Sir Syed Ahmad khan
Life history of Sir Syed Ahmad khan
(1817-1898)
"Often in civilized history a University has supplied the springboard for a nation's intellectuals and intellectual renascence. In our time it has been said that the American Robert Missionary College in Constantinople led to the re-emergence of Bulgaria as an independent, sovereign nation. Who can assess the effect on Arab nationalism of the existence of the American University of Beirut? Aligarh is no exception to this rule. But we may claim with pride that Aligarh was the product of our own efforts and of no outside benevolence, and surely it may also be claimed that the independent sovereign nation of Pakistan was born in the Muslim University of Aligarh". Pakistan owes as much to Aligarh, as Aligarh owes to Sir Syed Ahmed Khan for its conception, establishment and development. In other words, Sir Syed Ahmed's contribution in the cause of the Pakistan Movement has been a spectacular one and deserves honourable mention in the annals of our freedom movement.
In the second half of the seventeenth century, during the days of Aurangzeb, a, Persian family migrated from Iran and, taking the overland route, entered India, where they came to be permanently settled. About a hundred years later, one of the descendants of this family, Sayed Hadi, came to be appointed as a high-ranking officer in the Court of Alamgir II. Mir Muttaqui, the son of Sayed Hadi, had no heart in court life and, therefore, he sought no opportunities to become attached as an officer of the Royal Court. Although he was often invited to the private sittings of the Emperor, he continued to pass most of his time perfecting himself in swimming and in archery. His fame spread far and wide as an expert in these two sports, and many princes eagerly enrolled themselves as his pupils to learn swimming and archery under him.
Mir Muttaqui was also a man of strong religious inclinations and spent much of his time by himself as a religious recluse which who won him the esteem of those that came to know him. Leading a life of non-attachment to worldly gains, when, on the death of his father, Sayed Hadi, he was offered the office that his father had held at the Royal Court, he politely declined it Eager to imbibe more and more religious experience and knowledge, he fell under the influence of Shah Ghulam Ali, a saint of the order of Mujadid Alpha-Thani, who was held in great reverence by his following. Shah Ghulam Ali became very fond of his pupil, Mir Muttaqui and, having no children of his own, he looked upon Mir Muttaqui's children of his own.
Mir Muttaqui came to be married to Azizun-Nisa, daughter of Khwaja Fariduddin, for some time Prime Minister of the Moghul Emperor, and in the year 1817 a son was born in the family. The father took the son to his spiritual mentor, Shah Ghulam Ali, who gave his blessings to the baby boy and named him Ahmed. As the child grew up, he was frequently taken to the saint, who became particularly fond of him, and when Syed Ahmed was of school-going age, Shah Ghulam Ali took him under his care to teach him the Holy Quran. His attachment to the saint in his young and impressionable age left an imperishable mark on the boy's mind, and he grew up to be a devout Muslim.
Sir Syed Ahmed khan maternal grandfather, Khwaja Fariduddin, was noted for his scholarship, being a renowned mathematician, and at the same time wise in running the affairs of state. He had a brilliant academic career and had held many important public offices. He was particularly fond of his grandson, Syed Ahmed, who spent many days in the house of his grandfather. This contact created in him a desire to pursue Western education, which was then looked upon with genral disfavour by the Muslims. The profound influence that Khawaja Fariduddin exercised over him is evident from a biography that Syed Ahmed wrote of his grandfather. His mother was a very sagacious lady, and from his early childhood she put Syed Ahmed in competent hands in the old-syle maktabs to learn the Holy Quran, supplemented by tuitio that he recelved at home by a learned lady, whom the solicitous mother had engaged for the purpose. Maulvi Hamiduddin was one of his earliest teachers, from whom he learnt Persian and Arabic, which were considered necessary languages for boys and girls of good Muslim families.
Among the subjects that interested him most as a student were mathematics and medicine, but the gathering dark clouds of financial difficulties over the fortunes of his family compelled him to leave his studies incomplete and to go out into the world in search of work. Out of maktabs, but never out of touch with books, he continued to educate himself, an end towards the achievement of which he bent his energies with full force. Delhi was at this time famous for its literary sittings and poetry evenings, and Syed Ahmed was a frequent visitor to these gatherings, where he met outstanding Urdu poets and writers, the most notable of whom were Ghalib and Maulvi Imambux Shahbai. The latter was a famous poet and scholar of the time, and was for some time Professor of Persian in the Delhi College. During the rebellion of (1857), he died the death of a martyr, having been shot by British soldiers for his revolutionary activities.
