Unit-V-(1)

SIR SYED AHMED KHAN

COMMUNITY & NATION-STATE

 INTRODUCTION
 Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was born on 17 October 1817 in Delhi. His father name was
Mir Muttaqi. He died when Sir Syed was about 21 years of age. His family was
highly regarded by the Mughal dynasty.
 Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was a multifaceted personality since he was a social
reformer, an educationalist, a political ideologue, a journalist, a writer, historian,
archaeologist, and above all a humanist deeply rooted in the Indian tradition.
 He become a pioneer of modernization of a traditional society. He was inspired
by the idea that England and other Western countries owed their wealth and
power to their enlightenment and learning in arts and sciences. Hence his
community should also rely on modern Western education for its advancement.
 He founded the Aligarh movement and this movement aimed at spreading
modern education and creating political consciousness among the Indian people
especially Muslims.
 The first national awakening among the Muslims found expression through this
movement.
 He was assisted in his movement by able persons like Khwaja AltafHussain Ali,
Maulvi Wazir Ahmed, Maulvi Shibli Numami, etc.
 COMMUNITY AND NATION-STATE
 Sir Syed wanted to make the community and country progressive
and take them forward on modern lines.
 His supreme interest was intellectual development of the people
through modern education.
 He wanted to create a scientific temperament among the
community of India and make the modern knowledge of science
available to them.
 In this regard Sir Sayed established schools at Muradabad in 1858
and Ghazipur in 1863.
 In 1864-65 he formed a Scientific Society, and in 1877 he established
MAO College, and in 1920, MAO college blossomed into AMU, one
of the famous universities in the subcontinent.
 The political thought of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan can be divided into
two phases: First phase spanned up to 1887, and the second phase
started after 1887.
 During the first phase Sir Syed Ahmed Khan stood for communal
unity.
 Expressing the need for Hindu-Muslim unity he said that for
"centuries we have been living on the same soil, eating the same
fruit on the same land ...breathing the air of the same country."
 He said Hindu and Muslims as the two eyes of a bride who would
look miserable if one is lost or weakened.
 In 1873, he declared that religion should not be an obstacle for
nationalism.
 Sir Syed Ahmed Khan aware that Muslims can be a party in nation-
building only if they get quality education at par with other religious
people.
 He pleaded to his community to be more practical, rational and aware of
the changing society and situation.
 He given more priority and important for education rather than politics.
 He tried to convince his community that they could achieve progress only
by adopting modern, Western and scientific knowledge in their religious
and social life.
 In order to promote this view, he took many concrete steps including the
establishment of Scientific Society in 1864 at Aligarh, particularly for
translating Western classics into Indian languages with a view to
inculcating scientific temperament among his community.
 In 1870 he started publication of a journal Tehzibul Akhlaq which was
imbued with the message of tolerance, broadmindedness and acceptance
of the ‘other.’
 The journal aimed at awakening the Indian Muslim out of their slumber
so that they could take active part in public life.
 In 1877, Sir Syed founded the MAO College at Aligarh, which was
patterned like Oxford and Cambridge Universities. His objective was to
build a college in tune with British system of education, without
compromising the Islamic values.
 Sir syed started working on developing the MAO college into a full-
fledged university. By 1920 (that is 22 years after Sir Syed’s death), MAO
college was transformed into AMU.
 Today AMU is a prominent central university which is widely known for
its high academic standards and as an excellent centre of modern
education for all Indians without discrimination.
 Sir Syed advocated separation between religious and political matters.
 According to him the religious and spiritual matters were not linked with
mundane/temporal affairs.
 Religion dealt with spiritual and moral life of man. Polity, on the other
hand, was concerned with mundane matters which could be shared by
people of different faiths.
 Hence, the followers of different religions could live and work together in
the political sphere of life.
 In 1884, Sir syed made it clear that "by the word nation I mean both
Hindus and Muslims. He said it was my earnest and sincere desire that I
should faithfully serve my country and my nation.”
 He said that ‘what we see is that all of us, whether Hindus or Muslims, lie
on one soil, are governed by the one and the same ruler, have the same
sources of benefit and equally share the hardships of a famine.’
 Sir Syed was not a religious bigot or baiter. He worked closely with the
other religious people in the scientific society and the Aligarh British
India Association.
