Pak301 Significance and contribution of the Aligarh Movement:
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Significance and contribution of the Aligarh Movement:
The contribution and significance of Aligarh Movement for the revival and regeneration of the Muslims of Sub-Continent are commendable. Aligarh developed as the most important centre of the intellectual development for the Muslims of South Asia and its students those who studied at Aligarh College came from all over India from different parts of India; they were coming from Punjab, Bengal Frontier and were also from South India. In a way it had become a focal point for the Muslims of South Asia for their education.
In addition to this there were a lot of intellectual activities going on for example publication of different books and the activities of Scientific Society and through these activities there was a lot of intellectual stimulation which was provided by the Aligarh Movement.
Then this movement created students who were combined to different traditions. The students learned modern knowledge English language, modern western philosophy and they also acquired Islamic knowledge and this was a significant feature of this Aligarh College (data copied from vu solutions dot com) that while giving modern education to the students they should not be de-linked from their roots and if you are de-linked from your roots you become rootless. In order to deal with the criticism that western education would alienate our young people from its teachings and principles Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and his colleagues proved that modern education and Islamic education can be brought together.
The 3rd major achievement of the Aligarh Education System was that it brought forward a group of students who were very conscious of what was happening in India and outside India. This educated class that developed in India was instrumental in promoting Muslim identity and also advocating the Muslim demands to the govt and to others because on the one hand this educated class could communicated with the rulers because they knew the language and modern knowledge philosophy and the thinking that had developed there.
So, they were able to communicate with the rulers. On the other hand they held their roots in culture therefore they could also communicate with the ordinary people for mobilization and make them conscious of what made them different from others.
Another, important contribution of this movement was that it inspired educational movements in India. And the last major contribution of this movement was that the Mohammedan Educational Conference that was created by these Muslim leaders had become a kind of a forum where Muslims from different parts of India would come together and they would discuss not only education but all those issues which were of great concern to Muslims and since the meetings of Mohammedan Educational Conference were being held in different places it was able to communicate the message of the Aligarh Movement all over India.
It also brought together like minded Muslims to pursue the goals and ideals of promotion of education and improvement of Muslims all over India. We can say that the Aligarh Movement played a pivotal role in generating the Muslims who were facing a serious psychological depression and economic setback after 1857.
Sir Syed advice to the Muslims to avoid active politics:
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and his colleagues advised the Muslims to avoid joining active politics. He was of the opinion that at that stage Muslims should not get involved in active politics. He was not inherently opposed to politics. The point he was presenting was that at that stage and given the problems and conditions of the Muslims at that time, they should stay away from active politics and concentrate on education.
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan used to say that at that time Muslim needed education, education and education. If, we look at the facts and the data that was available at that time about the education of Muslims and others in India then we can understand why Sir Syed was so (data copied from vu solutions dot com) particular about education. From 1859 to 1875 only 20 Muslims were able to get graduation degree from the educational institutions which the British colonial administration had set up in India. Against this during the same period 715 Hindus got the graduation degrees, so you can compare the figure 20 verses 715.
The concern at that time was that if they get involved in active politics and they don’t pay attention to acquiring modern education they will be left behind and the gap between the Muslims and others will widen and ultimately the Muslims would suffer. He wanted that over a period of time, there should be a group of Muslims who had modern education and who could fit into the modern system which the British had introduced, “The Modern State System” the administration which was set up by the British and you can only fit in this system if you get jobs and you had an interaction with this system only if you could get modern education and Sir Syed Ahmed Khan thought that if Muslims have an education then they become relevant to the changed conditions and they will be able to meet with the challenges of the time.
There was another reason why he was emphasizing on education at that much. He thought that if Muslims get too much involved in active politics then the perception that Muslims are against the British will be reinforced and the misunderstandings that had developed between the Muslims and the British would increase but if they have education, they get the requisite qualification that misunderstanding will be removed and they will be among those people who could be playing important role under the British.
A number of other developments during the same period influenced the advice which Sir Syed and his colleagues were giving that is advice to acquire modern knowledge, Aligarh Movement was a religio-political Movement which contributed a lot for the regeneration and revival of the Muslims of the Sub-Continent. Sir Syed and his colleagues by their combined efforts tried to equip the Muslims community of Sub-Continent with modern knowledge and English language. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was a visionary leader and he envisioned that without acquiring modern knowledge the Muslims cannot compete with the Hindus. That’s why he advised the Muslims to acquire modern language to regain their lost glory in the Sub-Continent.
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why Sir Syed Ahmed Khan advised the Muslims to avoid active politics:
Sir Syed advised the Muslims against joining active politics and to concentrate instead on education. Later, when some Muslims joined the Indian National Congress, he came out strongly against that organization and its objectives, which included the establishment of parliamentary democracy in India. He argued that, in a country where communal divisions were all-important and education and political organizations were confined to a few classes, parliamentary democracy would work only inequitably. Muslims, generally, followed his advice and abstained from politics until several years later when they had established their own political organization i.e. Muslim League.
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Describe the significance and contribution of Aligarh Movement for the revival and regeneration of the Muslims of Sub-Continent.
Syed Ahmad Khan's Aligarh Movement played a significant role in bringing about an intellectual revolution among the Indian Muslims. Thus it succeeded in achieving its major objectives, i.e. educational progress and social reform. His efforts earned Sir Syed the title "Prophet of Education".
Aligarh Movement was the movement led by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, to educate the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent after the defeat of the rebels in the Indian rebellion of 1857. It had enormous success and had a profound impact on the future of the subcontinent. (data copied from vu solutions dot com) Its most significant achievement was the establishment of MuhammadanAnglo-OrientalCollege at Aligarh, which later became AligarhMuslimUniversity.
* Why did Sir Syed advise the Muslims to avoid joining active politics?
Syed advised the Muslims against joining active politics and to concentrate instead on education. Later, when some Muslims joined the Indian National Congress, he came out strongly against that organisation and its objectives, which included the establishment of parliamentary democracy in India. He argued that, in a country where communal divisions were all-important and education and political organisations were confined to a few classes, parliamentary democracy would work only inequitably. Muslims, generally, followed his advice and abstained from politics until several years later when they had established their own political organisation i.e. Muslim League.
Describe the significance and contribution of Aligarh Movement for the revival and regeneration of the Muslims of Sub-Continent.
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. The British had always looked upon the Muslims as their adversaries because they had ousted them from power. With the rebellion of 1857, this feeling was intensified and every attempt was made to ruin and suppress the Muslims forever. Their efforts resulted in the liquidation of the Mughal rule and the Sub-continent came directly under the British crown.
After dislodging the Muslim rulers 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. This tendency, had it continued for long, would have proven disastrous for the Muslim community.
Seeing this atmosphere of despair and despondency, Sir Syed 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. (data copied from vu solutions dot com) 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 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:
1. To create an atmosphere of mutual understanding between the British government and the Muslims.
2. To persuade Muslims to learn English education.
3. To persuade Muslims to abstain from politics of agitation.
4. To produce an intellectual class from amongst the Muslim community
