SIR SYED AHMAD KHAN (1817-1898)

Founder of Aligarh Movement and a Muslim Reformer of the 19th century South Asia

Major Works
1. Causes of the Indian Revolt/ Risala Asbab-i-Baghawat-i-Hind (1858)
2. Loyal Mohammadans of India
3. Tarikh-i-Sarkashi-i-Bijnaur
4. Asar-us-Sanadid
5. Khutbat-i-Ahmadiyya (written in response to William Muir’s book ‘The Life of
Muhammad’)

Social Services of Syed Ahmad

1. Foundation of Aligarh Movement (for educational uplift of the Indian Muslims)
 Establishment of a school of traditional learning in Muradabad (1859)
 Establishment of a school of English and traditional learning in Ghazipur (1864)
 Establishment of Scientific Society Ghazipur (1863) (later shifted to Aligarh)
 Establishment of Mohammadan Anglo-Oriental (M.A.O) School, Aligarh (1875)
 Establishment of M.A.O College, Aligarh (1877)
 Publication of Aligarh Institute Gazatte
 Establishment of All India Mohammadan Educational Conference (1887)
2. Publication of Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq (1870) for social reformation of Indian Muslims.

Vision
1. Syed Ahmad believed that the Muslims were lagging far behind the Hindus in
educational and economic spheres. He wanted the Muslims to concentrate on education,
particularly on English education, so that they could get good jobs. Economic uplift was
pre-requisite for their participation in political affairs and for this reason, he asked
Muslims to stay aloof from politics especially Indian National Congress.
2. He wanted Muslims to cultivate good relations with the British rulers
3. He opposed Indian National Congress as he called it ‘a civil war without arms’. He
criticized Congress on three basic grounds: (1) It’s support to elective principle
representation (2) It’s support to the entry of Indian in ICS through examination (3)
Congress represented the Hindu interests as it was dominated by the Hindus.
4. He also opposed Western Parliamentary Democracy based on elective principle.

Important Points to Remember

 Analysis of the causes of the war of 1857.
 Setting up of United Indian Patriotic Association(1888) to counter Indian National
Congress
 Urdu-Hindi Controversy (1867), its impacts on Hindu-Muslim relations and response of
Syed Ahmad.
 Opposition to Indian Civil Services Examination due to the educational backwardness of
the Muslims.

1
 Syed Ahmad’s loyalty towards the British was essentially a political weapon in order to
win their trust, which the Muslims had lost as a result of the War of Independence of
1857.
 Religious modernism of Syed Ahmad (rational interpretation of fundamental Islamic
beliefs, e.g. Quranic miracles of Prophet Moses).

DEOBAND MOVEMENT

 The Deoband Movement was organized by the orthodox section among the Muslim
Ulema as a revivalist movement with the twin objectives of
(1) propagating pure teachings of the Quran and Hadis among Muslims, and
(2) keeping alive the spirit of jihad against the foreign rulers.

 The Deoband Movement was established in Deoband in Saharanpur district (United

Provinces) in 1866 by Mohammad Qasim Nanotavi (1832-80) and Rashid Ahmed
Gangohi (1828- 1905) to train religious leaders for the Muslim community.

 In contrast to the Aligarh Movement, which aimed at the welfare of Muslims through
western education and support of the British Government, the aim of the Deoband
Movement was moral and religious regeneration of the Muslim community.

 On the political front, the Deoband School welcomed the formation of the Indian
National Congress and in 1888 issued a fatiua (religious decree) against Syed Ahmed
Khan’s organizations ‘The United Patriotic Association’ and the ‘Mohammed Anglo-
Oriental Association’.

 Shibli Numani, a supporter of the Deoband School, favoured the inclusion of English
language and European sciences in the system of education. He founded the Nadwat-al-
Ulama and Dar-ul-Ulum in Lucknow in 1894-96. He believed in the idealism of the
Congress and cooperation between the Muslims and the Hindus of India to create a state
in which both could live amicably.

Handout by Sahira Abbasi