The Ulama in the Age of Colonialism

then did the Indian Ulama realise what was happening around them. Thus, in 1806, Shah Abdul Aziz issued a fatwa opining that India had turned into an ‘Abode of war’ or Dar al-harb, noting, as he put it, that he had witnessed that the British, ‘masters of wealth’, had been creating mischief across vast parts of the country, from Delhi to Kabul. The Indian Ulama began a long political confrontation with the British. In Muslim-dominated parts of Africa, which now fell under French colonial rule, Ulama and other Muslim leaders similarly revolted against the French. However, from the very first day onwards, it was destined that these confrontations would fail because the Ulama viewed the issue of European colonialism simply as caused by people who were wedded to strife, that is, to make mischief in the land. The fact, however, was that European colonialism had succeeded because the Europeans were in command of new intellectual and technological power and resources, which gave them an enormous advantage over Eastern people. This was something that the Ulama paid little or no attention to. To cite just one example, the British East India Company began laying a railway line in India in 1853, but the Ulama, who rose in jihad in 1857