Hussain Randathani

REVIVING THE ALIGARH MOVEMENT

Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan was a great visionary and highly pragmatic in his outlook and attitude. His aim 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. He himself had envisaged a plan of establishing branches of Aligarh in south, east and western India. The decision of the UPA Government to start five centres of Aligarh Muslim University at different parts of India was really the realization of the dream of Ahmad Khan and also the regeneration of the Aligarh Movement that had changed the facet of Indian Muslim outlook in the nineteenth century. It is a proud to the nation, particularly to the Muslim community that the campus raises its wings in the very heartland of the Mappila Muslim community.

One often think why there is a AMU Campus at Malappuram and why not any other kind of institution? To find a way out for this question one should see how the Muslim community was regaining their self respect in nineteenth century, when it was at the verge of a total peril. How a reformer like Sir Sayyid Ahmad was utilizing his influence for the uplift of a community by adhering to the heritage and tradition? He had found that without gaining the timely education, no community can be stir up from its peril and to keep the heritage, dynamic one should see his past through the present. He had witnessed the terrible revenge, the British wrought on Delhi and its inhabitants after the mutiny of 1857. At personal level, he 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. In spite of all the suffering, Syyid Ahmad was highly impressed by the culture and customs of Western society. So he decided to become a loyalist in disguise only to save the community from the wrath of the enemy and cure the wounds by the enemy itself. He tried to convince Muslims, traditionally hostile to the British, that the time had come for a rethink even on as emotive an issue as loss of their empire. He argued, possibly with more hope than conviction. Ahmad khan also was aware of western developments and he had realized that their cooperation was very much essential for the success of his objectives. He also found that the upper caste Hindus gathering concessions from the British through their loyalist game and the only way opened before him was to take a loyalist stand towards the British, as did by most of his Hindu counterparts. To him, plunging into politics is not a way out for Muslims for the time being because the consequences of mutiny and the Muslim situation were just before his eyes. So he stood for imparting education as his first objective. He stated: “There are some people who hold the opinion that our national cause will be promoted (in the best way) by discussing political affairs. I didn’t agree with that, but regard the spread of education to be the only means for the promotion of nthe national cause. In these days our nation shouldn’t strive for anything other than the spread of education. When in our country, education will be sufficiently propagated then we shall have sufficient means to arise from our backward condition”[1] By using his influence among the British, Ahmad khan tried to change the attitude of the British towards Muslims and through his books, Asbabe Baghawat i Hind and Loyal Muhammadans of India, he argued that the basic reason of the 1857 revolt was not due to the hatred of Muslims towards British rule, but the misunderstanding on the part of the people that the government intended to force Christianity and foreign customs up on the people. He also criticized WW. Hunter, for his conclusion that the Muslims are basically against the British and Christianity. His loyalty towards the British was not at the risk of demoralizing his heritage and culture and Ahmad Khan never gave up his identity even when he was living amongst the British or staying at London. His Muslim dress, long beard and Turkish fez gave him a unique personality among the Europeans. He also introduced Muslim culture in his college by adopting western culture in a Muslim environment. The dress code, the mosque, the celebrations of Eid and Meelad i Shereef, all brought an Islamic setting to Aligarh. Ahmad Khan even appreciated the Pardah, saying that it is a mark of respect for the women hood.

Ahmad Khan formulated his own views regarding the religion with a zeal to uplift the community from its decline. At the same time he never claimed himself as a renovator of the religion but his aim was to reorganize the community scientifically with a modern outlook and national spirit. His statement that the beauty of the nation lies in its beautiful eyes ie., Hindus and Muslims and if one eye loses its sight the beauty of the whole nation will be lost,[2] is very important in this regard. He plainly said that unless and until the pathetic condition of the Muslims is changed and they are brought at par with that of the Hindu community the face of the nation will become ugly. When the Hindus of Benaras made a demand to the government to remove Persian from the offices and replace the script of Arabic with that of Devanagiri in the vernacular language of Hindusthani, Ahmad khan came against such an idea by arguing that it would further push the Muslims to darkness. He stood for the promotion of Urdu by enriching its literature by translating many English works in science into that language under his Scientific Society, that came into being in 1864 with an aim to create scientific awareness among the Muslims and to make the Western knowledge available to Indians in their own language. Through the Aligarh Institute Gazette, an organ of the Scientific Society started in March 1866, he succeeded in making agitation in the minds of the traditional Muslim Society. Another journal Tehzib al Akhlaq which was rightly named in English as Mohammedan Social Reformer, infused a new desire amongst Muslims for acquiring modern knowledge. It advocated the stance that Muslims should avoid getting involved in political issues until they achieved parity with the Hindu community in the field of education.

