Sir Syed Ahmad Khan

Born in 1817 in Delhi. By the age of 18 he was skilled in Arabic, Persian, Mathematics and
Medicine. In 1838 his father died and he was forced to seek employment and became the
judge in Delhi in 1846. This year (1846) he wrote his book on Archeology called
Athas-alSanadeed.
In the war of Independence 1857 he was working as a chief Judge in Bijnaur & saved the lives of many
English women & children. As a reward of his loyalty, the British offered him a state with a large income
but he refused. Later he was appointed Chief Justice in Muradabad and then transferred to Ghazipure.
In 1864 he was transferred to Aligarh where he worked to establish a new college. He died on 27th
March 1898.

A brief chronology of Syed Ahmad's efforts is given below:

1859: Built Gulshan School in Muradabad.
1863: Set up Victoria School in Ghazipur.
1864: Set up the Scientific Society in Aligarh. This society was involved in the translation of English
works into the native language.
1866: Aligarh Institute Gazette. This imparted information on history; ancient and modern science of
agriculture, natural and physical sciences and advanced mathematics.
1870: Committee Striving for the Educational Progress of Muslims.
1875: Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental School (M. A. O.), Aligarh, set up the pattern of English public
schools. Later it rose to the level of college in 1877 and university in 1920.
1886: Muhammadan Educational Conference. This conference met every year to take stock of the
educational problems of the Muslims and to persuade them to get modern education and abstain from
politics. It later became the political mouthpiece of the Indian Muslims and was the forerunner of the
Muslim League. Syed Ahmad Khan's Aligarh Movement played a significant role in bringing about an
intellectual revolution among the Indian Muslims.

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Q1-Why did Sir Syed Ahmad Khan found the Aligarh Movement? [7]
 Simple statement
 3 reasons elaborated in 3 paragraphs

Example pointers
 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.

Elaborate these points

Q2- Were the religious views of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan his most important contribution in
developing the cause of Muslims during the nineteenth century? Explain your answer. [14]

 4-5 facts explained

 Evaluation 2 Marks justify your view

Level 4: Explains his religious views AND other contributions 9–13 (Two explanations, one on
success and one on less success, are worth nine marks. Additional explanations awarded up
to 13 marks)
e.g.
Religious views
• He believed relations with the British could be improved by improving the understanding of
Christianity by Muslim groups. 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. After reading a book in Britain on the life of
the Prophet, he wrote his own work correcting the many errors he had read.
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 as it educated many future leaders.
• Improving the position of the Muslim community in society through encouraging a Western education.
Politics
• He recognised that the Muslim community could not win any election because of the Hindu majority
population, so he advocated separate seats and a separate electorate, which was the forerunner of the
future demand for a separate homeland.

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• His books following the War of Independence attempted to restore British understanding about the
Muslim community. He showed that there were Muslim supporters of the British government. He gave
explanation of the word ‘Nadarath’ and suggested that the British should try to understand Muslim
groups better.
Language
• Sir Syed was concerned that the Hindu community demanded that Hindi should be made the official
language in 1867 in place of Urdu. He became opposed to the way that Congress was working for the
interests of Hindus in a way that was detrimental to the Muslim community. This led to the formation of
the United Patriotic Alliance.
• Sir Syed emphasised this threat to the Muslim community and developed his Two Nation Theory, as a
result many Muslim groups called him the ‘Father of the Pakistan Movement’.
Example pointers
 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. 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. He also made a contribution 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 were many who were supporters of the British government.

 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.

Q3- Which of the following was the most important contribution of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan in
restoring the position of Muslims in the sub-continent:
(i) attempts to achieve a better understanding between the British and the Muslims;
(ii) Education;
(iii) Politics?
Explain your answer with reference to all three of the above. [14 marks]

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Answers

Simple Statement
(i) attempts to achieve a better understanding between the British and the Muslims;
(ii) Education;
(iii) Politics

Evaluation

Contribution of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (14 Marks)

1. Attempts to achieve a better understanding between the British and the Muslims Sir Syed
Ahmad Khan was one of the Muslim reformers.

