The impact of the religious thought of Abu'l Kalam Azad and Mahatma Gandhi on the civil disobedience protests in India

Religious thoughts and beliefs have an important role in social change and transformation processes. Religious thoughts and beliefs, which have a profound impact on people's cultural values, moral principles and political thoughts, have also had a significant impact on social movements and action models. As a matter of fact, social movements initiated with religious motivation give a transcendental identity to the actions and strengthen the bonds between the members of the movement. As a result of this situation, the actions carried out are made stronger than normal and the chances of success of the movement increase. In this study, the effect of the religious thoughts of Abu'l Kalam Azad and Mahatma Gandhi, two prominent figures of India's struggle for independence, on the civil disobedience actions of the social movements they put forward will be examined. In this direction, the study will first evaluate the literature on social movements and civil disobedience, and the theoretical background of the issue will be given. Then, the lives of Abu'l Kalam Azad and Mahatma Gandhi will be analysed in parallel with the action models of religious and political thoughts. Finally, the social movements initiated by the duo and the effects of civil disobedience, which is an action model of these movements, on the present day and the legacy they have left will be evaluated. Keywords: Abu'l Kalam Azad, Mahatma Gandhi, India, civil disobedience, social movements,