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Islamic Non-Violence: The Legacy of Badshah Khan
Far from being an oxymoron, Islamic non-violence was used with great success in driving the British out of India. Lessons for today lie in the life of "Badshah" Khan.
By Shahed Amanullah, September 23, 2002
Few people, both inside and outside the Muslim world, know anything about Abdul Ghaffar "Badshah" Khan. No, he isn't a hotshot cricket player or a renegade Afghan warlord. Khan, a contemporary of Mahatma Gandhi, was a proponent of Islam-centered nonviolent resistance to injustice whose ideas and achievements are being noticed as stories of a fractious Afghanistan, tribal Pushtun customs, and violence in the name of Islam fill the news. Working alongside Gandhi to liberate South Asia from British colonial rule, Badshah Khan (affectionately known as the " Frontier Gandhi") spent his 98-year life proving that the highest religious values of Islam are deeply compatible with nonviolent conflict resolution, even against heavy odds. From the tribal Pushtuns, Khan assembled the world's first and largest non-violent army in the 1930s, the 100,000-strong Khudai Hidmatgars ("servants of God"). "That such men, who would have killed a human being with no more thought than they would kill a sheep," recounted Gandhi, "should at the bidding of one man have laid down their arms and accepted nonviolence as the superior weapon sounds almost like a fairy tale." "I cited chapter and verse from the Koran to show the great emphasis that Islam had laid on peace," said Khan of his discussion with a skeptical Muslim. "I also showed to him how the greatest figures in Islamic history were known more for their forbearance and self-restraint than for their fierceness. The reply rendered him speechless." Could Badshah Khan's tactics work in modern-day conflicts in the Muslim world - Palestine, Kashmir, or Chechnya? Perhaps nonviolence isn't relevant in an age of smart bombs and cruise missiles, but the answer won't be certain unless someone tries it.
Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.
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Thanks for introducing me to Badshah Khan about whom I never heard before. And I think that this is exactly what Islam needs: role-models, especially non-violent ones. Personalities and esthetics. There is nothing that makes a violent war more unnecessary than a strong identity. Role models of this kind have an effect on both the in-group(s) and out-group(s). Who are the contemporary Muslims respected by the West? Muhammad Ali Clay, yes. But who remembers this aspect of him? Cat Stevens? Not really. No, they are only few. The twenty-first century is to my mind the century of world culture and the notion that Islam already is part of the world culture is well rendered in this Badschah Khan article. It inspired me also to put Ibn Khaldun (died 1408) on my desk again.
- Posted by Anis (Kiel / Germany) on September 24, 2002 at 07:40 AM
Jazakh Allah khair for the nice article.
- Posted by octagon on September 26, 2002 at 06:17 PM
Thanks for introducing me to Badshah Khan about whom I never heard before.
I agree with the comment posted by Anis too.
- Posted by ecorn01 on April 4, 2004 at 07:22 AM
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altmuslim this week - july 26, 2010 - This week, WikiLeaks blows the cover off 5 years of secrets in America's Afghan adventure, Britain's David Cameron gets too honest about Israel and Pakistan, and the parade of fear-mongering Republicans who have found an issue to galvanize their most xenophobic supporters - your nearest mosque. 
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Recent and upcoming talks and offsite articles by altmuslim contributors
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Islamophonic: Review of the year, Riazat Butt, Zahed Amanullah and David Shariatmadari, Cif Belief (The Guardian), December 18, 2009.
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Media appearances and analysis featuring altmuslim editors
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US Muslims & media… Lost love - "We have a big problem; it’s that other people are shaping the story about us," Shahed Amanullah, editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com, told IslamOnline.net. (December 16, 2009)
Moves to Seize Mosques Spark Outrage - "I'm extremely skeptical that the link between these mosques and this organization is so strong as to merit the seizing of a considerable amount of assets that do a lot of good for the Muslim community," says Shahed Amanullah, a prominent Muslim blogger based in Austin. "The government better be prepared to make a very good case, because this is unprecedented." (November 17, 2009)
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