Political Movement of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan

The War of Independence 1857 ended in disaster for Muslims because British believed that
Muslims were only responsible for anti-British movement. This attitude of British created
social and educational problems for Muslims and there became a strong need to describe
about the causes and conditions of War of Independence. Therefore Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
emerged as the first man to describe about the causes of War of Independence. He wrote
Risala Asbab-e-Baghawat-e-Hind (Causes of Indian Revolt) and Loyal Mohammadans of
India in which he defended Muslims against the charges of disloyalty and mentioned that
only Muslims were not responsible to the uprising of 1857.

In the year 1867, Urdu-Hindi controversy started in Banaras by Hindu leaders demanding
replacement of Urdu with Hindi. The main cause of replacing Urdu was its Persian script
and its similarity with Arabic which was the language of Holy Quran; Consequently, Hindus
wanted to change it to Deva Nagri Script. This situation provoked Muslims to protect
importance of Urdu. This controversy changed Sir Syed’s mind about unity of Hindus and
Muslims and presented his Two-Nation’s Theory which proved beneficial for Muslims.

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was the great advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity but linguistics riots and
behaviour of Hindus and Congress changed his point of view. He then put forward his Two-
Nation’s Theory giving Muslims a status of separate nation. He described that the
difference between two nations would increase with passage of time and two communities
would not join together in anything wholeheartedly. This was the first concept which
became the basis of Pakistan Movement

The British considered Congress, a party representing all communities in India regardless of
their religion. However, it soon became apparent that Congress was Hindu dominated party
which worked to establish Hindu dominance our Muslims; therefore Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
advised Muslims to refrain from joining Indian National Congress and played his part in
establishing political organisation i.e. Muslim League.

Congress had suggested that competitive examinations should be held for appointment in
government service. On the other hand Muslims were not receiving education similar to
Hindus, on which Sir Syed Ahmed Khan played his part by commenting that competitive
exams should only be taken when Hindus and Muslims are getting equal education.