Why did Sir Syed Ahmad Khan found the Aligarh Movement?

[7] (J2011/Q/2b// Central Aims of Aligarh Movement

• If they were to improve their poor status then the Muslims had to accept more British ideas and take
advantage of British education.
• He wanted to improve relations between the British and Muslims by getting rid of British doubts about
Muslim loyalty and Muslim doubts about the British.
• He also wanted to improve the social and economic position of Muslims by getting them to receive
Western education and take up posts in the civil service and army.
• He also wanted them to increase their political awareness to make them aware of the threat to from the
Hindu policy of cooperation with the British. If they didn’t do these things then they would see others
prosper instead.

Contribution that Sir Syed Ahmad Khan made to the Muslim cause
Better understanding with the British

 He suggested that the British should try to understand Muslims better.

 He gave an explanation of the word ‘Nadarath’ in an attempt to remove the misunderstanding of the British
about the Muslims.
 He wrote a number of books following the War of Independence in which he tried to show the British that
the Muslims were only partly to blame and that there were many who were supporters of the British
government.
 In 1860 he wrote “The Loyal Mohammadens of India”- defended muslims from accusation that they were
disloyal and gave details of loyal service by Muslims given to Brits
 Also wrote “Essay on causes of Indian revolt”- convice brit that Muslims weren’t to blame
 He was also aware that the British knew little about slam and was offended by a book he read in Britain on
the life of the Prophet and, as a result, he wrote his own work correcting the many errors he had read.
 He believed that relations with the British could be improved by improving the understanding of Christianity
by Muslims. He tried to overcome this by writing Tabyin-ul-Kalam, in which he pointed out the similarities
between Islam and Christianity.

Western education system

• He attempted to improve the position of Muslims through education.

• In 1863, he founded the Scientific Society at Ghazipore this made scientific writings available to Muslims by
translating them from English into Urdu.
• He established a Muslim college, which led to the Muslim-Anglo Oriental College in 1876 and then the
University of Aligarh, which is important in Pakistani history as it educated many of its future leaders.
• In 1886 he set up the Mohammedan Educational Conference with the aim of raising educational standards
amongst all Muslims.
• He devoted his time to improving the position of Muslims through education.

Two Nation Theory the most important contribution

• Sir Syed wanted democratic rights in India but believed that this would only disadvantage Muslims since
Hindus were in the majority and would win all the elections. He therefore felt that the British should treat
the Muslims and Hindus differently since they lived separate and different lives from one another and so
were really like separate nations.
• Sir Syed was the first person to express this point of view and it became known as the Two Nation Theory
that gave hope to Muslims of a separate homeland.
‘Sir Syed Ahmed Khan’s political beliefs had a greater impact on the Muslims than any of his other beliefs;

• In politics he believed that Muslims would never win any election because of the Hindu majority population.
He therefore advocated separate seats and a separate electorate which was the forerunner of the future
demand for a separate homeland.
o Indian National Congress was Hindu dominated body and was working to establish Hindu Supremacy
on Muslims
o Congress introduced democratic system- 4 times as many Hindus than muslims so would win every
election
o Appointment in gov service to be given by competitive examination – Only when equal educational
opportunities provided such an idea could work
• He wrote a number of books (“The Loyal Mohammadens of India”- “Essay on causes of Indian revolt”- )
following the War of Independence in which he tried to show the British that the Muslims were only partly
to blame (and that there many who were supporters of the British government. He suggested that the
British should try to understand Muslims better

Were the religious views

• He believed that relations with the British could be improved by improving the understanding of Christianity
by Muslims. He tried to overcome this by writing Tabyin-ul-Kalam, in which he pointed out the similarities
between Islam and Christianity. He was also aware that the British knew little about Islam and was offended
by a book he read in Britain on the life of the Prophet and as a result he wrote his own work correcting the
many errors he had read. However he contributed many other things

Language

• Hindu-Urdu Controversy in 1867- , Hindus demanded Hindi be the official language instead of Urdu, Sir Syed
and Muslims shocked at attack on Urdu as it had a special meaning to them. Even Hindu members of his
Scientific Society wanted their journal published in Hindi. Growing belief that Hindus were working against
the interests of Muslims led to his Two Nation Theory.

Describe ‘The Loyal Mohammedans of India’. 4 Level 1: One mark for each relevant point, two marks for a developed
statement 1–4 e.g.

• Written by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan;

• Its aims were to bring about better relations between the British and the Muslim community;
 told British that Muslims were not opposed to them, British shouldn’t discriminate against them as Muslims
were wrongly blamed for violence
• To enable the British to understand and respect Muslim beliefs;
• To encourage consultation with the Indian people.