He carefully studied and analyzed the decline of Muslims in political power, social status and
economic well-being. He came to the conclusion that Muslims were being handicapped because of the
misunderstanding which had cropped up between the British and Muslim rulers, the Muslims opposed
and hated the British and everything associated with the British. Muslims kept away from modern
education and English language which the British were trying to enforce in India. On the other hand
the British held the Muslims responsible for the revolt of 1857 and considered them (Muslims) to be
their real enemies. The result of this mistrust was that Muslims were being crushed in every way.
Therefore, Sir Syed tried to remove this misunderstanding by addressing both the British and Muslims.
Sir Syed wrote books and explained to the British that the real cause of 1857 uprising was the wrong
policies and altitude of the British themselves. To Muslims Sir Syed explained that Christians and
Christianity should not be hated. He specially stressed that Muslims should came towards modern
education, the lack of which was causing continual set back to the Muslims of India.
2. Education
Sir Syed's greatest achievement was his Aligarh Movement, which was primarily an educational venture.
He opened schools at several places where he was posted. He established Gulshan School at
Muradabad in 1859, Victoria School at Ghazipur in 1863, He established Scientific Society and printed
the Aligarh Institute Gazette in 1864. When Sir Syed was posted at Aligarh in 1867, he started the
Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental School in the city. Sir Syed got the opportunity to visit England in 1869-
70. During his stay, he studied the British educational system and appreciated it. On his return home he
decided to make M. A. O. High School on the pattern of British boarding schools. The School later
became a college in 1875.
Most important achievement in education sector was the founding of M.A.O College at Aligarh in 1877.
The status of University was given to the college after the death of Sir Syed in 1920. M. A. O. High
School, College and University played a big role in the awareness of the Muslims of South Asia. Sir
Syed gave much importance to modern education and his efforts and contribution to Muslim education
and his efforts and contribution to Muslim education is very important. Sir Syed founded the
Mohammadens Educational Conference whose objective was to discuss and solve the education
problems of Muslims in the sub-continent. His efforts for Muslim education served double purpose. It
helped the Muslims to get good jobs and raised their status in society. It also helped in removing the
mistrust between the British and the Muslims. Therefore, education was the most important aspect of
Sir Syed’s services in the Muslims of India.
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2. Politics

Sir Syed’s advice to Muslims in the political field is also important. Sir Syed asked the Muslims of his
time not to participate in politics unless and until they got modern education. He believed that under
the European system or democratic government the Muslims of India would always be at the mercy of
Hindu majority. He was of the view that Muslims could not succeed in the field of western politics
without knowing the system. He was invited to attend the first session of the Indian National Congress
and to join the organization but he refused to accept the offer.
He also asked the Muslims to keep themselves away from the Congress and predicted that the party
would prove to be a pure Hindu party in the times to come. He suggested separate electorate for
Muslims. He advised the Muslims not to join Congress. He opposed the system of competitive
examinations for government posts because Muslims were much behind the Hindus in education. Sir
Syed strongly opposed the replacement of Urdu with Hindi as court and official language.
4. Religion
In Religion Sir Syed united the Muslims by supporting the “Two Nation Theory” and the Hindi-Urdu
controversy of 1867 in which Hindus wanted Hindi to be the official language while the Muslims
wanted Urdu. He realised the threat to Muslims so united them and gave them good education.
5. Social Reform
He established reconciliation to improve the relationship between the British and Muslims, he
played an integral role. Sir Syed was of the view that Muslims should have friendship with the British if
they want to take their due rights. To achieve this, he did a lot to convince the British that Muslims were
not against them. On the other hand, he tried his best to convince the Muslims that if they did not befriend
the British, they could not achieve their goals.
Sir Syed wrote many books and journals to remove the misunderstandings between Muslims and the
British. The most significant of his literary works were his pamphlets "Loyal Muhammadans of India"
and "Cause of Indian Revolt". Tabyinul Kalam and "A Series of Essays on the Life of Muhammad”
helped to create cordial relations between the British Government and the Indian Muslims. They also
helped to remove
misunderstandings about Islam and Christianity.

