BCom Notes Part I Pakistan Studies Contribution of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan towards Muslim education
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Contribution of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan towards Muslim education
Describe the contribution of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan towards Muslim education. Sir Syed’s (1817-98) Contribution towards Muslim Education
Perhaps the Muslims of the Sub-Continent owe their greatest gratitude to Syed Ahmed Khan. He flourished in the second half of the 19th century. His talent, deep-insight, love for Islam and hard work played a major role in the revival of Muslims in India. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was born in 1817 to a Syed family in Delhi. He started his career as a humble judicial official in the English East India Company. Later on he served on important jobs. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan alone among his contemporaries realized that the plight of Muslims could not be improved without a revolution in their attitude towards education. The Muslims were inimical to western education for three reason.
1. They considered it inferior to traditional Islamic learning.
2. It was being forced upon them by a foreign people, and
3. They thought that an education saturated with Christianity might corrupt their beliefs.
During the war of Independence he saved the lives of many Englishmen. The Government centered the title of Sir on him. Thus, he won the confidence of the British Government. After the war of Independence the Muslims were passing through a critical phase. By refusing to acquire western education they were not keeping pace with modern times. The Muslims hated English language and culture. They kept their children away from the schools and colleges. But in this manner they were unconsciously damaging the interests of the Muslim Community. Their ignorance of the English language and lack of modem education kept them away from respectable government posts. On the other hand the Hindus acquired modem knowledge and dominated the government jobs. Syed Ahmed Khan was the first Muslim leader to realize the gravity of the situation. He was greatly pained to see the miserable condition of the Muslims everywhere. He decided to devote his full efforts for the welfare of the Muslims. The first need was the removal of mistrust about the Muslims from the minds of British rulers. For this purpose he wrote – Essay on the causes of Indian Revolt in which he proved that there were many factors which led to the uprising of 1857 and that only the Muslims were not to be held responsible for it. In addition he wrote “Loyal Muhammadans of India” in which too he defended the Muslims against the charges of disloyalty. These works restored confidence of the British in the Muslims to a large extent. The Sir Syed Ahmed Khan turned his attention towards the educational uplift of his co-religionists. He told the Muslims that without acquiring modern education they could not compete with the Hindus. He pleaded that there was no harm in adopting western sciences and in learning English language. He issued a magazine named “Tahzib-ul-Ikhlaq” which projected adoptable European manners.
Salient features of the political, educational and religious contributions of Syed Ahmed Khan are as given below
1. In 1863 Sir Syed Ahmed Khan established a Scientific Society. The purpose of this society was translation of English books into Urdu language.
2. During his stay at Aligarh he issued a weekly Gazette called “Aligarh Institute Gazette”.
3. In 1869 Syed Ahmed Khan visited England. There he studied the system of Education. Moreover he wrote Khutbat-e-Ahmedya in reply to Sir William Muir’s book “Life of Muhammad”.
4. In 1870 he issued his famous magazine named “Tehzib-ul-Ikhlaq” in order to apprise the Muslims of their social evils and moral short comings. This magazine promoted Urdu language immensely.
Shortly afterwards Syed Ahmed Khan wrote a commentary on the Holy Quran. In this work Syed Ahmed Khan interpreted Islam on logical and scientific basis. Syed Ahmed Khan was one of the pioneers of the Two Nation Theory. He openly declared that the Hindus and the Muslims were two different communities with different interests. He advised the Muslims to refrain from Joining Indian National Congress. In May 1875, Syed Ahmed Khan founded Muhammadan Anglo Oriental High School at Aligarh. Two years later in 1877 this school was elevated to the status of a college by Lord Lytton the British Viceroy himself. M.A.O College Aligarh was a residential institution. It rendered great services in imparting modern education to the Muslims. It boasted of the services of many renowned scholars of that period like professor T.W. Arnold in Philosophy, Sir Walter Raleigh in English, Maulana Shibli in Persian and Jadu Nath Chakarwati in Mathematics. In 1921 M.A.O College was raised to teh status of Aligarh University. This seat of teaming played a significant part in infusing spirit of Islamic nationalism among the Muslim students. These students later on became the torch bearers of the freedom movement in Indo-Pakistan. With the view of promoting the educational cause of 70 million Indian Muslims, Sir Syed founded, in 1886, the Muhammadan Educational Conference which held its meeting at various places to provide a forum for discussing problems that affected the Muslims at large.
The principal aims of the Conference were
1. To make an effort to spread among the Muslims western education to the higher standard.’
2. To enquire into the state of religious education in English schools founded and endowed by the Muslims, and to find out means to conduct it in the best possible way.
3. To give some strengthened support to the instruction voluntarily imparted by Muslim divines in religious and other oriental learning’s and adopt some measures to maintain it as a living concern.
4. To examine a state of education and instruction in the indigenous primary schools and take steps to remove their present state of decay in directing them onto the path of progress. Muhammadan Educational Conference used to hold its annual meetings in various cities where by the cooperation of local Muslims steps were taken for the progress of Education.
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