A100 - Fatima bint Musa: "The Pure and Innocent" Shi'a Saint

Fatima bint Musa

Fatimah bint Musa (b. 1 Dhu al-Qi'dah  173 AH [March 22, 790 CC] – d. 10 or 12 Rabi' al-Thani 201 AH [November 7 or 9, 816 CC]), commonly known as Fatimah al-Masumah, Fatima al-Masuma or Fatemeh Masoumeh was the daughter of the seventh Twelver Shi'a Imam, Musa al-Kadim (Musa Kazem), and sister of the eighth Twelver Shi'a Imam, Ali al-Rida (Ali Reza). Every year, millions of Shi'a Muslims travel to Qom to honor Fatemeh Masumeh at her shrine. 

Fatemeh Masoumeh was the eldest daughter of Musa Kazem, and the Shi'a consider her to be the holiest child of Musa Kazem after her brother Ali Reza (Ali al-Rida). 

Fatemeh Masoumeh was highly praised in the narrations and speeches of four Shi'a Imams: Jafar Sadiq, the sixth Shi'a Imam, in two narrations; Ali al-Rida, the eighth Shi'a Imam, in five narrations; and Muhammad Taqi, the ninth Shi'a Imam, pronounced that whoever visits Masoumeh in Qom will go to heaven.

A prominent aspect of Fatemeh Masoumeh is her position of intercession.  According to the narration of Jafar Sadiq and Ali al-Rida, Fatemeh Masoumeh will intercede for the Shi'a on the Day of Judgment so that all of them will enter Paradise.

Another prominent aspect of Fatemeh Masoumeh, as Jafar Sadiq pointed out, is that the shrine of Fatemeh Masoumeh in Qom is the shrine of all Shi'a Imams. This means that all twelve Shi'a Imams are present in the shrine of Fatemeh Masoumeh and whoever visits Fatemeh Masoumeh in Qom is deemed to have visited all twelve Shi'a Imams.

A notable feature of Fatemeh Masoumeh is the title "Masoumeh" given to her by Ali Reza.  "Masoumeh" in Arabic means pure and innocent. Ali Reza's purpose in giving this name to his sister was to indicate that Fatemeh Masoumeh was a pure and innocent human being.  This feature is very important for Shiites, and shows that Fatemeh Masoumeh has a degree of infallibility. 

Hamīdah, Fatemeh's grandmother and the mother of Fatima’s father (Musa al-Kadim) was also the owner of Fatima’s mother, Najmah Khatun, a slave of African descent.  Hamīdah had a dream that the Prophet Muhammad told her that Najmah needed to become the wife of her son, Musa, so that Najmah could birth “the best people in the world”. While Najmah was more focused on the son, Imam al-Ridā, she would also give birth to Fatima as a product of the marriage.

It is written that even before she was born, Shi'a Imams foretold of Fatima Masumeh's holiness and piety. Fatima was born into Shi'a royalty, being raised under the care of two Imams - her father and her brother - and she is said to have absorbed their knowledge and holiness.

Fatima Masumeh was born in Medina in 173 AH (790 CC) and spent the first six years of her life learning alongside her father, Imam Musa al-Kadhim. She had a special gift of knowledge and spiritual awareness, even in childhood. When she was ten years old, Harun al-Rashid, the 5th caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate sent her father (Musa) to prison. This separation was very difficult for Fatima, but her brother 'Ali (who was 25 years her senior) took care of her.

'Ali and Fatima are among Imam Musa al-Kadim's 37 children, but they are the only two children from the Imam's marriage to Najmah Khatun. Their mother was a former slave from North Africa who became very learned in Islamic teachings under the guidance of Imam Musa al-Kadim's mother, Hamidah. Ali would later become the 8th Imam and gain the title Imam 'Ali al-Rida. The historian al-Tabari states that 'Al-Rida' means "The One Well-pleasing [to God]." 'Ali was appointed successor to the Abbasid Caliph al-Mamun, but he was hesitant in accepting this role. As 'Ali al-Rida gained the title of "Crowned Prince" , some people refused to accept his role amidst civil war.  'Ali al-Rida revealed the extent of this revolt to al-Mamun, stating that people considered him (al-Mamun) "bewitched and mentally deranged"; were hiding reports from him; and had given their allegiance to his paternal uncle Ibrahim ibn al-Madhi instead of him.

In 200 AH (815 CC), al-Mamun called for 'Ali al-Rida to leave for Khorasan.  Fatemeh Masumeh was forced to live apart from her brother.  After one year of separation from her brother, Fatemeh Masumeh decided to join him. She did not leave solely because of her wish to live near her brother; scholars also suggest that Fatemeh Masumeh's knowledge and religiosity would help her brother in his political office, especially in decisions regarding women.  In 201 AH (816 CC), she set off in a caravan with 23 family members and friends of Imam 'Ali al-Rida, alongside another caravan of 12,000 people traveling to Khorasan. 

The caravans never made it to Khorasan, and Fatemeh Masumeh never reached her brother. The caravans were attacked by agents of the caliph while at Saveh.  Some fled, but many were wounded, taken prisoner, or killed. Fatima Masumeh survived, but was forced to watch the murders of the 23 close family members and friends. It is written that Fatemeh Masumeh was then poisoned by a woman.  Fatemeh became ill and asked to be taken to  Qom. 

Fatemeh Masumeh died in Qom at the age of 26.  She was buried in her host's land in Qom.

The Shrine of Fatemeh Masumeh (Fatima Masuma) is located in Qom, which is considered by Shi'a Muslims to be the second most sacred city in Iran after Mashhad.  

Fatima Masumeh was the sister of the eighth Imam, Ali al-Rida, and the daughter of the seventh Imam, Musa al-Kadhim. In Shi'a Islam, women are often revered as saints if they are close relatives to one of the Twelver Imams. Fatemeh Masumeh is therefore honored as a saint, and her shrine in Qom is considered one of the most significant Shi'a shrines in Iran. Every year, thousands of Shi'a Muslims travel to Qom to honor Fatemeh Masumeh and ask her for blessings.

Also buried within the shrine are three daughters of the ninth Twelver Shī‘a Imām Muhammad al-Taqi.

The mosque consists of a burial chamber, three courtyards and three large prayer halls, totaling an area of 38,000 square meters (410,000 square feet). The three prayer halls are named: Tabātabā'ī, Bālā Sar, and A‘dham.

Although Shi'a theology formally states that the relatives of the Imams, the imamzadehs, hold a lower status than the Imams, popular  Shi'ism still strongly venerates imamzadehs. In Iran, there are many more burial places of the Imams' relatives than there are for the Imams themselves. Imamzadehs are considered to be close to God and religiously pious because of their close relation to Imams. The Shi'a commonly travel on pilgrimages to shrines of imamzadehs, such as the Shrine of Fatemeh Masumeh, the sister of the 8th Imam 'Ali al-Rida, in Qom, Iran. Men and women seek cures to ailments, solutions to problems, and forgiveness of sins at these sites. Many hadiths, or teachings, are recorded from Shi'a Imams praising the veneration of Fatemeh Masumeh, and proclaiming that those who make a pilgrimage to her Shrine will "certainly be admitted to heaven."

Fatemeh Masumeh's Shrine in Qom is crowded every day of the year with Shi'a men, women, and children from all around the world. Some stay for hours or days praying at the mosque and circumambulating her tomb. The economy of Qom has become reliant on this pilgrimage for the tourism it brings. In turn, Qom has remained conservative and traditional to maintain a pious environment for pilgrims. Many miracles have been recorded as taking place at this shrine, and they are documented in a special office within the shrine complex. Some are published in the shrines monthly newspaper, the Payam-e Astan.

Pilgrims at the Shrine of Fatemeh Masumeh follow rituals that have been passed down for centuries. Imam Ali al-Rida, Fatemeh Masumeh's brother, outlined these ritual acts as he described the way he visited her Shrine. The prayer Imam al-Rida dictated to his sister continues to be part of the pilgrimage. Since the Safavid period, additional rituals have been added that are now typical for many Shi'a pilgrimages including ritual washing beforehand, dressing in perfumed clothing, and entering the site with one's right foot.

Since the beginning of Qom's history in the 7th century of the Christian calendar, the city has been associated with Shi'ism and set apart from the Sunni caliphate.  Many Shi'a hadiths referred to Qom as a "place of refuge for believers," calling it a deeply religious place. After Fatima Masumeh's death in Qom and the construction of her Shrine, scholars began to gather in Qom and the city gained its reputation for religious learning. Today, Qom is still noted for its religious seminaries and organizations.

The style of Fatemeh Masumeh's Shrine has developed over many centuries. At first, her tomb was covered with a bamboo canopy. Fifty years later, this was replaced by a more durable domed building, at the request of the daughter of Imam Muhammad at-Taqi,  Sayyida Zaynab. The family of Sayyida Zainab later added a further two domes to the Shrine. These architectural projects marked the beginning of female patronage of the tomb of Fatemeh Masumeh.

From 1795–1796, Fath Ali Shah Qajar converted two Safavid sahn or courtyards into one large courtyard and, in 1803, fixed the golden dome. In 1883, Amin al-Sultan added the new sahn e-jadid or "New Court" to the Shrine complex.

During the Ayatollah Khomeini's 1979 Iranian Revolution, Qom was named "the birthplace" of this movement. Khomeini studied in Qom and lived there at the beginning and end of the Revolution. Aspects of the culture of Qom, including the Shrine of Fatemeh Masumeh, were used to unite the Iranian people over significant historical and mythical events. Khomeini used images of the Shrine of Fatemeh Masumeh in posters, money, and stamps created during the Revolution. Khomeini also constructed an addition to the Shrine of Fatemeh Masumeh and added more space for pilgrims. In addition, the tomb of Ayatollah Khomeini utilizes architectural elements that are similar to Fatemeh Masumeh's Shrine, such as the golden dome.

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A099 - 'Ali al-Rida

99 

‘Ali al-Rida

‘Ali al-Rida ('Ali ibn Musa al-Rida) ('Ali ar-Ridha) (Ali Reza) (b. c. 11 Dhu al-Qa'dah 148 AH [January 1, 766 CC], Medina, Hijaz, Abbasid Caliphate [now Saudi Arabia]   - d. 17 Safar 202 AH [June 6, 818 CC], Tus, Persia, Abbasid Caliphate [now Iran]).  Eighth Imam of the Twelver Shi‘a (r. 799-818).  

