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Aligarh Movement

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Aligarh Movement
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The Aligarh Movement was the push to establish a modern system of Western-style scientific education for the Muslim population of British India, during the later decades of the 19th century.[1] The movement's name derives from the fact that its core and origins lay in the city of Aligarh in Central India and, in particular, with the foundation of the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875.[2] The founder of the oriental college, and the other educational institutions that developed from it, was Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. He became the leading light of the wider Aligarh Movement.

The education reform established a base, and an impetus, for the wider Movement: an Indian Muslim renaissance that had profound implications for the religion, the politics, the culture and society of the Indian subcontinent.

History

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The failure of the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 saw the end of the Mughal empire and the succession of the British. The Muslim society during the post mutiny period was in a deteriorating state. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan found the Muslim society to be educationally, socially and culturally backward. He blamed the prevailing education system for the degrading state of the Muslim society.[3] This led Sir Syed to initiate a movement for the intellectual, educational, social and cultural regeneration of the Muslim society. This movement came to be known as the Aligarh movement after Sir Syed established his school at Aligarh which later became the center of the movement.[4]

The Aligarh Movement introduced a new trend in Urdu literature. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and his association left the old style of writing in the Urdu language, which was rhetorical and academic, and started a simple style which helped Muslims to understand the main purpose of the movement. Sir Syed Ahmed was the central figure behind this awakening.

Institutes

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  • In 1859, Sir Syed established Gulshan School at Moradabad. In 1862 he founded the Victoria School at Ghazipur.[5]
  • Sir Syed founded the Translation Society in Ghazipur in 1863 to translate major works in the field of sciences and modern arts into Urdu.[6] It was later renamed as the Scientific Society and moved to Aligarh. The Society released two journals – The Aligarh Institute Gazette and the Tehzeeb-ul-Akhlaq, known as the Mohammedan Social Reformer in English.[7]
  • In 1866 the British Indian Association was established at Aligarh with the intention of addressing the political needs of the people.[8]
  • The Bihar Scientific Society was established by Syed Imdad Ali in Muzaffarpur in 1868. The society also launched a fortnightly newspaper, Akhbarul Akhyar.[9]
  • The Bihar Scientific Society and Bhumihar Brahman Sabha together established a college in Muzaffarpur on July 3, 1899. This is now known as Langat Singh College.[10]
  • In 1875 Sir Syed and Moulvi Samiullah Khan established a madarsa Madrasatul Uloom Musalmanan-e-Hind in Aligarh in his bungalow. [11] The school had a primary section and a senior section known as Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental Collegiate School.[12]
  • Two years later, in 1877, the school was converted into the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College.[13]
  • In 1877 the foundation of Lytton Library was laid by Lord Lytton for the students of MAO College. It was renamed as the Maulana Azad Library after Independence.[14]
  • A debating club was founded at MAO College by Sir Syed in 1884. It was renamed Siddons Union Club after its first principal Henry George Siddons.[15] It came to be known as Muslim University Union after the college became a university.[16]
  • In 1886 Sir Syed founded the Muhammedan Educational Congress, an organisation to reform and educate Indian Muslims. Its name was changed to All India Muhammadan Educational Conference in 1890.[17]
  • Sir Syed founded the United Patriotic Association in 1888 along with Raja Sivaprasad of Beneras to promote political co-operation with the British and ensure Muslim participation in the British Indian Government.[18][19]
  • In 1889 Sahabzada Aftab Ahmad Khan established Duty Society or Anjuman-Al-Farz to support the poor and needy students of the Mohammadan Anglo Oriental (MAO) College.[20]
  • In 1890 Mohsin-ul-Mulk founded Urdu Defence Central Committee later renamed to Urdu Defence Association for the advocacy of Urdu.[8]
  • To promote the political interests of the Muslims before the British Government, the Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental Defense Association was established in 1893.[21]
  • In 1893 the Muhammedan Educational Conference established Anjuman-i Taraqqi-i Urdu for the promotion of Urdu. The first anjuman was held in Delhi with Thomas Walker Arnold as its president and Shibli Nomani its secretary.[8]
  • After the death of Sir Syed in 1899, the Old Boys Association was formed at Aligarh to generate support for the Aligarh Movement. Maulvi Bahadur Ali was the founding secretary of the association.[22]
  • Sir Syed Memorial Fund was established by Sahabzada Aftab Ahmad Khan in 1899 to raise MAO College to a university.[23]
  • In 1901 Mohammadan Political Organisation was founded by Nawab Waqar-ul-Mulk to present Muslim grievances before the government.[24][page needed]
  • Sheikh Abdullah launched the Urdu monthly magazine Khatoon in 1904 to promote education of girls.[25]
  • In 1906 the All India Muslim League was founded to safeguard the rights of Indian Muslims.[26]
  • In 1906 Sheikh Abdullah and his wife Wahid Jahan Begum established a small school for girls known as Aligarh Zenana Madarsa in Aligarh.[27]
  • In 1914 Begum Sultan Jahan founded the All India Muslim Ladies Conference at Aligarh. The Begum served as President of the Conference, while Nafis Dulhan Begum from Aligarh was its Secretary.[28]
  • On October 29, 1920 Jamia Millia Islamia was established at Aligarh. It was later moved to Delhi.[29]
  • On December 17, 1920, MAO College was granted the status of university and Aligarh Muslim University was established. The Raja of Mahmudabad Mohammad Ali Mohammad Khan was appointed the vice-chancellor.[30]
  • In 1929, Zenana Madarsa became an Intermediate College and In 1930 the girl's college was converted into a Women’s College under the affiliation of Aligarh Muslim University.[31]
  • A new constitution was drafted for the Muslim University Union in 1952 and it came to be known as the Aligarh Muslim University Students' Union[16]

