SIR SYED AHMAD KHAN A LEGENDRY EDUCATIONIST AND SOCIAL REFORMER OF MODERN INDIA

Sir Syed called upon his people to rouse themselves out of the lethargy, the sloth, The ignorance, the degradation into which they had fallen, and behold! A new Generation has arisen in response to his call
Professor T.H. ARNOLD

In India, there were many great personalities who played very important roles in the history of Indias transition from Medievalism to Modernism. Some of them are Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, etc. The Hindu reformers had fought against the Hindu attitude towards Western knowledge and had to large extent, softened the rigidity of the Hindu mind in that matter. They fought against the practice of Sati, female infanticide, problems of widow, child marriage, etc. Among the Muslims, the first Muslim reformer in modern India was Qutbal-Din Ahmad ibn Abd al-Rahim, popularly known as Shah Wali-Allah of Delhi who lived between the 18th and 19th centuries. He tried to restore the supremacy of the Islamic way of life as also to bridge the gap between orthodoxy and modernism. But the Muslims of India continued to remain divided between the two extremes. If Shah Abdul Aziz of Delhi, Syed Ahmad

Shahid of Rai Bareillly and Maulana Shariat-ul-lah of Bengal belonged to the orthodox section, then Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and Chiragh Ali belonged to the second category. Efforts to bridge the gap between the two were also done by individuals like Maulana Shibli Numani of Nadwat-ul-Ulema. But the maximum and the best impact was given by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, the founder of Aligarh Muslim University. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was one of those few enlightened and great personalities who served for the cause of Muslims of South Asia with sincerity to take them out of quagmire of ignorance, illiteracy, social and economic backwardness. He was born moralist who advocated paradigmatic shift in the social values and brought about an apotheosis of reasons and enlightenment. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan Bahadur, commonly known as Sir Syed was born on th 17 October, 1817 in Delhi, the then capital of Mughal Empire. His family is said to have migrated from Herat (now in Afghanistan) at the time of Akbar. Many generations of his family had since been highly connected with the Mughal administration. His father Mir Muhammad Muttaqi was personally close to Akbar Shah II and served as his personal adviser. However, Sir Syed was born at a time when rebellions, governors, regional insurrections and the British colonolialism had diminished the extent and power of the Mughal state, reducing its monarch to a figurehead status.

Sir Syed was more in influence of his mother than his father. His mother Aziz un Nisa took great interest in the education and upbringing of Sir Syed and her rigid discipline and supervision guided him in his character formation. The death of his father in 1838 left the family in difficulties. Thus young Syed Ahmad was compelled at the age of 21 to look for a career in the East India Company as a Sharishtedar in a court of law. He became a Munshi in 1841 and in 1851, he was appointed as Sadar-us-Sadur at Muradabad.

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was a dynamic force pitted against conservatism, superstition, inertia and ignorance. He contributed many of the essential elements to the development of Modern India and paved the way for the growth of a healthy scientific attitude of mind which is a sine qua non for advancement, both in terms of material and intellectual. The life-time of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-1898) was a momentous period of Indian history characterized by transition in almost every sphere of life, political, social and economic. The Mughal Empire passed away yielding place to British imperialism; the old social order, a legacy of centuries of Mughal rule, succumbed to the pressure of the new social forces. The medieval economic structure collapsed under the impact of industrialization based on Western Science and Technology. To live in such a period of transition and rapid change could hardly have been a happy experience for one born and brought up in the old order. The interest of Sir Syed in education had begun soon after the revolt of 1857. The movement of 1857 ended in a complete fiasco for the Muslims in India. He realized with the clear and unerring vision of a realist that nothing could resuscitate Muslim political power. As soon as he got over his pessimism, he began to brood over the question: Why this collapse and what next? He quickly found that the cause lay in illiteracy and the cure is education, and dedicated all his time and energy to the popularization of modern education amongst the Indian people and the Muslims in particular. When he started his movement for the intellectual and social uplift of the people, he found the traditional system of Muslim education a great stumbling block in the way of progress. There was reluctance to accept Western Science and Technology which completely altered the pattern of society. But it was his firm conviction that the Indians could never get a place in the civilized world unless they acquired Western knowledge and developed their country on the lines of Europe. To him education was not merely instruction in a few textbooks prescribed for certain courses but an all-out effort to extricate people from their old beliefs and superstitions. Further, he repeatedly said that the

