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SIR ADNAN QURESHI PAKISTAN STUDIES-HISTORY-HISTORY-CHAPTER 4___________________

Chapter 4: The Work of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan


BIOGRAPHY AND EARLY LIFE:

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was born on October 17, 1817 in Delhi, belonged to a family which held prominent
positions in the reign of Mughal emperors. Sir Syed completed his studies at the age of 19 and then studied
privately under Maulvi Hamid uddin. His father’s name was Mir Muttaqi who died when Sir Syed was 21 years of
age.

Sir Syed realized the crumbling position of the Mughals and their deviancy from religion, and hence kept at
distance from them. He got early education from his maternal grandfather on medicine, astronomy,
mathematics and religion. He worked as a social reformer, a scholar and an educationist in the 19th Century.

Sir Syed started his job as a clerk in East India Company in 1838. He joined the legal system of India and in 1846
became the chief judge of Binjaur. Later he became chief justice of Muradabad and was transferred to
Ghazipore and further on, Aligarh. He worked as an assistant and then senior judge in many towns and retired
from his job in 1876.

POLITICAL CONTRIBUTION:

Hindus of Banaras wanted Hindi to be the national language of India. Sir Syed presented The Two Nation Theory
in 1867 after the Hindus demanded Urdu to be replaced with Hindi as the language of courts. He disagreed to
this demand and discussed the major differences between the Muslims and Hindus. The Two Nation Theory
served as the basis of Pakistan Movement and later Dr. Allama Iqbal delivered his famous speech of Allahabad
and highlighted the need of an independent Muslim state.

Sir Syed disagreed to anti Muslim demands of having competitive ICS examination by Congress. Since Muslims
were away from English language and politics of India, he also demanded for equal opportunities for Muslims in
government jobs and reserved seats for Muslims in jobs. He urged for the exams to be conducted after some
delay so that Muslims could be able to participate in it. This made Muslims aware of the active politics of the
subcontinent.

After the establishment of Indian National Congress in 1885, many Hindus and Muslims joined it however, Sir
Syed refused to join it. He established United Patriotic Alliance in 1886 with Raja Shiv Prasad of Banaras and
urged Muslims to join it instead of Congress and urged Muslim students to play an active part in the politics of
India. He demanded to form their own group which later became MAO Defence Association in 1893 for
safeguarding the rights of Muslims.

SOCIAL CONTRIBUTION:

Sir Syed was the Senior judge at Bijnaur when the War of Independence broke out. He saw the injustice done
with the Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar II and how Muslims were blamed for it. Sir Syed wrote a
pamphlet ‘Asbab-e-Baghawat-e-Hind’ (Causes of the Indian Revolt) in 1858 and sent its copies to the royal
family in England as well as to the British Viceroy and ministers in the subcontinent. He highlighted the main
causes of the war and sent its copies to the British government.

Muslims considered the British as a reason of their anger and agitation. Similarly, the British also Muslims as
their anti-group. Sir Syed explained the word ‘Nadarath’ and explained to the British that it was derived from a
Persian word, Nasir which means a helper. This cleared out the misunderstanding between the two nations and
Muslims were considered important by the British.

He also wrote a book, Tabayyin-ul-Kalam in which he highlighted the series of essays by the Holy Prophet (SAW)
and similarities between Islam and Christianity. This brought closer relationship between the two nations. He
also wrote Loyal Mohammadens of India in 1860 to develop good understanding between the two
communities. He was the first Muslim to produce a commentary on the Bible in which he tried to show that
Islam was very close to Christianity in certain aspects. He tried to highlight the loyalty of the Muslims towards
the British which helped them to better their relations.

EDUCATIONAL CONTRIBUTION:

Sir Syed was very inspired with the educational system of the British. He established a Persian School at
Muradabad in 1859. After a brief interval of four years, he established another English High school based on the
rules of religion in Ghazipur in 1863.

