“sir syed ahmed khan was a prophet of education ” (Mahatma

Gandhi)
“The real greatness of the man sir syed ahmed khan consists in
the fact that he was the first Indian Muslim who felt the need of a
fresh orientation of Islam and worked for it” (Sir Allama Iqbal)

“sir syed ahmed khan was an ardent reformer and he wanted to

reconcile modern scientific thought with religion by rationalistic
interpretations and not by attacking basic belief.Sir Syed was
anxious to push new education.Sir Syed was in no way
communally separatist. Repeatedly syed emphasized that
religious differences should have no political and national
significance”.
( Jawaharlal Nehru, Founder Prime Minister of India)

“sir syed ahmed khan vision and his laborious efforts to meet
the demands of challenging times are highly commendable. The
dark post 1857 era was indeed hopeless and only men like Raja
Mohan Roy and Sir Syed could penetrate through its thick veil to
visualize the Nation’s destinies. They rightly believed that the
past had its merits and its legacies were valuable but it was the
future that a society was called upon to cope with. I offer my
homage to Sir Syed for his vision and courage that withstood all
obstructions both from the friends and the foes”
(Mr. Inder Kumar Gujral, Former Prime Minister of India).

The Founder
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, one of the architects of modern India was
born on October 17, 1817 in Delhi and started his career as a
civil servant.
The 1857 revolt was one of the turning points of Sir Syed Ahmed
Khan Ahmed’s life.Sir Syed clearly foresaw the imperative need
for the Muslims to acquire proficiency in the English language
and modern sciences if the community were to maintain its
social and political identity, particularly in Northern India.
Sir Syed was one of those early pioneers who recognized the
critical role of education for the empowerment of the poor and
backward Muslim community. In more than one ways Sir Syed
was one of the greatest social reformers and a great national
builder of modern India. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed began to
prepare the road map for the formation of a Muslim University by
starting various schools.Sir Syed instituted Scientific Society in
1863 to create a scientific temperament among the Muslims and
to make the Western knowledge available to Indians in their own
language. The Aligarh Institute Gazette, an organ of the
Scientific Society was started in March 1866 and succeeded in
transforming the minds in the traditional Muslim Society.
Anyone with an average level of commitment would have backed
off in the face of strong opposition but Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
Ahmed’s responded by bringing out another journal ‘Tehzibul
Akhlaq’ which was rightly named in English as ‘Mohammedan
Social Reformer’.
In 1875, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed’s founded the Madarsatul
Uloom in Aligarh and patterned the MAO College after Oxford
and Cambridge universities that Sir Syed visited on a trip to
London in 1869. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed’s objective was to
build a college in tune with the British education system but
without compromising its Islamic values.Sir Syed wanted this
College to act as a bridge between the old and the new, the East
and the West. While he fully appreciated the need and urgency
of imparting instruction based on Western learning, Sir Syed
Ahmed Khan Ahmed’s was not oblivious to the value of Oriental
learning and wanted to preserve and transmit to posterity the
rich legacy of the past. Dr. Sir Mohammad Iqbal observed that
“the real greatness of Sir Syed consists in the fact that he was
the first Indian Muslim who felt the need of a fresh orientation of
Islam and worked for it” his sensitive nature was the first to
react to modern age”.
The aim of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed was not merely
restricted to establishing a college at Aligarh but at spreading a
network of Muslim managed educational institutions throughout
the length and breadth of the country. Keeping in view this, he
instituted All India Muslim Educational Conference in 1886 that
revived the spirit of Muslims at national level. The Aligarh
Movement motivated the Muslims to help open a number of
educational institutions. It was the first of its kind of such
Muslim NGO in India, which awakened the Muslims from their
deep slumber and infused social and political awareness among
them.
Sir Syed contributed much to the development of the modern
society of the subcontinent. During Sir Syed’s own life time, ‘The
Englishman’, a renowned British magazine of the 19th century
remarked in a note on November 17, 1885: ‘Sir Syed’s life
“strikingly illustrated one of the best phases of modern history”.
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed’s died on March 27, 1898 and lies
buried next to the main mosque at AMU.
An Architect of Modern India
History of social and educational reforms in Indian sub-
continent can not be completed without Sir Syed Ahmed Khan.
He is one of the great thinker, philosopher and revolutionaries
who had dedicated his complete life for his nation and especially
for his community. Nineteenth century was a hard time for the
nation of India and especially for Muslims in the aftermath of
1857 revolt against British colonialism. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
Ahmed’s tried and motivated Indian Muslim. In the history of
India’s transition from medievalism to modernism, Sir Syed
stand out prominently as a dynamic force pitted against