Indians could obtain their political rights through Western education alone. These statements, when read with the fears expressed by Lord Ellenborough that the popularization of the Western education in India would make British domination in the country impossible, leave no doubt the Syeds views on education were realistic and far-sighted. The reluctance of the Muslims to move with the times was comparatively greater than that of the Hindus. Amongst the Hindus the movement for receiving Western education had already been initiated by Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Keshab Chandra Sen and the initial hurdles having been removed, a favourable climate had been created. Whereas, the Muslims had not moved from their positions and remained with their old modes of thought and behavior. He was against the traditional dogma and religious orthodoxy which were the influencing themes among the Muslims at that time. He was criticized by many religious zealots at that time. Committed to working for the uplift of Muslims, Sir Syed founded a modern Madrassa at Moradabad in 1859; this was one of the first religious schools to impart scientific education. He remarked that the purpose of education should be to awaken the intellect and help in the building up of an enlightened and integrated moral personality. In 1864, Sir Syed established a school at Ghazipur, whose foundation-stone was laid by Raja Dev Narain Singh and Maulana Muhammad Fasih a fact which shows how deeply anxious he was to ensure Hindu-Muslim collaboration in his educational programmes. How closely the question of political progress was linked up in his mind with the educational advancement of his countrymen is clear from what he said: The admission of Indians to the Supreme Legislative Council is a beginning of the advancement of India. You remember my proposition that the day is not far off when I trust that the council will be composed of representatives from every division or district and that the laws will be enacted by and abided by you also. So ponder well how necessary it is for the people to advance in education and experience.

A Scientific Society was established by Sir Syed at Ghazipur in 1864. The society which was in the lines of Royal Society and Royal Asiatic society was later shifted to Aligarh. He enrolled many renowned personalities across India in this society and held annual meetings of the same which in turn decided about the allocation of fund for the educational causes across India. Both Hindus and Muslims joined the society. The author of the Sir Syeds life in the Natesan series writes, It was an honest attempt on the part of Sir Syed to bring Hindus and Muhammadans on one common non-controversial platform. The society in Aligarh was a very active body. Regular meetings were held for a month and papers were read on topics of popular and academic interest. Every month, Dr. Kilkelly delivered a lecture on some aspect of natural science and performed actually experiments before the audience. Due to the efforts of Sir Syed, many important and valuable English works were translated into Urdu from which people gained a lot of knowledge. The subjects on which he laid great emphasis included Mechanics, Electricity, Pneumatics, Natural Philosophy and Modern Farming. The greatest obstacle to the spread of Western education in India seemed to be the religious superstition amongst the Muslims and their hatred toward s English education. To remove their misgivings, Sir Syed started a journal known as Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq which intended to persuade the Muslim community to come out of its narrow medieval grooves and take up the challenge of the time. He founded a Committee for the Better Diffusion and Advancement of Learning Among the Muhammadans of India. Sir Syed was elected as its secretary. The purpose of this committee was to find out the reasons as to: i) Why Muslim students were so few in number in the government schools and colleges; ii) Why the old learning was on the decline amongst the Muslims; and iii) Why the Muslims had not taken to new sciences and learning.

The first meeting of the committee was to be held on 26th December, 1870 at Benares. One of the best supporters of Sir Syed in various social and educational programmes, Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk reached Benares a day before the meeting. Sir Syed arranged a bed in his room for him. Both of them discussed various problems connected with education of Muslims till 11 oclock. Mohsin-ul-Mulk then went to sleep. When he woke somehow at 2 oclock he was surprised to find that Sir Syed was not in his bed. He came out of the room to find where he had gone. He was dazed to see him strolling in the verandah and weeping bitterly. Startled and worried, he asked the Syed if he had received any tragic news from somewhere. On hearing this, Sir Syed began to sob and said: What greater calamity can there be! The Mussalmans are declining and losing ground. There seems no way for their betterment. Perhaps something good would come out of the meeting tomorrow. It was such profound concern for the educational and intellectual uplift of his community that Sir Syed Ahmad Khan launched his educational scheme.

Then there came a proposal for establishing a college for the Muslims. Sir Syed collected money for the proposed college through all possible means and methods donations, lotteries, sale of pictures, books, etc. He requested people to donate to the fund on the occasion of various family functions. In the Aligarh Exhibition, he himself set up a book stall and sold books. On one occasion he staged a show and he himself recited poems. It was a very difficult task to collect money from people who had no sympathy with his ideals and schemes. He, however, withstood all opposition and harassments, and persuaded, begged, entertained and entreated people in order to collect funds for the college. He did not give any Walima party on the occasion of the marriage of his son Syed Mahmood, instead contributed Rs.500 to the college fund. The same thing was done on the occasion of the Bismillah ceremony of his grandson, Syed Ross Masood.

