Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Aligarh Movement

Born : 17th October 1817 Delhi

Died : 27th March 1898, Aligarh
Father : Saiyad Muhammad Muttaqi,
Mother : Azizun Nisa Begum
Wife : Parsa Begum(Mubarak) Married : 1836
Children : Saiyad Hamid, Saiyad Mahmud and Amina.
Biography: Hayat-e-Javed (By Maulana Altaf Husain Hali)
" Hai Dileri daste-arbab-e-siyaasat ka Aasa` "
"sir syed ahmed khan was a prophet of education " (Mahatma Gandhi)
"The real greatness of the man sir syed ahmed khan consists in the fact that he was the first Indian
Muslim who felt the need of a fresh orientation of Islam and worked for it'' (Sir Allama Iqbal)
"sir syed ahmed khan was an ardent reformer and he wanted to reconcile modern scientific thought
with religion by rationalistic interpretations and not by attacking basic belief.Sir Syed was anxious
to push new education.Sir Syed was in no way communally separatist. Repeatedly syed emphasized
that religious differences should have no political and national significance".
( Jawaharlal Nehru, Founder Prime Minister of India)
"sir syed ahmed khan vision and his laborious efforts to meet the demands of challenging times are
highly commendable. The dark post 1857 era was indeed hopeless and only men like Raja Mohan
Roy and Sir Syed could penetrate through its thick veil to visualize the Nation's destinies. They
rightly believed that the past had its merits and its legacies were valuable but it was the future that
a society was called upon to cope with. I offer my homage to Sir Syed for his vision and courage that
withstood all obstructions both from the friends and the foes"
(Mr. Inder Kumar Gujral, Former Prime Minister of India).
The Founder
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, one of the architects of modern India was born on October 17, 1817 in Delhi
and started his career as a civil servant.
The 1857 revolt was one of the turning points of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed's life.Sir Syed clearly
foresaw the imperative need for the Muslims to acquire proficiency in the English language and
modern sciences if the community were to maintain its social and political identity, particularly in
Northern India.

Sir Syed was one of those early pioneers

who recognized the critical role of
education for the empowerment of the poor
and backward Muslim community. In more
than one ways Sir Syed was one of
http://www.scribd.com/doc/255677980 the
greatest social reformers and a great
national builder of modern India. Sir Syed
Ahmed Khan Ahmed began to prepare the
road map for the formation of a Muslim
University by starting various schools.Sir
Syed instituted Scientific Society in 1863 to create a scientific temperament among the Muslims and
to make the Western knowledge available to Indians in their own language. The Aligarh Institute her
comment is here Gazette, an organ of the Scientific Society was started in March 1866 and
succeeded in transforming the minds in the traditional Muslim Society. Anyone with an average level
of commitment would have backed off in the face of strong opposition but Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
Ahmed's responded by bringing out another journal 'Tehzibul Akhlaq' which was rightly named in
English as 'Mohammedan Social Reformer'.
In 1875, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed's founded the Madarsatul Uloom in Aligarh and patterned the
MAO College after Oxford and Cambridge universities that Sir Syed visited on a trip to London in
1869. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed's objective was to build a college in tune with the British
education system but without compromising its Islamic values.Sir Syed wanted this College to act as
a bridge between the old and the new, the East and the West. While he fully appreciated the need
and urgency of imparting instruction based on Western learning, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed's was
not oblivious to the value of Oriental learning and wanted to preserve and transmit to posterity the
rich legacy of the past. Dr. Sir Mohammad Iqbal observed that "the real greatness of Sir Syed
consists in the fact that he was the first Indian Muslim who felt the need of a fresh orientation of
Islam and worked for it-- his sensitive nature was the first to react to modern age".
The aim of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed was not merely restricted to establishing a college at
Aligarh but at spreading a network of Muslim managed educational institutions throughout the
length and breadth of the country. Keeping in view this, he instituted All India Muslim Educational
Conference in 1886 that revived the spirit of Muslims at national level. The Aligarh Movement
motivated the Muslims to help open a number of educational institutions. It was the first of its kind
of such Muslim NGO in India, which awakened the Muslims from their deep slumber and infused
social and political awareness among them.
Sir Syed contributed much to the development of the modern society of the subcontinent. During Sir
Syed's own life time, 'The Englishman', a renowned British magazine of the 19th century remarked
in a note on November 17, 1885: 'Sir Syed's life "strikingly illustrated one of the best phases of
modern history". Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed's died on March 27, 1898 and lies buried next to the
main mosque at AMU.
An Architect of Modern India
History of social and educational reforms in Indian sub-continent can not be completed without Sir
Syed Ahmed Khan. He is one of the great thinker, philosopher and revolutionaries who had
dedicated his complete life for his nation and especially for his community. Nineteenth century was a