'Ali was born in Medina and was summoned from a quiet, scholarly life by the reigning Abbasid caliph al-Ma’mun to accept appointment as heir apparent, with the title al-Rida.

‘Ali al-Rida’s imamate coincided with a great reversal of fortune for the Shi‘a.  He attained the imamate at the age of 35 after the brutal persecution and martyrdom of this father, Musa al-Kadim, at the hands of the Caliph Harun ar-Rashid.  After Harun’s death, however, events rapidly evolved.  After a civil war between Harun’s sons Amin and Ma’mun ended in Ma’mun’s victory, ‘Ali al-Rida was summoned to Ma’mun’s capital at Merv (Marv) in northeastern Iran.

 ‘Ali al-Rida, as the head of the house of 'Ali and, therefore, leader of the Shi‘a, could bring a vast claim of potential support for the cause of whoever made an alliance with him.  The caliph brought him to Transoxiana, named him the heir apparent, and replaced the black insignias of the ruling 'Abbasids with those of 'Alid green.  This strange episode ended soon, however, when ‘Ali al-Rida died while traveling with Ma’mun from Merv back to Baghdad. The Shi‘a, doubting the honesty of the caliph’s motives in the first place, believe that he had had ‘Ali al-Rida poisoned.  ‘Ali al-Rida was interred at Tus by Ma’mun in a mausoleum already containing the remains of Ma’mun’s father Harun al-Rashid, the Abbasid caliph of Arabian Nights fame.  The spot soon grew in significance because of the presence there of the 'Alid imam.  Its name was changed to Mashhad (literally, “shrine” or “sanctuary”).  It became one of the most important centers for Shi‘a pilgrimage and is now at the center of Iran’s third largest city, to which it gives its name.  

'Ali ibn Musa al-Rida was a seventh generation descendant of the Prophet Muhammad and the eighth of the Twelve Shi'a Imams. His given name was ‘Alī ibn Mūsā ibn Ja‘far.
 
On the eleventh of Dhu al-Qi'dah, 148 AH (December 29, 765), 'Ali ibn Musa al-Rida was born in the house of Imam Musa al-Kadim (the seventh Imam of Shi'a Islam) in Medina. He was named 'Ali and was titled al-Rida. He was born one month after the death of his grandfather, Ja'far al-Sādiq. The mother of 'Ali al-Rida was Najmah, a former slave purchased and freed by Hamidah Khatun, wife of the sixth Shi'a Imam, Ja'far al-Sadiq.

During his childhood, 'Ali al-Rida accompanied his father, Musa al-Kadim, who repeatedly would tell his friends, " 'Ali al-Rida shall be the Imam after me." Since extreme oppressive atmosphere and political pressure prevailed in the period of Musa al-Kadim, he added, "What I said must remain (restricted) to you. Do not repeat it to anybody unless you know that he is one of our friends and companions."

'Ali al-Rida’s father was martyred in 799, when 'Ali al-Rida was 35.  It was then that the responsibility of the Imamate was conveyed to 'Ali. 

'Ali al-Rida was not looked upon favorably by Harun al-Rashid, and the people of Medina were disallowed from visiting 'Ali al-Rida and learning from him. Harun attempted to kill him but was unsuccessful.

After the death of Harun Rashid, Harun's two sons began fighting for control of the Abbasid Empire. One son, Al-Amin, had an Arab mother and thus had the support of Arabs, while his half-brother Al-Ma'mun had a Persian mother and the support of Persia. Al-Ma'mun believed that Persia was sympathetic to the Hashemites and asked for 'Ali al-Rida to meet him in Persia. 'Ali al-Rida left his only son, Muhammad at-Taqi, and his wife and set out for Merv.

After defeating his brother, al-Ma'mun named 'Ali al-Rida his successor. He hoped to win Shi'a support through this move, but the passage of the caliphate would occur only if 'Ali al-Rida outlived al-Ma'mun (as with all promises of succession). Al-Ma'mun even changed the black Abbasid flags to green, the traditional color of the house of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, the first Shi'a imam. 

'Ali al-Rida did not outlive al-Ma'mun.  He was killed in Persia while accompanying al-Ma'mun at Tus. Most scholars agree he was poisoned by al-Ma'mun but it's impossible to verify it. 'Ali al-Rida is buried within Imam Rida Mosque, in Mashhad, Iran.

A098 - Mulla Sadra

 Mulla Sadra

Mulla Sadra (Sadr al-Din Shirazi) (Ṣadr ad-Dīn Muḥammad Shīrāzī) (Molla Sadra) (Mollasadra) (Sadrol Mote'allehin) (1571-1640/1641).  Persian philosopher.  His Secrets is widely regarded in Iran as the most advanced text in the field of mystical philosophy.

Mulla Sadra was born into a noble Persian family.  His life coincided with the reign of Shah Abbas the First, during whose rule Shi‘ism and the propagation of Islamic law, philosophy, and theology reached its climax in Iran.  He devoted himself to the study of the intellectual sciences -- in particular, the philosophies of Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Suhrawardi, and the Neoplatonists, especially Ibn ‘Arabi.  His intense studies of philosophy intimidated some of the orthodox jurists who held much political power and who regarded philosophy as a heretical activity.  Due to the hostility of the orthodoxy to his serious pursuit of philosophy by the studying and teaching of it, Mulla Sadra was forced to leave Isfahan, where he had been studying, and move to a small village outside of the city of Qum.  In exile, Mulla Sadra spent twelve years in contemplation and ascetic practices, which led to the strengthening of his intellectual intuition (dhawq). 

Mulla Sadra is important in the history of Islamic philosophy for several reasons.  First, his work, in particular his magnum opus, the al-Afsar al-arba ‘ah (The Four Journeys of the Soul), is a compendium of the history of Islamic philosophy.  Having presented the ideas of his predecessors in great detail, Mulla Sadra goes on to offer a thorough examination and critique of their philosophical ideas.  Second, Mulla Sadra consolidated the School of Isfahan, which his teacher Mir Damad had established.  This philosophical school was a turning point in the history of Islamic philosophy in Iran and produced some of the greatest masters of Islamic philosophy.  The philosophical tradition of the School of Isfahan that was perfected by such masters as Mulla Sadra came to be known as “transcendental wisdom” (al-hikmat al-muti‘aliya), a rapprochement of discursive reasoning, intellectual intuition and practical wisdom. 

Mulla Sadra wrote three distinct types of works: commentaries on the Qur’an and hadith, polemical works, and philosophical treatises.  His commentaries on various verses of the Qur’an, such as the verses on light, is an indication of his esoteric reading of the scripture.  He also wrote a monumental commentary upon the sayings of the Shi‘ite Imams, bringing out their more esoteric aspects.  His polemics are directed towards the anti-nomian Sufis and their violations of the religious law.  Finally, there are the philosophical writings of Mulla Sadra, most of which were written for the intellectual elite and the learned scholars who had sufficient training in traditional Islamic philosophy. 

Mulla Sadra synthesized the theological (kalam) discussions, Ibn Sinan (Avicennian) metaphysics, and the mystical thoughts of Ibn ‘Arabi.  The result is a tradition of wisdom that relates to the traditional concerns of the theologians, the discursive reasoning of the philosophers, and the direct experience of the Sufis.  Mulla Sadra in particular was influenced by two figures, Ibn Sina, the philosopher of Being, and Suhrawardi, the philosopher of light and the founder of the School of Illumination (Ishraq) in Islamic philosophy.  Mulla Sadra interprets Ibn Sinan philosophy from a Suhrawardian point of view while making some fundamental revisions in Suhrawardi’s ontology.

Theology, which by the time of Mulla Sadra was well developed, relied on the same vocabulary as that of the philosophers.  Mulla Sadra takes note of the similarity in the use of technical terms by philosophers and theologians and of their methodologies.  The second point Mulla Sadra alludes to is that Islamic theology is developed, not as an independent branch of intellectual sciences, but as a discipline that is primarily concerned with Islamic law.

Mulla Sadra, in his treatment of kalam, adopts a two-pronged approach, arguing against the theological methodology on one hand while affirming the truth of the objectives of the theologians on the other.  Mulla Sadra demonstrates how and why it is that theological arguments fail to prove their purported conclusions while at the same time he is careful not to question the validity of the theological beliefs.  In his work on the problem of eternity versus creation in time and the problem of bodily resurrection, Mulla Sadra brings some of the controversial positions of philosophers closer to the views of the theologians.  

Mulla Sadra retains the general structure of the Ibn Sinan philosophy that asserts the existence of the Necessary Being and the gradations of Being that emanate from the Necessary Being.  However, he departs from Ibn Sina by putting more emphasis on the centrality of a personal insight leading to the discoveries of the immutable principles of philosophy.  It is precisely these experiences that serve as the foundation upon which Sadrian philosophy is established.  Whereas Ibn Sinan principles are derived from discursive philosophy and his logic is based on rationalization of philosophical categories, Mulla Sadra’s “logic of transcendence” is derived from his mots inward and noetic insight.  Mulla Sadra refers to these principles as the “Principles of Oriental Philosophy” (Qa‘ida Mashraqiyah) and “Transcendental Principles” (Qa‘ida Laduniya).

Mulla Sadra was profoundly influenced by the mystics of Islam, both by theoretical and practical dimensions of Sufism.  With regard to theoretical Sufism, Mulla Sadra was highly influenced by Ibn ‘Arabi, the great Andalusian mystic.  In fact, a great number of the technical terminologies that Mulla Sadra uses are borrowed from Ibn ‘Arabi and his massive commentary upon Islamic gnosticism.  In particular, Mulla Sadra finds Ibn ‘Arabi’s treatment of such issues as human understanding of the experience of the divine and various problems associated with that understanding to be quite illuminating. 

As to the practical aspects of the Sufi path, Mulla Sadra endorses asceticism as part of the path of knowledge whle he rejects the excesses and the antinomian practices of the Sufis.

Mulla Sadra divides knowledge into two types -- that which is learned by sense perception or instruction and that which is learned through intellectual intuition, a mode of knowledge marked by directness and the absence of mediation.  The knowledge that is learned through the senses or instruction itself is divided into the traditional divisions of knowledge most commonly held by the Peripatetics, namely, theoretical and practical.  The theoretical sciences consist of logic, mathematics, natural philosophy, and metaphysics; practical wisdom includes ethics, politics, and economics.

