A B O U T   T H E    A U T H O R

With areas of focus including US policy,

globalization, Middle East and Islamic

Studies, as well as genomics and bioethics,

Dr. Khan has been a contributor to several

media agencies, such as C-Span, NPR, Voice

of America and the National Press Club, as

well as newspapers and other outlets, and is

also a consultant on Islamic and Middle East

affairs for the BBC and the CBC. In addition,

he has served as consultant to the US-Arab

Economic Forum. Dr. Khan has founded the

Center for the Study of Trans-Atlantic

Diasporas, a think tank and policy center

examining and comparing the condition of

ethnic immigrant groups in North America

and Europe, consulting the US and UK

governments on their respective Muslim

communities. Most recently, Dr. Khan has

become co-host of the radio show “Detroit

Today” on Detroit Public Radio.

World War I is known as the Great War, or

the War to End All Wars. It was waged,

starting in the summer of 1914, between the

Triple Entente powers of Great Britain,

France and Russia and the Central powers

of Germany, Austria-Hungary and the

Ottoman Empire. Russia left the war in 1917

when it underwent a revolution, and the

United States entered near the same time,

to fight until the war ended in November

1918. In many ways, the British, French and

Russians had been fighting against the

Ottoman Empire for well over 100 years in

smaller battles and conflicts as a way to

weaken the already declining Muslim-

majority empire.

The First World War had Muslims fighting on

both sides of the conflict. On the one hand,

there was the Ottoman Empire, which not

only had a Muslim-majority, but was the

seat of power for the Caliphate, the entire

Muslim world. The Sultan was also the

Caliph, and served as both an authority and

a beacon for Muslims everywhere,

especially those living under occupation of

colonial rule. At the same time, many

Muslims were encouraged or forced to fight

for the allied powers. Those who were

encouraged to fight against other Muslims

were promised an independent kingdom of

their own in the Middle East. Those who

were forced to fight were made soldiers

from lands that were colonized by

Europeans, such as the French and British.

An estimated 2.5 million Muslims fought

on the allied side during World War I. 1.3

million Russian Muslims were part of the

total force, coming from Russian lands in the

south of the country, like Kazakhstan,

Chechnya, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan,

Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. Joining them in

the allied effort were 1.3 million South Asian

(present day Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi,

and Sri Lankan) Muslims in the British Indian

Army, and a French force consisting of

200,000 Algerians, 100,000 Tunisians, 40,000

Moroccans, 100,000 West Africans and 5,000

Somalis and Libyans. There were also 5,000

American Muslims who fought once the

United States joined the war in 1917.

But it wasn’t just Muslim soldiers who were

part of the allied war force. Muslim labourers

were just as important in their role during the

conflict, coming from Africa, South Asia, the

Middle East, Far East, Russia and the United

States. Among the labor force were 100,000

Egyptians, 35,000 Chinese Muslims, 130,000

North Africans, 200,000 Sub-Saharan

Africans and 40,000 South Asian Muslims.

For the Ottomans, the war was a matter

of defending their territory and their lives.

World War I was nothing short of a battle

for survival for the last remaining Muslim

empire of its size and power. It was also

a very costly war, both in terms of land

and lives lost. When the war ended, the

Ottoman Empire was a defeated power,

having lost well over half of its territory to

the allied forces, who wanted to destroy

the empire once and for all, and move in

to secure valuable assets, like the Suez

Canal in Egypt and the newly discovered

oil market in the Middle East. Out of total

population of 20 million before the war,

5 million Ottomans lost their lives, including

2 million Muslim civilians. 772,000 Ottoman

Muslim died during this war, including nearly

half that number in a single campaign, the

1915 Gallipoli conflict. The Ottoman Empire

lost 14% of its total population, by far the

highest percentage of any of the countries

in World War I. France lost 4%, while Great

Britain lost 2% of its population.

Muslims fighting for the Allied forces also

suffered losses. Of the 2.5 million who

fought, 90,000 were killed in battle. The

war also brought tremendous hardship to

Muslim lands under European occupation.

North Africans and South Asians had to

endure food shortages and a lot of

disruption to their communities as many

resources were sent away for the war

effort.

Many families suffered from the men of the

household being sent to distant places to

fight a war that many didn’t understand why

it was being fought, as it was a decision

made by Europeans and others. Many

Muslims fought on the allied side with the

hope and the promise that after the war

ended, they would gain their freedom and

have independent countries of their own.

That did not happen and, Muslims found

themselves under even firmer occupation. In

the case of the Middle East, Muslim lands

that had been controlled by the Ottoman

Turks were now occupied and governed by

British and French forces for their own

desires and strategy. While Muslims fought

to protect and preserve the freedom of

millions, they made many sacrifices but

were denied their own freedom.

The Second World War began on September

1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. It was

waged between the Axis powers of Germany,

Italy and Japan, against the allied forces of

Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet

Union and to a lesser extent, the French

Resistance. The war ended in Europe in May,

1945, with Germany’s surrender, and in the

Pacific in August, 1945, with the unconditional

surrender of Japan. Before it came to an end,

World War II caused the death of 80 million

people, or 3% of the world’s population.

Military deaths were about 50 million,

meaning that over 30 million civilians lost their

lives.

It is estimated that over 5 million Muslims

fought in World War II, of which 1.5 million

were killed. 3 million Muslims alone fought in

the Soviet Army, coming from Muslim-rich

areas like Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,

Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Soviet leader Josef Stalin forced them to

fight, despite oppressing their people, even

during the war.

Out of the 5 million Muslims who fought in

World War II, 900,000 were in the British

Army, from various parts of the Empire, and

another one million were from the British

Indian Army. 35 of these soldiers died on

the beaches of Dunkirk in 1940, where the

British military was penned in by the

Germans until British forces were able to

evacuate them. 150,000 North African

Muslims, from Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and

Libya fought for the Allied forces, brought in

by the French Resistance. It is important to

remember that these soldiers had to fight

for the very countries - France and Great

Britain - that had colonized them and were

continuing to deny them their freedom and

independence.

While a lot of focus of World War II is on

the European area of the conflict, the

Asian side was equally - if not more -

violent and costly. Estimates place the

death toll in Asia at over 33 million people:

27 million civilians and 5 million soldiers.

On the Asian side there were many war

crimes committed, including the brutal

treatment of civilian populations. A

reasonable estimate places the Muslim

death toll at 3 million people, killed by

Japanese soldiers, or ended up dying from

famine and disease. A number of areas

experienced widespread destruction. In

the Philippines, many Moro Muslims lost

their lives. Other communities that were

affected were the Suluk Muslims on the

coastal islands of Borneo who were

completely wiped out, as well as all of the

Malay sultans of Kalimantan. In China,

countless Hui Muslims were killed and

approximately 220 mosques destroyed.

Muslim soldiers fought for their colonial

countries, especially for Great Britain.

Along with many dying in battle, several

others were captured as prisoners of war.

An estimated 25,000 South Asian Muslim

soldiers were kept in prisoner camps in

Singapore by Japanese soldiers, where

4,000 of them died in captivity.