Reading 2

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan: His Educational & Political Services

Instructor: Bushra Umer

Many people emerged in the 2 nd half of 19th century to lead Muslims as a separate nation
and promote the idea of rights of the Muslims. Among them the great emancipator was
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan(1817-1898) put great emphasis on the educational uplift of the
Indian Muslims because he thought that the Muslims need to have the modern education
and he was of the opinion that, that was not the right time to fight with the British as the
Muslims were socially, educationally and economically at a very weak position, so he
asked Muslims that it was better to reconcile with the British and gain English education
in order to get more and more jobs. So in this way the Muslims could emerge as a strong
nation and only after reaching that status the Muslims could demand their other
safeguards as well.
For this purpose Sir Syed Ahmed khan launched the famous Aligarh movement and
opened up a school in Aligarh in 1875, its name was Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental
School. Muhammadan means of Muslims, Anglo means western education and Oriental
means eastern education. So it was the blend of eastern and western education for the
Muslims. The main purpose or the mission of the schools was to give Islamic and modern
education together, therefore Arabic and English were the compulsory subjects in that
school. After two years it became MAO College in 1877 and in 1920 it got the status of
Aligarh Muslim University. At present it is among the leading Universities of India.
In addition Sir Syed Ahmed khan had a great number of companions for example Molana
Shibli Numani, Altaf Hussain Haali, Nawab Waqar ul Mulk and Mohsin ul Mulk. These
people helped Sir Syed Ahmed Khan to promote the idea of a separate nation hood for
the Indian Muslims. Sir Syed Ahmed khan was the founder of TWO NATION THEORY.
He raised the concept that subcontinent was not a homogeneous entity rather it was
heterogeneous and had more than one nation in it.
He said “the Muslims are separate from Hindus in every sphere of their lives, so modern
democratic system in not viable option for Indian Muslims because Hindus outnumbered
the Muslims. 75% Hindus and 25% Muslims, so if they adopt the modern democratic
system for India the Muslims will always remain in minority”.
He also demanded separate electorates for Muslims and job quota according to their
population.
Later on Aligarh produced many prominent Muslim leaders, who led Pakistan ideology
more and played great role in the creation of Pakistan, Among them were Maulana
Muhammad Ali Jauhar, Shoukat Ali, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan and Liaqat Ali khan are
worth mentioning.
Foundation of All India Muslim League:
Due to the political training and wisdom given by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, the Indian
Muslims were now able to establish their own political party All India Muslim League in
1906. Although All India National Congress was established much before the All India
Muslim League in 1885. But Sir Syed Ahmed Khan had always stopped the Muslims to
join the Congress because in his opinion Congress was a Hindu representative body and it
would never safeguard the interests of the Muslims. After the creation of Muslim League
in 1906 and the establishment of its London branch in 1908 by Syed Ameer Ali, the
Muslims felt much better placed in Indian politics. After one year the Indian Muslims had
another great achievement when they got separate electorates in Minto-Morley reforms in
1909, which meant that Muslims would have their separate seats in the parliament
according to their population now.
The year 1913 was the landmark year in the history of Pakistan when Muhammad Ali
Jinnah joined All India Muslim League.