(a) Describe the ‘Hindu-Urdu Controversy [4] (N/2012/Q1a)

1867, Hindus demanded Hindi be the official language instead of Urdu, Sir Syed andMuslims shocked at attack on
Urdu as it had a special meaning to them. Even Hindumembers of his Scientific Society wanted their journal
published in Hindi. Growing belief that Hindus working against the interests of Muslims and led to his Two Nation
Theory.
(c) Was the development of a western education system the greatest achievement of Sir
Syed Ahmad Khan? Explain your answer. [14] (N2016/Q2c)
Western education system
• In 1863, he founded the Scientific Society at Ghazipore this made scientific writings available to Muslims by
translating them from English into Urdu.
• He established a Muslim college, which led to the Muslim-Anglo Oriental College in 1876 and then the University
of Aligarh, which is important in Pakistani history as it educated many of its future leaders.
• In 1886 he set up the Mohammedan Educational Conference with the aim of raising educational standards
amongst all Muslims.
• He devoted his time to improving the position of Muslims through education.
Other factors
He suggested that the British should try to understand Muslims better
• He gave explanation of the word ‘Nadarath’ in an attempt to remove the misunderstanding of the British about
Muslims.
• He was also aware that the British knew little about Islam and was offended by a book he read in Britain on the life
of the Prophet and, as a result, wrote his own work correcting the many errors he had read.
• He believed that relations with the British also could be improved by improving the understanding of Christianity
by Muslims. He tried to overcome this by writing Tabyin-ul-Kalam, which pointed out the similarities between Islam
and Christianity.
• He wrote a number of books following the War of Independence showing the British that the Muslims were only
partly to blame and that there were Muslims who were supporters of the British government.
• He felt that the British should treat the Muslims and Hindus differently since they lived separate and different lives
from one another and so were really like separate nations.
• He was the first person to express this point of view and it became known as the Two Nation Theory that gave
hope to Muslims of a separate homeland.

(c).Was the attempt to achieve a better understanding with the British the most important contribution that Sir Syed
Ahmad Khan made to the Muslim cause during thenineteenth century? Explain your answer.[14
a better understanding with the British
 He suggested that the British should try to understand Muslims better.
 He gave an explanation of the word ‘Nadarath’ in an attempt to remove the misunderstanding of the
British about the Muslims.
 He believed that relations with the British could be improved by improving the understanding of
Christianity by Muslims. He tried to overcome this by writing Tabyin-ul-Kalam, in which he pointed out the
similarities between Islam and Christianity.
 He wrote a number of books following the War of Independence in which he tried to show the British that
the Muslims were only partly to blame and that there were many who were supporters of the British
government.
 He was also aware that the British knew little about slam and was offended by a book he read in Britain on
the life of the Prophet and, as a result, he wrote his own work correcting the many errors he had read.
However, he contributed many other things.
 Sir Syed wanted democratic rights in India but believed that this would only disadvantage Muslims since
Hindus were in the majority and would win all the elections. He therefore felt that the British should treat
the Muslims and Hindus differently since they lived separate and different lives from one another and so
were really like separate nations.
 Sir Syed was the first person to express this point of view and it became known as the Two Nation Theory
that gave hope to Muslims of a separate homeland.
  He attempted to improve the position of Muslims through education. In 1863 he founded the Scientific
Society at Ghazipore. He wanted to make scientific writings available to Muslims by translating them from
English into Urdu.
 He established a Muslim college which led to the Muslim-Anglo Oriental College in 1876. This became the
University of Aligarh which became important in Pakistani history as providing an education for many of its
future leaders.

Two Nation Theory the most important contribution

Sir Syed wanted democratic rights in India but believed that this would only disadvantage Muslims since Hindus
were in the majority and would win all the elections. He therefore felt that the British should treat the Muslims
and Hindus differently since they lived separate and different lives from one another and so were really like
separate nations. Sir Syed was the first person to express this point of view and it became known as the Two
Nation Theory that gave hope to Muslims of a separate homeland. However he contributed many other things.

‘Sir Syed Ahmed Khan’s political beliefs had a greater impact on the Muslims than any of his other beliefs;
In politics he believed that Muslims would never win any election because of the Hindu majority population. He
therefore advocated separate seats and a separate electorate which was the forerunner of the future demand for
a separate homeland. He wrote a number of books following the War of Independence in which he tried to show
the British that the Muslims were only partly to blame and that there many who were supporters of the British
government. He suggested that the British should try to understand Muslims better

Were the religious views

He believed that relations with the British could be improved by improving the understanding of Christianity by
Muslims. He tried to overcome this by writing Tabyin-ul-Kalam, in which he pointed out the similarities between
Islam and Christianity. He was also aware that the British knew little about Islam and was offended by a book he
read in Britain on the life of the Prophet and as a result he wrote his own work correcting the many errors he had
read. However he contributed many other things