Aligarh Movement
Sir Syed was interested in Muslims. He wanted to improve relations with British and the positions of
Muslims.
The central aims of the Aligarh Movement were to:
- improve relations between the British and Muslims communities by removing British doubts about
Muslim loyalty and Muslim doubts about the British intentions.
- improve the social and economic position of Muslims by encouraging them to receive Western
education and take up posts in the civil service and army.
- increase their political awareness to make them aware of the threat to from the Hindu policy of
cooperation with the British.

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URDU HINDI CONTROVERSY 1867:

 During the last days of the Muslim rule, Urdu emerged as the most common language of the
northwestern provinces of India. It was declared the official language, and all official records were
written in this language. In 1867, some prominent Hindus started a movement in Banaras in which
they demanded the replacement of Urdu with Hindi, and the Persian script with the Deva Nagri script,
as the court language in the northwestern provinces.

 The reason for opposing Urdu was that the language was written in Persian script, which was similar
to the Arabic script and Arabic, was the language of the Quran, the Holy Book of the Muslims. The
movement grew quickly and within a few months spread throughout the Hindu population of the
northwestern provinces of India. The headquarters of this movement were in Allahabad.

 This situation provoked the Muslims to come out in order to protect the importance of the Urdu
language. The opposition by the Hindus towards the Urdu language made it clear to the Muslims of
the region that Hindus were not ready to tolerate the culture and traditions of the Muslims. The Urdu-
Hindi controversy had a great effect on the life of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan.

 Before this event he had been a great advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity and was of the opinion that
the "two nations are like two eyes of the beautiful bride, India". But this movement completely altered
his point of view. He put forward the Two-Nation Theory, predicting that the differences between the
two groups would increase with the passage of time and the two communities would not join together
in anything wholeheartedly.

 Sir Syed was the first person who used the words ‘My Nation’ for Muslims and the words ‘Two Nation’
in the subcontinent. His main idea was the protection and the safeguard of rights of Muslims in the
sub-continent.

Hindi-Urdu Controversy

 Hindi-Urdu Controversy was started in 1867. Hindus demanded Hindi to be official language but
Muslims wanted Urdu to be official language.
 Sir Syed supported Urdu in this thing.
 Due to this reason Sir Syed started “Two Nation Theory” telling that Muslims and Hindus were two
separate kinds of people.
 Muslims opposed this and supported Urdu as it was the sign and united the Muslims of the India
under one language.

Two-Nation Theory
 Urdu was the national language for many years. But Hindus opposed it in Urdu Controversy. This
provoked Sir Syed to make his Two Nation Theory to tell that Urdu had place in hearts of Muslims
and was supported by them and can’t be replaced by Hindu which was the language of the Hindus.
It was important because Sir Syed had realized that Muslims and Hindu couldn’t work together as
the Hindus were not with the Muslims.
 Another reason was that the parliamentary system was not supported by Sir Syed was Hindus
were in more number so they always outnumbered the Muslims and due to this Sir Syed opposed
it. Sir Syed realised that separate electorate was the possible solution to this so in view of his Two
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 Nations Theory. He made this decision of separate electorate demand for elections for the good of
the Muslims.
 Another reason it was important was that congress spoke of competitive examinations for jobs and
good posts while Muslims were always not given good education so they were also not able to take
good posts as Hindu won all the seats and passed the examinations always. According to Two
Nation Theory Sir Syed suggested it as two separate groups of Muslims and Hindus were not
working for the Muslims at that time so Two Nation Theory was important here as well.

Q4-Describe The Loyal Mohammedans of India. [4 marks]

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;
• To enable the British to understand and respect Muslim beliefs;
• To encourage consultation with the Indian people.

Q5-Explain why, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan tried to improve relations between the Muslim
community and the British. [7]

Level 3: Explains reasons (i.e. an understanding of impact / long term

benefits) 5–7
(Five marks for one explanation, six marks for two explanations, seven marks for three
explanations)
e.g.

