Majlis-i-Ahrar-i-Islam: religion, socialism and agitation in action

Abstract

The dynamics of agitational politics that Majlis-i-Ahrar came to epitomize in the Punjab during the 1930s and the 1940s are the primary focus of this article. Indelibly influenced by the Khilafat Movement and its leadership, the Ahrar chose to tread a different path from 1929 onwards. Ideologically, the Ahrar was influenced quite profoundly by the socialist ideal of egalitarianism in tandem with the Islamic reformism of the late nineteenth century. Therefore, the Ahrar’s popularity waxed enormously and the lower middle echelons of the Punjabi populace became its political constituency. Artisan classes of Central Punjab were particularly its devout followers. Ahrar leaders belonged to all sectarian denominations but it generally subscribed to the Deobandi ideology. The Ahrar came to the political centre stage in 1931 when bands of its volunteers entered Kashmir to protest against the policies of the then-Maharaja, which were perceived to be anti-Muslim. The Ahrar’s agitational mode of politics manifested itself with the same intensity again in Kapurthala and then in the United Provinces. However, the Ahrar’s condemnatory rhetoric against Ahmadis ultimately became the principal tenet of its politics and the ideology of Hakumat-i-Illahyia (rule through the dictates of Allah) its primary deployment for political leverage.