*Mowlana Sultan Mohamed Shah jumped up from his chair and said ` Well, Mr. Prime Minister. old enough I am, I will go sword in my hand and turn them out.*
*As received.*
Ottoman Empire – (Turkey) ruled over part of Europe and most of Middle
Eastern Arab countries for over 200 years. The Khilafat was in Turkey. But in 1914 there was a war ( First world war ) and British, French later on Russia and Americans known as Allies had fought against Germany, Austro-Hungarain Empire and Ottoman Empire.
The war ended in 1918 and Germany and Turkey lost the war.France annexed part of Germany, British and France became the colonial powers in almost all the middle east countries and Turkey was struggling to keep part of Europe under Turkish rule but British and Greeks were trying to control the European part of Turkey.
This is just a short background of European History .
Mowlana Sultan Mohamed Shah was actively involved in politics at that time. He was a true champion of Muslim cause in India. He was successful in uniting the Muslims of India, formed a political party – Muslim League, He established a Muslim University –Aligarh in India and was very active in promoting the Muslim cause.
Turkey was defeated in the war and had lost Tharce, Smyrna and other parts of European Turkey to Greece. So a delegation of some prominent Muslims with Mowlana Sultan Mohamed Shah was sent to London to ask the British Government to return the lost territory to Turkey.
Lloyd George was the Prime Minister of Britain at that time and a powerful
one. He told the delegates that ` Now Greeks are in military possession
of Tharce, who will turn them out from there? The Muslim delegation was
silent.
Then Mowlana Sultan Mohamed Shah jumped up from his chair and said ` Well, Mr. Prime Minister. old enough I am, I will go sword in my hand and turn them out. We will charter ships. We will do everything. Leave them to us.
Mr. George Lloyd was thunderstruck. He could not give a reply except
murmur. Sheikh Mushir Hosain Kidwai was one of the delegates and he has described this incident in one of his articles. He later commented that Mowlana Sultan Mohamed Shah was a true Muslim, the champion of Islam an when He replied to Lloyd George, the blood of the Prophet in his veins made Him speak out those words.
There were many other incidents where Mowlana Sultan Mohamed Shah defended the rights of Muslims.
Here what Kidwai has said in his article: I am a man hard to bend before anybody – not even `before a king`. But I would gladly BOW before a man who spoke from his heart those thrilling words.