INDIAN MUSLIMS: A HISTORICAL REVIEW

therefore, embarked upon a battle against the British though they were ill-equipped and insufficiently prepared. This aggravated their ruination a hundred fold. However, Muslim leaders, ignorant of any other strategy, held others responsible for their ruin and continued their collision course with the British. Despite incurring huge losses, Muslim leaders and thinkers are still not able to come out mentally of this collision course. They are completely unaware of any other approach except that of agitation and encounter. Consequently, whether it is the revolt of 1857 or the confrontation over the Babri Mosque, this confrontation-loving leadership has set Muslims, on all occasions, to the path of conflict. In this path, they are welcomed only by deprivation and defeat. All this does not mean to suggest that leaders with vision and wisdom were never born in the Muslim community. Nature has always been generous to every community in this respect. Wise and competent leaders have therefore always been born in the Muslim community. Unfortunately though, the Muslims did not pay any heed to the advice of their competent and worthy leaders. The basic reason is that a wise leader always addresses his people in low-profile. Due to certain reasons, the present Muslim psychology attaches importance only to high profile oratorical skills of their leadership, however baseless and meaningless they might be as regards reality. Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817-1898) provides one notable example in this connection. Being an eye witness to the turmoil of 1857, and then after a critical assessment of the situation, he realized that the Muslims were not in a position to make an advance, but they needed to undergo a stage of preparation. He thus offered to Muslims the same suggestion offered by the 124th Emperor Hirohito of Japan in 1945. Hirohito told his people that although America had destroyed their cities, its army had captured their territory, yet, he said that a sphere of action was still lying wide open for them. It was the field of knowledge. Admitting that the American domination over Japan was undoubtedly an insufferable tragedy that they had to suffer in order that they could set the next generation on the path of knowledge and progress. After a little hesitation, the Japanese community finally wholeheartedly accepted Hirohito’s advice. Subsequently, the entire world witnessed Japan’s history taking a new turn through the efforts of only one generation. Exactly the same suggestion was made by Sir Sayyid in the wake of 1857 revolt, to the Muslims of the subcontinent. He asked Muslims to accept the British domination, and to avoid any political encounter