The Indian national movement was one of the biggest mass movements modern society has ever seen. It was a movement which galvanized millions of people of all classes and ideologies into political action and brought to its knees a mighty colonial empire. There are some outstanding features of the freedom struggle of India. A major aspect is the values and modern ideals on which the movement itself was based and the broad socio- economic –and political vision of its leadership. The leadership popularized democratic ideas and institutions in India. The history of Indian national movement would also be incomplete and biased without the presentation of the actual role of Indian Muslims in it.

• Muslims had played a significant role in the formation and establishment of various national forums and parties in undivided India for the freedom of the country like Indian National Congress, peasants’ and workers’ unions and cultural and literary groups. They also founded their own organizations for the same purpose. Important among them with an all-India base was Jamiat-ul-Ulema-i- Hind, founded in 1919. Others being Majlis-i-Ahrar-i-Islam (1929), Anjuman-i- Watan-i-Baluchistan (1932), All India Momin Conference (1925), Praja Karshak- Bengal (1934), Khudai Khidmatgar, NWFP (l924), Muslim Majlis (1940) and Jamiat-uI-Ansar (1909).
• Participation of Indians in anti-colonial activities in foreign countries was not less hazardous than those of Indians at home, particularly for those who were in the defence services posted abroad. Thousands of them, many of them Muslims, were hanged or killed by firing squads during the First and Second World Wars. In the First World War the Indian soldiers were inspired by Ghadar Party and in the Second World War by Indian National Army led by Subhash Chandra Bose.
• As early as 1888, Hindus numbering 965 attended the annual session of the Congress whereas the number of Muslims was also quite large, 221. The Muslims attended the Congress sessions in spite of the opposition of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan.
• The massive participation of Muslims in the Non-Cooperation Movement, and maintenance of communal harmony was in itself no mean an achievement. There is hardly any doubt that Muslims’ enthusiastic involvement gave it a truly mass character.
• Muslim patriots were equally involved with revolutionary movements. The freedom-loving terrorists took care that no innocent civilian was killed. For killing or for an attempt to kill British officers several Muslims were hanged. Some of them were: Ashfaqullah Khan, Abdul Ghani, Habib Nur, and Abdul Rashid etc.
• Muslim participation in Civil Disobedience movement was substantial, which was extraordinarily high in North West Frontier Province, practically a Muslim province. It had a population of only three million but accounted for 5,557 convictions.

Conclusion :

The struggle for freedom was a continuous process. Muslims’ enthusiastic involvement in the whole process remained unabated till 1947. They were also passionately involved in the Individual Satayagraha and Quit India Movement as much as they were in the Non- Cooperation or Civil Disobedience movements. They participated in all the political movements from partition of Bengal to the partition of India with Congress banners in their hands. They were imprisoned, fined, and baton-charged and suffered heavily for the cause of freedom. Their life story itself is a part of the national movement, which cannot be denied. The Collected Works of Gandhi speaks of their magnificent contribution to India s struggle for freedom.