Yearning for ‘A Munificent Glance From the British’

Maulana Zafar ‘Ali Khan, who was at one time a notable Ahrari but later on declared Ahraries to be traitors to the country as well as to Islam, summed up his long experience as follows:

‘The Muslims … cannot think ill of such a government [i.e., the British government] even for a moment! … if a wretched Muslim has the audacity to be rebellious against the Government, then we say it out loud that such a Muslim is not a Muslim.’1

How about this as a decree [fatwa] that a Muslim who is rebellious towards the British government does not remain a Muslim any longer!

He continues:

‘[We are] ready to shed the entire blood of our body to save the royal forehead of our Monarch from shedding a droplet of perspiration. And this is precisely the condition of all the Muslims of India.’2

Was it the prevalence of such cringing mentality to undo which the British were in any need to prop up a plant cultivated by them.

He also expressed his feelings in verses. He says:

My head bowed down in an effusion of reverence,
At the mere mention of the King, our Emperor,

Even grandeur itself is proud of him,
Because he is the Emperor of the Land and the Seas;

Lucky me, if I may be blessed with—even a wee bit,
Of his Glance of Munificence!3