Work of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan:
Beliefs:
He believed that the poor status of Muslims was due to the way they
were treated as second-class citizens by the British and Hindus.
He believed that the Muslim community had to accept British as rulers
who intended to stay for many years.
Muslims’ position could only be improved if they adopted a more
positive approach towards the British, and improve their relations, by
accepting British ideas and taking advantage of British education.
1) Improving Relations between British and Muslims:
Convincing the British:
Sir Syed believed that one reason for poor relations was that the British
had put the entire responsibility for the War of Independence on Muslims.
Therefore he wanted to prove the British wrong.
In 1860, he wrote ‘The Loyal Muhammadans of India’, in which he
defended the Muslims from British accusation that they were disloyal, by
giving a detailed account of loyal services which Muslims had given and
named various Muslims who had shown loyalty to the British.
He also wrote a pamphlet called ‘Essay on the Causes of the Indian
Revolt’, in which he pointed out the main reasons for the 1857 War, in
order to convince them that they were wrong to put full blame for the
events of 1857 on Muslims. Some British officials were angered by what
he wrote but others accepted it.
He also tried to clear up the misunderstanding amongst the British who
resented being called ‘Nadarath’ by the Muslims. The British thought it
was an insult but sir Syed pointed out that it came from ‘Nasir’, an Arabic
word meaning, ‘helper’.
Convincing the Muslims:
He believed that another reason for the poor relations was that many
Muslims had a deep-seated resentment of the British. Because sometimes
they were thought to be trying to replace Islam with Christianity. He also
believed that British knew very little about Islam and Muslims knew very
little about Christianity.
He tried to overcome this by writing ‘Tabyin-ul-Kalam’, in which he pointed
out the similarities between Islam and Christianity.
2) Encouraging the growth of Western Education:
Sir Syed believed that the Holy Quran emphasizes the need to study
and understand modern scientific beliefs. To support his views he set
up a journal called ‘Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq’.
In 1863, he founded the Scientific Society at Ghazipore. Its main
purpose was to make scientific writings available to a wider market
translated in Urdu.
In 1866, he began issuing a journal called ‘the Aligarh Institute
Gazette’.
In 1859, he opened a school in Muradabad, and in 1864, opened
another school in Ghazipore.
In 1874, the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College was setup in Aligarh
on the pattern of English public school system. The college offered both
Western and Islamic Education. It became a symbol of Muslim unity.
Many of the future leaders of Pakistan were educated there. In 1920
the college became the University of Aligarh.
In 1866, he also set up the Muhammadan Education Conference. Its
aim was to raise educational standards among Muslims.
3) Increasing Political Awareness:
Sir Syed believed that Muslims should have good relations with Hindus,
but soon he realized that Hindus were not so keen in working with
Muslims. And Muslims had a threat from Hindu policy of cooperation with
British. In 1885 the Indian National Congress was formed. It said that it
would represent the views of all communities living in India.
He spoke against the Congress’ call for a democratic system. Because
Hindus were 4 times more than Muslims there would be no chance for
Muslims to gain representation in politics.
He also stood against Congress’ suggestion for competitive examination,
because Muslims were not receiving the same education as Hindus, which
would leave no chance for them.
His most important work to increase political representation of Muslims
was his ‘Two-nation theory’. He believed that Muslims and Hindus were
two different nations. He presented this theory because of Urdu-Hindu
controversy. He wanted to prevent Hindi from becoming the official
language in place of Urdu.
He also formed the United Patriotic Alliance, because Congress was only
working for the interests of Hindus.
