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
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