RELIGION, POLITICS AND THE STATE : Amanullah’s Afghanistan: Advance Afghanistan!
Amanullah’s Afghanistan: Advance Afghanistan!
India is watching with sympathy and hope the progress of the reform movement inaugurated across her borders by King Amanulla. A great deal has already has been said about the rapid strides made by Afghanistan in industrial organisation. Ambitious schemes for the development of roads, railway, motor and air transports are being pushed through at a terrific pace. Machinery has been planted and is worked by electric power for the manufacture of matches, sugar and other necessaries so as to make Afghanistan a self-supporting Nation. It is genuine economic progress and not mere splendour that is aimed at. As an example we may quote the order of the king that wooden poles should be used as telegraph posts wherever they could be had sufficiently cheap. We may contrast this with the action of the South Indian and other Railways in our country which are undermining our timber trade by substituting imported iron sleepers for indigenous wooden ones.
Educational progress is keeping pace with industrial advancement. According to a statement by Mr. Syed Qasim Khan, the retiring Consul General in India, “a net work of schools has sprung up all over the country and there is feverish demand for education from all classes of people. The craving for knowledge has created a love of travel and a stream of people has gone to see many parts of the world.”
The women of Afghanistan have determined to win their emancipation. They are taking active part in public affairs and have formed a society, the “Anjuman-I-Himay-t-I-Niswan” to organize and safeguard their interests. They have voluntarily discarded the purdha; the state has not had to adopt compulsion in this matter and ladies who prefer to go about veiled are not interfered with. An increasing number of Afghan women are taking to the professions and to work in factories.
The Afghan Government has taken some distinctive steps which may serve as examples to the Indian Government. Mr. Qasim Khan says,
“Our King has leveled all human beings in Afghanistan by abolishing all titles, decorations and ceremonial dresses because all Afghan subjects are equal and alike, being members of a big homogeneous family. It is inequitable to give titles and decorations to some and deprive the others. Moreover, the question of cost to the State and individuals concerned count a great deal. The money spent in making coloured dresses and decorations and maintaining titles can more usefully be employed for the National weal.” What inspiring thoughts these are for our constitution mongers!
But even Afghanistan has her troubles. The “mad Mullas” of whom the King spoke at Bombay, depending on the ignorance and religious fanaticism of the populace, are opposing the reform movement. In Afghanistan, as in India, vested interests are alarmed at the spread of knowledge and understanding among the people and are therefore assembling the forces of darkness to fight the efforts to usher in the dawn of a new era. We have frequent reports of pious mullas preaching sedition to the people and setting up political and family intrigues against their sovereign. The patriot king can be depended to put down these agitations by firm but nevertheless humane measures. India in tribulation cannot lend a helping hand to her sister beyond the Khyber but she sends a heartfelt prayer for the success of light and reason against the forces of darkness and ignorance.
Revolt, 7 November 1928
The Setback
We have drawn attention in these columns to the dangers underlying the policy of hustling imitation pursued by the Afghan Amir. The eyes of the whole world were reverted to the heroic efforts of the young king who struggled hard to modernize an illiterate and superstitious people. Priestcraft all the world over was dismayed and reformers were overjoyed at the rapid steps towards progress taken by a people hitherto considered primitive and uncivilized. The sympathies of India and of Eastern peoples generally were actively with the Amir. Had the reforming Zeal of the Afghans been yoked to the carving out of practical measures calculated to consolidate the progressive elements in the country, and had a portion of the new found ardor been utilized to the task of propaganda among the people whose lives are vitally affected by the promulgation of these reforms, there would not have occurred the crash announced in the following message from Peshawar dated the 11th instant:-
“The “Aman-i-Afghan,” newspaper of Kabul, publishes a proclamation of the King of Afghanistan, withdrawing nearly the whole of his programme of reforms. The Afghan girls sent to Turkey for education will be recalled. Orders for the adoption of European dress and for the unveiling of women are cancelled. Girls’ Schools and Women’s Associations are closed. Soldiers may become followers of Pirs without permission. Certificates of identity and conscription are withdrawn. Friday will again become a weekly holiday. A Mejlis-i-Afghan or Council of Notables is formed, consisting of 50 of the Ulemas, Sirdars, Khans and officials. This Council will amend laws in accordance with the Shariat and will review the decisions of the newly constituted Mejlis-i-Vukkala, or Council of Provincial Representatives. The proclamation is signed by prominent Ulemas, including the Chief Kazi, Mahomed Akbar and Huzmat Sahib, of Short Buzzard.”