 He sought donations from the different people like Rajas and Zamindars
for MAO College. Other religions were well represented in the
management and the teaching community of MAO.
 In the initial years of the college, the other students outnumbered the
Muslims. Cow slaughter was banned in the college.
 As a member of the Viceroy's legislative council he strove for the welfare
of both Hindus and Muslims.
 Along with Surendra Nath Banerjee he demanded restoration of age for
civil services examination from 18 to 21 years. He revived the British
Association at Aligarh for this purpose.
 Even until his last breath, Sir Sayyid’s commitment towards inclusive
politics did not desert him.
 Only one week before his death, Sir Syed wrote, ‘We should have
the courage to accept that the education which is teaching our
Hindu youth to hate the Muslims will one day make them
understand that until Hindus and Muslims come together and do
not learn to respect the feelings of each other, neither of them will
get a place of respect under the British rule.
 Sir syed also said, “I was not disappointed by looting of my house
and loss of belongings. I was disturbed due to the ruination of
my community and nation.”
 In December 1887, during the second phase Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
changed his views.
 Unlike before he opposed the application of principles of
representative and parliamentary government on different context.
 He held that the western form of democracy and nationalism would
not operate in India properly.
 He argued that the English society is made up of free-acting
individuals, unrestrained by ‘community’ allegiance.
 However, a country like India which was complex and full of
diversities of castes, religions and races, the system of
representative form of government would not satisfy the principles
of equality here.
 In the political arena, Indian people do not act as free individuals.
Because the society demands, they support candidates of their own
community.
 Democracy believes in the rule of the majority. In his opinion such a
system would lead to the domination of the more educated and more
numerous people over the less educated and less numerous Muslims.
 He opined that the Congress demand for a representative form of
government would hurt the Muslims most.
 The increasing numbers of educated middle class individuals from
Bengal in the government jobs posed a challenge to the entrenched
Avadh elite.
 Consequently, they (Avadh people) protested against the INC, which they
felt was created by the Bengalis to further their own ends.
 Because Sir Sayyid also belonged to this group of elites, he opposed the
INC and founded the United Indian Patriotic Association in 1888.
 Sir Syed’s advice to Muslims in the political field is also important. He
believed that under the European system or democratic government the
Muslims of India would always be at the mercy of the majority. He
suggested separate electorate for Muslims. He advised the Muslims not to
join Congress.
 As an admirer of Western education and scientific temper inculcated by
that education, Sir Syed did not want to antagonize the British. That is why
he advised the Indian Muslims to distance themselves from the political
movement especially INC.
 Urdu-Hindi Controversy: Urdu language in the Persian script had been the
strongest link between the Hindu and Muslim communities of India over a
long time.
 In 1867, Hindus demanded that Hindi should be made on official language
of India in place of Urdu. They started an agitation. The agitation were
against Urdu because it was the language of the Muslims.
 Sir Syed opined that Urdu was with the common heritage of Indians and
thus should be continued.
 He feared that the differences between the two communities would
increase with time, having disastrous consequences for the country in the
long run.
 During this time, the first signs of differentiation identifying Hindi with
Hindus and Urdu with Muslims appeared.
 Thus, the process of developing a consciousness of a common identity
based on language and religion began.
 As the movement gained momentum, it put the Hindus who were part of
the Urdu-speaking elite in the spot.
 They had strong economic reasons to be part of the Muslim legacy, but at
a cultural level, they could not oppose Hindi and the Nagari script because
they were considered representative of the Hindu heritage.
 The real reason underlying this opposition was not genuine (or imagined)
concerns for Hindi, but the communal consciousness present in the public
sphere.
 Even today, any language is unpalatable to those who look at the
language issue through the communal lens. Even in the 21st century,
these narrow-minded people are not ready to shed the political baggage
of the 19th century.
 In the Hindi movement, the communal fault lines in the Indian society
were becoming quite visible.
 Sir Syed saw that this movement was leading to majority communalism,
which eventually would have marginalized the Muslims, who were in
minority and considered the reason for the perceived disadvantages of
the community.
 Not guided by some exclusivist agenda, his ideas for the political