Members

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The prominent members involved with the movement have included.

Opposition

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Main article: Deoband–Aligarh relations

The chief detractors of the Aligarh Movement were the conservative Ulemas of the time who blamed Sir Syed for promoting Western ethics and customs among the Muslims.[3] The Deoband school was also opposed to the Aligarh Movement.[73] Sir Syed and the movement was ridiculed in the Awadh Punch by his detractors like Pandit Ratan Nath Sarshar, Munshi Sajjad Hussain and Akbar Allahabadi. He was also opposed by Pan-Islamist thinker and activist Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī.[74]

Impact

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The Aligarh Movement has made a weighty and lasting contribution to the political emancipation of Indian Muslims.[75] The movement had a profound impact on the Indian society, particularly on the Muslim society compared to the other powerful but less adaptable movements of the 19th century. It influenced a number of other contemporary movements to a great extent that it caused the emergence of other socio-religious movements during the 19th century. The impact of Aligarh Movement was not confined to the Northern India only, but its expansion could be seen on the other regions of the Indian sub-continent during the 20th century.[76] The annual Educational Conferences held in different parts of the country played an effective role in the promotion of education among Muslims and directly or indirectly influenced the growth of institutes like Aligarh Muslim University, Osmania University, Dacca University, Anjuman-i-Tarqqi Urdu, Jamia Millia Islamia, Dar-ul-Uloom Nadva, Lucknow, and Dar-ul-Musannfafin, Azamgarh.[77] By the early 1900 Aligarh Movement became the progenitor to a number of socio-religious movements like the Urdu movement,[78] the Khilafat Movement[79] and the Pakistan Movement.[80]