At the age of twenty-one, Sir Syed Ahmed khan lost his father, and through the good offices of his uncle, Maulvi Khaliullah, he succeeded in securing a minor post in the employment of the East India Company. He made a mark for himself very early in his career as an employee of the Company, and he was given a higher post and transferred to Agra. After having passed the examination of Munsif, he was appointed as Munsif at Manipuri three years later. In 1842 he was transferred to Fathepur Sikri, and in 1846 he was re-posted to Delhi. He remained in Delhi for nine years, during which time he took seriously to writing books and pamphlets, which established his reputation as a writer and thinker. In (1855) he was given a higher promotion, and was appointed Sadr Amin of Bijnor town.
When the first rebellion for India's independence broke out in (1857), Syed Ahmed Khan was in Bijnor, where lived about twenty Europeans, all employed in the service of the company. The fury of the citizens had been roused against the foreigners, and the Englishmen at Bijnor, finding their lives in grave danger fled protection to the home of Shakespeare, the Collector of the District. But even here their lives were not safe, and Syed Ahmed, at the risk of losingv his own life, guarded the house of the Collector. The forces of revolution soon surrounded the house of the Collector and it was only a matter of hours for each one of them to be killed.
Sir Syed Ahmed khan faced the situation with courage and acted as a peace-maker between the besieged Europeans and his own people. Ultimately he succeeded in bringing about a settlement between the two, and the Europeans were allowed to leave Bijnor without being molested.
He had saved the Europeans, but when rebellion is once let loose on the streets, without a central hand to keep it under proper control and direction, chaotic conditions inevitably follow. Syed Ahmed found Bijnor and the country around aflame with hatred and thirsty for vengeance He left Bijnor for Moradabad, but the highways being infested with robbers, he met with disastrous adventures, until he reached Meerut, a very sick and tired man, worn out by travelling and worried by the ominous shadow of a threatening calamity, which he felt would soon envelop India.
When he returned to his home in Delhi in September (1857), he found his house almost destroyed, and his uncle and cousin murdered by the Sikhs, who had sided with the English in the rebellion. As a consequence of this, his whole family had left their home and fled for safety to one of the suburbs of Delhi. Fortunately for him, he found his mother and one of his aunts in hiding in the stables, where they had spent days of terrible suffering, not having had a morsel to eat for the last few days. He brought the two ladies to Meerut, after facing the hazards of a difficult journey. But the shock of the brutalities that she had witnessed at Delhi had so deeply hurt her feelings, that they made her thoroughly sick. She had hardly been in Meerut for a short time, when her health completely broke down, and she soon breathed her last.
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan's next posting was at Moradabad as Sadr-us-Sadr. The consequences that followed in the wake of the rebellion fell heavily on the Muslims of India, and it is only through literature contemporaneous with that period that we are able to form some idea of the severe disabilities that were inflicted on the Muslims, as if to satisfy a devilish will for vengeance. The Hindus were being given all key positions in Government service to the complete exclusion of the Muslims. "The truth is that when the country passed under our rule, the Muslamans were the superior race, and superior not only in stoutness of heart and strength of arm, but in power of political organisation and the science of political Government....
Before the country passed to us, they were not only the political, but the intellectual power in India. . . . Some years ago, out of three hundred boys in the English College (Calcutta), not one per cent were Muslims". As a matter of fact, instances were not wanting when even minor posts were snatched from Muslims and given to Hindus; even official Gazettes, advertising vacancies to be filled, notified that Muslims would not be eligible for the posts advertised. “Not only were the Muslims economically crushed, educationally and socially also their position was deliberately depressed by the Government".
While working as Sadr-us-Sadr at Moradabad, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan had ample opportunities to reflect upon the fallen condition of his coreligionists, to analyse the causes that had brought about that sad state of affairs, and to think out remedial measures that would meet the situation and enable them to once again stand on their legs, as a self-respecting nation, living in human dignity. He seemed to live from now on for one cause only-to work tirelessly, with utter dedication, for the social and educational advancement of the Muslims of India. He continued to write pamphlets and books, and delivered an important public speech for the first time on 28th July, (1859).