Mulla Sadra goes on to subdivide the sciences, leading to a unified theory of knowledge, which despite the multiplicity of different branches of knowledge leads the intellect to that knowledge of unity that lies at the heart of Sadrian philosophy.  This view of knowledge (hikmah) integrates various modes of knowing, including that of practical wisdom, since knowledge for Mulla Sadra is not only informative but also transformative.

Mulla Sadra, whose encyclopedic knowledge of Islamic philosophy provided him with the basis for illuminating analyses of the philosophical ideas of his predecessors, makes three major contributions to the field of Islamic philosophy.  They include (1) his commentary on Being, leading to the Doctrine of the Unity of Being, (2) his account of the occurrence of change in motion, known as “Substantial Motion,” and (3) his theory of the unity of the knower, the known, and knowledge itself.

Mulla Sadra takes issue with Suhrawardi, the founder of the School of Illumination, and his own teacher Mir Damad, reversing their scheme based on the principality of essence (mahiyyah) over existence (wujud).  He argues that existence is the primary and principal aspect of an existent being and that essences are accidents of Being.  Furthermore, Existence or Being (which for most of the Islamic philosophers, including Mulla Sadra, are the same) has an independent existence, whereas essences are contingent upon Being and therefore without a reality of their own.

Regarding the classical divisions of Being, Mulla Sadra accepts Ibn Sina’s division of Being into necessary, contingent, and impossible. Mulla Sadra also elaborates on copulative and non-copulative Being.  Copulative Being is that which connects the subject to the predicate such as in “Socrates is a philosopher.”  The term “is” here has a twofold function -- a copulative one, which connects the adjective of being a philosopher to Socrates, and a second one, namely, the existential function, which alludes to the existence of an existent being, in this case Socrates.  Mulla Sadra, who is interested in the latter use of “is,” argues that “is” in the corporeal world is always copulative except for the Being of God, who is pure and without essences.

Mulla Sadra accepts Plato’s concept of archetypes as the “master of species” (arbab al-anwa’).  According to Mulla Sadra, the corporeal world as a level of Being derives its characteristics from the archetypal world.  The separation of the corporeal world from its archetypal world leads to the principle of “the possibility of that which is superior” (Qa‘ida imkan al-ashraf), a principle for which Mulla Sadra is known.  This principle entails that for everything that journeys from the imperfect to perfect in the material world, there is its cosmic counterpart in the incorporeal world.

Mulla Sadra’s criticism of the Illuminationists goes beyond the priority and principality of existence over essence and includes the theory of hylomorphism.  Accordingly, matter manifests itself in various domains of existence according to the ontological status of each level.  Whereas the world of objects is immersed in the lowest level of matter, the soul belongs to a higher level of matter suitable for it.  This process continues until it culminates in the intelligible world, where realities are completely free from matter.

Mulla Sadra is unique in the history of Islamic philosophy in that he allows for motion to exist in substance (al-harakat al-jawhariyyah).  This is a deviation from Ibn Sina (Avicenna), who considered motion in substance to lead to a continuous change and the loss of that which constitutes the identity of a thing.

Mulla Sadra uses a number of arguments in support of his theory of the existence of motion in substance.  When an apple has become ripe, it is not only the accidents that have changed, but the substance of the apple must have changed as well.  In fact, when a potentiality becomes actualized, Mulla Sadra argues, it signifies a change both in accidents and in substance.  Mulla Sadra states that for every change that occurs in accident, there has to be a corresponding change in substance, for accidents depend on their substance for their properties.  Therefore, change in an apple is an example of the created order and signifies several points: first, that the world is like a river that is constantly in a state of flux; second, change occurs out of necessity and nothing remains the same except God; third, this change is not an accident in the universe, but is part of its very nature.  This change, according to Mulla Sadra, acts as a force that moves the universe towards becoming; becoming is fundamentally a spiritual journey that all beings yearn for and accounts for both the ripening of an apple as well as for the yearning of the human being for transcendence.

Mulla Sadra uses the notion of Substantial Motion to shed light on the concept of time.  For Mulla Sadra, as for Aristotle, time is the quantity of motion, except that for Mulla Sadra the change in quantity is the quantity of change in substance.  Time is not to be viewed only quantitatively but has an ontological aspect as well.  Motion in substance is also the measurement of the perfection and therefore has a purpose and direction, and carries a sense of necessity with it.

The fact that all things are in motion and that motion goes from less perfect to more perfect is an indication for Mulla Sadra that the entire universe is yearing for the ultimate perfection, God.  This view also entails tha in some sense the universe is conscious of its own state of being and yearns for an eventual unity with its origin.  Since Substantial Motion also entails that the identity of the object in question is always changing, Mulla Sadra concludes that this type of motion brings about a type of creation at every given moment.  In other words, God through Substantial Motion creates the universe instantaneously at every moment.  The Reality of God manifests itself through creation, which then goes through successive creations.

What Mulla Sadra was trying to achieve was to bring about a rapprochement between the Peripatetic who argued for the eternity of the world and the theologian view who insisted on creation ex nihilo.  According to Mulla Sadra, the world as an extension of God has always existed, but yet it was created in time that ceases to exist, and is then recreated. 

The unity of the knower, the known, and knowledge is deeply embedded in the Sadrian philosophy.  Since God’s essence and Being are the same and all things emanate from God, God is at once the knower, the known, and the knowledge.

From the above it follows that in order for any person to achieve a similar status, one has to achieve unity with God.  The reverse is also true: anyone who attains the knowledge of unity is in his or her very being the knower, the known, and the knowledge; in knowing unity, one has become unified.  It is for this reason that Mulla Sadra’s al-Asfar al-arba ‘ah (the Four Journeys of the Soul) alludes to the spiritual journey of the soul from the time that it departs from God until it achieves unity once again.

Mulla Sadra not only offers complex philosophical arguments but also uses gnostic imagery as a mirror representing Divine Essence within which God witnesses the essence of all things. Although Mulla Sadra never explicitly states that unity with God is the necessary condition of knowledge, the thrust of his philosophy is such that this notion is implied.

Mulla Sadra and his teachings were a turning point in the history of Islamic philosophy.  One of the greatest achievements of Mulla Sadra was the training of several students who themselves became masters of Islamic philosophy and propagators of Sadrian philosophy.  Among them we can name ‘Abd al-Razzaq Lahiji, Mulla Muhsin Fayd Kashani, and Qadi Sa‘id Qummi.

Sadrian philosophy, which had gone through a period of decline, was once again revived in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Iran by such notable figures as Sabziwari, Ali Nuri, Ahsa’i, and the Zunuzi family.  The teaching of Mulla Sadra and his students was well received by the Islamic philosophers of the subcontinent of India, and some of his books became the official texts of traditional schools.  Islamic philosophy today in Iran and the eastern parts of the Islamic world is still under the influence of Mulla Sadra and his teachings.

Sadra, Mulla see Mulla Sadra
Sadr al-Din Shirazi see Mulla Sadra
Shirazi, Sadr al-Din see Mulla Sadra
Sadr ad-Din Muhammad Shirazi see Mulla Sadra
Molla Sadra see Mulla Sadra
Sadrol Mote'allehin see Mulla Sadra

A097 - Uthman dan Fodio

 Dan Fodio

Dan Fodio (Uthman dan Fodio) (Usuman dan Fodio) (Usman dan Fodio) (Usman ibn Fodio) (Uthman Dan Fuduye) (c.1754-1817). Nigerian religious leader and reformer.  Shaykh ‘Uthman ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Uthman ibn Salih, known to the the Hausas as Shehu Usuman Dan Fodio, was born into a family of Muslim Fulani clerics in the Hausa kingdom of Gobir in present day northern Nigeria.  The family had abandoned the nomadic way of life several generations earlier and was dedicated to the teaching of Sunni, Maliki Islam.  By the end of the eighteenth century, Shehu Usuman Dan Fodio had inspired the Muslim Fulani to begin the jihad al-qawl (“preaching jihad”) addressed to the Hausa aristocracy of Gobir and its neighbors.  This aristocracy, nominally Muslim, was in the Fulani view polytheistic, given to “mixed Islam,” maintaining animist practices while at the same time adopting elements of Islam.  Such mixed Islam was common in the aftermath of the collapse of the medieval Islamic empires of the Sahel. 

The preaching jihad, which extended over several years, demanded the political and cultural surrender of this faintly Muslim, largely animist establishment to the strictly orthodox practice of Sunni, Maliki Islam.  This the Hausa refused.  In an escalating climate of tension, hostilities broke out between the Muslim Fulani and the Hausa in 1804.  Shehu Usuman, adopting certain precedents from the struggle of the Prophet Muhammad against the polytheists of Mecca, solemnly elevated this conflict to the status of a “holy war of the sword” that must necessarily follow the “preaching jihad” when the latter fails to be effective.

The campaign was conducted not by the Shehu himself, a scholarly and somewhat reclusive mystic, but by his brother Shaykh ‘Abd Allah ibn Muhammad, an equally scholarly but hardheaded legalist who proved himself a brilliant field commander.  He was enthusiastic about the Sufi mysticism espoused by his brother Shehu Usuman and more inclined to the strict construction of the shari‘ah.

The jihad was successful.  The “Sokoto caliphate,” a centralist Islamic polity to which provincial jihadist emirs owed allegiance, took the place of the hodgepodge of Hausa principalities that had preceded it.  While the Islamic shari‘ah cannot be said to have been imposed on this polity with total conformity – much pagan practice did survive – its writ was nevertheless substantial.  By the time the British occupied Nigeria early in the twentieth century, there was no doubt that what they took over was a Muslim society governed by shari‘ah law.

The jihad had two other immediate consequences.  First, it transformed Islam from a tolerated minority religion into the official religion of the state.  Second, it elevated the Islamic scholars from their previous position as mere advisers of polytheistic rulers who engaged in mixed Islam to a place as the sole custodians of political power and the arbiters of social behavior.  The jihad also altered the trade patterns of Hausaland by destroying the old centers of trade and setting up new ones.

The significance of the jihad for present-day Islam in Nigeria rests more with Shaykh ‘Abd Allah ibn Muhammad than with his mystically inclined brother Usuman, who initially inspired the jihad.  The latter was a Qadiri Sufi given to visions and other liminal experiences greatly revered in his day.  With the rise of modern Islamic fundamentalism, while he still enjoys reverence, he has been largely superseded.  His brother ‘Abd Allah, the down-to-earth legalist, whose platform was not mysticism but strict adherence to the letter of the shari‘ah, has become the admired exemplar for the present generation of Islamists in northern Nigeria. 


