Political thought of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan

 The dawn of 19th century saw many ups and downs in India. It went through the process of extinction of Mughals and overpowering of colonial forces. Amidst all the chaos Muslims of India had played and have to play a great role in the building of independent India. 

A visionary was born to ignite the fire of Muslim education and intelligensia in that period of time. Born on 17th October 1817 to a wealthy family that was close to the Mughal court, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan had many titles: Civil servant, journalist, historian. However, he is, first and foremost, famously known for his pioneering role in transforming the educational opportunities for Muslims.

His meticulously focused on intellectual development of the Muslims through modern education. He was the first Indian Muslim to contribute to the intellectual and institutional foundation of Muslim modernization in Southern Asia. 

Sir Syed had made magnificent contributions for the improvement and empowerment of the Muslims. 

He had well analyzed the devastating state of Muslims. He sifted the education of Muslims for politics. He understood the need of time and acted in accordance with the situation. He knew that the Muslim intelligensia had stagnated  and it needed a revival and constant development. To achieve this he called for political isolation of Muslims and focus on education.  Isolating Muslims from politics was seem to be very alien for his co-religionists but this had to be done in order to make them have a strong political and intellectual stand in future and history is the witness of his far sightedness.

The political career of  Khan began after 1857. He provided political leadership by uniting the people under a unified banner of Islam. He wrote various notable works in order to remove the mistrust of the Britishers towards the Muslims. To the Muslims, he advocated loyalty to the government and to the British he asked to review their policy, which would win the support of the largest minority in the country. This two-way policy resulted in the settlement of the Muslims.

Syed Ahmad Khan was overwhelmed by the misery of the Muslims in the sub-continent that he decided to make efforts to save the Muslim Nation from total ruin. To remove suspicions of the British officers and bring them closer to the Muslims, he wrote his well-known pamphlet, The Causes of Indian Revolt, which Graham describes as 'true and manly words'. His influence made Muslims to abstain from political movement. 

The personality of Sir Syed was not of a utopian but of a realist who keenly observed the changes due to the advent of Britishers.

The establishment of Aligarh Muslim University was in itself the outcome of many political reach. He opposed the superstitions within the Muslim community and worked entirely for restoring rational dogma.

He said that in a - country like lndia which was complex and full of diversities of castes, religions and races, the system of representative form of government would not satisfy the principles of equality. Democracy believes in the rule of the majority. In his opinion such a system would lead to the domination of the more educated and more numerous Hindus over the less educated and less numerous Muslims.

He catalysed social and educational reforms among sections of Muslims. He staunchly advocated the adoption of English language as a tool for learning modern science and literature which will empower Muslims contemporarily and in future. 

Sir Syed convincingly argued that if in the past Muslims could study Greek language for development of science and arts and in his time Persian language there was no reason why they should not take to Western education in English.

Sir Syed concluded ‘that nothing in Islam and its doctrines is against reason and science.’ He exhorted the Islamic scholars to face the challenges of modern philosophy. More importantly, it astound us how one single person could combine so successfully the roles of an administrator, reformer, thinker, educationalist, journalist, writer, religious scholar and a devoted family man.To use Pierre Bourdieu’s, he was truly a collective intellectual.

Syed Ahmed's ideas became institutionalized despite criticism from many. In 1862 he formed a scientific society, and 13 years later he assisted in establishing the Mohammadan Anglo-Oriental College, which prospered and became the key intellectual and political center for Indian Muslims - The Aligarh Muslim University. The immense success of the college was largely due to his leadership and a curriculum embodying both Western and Oriental studies. In words of Sir Syed, "Do not show the face of Islam to others; instead show your face as the follower of true Islam representing character, knowledge, tolerance and piety."