Dwelling upon the sufferings of the Muslims, he ended his speech by prayers for the progress and prosperity of the Muslims. The most significant of his literary works of this period were his pamphlets Loyal Mohammadans of India and The Causes of Indian Revolt. The latter book is evidence of his fearlessness in the face of heavy odds, as it was written during the martial law regime in the wake of the first rebellion, and it was a bold criticism of the policies followed by the Government.
He deplored the fact that Indians were not represented in the councils of Government machinery that initiated policies at all leveles. "Most men agree......that it is highly conducive to the welfare and prosperity of Government-indeed, it is essential to its stability—that the people should have a voice in its councils......
Government would never know ( in the pre-mutiny period ) the inadvisability of the laws and regulations which it passed. It would never hear, as it ought to have heard, the voice of the people on such a subject". Condemning the English for their aloofness, he wrote, “There was no real communication between the Governors and the governed, no living together or near one another as has always been the custom of the Mohammadans, in countries, which they subjected to their rule”. There was an uproar from the English in protest against the book. "It is a highly seditious book ..... The author should be duly punished".
When famine broke out in (1860), Sir Syed was entrusted with the task of distributing food to the famine-stricken people. He worked round the clock and won the admiration of the people of Moradabad for the devoted manner in which he discharged this responsibility. Under his advice, John Strachey, the Collector of Moradabad, agreed that the children orphaned by the famine be given to such Hindu and Muslim families as would care to take them under their protection, so that they may not be sent to Christian mission homes, where they were sure to be converted to Christianity.
Sir Syed himself took five such orphans under his roof. But when Strachey was transferred, and another Englishman took over as Collector, he reversed Strachey's orders, and all such orphans were ordered to be handed over to Christian missionaries, including the orphans that had found shelter in Sir Syed's home. The voice of the Christian missionaries at this period of our history was very powerful with our English rulers, and they dared not refuse what the Church dictated. This is evident from a speech made in 1857 in Parliament by Mangles, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the East India Company.
"Providence has entrusted the extensive
empire of Hindustan to England that the banner of Christ, should fly triumphant from one end of India to the other.: Everyone must exert all his strength that there may be no dilatoriness on any account in continuing in the country of the work of making all India Christian".
He was still posted at Moradabad when his wife died in (1859). He was a devoted husband, and many years of life spent together as husband and wife had forged bonds of deep attachment between the two. At the time of the death of his wife, they had two sons, Hamid and Mahmud, and one daughter. A little over forty, Sir Syed was old beyond his years. He was drooping under the burden of the plight of the Muslims, which was weighing heavily on his mind. He had long ago come to the conclusion that the Muslims must change their outlook, be in keeping with the changed times, and, above everything else, they must give up their negative attitude, and take assiduously to the pursuit of modern education.
He saw clearly that so long as they did not do this, they would be left behind in the race for material prosperity by the Hindus. From Moradabad he was transferred to Ghazipur, and in (1864) he was transferred to Aligarh, which proved to be the centre from where he spread his message to the Muslims of India to take to modern education. “Syed Ahmed's motto was, Educate, Educate, Educate. All the socio-political ills of India, he once said to me, may be cured by this treatment. Cure the root, the tree will flourish". In his public speeches, he sounded eloquently the note that Muslims must take more and more to modern education. In a public speech, he said, The reason, gentlemen, why we are all so backward now-a-days is that whilst we are learned in and have benefited by the philosophy, sciences and arts of antiquity, we are almost entirely ignorant of those of modern times".
In (1867), prominent Hindus publicly resolved that Urdu should no longer be written in the Persian script and that it must be replaced by Hindi, written in the Devnagiri script. The seeds of what later developed into a bitter controversy of urdu versus Hindi were laid, and Sir Syed became the champion and the leading advocate of Urdu. It was at about this time that he is said to have told his friend,
(Mr. Shakespeare).
"Now I am convinced that these two nations will not work unitedly in any cause. At present, there is no open hostility between them. But, on account of the so-called educated people, it will increase a hundredfold in the future. He, who is alive at that time, will see it come to pass". Commenting on the same attitude of the Hindus in a letter dated April 29th, (1870), he wrote to Nawab Mohsinul-Mulk, “This is a proposal which will make Hindu-Muslim unity impossible to achieve. Muslims will never agree to Hindi and if the Hindus in accordance with their latest attitude, insist on Hindi, they will reject Urdu. The inevitable consequence of such a move will be that the two will be completely and permanently separated".
