Before 1992 Mosque demolition Ayodhya was always been a hotbed of religious- social conflict. In past it witnessed a major "clash of
civilization" styled battle in 1853 and 1855 .
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| Oudh Court Scene |
The Historical Setting The weakened state of the Mughal empire
led to an internal power struggle for succession after Aurangzeb's death and
allowed for other rulers to take regions that the empire could no longer defend .
The decline of Mughal empire sparked several Islamic
revivalist movement on the subcontinent aimed at explaining the cause of the
empire's decline and the path to redemption. Two Islamic revivalist leaders are
especially important for understanding the milieu in which Sunni Muslims of Ayodhya rose to challenge the Hindu
presence in the city. Shah Wali Allah of Delhi (1702-62) argued that the Mughal
Empire had fallen into decline because its leaders had turned away from the
true path of Islam. Restoration lay in reviving their interpretation of pure
Islam, modeled after the example of the prophet and his companions.
Specifically, reviving Islam required a return to Sharia's law, formulated by
freshly applying the words and deeds of the prophet as recorded in the Sunnah. As
a member of the Naqsshbandiyah Sufi order, he argued that revival also required
reforming sufi practices to exclude the worship of saints' tombs and rituals
that incorporated Hindu elements. Wali Allah called for Jihad against threats
to the faith, encouraging Muslims to take up arms against innovative practices similarly
what Osama bin laden video graphed Jehad inspired messages to his followers.
Shah Wali Allah's agenda paved the way for the creation of a
jihad movement of Sunni Muslims under the leadership of Sayyid Ahmad of
Bareilly (1786-1831). Like Shah Wali Allah, Sayyid Ahmad was a member of the
Naqshbandia order, in addition to two other prominent Sufi orders, the Chisti
and Qadiri. Prior to forming his jehadi movement, Sayyid Ahmad was trooper
under the pindari chieftain Ahir Khan, which the British defeated in 1818. In
that same year, he founded a revivalist movement called "the Path of
Muhammad" and asserted that true Muslims should retreat from the current
social and political milieu of their surroundings and creat a new polity. In
1826 after organizing a a band of mujahideen, he decalred war against Sikhs in
the North-West Frontier (current Pakistan), with the aim of capturing their
land and establishing a Muslim stronghold; this offensive , however, ended in
failure. In 1830 Sayyid Ahmed defeated the Shia ruler of neighboring Peshawar, Yar Muhammad Khan, and declared
himself the new Muslim Caliph. In 1831 with an army of around six hundred,
Sayyid Ahmad tried again to push the Sikhs
out of Hazara and Kashmir but was killed in battle. Surviving members of the
path of Muhammad continued to hide out in the northwestern territories and
fought against the British in the frontiers wars of 1897-98 before finally
being subdued.
The Ayodhya Battle
and Outcome 
In 1722 with Nawab Burhan ul Mulk Sa'adat Khan born in 1680 Nishapur, Khurasan, Safavid dynasty, Persia Shia Muslim Kings emerged and succeeded the Mughal rule of
Awadh, a region that included the cities of Ayodhya, Faizabad and Lucknow. The
Nawab's rule maintained political cooperation with various Hindu elites, and
Hindu and Muslim leaders visited each others's sacred sites. It was during this
time that the presence of different Hindu monastic orders flourished, and from
the eighteenth century onward Ayodhya became an important pilgrimage site for Hindus.
The first recorded violence between Hindus and Muslims over Ayodhya
occurred between 1853 and 1855.The kingdom of Awadh was under the rule of Shia
Nawab Wajid ali shah, who reigned from 1847 until British annexation of the
site in 1856.
In 1853 a band of Sunni Muslims in the region, headed by
Ghulam Husssain motivated by earlier revivalist Political Islamic movement ,
rose up against the Shia ruler and marched on Ayodhya, claiming that Hindus had
destroyed a mosque to build the Hindu Hanumangarhi
temple, An order of Naga Sadhus, Hindu
warrior monks, defeated the Sunnis and around seventy Muslims were killed and
buried in the graveyard next to the Babri mosque. Following hostilities, the Shia
nawab king, together with the British, attempted to resolve the dispute by by investigating
Muslims claims that Hindus had destroyed a mosque, they concluded that there
had not been a mosque on that site prior to the construction of the Babri mosque.
In 1855 The British investigation , however did not placate the Sunni
leader Maulvi Amiruudiin also known as Amir
Ali who called for Jehad against the Hindus of Ayodhya in 1855 and mobilized a
band of 2000 muslims. A combined force of British, Nawab and Hindu troops
stopped the group en route killing a reported 120 to 700 before finally
defeating Amir Ali troops. Amir Ali was assassinated shortly after the attacks,
his head was given as a gift to the Nawab king, and his body was buried in the
graveyard next to the Babri mosque .The British officially annexed Awadh
Shortly after the uprising erected the fence around the mosque and allowed Hindu
to worship on a platform outside the fence.
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| Ayodhya Graphics |
