Abstract:
The Movement of Silk Letters was a religious and political movement started by Mahmoud al-Hassan Deobandi، namely Sheikh al-Hind، against the English elements in the Indian-subcontinent which was soon extended to Afghanistan and Iran. Sheikh al-Hind was affected by fundamentalist thoughts of the leaders of Deoband School of India. Since the letters of the heads of this movement were written on Silk textiles، the aforementioned movement became known as “the Movement of Silk Letters”. The movement started its activities in favour of the Germans and against the British interests in the Middle East and India in the course of the World War I. However، finally، some of its letters were discovered by the agents of the British Secret Service in Punjab and its activities were revealed. This study has been done under the historical method based on historical texts and sources، mostly English sources and the written works of the Indian and Pakistani and some Iranian Baluch researchers. The most important result obtained from the present study is that the movement of Silk Letters was influenced by Indians’ great mutiny (1857) which created a great uprising with religious orientations against the English elements in the Indian-subcontinent، extending India’s protests to the other territories and connected the movement with discontents in Iraq and Ottoman empire in order to unite them under the decree of the Ottoman religious scholars
Machine summary:
Dr. Abbas Sarafrazi * Associate Professor, Department of History Ferdowsi University of Mashhad 1 The Silk Letter Movement during World War I Abstract The Silk Letter Movement was a political and religious movement carried out by an individual named Mahmud al-Hasan Deobandi, known as Sheikh al-Hindi, against the British in India and the subcontinent, whose scope extended to Afghanistan and Iran.
The founders of the Silk Letter Movement had relations with the representatives of the Ottoman Caliphate and, under the influence of German propaganda, launched several anti-British uprisings in the subcontinent and Balochistan, leaving impacts in the region that remain to this day, and in recent years, with the emergence of Salafi movements, the sensitivity toward it has increased.
After the anti-British propaganda of the leaders of the Deoband schools spread from Hindustan to the northern and western borders of India, namely Afghanistan and Balochistan, and numerous uprisings against England took place, one of the Muslim leaders of India named "Mahmud al-Hasan Deoband," known as "Sheikh al-Hind," rose against Britain and took up the flag of struggle and Jihad against colonialism, aiming to form a government through the defeat and expulsion of the British and to hand over the affairs of the Muslims of India to themselves.
(Maberly, 1369: 206) The Silk Letter Movement, which had completely transformed into a political movement and, with the influence it held in vast parts of India, Afghanistan, the subcontinent, and even Balochistan, had created serious problems for British rule, sought to establish relations between the representatives of the Ottoman and German governments and the Baloch tribes; the leaders of these tribes launched intense attacks into the territory of India and British interests began.
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