Fazl-e-Umar — Page 155
Fazle Umar 155 The Ahmadiyya Press, very strongly supported the League. 99 When the All-India Muslim League was founded, no one could ever conceive that this Muslim Organisation would, in the future, become subservient to the All-India Congress at a time when the demand for Muslim rights should have been raised with the greatest vigour and force. In the meeting of the All-India Muslim League held at Lucknow in 1913, they succumbed to the machinations of the Congress and began to play the second fiddle. It also declared Self-Rule as its aim. That was the time when the Muslims had no united centre of their own and lacked political solidarity. They were in a state of discord and were divided into many factions. Every group sang its own tune. Independence at that time would have made the Indian Muslims permanent slaves of the Hindus. Undoubtedly, this would have been a thundering success for the Hindus but a disas- trous calamity for the Muslims. This short-sighted and suicidal policy of some Muslim leaders greatly strength- ened the power and position of the Hindu National Congress, which resulted in their gaining power day by day and the Muslims simply ruined themselves with disastrous moves like the “Khilafat Movement”, the “Non-Cooperative Movement” and the “Migration Movement”. In a letter dated 18 March 1928, the Poet of the East, Dr. Sir Mohammad Iqbal threw some light on this subject in the following words: “The affairs of the Muslims have been bungled for lack of harmony and accord in them and their leaders, especially because the priests (Ulema) danced atten- dance on the Hindu leaders of the Congress. ” (Iqbalnama: pages 396–7). 100