Mahmud, his son, was granted a Government scholarship for higher studies in England. Syed Ahmed decided to go with him, accompanied by his other son, Hamid, and so in the middle of (1869) they reached England. His stay in that country was rewarding and fruitful. He met Thomas Cariyle, whose book, Heroes and Hero-Worship, contained a chapter on the life of the Holy Prophet of Islam, which was in refreshing contrast to the usual type of literature on Islam written by Western writers. Syed Ahmed visited the British Museum frequently, collecting material for his own writing of a short biography of the Holy Prophet. He was able to complete it, while still in England, and it was published under the title of Essays on the Life of Mohammad. Through personal contact and through his speeches, he tried to remove the misconceptions that had crept into their thinking about Islam and its founder.
Sir Syed returned to India towards the end of (1870), and plunged himself tirelessly into his work to rejuvenate the contemporary Muslims of India. With this end in view, he started a social magazine, called Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq, in which he held up to ridicule and condemnation those social evils, which were retarding the development of Muslims into a powerful nation. His articles in this magazine, however well meaning, were distorted by his adversaries, who were bigoted in their attitude. A relentless war was let loose, condemning Sye Ahmed as a stooge of the West, as a Kafir, as a Muslim, who wsa preaching unorthodox views to the Muslims. A number magazines came into being, as if conjured up like rabbits from the hat of a magician, and they began to fiercely attack the person and views and beliefs of Syed Ahmed.
Yet another constructive work in the field of their moral regeneration was that Syed Ahmed started at Benares on 26th December, (1870), a Society for the Educational Progress of Indian Muslims. It was this Society which later on became the founder of the Mohammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh. This proposal came in for severe criticism, and the officers of Government administrative machinery put many obstacles in its way. But Sir John Strachey, who was then the Governor of the Province, and sympathetic to the Muslim cause, granted an extensive piece of land to the College Foundation Committee. The College began its work in June (1875).
A year later, Syed Ahmed retired from Government service and settled down permanently at Aligarh, in order to give all his time and energy to the work of the College. On 8th January, (1877), Lord Lytton, the Viceroy of India, laid the foundation stone of the new building of the College. It was fortunate that Syed Ahmed was able to enlist some eminent professors to teach at the College, and this, in addition to the fact that it was the only Muslim College in the entire subcontinent, brought to its classes students from all parts of India.
The founder could heave a sigh of relief and satisfaction, for his life's work was beginning to bear fruit. The Muslims were beginning to take more and more to modern education, and in order to spread the message of Aligarh to the remotest parts, he founded, in (1886), the Mohammadan Educational Conference, which held its sittings in different cities to enable the voice of Aligarh to be heard all over the subcontinent.
Being an outstanding Muslim leader, he was nominated in (1878) as a member of the Imperial Legislative Council, and this was followed by his being nominated to the Education Commission appointed by the Government of India. He intro duced two Bills and succeeded in having them adopted-the Kazis Act and the Act conferring powers for compulsory vaccination against small-pox. In (1882), addressing a gathering of student at Ludhiana, he said, "Remember, a nation is nothing unless it is a nation in the real sense. All individuals, joining the fold of Islam, together constitute a nation of the Muslims.
As long as they follow and practise their beloved religion they are a nation. Remember, you have to live and die by Islam and it is by keeping up Islam that our nation is a nation. Dear children, if someone becomes a star of the heaven but ceases to be a Muslim, what is he to us? He is no longer a member of our nation. Thus, achieving progress by keeping up Islam, means national well-being".
In a forceful speech in the Imperial Legislative Council in (1883), Sir Syed Ahmed khan said that in a country where there is only one race and one creed, it is possible to have elections on the basis of majority and minority. "But my Lord, in a country like India, where caste distinctions still flourish, where there is no fusion of the various races, where religious distinctions are still violent, where education in its modern sense has not made an equal or proportionate progress among all sections of the population, I am convinced that the introduction of the principle of election, pure and simple for representation of various interests in the Local Boards and District Boards and District Councils, would be attended with evils of greater significance than purely economic considerations.
