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The Muslim Political Struggle: Sir Syed Ahmad Khan

1) After the British took over rule of India, they oppressed Muslims who they saw as responsible for the 1857 uprising. This led Sir Syed Ahmad Khan to establish the MAO College in 1875 to educate Muslims. 2) Sir Syed started the Aligarh movement to educate Muslims, gain the British's trust in Muslims' loyalty, and separate Muslims politics from Hindus. 3) The Hindi-Urdu controversy of 1867 convinced Sir Syed that Hindus and Muslims could never be one nation, as their religions and ways of life were distinct. This strengthened the concept of separate Muslim homeland.

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Haseeb Ahmad
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155 views3 pages

The Muslim Political Struggle: Sir Syed Ahmad Khan

1) After the British took over rule of India, they oppressed Muslims who they saw as responsible for the 1857 uprising. This led Sir Syed Ahmad Khan to establish the MAO College in 1875 to educate Muslims. 2) Sir Syed started the Aligarh movement to educate Muslims, gain the British's trust in Muslims' loyalty, and separate Muslims politics from Hindus. 3) The Hindi-Urdu controversy of 1867 convinced Sir Syed that Hindus and Muslims could never be one nation, as their religions and ways of life were distinct. This strengthened the concept of separate Muslim homeland.

Uploaded by

Haseeb Ahmad
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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SIR SYED AHMAD KHAN

The Muslim political struggle


After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, the fall of Mughal empire started. The last concentrated
effort was done in the war of independence that took place in 1857.
how the British entered the subcontinent?
The britishers came to India via British east company as traders in spices which was a very
important commodity in Europe back then. Apart from that they also traded many other
commodities including silk, cotton etc. The britishers had power including economic power,
they had better weapons etc. with all this they slowly entered and permeated into the
subcontinent not only that but they also invaded it until they were the ones actually ruling it.
After war struggles (1857)
After the war of independence’, the britishers started oppressing the muslims as they thought
they were responsible for the outbreak of the war. As the muslims were ruling before british
took over , the were not ready to accept the british rule. The british with the help of hidus
crushed the Muslims. The oppressing was in such a way that the britishers not only removed
them from their posts, took their jobs and also confiscated all their properties. The british rule
lead to structural changes in india. English replaced the Persian language and become the
official language.
Role of sir syed ahmad khan
Sir syed ahmad khan was obviously looking at the whole situation and wanted to do something
that could bring back Muslims reputable position that was before present. According to sir syed
ahmad khan’s perspective, Muslim wouldn’t be able to progress until they acquire the trends of
western civilization. He wanted to create a friendly relation between the two i.e muslims and
British as he thought that this will lead to better opportunities for the Muslims
MAO College 1875
The objective behind the foundation of MAO college was to educate the muslims of the
subcontinent. Sir syed persuaded the Muslims to learn the English language as this would build
trust in the eyes of the britishers, muslims were not willing to learn the language as they
thought that this is not allowed in their religion. On the other hand, the hindus didn’t think
twice and learned the language and superseded the muslims and gained a higher level in the
eyes of the britishers. All this lead to the Aligarh movement
Aligarh movement
They were three major objectives of this movement
1. To educate the Muslims
2. To remove all doubts from the British mind that Muslims were not loyal
3. To keep Muslims away from politics of Hindus

It was this movement which under the leadership of Sir Syed that brought about significant
changes in social, economic and political lives of the Muslims in India that left tremendous
impact on the overall society and polity of India. The Aligarh movement guided the Muslims to
recapture their lost glory in the British Indian rule
Legislative act 1861
This legislative act of 1861 was the first constitutional structure that was formulated. Sir syed
pointed out the weakness in the government. He advised the british government to include the
indian nationals into the administration of india. He stated in his pamphelet that the major
reason behind the revolt was, britishers not admitting Indians into the legistlature council. Sir
syed ahmad khan was included in the legislative council of 1861.
Indian council act 1892
In 1885, Indian national congress, a political party was formed. It was formed to safeguard the
interest of the Indian people but with time it turned into a pure Hindu body working to
safeguard the interests of Hindus and eliminating the Muslims form the society. Sir syed ahmad
khan criticized the demands of congress. Later in 1892 another indian council act was formed.
the salient features of the act is as listed below
1) the number of the non-official members in the Council were increased
2) The members of the Legislative Councils were given the right to put up questions and
discuss the budget
The Act of 1892 could not fully safeguard the interests of the Muslims and the Muslim leaders
now rightly felt for a separate electorate to protect the Muslims interests.
Hindi Urdu controversy
Urdu also referred as the lashkari language was a 300 years old language that was introduced in
the subcontinent in 1825 as an official language of Muslims. Urdu was a symbol of unity and
culture of the Muslims.The Hindu-Urdu controversy began in 1867 when Hindus demanded the
replacement of Urdu by Hindu as an official language in public offices and courts. At this level of
conflict sir syed was convinced that muslims and hindus can never go along with one another.
He stated: “ I am convinced that Hindus and Muslims could never become one nation as their religion
and way of life is quite distinct from each other.” Sir syed who was a big supporter of hindu muslim
unity, after this conflict just focused on muslims. His scientific society gazette also took
responsibility to safeguard their language along with sir syed himself. The society also started
publishing articles highlighting the importance of urdu. In 1900 Governor Anthony MacDonald
also ordered that Hindi should be used in courts, public offices and educational institutions as
an official language. This boosted the spirits of the hindus. After this the situation of the
muslims became more crucial and tough. The governer was a pro hindu and anti muslim.
Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk criticised the governments demands.The students of Aligarh college
also protested against the elimination of Urdu from their syllabus books.However, Nawab
Mohsin-ul-Mulk did not stop his endeavours for the protection of Urdu- he wrote several books
on Urdu literature. The elimination of Urdu as an official language had he impacts on the
political scene of the subcontinent as it meant the total extermination of Muslims as a
nation.This created awareness amongst the Muslims who realized the hatred of the Hindus and
British towards the Muslims and their culture.The anti-Urdu stance strengthened the belief in
the Two-Nation concept by the Muslims which later on came to be the main factor for the
struggle of a separate homeland.
Acquisition of knowledge of science and technology is the only solution for the problems
of Muslims.”

-Sir Syed Ahmed Khan

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