Sir Syed Ahmad Khan

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan

Subject – History

Context – Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has completed 100 years

Concept –

• He was an Islamic pragmatist, Islamic reformer, philosopher, and educationist in nineteenth-century British India.
• Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, an iconic social reformer and founder of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), which has completed 100 years, was born on October 17, 1817.
  • Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental (MAO) College was the precursor of AMU.
• His distinctiveness lay in the way he used education as a tool for national integration.
• His wish was to unshackle Hindus and Muslims from medieval thinking towards broad-mindedness, reason and progress.
• Sir Syed laid out his vision for Hindu-Muslim unity in a speech in January 1883.
• Sir Syed laid the foundation of comparative religious studies and revived the spirit of Dara Shikoh’s philosophy — to bring major communities of India together by finding commonalities in their religions and assimilate them as a one mighty stream.
  • This is why AMU established the Dara Shikoh Centre for Interfaith Understanding. Section 5 (2)(b) of the AMU Act empowers the university to promote the study of religions, civilisation and culture of India.
• In AMU’s 100 years, it has not only contributed to nation-building but also played a role in India’s quest for building friendly ties with the Muslim world. For this, AMU is recognised as an institution of national importance under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.
• Apart from drawing students from 26 other countries, it has students from 31 States and Union Territories and thus represents India’s multi-religious, multi-racial and multi-lingual character. This is why Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the centenary celebrations of AMU in 2020, called the institution a “mini-India”.
• Though initially espousing Hindu-Muslim unity, he became the pioneer of Muslim nationalism in India and is widely credited as the father of the two-nation theory, which formed the basis of the Pakistan movement.
• In 1838, Syed Ahmad entered the service of East India Company and went on to become a judge at a Small Causes Court in 1867, retiring from 1876.
  • During the War of Independence of 1857, he remained loyal to the British Raj and was noted for his actions in saving European lives.
  • After the rebellion, he penned the booklet The Causes of the Indian Mutiny – a daring critique, at the time, of various British policies that he blamed for causing the revolt.
• In 1859, Syed established Gulshan School at Muradabad, Victoria School at Ghazipur in 1863, and a scientific society for Muslims in 1864.
• In 1875, founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College, the first Muslim university in Southern Asia.
• During his career, Syed repeatedly called upon Muslims to loyally serve the British Raj and promoted the adoption of Urdu as the lingua franca of all Indian Muslims.
• Syed criticized the Indian National Congress.
• Syed maintains a strong legacy in Pakistan and among Indian Muslims. He strongly influenced other Muslim leaders including Allama Iqbal and Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
• His advocacy of Islam’s rationalist tradition, and at broader, radical reinterpretation of the Quran to make it compatible with science and modernity, continues to influence the global Islamic reformation.
• His works, in Urdu, included Essays on the Life of Mohammed (1870) and commentaries on the Bible and on the Qurʾān.
  • In 1888 he was made a Knight Commander of the Star of India.
• He started an influential journal, Tahdhīb al-Akhlāq (“Social Reform”), for the “uplift and reform of the Muslim.”