1. The essay on “ THE POLICY ADOPTED BY THE SIR SYED
AHMAD KHAN FOR UPLIFTMENT OF INDIAN MUSLIM AFTER
REVOLT OF 1857 DURING BRITISH RAJ………..”
INTRODUCTION: Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, one of the architects of modern
India was born on October 17, 1817 in Delhi. His father Syed Mohammad
Muttaqi was a Mughal noble descendent who had, in the time of Akbar, migrated
to India from Herat.
Sir Syed’ was an Indian educator and politician, and an Islamic reformer and
modernist. Sir Syed pioneered modern education for the Muslim community in
India by founding the Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental College, which later
developed into the Aligarh Muslim University. His work gave rise to a new
generation of Muslim entrepreneurs and politicians who composed the Aligarh
movement to secure the political future of Muslims of India.
In 1842, Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar II revived upon Syed Ahmad Khan the
title of Javad-ud Daulah, conferred upon Syed Ahmad’s grandfather Syed Hadi
by Emperor Shah Alam II in about the middle of the 18th century. The Emperor
added to it the additional title of Arif Jang. The conferment of these titles was
symbolic of Syed Ahmad Khan’s incorporation into the nobility of Delhi.
Born into Muslim nobility, Sir Syed earned a reputation as a distinguished
scholar while working as a jurist for the British East India Company.
Sir Syed Vision
The 1857 revolt was one of the turning points of Syed Ahmad's life.
Before it, his career had been that of a civil servant and a scholar. Most of the
historical works, which were to win him an honorary fellowship of the Royal
Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, were completed before 1857.
In 1847, he published the famous archaeological masterpiece, 'Asarus Sanadeed'
- a book that provided a wealth of information on countless historical monuments
in Delhi from the eight hundred year long Muslim era’s 1855,
He published yet another book 'Ain-e-Akbari'. After the 1857 revolt, Syed
Ahmad authored the marvellous book 'Asbab-e-Baghawat-e-Hind' (The causes
of Indian Revolt).
He also witnessed the terrible revenge the British wrought on Delhi and its
inhabitants after the city was recaptured in September 1857. At personal level, he

2. found an uncle and a cousin dead; his aunt died of thirst before his eyes; he
succeeded in rescuing his mother only for her to die because of the privations she
had experienced. Muslims were the main target of the Government’s wrath.
The War of Independence 1857 ended in disaster for the Muslims. The British
chose to believe that the Muslims were responsible for the anti-British uprising;
therefore they made them the subject of ruthless punishments and merciless
vengeance. With the rebellion of 1857, this feeling was intensified and every
attempt was made to ruin and suppress the Muslims forever. After dislodging the
Muslim Nawabs from the throne, the new rulers, the British, implemented a new
educational policy with drastic changes.
The policy banned Arabic, Persian and religious education in schools and made
English not only the medium of instruction but also the official language in 1835.
This spawned a negative attitude amongst the Muslims towards everything
modern and western, and a disinclination to make use of the opportunities
available under the new regime.
Seeing this atmosphere of despair and despondency, Sir Syed Ahmad launched
his attempts to revive the spirit of progress within the Muslim community of
India. He was convinced that the Muslims in their attempt to regenerate
themselves, had failed to realize the fact that mankind had entered a very
important phase of its existence, i.e., an era of science and learning.
He knew that the realization of the very fact was the source of progress and
prosperity for the British. Therefore, modern education became the pivot of his
movement for regeneration of the Indian Muslims. He tried to transform the
Muslim outlook from a medieval one to a modern one.
Sir Syed's Ahmad first and foremost objective was to acquaint the British with
the Indian mind; his next goal was to open the minds of his countrymen to
European literature, science and technology.
Therefore, in order to attain these goals, Sir Syed launched the Aligarh
Movement of which Aligarh was the center. He had two immediate objectives in
mind: to remove the state of misunderstanding and tension between the Muslims
and the new British government, and to induce them to go after the opportunities
available under the new regime without deviating in any way from the
fundamentals of their faith.
Keeping education and social reform as the two planks of his program, he
launched the Aligarh Movement with the following objectives.

3. THEN CERTAIN EFFORT & POLICY MADE BY SIR SYED AHMAD
KHAN
Fortunately, Syed Ahmad Khan was made many efforts and used many policies
to develop such a great institution & He was able to attract into his orbit a
number of sincere friends who shared his views and helped him. Among them
were well-known figures like Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk, Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk,
Hali, Shibli, Maulvi Nazir Ahmad, Chiragh Ali, Mohammad Hayat, and
Zakaullah. Above all, his gifted son Syed Mehmood, a renowned scholar, jurist
and educationist, was a great source of help to him.
Syed Ahmad also succeeded in enlisting the services of a number of
distinguished English professors like Bech, Morison, Raleigh and Arnold who
gave their best in building up the Aligarh College into a first-rate institution.
A brief chronology of Syed Ahmad's efforts is given below:
1859: Built Gulshan School in Muradabad.
1863: Set up Victoria School in Ghazipur.
1864: Set up the Scientific Society in Aligarh. This society was involved in the
translation of English works into the native language.
1866: Aligarh Institute Gazette This imparted information on history; ancient and
modern science of agriculture, natural and physical sciences and advanced
mathematics. This journal was published until 1926.
1870: Committee Striving for the Educational Progress of Muslims.
1875: Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental School (M. A. O.), Aligarh, setup on the
pattern of English public schools. Later raised to the level of college in 1877 and
university in 1920.
1886: Muhammadan Educational Conference. This conference met every year to
take stock of the educational problems of the Muslims and to persuade them to
get modern education and abstain from politics. It later became the political
mouthpiece of the Indian Muslims and was the forerunner of the Muslim League.
Sir Syed held the view that acquisition of modern education would help in the
progress and development of Muslim so he set up a scientific study at Ghazipur
in 1862 which established many educational institutions at different places. Due

4. to this, application of modern scientific knowledge became easy. They helped the
development of the Urdu language because modern subjects were translated into
it.
Throughout his life Syed Ahmed Khan showed concern with how Indian
Muslims could adapt to intellectual and political change accompanying Western
rule. His first mission became reinterpretation of Muslim ideology so as to
reconcile tradition with Western education and science.
He argued in several books on Islam that the holy Quran rested on a deep
appreciation of reason and natural law and therefore did not preclude Muslim
involvement in scientific methodology. These themes, mixed with a call for
Muslim education, regularly appeared in his journals, the Mohammedan Social
Reformer and the Aligarh Institute Gazette.
Syed Ahmed's ideas became institutionalized despite criticism from theologians.
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 center for Indian Muslims - The Aligarh Muslim
University. The success of the college was largely due to his leadership and a
curriculum embodying both Western and Oriental studies.
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