Finally on 24th May, 1875, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan laid the foundation of Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh with an aim of having a Muslim Cambridge University. Sir Syed wanted this college to act as a bridge between the old and the new, the East and the West. Though the college was named Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College and was intended primarily to cater the needs of Muslims, its doors were open to all Indians. He envisaged a community institution and not a communal one. When the campaign for the collection of funds was launched, a large number of Hindu friends contributed to it. The rajas of Benares, Vizyanagram and Patiala made generous contribution to the college fund. Of the 50 rooms constructed, nine were built by Hindu donors like Chaudhari Shir Singh, Raja Dev Narain Singh and Lala Phul Chand. Addressing the first session of the Education Commission in the NorthWestern Provinces at Aligarh, Hunter remarked about the college: You, gentlemen, who have built this college, will bequeath a far nobler monument to posterity. You will have behind you a magnificent memorial, not of the discord, but of the reconciliation of races; a monument of beneficent energy, not of destructive force. Gentlemen, this college at Aligarh not only provides an education for the Muhammadans of the North-Western Provinces, but it stands forth as an example to all India, of a Muhammadan institution which effectively combines the secular with the religious aspects of education. M.A.O. College attracted a large student body, mainly drawn from the Muslim gentry and middle classes. The curriculum at the college involved scientific and Western subjects, as well as Oriental subjects and religious education. The first Chancellor of the college was Sultan Jahan Begum, a prominent Muslim noble woman, and Sir Syed invited an Englishman, Theodore Beck to serve as the first college principal. The college was first affiliated with Calcatta University but was transferred to the Allahabad

University in 1885. In 1920, the college was transformed to a university and named Aligarh Muslim University.

In 1886, Sir Syed established the Muhammadan Educational Conference with the following objectives: i) to promote the Western education among the Muslims; ii) to make proper arrangement for religious instruction in institutions established by Muslims; iii) to encourage the education of Oriental subjects and theology; and iv) to improve and raise the standard of old Indian maktabs. During the life-time of Sir Syed, the Conference was a kind of Muslim Brains Trust in educational matters. It became a forum for the Muslim intelligentsia where they discussed the educational needs of their community and chalked out programmes for implementation.

As a social reformer, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan tried with great efforts and sincerity to extricate people from their old methods and beliefs. He was to deal in a society which was in the meshes of medievalism, obscurantism, superstition and ignorance. For this he had to face opposition from the conservative sections of society but he carried on his struggle with the determination of one who was convinced of the moral and ethical validity of his approach. For the reformation of the society, he had to persuade people to give up habits and practices which stood in the way of social advancement and persuade them to accept the new scientific approach in all matters. Some of the

efforts done by Sir Syed for a social reform among the Muslim community were: i) to get rid of those religious beliefs and superstitions which had no religious sanction behind them but stood as an obstacle to the growth of culture; ii) to develop freedom of thought and move out of the old custum and tradition so that they could live in civilized society; iii) to educate women and to teach them handicrafts and other works; iv) to make a collective effort for providing educational facilities. Muslim society presented a sad spectacle of inertia and degeneration after the revolt of 1857. False sense of pride, reluctance to face the realities of life and indolence sustained by a false notion of religious otherworldliness had rendered the entire social structure insecure. Sir Syed diagnosed every individual and collective ailment of the Indian society.

Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq (Muhammadan Social Reformer) was journal published by Sir Syed for creating an awareness of the problems of modern life and for removing all those abuses which were eating into the very vitals of society. Of the 459 articles that appeared in the journal, 208 were written by Sir Syed himself. These articles gave an idea of the nature and impact of his activities in the field of social reform. His vigorous pen touched more upon educational and social subjects than political. He wrote essays on culture, education, customs and ceremonial, self-help, national solidarity, freedom of speech and opinion, rights of women, slavery, etc. There was hardly any aspect of social life which had not been touched and scrutinized by him with his clarity of thought and expression. A storm of opposition rose up as his ideas reached the orthodox sections of the Muslim society but he worked continuously to achieve his ideals.

Sir Syed was against those social vices which were responsible for degeneration and demoralization of people. He considered selfishness, lack of self-respect, ignorance of principles of hygiene and methods of sanitation, institution of polygamy and waste of money on ceremonies as the causes of social backwardness and decay. He considered literacy to be a sine qua non for real social and cultural progress. Man without education is like an unchiselled chip of a rock; education gives him shape and luster. In an article entitled Brutal Goddness, he says that goodness in an uncultured person is apt to produce undesirable results; it is culture which enhances the value of goodness. Another cardinal feature of Sir Syeds social and moral ideals was his emphasis on self-help. He said that no society could make up leeway unless it developed the habit of self-help. The author of the Syeds life in the Natesan series writes,He was the first Indian who taught the principle of self-helpHe knew that the reforms he aimed at, if they were to be accomplished at all, must be accomplished by the people themselves. Sir Syed opined that if people acted according to their conscience, there would be a healthy social atmosphere, otherwise hypocrisy, flattery, orthodoxy and enmity would corrupt and corrode the society. He advised that restraint and regard for others are necessary for the well being of every society. He also about the status of women that a happy home in which a woman was given equal status with man could alone guarantee the well-being of a society. Till his death on 27th March 1898, Sir Syed strived towards the upliftment of Modern education among the Indian masses and his efforts had successfully broken the shackles of religious orthodoxy and traditional and social dogma of Indian Muslims and encouraged them to attain a more successful and respected lifestyle by adopting the modern and scientific education.