Uthman dan Fodio see Dan Fodio
Usuman dan Fodio see Dan Fodio
Shaykh ‘Uthman ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Uthman ibn Salih see Dan Fodio
Shehu Usuman Dan Fodio see Dan Fodio
Usman dan Fodio see Dan Fodio
Uthman Dan Fuduye see Dan Fodio

A096 - Al-Mutanabbi

 Mutanabbi, al-

Mutanabbi, al- (Abu’l-Tayyib Ahmad al-Ju‘fi) (Ahmad ibn al-Husain al-Mutanabbi) (Abou-t-Tayyib Ahmad ibn al-Husayn al-Mutanabbi) (915–September 23, 965).  One of the greatest Arab poets.  Born in Kufa, in 928, he went to Syria and studied at Damascus.  His ambition was to be a professional poet, and since the necessary patrons proved slow in coming forward, he set himself up as a prophet and led an unsuccessful political-religious revolt.  Without adhering to Carmathian doctrines, he exploited its principles when in 933 he led a revolt in the Samawa, the region between the Kufa and Palmyrene. On this occasion, he received the surname al-Mutanabbi “he who professes to be a prophet.”  After having led a wandering life, he stayed nine years with the Hamdanid Sayf al-Dawla ‘Ali I in Aleppo, but fled to Damascus in 957.  In Egypt, he obtained the patronage of the Ikhshidid regent Kafur but, deprived of moral and material independence, he was forced to sing the praises of a patron for whom in his heart he felt only contempt.  In 962, he fled to Kufa and then settled in Baghdad.  In 965, he went via Ahvaz to Arrajan in Susiana and from there to Shiraz.  On his way back to Baghdad, he was killed by marauding Bedouins.  The enormous bibliography of al-Mutanabbi’s life and work is a striking proof of the eminent place which he occupies in Arabic literature from the tenth century until the present day.

The Arabs regard al-Mutanabbi as one of their greatest poets.  He is the principal figure of the “Modern” school which began to break away from the traditional themes and ways of expression of the Pre-Islamic poets, long regarded as the only ones suitable for poetry.  The “Moderns” made considerable use of Badi’ (Innovation) -- their new, and, to conservative poets and critics, shocking images, figures of speech and plays on words.  The old type of poetry, in which poets who had scarcely ever seen the desert wept over the deserted camping sites of their loved ones, and described in painstaking detail the points of their camels, continued to be written, side by side with the “Modern” type.  Al-Mutanabbi did not abandon the qasida (ode), but transformed it, and made it into an organic whole, with theme leading naturally to theme, instead of a series of almost unconnected lines.

Al-Mutanabbi was educated in Damascus, as well as choosing to live among bedouins in the desert, with the tribe Banu Qalb.  It was during his youth that he got his name, which means “the one who wants to become Prophet,” when he participated in revolutionary movements.

During imprisonment he started to compose his poetry.  From 948 to 957, al-Mutanabbi worked close to the Syrian prince Sayfu ad-Dawla in Aleppo, and wrote a number of panegyrics for him.  But as al-Mutanabbi was still politically active, he was eventually forced to flee to Egypt, but as he wrote satires taht presented the court in a negative way, he had to move again, now back to Iraq,.to Baghdad. 

Later on he worked as a court poet in Shiraz.  While being without a patron, al-Mutanabbi was in 965 slain by brigands during a trip, near Baghdad.

With a flowery style, use of the ode, and changing way from the traditional Arabic qasida, al-Mutanabbi stands out as the most important representative for the panegyrical poetic style.



Abu’l-Tayyib Ahmad al-Ju‘fi see Mutanabbi, al-
Ahmad ibn al-Husain al-Mutanabbi see Mutanabbi, al-
Mutanabbi, Ahmad ibn al-Husain al- see Mutanabbi, al-
Ju'fi, Abu'l-Tayyib Ahmad al- see Mutanabbi, al-
Abou-t-Tayyib Ahmad ibn al-Husayn al-Mutanabbi see Mutanabbi, al-

A095 - The Mahdi of Sudan

 

Mahdi, El
Mahdi, El (El Mahdi) (Muhammad Ahmad) (Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah) (Muhammad Ahmed Al Mahdi) Muhammad Ahmad ibn ‘Abdallah al-Mahdi (Muhammad Ahmad ibn 'Abdallah) (the Mahdi) (August 12, 1844 - June 22, 1885).  Sudanese politician and religious leader.  His original name was Muhammad Ahmad, and he was arguably the single most influential personality in the history of the modern Sudan.  A descendant of an “Arabized Nubian” family from Dongola, he was born in 1844 in Dirar Island off Dongola.

His father was a descendant of a respected religious man, a shariff known for his good “faith” among the people of that area.  He migrated to Khartoum for better prospects for his family.  All Muhammad’s brothers preferred to master the father’s profession of building boats, but he found himself attracted to religious studies like his great grandfather, the shariff.

Muhammad Ahmad learned the Qur’an in Khartoum and Kararie and later he studied fiqh under Sheikh Muhammad Kheir’s patronage.  Muhammad Ahmad mastered different aspects of Islamic Studies and was known for his Sufi tendency among his mates.  In 1861, he approached Sheik Muhammad Sheief, the leader of the Sammaniyya Sect, and requested to join his students and learn more on Sufism.  Muhammad had shown a great deal of devotion and dedication to his Sheikh and teacher as well as a great deal of faith which distinguished him from his colleagues.  When sheikh Muhammad realized Muhammad’s dedication and devotion, he appointed him shaykh and permitted him to give tariqa and uhud to new followers wherever he wanted to be.

In 1871, Muhammad Ahmad migrated with the rest of his family to Aba Island in western Sudan where he built a mosque for prayers and started to teach the Qur’an and Islamic Studies.  Shortly he could gather all the inhabitants of Aba Island around him and got a wide popularity and fame among them.

The following years, and until he declared himself Mahdi, he spent time visiting people in different neighboring areas warning them and asking them to follow the “path of God Almighty.”  He roamed all the areas as far as Dongola in the north, the Blue Nile region, Kordofan in the west, Sinnar and East of Sudan.  He noticed the people’s discontent with the ruling Turks (the Ottoman-Egyptians) and their desire to get rid of the Turks – a desire that made many wish for the appearance of the awaited Mahdi to save them.  Thus, whenever the people found in a man a great deal of knowledge, dedication and devotion to the religion they thought that he was the Mahdi.

Muhammad found in the people the desire and belief that he was the awaited Mahdi.  Meanwhile, he was very much concerned by the bleak condition of Islam in Sudan under the self-proclaimed Shaykhs.  Compelled by all this, in addition to his consideration of the wish and desire of the majority of the people and the sense of expectation of El Mahdi, Muhammad Ahmad started to prepare himself to proclaim Mahdism.  

During this period, the Khalifa Abdullahi came to recognize Muhammad Ahmad as “Mahdi” even before Muhammad himself had proclaimed it.  From then on, and until the fall of Khartoum, to the Mahdi’s forces in January 1885, there was a continuous triumphal progress of volunteer armies fighting for the victory of Islam and the accomplishment of the eschatological mission.

It was in 1881 at Aba Island that Muhammad Ahmad proclaimed himself as the “Mahdi” and started to unify central and southern Sudanese tribes to exploit their increasing social and economical discontent with the ruling Turks and their exploitation of the country’s resources and mal-administration.  El Mahdi led a national revolution and an “Islamic revivalism” uprising against the ruling Turks which was culminated by the fall of Khartoum and the assassination of Gordon Pasha in 1885.

Even though El Mahdi died shortly after the fall of Khartoum, his Mahdist Islamic regime survived until 1898 when the Anglo-Egyptian forces under Kitchener captured Khartoum, regained control and proclaimed a British-Egyptian condominium dominated mainly by British policies.  The British presence would last until 1956 when Sudan achieved its independence.

Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah (otherwise known as the Mahdi or Muhammad Ahmed Al Mahdi (August 12, 1844 – June 22, 1885) was a Sufi sheikh of the Samaniyya order in Sudan who, on June 29, 1881, proclaimed himself as the Mahdi or messianic redeemer of the Islamic faith. His proclamation came during a period of widespread resentment among the Sudanese population of the oppressive policies of the Turco-Egyptian rulers, and capitalized on the messianic beliefs popular among the various Sudanese sufi sects (or tariqa/turuq) of the time. More broadly, the Mahdiyya, as Muhammad Ahmad's movement was called, was influenced by earlier Mahdist movements in West Africa, as well as Wahabism and other puritanical forms of Islamic revivalism that developed in reaction to the growing military and economic dominance of the European powers throughout the 19th century.

From his announcement of the Mahdiyya in June 1881 until the fall of Khartoum in January 1885, Muhammad Ahmad led a successful military campaign against the Turco-Egyptian government of the Sudan (known as the Turkiyya). During this period, many of the theological and political doctrines of the Mahdiyya were established and promulgated among the growing ranks of the Mahdi's supporters. After Muhammad Ahmad's unexpected death on 22 June 1885, a mere six months after the conquest of Khartoum, his chief deputy, the Khalifa Abdullah took over the administration of the nascent Mahdist state.

Muhammad Ahmad was born on August 12, 1844 on Labab Island in the province of Dongola in Northern Sudan to a family that claimed to be descendants of the Prophet Muhammad through the line of his grandson Hassan.  As a child, the family moved to the town of Karari, north of Khartoum, where Muhammad Ahmad's father, Abdullah, could find a supply of timber for his boat-building business.

While his siblings joined his father's trade, Muhammad Ahmad showed a proclivity for religious study. He studied first under Sheikh al-Amin al-Suwaylih in the Gezira region around Khartoum, and subsequently under Sheikh Muhammad al-Dikayr 'Abdallah Khujali near the town of Berber in North Sudan.

Determined to live a life of asceticism, mysticism, and worship, in 1861 he sought out Sheikh Muhammad Sharif Nur al-Dai'm, the grandson of the founder of the Samaniyya Sufi sect in Sudan. Muhammad Ahmad stayed with Sheikh Muhammad Sharif for seven years, during which time he was recognized for his piety and asceticism. Near the end of this period, he was awarded the title of Sheikh himself, and began to travel around the country on religious missions. He was permitted to give tariqa and Uhūd to new followers.