References

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  1. ^ "Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and the Aligarh Movement". YourArticleLibrary.com: The Next Generation Library. 4 January 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  2. ^ "Syed Ahmed Khan and Aligarh Movement". Jagranjosh.com. 12 October 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  3. ^ a b Paracha, Nadeem F. (21 August 2016). "The forgotten past: Sir Syed and the birth of Muslim nationalism in South Asia". Scroll.in. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  4. ^ Jaleel 2004, p. 6.
  5. ^ Nizami 1966, p. 41.
  6. ^ Kidwai 2020, p. 38.
  7. ^ "Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, for whom educational reform was a way of life". The Print. 17 October 2019.
  8. ^ a b c d "Anjuman Taraqqi-i-Urdu – the movement lives on". dawn.com. 3 April 2011. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  9. ^ Raza & Kumar 2011.
  10. ^ Sajjad 2014.
  11. ^ a b Hasan 2006, p. 43.
  12. ^ "STS School". Aligarh Muslim University. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  13. ^ Hasan 2006, p. 44.
  14. ^ "About The Library – Maulana Azad Library | AMU". Aligarh Muslim University. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  15. ^ Jaleel 2004, p. 211.
  16. ^ a b "The Aligarh Muslim University's constitution is a bundle of contradictions". Newslaundry. 12 September 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  17. ^ Kidwai 2020, p. 49.
  18. ^ a b Lelyveld 1975, p. 309.
  19. ^ a b Hasan 2006, p. 91.
  20. ^ a b Lelyveld 1975, p. 287.
  21. ^ Lelyveld 1975, p. 312.
  22. ^ Jaleel 2004, p. 212.
  23. ^ Minault & Lelyveld 1974, p. 147.
  24. ^ a b c Hasan 2006.
  25. ^ Samiuddin & Khanam 2002, p. 288.
  26. ^ Lelyveld 1975, p. 338.
  27. ^ Lambert-Hurley 2004.
  28. ^ Deutsch, Karin Anne (27 October 1998). Muslim women in colonial North India circa 1920–1947 : politics, law and community identity (PhD). Apollo-University Of Cambridge Repository, Apollo-University Of Cambridge Repository. p. 90. doi:10.17863/CAM.16006.
  29. ^ Fārūqī, Z̤iāʼulḥasan (1999). Dr. Zakir Hussain, Quest for Truth. APH Publishing. ISBN 978-81-7648-056-7.
  30. ^ a b Noorani, A. G. (27 April 2016). "History of Aligarh Muslim University". Frontline. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  31. ^ Usmani, Afzal. "Struggle for Women's Education and Establishment of Women's College". aligarhmovement.com. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  32. ^ Hasan 2006, p. 96.
  33. ^ Lelyveld 1975, p. 79.
  34. ^ "Lieutenant Colonel George Farquhar Irving Graham".
  35. ^ Saikia, Yasmin; Rahman, M. Raisur (21 March 2019). The Cambridge Companion to Sayyid Ahmad Khan. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-48387-2.
  36. ^ Russell, Ralph (1992). The Pursuit of Urdu Literature: A Select History. Zed Books. ISBN 978-1-85649-029-0.
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  38. ^ "Jung tells AMU students to take lead in "new Aligarh movement"". DNA India.
  39. ^ Graham, George Farquhar Irving (1885). The Life and Work of Syed Ahmed Khan. Blackwood. p. 272.
  40. ^ Jaleel 2004, p. 201.
  41. ^ Hasan 2006, p. 68.
  42. ^ Jaleel 2004, p. 221.
  43. ^ Jaleel 2004, p. 223.
  44. ^ Jaleel 2004, p. 225.
  45. ^ Minault & Lelyveld 1974.
  46. ^ Jaleel 2004, p. 238.
  47. ^ Noorani, A. G. (7 June 2017). "A blot on India's secularism". Frontline. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  48. ^ Jaleel 2004, p. 247.
  49. ^ Jaleel 2004, p. 237.
  50. ^ "Chiragh Ali – Oxford Islamic Studies Online". www.oxfordislamicstudies.com. Archived from the original on 25 April 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  51. ^ "A Brief History of The Nizams of Hyderabad". Outlook Traveller. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  52. ^ Jaleel 2004, p. 187.
  53. ^ Jaleel 2004, p. 180.
  54. ^ Jaleel 2004, p. 194.
  55. ^ Parekh, Rauf (8 May 2018). "Literary Notes: Hasrat Mohani's political and literary world: a blend of old and new". dawn.com. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  56. ^ Ansari 2001.
  57. ^ Jaleel 2004, p. 184.
  58. ^ a b Minault & Lelyveld 1974, p. 149.
  59. ^ "Syed Tufail Ahmad Manglori". The Milli Gazette — Indian Muslims Leading News Source. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  60. ^ a b c Jaleel 2004, p. 239.
  61. ^ Jaleel 2004, p. 190.
  62. ^ "Remembering Nawab Ismail Khan". The Nation. 30 August 2010. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  63. ^ "Maulana Zafar Ali Khan (1873–1956) – Journalism Pakistan". www.journalismpakistan.com. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  64. ^ a b "Mohammed Ali Jauhar (1878–1931) and the Origins of Pakistan". History of Islam. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  65. ^ "Karachi: Connoisseurs remember Bijnori's contribution". dawn.com. 8 November 2001. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  66. ^ Shan Muhammad 2002, p. 74.
  67. ^ Muhammad, Shan (2003). The All-India Muslims Educational Conference: Select Presidential Addresses, 1886–1947. A.P.H. Publishing Corporation. p. 433. ISBN 978-81-7648-457-2.
  68. ^ Ikram, S. M. (1995). Indian Muslims and Partition of India. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. p. 216. ISBN 978-81-7156-374-6.
  69. ^ Hasan, Mushirul (13 March 2019). Legacy Of A Divided Nation: India's Muslims From Independence To Ayodhya. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-72121-2.
  70. ^ "Constitution of India". www.constitutionofindia.net. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  71. ^ Islam and the Modern Age. Islam and the Modern Age Society. 1992.
  72. ^ Wajihuddin, Mohammed (21 December 2020). "As AMU turns 100, Mumbai reflects on its historic bonds". The Times of India. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  73. ^ Dasgupta, Jyotirindra (1 January 1970). Language Conflict and National Development: Group Politics and National Language Policy in India. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520015906.
  74. ^ "The Man Who Became a Movement". Dawn.com. 15 October 2017.
  75. ^ "Enlightenment and Islam: Sayyid Ahmad Khan's Plea to Indian Muslims for Reason". ZMO. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 October 2018.
  76. ^ "shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in" (PDF). shodhganga. UGC.
  77. ^ Hassaan, Rahmani B. M. R. (1959). The educational movement of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, 1858–1898 (phd thesis). SOAS University of London. doi:10.25501/soas.00029491.
  78. ^ "URDU CONTROVERSY- is dividing the nation further". 11 March 2007. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  79. ^ "United Colours of Khilafat Movement". www.news18.com. 9 July 2020.
  80. ^ Burki, Shahid Javed (1999) [First published in 1986]. Pakistan: Fifty Years of Nationhood (3rd ed.). Boulder, CO: Westview Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-8133-3621-3. The university that [Sir Sayyid] founded in the town of Aligarh ... not only provided the Pakistan movement with its leadership but, later, also provided the new country of Pakistan with its first ruling elite ... Aligarh College made it possible for the Muslims to discover a new political identity: Being a Muslim came to have a political connotation-a connotation that was to lead this Indian Muslim community inexorably toward acceptance of the 'two-nation theory'

Cited sources

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Further reading

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