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Q: What was the Aligarh Movement? [4]
ANS: Sir Syed wanted to see the Muslims united and prospering. He made this
ambition his lifes work and because so much of his effort revolved around a
Muslim renaissance taking place in Aligarh, he is said to have founded The
Aligarh Movement. The central aims of the Aligarh movement were to:
Improve relations between the British and Muslims communities by removing
British doubts about Muslim loyalty and Muslims doubts about British intentions.
Improve the social and economic position of Muslims by encouraging them to
receive Western education and take up posts in the civil service and army.
Increase the political awareness of the Muslims community in order to make them
aware of the threat to their position from the Hindus policy of cooperation with the
British.

Q: Why did Sir Syed Ahmad Khan wrote The causes of Indian revolt? [7]
ANS: Sir Syed was extremely unhappy about the position of the Muslims in the
Sub-Continent. Since the days of the Mughal Empire their social and economic
status had declined sharply. The role of Muslims in the War of Independence had
led to further decline in their fortunes as the British took measures to ensure that
their control would not be subject to further challenge.
Sir Syed felt that the poor status of the Muslims was due to the way they were
treated as second class citizens by British and the Hindus, but that they also had to
take some of the responsibility themselves. Many Muslims considered the British
to be little more than invaders in India and wanted nothing to do with them. Sir
Syed believed that the Muslim community had to accept that the British were rulers
who intended to stay for many years. The Muslims position could only be
improved if they adopted a more positive approach to the British. They needed to
accept more British ideas and to take advantage of British education. If they did
not, the Hindus would continue to prosper because of their more cooperative
approach.
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Sir Syed wanted to see the Muslims united and prospering. He also wanted to see
an improvement in their social, economic, political and religious fortunes.
In order to convince the British that they were wrong to put the full blame for the
events of 1857 on the Muslims, Sir Syed wrote a pamphlet called The cause of
Indian revolt. In this he pointed out the main reasons for the uprising were:
The lack of representation for the Indians in the government of the country.
The forcible conversion of Muslims to Christianity.
The poor management of Indian army.
He also listed many other measures taken by the British which created
dissatisfaction and led to resentment among the Muslim community.
This pamphlet was circulated free amongst the British officials in India and was
also sent to the members of parliament in England.
Even members of the royal family received copies. Some British officials were
angered by what Sir Syed wrote as he seemed to be blaming them for the uprising.
Others read what he wrote with sympathy and accepted that there was truth in his
words.