hard time for the nation of India and especially for Muslims in the aftermath of 1857 revolt against
British colonialism. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed's tried and motivated Indian Muslim. In the history
of India's transition from medievalism to modernism, Sir Syed stand out prominently as a dynamic
force pitted against conservatism, superstitions, inertia and ignorance. He contributed many of the
essential elements to the development of modern India and paved the growth of a healthy scientific
attitude of mind which is sine qua non for advancement, both material and intellectual. Sir Syed
Ahmed Khan Ahmed said : After the Revolt of 1857, I was grieved neither on account of the plunder
of my house nor on account of the loss of property that I had suffered. What saddened my heart was
the misery and destruction of people. When Mr. Shakespeare offered to me the Taluqa of Jehanabad,
which originally belonged to a distinguished Saiyad family, and yielded an annual rental of more
than a lac rupees, as a reward of my services, my heart
http://www.convoyofhope.org/what-we-do/womens-empowerment/ was deeply hurt. I said to myself,
how can I accept this jagir and become the Taluqdar while all the people are in distress. I refused to
accept it.
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed was born on 17th October 1817 in Delhi in a respectable family of
Saiyad Mohammad Muttaqi Azizun Nisa Begum . Sir Saiyad and Maulana Qasim Nanotwi (Founder
of Darul-Uloom, Deoband) studied together under the able guidance of Maulana Mamlook Ali in
Delhi. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed studied mathematics, Geology and Medicine from his uncle,
Saiyad Zainul Abedin. He also studied Arabic literature, Tafseer-e-Quran, Hadith, and Fiqah from
Maulana Makhsusullah (s/o Maulana Shah Rafiuddin Dahlwi ), Maulana Nawazish Ali and Maulana
Faizul Hasan Saharanpuri. In 1836 Sir Saiyad got married to Parsa Begum (Mubarak) and had two
sons, Hamid (born in 1849) and Mahmood (born in 1850) and a daughter Amina. His elder brother
Saiyad Muhammad started a weekly newspaper in 1837 and out of love of his younger brother Syedd
Ahmad (also known as Saiyad in his youth), named the newspaper Saiyadul-Akhbar . After Saiyad
Muhammad's death in 1845, Sir Saiyad Ahmad started managing Saiyadul-Akhbar.
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed was a great champion of Hindu-Muslim Unity. Addressing a big
gathering at Gurudaspur on Jan. 27, 1884 He said: " Hindus and Muslims ! Do you belong to a
country other than India ? Don't you live on this soil and are you not buried under it or cremated on
its Ghats ? If you live and die on this land, then bear in mind, that Hindus and Muslims is but a
religious word; all the Hindus, Muslims and Christians who live in this country are one nation."
Father of Aligarh movement
This most respected and important educational centre for Indian Muslims was initially founded as
Mohammedan Anglo Oriental College (MAOC) at Aligarh in 1875 by
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed and subsequently raised to the status of Aligarh Muslim University
(AMU) in 1920. Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), known more as a movement than an academic
institution is one of view it the most important chapters of Indian history as far as the sociology of
Hindu-Muslim relation is concerned. Sir Saiyad said: "This is the first time in the history of
Mohammedans of India, that a college owes it nor to the charity or love of learning of an individual,
nor to the spending patronage of a monarch, but to the combined wishes and the united efforts of a
whole community. It has its own origin in course which the history of this county has never
witnessed before. It is based on principles of toleration and progress such as find no parallel in the
annals of the east." Sir Saiyad' famous speech which he made while foundation of MAO College was
laid down by Lord Lytton on 18th January, 1877 is the soul of Aligarh Movement. Sir Saiyad said:
"from the seed which we sow today, there may spring up a mighty tree, whose branches, like those
of the banyan of the soil, shall in their turn strike firm roots into the earth, and themselves send
forth new and vigorous saplings".

It's a common misconception that Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed and Aligarh Movement is antioriental studies (Islamic and Eastern studies) and MAO College was started in a reactionary
movement to counter the religious school, Darul-Uloom Deoband, started by Maulana Qasim Nanotvi
(another student of Sir Saiyad's teacher Maulana Mamlook Ali Nanotvi). In fact Sir Syed Ahmed
Khan Ahmed had a broader vision and had put forward the need of the hour to get equipped with the
modern education to improve the social and economical conditions of Muslims of India. He never
discouraged or denied the importance of religious and oriental studies. By his individual means and
with the help of Muslim Educational Conference, he always tried to modernize the Madarasas,
update their syllabus as per the need of the hour.
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed wrote a lot about these things in Tahzeebul-akhlaq. Sir Saiyad's
educational vision has two strong points;
1. Adoption of Modern education
2. Moral Education
From the beginning, Madarsatul-Uloom, later MAO College was equipped with the above philosophy.
Tarbiyat of the students living in Hostels were part of the duties of Principal and Manager of
Hostels. For Islamic and moral education, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed created a position of Nazime-Diniyaat for MAO College who was responsible for Islamic and moral education of the students.
Dars-e-Quran was part of curriculum of the college and every morning before the start of the class,
Allama Shibli Nomani used to give Dars-e-Quran for about half hour from 1887 to 1895 and later on
the responsibility was handed over to Maulana Abdullah Ansari, the founder Nazim-e-Diniyaat.
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