• Sir Syed Ahmad Khan wanted to improve their social and economic conditions by taking up posts in
the civil service and the army. In order to do this, the Muslim community needed to embrace the
British-styled education system, which would open the door to these roles.
• If the Muslim community did not do these things and foster good relations with the British, then they
may see the Hindu community prosper at their expense.
• He wrote The Loyal Mohammadens of India to prove to the British that the Muslim community could
be trusted after the War of Independence.

Level 2: Identifies reason(s) 2–4

(One mark for each identification)
e.g.

• Sir Syed Ahmad Khan wanted to improve the social and economic conditions of the Muslim
community
• He did not wish other communities to prosper at the expense of the Muslim community
• He wrote The Loyal Mohammadens of India

Level 1: Simple statement(s) 1

(One mark for any simple statement)
e.g.
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• It was beneficial to have good relations
No evidence submitted or response does not address the question 0

The Aligarh Movement

Background

• The unsuccessful 1857 War that was fought for Independence from the British rule made the British
believed that Muslims were responsible for the uprising.

• After 1857, the War of Independence the British started treating Muslims brutally with vengeful and
merciless punishments.

Consequences of the War of Independence

• The Mughal Empire declined, and Religious Education, Persian, and Arabic were banned from
schools.

• English became the official language and medium of instructions in institutions.

• The brutality of British, and new school system made Muslims furious. They started despising
everything western and modern as a result missing the opportunities too.

Goals of the Aligarh Movement

• At that time Sir Syed Ahmed realized that the acceptance of modern knowledge is the only thing that
can pretend Muslims from further worsening their situations.

• Therefore, modern education and changing the mind of Indian Muslims became the central point of
his movement.

• With an idea to bring social reforms and education reforms, he launched the Aligarh Movement with
the following goals:

The Outcome:

• Sir Syed's Aligarh Movement became a success, he did receive criticism by some Muslims due to his
modern opinions but some people shared his view including Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk and Chiragh Ali.

• Some English professors also helped him with their services in setting up the Aligarh College
including Arnold, Bech, and Raleigh.

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Q-Describe the Hindu-Urdu Controversy. [4]

• Urdu was the language used in North-Western India during the Muslim rule.
• It was declared the official language and all record-keeping was also done it.
• In 1867, Hindus in Banaras demanded the replacement of Urdu with Hindi.
• The Hindus also wanted to replace the Persian script with Deva Nagri.
• The main reason for Hindus hatred towards the Urdu language is, it follows Persian script that is like
Arabic – the language of the Holy Quran.
• The movement to replace Urdu, gain momentum among the Hindus and they formed a headquarter
at Allahabad.
• This enraged the Muslims and they came out to protect the language as they considered it a unified
force.
• Sir Syed also supported Urdu and it became base for the ‘Two Nation Theory’.
• The Hindu-Urdu controversy made Sir Syed saw things in a different light.
• Before it, Sir Syed believed in Hindu-Muslim harmony.

Two-Nation Theory

Background:
• In the starting years, Sir Syed wanted Muslims to have good relations with Hindus too.
• However, the Hindus’ intention seemed otherwise.
• In 1884, British men started to vote and by 1888 women also allowed to cast their vote.
• He realized that democracy is coming to Britain and it will soon reach to India too because some
local councils were elected there.
• Hindus are in majority, and in case if the British ever leave India then every election will be won by
them.
• He believed that to solve this problem the British must treat Hindus and Muslims separately.
• For his idea to be considered, he also explained why Muslims and Hindus are two different nations:

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Religious Differences:
• Hinduism supports the concept of multiple Gods while Islam is based on Tauheed i.e. the Oneness of
Allah.

Cultural Differences:
• Muslims bury their dead bodies while Hindus burnt their bodies.
• Hindus consider ‘Cow’ a sacred animal while Muslims slaughter and eat it.

Language Differences:
• The Hindi-Urdu Controversy is proof that Muslims and Hindus cannot work and live side by side.

- To build a relationship of understanding between Muslims and the British.

- To persuade Muslims to learn English.
- To motivate Muslims to get scientific knowledge.
- To produce educated Muslims that can work side by side with British.

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