Q: Do you agree that Sir Syed Ahmad Khans most important contribution to
Muslim community was his support for education? Give reasons for your
answer? [14]
ANS: Sir Syed Ahmad Khan took steps to change Muslims attitude towards
receiving British education. Sir Syed stressed on that the backwardness of the
Muslims was because of lack of modern education. He opened schools at several
places started the scientific society and published a magazine called the Aligarh
institute Gazette. This was to introduce modern sciences among the Muslim public.
Sir Syed went to England in 1869 to observe the working of British educational
institutions. He stayed there for 17 months and observed the system of the British
universities. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan opened the school at Aligarh which became
M.A.O (Mohammaden-Anglo Oriental) school in 1875 where English, Modern
sciences and as well as Islamic teachings were taught. It was later raised to the
status of university in 1920. Following the lead for Sir Syed Ahmad many Muslim
high schools and Islamia colleges were opened in many big cities of India for
Muslim students. Sir Syed established Mohammaden educational conference which
was an organization to discuss the problems of the Muslims education in India.
This greatly helped the Muslims who started getting good jobs, improved their
economic condition and improve their status in the society. Although encouraging
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the growth of western education was his most important contribution but he made
other contributions too.
Sir Syed believed that the position of the Muslims in the Sub-Continent could only
be improved if the relations with the British were improved and Muslim gained
higher quality education. Sir Syed had realized that the Muslims were going down
economically, socially and educationally. Muslims were sidelined because great
mistrust and suspicion had developed between the British and the Muslims. Sir
Syed made a two pronged effort to bring the British and Muslims closer. On one
side he advised the Muslims not to think of armed struggle because the British were
too strong. He further advised the Muslims to pay attention towards receiving
modern and English education and also not to hate Christianity because there were
many similarities between Christianity and Islam and to sit and eat with Christians
was not forbidden in Islam.
On the other side, Sir Syed explained to the British that the Muslims were not
responsible for the war of Independence 1857. In the book he wrote for this
purpose (called the causes of Indian revolt), Sir Syed explained that the wrong
British policies were the cause of uprising. He further explained that the British did
not understand the needs and desires of Indian people while making laws and
policies because there were no Indian members in Viceroys legislative council. He
also explained that the British Indian army was mismanaged and solders rose up
against their officers. In another book Sir Syed described at length the loyalty of the
Muslims to the British. Sir Syed also founded the British Indian association to
bring the British and Muslims closer.
Sir Syed was successful in his effort and the misunderstanding was greatly
removed. Muslims started coming towards English and modern education.
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan guided the Muslims in political sphere as well. He advised
the Muslims to keep away from congress and to put all their attention towards
acquiring education. He opposed Western type of democracy because it meant that
the Muslims will always be in minority and will be at the mercy of Hindus.
Muslims asked for separate electorate later on. Sir Syed also strongly opposed the
replacement of Urdu by Hindu in 1867. He always kept the interests of Muslim
supreme in his mind.
Although, Sir Syeds contribution towards improving relations between the
Muslims and British and increasing political awareness was important but his
contribution towards western education was very important contribution for the
Islamic society. Because it helped the Muslims in getting jobs and it made their
status in the society.
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Q: What was the the two nation theory? [4-7]
ANS: The Two Nation Theory means that the Muslims and Hindus were two
separate nations in the Sub-Continent. These two nations had their distinct
religious, culture, civilization, literature, history and special values. Sir Syed was
the first man to understand and recognize this. In 1867 the Hindi-Urdu
controversy started when Hindus demanded that Urdu should be replaced by Hindi
as official language at lower level. Sir Syed strongly opposed it. He also rejected
the Congress demand for a representative government based on a democratic vote
in Europe. Sir Syed realized that under a democratic system the Muslims (a
minority) would always be at the mercy of Hindu majority rule.
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was the first person who used the words my nation for
Muslims and the words two nations for Muslims and Hindus. Therefore, Sir Sued
is said to be the originator and initiator of the Two Nation Theory in the Sub-
Continent. His main idea was the protection and safeguard of rights of Muslims in
the Sub-Continent.

Q: To what extent did Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-1898) contribute to the
literature of the Sub-Continent? [4 - 7 -14]
ANS: Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was a reformer, a scholar and a man of learning. He is
acknowledged as one of the pioneers of Urdu prose. He opposed a lucid style
devoid of all decorative ornamentations. He preferred matter over form. He was
first to write business like prose which was later adopted by all succeeding writers
such as Hali, Shibli, Nazir Ahmad and others. He was basically an essayist and
wrote a large number of essays for the Aligarh Institute Gazette and magazine
Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq. His style was simple because he wrote for the benefit for a
common man. He chose moral, cultural, social and ethical topics which concerned
the daily life of people. His essays aimed at guiding, educating and uplifting the
morals of Muslim public.
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan never indulged in personal dialogue, argument and counter
argument against any person. He was very much interested in history. He wrote
books on history of medieval India specially the Muslim rulers. His first important
work was Athar-al-Sanadeed in which he gave detailed account of historical
monuments of Delhi. Sir Syeds approach to religion was rational and scientific.
His reasoned approach greatly influenced later scholars of Islam who studied the
Holy Quran from different angles. Sir Syed wrote about 25 books. His contribution
to Urdu literature cannot be forgotten or overlooked.

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Rizwan J aved

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