So long as differences of race and creed and the distinctions of caste form an important element in the socio-political life of India and Influence her inhabitants in matters connected with administration and the welfare of the country at large, that system of election, pure and simple, cannot be safely adopted".
Syed Ahmed khan had been the friend, philosopher and guide of the Muslims of India in the field of education, he was now also advising them how to organise themselves politically. When the Indian National Congress was formed in (1885), it being the only political party of its kind, some Muslims had become its members. Sir Syed thought this was a mistake, and, therefore, in (1887), in a forceful speech he warned the Muslims to keep away from the Congress.
"When our Hindu brethren or Bengali friends wish to make a move which involves a loss to us and humiliation to our nation we cannot remain friendly and undoubtedly it is our duty to protect our nation from those attacks of the Hindus and Bengalis, which, we are sur are going to to harm our nation". Repudiating the claim of " Congress that it represented the whole of India, Sir Syed Ahmad said, “The unanimous passing of a resolution in the Congress does not make it a national congress. A congress becomes a national congress, only when all the aims and objects of the nation whom that congress represents are common without exception. My honourable friend admits that some aims and obiects of the Muslims and the Hindus are different and contradictory.
Should we Muslims found a separate Congress to realise our different aims? Should the two Congresses compete and even fight with each other in view of their conflicting and antagonistic aims? Our friend should himself decide in all fairness whether such nations whose aims and objects are opposed to one another, though some minor points might be common, can form a National Congress. It may be appropriate or not but no Muslim, be he a cobbler or nobleman, would ever agree to the Muslims being relegated to a status where they become slaves of another nation which is their neighbour, even though time has reduced them to a very low position and will reduce them still further".
In the year (1888), the British Government, in appreciation of his services, conferred on him the title of K.C.S.I. This was awarded to him in India at a befitting reception held in his honour by the District authorities. It is difficult to climb to the mountain-top, where clear political comprehension can be perceived. It stands to the credit of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan that as early as (1893), he clearly foresaw that the political salvation of the Muslims of India could not be worked out under the aegis of the Indian National Congress. He warned the Congress that to look upon Muslims as if they were the same as Sikhs, Madrasis, Mahrattas, Brahmins would be disastrous.
He continued, "The Congress thinks that they profess the same religion, that they speak the same language, that their way of life and customs are the same that their attitude to history is similar and is based upon the same historical traditions". The proposals of the Congress are exceedingly inexpedient for a country which is inhabited by two different nations. Now suppose that all the English were to leave India. ... then who would be the ruler of India? Is it possible that under these circumstances two nations—the Mohammedan and the Hindu-could sit on the same throne and remain equal in power? Most certainly not. It is necessary that one of them should conquer the other and thrust it down. To hope that both could remain equal is to desire the impossible and the inconceivable".
In order to defend the political fortune of the Muslims, he helped to bring into being the Mohammadan Defence Association in (1893). Shibli, in one of his articles in (1912), wrote about Syed Ahmed Khan, “That pen, unafraid, undaunted, which could write a book like The Cause of the Indian Revolt at a time when the country was groaning under Martial Law. That hero, who walked out in protest from the Agra Durbar, because Indians were not given the same treatment in the matter of seating arrangements as the British had been given”.
Maulana Mohamed Ali in his presidential address at the Indian National Congress said of Sir Syed, "I am constrained to admit that no well-wisher of Mussalmans, nor of India, as a whole, could have followed a very different course in leading the Mussalmans". He was now nearing eighty, and his personal life had handed him a bitter cup of woe and tragedy, which shattered his physical powers and his built-in defences. He had lived long enough, and all his life had been a crusade in the cause of the Muslims of India.
But he was not down-hearted, nor did he feel defeated. He continued to work like a Trojan till the last days of his life. He wanted to spend the last ounce of his energy in the cause that he had championed all his life It was now the beginning of the year 1898, and Sir Syed Ahmed was eighty-one. He had relapsed into an inexplicable silence in these days, his friends could with difficulty draw him into animated conversation. He told his friend, Zainul Abedin Khan, "The time is very near. I have reached a point when eternal silence is not far away". On the 24th of March, (1898), he could not urinate, and no medicines could help him.
The next day his condition was critical, and he was struggling for life. On the morning of the 27th, he had a splitting headache, and his condition went on worsening. The end came at ten in the night, on the same day. A great champion of the Muslim cause had passed away.
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