ULAMĀ: THE MAIN TARGET OF BRITISH OPPRESSION

After the defeat of 1857 revolt Ulama were the main target of the British oppression. Maulvi and rebel had become synonymous in their eyes. Of the 200,000 people martyred during the revolt 51,200 were Ulamas. Edward Timus himself admitted that in Delhi alone 500 Ulamas were hanged. Between 1864 and 1871 there were five major sedition cases against the Ulama which are known as “the Wahabi Cases” and the “Ambala Conspiracy Case”. In all these cases the accused were either sentenced to death or to life imprisonment.

Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind a step forward from armed resistance to Non-violent struggle: The Ulamas started their struggle with armed resistance, but repeated failure in such attempts motivated them to revise their approach and adopt a new strategy. Particularly the failure of Silk Letter conspiracy in 1916 and arrest of 222 Ulamas, prominent amongst them, Shaikhul Hind Maulana Mahmood Hassan and his disciple Maulana Husain Ahmad Madani, along with Maulana Obaidullah Sindhi, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and others forced them to restructure their strategy for resistance opting for non-violent struggle for freedom with the support and cooperation of their fellow countrymen.

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