In 1870, his family moved again in search for timber, this time to Aba Island on the White Nile south of Khartoum. On Aba Island, Muhammad Ahmad built a mosque and started to teach the Qur'an. He soon gained a notable reputation among the local population as an excellent speaker and mystic. The broad thrust of his teaching followed that of other reformers, his Islam was one devoted to the words of Muhammad and based on a return to the virtues of strict devotion, prayer, and simplicity as laid down in the Qur'an. Any deviation from the Qur'an was therefore heresy.

In 1872, Muhammad Ahmad invited Sheikh Sharif to move to al-Aradayb, an area on the White Nile neighboring Aba Island. Despite initially amicable relations, in 1878 the two religious leaders had a dispute motivated by Sheikh Sharif's resentment of his former student's growing popularity. The dispute led to violence between their followers, and while they temporarily reconciled their differences, the experience revealed to Muhammad Ahmad his mentor's faults. At a subsequent celebration in honor of the circumcision of Sheikh Sharif's sons, Muhammad Ahmad expressed his disapproval of the dancing and music, which reignited the latent tension between the two men. As a result of this second dispute, Sheikh Sharif expelled his former student from the Samaniyya order, and despite numerous apologies and emotional appeals, refused to forgive and re-admit him.

After recognizing that the split with Sheikh Sharif was irreconcilable, Muhammad Ahmad approached a rival leader of the Samaniyya order named Sheikh al-Qurashi wad al-Zayn. The elderly sheikh eagerly accepted him and his followers, and under his new master, Muhammad Ahmad resumed his life of piety and religious devotion at Aba Island. During this period, he also travelled to the province of Kordofan, west of Khartoum, where he visited with the notables of the capital, el-Obeid, who were enmeshed in a power struggle between two rival claimants to the governorship of the province. While in Kordofan, he also enhanced his reputation by granting baraka to the common people who attended his sermons en masse.

On July 25, 1878, Sheikh al-Qurashi died and his followers recognized Muhammad Ahmad as their new leader. Around this time, Muhammad Ahmad first met Abdallahi bin Muhammad al-Ta'aishi, who was to become his chief deputy and successor in the years to come.

On June 29, 1881, Muhammad Ahmad publicly announced his claim to be the Mahdi. In part, his claim was based on his status as a prominent Sufi sheikh with a large following in the Samaniyya order and among the tribes in the area around Aba Island. Yet the idea of the Mahdiyya had been central to the belief of the Samaniyya prior to Muhammad Ahmad's manifestation. The previous Samaniyya leader, Sheikh al-Qurashi Wad al-Zayn, had asserted that the long-awaited-for redeemer would come from the Samaniyya line. According to Sheikh al-Qurashi, the Mahdi would make himself known through a number of signs, some established in the early period of Islam and recorded in the Hadith literature, and others having a more distinctly local origin, such as the prediction that the Mahdi would ride the sheikh's pony and erect a dome over his grave after his death.

Drawing from aspects of the Sufi tradition that were intimately familiar to both his followers and his opponents, Muhammad Ahmad claimed that he had been appointed as the Mahdi by a prophetic assembly or hadra. A hadra, in the Sufi tradition, is a gathering of all the prophets from the time of Adam to Muhammad, as well as many Sufi holy men who are believed to have reached the highest level of affinity with the divine during their lifetime. The hadra is chaired by the Prophet Muhammad, known as Sayyid al-Wujud, and at his side are the seven Qutb, the most senior of whom is known as Ghawth az-Zaman. In the belief system of the Mahdiyya, it was this divine assembly that bestowed upon Muhammad Ahmad the title of al-Mahdi. The hadra was also the source of a number of central beliefs about the Mahdi, including that Muhammad Ahmad was created from the sacred light at the center of the Prophet's heart, that the Mahdiyya was eternal and the basic institution of the universe, and that all living creatures had acknowledged the Mahdi's claim since his birth.

In order to frame the Mahdiyya as a return to the early days of Islam, when the Muslim community, or Ummah, was unified under the guidance of the Prophet Muhammad and his immediate successors, Muhammad Ahmad drew many parallels between his manifestation as the Mahdi and the career of the Prophet. For example, he referred to himself as the Successor of the Messenger of God (Arabic: Khalifat Rusul Allah), and named his four closest deputies after the four successors to the Prophet Muhammad. Later, in order to distinguish his followers from adherents of other Sufi sects, he forbid the use of the word darwish (commonly known as "dervish" in English) to describe his followers, replacing it with the title Ansar, the term the Prophet Muhammad used for the people of Medina who welcomed him and his followers after their flight from Mecca.

This revivalist vision of the Mahdi intersected with the popular beliefs and legends of the Mahdi. Many of these beliefs have obscure origins in unsubstantiated Hadith, or are influenced by a convergence of local mythologies, Shi'a concepts, and Sufi traditions. It was believed that the Mahdi would manifest himself at the turn of an Islamic century, that his coming would herald in the end of time, that he would revitalize the faith and restore unity to the Ummah, and that his reign would last for eight years. At the end of his reign, it was believed that he would be defeated in battle with the anti-Christ (al-Dajjal), who would subsequently be vanquished by the return of Jesus (Nabi 'Isa).

Despite his popularity among Sufis of the Samaniyya and other sects, and among the tribes of western Sudan, the Ulema, or Orthodox religious authorities, ridiculed Muhammad Ahmad's claim to be the Mahdi. Among his most prominent critics were the Sudanese Ulema loyal to the Ottoman Sultan and in the employ of the Turco-Egyptian government, such as the Mufti Shakir al-Ghazi, who sat on the Council of Appeal in Khartoum, and the Qadi Ahmad al-Azhari in Kordofan.

These critics were careful not to deny the concept of the Mahdi as such, but rather to discredit Muhammad Ahmad's claim to it. They pointed out that Muhammad Ahmad's manifestation did not conform to the prophecies laid out in the Hadith literature. In particular, they argued that he had been born in Dongola, that he lacked proof of descent from Fatima, that he did not have the prophesied physical characteristics of the Mahdi, and that his manifestation did not conform with the "time of troubles" "when the land is filed with oppression, tryanny, and enmity."

While his challenge to the legitimacy of Turco-Egyptian rule, and the Sublime Porte by extension, set many of the religious elite against him, some of his radical changes to Islamic doctrine and practice alienated other Muslim scholars, both Sudanese and foreign. In particular, the Mahdi abolished the four Sunni schools of jurisprudence (Arabic: madhahib), rejected all authoritative texts in the history of tafsir or Qur'anic exegesis, changed the Sha'hada, or profession of faith, to include the phrase, "Muhammad al-Mahdi is the Khalifa of the Prophet of God," and revised the five pillars of Islam by replacing the Hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca with the obligation to undertake jihad, and adding a sixth pillar, which was belief in the Mahdiyya.

Linguistically, the Arabic term "al-Mahdi" can be translated as "the one who guides". The term is not found explicitly in the Qur'an, nor is it recorded in two of the most prominent collections of hadith, that of Bukhari and Muslim.

Beyond his charismatic leadership, early military success, and religious appeal, there were numerous social and political factors that led to the rapid growth of Muhammad Ahmad's influence and the ultimate success of the Mahdiyya under his command. One of the most salient factors was the way in which Turco-Egyptian rule (1821–1885) interfered with local power structures, disenfranchised many influential segments of the Sudanese population, and subjected Sudan to the increasing penetration of the European powers.

Throughout the period of Turco-Egyptian rule, many segments of the Sudanese population suffered extreme hardship due to the system of taxation imposed by the central government. Under this system, a flat tax was imposed on farmers and small traders and collected by government-appointed tax collectors from the Sha'iqiyya tribe of northern Sudan. In bad years, and especially during times of drought and famine, farmers were unable to pay the high taxes. Fearing the brutal and unjust methods of the Sha'iqiyya, many farmers fled their villages in the fertile Nile Valley to the remote areas of Kordofan and Darfur. These migrants, known as "Jallaba" after their loose-fitting style of dress, began to function as small traders and middlemen for the foreign trading companies that had established themselves in the cities and towns of central Sudan. At the time, trade was dominated by two goods: ivory and slaves. The slaves were kidnapped in extensive slave raids led by Egyptian, European, and Sudanese slave traders in the provinces of Bahr Al-Ghazal and elsewhere in what is today South Sudan. While in the early years of the Turco-Egyptian rule, many slaves were sent north to serve as soldiers in Muhammad Ali's army, those taken captive later in the century were often forced to undertake the labor-intensive cultivation of crops in the Nile Valley.

In 1863, concern in Europe about the slave trade was ignited by the Speke and Grant expedition to discover the source of the Nile. The British government, increasingly involved in the administration of Egyptian affairs under the Khedive Ismail, began to target slave-ships transporting their cargo up the Nile. Recognizing that this approach was ineffective, the British eventually succeeded in establishing The Convention for the Suppression of the Slave Trade, which granted the British navy the right to search Egyptian ships leaving from Suakin (the site of Port Sudan today) on the Red Sea. This two-pronged assault on the slave trade not only threatened the prosperity of all those involved directly in the procurement and sale of slaves, but also the large segments of northern Sudanese society that relied on slave labor for agricultural and domestic work. In many cases, the same Jallaba that had been forced to flee their land due to excessive taxation were now under threat of losing their livelihood from the slave trade.

By the middle 19th century the Ottoman Imperial subject administration in Egypt was in the hands of Khedive Ismail. Although not a competent or devoted leader, Khedive Ismail had grandiose schemes about Egypt. His spending had put Egypt into huge debt and when his financing of the Suez Canal started to crumble, Great Britain stepped in and repaid his loans in return for controlling shares in the canal. As the canal took on a vast strategic importance as a control point for British trade with India, the need to ensure its security and stability became paramount. Thus, control of the canal required an ever increasing role in Egyptian affairs. With Khedive Ismail's spending and corruption causing instability, in 1873 the British government supported a program where an Anglo-French debt commission assumed responsibility for managing Egypt's fiscal affairs. This commission eventually forced Khedive Ismail to abdicate in favor of his son Tawfiq in 1877, leading to a period of political turmoil.