participation of the Muslims were well thought and based on a sound
understanding of the situation.
 As a votary of Westernization, Sir Syed was not in favour of immediate
winding up of the British rule.
 It is said that during the Indian Revolt of 1857 he had taken the side of the
British.
 But immediately thereafter, he brought out the booklet Asbab-e-Baghawat-
e-Hind 1858 (The Causes of the Indian Revolt) in which he brilliantly and
fearlessly exposed the weaknesses and errors of the British administration
that were responsible for the widespread dissatisfaction and countrywide
explosion.
 After the War of independence of 1857 the British did not trust on Muslims,
according to them British thought Muslims were only cause of War of
Independence. As a result they adopted policy of oppression and repression
towards Muslims.
 Sir Syed deplored the absence of an effective communication between the
rulers and the ruled.
 He wanted the British government should take initiative in winning of
friendship and affection of its subjects.
 He lamented that the government was ignorant of the desires and
aspirations of the people.
 This booklet was widely read by the British officials, and it had
considerable influence on British policy in the subsequent period.
 Aligarh movement was aimed at apprising the British that Muslims
are not only responsible for the War and therefore undue wrath
should not be inflicted to them.
 Believing that the future of Muslims was threatened by the rigidity
of their orthodox outlook, Sir Syed began promoting Western-
approach scientific education by founding contemporary schools
and journals and organising Muslim entrepreneurs.
 Sir Syed's first and foremost objective was to acquaint the
British with the Indian mind; further his goal was to open the
minds of his countrymen to European literature, science and
technology.
 Sir Syed's Aligarh Movement played an important role in
bringing relation to the intellectual revolution in the middle of
the Indian Muslims.
 Therefore it succeeded in achieving its major objectives, i.e.
educational progress and social reform.
 His efforts earned Sir Syed the title "Prophet of Education".
 Conclusion
 In some of the Indian writings, Sir Syed’s role has been largely misrepresented
because of his opposition against the Hindi movement and the INC.
 Before considering Sir Syed a narrow-minded community leader, it would be
prudent to consider that he worked with other religious people in the Scientific
Society, the Aligarh British India Association, and the United Indian Patriotic
Association. He was also supported by several Hindu zamindars and Rajas in his
college, and many leading Hindus were members of his college committee. In the
early years of his college, there were significant number of other religious
students and teachers.
 Sir Syed’s Aligarh Movement played a significant role in brining about an
intellectual revolution among the Indian Muslims, thus he succeeded in achieving
his objectives, which were Educational Progress and Social Reform.
 He said “I aged before my age, I lost my hair, my eyesight, but not my vision. My
vision never dimmed, my determination never failed. I built this institution for you
and I am sure you will carry the light of this institution far and wide till darkness
disappears from all around.”
 Sir Syed Ahmed Khan remains a beacon light for all of us. Let his
teaching enable us to carry forward the education mission that he
launched in the latter half of the 19th century.
 The life of Sir Syed brings to our mind the pains and sacrifices he
had made for promoting education. He stands out as one of the
towering renaissance leader India has produced. The nation needs
to absorb his legacy into the national mainstream.
 Sir Syed’s famous speech which he made whiles the foundation of
MAO College on January, 1877. He said that, “from the seed which
we sow today, there may spring up a mighty tree, whose branches,
like those of the banyan of the soil, shall in their turn strike firm
roots into the earth, and themselves send forth new and vigorous
saplings.”
 The main purpose of AMU is to educate our countrymen.; to dispel
those illusory traditions of the past which have hindered our
progress; to reconcile oriental learning with western literature and
science; to inspire in the dreamy minds of the people of the east the
practical energy which belongs to those of the west.
 Carrying forward his dreams of education and enlightenment
further, the AMU Centres launched in Murshidabad (WB),
Kishanganj (Bihar) and Malappuram in Kerala remain a powerful
tribute to the true Ideals of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan.
 The growth of AMU has been impressive over the years. The
establishment of AMU Centres in different parts of our country in
2010 onwards remains as one of the largest expansion initiatives of
AMU that has created a new awakening among the people of India.
 For further Reading

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan; Reason, Religion and Nation

By Shafey Kidwai, (Routledge-2021).
The Cambridge Companion to Sayyid Ahmad Khan By Yasmin Saikia
and M. Raisur Rahman (Cambridge University Press 2019).

Thank You..