Towards independence (1920s-1950)

Part oneHow colonial rule worked

By 1920 almost every Muslim land was ruled or controlled by a European power. Colonial rule rested on force, but also on money, law and schools. Rulers were drawn in by debt. Endowed lands, the waqfs that had paid for schools, mosques and hospitals for centuries, were taken over. Islamic courts lost their place to European codes. In India the British official Thomas Macaulay set out to create a class "Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and in intellect". In Morocco in 1930 the French tried to separate the Berbers from the Islamic courts that had united the country, and the protests against this Berber Decree gave birth to the Moroccan national movement.

Part twoMovements of faith and nation

Resistance took many forms. In Egypt, the arrest of the nationalist leader Sa'd Zaghlul set off a nationwide revolution in 1919, and in 1922 Britain declared Egypt independent, while keeping troops and great influence there. In Libya, Omar al-Mukhtar fought on until 1931. In Algeria, Ibn Badis and the ulama built schools that kept Arabic and Islam alive under French rule. In Egypt in 1928 Hasan al-Banna founded the Muslim Brotherhood, which spread rapidly. Across the Muslim world, students, scholars, workers and soldiers joined parties, unions and religious associations.

The Second World War weakened the European empires. Britain and France were exhausted, and colonial peoples who had fought in their armies came home expecting freedom.

Part threeThe first independent states

On 17 August 1945, two days after Japan surrendered, Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaimed the independence of Indonesia. The Dutch tried to return, and four years of fighting followed before they recognised the new state at the end of 1949. Indonesia became the largest Muslim-majority country in the world.

In British India, the Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had in 1940 called for independent states in the Muslim-majority regions. On 14 August 1947 Pakistan was born, in two parts, west and east, and the next day India became independent. The partition drove millions of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims from their homes, and very many lost their lives in the violence. Jinnah, the first governor-general of Pakistan, died the following year.

In the Arab world Syria and Lebanon gained independence by 1946, and Jordan the same year. In 1948 Britain left Palestine, the State of Israel was declared, and about 700,000 Palestinians were driven out or fled, an event Palestinians call the Nakba, the catastrophe. Libya became independent in 1951, Morocco and Tunisia in 1956, and Algeria, after a long and terrible war, in 1962.

Part fourWhat remained

Independence brought freedom, but it did not end every problem. The new states inherited borders drawn by others, economies built to serve foreign markets, and elites educated to look abroad. Many came under strong rulers and armies. Muslims argued about what their new states should be: nations on the European model, Islamic states, or something of their own.

The age of empire was ending. The Muslim world was entering a new age, as many nations, with a shared faith and an old memory of unity.

The empires that had seemed permanent began to leave, one country after another.

WatchThe lecture for this chapter

Lecture Hikma HistoryHow Pakistan Was Born (opens on YouTube)

The mapWhere it happened

• Cairo
• Tripoli
• Algiers
• Rabat
• Damascus
• Beirut
• Amman
• Jerusalem
• Karachi
• Dhaka
• Jakarta

This map is a simple sketch to help you picture where events took place. Positions, distances and borders are approximate, so please use it for reference only, not as an accurate map.

SourcesSources for this chapter