Sayyid Ahmad Khan and Muslim Community

• This essay emphasizes the legacy and impact of Sayyid Ahmad Khan on the Muslim community of the Indian subcontinent and beyond, focusing on community and voluntary associations.
• Sayyid Ahmad Khan, a 19th-century reformer, writer, and thinker, greatly influenced generations because of his emphasis on modern education.
• Allama Iqbal described Sayyid Ahmad Khan as the first Indian Muslim who recognized the need for a reorientation of Islam.
• Born in Delhi on October 17, 1817, Sayyid Ahmad had strong ties to the Mughal nobility through his maternal and paternal grandfathers.
• Sayyid Ahmad studied Persian, Arabic, mathematics, and medicine, along with the Quran, as a young boy.
• In 1837, he started working for the English East India Company as a clerk and rose to the rank of subordinate judge by 1860.
• By 1878, he was nominated to the Viceroy's Legislative Council.
• Sayyid Ahmad was a dedicated educator, establishing the Gulshan School at Muradabad in 1859 and the Victoria School at Ghazipur in 1863.
• Inspired by the English education system from a trip to England in 1869-1870, he aimed to establish a "Muslim Cambridge" in India.
• In 1875, he founded a school in Aligarh, modeled after British boarding schools, known as the Mohammad Anglo-Oriental College (MAO College), which later became Aligarh Muslim University in 1920.
• Sayyid Ahmad established the Scientific Society in 1864 to translate Western texts into Urdu.
• From the Scientific Society, he launched the multilingual Aligarh Institute Gazette in 1866 and Tehzeb-ul-Akhlaq in 1870, with the goals of bringing elements of Islam and modern Europe closer.
• Some of Sayyid Ahmad’s notable books include Athar-al-Sanadeed (1847), Asbab-e-Baghawat-e-Hind (1859), Tabyin-ul-Kalam (1862), and The Loyal Mohammadens of India (1860).

Turbulent Context

• Mughal Muslim power declined from 1757-1857 because of the British expansion in the Indian subcontinent.
• After the 1857 War of Independence, Muslims were seen as a major threat by the colonial power.
• The decade of the 1850s had a profound impact on Sayyid Ahmad, as he was concerned about the treatment of Muslims after the War of Independence.
• The destruction of Sayyid Ahmad's "qaum" (community) was due to mutual suspicion between Muslims and the British.

Embracing Western Education

• The British held Muslims responsible as the main instigators of the Mutiny.
• Muslims rejected the British way of life, isolating themselves within their religious community.
• Unlike their Hindu counterparts, India's Muslims rejected and shied away from Western education.
• K. K. Aziz noted that Muslims did not embrace the English language, which closed doors to material and intellectual progress.
• Sayyid Ahmad urged Muslims to learn English to prevent self-exclusion from mainstream society.
• He believed that embracing the British education system was vital for Muslim community advancement.
• Sayyid Ahmad linked the reluctance to adopt foreign education to a mental enslavement to formal religious tradition.
• He understood the need for renewal (tajdid) in the Muslim way of life because of the industrial and scientific revolutions.
• Reformist attempts sought to use Western knowledge while defining themselves against Western cultural and political hegemony.
• Sayyid Ahmad was concerned with the state of Muslims in a world dominated by European colonizing powers.
• He emphasized the importance of embracing the changing world, with his thought having a lasting effect on Indian Muslims, promoting secular learning and the English language in Muslim education in 19th-century India.

Embracing Modernity and Reform

• Francis Robinson summarized the diverse Muslim reformist currents of Sayyid Ahmad's time, including: seeking ways to make revelation and tradition relevant, stressing the need for transforming the self, highlighting a rational conception of Islam, and endorsing secularization.
• Sayyid Ahmad emphasized personal responsibility before God.
• He advocated for a reexamination of faith and emphasized reason, even if it meant departing from sacred traditions of Islam.
• Advocated for reform in Islam
• Published Tafsir-ul-Quran (1880-1904)
• The Quran should be interpreted with reason and understanding
• Quran is compatible with modern sciences, difficulties should be resolved with modern knowledge.
• "Word of God" in the Quran cannot contradict the Laws of Nature.
• He rejected the idea of angels, devils, and miracles.
• He rejected hadiths which could only be of limited use for interpreting the Quran
• He saw Prophet Muhammad's night journey (al-isra) as strictly a dream
• Believed that the modern world did not need polygamy
• He opposed equating jihad with wars for political reasons.

Criticism

• He believed it should be tested against nature
• Led to him being nicknamed "neichari"
• Many religious leaders issued fatwas because they viewed him as a heretic, apostate, or atheist.
• Jamal al-Din Afghani wrote against Sayyid Ahmad.
• faced opposition from friends and family
• Nawab Mohsinul Mulk denounced Sayyid Ahmad's ideas of constant Quran interpretation before taking over college management

Seeing India Whole

• Sayyid Ahmad encouraged his followers to move from tradition and modern practices
• His projects convinced his coreligionists to look away from fixed identities and beliefs.
• He advovcated for change to adapt to current times while also staying committed to Indian heritage.
• India was the only home for both Hindus and Muslims
• Encouraged respect and friendship between Muslims and Hindus, even publicly counseling against cow slaughter within the college.
• Believed in God's transcendence beyond religion or methods of worship.

Legacy

• The Aligarh Movement carried forward the legacy of Sayyid Ahmad
• Alumni of AMU (Aligarh Muslim University) had central importance in the Indian independence movement.
• Saw the community as ethical
• Modern and educated Muslims emerged from AMU and asserted their demand for political rights and shared government in India with the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League carrying on the legacies of AMU.
• He envisioned the message of free inquiry, toleration, and morality through modern education.
• AMU blended British, Indian, and Muslim cultures for Muslim communities in the Indian subcontinent
• Promoted education and institution building