Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and the Aligarh Movement
Who was Sir Syed?
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817–1898) was born in Delhi into a noble Muslim family. He worked for the East India Company as a judicial official and saw the 1857 War at close hand (he saved the lives of some British people at Bijnor). After 1857 he decided that the Muslims would only recover if they learned Western education and science and made peace with the British.
His early work: restoring the confidence of Muslims
- He wrote "Asbab-e-Baghawat-e-Hind" (The Causes of the Indian Revolt, 1859) arguing that the British, not the Muslims alone, were partly to blame for 1857: they had misunderstood Indian customs and had no Indian members on the Legislative Council.
- He wrote "Loyal Mohammedans of India" to show that Muslims had not all been against the British.
- His aim was to remove British suspicion of the Muslims and to show the Muslims that they must cooperate.
His book on the monuments of Delhi, Athar-us-Sanadid (1847), had already made his name as a scholar.
His contribution to education
| Date | Step |
|---|---|
| 1859 | set up a school in Muradabad |
| 1863 | set up a school (Victoria School) at Ghazipur |
| 1864 | founded the Scientific Society at Ghazipur (later moved to Aligarh) to translate English books on science and history into Urdu |
| 1866 | began the Aligarh Institute Gazette, which spread articles on history, science and agriculture |
| 1869–70 | visited England, where he studied the schools and colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, which he took as his model |
| 1870 | began the journal "Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq" (Social Reformer) to spread modern ideas among Muslims |
| 1875 | founded the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental (MAO) School at Aligarh, which became the MAO College in 1877 |
| 1886 | started the All-India Muhammadan Educational Conference to spread his ideas across India |
Aligarh College taught modern subjects (science, mathematics, English) as well as Islamic studies. Students lived in hostels and played sports. Teachers included Englishmen. It later became the Aligarh Muslim University (1920), and many leaders of the Pakistan Movement studied there.
The reasons for founding the College. To give Muslims a modern education so they could get government jobs and compete with Hindus, to produce leaders, to restore Muslim self-respect, and to show that Islam and modern knowledge were not opposed.
His religious views
He tried to show that Islam was compatible with reason and science, and said that the Quran was God's word and nature was God's work, so they could not contradict. He wrote a commentary on the Quran and rejected superstition and some traditional interpretations. This meant that conservative ulama attacked him (some even called him a heretic).
Relations with the British and the ulama
- British: he urged Muslims to be loyal to the British and to stay out of politics until they were educated. He had the support of many British officials, and Theodore Beck (a principal) and others at Aligarh. He was knighted in 1888 (KCSI).
- Ulama: many opposed him because of his support for Western education and his religious interpretations. Others supported his reforms. He tried to reassure them that Islam would not be harmed.
His political views and relations with Congress
- When the Indian National Congress was formed (1885), he advised Muslims not to join. He argued that Congress was mainly Hindu, that Muslims were a minority who would be outvoted under democratic elections, and that Muslims were still too backward in education.
- He was invited to join Congress but refused, and he supported reserved seats for Muslims as a safeguard.
- In speeches at Lucknow (1887) and Meerut (1888) he said that Hindus and Muslims were two nations with different interests and a system based on a numerical majority would harm the Muslims.
- He died in 1898, before the Muslim League was founded (1906), so he had no role in the Muslim League itself, but his ideas inspired its founders.
The Hindi–Urdu controversy (1867)
In 1867 some Hindus in Banaras (Benares) demanded that Hindi in the Devanagari script replace Urdu in the Persian script as the language of the courts and offices in the United Provinces. Muslims feared for their language and culture. Sir Syed realised that Hindus and Muslims could not work together on a matter such as language. Many believe this convinced him that the two communities were separate nations. It also became a long-term issue in Hindu–Muslim relations.
The Two-Nation Theory
The Two-Nation Theory says that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations, with different religions, languages, history, culture and customs, and so cannot be one nation with a common political system. Sir Syed's speeches and the Hindi–Urdu controversy were early statements of this idea. It was developed by Iqbal (1930), Jinnah and Rahmat Ali, and was the basis of the Pakistan Movement.
The Aligarh Movement: success and limits
| Successes | Limits |
|---|---|
| a modern educated Muslim middle class and leaders | most poor Muslims and many ulama did not benefit |
| Aligarh College became a centre of Muslim thought | the Movement was elitist (for nobles and the upper class) |
| restored self-respect and national consciousness | it opposed political activity, which later generations changed |
| improved relations with the British | the British favoured Hindus in jobs anyway |
| gave the Two-Nation Theory and led indirectly to the Muslim League | conservatives (ulama) were suspicious |
Outline. Education: Aligarh College created educated leaders. National consciousness: revived Muslim confidence after 1857. Politics: told Muslims to stay out of Congress, so protecting their separate identity; Hindi–Urdu controversy and the Two-Nation Theory. Religion: reconciled Islam with science. Judgement: very important, though he did not himself call for a separate state, and his policy of loyalty and non-involvement in politics was later replaced.