We do hope that the above account is premature. It perhaps, exaggerates the extent of the king’s defeat. However, the chances of such catastrophic reaction ought to serve as an eye-opener to reformers in our own country. We are yet to learn the lesson that there is no short cut to freedom and progress. There is no avoiding the tedious and unexacting task of getting into living contact with the apathetic masses of the poor and the ignorant. Afghanistan has attained absolute political freedom, but she cannot get rid of the “mad mullah”. We find on the other hand, a ‘Council of Notables’ formed which is dominated by Ulemmas whose madness has gained a new lease of life. Turning the perspectives nearer home, we shall discover that India may attain to ‘Independence’ without gathering the strength to cast aside the dominance of the “holy Brahman”. Such ‘Independence’ will be as unreal as the freedom of Afghanistan if the threatened ‘Council of Notables’ overtakes it. We shall be wise therefore, if we get to work immediately and engage ourselves on the task of awakening our people to a sense of their social degradation and enlisting their active support to the movement of National regeneration.
Revolt, 16 Janaury 1929
Reformer or King?
King Amanulla has abdicated. But Reformer Amanulla has not. When the “mad” Mullas roused the frontier population to the frenzy of rebellion and the intriguing foreign Powers supplied them with the arms and ammunitions needed, King Amanulla was face to face with civil war. Amanulla is a warrior: he strode the international stage as the Warrior King and claimed the admiration of the world and his talk of the war of Independence that he fought against Britain sent a thrill round India, Egypt and all the subject Nations of the earth. But his strength he reserves to be exercised against his enemies. Towards his own people, misled by the Mullas and infected with their madness, he displays infinite compassion. A soldier, but yet he shudders to shed blood. A patriot, he has not the heart to butcher his countrymen.Towards the rebels he displays such self control and ability to self sacrifice that are rarely given to war lords placed in similar circumstances. He is non-violent. But his non-violence is not that variety born of impotence which is frequently met with in India. He has a strong, disciplined and loyal army behind him. But he deliberately stays his hand. His non-violence is born of his strength. He could preserve his throne if he would permit the flow of the blood of his subjects. But he takes the humane course and abdicates.
There has scarcely been another King in the history of the world besides Gautama Buddha who could rise to such heights of benevolent sympathy for the suffering of the people at large. Even as the great Siddhartha, Amanulla has discarded a throne in obedience to an inner call to serve humanity. Amanulla’s advocacy of Ahimsa is strangely reminiscent of the words of the founder of that religion of Mercy which has gained the largest number of adherents of all religions. Says Amanulla to his subjects who have revolted: “Is it not proof of my sympathy towards you that although I have at my disposal several aeroplanes, I have not as yet ordered them to throw shells against you”? He is a messenger of peace and asks his co-religionists: “Are you not ordained by your religion to regard all Muslims as your brothers? If so, why do you consider it to be legal to kill them?”
That the Afghans stand in need of such teaching is well proved by the bloody events of the rebellion. The Afghan tribesmen are an illiterate and a superstitious people. They worship the Mullas and carry out their behests to the very letter. The Mullas are as illiterate and ignorant as the tribesmen themselves. The Afghans have their parallel in our own country in the Moplahs of the Malabar Coast. The Afghan is as much subject to the influence of the Mulla as the Moplah is to that of the Thangal. The “madness” of the Mulla is matched by the bigotry of the Thangal. The Afghans are now probably in that same misguided fervour of fanaticism in which the Malabar rebellion found the Moplahs. Bacha-i-Sachao is probably another Kunhi Ahmed Haji. There is this difference: A Foreign Government put down the Moplahs with a strong hand. Amanulla has the resources to deal strongly with the Shinwaris. But he has also a soft heart: he stays his army from overrunning the rebel territory, he orders his aeroplanes not to decimate the mutinous villages, and he abdicates. Is he wise? Is display of non-violence against insolence ever wise? Can Ahimsa cure ignorance and superstition? Time alone will show.
