SIR
SYED AHMAD KHAN
"Sir
Syed was the Prophet of Education"
-----Ghandi
"…
the real greatness of the man (Sir Syed) consists in the
fact that he was the first Indian Muslim who felt the
need of a fresh orientation of Islam and worked for it
– his sensitive nature was the first to react modern age"
Sir
Syed Ahmed Khan, born at Delhi, India on 17th
October, 1817, Muslim educator, jurist and author, founder
of the Anglo-Mohammedan Oriental College at Aligarh, UP,
India, and principal motivating force behind the revival
of Indian Islam in the late 19th century. His
works, in Urdu, include Essays on the Life of Muhammad
(PBUH) (187) and commentaries on the Bible and on the
Quran. In 1888 he was made a Knight Commander of the Star
of India.
Syed’s
family, though progressive, was highly regarded by the dying
Mughal dynasty. His father, who received an allowance from
the Mughal administration, became something of a religious
recluse; his maternal grand father had twice served as prime
minister of the Mughal emperor of his time and had also
held positions of trust under the East India Company. Syed’s
brother established one of the first printing press at Delhi
and started one of the earlier newspapers in Urdu, the principal
language of the Muslims of northern India.
The
death of Syed’s father left the family in financial difficulties,
and after a limited education Syed had to work for his livelihood.
Starting as a clerk with the East India Company in 1938,
he qualified three years later as a sub-judge and served
in the judicial department at various places.
Syed
Ahmed had a versatile personality, and his position in the
judicial department left him time to be active in many fields.
His career as an author (in Urdu) started at the age of
23 with religious tracts. In 1847 he brought out a noteworthy
book, Athar Assandid ("Monuments of the Great"),
on the antiquities of Delhi. Even more important was his
pamphlet "The Causes of the Indian Revolt". During
the Indian Mutiny of 1857 he had taken the side of the British,
but the weakness and errors of the British administration
that had led to dissatisfaction and countrywide explosion.
Widely read by British officials, it had considerable influence
on British Policy.
His
interest in religion was also active and lifelong. He began
a sympathetic interpretation of the Bible, wrote Essay
on the Life of Muhammad (PBUH) (translated into English
by his son), and founded time to write several volumes of
a modernist commentary on the Quran. In these works he sought
to harmonise the Islamic faith with scientific and politically
progressive ideas of his time.
The
supreme interest of Syed’s life was, however, education
– in its widest sense, He began establishing schools, at
Muradabad (1858) and Ghazipur (1863). A more ambitious undertaking
was the foundation of the Scientific Society, which published
translations of many educational texts and issued a bilingual
journal – in Urdu and English
These
institutions were for the use of all citizens and were jointly
operated by the Hindus and Muslims. In the late 1860s there
occurred developments that were alert the course of his
activities. In 1867 he has transferred to Benares, a city
on the Ganges with great religious significance for Hindus.
At about the same time a movement started at Benares to
replace Urdu, the language cultivated ,.by the Muslims,
with Hindi. This movement and the attempts to substitute
Hind for Urdu publications of the Scientific Society convinced
Syed that the paths of the Hindus and the Muslims must diverge.
Thus, when during a visit to England (1869-70) he prepared
plans for a great educational institution, they were "a
Muslim Cambridge." On his return he set up a committee
for the purpose and also started an influential journal,
Tahdhib al-Akhlaq "Social Reform"), for
the "uplift and reform the Muslim". A Muslim school
was established at Aligarh in May 1875, and after his retirement
in 1876, Syed devoted himself to enlarging it into a college.
In January 1977 the Viceroy laid the foundation stone of
the college. In spite of conservation opposition to Syed’s
projects, the college made rapid progress. In 1886 Syed
organised the All-India Muhammadan Educational Conference,
which met annually at different places to promote education
and to provide the Muslims with a common platform. Until
the founding of the Muslim League in 1906, it was the principal
national centre of Indian Islam.
Syed
advised the Muslims against joining active politics and
to concentrate instead on education. Later, when some Muslims
joined the Indian National Congress, he came out strongly
against that organisation and its objectives, which included
the establishment of parliamentary democracy in India. He
argued that, in a country where communal divisions were
all-important and education and political organisations
were confined to a few classes, parliamentary democracy
would work only inequitably. Muslims, generally, followed
his advice and abstained from politics until several years
later when they had established their own political organisation
i.e. Muslim League.
This
great leader was died on 27th March, 1898, at
Aligarh, India. 
