turkey will become only a vassal of Germany, and the Kaiser’s Resident will be the real ruler of Turkey, and will control the Holy Cities.
No Islamic interest was threatened in this war, and our religion was not in peril. Nor was Turkey in peril, for the British and Russian Empires and the French Republic had offered to sol emnly guarantee Turkey all her territories in complete independence if she had remained at peace. Turkey was the trustee of Islam, and the whole world was content to let her hold our Holy Cities in her keeping. Now that Turkey has so disas trously shown herself a tool in German hands, she has not only ruined herself, but has lost her position of trustee of Islam, and evil will overtake her. Turkey has been persuaded to draw the sword in an unholy cause from which she could be but ruined whatever else happened, and she will lose her position as a great nation, for such mighty Sovereigns as the King-Emperor and the Tsar can never be defeated. Thousands of Moslems are fighting for their Sovereigns already, and all men must see that Turkey has not gone to war for the cause of Islam or for defence of her independence. Thus our only duty as Moslems now is to remain loyal, faithful, and obedient to our temporal and secular allegiance.
Source: The Times, London, 4 November 1914.
A representative selection of Indian Muslim opinions on the war and Empire and Turkey is reflected in Mir Asad Ali, The War and Our Duty, Madras, 1918;].
Parkinson, “The War and the Muslims: From the Standpoint of a British Muslim”, Islamic Review and Muslim India, October 1914; Syed Hossain, “England, Turkey and the Indian Muhammadans”, Asiatic Review, February 1915; “Our Muslims and the War”, Candid Quarterly Review of Public Affairs, November 1915; H. A. Walter, “The War and Islam: India”, Muslim World, January 1915; “The War Conference and the Empire”, Round Table, March 1917; and Valentine Chirol, “Islam and the War”, Quarterly Review, April1918.