With regard to the Waqf Amendment Bill 2024, an attempt is being made to create an environment to repeat the “Khilafat Movement”, which had occurred in India about 100 years ago. The Waqf and the Khilafat Movement were like “cheek by jowl”. If we look at the Waqf and the events that unfolded during the Khilafat Movement together, we can understand that the effort to put the “Inscription of Khilafat on the Waqf Envelope” had started when in 1895, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council during British rule had given important decisions and guidelines regarding Waqf, terming the then Waqf system as “a perpetuity of the worst and the most pernicious kind”. This comment was made on the Waqf system prevalent in many countries including India, which had been under British rule; many other countries accepted it and chose the path of reform, but in India the British government put it on the backburner with the intention to make a deal with the radical Muslims. Some fanatic groups, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, launched a protest campaign against the decisions and guidelines of the Judicial Committee regarding Waqf. Jinnah and many other Muslim leaders like Shaukat Ali, Muhammad Ali, Maulana Azad and radical religious groups tried to create a frenzy over the issue through the “Save Islam campaign”.
Meanwhile, during the First World War (1914-18), the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and its self-proclaimed Caliphate system, and efforts to establish the “Republic of Turkey” were labelled as “a British conspiracy” by some radical Islamic groups even as the people of Turkey, who were troubled by the arrogance, anarchy, terror and corruption of the Ottoman Empire, were in favour of the “Republic of Turkey”. But these radical elements portrayed it as an attack on Islam and launched an “International Save Islam Campaign”. By and large, it didn’t have much impact in other countries, but it was effective to a great extent in India. During this time, Muhammad Ali Jinnah had been elected a member of the Imperial Legislative Council from Bombay. This Council had the same legislative powers which today’s Parliament of India wields. Jinnah, in collusion with the British, got the “Muslim Waqf Validating Bill 1913” passed. The Bill also contained that Waqf can be created for the maintenance and support wholly or partially of a person’s family, children or descendants. The “Muslim Waqf Validating Bill 1913” was later expanded with more powers in the form of the “Muslim Waqf Act” in 1923. As part of a well-planned conspiracy, the British handed over the “legal weapon of communal politics” to Jinnah and the Muslim League. This Act was different from all Islamic countries of the world and contradictory to the basic Waqf principles of charity and donation; several courts had also given strict decisions and comments against it; various judicial and legal institutions said that “If a property is made Waqf only for benefit of the family, then there should be a will or Wasiyatnama for the heritors. The motive behind this security cover of Waqf appears to be cheating and not charity.”
The Act was brought with the motive to make several decisions of the Privy Council and various courts regarding the Waqf system including benefits to the family, “Waqf-Alal-Aulad”, ineffective; making the Waqf system more autocratic and imposing a control over the immense wealth donated by princely states and nawabs. At a time when the Privy Council’s ruling that the Waqf system is “a perpetuity of the worst and the most pernicious kind” had been facing protests by the radicals, the Muslim League and some fanatic leaders formed “Khilafat Committee” in 1919 to sharpen the “Khilafat Movement” to protest against the collapse of the Turkey Sultanate and linked the Waqf issue with the movement.
The Congress, in its 1920 Calcutta session, supported the “non-cooperation” as well as the “Khilafat” movements. Mahatma Gandhi was of the opinion that if Hindus and Muslims fought united against British rule, the freedom struggle would gain in strength; but instead of fighting the British and struggling for India’s freedom, the Khilafat movement conspired for a separate country by fanning communal polarisation and creating a rumpus on the issue of Waqf and Khilafat, thus tearing apart the country’s harmony. However, Gandhi called off the “non-cooperation movement” in 1922 in the wake of the Chauri Chaura incident, in which a violent mob set fire to a police station, killing 22 policemen during a clash between the police and participants of the Khilafat and non-cooperation movements; he also withdrew from the Khilafat movement. But by adopting the “divide and rule” policy, the British, in connivance with Jinnah, Shaukat Ali, Mohammad Ali and other Muslim leaders, first passed the Muslim Waqf Act (Retrospective) in 1930, i.e., to make ineffective the decisions given by the Privy Council and various courts regarding the reform and transparency in the Waqf and then brought the “Muslim Shariat Act 1937”, which was later called the “Muslim Personal Law Act”. These moves were a plot to communally polarize the Muslims and to keep them away from the freedom struggle. The British government was giving one concession after another to Muslims, which generated suspicion and resentment among the Hindus and followers of other religions. The British conspiracy to isolate Muslims from the freedom movement and make them follow the Muslim League was succeeding to a large extent. In a major conference of the Muslims held in Lucknow in 1937, a resolution was passed that “For protection of the Islam, we should stand with the Muslim League, not the Congress”. So the Muslims started coming with the Muslim League in large numbers, which ultimately damaged the secular fabric of the country and created divisions and conflicts in society. This was the period when a large number of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs were united in the struggle against British rule and making sacrifices for India’s independence; while on the other hand, some people were playing the role of the “confidant of the British conspiracy” against this nationalist passion and spirit. India achieved independence but with deep wounds and the pain and horror of the partition, “when for a mistake made by a moment, centuries were punished”.