Ismail had appointed General Charles "Chinese" Gordon Governor of the Equatorial Provinces of Sudan in 1873. For the next three years, General Gordon fought against a native chieftain of Darfur, Zobeir, who had erected, on the basis of slave-traffic, a dangerous military power. Zobeir's organisation was eventually dismantled. Although unsuccessful at total pacification, Gordon was successful in limiting the power of the slave traders. Thus, he was made Governor-General of the Sudan in 1877. Soon after he arrived at his new post he started to end the slave trade, which at that point dominated the economy and was controlled by the tiny minority of Arabs. Before his arrival some 7 out of 8 blacks in the Sudan were enslaved by the tiny minority of Arabs; the native Africans formed well over 80% of the overall population. Gordon's policies were effective, but the effects on the economy were disastrous, and soon the Arab Social Ascendancy came to see this not a liberation from slavery, but a modern-day European Christian crusade and a threat to Muslim and Arab social dominance. It was this anger that fed the Ansars' ranks.

Upon Ismail's abdication, Gordon found himself with dramatically decreased support. He eventually resigned his post in 1880, exhausted by years of work, and left early the next year. His policies were soon abandoned by the new governors, but the anger and discontent of the dominant Arab minority was left unaddressed.

Although the Egyptians were fearful of the deteriorating conditions, the British refused to get involved, "Her Majesty’s Government are in no way responsible for operations in the Sudan", the Foreign Secretary Earl Granville noted.

Among the forces historians see as the causes of the uprising are ethnic Sudanese anger at the foreign Turkish Ottoman rulers, Muslim revivalist anger at the Turks' lax religious standards and willingness to appoint non-Muslims such as the Christian Charles Gordon to high positions and Sudanese Sufi resistance to "dry, scholastic Islam of Egyptian officialdom".

In 1881, Muhammad Ahmed declared himself Mahdi and ruler so as to prepare the way for the second coming of the Prophet Isa (Jesus),. "After consulting the ulama", Egyptian authorities "attempted to arrest him for spreading false doctrine." A military expedition was sent to reassert the government's authority on Aba Island, but the government's forces were ambushed and nearly annihilated by the Mahdi's followers.[citation needed] Muhammad Ahmed retaliated by declaring jihad.

I am the Mahdi, the Successor of the Prophet of God. Cease to pay taxes to the infidel Turks and let everyone who finds a Turk kill him, for the Turks are infidels 

Unlike other Muslim reformers, the Mahdi did not advocate the application of ijtihad but "claimed to receive direct inspiration from God", so that his own proclamations superseded traditional jurisprudence. This, however, did not usurp the prophet Muhammad's position as seal of the Prophets, because the Prophet was — in some way — the intermediary of his revelations.

Information came from the Apostle of God that the angel of inspiration is with me from God to direct me and He has appointed him. So from this prophetic information I learnt that that with which God inspires me by means of the angel of inspiration, the Apostle of God would do, were he present.


The Mahdi and a party of his followers, the Ansār -- the "Helpers" (known in the West as "the Dervishes") --, made a long march to Kurdufan. There he gained a large number of recruits, especially from the Baqqara, and noble leaders such as Sheikh Madibbo ibn Ali of Rizeigat and Abdallahi ibn Muhammad of Ta'aisha tribes. They were also joined by the Hadendoa Beja, who were rallied to the Mahdi by an Ansār captain in east of Sudan in 1883, Osman Digna.

The Khatmiyya sufi order which had enjoyed popular support in east and north Sudan rejected the Mahdi's claim outright. Mahdist forces attacked the Khatmiyya adherents and even ransacked the tomb of sayyid Al-Hassan grandson of the revered religious leader Mohammed Uthman al-Mirghani al-Khatim in Kassala. The head of the Khatmiyya sufi order was forced into exile in Egypt for fear of assassination.

Late in 1883, the Ansār, armed only with spears and swords, overwhelmed an 4000-man Egyptian force not far from Al Ubayyid ("El Obeid"), and seized their rifles and ammunition. The Mahdi followed up this victory by laying siege to al-Ubayyid and starving it into submission after four months. The town remained the headquarters of the Ansar for much of the decade.

The Ansār, now 40,000 strong, then defeated an 8000-man Egyptian relief force led by British officer William Hicks at Sheikan, in the battle of El Obeid. The defeat of Hicks sealed the fate of Darfur, which until then had been effectively defended by Rudolf Carl von Slatin. Jabal Qadir in the south was also taken. The western half of Sudan was now firmly in Ansārī hands.

Their success emboldened the Hadendoa, who under the generalship of Osman Digna wiped out a smaller force of Egyptians under the command of Colonel Valentine Baker near the Red Sea port of Suakin. Major-General Gerald Graham was sent with a force of 4000 British soldiers and defeated Digna at El Teb on February 29, but were themselves hard-hit two weeks later at Tamai. Graham eventually withdrew his forces.

Given their general lack of interest in the area, the British decided to abandon the Sudan in December 1883, holding only several northern towns and Red Sea ports, such as Khartoum, Kassala, Sannar, and Sawakin. The evacuation of Egyptian troops and officials and other foreigners from Sudan was assigned to General Gordon, who had been reappointed governor general with orders to return to Khartoum and organize a withdrawal of the Egyptian garrisons there.


Gordon reached Khartoum in February 1884. At first he was greeted with jubilation as many of the tribes in the immediate area were at odds with the Mahdists. Transportation northward was still open and the telegraph lines intact. However, the uprising of the Beja soon after his arrival changed things considerably, reducing communications to runners.

Gordon considered the routes northward to be too dangerous to extricate the garrisons and so pressed for reinforcements to be sent from Cairo to help with the withdrawal. He also suggested that his old enemy Al-Zubayr Rahma Mansur, a fine military commander, be given tacit control of the Sudan in order to provide a counter to the Ansār. London rejected both proposals, and so Gordon prepared for a fight.

In March 1884, Gordon tried a small offensive to clear the road northward to Egypt but a number of the officers in the Egyptian force went over to the enemy and their forces fled the field after firing a single salvo. This convinced him that he could carry out only defensive operations and he returned to Khartoum to construct defensive works.

By April 1884, Gordon had managed to evacuate some 2500 of the foreign population that were able to make the trek northwards. His mobile force under Colonel Stewart then returned to the city after repeated incidents where the 200 or so Egyptian forces under his command would turn and run at the slightest provocation.

That month the Ansār reached Khartoum and Gordon was completely cut off. Nevertheless, his defensive works, consisting mainly of mines, proved so frightening to the Ansār that they were unable to penetrate into the city. Stewart maintained a number of small skirmishes using gunboats on the Nile once the waters rose, and in August managed to recapture Berber for a short time. However, Stewart was killed soon after in another foray from Berber to Dongola, a fact Gordon only learned about in a letter from the Mahdi himself.

Under increasing pressure from the public to support him, the British Government under Prime Minister Gladstone eventually ordered Lord Garnet Joseph Wolseley to relieve Gordon. He was already deployed in Egypt due to the attempted coup there earlier, and was able to form up a large force of infantry, moving forward at an extremely slow rate. Realizing they would take some time to arrive, Gordon pressed for him to send forward a "flying column" of camel-borne troops across the Bayyudah Desert from Wadi Halfa under the command of Brigadier-General Sir Herbert Stuart. This force was attacked by the Hadendoa Beja, or "Fuzzy Wuzzies", twice, first at the Battle of Abu Klea and two days later nearer Metemma. Twice the British square held and the Mahdists were repelled with heavy losses.

At Metemma, 100 miles (160 km) north of Khartoum, Wolseley's advance guard met four of Gordon's steamers, sent down to provide speedy transport for the first relieving troops. They gave Wolseley a dispatch from Gordon claiming that the city was about to fall. However, only moments later a runner brought in a message claiming the city could hold out for a year. Deciding to believe the latter, the force stopped while they refit the steamers to hold more troops.

They finally arrived in Khartoum on January 28, 1885 to find the town had fallen during the Battle of Khartoum two days earlier. When the Nile had receded from flood stage, Faraz Pasha had opened the river gates and let the Ansār in. The garrison was slaughtered, and Gordon was killed fighting the Mahdi's warriors on the steps of the palace, hacked to pieces and beheaded which the Mahdi had forbade. When Gordon's head was unwrapped at the Mahdi's feet, he ordered the head transfixed between the branches of a tree "....where all who passed it could look in disdain, children could throw stones at it and the hawks of the desert could sweep and circle above." When Wolseley's force arrived, they retreated after attempting to force their way to the center of the town on ships, being met with a hail of fire.

The Mahdi Army continued its sweep of victories. Kassala and Sannar fell soon after and by the end of 1885 the Ansār had begun to move into the southern regions of Sudan. In all Sudan, only Suakin, reinforced by Indian troops, and Wadi Halfa on the northern frontier remained in Anglo-Egyptian hands.

With Sudan now in Sudanese hands, the Mahdi formed a government. The Mahdiyya (Mahdist regime) modified the Shariah, (Islamic law) which would be implemented by Islamic courts headed by various Islamic imams, in accordance with the view of an Islamic state. The courts enforced a Sharia law that the Mahdi claimed was founded on instructions conveyed to him by God in visions.

According to this doctrine loyalty to him was essential to true belief. The recitation of the shahada was modified to include and Muhammad Ahmad is the Mahdi of God and the representative of His Prophet. Among the five pillars, service in the "jihād" replaced the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) as a duty incumbent on the faithful (though Jihad-warfare is central to orthodox Islam, it is not considered one of the five pillars of faith).

He also authorized the burning of lists of pedigrees and books of law and theology because of their association with the old regime and because he believed that they accentuated tribalism at the expense of religious unity.

Six months after the capture of Khartoum, Muhammad Ahmad died of typhus. He was buried in Omdurman. The Mahdi had planned for this eventuality and had chosen three deputies to replace him, in imitation of the Prophet Muhammad. This led to a long period of disarray, due to rivalry among the three, each supported by people of his native region. This continued until 1891, when Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, with the help primarily of the Baqqara Arabs, emerged as unchallenged leader. Abdallahi, referred to as the "Khalifa" (Caliph, lit. "successor"), purged the Mahdiyya of members of the Mahdi's family and many of his early religious disciples.

The "Khalifa" was committed to the Mahdi's vision of extending the Mahdiyah through jihād, which led to strained relations with practically everyone else. For example, the "Khalifa" rejected an offer of an alliance against the Europeans by Ethiopia's Emperor, Yohannes IV. Instead, in 1887 a 60,000-man Ansar army invaded Ethiopia, penetrated as far as Gonder, and captured prisoners and booty. The Khalifa then refused to conclude peace with Ethiopia.

