Since British were more educated and aware in 1857 compared to us Indians, British perception of things becomes very important. For them 1857 revolt was a revolt of Wahabists to establish their rule, Dar ul Islam. The British claim that one of their motivations in building empire was their Protestant Christian faith. So, 1857 was a clash of their own faith with Islam.
William Dalrymple Author of "The Last Mughal" narrates about predominant Sufi Islam in India which created a composite culture of Hindus and muslims. Most of the Hindu converts to Islams were converted by Sufis.
British respected the sovereignty of Mughal emperor in Delhi, so they stopped missionaries from evangelizing. But in 1852 Midgley John Jennings Midgley John Jennings - Wikipedia restarted evangelism with new vigor. He believed that mughals were the princes of Darkness. 1000s of petitioners demanded that British overturn the East India company's ban on missionaries in India.
British embarked on a Massive social project of Social Engineering, British education, British values and religion. In Indian archives, William Dalrymple found documents about Hindus ans muslims fearing Christian supremacy, which caused panic.
So a new form of Islam grew which would confront British evangelism head on. At the beginning of 19th century Islam was undergoing its own radical transformation in response to a perceived threat from the west. In Arabia there was transformation of Islam by a militant leader Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab - Wikipedia .
From Mecca Al-Wahab propagated fearsome fundamentalism, to turn Islam to its pure and untainted roots. And all traces of western influence should be expunged at the point of a sword. Eventually the message of Wahabism reached India, in 1821 a young radical student from Delhi. Syed Ahmad Barelvi Syed Ahmad Barelvi - Wikipedia .
Had joined the pilgrimage to Mecca(Hajj), he like many other Indian Muslims found the Wahhabi teachings irresistible. He comes back to India with the belief that he must return India to its rightful path, Islam. So he makes war against the British.
His message " Sufi corrupt shameful practices must go. India must be purged of the corrupt practices of its fellow muslims and foreign rule." He setup his base in Patna, Center of East India company's most profitable venture the opium trade. The drug was collected in warehouses in Patna and shipped down stream to Kolkatta for export to China. Here Ahmad organized his struggle "Jihad" British. The Patna Wahabists began to create a underground network, of what today we would call Terrorist cells, sending followers from village to village to spread the word. They called their movement "the path of Mohammad". It spread to most of the Gangetic plains, it fed to young men the arms and funds, all the way up to the North west frontier. All of it was hidden using codes, secret messages... so the British had no clue of what was going on.
The message was always in a camouflaged manner, eg need for reforms, need for purifying one's lives, adherence to the true ingredients of the faith is possible is only when you are able to run your own affairs. And therefore in order to achieve these objectives you need to first get rid of the alien Government. To declare this message, it has to be in Muslim controlled area. So, he retreats to the pure Muslim air of the Afghan border, Peshawar. Here he begins his campaign to re-establish Islam, where he finds a place in the hills called camp of the Mujahideen.
His first target was the Sikh-ruled kingdom of Ranjit Singh, which was expanding further into Muslim land towards Afghanistan. It is thought that Barelvi intended to establish a Muslim bastion on the north-west frontier in the Peshawar valley from whence to attack the British colonialists after defeating Sikh forces.
Arriving in Peshawar valley in late 1826, Sayyid Ahmad and one thousand followers made their base in Charsadda village in Hashnagar. Barelvi preached jihad amongst the local Pashtun tribes, demanding they renounce their tribal customs and adopt the shariat. In December 1826 Sayyid Ahmad and his followers clashed with Sikh troops at Akora but with no decisive result.
This moment of religiously inspired unity attracted the allegiance of maliks, shareholders and even the governors of Peshawar. However, during the next clash with Sikh troops at the south of Akora, the Peshawar rulers withdrew, leaving Sayyid Ahmad and his followers to retreat to the hills north of Peshawar. Yusufzai and Mandanr support for Sayyid Ahmad's movements was fragmented.
The decisive moments for Sayyid Ahmad came in 1830. The Pukhtuns initially supported him but he soon assumed power, interfered in socio-political and economic fabric without homework. They rose against him and his around two hundred Mujahidin were killed in Peshawar valley which compelled him to migrate and try his luck in Kashmir, his long cherished dream. In addition to the stated social agenda, Sayyid Ahmad also attempted to collect the Islamic tithe (usher) of ten per cent of crop yields. In coercing the reluctant Khans to pay, Sayyid Ahmad antagonized the chief of Hoti, Mardan and who then formed an alliance with Sultan Muhammad, governor of Peshawar. The alliance was defeated and the Islamic reformers finally occupied Peshawar. Over several months during 1830 Sayyed Ahmad tried to conciliate established power hierarchies. But before the end of 1830 an organized uprising occurred and the agents of Sayyid Ahmad in Peshawar and in the villages of the plain were murdered and the movement retreated to hills. There in the town of Balakot in 1831, Sayyid Ahmad was killed by the Sikh Army. He was beheaded.
Though Ahmad was killed in 1831, but the Wahabist movement he started was alive. By 1850 both sides of the fundamentalist divide British Evangelists and Islamic fundamentalists were entrenched in India. Two faiths at the height of their intolerance, intermarriage disappeared, racial separation. In Half a century a vibrantly multicultural society splintered into its component parts. This racial apartheid generated a revolutionary fervour, flyers and posters appeared all over northern India. Urging people to rise up to protect their culture and faith. This clash of fundamentalism reached climax in 1857, a vast and bloody revolt, in which in empire in decline(Islam) will confront a Empire in the making, British. A battle in which Christianity and Islam would go head to head. The Indian mutiny would be a war of religion.
The British were able to rule India because of their army, largest collection of mercenary soldiers in the world, the British Indian army. By 1857 the general malaise of intolerance and alienation had effected the Hindu and Muslim foot soldiers of the army, the Sepoy. As their fears worsened the sepoy's respect for their British officers dissolved.
On 9th May 1857, ... in a parade ground, sentences were handed down to a group of rebel soldiers, in an act of extraordinary insensitivity, the British had ordered the sepoys to use the new cartridges. That were rumored to contain pig and cow fat, promising instant de-foulment for Hindus and muslims alike. the rebels had refused and were dragged away in chains. Here was the final proof that the British wanted to change their religion. Breaking point, on 10th May several thousand soldiers joined the mutiny against their British officers.
The soldiers shout "Deen Deen" means "Faith faith", British was deliberately trying to undermine their faith, it was their religion that was under threat. The soldiers were immediately joined by angry mob from the town, and the killing started. Slogan "Kill the firangi" "Firangi ko maro".
By the end of the evening 41 Europeans were dead including 8 women and Children.
The gap between civil population and the sepoys is Bridged within hours, and mutiny becomes a general uprising very very fast. Because the sepoys are actually drawn from the common people. Few days later Mutineers gathered near Red fort in Delhi(the symbol of mughal rule in India).
Even though the mutiny was started by Mangal Pandey, the Mutineers went to Red fort. So maybe decision maker and leadership was muslim.
Continued...