conservatism, superstitions, inertia and ignorance. He
contributed many of the essential elements to the development
of modern India and paved the growth of a healthy scientific
attitude of mind which is sine qua non for advancement, both
material and intellectual. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed said :
After the Revolt of 1857, I was grieved neither on account of the
plunder of my house nor on account of the loss of property that I
had suffered. What saddened my heart was the misery and
destruction of people. When Mr. Shakespeare offered to me the
Taluqa of Jehanabad, which originally belonged to a
distinguished Saiyad family, and yielded an annual rental of
more than a lac rupees, as a reward of my services, my heart
was deeply hurt. I said to myself, how can I accept this jagir and
become the Taluqdar while all the people are in distress. I
refused to accept it.
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed was born on 17th October 1817 in
Delhi in a respectable family of Saiyad Mohammad Muttaqi
Azizun Nisa Begum . Sir Saiyad and Maulana Qasim Nanotwi
(Founder of Darul-Uloom, Deoband) studied together under the
able guidance of Maulana Mamlook Ali in Delhi. Sir Syed Ahmed
Khan Ahmed studied mathematics, Geology and Medicine from
his uncle, Saiyad Zainul Abedin. He also studied Arabic
literature, Tafseer-e-Quran, Hadith, and Fiqah from Maulana
Makhsusullah (s/o Maulana Shah Rafiuddin Dahlwi ), Maulana
Nawazish Ali and Maulana Faizul Hasan Saharanpuri. In 1836 Sir
Saiyad got married to Parsa Begum (Mubarak) and had two
sons, Hamid (born in 1849) and Mahmood (born in 1850) and a
daughter Amina. His elder brother Saiyad Muhammad started a
weekly newspaper in 1837 and out of love of his younger brother
Syedd Ahmad (also known as Saiyad in his youth), named the
newspaper Saiyadul-Akhbar . After Saiyad Muhammad’s death in
1845, Sir Saiyad Ahmad started managing Saiyadul-Akhbar.
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed was a great champion of Hindu-
Muslim Unity. Addressing a big gathering at Gurudaspur on Jan.
27, 1884 He said: ” Hindus and Muslims ! Do you belong to a
country other than India ? Don’t you live on this soil and are you
not buried under it or cremated on its Ghats ? If you live and die
on this land, then bear in mind, that Hindus and Muslims is but a
religious word; all the Hindus, Muslims and Christians who live
in this country are one nation.”
Father of Aligarh movement
This most respected and important educational centre for Indian
Muslims was initially founded as Mohammedan Anglo Oriental
College (MAOC) at Aligarh in 1875 by
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed and subsequently raised to the
status of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in 1920. Aligarh
Muslim University (AMU), known more as a movement than an
academic institution is one of the most important chapters of
Indian history as far as the sociology of Hindu-Muslim relation is
concerned. Sir Saiyad said: “This is the first time in the history
of Mohammedans of India, that a college owes it nor to the
charity or love of learning of an individual, nor to the spending
patronage of a monarch, but to the combined wishes and the
united efforts of a whole community. It has its own origin in
course which the history of this county has never witnessed
before. It is based on principles of toleration and progress such
as find no parallel in the annals of the east.” Sir Saiyad’ famous
speech which he made while foundation of MAO College was
laid down by Lord Lytton on 18th January, 1877 is the soul of
Aligarh Movement. Sir Saiyad said: “from the seed which we
sow today, there may spring up a mighty tree, whose branches,
like those of the banyan of the soil, shall in their turn strike firm
roots into the earth, and themselves send forth new and
vigorous saplings”.
It’s a common misconception that Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed
and Aligarh Movement is anti-oriental studies (Islamic and
Eastern studies) and MAO College was started in a reactionary
movement to counter the religious school, Darul-Uloom
Deoband, started by Maulana Qasim Nanotvi (another student of
Sir Saiyad’s teacher Maulana Mamlook Ali Nanotvi). In fact Sir
Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed had a broader vision and had put
forward the need of the hour to get equipped with the modern
education to improve the social and economical conditions of
Muslims of India. He never discouraged or denied the
importance of religious and oriental studies. By his individual
means and with the help of Muslim Educational Conference, he
always tried to modernize the Madarasas, update their syllabus
as per the need of the hour.
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Ahmed wrote a lot about these things in
Tahzeebul-akhlaq. Sir Saiyad’s educational vision has two
strong points;
1. Adoption of Modern education
2. Moral Education
From the beginning, Madarsatul-Uloom, later MAO College was
equipped with the above philosophy. Tarbiyat of the students
living in Hostels were part of the duties of Principal and Manager
of Hostels. For Islamic and moral education, Sir Syed Ahmed
Khan Ahmed created a position of Nazim-e-Diniyaat for MAO
College who was responsible for Islamic and moral education of
the students. Dars-e-Quran was part of curriculum of the college
and every morning before the start of the class, Allama Shibli
Nomani used to give Dars-e-Quran for about half hour from 1887
to 1895 and later on the responsibility was handed over to
Maulana Abdullah Ansari, the founder Nazim-e-Diniyaat.