In March 1889, an Ethiopian force commanded personally by the Nəgusa nagast (Emperor, lit. "King of Kings") marched on Gallabat; however, after Yohannes IV fell in battle, the Ethiopians withdrew.

After the final defeat of the Khalifa by the British under General Kitchener, Muhammad Ahmad's tomb was destroyed and his bones were thrown into the Nile. Kitchener retained his skull.  Allegedly the skull was later buried at Wadi Halfa. The tomb was eventually rebuilt.

In modern-day Sudan, Muhammad Ahmad is sometimes seen as a precursor of Sudanese nationalism. The Umma party claim to be his political descendants. Their leader Imam Sadiq al-Mahdi, is also the imam of the Ansar, the religious order that pledges allegiance to Muhammad Ahmad. Sadiq al-Mahdi was Prime Minister of Sudan on two occasions: first briefly in 1966–67, and then between 1986 and 1989.

El Mahdi see Mahdi, El
Muhammad Ahmad see Mahdi, El
Ahmad, Muhammad see Mahdi, El
Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah see Mahdi, El
Muhammad Ahmed Al Mahdi see Mahdi, El
Muhammad Ahmad ibn ‘Abdallah al-Mahdi see Mahdi, El

A094 - Sayyid Ahmad Khan

 

Ahmad Khan, Sayyid
Ahmad Khan, Sayyid  (Sayyid Ahmad Khan) (October 17, 1817 - March 27, 1898).  Educational, political, and religious reformer and the major formulator of the modern concept of communal identity among Muslims of India in the latter half of the nineteenth century of the Christian calendar.  As founder of the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh and leader of the Aligarh movement, he attempted to bring about a synthesis between the culture of the Mughal Empire and the institutions of British rule.

Son of an official of the Mughal court, by then a protectorate of the British East India Company, Sayyid Ahmad was raised in the religious and cultural style of the Mughal literati and scholastic tradition associated with Shah Wali Ullah (Shah Wali Allah).  In defiance of the wishes of his elders, he took service as a subordinate official of the British regime in 1836 and spent the next forty years of his life posted in a series of small North Indian towns.  At the same time, he was editor of one of the first Urdu newspapers and author of religious and historical works.  During the 1857 Revolt, he remained a staunch supporter of British rule, but afterwards published a sharp critique of British policies and attitudes. 

During the 1860s, Sayyid Ahmad became an active public leader, journalist, and orator, as well as the founder of a series of schools and associations, all aimed at reconciling British and Indian ideologies and institutions.  He established a Scientific Society in 1864, which moved to Aligarh the following year, dedicated to translating European historical and scientific works into Urdu and publishing older works of Indian and Islamic scholarship.

Following a trip to England in 1869/1870 Sayyid Ahmad became determined to establish an autonomous Indian Muslim educational system, which would prepare a new intellectual leadership grounded in Western knowledge as well as in a reformed Islam.  Although his religious liberalism inspired intense opposition, the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College, Aligarh, founded in 1875, became a center and symbol of a new concept of communal unity for Indian Muslims.

In 1887, “Sir Syed,” as he came to be known, led a movement of opposition to the Indian National Congress, arguing that its program was inconsistent with the nature of Indian society and the interests of Muslims.  After his death, these opinions were deemed a charter for separatist Muslim politics, although Sayyid Ahmad represented more the imperial ideologies of the Mughals and British than the religious nationalism of the movement that led to the creation of the state of Pakistan. 

Syed Ahmed Khan (also Sayyid Ahmad Khan), commonly known as "Sir Syed," was an Indian educator and politician, and an Islamic reformer and modernist. Syed Ahmed pioneered modern education for the Muslim community in India by founding the Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental College, which later developed into the Aligarh Muslim University. His work gave rise to a new generation of Muslim intellectuals and politicians who composed the Aligarh movement to secure the political future of Muslims in India.

Born into Mughal nobility, Syed Ahmed earned a reputation as a distinguished scholar while working as a jurist for the British East India Company. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, he remained loyal to the British and was noted for his actions in saving European lives. After the rebellion, he penned the booklet Asbab-e-Bhaghawath-e-Hind ("The Causes of the Indian Mutiny") — a daring critique, at the time, of British policies that he blamed for causing the revolt. Believing that the future of Muslims was threatened by the rigidity of their orthodox outlook, Syed Ahmed began promoting Western-style scientific education by founding modern schools and journals and organising Muslim intellectuals. Towards this goal, Syed Ahmed founded the Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875 with the aim of promoting social and economic development of Indian Muslims.

One of the most influential Muslim politicians of his time, Syed Ahmed was suspicious of the Indian independence movement and called upon Muslims to loyally serve the British Raj. He denounced nationalist organisations such as the Indian National Congress, instead forming organisations to promote Muslim unity and pro-British attitudes and activities. Syed Ahmed promoted the adoption of Urdu as the lingua franca of all Indian Muslims, and mentored a rising generation of Muslim politicians and intellectuals. Although hailed as a great Muslim leader and social reformer, Syed Ahmed remains the subject of controversy for his views on Hindu-Muslim issues.
 
Syed Ahmed Khan Bahadur was born in Delhi, then the capital of the Mughal Empire. His family is said to have migrated from [Herat] (now in [Afghanistan]) in the time of emperor Akbar, although by other accounts his family descended from Arabia. Many generations of his family had since been highly connected with the Mughal administration. His maternal grandfather Khwaja Fariduddin served as wazir in the court of Akbar Shah II. His paternal grandfather Syed Hadi held a mansab, a high-ranking administrative position and honorary name of Jawwad Ali Khan in the court of Alamgir II. Syed's father Mir Muhammad Muttaqi was personally close to Akbar Shah II and served as his personal adviser. However, Syed Ahmed was born at a time when rebellious governors, regional insurrections and the British colonialism had diminished the extent and power of the Mughal state, reducing its monarch to a figurehead status. With his elder brother Syed Muhammad Khan, Syed Ahmed was raised in a large house in a wealthy area of the city. They were raised in strict accordance with Mughal noble traditions and exposed to politics. Their mother Azis-un-Nisa played a formative role in Syed Ahmed's life, raising him with rigid discipline and with a strong emphasis on education. Syed Ahmed was taught to read and understand the Qur'an by a female tutor, which was unusual at the time. He received an education traditional to Muslim nobility in Delhi. Under the charge of Maulvi Hamiduddin, Syed Ahmed was trained in Persian, Arabic, Urdu and religious subjects. He read the works of Muslim scholars and writers such as Sahbai, Rumi and Ghalib. Other tutors instructed him in mathematics, astronomy and Islamic jurisprudence. Syed Ahmed was also adept at swimming, wrestling and other sports. He took an active part in the Mughal court's cultural activities. His elder brother founded the city's first printing press in the Urdu language along with the journal Sayyad-ul-Akbar. Syed Ahmed pursued the study of medicine for several years, but did not complete the prescribed course of study.  Until the death of his father in 1838, Syed Ahmed had lived a life customary for an affluent young Muslim noble. Upon his father's death, he inherited the titles of his grandfather and father and was awarded the title of Arif Jung by the emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar.  Financial difficulties put an end to Syed Ahmed's formal education, although he continued to study in private, using books on a variety of subjects. Syed Ahmed assumed editorship of his brother's journal and rejected offers of employment from the Mughal court. Having recognised the steady decline in Mughal political power, Syed Ahmed entered the British East India Company's civil service. He was appointed serestadar at the courts of law in Agra, responsible for record-keeping and managing court affairs. In 1840, he was promoted to the title of munshi.
 
The Social Reformer was a pioneering publication initiated by Syed Ahmed to promote liberal ideas in Muslim society. While continuing to work as a jurist, Syed Ahmed began focusing on writing on various subjects, mainly in Urdu. His career as an author began when he published a series of treatises in Urdu on religious subjects in 1842. He published the book Athar Assanadid ("Great Monuments") documenting antiquities of Delhi dating from the medieval era. This work earned him the reputation of a cultured scholar. In 1842, he completed the Jila-ul-Qulub bi Zikr il Mahbub and the Tuhfa-i-Hasan, along with the Tahsil fi jar-i-Saqil in 1844. These works focused on religious and cultural subjects. In 1852, he published the two works Namiqa dar bayan masala tasawwur-i-Shaikh and Silsilat ul-Mulk. He released the second edition of Athar Assanadid in 1854. He also penned a commentary on the Bible in which he argued that Islam was the closest religion to Christianity, with a common lineage from Abrahamic religions.

Acquainted with high-ranking British officials, Syed Ahmed obtained close knowledge about British colonial politics during his service at the courts. At the outbreak of the Indian rebellion, on May 10, 1857, Syed Ahmed was serving as the chief assessment officer at the court in Bijnor. Northern India became the scene of the most intense fighting. The conflict had left large numbers of civilians dead. Erstwhile centres of Muslim power such as Delhi, Agra, Lucknow and Kanpur were severely affected. Syed Ahmed was personally affected by the violence and the ending of the Mughal dynasty amongst many other long-standing kingdoms. Syed Ahmed and many other Muslims took this as a defeat of Muslim society. He lost several close relatives who died in the violence. Although he succeeded in rescuing his mother from the turmoil, she died in Meerut, owing to the privations she had experienced.

In 1858, Syed Ahmed was appointed to a high-ranking post at the court in Muradabad, where he began working on his most famous literary work. Publishing the booklet Asbab-e-Bhaghawath-e-Hind in 1859, Syed Ahmed studied the causes of the revolt. In this, his most famous work, he rejected the common notion that the conspiracy was planned by Muslim élites, who were insecure at the diminishing influence of Muslim monarchs. Syed Ahmed blamed the British East India Company for its aggressive expansion as well as the ignorance of British politicians regarding Indian culture. However, he gained respect for British power, which he felt would dominate India for a long period of time. Seeking to rehabilitate Muslim political influence, Syed Ahmed advised the British to appoint Muslims to assist in administration. His other writings such as Loyal Muhammadans of India, Tabyin-ul-Kalam and A Series of Essays on the Life of Muhammad and Subjects Subsidiary Therein helped to create cordial relations between the British authorities and the Muslim community.