The devotion to his wife was a rare example of chivalry. Queen Souria led the woman’s movement for emancipation and incurred the displeasure of the Mullas who scented danger to their religious hegemony if a queen would lead the women to revolt against priest craft. Her courageous discarding of the purdha increased the ire of these deputies of God. The Mullas displayed a mean sense of vindictiveness when they demanded of the Amir the banishment of the queen as a term in the peace settlement. Amanulla gave them the answer that an honourable man should give.
Amanulla has cast off the kingdom of Agfhanistan. But he has thereby acquired a kingdom as wide as humanity itself. He has kicked off a throne but he has got enthroned in the hearts of all freedom loving people the whole world over. His temporal power was but a hindrance to the carrying on of the high mission he has undertaken. The tinsel robes of the king obstructed free intercourse with the people. He has doffed the armour which draws blood. He has donned the mantle which spreads the light. Amanulla leads humanity in its struggle against the tyranny of established tradition and the sway of age long superstition sanctified as religion. He is the hope of the rising East which has cast off its spiritual slumber and has awakened to a sense of its secular rights. He is the symbol of the oriental who has discarded his other-worldliness and has girded up his loins to fight for his fair share of the good things of the earth.
The king was worsted by the Mullas but the Reformer cannot be. The tribesmen could be inflamed into armed rebellion against their king. But against a Reformer the rebel arms are powerless. The Reformer has to be met not by bullets but by arguments. Reformer Amanulla will force the Afghans to think; and that will be the end of the domination of the mad Mulla.
In a message to the rebels Amanulla assures them that he has not discarded his religion. It is high compliment to Islam, but great Reformers always adopt such language. Baghavan Buddha never disowned Hinduism though his teaching was a negation of all religion as such. If Islam has the capacity to be reformed to the extent desired by Amanulla, it will easily serve as the universal religion. Reformers in India will not hesitate to enter the Islamic fold if that religion passes the test prescribed by Amanulla and abolishes the Mulla once and for ever. But will Islam rise to the occasion? Let the Muslims of the world answer.
Revolt, 23 January 1929
Mullas’ Demands
The following are the eighteen demands which the Afghan Mullas placed before King Amanulla. These demands are the bases of the rebellion which they managed to stir up among the illiterate and superstitious tribes-men.
(1) The organization of the Senate of fifty members composed of a majority of Mullahs and the remainder of renowned persons which will be supreme in all matters civil, military and religious; (2) Introduction of lawyers; (3) Conformity by the King and Royal Family to Muslim usages; (4) recall of girls sent to Turkey for medical education; (5) liberty to priests of the Deoband College in India to enter Afghanistan freely; (6) reintroduction of strict purdah regulations; (7) abolition of conscription; (8) freedom of movement to Mullas; (9) punishment of drinking alcoholic spirits; (10) recognition of Friday as a holiday ; (11) prohibition of European dress for women; (12) freedom of school boys to marry; (13) revival of homages to holy men of the country by the people; (14)freedom of the people to engage in money lending: (15) suspension of girls’ education; (16) freedom of dress to men; (17) enforcement of strict punishment for cases of bribery both for giver and receiver; (18) abolition of all restrictive regulations concerning Mullahs and recognition of the right of Mullahs to stop any subject and question him on the holy law and punish him.
Revolt, 23 January 1929
King Amanullah’s Statement: Religion Not the Reason
We extract the following from the interview of Ex-King Amanulla with the Associated Press, in which he gives a connected account of the events in Afghanistan:-
I emphatically contradict the rumour that owing to the defeat of my forces I left Afghanistan. It is absolutely baseless. I consider myself unsuccessful because of treachery and the faithlessness of the Andheris and on the part of the Taraks, Otaks, and Tokhis.
It is quite an obvious fact that from the beginning of the Shinwari rising up to the time the revolt spread throughout the whole of the Eastern and the Northern provinces, I ordered my troops not to attack anywhere but instead continuously sent representatives to the rebels and tried with my utmost capacity to settle the affairs peacefully. The revolt was not based upon any good foundation whatsoever. Rebels were against my ideas and considered them to be contrary to their own moral ideals and national traditions. All these matters had been discussed at Loi Jirga consisting of 1107 representatives of the whole country and were almost unanimously settled and passed by them but as all my advice and proclamation of general amnesty did not produce any effect and the intrigues of those who were interested at first, and afterwards afraid lest their evil deeds should betray them, continued.
