Recognizing Muslim Soldiers who fought in World War 1 Counters Islamophobia
As the world marks a hundred years since the end of World War One, historians think recognizing the contribution of Muslims can help tackle contemporary issues such as Islamophobia. Of course not just historians but the whole Muslim community is vouching for it, especially in Britain. Are you too?
Recently, Hayyan Bhabha, from the Muslim Experience told The BBC:
“Muslim soldiers have been forgotten about over time. The core far-right narrative is that Muslims have never done anything for us. Well, actually, with facts that are over 100 years old, we can say Muslims fought and died for the history and security of Europe.”
A research by Dr. Islam Issa, an English Literature Lecturer at Birmingham City University, proved that 1.5 million Indians and 280,000 Algerians, Moroccans and Tunisians had fought for the Allies during the war. Soldiers from other parts of Africa were involved as well. Not just humans but in fact around 3.7 million tons of supplies and over 170,000 animals were shipped from India for war support.
It’s quite obvious that Muslims rarely get mentioned during Remembrance Day and Armistice Day tributes. However, hundreds of thousands of Muslim soldiers fought for the Allied cause during the First World War, nearly 885,000, according to the British Royal Legion. Some of 400,000 of them hailed from the British Indian Army, whose 1.5 million troops comprised of the largest volunteer force in history.
In the Muslim Experience, Bhabha and others are working to highlight the global contribution of Muslim soldiers to World War One, initiating that raising awareness could decrease the anti-Muslim rhetoric by ‘far-right’ groups today in Britain. This U.K.-based campaign is whole-heartedly working to shed light on their overlooked sacrifices.
The idea is to give overdue appreciation for the Muslim contribution to the war effort and use the stories of Muslim soldiers to counter Islamophobic and anti-immigrant narratives in Europe and North America.
The Link of Muslims
By telling stories of forgotten Muslim soldiers, these groups work also to urge more British Muslims to find a personal link with the World War One. Dr. Irfan Malik, a GP in Nottingham, discovered in a conversation with a patient that two of his great-grandfathers had fought for Britain. Dr Malik's great-grandparents, Captain Ghulam Mohammad and Subedar Mohammad Khan, were two of 460 soldiers from a tiny village called Dulmial, in modern-day Pakistan, sent to fight in the 1914-18 conflict.
(Subedar Mohammad Khan)
Dr. Malik said:
“One of my patients is a researcher of Commonwealth contribution to World War One and I told him about a village in modern-day Pakistan where I’m from that has a cannon commemorating the Great War.”
A study by think tank British Future found just 22% of people in Britain knew Muslims had fought in the Great War. Steve Ballinger, from British Future, says:
“Finding out that Muslim soldiers fought and died for Britain to protect us and to protect the freedoms we enjoy today, that’s an important history for everyone to know.”
The Muslim Experience is a project of Forgotten Heroes 14-19, a non-profit organization set up in 2012 by Belgian aeronautics executive Luc Ferrier. Forgotten Heroes is the umbrella group for the Muslim Experience. Ferrier headed a research team delving private archives in 19 countries for stories of Muslim soldiers in WWI. He stated:
“Only by recognizing and honoring the global Muslim sacrifices, not only these of the British colonies, we are reaching out to them and saying a genuine thank you.”
Interestingly, Ferrier is not a Muslim, but was inspired to set up the foundation after discovering the diaries of his great-grandfather, a soldier in the First World War. Ferrier told Emirates-based newspaper, The National, that:
“I was impressed by the enormous respect he had for his Muslim brothers in arms from all these continents, while he himself was a very devout Christian.”
His NGO’s research effort suggests the number of Muslim soldiers who fought for the Allies exceeds 2.5 million, nearly three times as high as the British Royal Legion estimate.
Forgotten Heroes 14-19 unearthed some 850,000 original documents drawn from 19 countries, spanning journals, field reports and diaries in Arabic, Hebrew, Farsi, Urdu and other languages, each in their own way telling the incredible stories of the Muslim soldiers who stood with the Allies during the war from 1914 to 1918. Allied officers are reported to have expressed surprise at the humane way in which the Moroccan troops insisted on caring for German prisoners. Bhabha said:
“When the officers asked why they behaved with this courtesy towards German prisoners, they explained that according to the Qur’an, Hadith and examples of the Prophet, prisoners must be cared for and fed in a dignified manner. This was jaw-dropping for the officers.”
According to the U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Shahamad Khan, a Punjabi Muslim corporal, was awarded the Victoria Cross for “most conspicuous bravery” in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) in April 1916. Khan’s Victoria Cross citation notes indicate that he worked his machine gun single-handedly for three hours under very heavy fire, after most of his men were killed.
U.K. Conservative Party MP Stuart Andrew, former chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Islamophobia, hailed the Muslim Experience project for “celebrating the previously unknown diversity of soldiers” who fought in the First World War. Andrew stated:
“With rising anti-Muslim sentiment today, it is important to recognize the scale of their valiant contribution to Europe’s history and security.”
As Muslims, we should keep faith in Allah (SWT) and pray for ease for the whole Muslim Ummah. Let others know about this sacrifice Muslims went through in the time of World War I and remind the world to recognize their unforgettable efforts.
"For indeed, with hardship [will be] ease. Indeed, with hardship [will be] ease." (Surah Sharh:5-6)
See also: Quran Online
