Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and His Contributions to the Muslim Revival in India
By: Sikandar Riaz
Tags: British History, Pakistan History, Syedahmadkhan, Pakistan, Indian Subcontinent

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and His Contributions to the Muslim Revival in India Sikandar Riaz Apr 1·3 min read

The Mutiny of 1857 or the Sepoy Rebellion was a major upheaval against the British Raj in India. Violence had erupted from Meerut and spread all across India like fire in a dry forest. Muslims as well as Hindus joined in the armed struggle equally. But, in the subsequent years, it would become evident that the British perceived the blame to lie solely on the shoulders of the Muslims.

Thus began decades of repressive policies aimed at defanging the Muslim power. This was achieved by favoring the Hindus in the administration and civil services. In fact, the Muslims’ attitudes regarding the British were not helping either. The Muslims at the time thought that open rebellion amounted to war. Some of the religious scholars even deemed the sub-continent as ‘dar-ul-harb’ or abode of war.

This religious backlash produced more antagonism in the British. Muslims were unaware of the implications of their actions in a changing world. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan awakened the Muslims to their folly. He argued that Muslims were faced with socio-economic decline because of their outdated views on education and what it meant to be a Muslim in a changing world. The Mughals were ousted from power, so the Muslims could only seek to accommodate their interests with the British. There were no two ways around it. Guided by this pragmatism, Sir Syed tried his best to placate the Muslims with the British. He told his community that the only way to get their side of the story heard was through staying loyal to the British. He established the Anglo Oriental College in 1877, which later came to be known as Aligarh University. This institution and movement changed the narrative of Muslim political discourse in India and brought about huge changes in mindset that led to a realignment of British and Muslim interests in India.

Fostering loyalty to British, the young Aligarh Muslims were not only aware of their political rights, but more importantly, knew how to make themselves heard. So when the Indian National Congress was established in 1885, Sir Syed and the Aligarh Movement people vehemently opposed it as a democratic front for Hindu autocratic aspirations. Sir Syed also opposed the democratization of India, solely because he felt that the system where numbers are the deciding factor cannot, or should not, be implemented in India. Sir Syed argued that the Indian people were not as educated or rational to warrant such freedoms since they had not evolved out of their creed, caste and class differences. And democracy would only result in the rule of one creed or caste over the other leading to violence.

Sir Syed was deeply against the passing of the Local Self-government Act of 1882, which devolved powers to the municipal level. Citing the Congress’s hypocrisy at representing the interests of all the Indian people, he warned that a domination of a majority over the Muslims, who look upon themselves as constituting a single political unit that is rooted in their religious affiliations, would only result in communal uprising.

Also, the notion was thrown around that the Muslims, since they had been the community that were power prior to the British, constituted a more influential group and the British policies would be served well if they were aligned to the interests of the Muslims.

This approach of placating the British, aligning interests with the people in power, uplifting the Muslims educationally and socio-economically, and lastly, instilling a communal but rational political ethos in the Muslims of the subcontinent are the major contributions of the great Sir Syed Ahmad Khan to Muslim thought in India.