I have never had the idea that just to regain my sovereignty I should allow and be the cause of sanguinary civil war. Owing to this principle I relinquished the throne and left Afghanistan. Throughout the campaign my army had not encountered any force that could withstand it or get victory over it. Our forces had never been defeated by the enemy and in not even a single action has my army retreated or stepped backwards. I again repeat that it was only my principle and repugnance for bloodshed which obliged me to renounce my throne and be an exile from my country. It was never my desire to allow the Afghan nation to fight among themselves to their own ruin for my personal advantage. This was the reason for my unexpected arrival.
Although personally I was unsuccessful, my principle will never be a failure in Afghanistan, for, I am sure that during the ten years of my hard labour and efforts I have at least succeeded in developing the mentality that will never allow Afghanistan to remain in this condition.
I therefore left the field to those who pretend to be the champions of religion and adduce it as an excuse for their self- interest and thus have reduced Afghanistan to its present plight. Everyone is well aware of the condition of Kabul and how religion is treated there. It will soon be known that behind the scene there was nothing but self-interest and ignorance. Otherwise the cause of religion has nothing in common with the existing condition of affairs in Afghanistan.
Revolt, 5 June 1929
Amanullah – the Great (by P.C.P.)
What if he has lost a kingdom? Many an Empire has, ere now, been lost, has bitten the dust, for causes and for things which do not count with humanity. As our Omar Khayyam the Persian poet, has sung:-
i) They say the Lion and the Lizard keep
The Courts where Janshy’d gloried and drank deep;
And Bahram, that great Hunter – the Wild Ass
Stamps o’er his Head and he lies fast asleep.
ii) Think , in this batter’d Caravanserai
Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day
How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp
Abode his Hour or two and went his way .
Amanullah renounced a kingdom because he was not prepared to sacrifice his self-respect, his honour, his ideal of manhood. His subjects called upon him to go back to Purdah, to give up his beloved Queen Sowriya; to accept all the superstitions which the Mullahs dictated. A lesser man would have eaten the dust. Prouder princes have succumbed to the glamour and glitter of royal pageantry even if it were really a prison. But not Amanallah, the Lion-hearted. Who would have made such a sacrifice today? A Gautama Buddha did it in days of yore and today after the lapse of two thousand five hundred years, the Buddha’s Empire is the mightiest in the world. What was the terrible alternative which faced the prince then?
Choose then,
The way of greatness or the way of good;
To reign a King of Kings or wander lone
Crownless and homeless, that the world be helped.
And what was the reply which the Great Enlightened gave?
I will not have that Crown
Which may be mine; I lay aside those realms
Which wait the gleaming of my naked sword;
My chariot shall not roll with bloody wheels
From victory to victory, till earth
Wears the red record of my name. I choose
To tread its paths with patient stainless feet
Making its dust my bed, its loneliest wastes
My dwelling and its meanest things my mates
Clad in no prouder garb than out-castes wear
Fed with no meats save what the charitaon
Give of their will, sheltered by no more pomp
Than the dim cave lends, or the jungle bush.
Then Asoka and Amanullah – only three in all history !
Whether Amanullah is going to win back his Kingdom or is going to lose it for ever, as Sir Taj Bahadur Sapru indicated it, no concern of the reformer or the humanitarian. If he has lost a petty principality, he has won at the same time a mighty empire to rule over – an empire of warm and loving hearts of all sorts of colour and creed and caste. Amanullah is the incarnation of the chivalry and the spirit of young Asia. The mighty sacrifice which Amanullah made, first for the noble cause of womanhood and next for the sacred cause of humanity, quickens even the slave’s pulse as nothing in history, ancient or modern. His name has already been inscribed in full on the scroll of Fame.
What is Napoleon? “A thing so mean” as Byron put it. What are Caesars and Alexanders? Where are they? Where do they stand now? Their souls are on a pilgrimage to the Limbs of Forgotten things.
Amanullah has fired the imagination of the Youth of India as neither a
Mussolini nor even a Mustapha Kemal Pasha has done. In all the wide world today, there is no peer for Amanullah the great.
Revolt, 14 July 1929