Along with his son, Syed Mahmood, who was given scholarship by the British government, he visited Cambridge
and Oxford Universities during 1969-70 and studied their educational systems he prepared plans for a great
educational institution, they were for “a Muslim Cambridge”. His marvelous achievement, while he was posted
at Aligarh was the establishment of MAO (Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental) High School in 1875. Sir Syed Ahmad
Khan wanted to upgrade its level to a college, and to attain this end, he speeded up fund-raising. The school was
upgraded to MAO College in 1876 and he wanted to make it a university but unfortunately he could not see that
happening in his life due to British resistance. The college became the Aligarh Muslim University in 1920.

In 1866, a building named the Aligarh Institute was erected for the Scientific Society of Aligarh (established
1864), which launched its journal Aligarh Institute Gazette in the same year. A joint mouthpiece of the Scientific
Society and the Institute the journal came into weekly circulation from 30 March 1866. Mr. Theodore Beck
became its editor. It was a bi-weekly magazine of English and Urdu in which many literary works and researches
of different languages were translated in order to make the Muslim students aware of the developments of the
world.

Religious education along with modern learning was uncompromisingly essential. Students of it were
encouraged to take part in healthy discussions avoiding sectarian issues. But this college was unable to impart
knowledge to millions of Muslims scattered around the sub-continent; many of whom were those who were
unaware of its existence even.

The aim of Sir Syed was not merely restricted to establishing a college at Aligarh but at spreading a network of
Muslim managed educational institutions throughout the length and breadth of the country. He established
Muhammadan Anglo Oriental Educational Conference in 1886 so that Muslims of India could be a part of the
conference. Every year, the MAO Educational Conference was organized at different city of the subcontinent to
get involvement of more Muslim students. Sir Syed himself remained active in politics, yet he advised Muslims
to keep away from it. He knew the educational backwardness of Muslims and their unawareness of political
current.

SIR SYED’S TITLE, DEATH AND BURIAL:

Syed Ahmed was bestowed with the suffix of 'Khan Bahadur' and was subsequently knighted by the British
government in 1888 and was awarded Knight Commander of the order of Star of India. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan
breathed his last on March 27, 1898. He is buried right along the Sir Syed Masjid inside Aligarh University. His
funeral was attended not only by thousands of Muslims but British officials as well. He revived the dormant
consciousness of Muslims and through his educational and social reforms, he went down in Muslim history as
arguably the most influential Indian politician of 19th century.

After his death, his Muslims and English friends started raising money to fulfill Sir Syed’s dream of making the
MAO college in Aligarh Muslim University which came finally in 1920.

PAST PAPERS PRACTICE QUESTIONS:

1. WHAT WAS LOYAL MOHAMMADENS OF INDIA? [4]


2. WHAT WAS HINDI-URDU CONTROVERSY? [4]
3. WHAT WAS MAO EDUACTION CONFERENCE? [4]
4. WHY DID SIR SYED WISH TO DEVELOP A BETTER UNDERSTANDING WITH THE BRITISH
FOLLOWING THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE? [7]
5. WAS THE ATTEMPT TO ACHIEVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING WITH THE BRITISH THE MOST
IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION THAT SIR SYED AHMED KHAN MADE THE MUSLIM CAUSE
DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY? EXPLAIN YOUR ANSWER. [14]
6. WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION OF SIR SYED;
a. POLITICS
b. SOCIAL
c. EDUCATIONAL
EXPLAIN YOUR ANSWER WITH REFERNCE TO ALL THREE OF THE ABOVE. [14]
Q: Why did Sir Syed insist upon Muslims to acquire Western Education? [7]
Ans:
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was the greatest Muslims scholar and educationist of the nineteenth
century who worked diligently to educate Muslims of the subcontinent.
He asked Muslims to acquire western educations so that Muslims could get civil service jobs
because no language of administration was English and to improve their social and economic
condition.
The Hindus received educations from English schools which improved their confidence and they
viewed illiterate Muslims as inferiors. This worried SSAK and he asked Muslims to acquire
education to come on par with the Hindus.
SSAK believed that as Quran stressed upon knowledge and exploring the universe, therefore
western education of science was in line with the Quranic teachings. So he emphasized upon
Muslims to acquire education to understand the full majesty of God as the creator.

