By taking part in hijrat, or collective voluntary withdrawal from a shared space, British Indian Muslims part of the 1920 Khilāfat movement began to migrate to nearby Afghanistan. Gathering that British India was no longer safe for Muslims, the Khilāfat protested against British rule to display solidarity towards the Ottoman Empire and against the sanctions it suffered following World War I. By removing themselves with a hijrat from British, the protesters displayed their value through the loss of economic productivity and societal cohesion in India.