Through the 1850s, Syed Ahmed Khan began developing a strong passion for education. While pursuing studies of different subjects including European [jurisprudence], Syed Ahmed began to realize the advantages of Western-style education, which was being offered at newly-established colleges across India. Despite being a devout Muslim, Syed Ahmed criticized the influence of traditional dogma and religious orthodoxy, which had made most Indian Muslims suspicious of British influences. Syed Ahmed began feeling increasingly concerned for the future of Muslim communities.  A scion of Mughal nobility, Syed Ahmed had been reared in the finest traditions of Muslim élite culture and was aware of the steady decline of Muslim political power across India. The animosity between the British and Muslims before and after the rebellion (Independence War) of 1857 threatened to marginalize Muslim communities across India for many generations. Syed Ahmed intensified his work to promote co-operation with British authorities, promoting loyalty to the Empire amongst Indian Muslims. Committed to working for the uplifting of Muslims, Syed Ahmed founded a modern madrassa in Muradabad in 1859. This was one of the first religious schools to impart scientific education. Syed Ahmed also worked on social causes, helping to organize relief for the famine-struck people of the Northwest Frontier Province in 1860. He established another modern school in Ghazipur in 1863.

Upon his transfer to Aligarh in 1864, Syed Ahmed began working wholeheartedly as an educator. He founded the Scientific Society of Aligarh, the first scientific association of its kind in India. Modelling it after the Royal Society and the Royal Asiatic Society, Syed Ahmed assembled Muslim scholars from different parts of the country. The Society held annual conferences, disbursed funds for educational causes and regularly published a journal on scientific subjects in English and Urdu. Syed Ahmed felt that the socio-economic future of Muslims was threatened by their orthodox aversions to modern science and technology. He published many writings promoting liberal, rational interpretations of Islamic scriptures. However, his view of Islam was rejected by Muslim clergy as contrary to traditional views on issues like jihad, polygamy and animal slaughtering. In face of pressure from religious Muslims, Syed Ahmed avoided discussing religious subjects in his writings, focusing instead on promoting education.

The onset of the Hindi-Urdu controversy of 1867 saw the emergence of Syed Ahmed as a political leader of the Muslim community. He became a leading Muslim voice opposing the adoption of Hindi as a second official language of the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh). Syed Ahmed perceived Urdu as the lingua franca of Muslims. Having been developed by Muslim rulers of India, Urdu was used as a secondary language to Persian, the official language of the Mughal court. Since the decline of the Mughal dynasty, Syed Ahmed promoted the use of Urdu through his own writings. Under Syed Ahmed, the Scientific Society translated Western works only into Urdu. The schools established by Syed Ahmed imparted education in the Urdu medium. The demand for Hindi, led largely by Hindus, was to Syed Ahmed an erosion of the centuries-old Muslim cultural domination of India. Testifying before the British-appointed education commission, Syed Ahmed controversially exclaimed that "Urdu was the language of gentry and Hindi that of the vulgar." His remarks provoked a hostile response from Hindu leaders, who unified across the nation to demand the recognition of Hindi.

The success of the Hindi movement led Syed Ahmed to further advocate Urdu as the symbol of Muslim heritage and as the language of all Indian Muslims. His educational and political work grew increasingly centered around, and exclusively for, Muslim interests. He also sought to persuade the British to give Urdu extensive official use and patronage. His colleagues and protégés such as Mohsin-ul-Mulk and Maulvi Abdul Haq developed organisations such as the Urdu Defence Association and the Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu, committed to the perpetuation of Urdu. Syed Ahmed's protégé Shibli Nomani led efforts that resulted in the adoption of Urdu as the official language of the Hyderabad State and as the medium of instruction in the Osmania University. To Muslims in northern and western India, Urdu had become an integral part of political and cultural identity. However, the division over the use of Hindi or Urdu further provoked communal conflict between Muslims and Hindus in India.
 
On April 1, 1869, Syed Ahmed travelled to England, where he was awarded the Order of the Star of India from the British government on August 6. Travelling across England, he visited its colleges and was inspired by the culture of learning established after the Renaissance. Syed Ahmed returned to India in the following year determined to build a "Muslim Cambridge." Upon his return, he organized the "Committee for the Better Diffusion and Advancement of Learning among Muhammadans" (Muslims) on December 26, 1870.

By 1873, the committee under Syed Ahmed issued proposals for the construction of a college in Aligarh. He began publishing the journal Tahzib al-Akhlaq (Social Reformer) to spread awareness and knowledge on modern subjects and promote reforms in Muslim society.  Syed Ahmed worked to promote re-interpretation of Muslim ideology in order to reconcile tradition with Western education. He argued in several books on Islam that the Qur'an rested on an appreciation of reason and natural law, making scientific inquiry important to being a good Muslim. Syed Ahmed established a modern school in Aligarh and, obtaining support from wealthy Muslims and the British, laid the foundation stone of the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College on May 24, 1875. He retired from his career as a jurist the following year, concentrating entirely on developing the college and on religious reform. Syed Ahmed's pioneering work received support from the British. Although intensely criticized by orthodox religious leaders hostile to modern influences, Syed Ahmed's new institution attracted a large student body, mainly drawn from the Muslim gentry and middle classes. The curriculum at the college involved scientific and Western subjects, as well as Oriental subjects and religious education. The first chancellor was Sultan Shah Jahan Begum, a prominent Muslim noblewoman, and Syed Ahmed invited an Englishman, Theodore Beck, to serve as the first college principal. The college was originally affiliated with Calcutta University but was transferred to the Allahabad University in 1885. Near the turn of the 20th century, it began publishing its own magazine and established a law school. In 1920, the college was transformed into a university.

In 1878, Syed Ahmed was nominated to the Viceroy's Legislative Council. He testified before the education commission to promote the establishment of more colleges and schools across India. In the same year, Syed Ahmed founded the Muhammadan Association to promote political co-operation amongst Indian Muslims from different parts of the country. In 1886, he organized the All India Muhammadan Educational Conference in Aligarh, which promoted his vision of modern education and political unity for Muslims. His works made him the most prominent Muslim politician in 19th century India, often influencing the attitude of Muslims on various national issues. He supported the efforts of Indian political leaders Surendranath Banerjea and Dadabhai Naoroji to obtain representation for Indians in the government and civil services. In 1883, he founded the Muhammadan Civil Service Fund Association to encourage and support the entry of Muslim graduates into the Indian Civil Service (ICS).

Syed Ahmed's political views were shaped by a strong aversion to the emerging nationalist movement, which was composed largely of Hindus. Syed Ahmed opposed the Indian National Congress (created in 1885) on the grounds that it was a Hindu-majority organization. Syed Ahmed called on Muslims to stay away from it. While fearful of the loss of Muslim political power owing to the community's backwardness, Syed Ahmed was also averse to the prospect of democratic self-government, which would give control of government to the Hindu-majority population.

Syed Ahmed's fierce criticism of the Congress and Indian nationalists created rifts between Muslims and Hindus. At the same time, Syed Ahmed sought to politically ally Muslims to the British government. An avowed loyalist of the British Empire, Syed Ahmed was nominated as a member of the Civil Service Commission in 1887 by Lord Dufferin. In 1888, he established the United Patriotic Association at Aligarh to promote political co-operation with the British and Muslim participation in the government. Syed Ahmed Khan was knighted by the British government in 1888 and in the following year he received an LL.D. honoris causa from the Edinburgh University.

Syed Ahmed Khan lived the last two decades of his life in Aligarh, regarded widely as the mentor of 19th- and 20th century Muslim intellectuals and politicians. He remained the most influential Muslim politician in India, with his opinions guiding the convictions of a large majority of Muslims. Battling illnesses and old age, Syed Ahmed died on March 27, 1898. He was buried besides Syed Masjid inside the campus of the Aligarh university. His funeral was attended by thousands of students, Muslim leaders and British officials.  Syed Ahmed is widely commemorated across South Asia as a great Muslim reformer and visionary.

The university he founded remains one of India's most prominent institutions. Prominent alumni of Aligarh include Muslim political leaders Maulana Mohammad Ali, Abdur Rab Nishtar, Maulana Shaukat Ali and Maulvi Abdul Haq, who is hailed in Pakistan as Baba-e-Urdu (Father of Urdu). The first two Prime Ministers of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan and Khawaja Nazimuddin, as well as the late Indian President Dr. Zakir Hussain, are amongst Aligarh's most famous graduates. In India, Syed Ahmed is commemorated as a pioneer who worked for the socio-political upliftment of Indian Muslims, though his views on Hindu-Muslim issues are a subject of controversy. Syed Ahmed is also hailed as a founding father of Pakistan for his role in developing a Muslim political class independent of Hindu-majority organizations. The Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology was established in honor of Syed Ahmed in Karachi and is a leading technical institution in Pakistan. Furthermore, Sir Syed Government Girls College in Karachi, Pakistan is also named in the honor of Syed Ahmed Khan.

During his lifetime and in contemporary times, Syed Ahmed was criticised for encouraging communal divisions between Hindus and Muslims. He is identified by historians as one of the earliest advocates of the Two-Nation Theory — that Hindus and Muslims were distinct and incompatible nations. Historians argue that Syed Ahmed was emotionally unable to accept the prospect that an independent India's Hindu-majority would come to rule Muslims, who had been the erstwhile colonial rulers. He also feared that Hindu culture would diminish the Perso-Arabic nature of Muslim culture, which had enjoyed a dominant status under Muslim rulers for centuries. His condemnation of Indian nationalists and profession of the incompatibility of Muslims and Hindus widened the socio-political gulf between the communities that had emerged with the Urdu-Hindi controversy.

Supporters of Syed Ahmed contend that his political vision gave an independent political expression to the Muslim community, which aided its goal to secure political power in India. His philosophy guided the creation of the All India Muslim League in 1906, as a political party separate from the Congress. Syed Ahmed's ideas inspired both the liberal, pro-British politicians of the Muslim League and the religious ideologues of the Khilafat struggle. The Muslim League remained at odds with the Congress and continued to advocate the boycott of the Indian independence movement. In the 1940s, the student body of Aligarh committed itself to the establishment of Pakistan and contributed in a large measure to the activities of the Muslim League. Syed Ahmed's patronage of Urdu led to its widespread use amongst Indian Muslim communities and following the Partition of India its adoption as the official language of Pakistan, even though the most spoken Pakistani languages were Bengali and Punjabi.

Khan, Sayyid Ahmad see Ahmad Khan, Sayyid
"Sir Syed" see Ahmad Khan, Sayyid
Syed Ahmed Khan see Ahmad Khan, Sayyid