In September 1927, Khwaja Abdul Hamied (1898-1972), who had just returned from Germany with a doctorate in chemistry, arrived in Bombay from Colombo. Penniless, he went to Khilafat House to meet Maulana Shaukat Ali, who gave him Rs 50 for the train journey to Aligarh. Hamied later founded Cipla, the pharmaceutical company that he and his son, Yusuf Hamied, turned into a global pharma giant.
Khilafat House: A Historical Hub
This is just one of many stories associated with Khilafat House, located on Love Lane (also called Moti Shah Road) in Byculla, Mumbai. It served as the headquarters of the Khilafat movement (1919-1924), launched by the Ali brothers—Maulana Mohammed Ali and Maulana Shaukat Ali—and led by Mahatma Gandhi. The building remained a hub for nationalist leaders during the movement. Although the movement fizzled out after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk abolished the Ottoman Caliphate, it helped galvanize support for the non-cooperation movement.
Redevelopment Plans
The building currently houses the All India Khilafat Committee's offices, B.Ed and D.Ed colleges, a computer course, a library, and a hall. In a couple of years, it will be transformed into a ground-plus-14 storey modern skyscraper. Besides the Khilafat offices and colleges, the new structure will include a 125-bed hospital, a BSc nursing institute, and a state-of-the-art conference hall.
Trustee Rauf Pathan stated, 'The property will eternally belong to the Khilafat Committee trust. The hospital and nursing college will generate substantial revenue to fund our educational and charitable activities.'
Historical Background
Businessmen brothers Umar Sobani and Usman Sobani gifted their bungalow and its premises to the All India Khilafat Committee in 1924 through a registered lease. The Sobani brothers had purchased the plot in 1897 from the British E.D. Sassoon Company for Rs 50,000 on a 99-year lease and built a bungalow with open space on the premises.
The Khilafat Committee initially held meetings at Chotani House of industrialist Seth Mian Mohammed Chotani in Masjid Bunder. They later requested the Sobani brothers for space, and the committee moved to the bungalow in Byculla, which became Khilafat House.
Sarfraz Arzoo, Chairman of the Trust, explained, 'To avoid future claims on the ownership, the Sobani brothers handed it over via a registered lease for 99 years, which ended in 1997. After 25 years, we got the lease renewed with the collector in 2022.'
Notable Figures
Among the notable leaders the Khilafat movement attracted was Barrister M.Y. Nurie (1895-1971), a freedom fighter who opposed M.A. Jinnah's two-nation theory so vehemently that Jinnah called him 'my fiercest competitor,' according to Gandhian-political leader Homi J. Taleyarkhan. Nurie became a minister in the first government of the Bombay province formed after the 1937 elections. His grandson, Mahim resident Owais Nurie, alleges that Indira Gandhi sidelined him because he joined the syndicate that opposed her.
Indira Gandhi appears in the Khilafat House story again when former minister-scholar Rafiq Zakaria, as Khilafat Committee chairman, invited her to inaugurate the renovated Khilafat House in 1981.
Memories of the Past
Scriptwriter and playwright Javed Siddiqui recalls what Khilafat House looked like before its 1981 renovation: 'It was a beautiful bungalow made of small bricks and wood with a verandah and courtyard. Zahid Shaukat Ali, son of Maulana Shaukat Ali, ran the Urdu daily Khilafat from here. Writers and poets, including Khwaja Abdul Hamied, Shamim Jaipuri, Rajinder Singh Bedi, and Majrooh Sultanpuri, would come. It was a hub of the intelligentsia.'