Q: Do you agree that Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s most important contribution to Muslim
community was his support for education? Give reasons for your answer? [14]
Ans:
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan took steps to change Muslims attitude towards receiving British
education. He stressed on that the backwardness of the Muslims was because of lack of
modern education.
He opened schools at several places and started the Scientific Society at Ghazipore in 1863. Its
main purpose was to make scientific writings available to a wider market by translating them
from English, Persian or Arabic to Urdu. He also started publishing a magazine called the Aligarh
institute Gazette in 1866. This was to introduce modern sciences among the Muslim public.
Muslims students were encouraged to learn English education and modern sciences which
made them aware of the world.
Sir Syed went to England in 1869. He stayed there for 17 months and observed the system of
the British universities. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan opened the school at Aligarh which became
M.A.O (Mohammaden-Anglo Oriental) School in 1875 where English, Modern sciences and as
well as Islamic teachings were taught. It was later raised to the status of university in 1920.
Following the lead for Sir Syed Ahmad many Muslim high schools and Islamia colleges were
opened in many big cities of India for Muslim students and many students including Johar
Brothers studied from there and contributed well for Muslims.
Sir Syed established ‘Mohammaden Educational Conference’ in 1886 which was an
organization to discuss the problems of the Muslims education in India. This greatly helped the
Muslims who started getting good jobs, improved their economic condition and improve their
status in the society. Although encouraging the growth of western education was his important
contribution but he made other contributions too.
Other than education, Sir Syed worked as a social reformer too. He described at length the
loyalty of the Muslims to the British. Sir Syed also founded the “British Indian Association” to
bring the British and Muslims closer. He also tried to clear up the misunderstanding among the
British who resented being called “Nadarath” by Muslims. The Britain thought it was an insult,
but Sir Syed pointed out that the word came from “Nasir” an Arabic word, meaning Helper. Sir
Syed was successful in his effort and the misunderstanding was greatly removed. Muslims
started getting active participation in social matters.
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan guided the Muslims in political sphere as well. He advised the Muslims to
keep away from congress. He opposed Western type of democracy because it meant that the
Muslims will always be in minority and will be at the mercy of Hindus. He believed that Muslims
would never win any election because of the Hindu Majority. He, therefore, advocated the
separate seats and separate electorates which was the forerunner of the future demand for a
separate homeland.
Similarly, Sir Syed believed that the position of the Muslims in the Subcontinent could only be
improved if the relations with the British were improved. Sir Syed made a two pronged effort to
bring the British and Muslims closer. On one side he advised the Muslims not to think of armed
struggle because the British were too strong. He was aware that the British knew very little
about Islam. Indeed, on a visit to England he was so offended by an English Book on the life of
Holy Prophet (PBUH) that he immediately wrote his own work correcting many errors. It was
also true, however, that Muslims in India knew very little about Christianity. He tried to
overcome this by writing Tabyin-ul-Kalam in 1860, in which he pointed out the similarities
between Islam and Christianity and stated not to hate Christianity because to sit and eat with
Christians was not forbidden in Islam.
On the other side, Sir Syed explained to the British that the Muslims were not responsible for
the war of Independence 1857. In the book he wrote for this purpose, Asbab-e Baghawat-e-
Hind (called the Causes of Indian Revolt), Sir Syed explained that the wrong British policies
were the cause of uprising. He further explained that the British did not understand the needs
and desires of Indian people while making laws and policies because there were no Indian
members in Viceroy’s legislative council. He also explained that the British Indian army was
mismanaged and solders rose up against their officers.
Sir Syed also strongly opposed the replacement of Urdu by Hindu in 1867 and gave his Two
Nation Theory. He always kept the interests of Muslim supreme in his mind. Although, Sir
Syed’s contribution towards improving relations between the Muslims and British and
increasing political awareness was important but his contribution towards western education
was very important contribution for the Islamic society. Because it helped Muslims in getting
jobs and elevated their kudos and their status in the society.
Thus, with the help of the given statements this can be easily proven that Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
played a vital role in bringing up social and political awareness amongst the Muslims and gave
them a new identity however, his ideology of giving modern and western education made
Muslims aware of their rights. Therefore, he is called as the first founder of Pakistan Movement
in the subcontinent.
Prepared and Compiled by:

Sir Adnan Qureshi

0333-2248681

adnanqureshi8096@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/adnan.qureshi.5473

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