We have to remain cautious of “national and international conspiracy cartels” like Zakir Naik, who have once again become active in creating lunacy and hysteria in India in the name of Waqf. After independence, although the Waqf Act was amended many times from 1954 to 2013, most of them were a copy paste of the “Muslim Waqf Act 1930”. Some sections, names, years were changed but they remained confined to the Muslim League documents. One thing we should not ignore that at the time of partition, a large number of Muslims went to Pakistan and a large number of Hindus, Sikhs and others left everything in Pakistan and came to India. The Muslims who went to Pakistan became owners of the properties on which they had settled or took shelter, but even after more than 75 years, the Hindus and other people who left everything in Pakistan and came to India, could neither become owners nor tenants, but remained as “illegal occupants” of properties and are constantly being exploited by various Waqf Boards. This fact should not be ignored, they are also big stakeholders of this Waqf system, they should also get human justice.
Maybe in view of these aspects, in the Waqf Act of 1954, it was not mandatory for the members of the board to be only Muslims, it included representatives of the Legislative Assembly, the Lok Sabha, experts of Islamic law, administration, finance etc., however, it was amended in 2012-13 to make it “only Muslim”.
Not only this, the system of “Waqf Allal Aulad” of 1913 was also made more effective in 2013, in spite of the historical fact that from the then Privy Council to various courts had opined that “this system seems to be full of the intention of some people to save their ancestral property rather than charity.” In many Muslim majority countries like Turkey, Kuwait, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Lebanon, UAE etc., the Waqf system has been made transparent and kept away from the interests of the family.
Today, after almost a hundred years, the Waqf Amendment Bill has once again come before the country and similar fear-mongering is being created as was seen in the name of “Khilafat Movement” during the “Save Islam campaign”. It is being claimed that this Waqf Amendment Bill 2024 will have an adverse effect on the mosques, dargahs, imambaras; it is an attempt to close down the religious, social-educational institutions of the Muslims and a war against Islam. We have to remember that when Muslims were polarized in the name of the Khilafat movement in India, it too had nothing to do with the concerns and the welfare of Indian Muslims as was reflected in the demands of the Khilafat Movement, which included (1) the Turkish Caliphate remains safe, (2) the religious places of Turkey should remain safe, (3) restoring Turkey’s 1914 borders; neither Islam nor the Muslims of India had anything to do with these three demands, but Jinnah and company “dipped the Khilafat Movement in opium of religion and forced the Indian Muslims to lick it”, and by making them “religiously intoxicated”, Jinnah and company held India’s Muslims hostage to their vested political self-interests. Today, again an attempt is being made to create a similar environment; many national and international sinister syndicates like Zakir Naik and others are leading this conspiracy because they are afraid as the Waqf Amendment Bill 2024 will pave the way for “Constitutional Hierarchy over Un-Constitutional Anarchy”. These people and organisations are aware that the Waqf Amendment Bill 2024 is neither a threat nor an obstacle to any mosque, dargah, imambara, religious places or Islamic duties; rather, it is aimed to provide “Constitutional Safeguard” of strong, transparent and inclusive social empowerment. Yes, it can definitely be a matter of concern for those who consider the Waqf properties as their personal property and family fiefdom. Perhaps, these people are distressed by the idea of utilizing Waqf properties for socio-economic and educational empowerment of society. That is why, these elements are once again trying to put the “inscription of Khilafat on envelope of Waqf”. Muslims must remain cautious of such conspiracy. The country is confident that “Amrit” will come out from the ongoing brainstorming on the Waqf system in “Amrit Kaal”, which will be beneficial for “Mulk, Mazhab, Manavta”.
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi is former Union Cabinet Minister and senior BJP leader.