Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Sachiko Murata and William C. 

Chittick,  The Vision of Islam (New York: Paragon 

House, 1994); Fazlur Rahman, Major Themes in the 

Quran (Minneapolis and Chicago: Bilbliotheca Islamica, 

1980); W. Montgomery Watt, Islamic Philosophy and 

Theology: An Extended Survey. 2d ed. (Edinburgh: Edin-

burgh University Press, 1985).

All-India Muslim League

 

(also known as 

the Muslim League)

Incorporated in December 1906 in Dacca (in mod-

ern  b

angladesh

), the All-India Muslim League 

(AIML) played a leading role in the Indian inde-

pendence movement and the creation of p

akistan

.

It grew out of the a

ligarh

 movement that had 

aimed to give Muslims more of a voice in British 

India. It supported British rule until 1912, when, 

under the leadership of the journalist and reformer 

Muhammad Ali (d. 1931), a resolution was passed 

calling for self-government. During World War 

I, however, the AIML again supported the Brit-

ish, as did the Indian National Congress (INC), 

the main Indian nationalist organization. During 

this period, the INC and AIML worked together, 

and both organizations passed the Lucknow Pact 

in 1916 calling for a wider franchise for Indians, 

larger representations for Indians on councils and 

in regional governments, and separate electorates 

for Muslims. During these proceedings, m

Uham

-

mad

  a

li

 J

innah

 (d. 1948) emerged as one of the 

chief figures in the AIML.

Jinnah, a lawyer, had joined the INC in 1896 

and the AIML in 1913. In 1920, Jinnah quit the 

INC in opposition to the management of INC 

leader Mohandas K. Gandhi’s (d. 1948) first anti-

British action that ended in some chaos. The break 

between the INC and the AIML and other Muslim 

organizations continued to widen as the indepen-

dence struggle developed. By the 1930’s, Muslim 

demands for protections were increasingly ignored 

as the INC emerged as the chief Indian negotiator 

with the colonial government. Up to this point, 

the AIML’s efforts to position itself as the sole 

voice for India’s Muslim population had not been 

very successful, and a large number of seats in 

local legislative councils were lost in the 1935 

elections. The AIML was widely seen as an urban, 

elite, Westernized organization out of touch with 

both the largely rural population and the Muslim 

religious establishment. After the 1935 electoral 

losses, Jinnah led the campaign to consolidate 

the Muslim vote, eventually establishing himself 

and the AIML as the “sole spokesman” for Indian 

Muslim interests. In 1940, Jinnah and the AIML 

met at Lucknow and called for a separate state for 

India’s Muslims. At first, this initiative got a luke-

warm reception, especially in Punjab and Bengal, 

the regions with the largest Muslim populations, 

where local coalition parties of landlords based in 

the countryside were more successful. However, 

due to the INC’s apparent Hindu bias, their oppo-

sition to significant concessions to Muslims, and