Along with his search for a solution to the community’s backwardness, he continued his writing for various causes. He wrote to defend Islam against the attacks of Christian missionaries, and to overcome religious prejudices. “The Muslims have nothing to fear from the adoption of the new education if they simultaneously hold steadfast to their faith, because Islam is not irrational superstition; it is rational religion which can march hand in hand with the growth of human knowledge. Any fear to the contrary betrays lack of faith in the truth of Islam,”[3] he wrote to an influential Islamic scholar, Moulavi Tasadduq. He asked rhetorically, “Did the early Muslims not take to Greek learning avidly? Did this in any respect undermine their loyalty to Islam?”

With a clear vision in his mind Ahmad khan thought of starting an institution on western model and with this aim he visited Cambridge in London. Soon after his return to India he set up committee called Committee Striving after the Educcational Progress of the Muslims, of which he was selected secretary. To get an answer for the backwardness of Muslims in education, the conference announced a prize for the appropriate answer. The best reason selected was that the backwardness was mainly due to inadequacy of the government education to meet the demands of Muslims and to meet their demands the Muslims should start their own Institutions, preserving their culture and identity. Sir Sayyid then started a Fund Committee for the foundation of a Muslim college. The committee reached a conclusion that the college should be opened, not in any of the large towns where temptations to evil are great, nor in any small village, where the necessities of life are hardly procurable. He himself proposed the name of Aligarh, a serene place with excellent climate for starting the college.[4] As a first step for the college the committee started a school and its foundation stone was laid on 24^th May 1875. To avoid any confrontation with the traditional leadership of Muslims the committee seceded that new educational methods did not contradict the principles of Islam. After two years on 8^th January 1877 Viceroy Lord Lytton laid the foundation stone of the Mohammedan Anglo Oriental College with poroper ceremonial.[5] Ahmad Khan desired the 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, he was not oblivious of the value of oriental learning and wanted to preserve and transmit to posterity the rich legacy of the past. He, therefore, decided to keep a fine balance between the two. Along with the modern departments, an Oriental Department was started to teach modern sciences in Urdu medium and Persian and Arabic was given due importance. The first period of of each day’s work was devoted to lectures on Muslim Theology and attendance in these lectures were made compulsory to all Muslim students. All the Muslim boarders were also required to pray five times a day and a fine was imposed up on those who avoided their prayers. The fast in the month of Ramzan was also made compulsory except in the case of reasonable excuses.[6]

Though the college stood for the educational uplift of Muslims it never denied accession to other communities. Hindus, Sikhs and Christians were given admission to the college and they were not compelled to attend the religious discourses in the campus. The establishment of the college itself was the work of both the communities. Six Muslims and four Hindus presented, in 1869, the petition for what eventually became the Aligarh Muslim University. The old bugbear, disputes over Hindi and Urdu, could not stall the project, but Ahmad khan foresaw the damage this might cause in a larger context. On 29 April 1870, during a visit to London, he wrote to his friend Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk that the Urdu-Hindi controversy would make Muslim-Hindu unity impossible. "Muslims will never agree to Hindi, and if Hindus also, following the new move, insist on Hindi, they also will not agree to Urdu. The result will be that the Hindus and Muslims will be completely separated." He stressed civic harmony even when he dwelt on the difference: “Friends, In India there live two prominent nations which are distinguished by the names of Hindus and Mussalmans…To be a Hindu or a Muslim is a matter of internal faith which has nothing to do with mutual relationships and external conditions…Hence leave God’s share to God and concern yourself with the share that is yours…India is the home of both of us. We both breathe the air of India and take the water of the holy Ganges and the Jamuna. We both consume the products of the Indian soil. We are living and dying together. By living so long in India, the blood of both have (sic) changed. The colour of both has become similar. The faces of both, having changed, have become similar. The Muslims have acquired hundreds of customs from the Hindus and the Hindus have also learned hundreds of things from the Mussalmans. We mixed with each other so much that we produced a new language – Urdu, which was neither our language nor theirs. Thus if we ignore that aspect of ours which we owe to God, both of us, on the basis of being common inhabitants of India, actually constitute one nation; and the progress of this country and that of both of us is possible through mutual cooperation, sympathy and love. We shall only destroy ourselves by mutual disunity and animosity and ill will to each other” [7] A famous speech he made at Patna on 27 January 1883 reflects his philosophy at that time: "India is the home of both of us (Hindus and Muslims). We both breathe the air of India and take the water of the holy Ganges and the Jamuna. We both consume the products of the Indian soil. We are living and dying together...My friends, I have repeatedly said and say it again that India is like a bride which has got two lustrous eyes - Hindus and Musalmans. If they quarrel against each other that beautiful bride will become ugly and if one destroys the other, she will lose one eye."[8]

Besides religious instruction, another important respect, in which the Aligarh College differed from all the other institutions for higher education in India, was the attention paid to character-building among those trained within its walls. The principal and professors resided within its precincts and were in constant intercourse with their pupils. The students wore a special college uniform, consisting of a black Turkish coat, white trousers, and a fez; he could take part in a flourishing Union life with regular debates and other activities, and also ample opportunity was offered to him for sports, like cricket, Hockey and so on.

Sir Sayyid also realized that Aligarh alone cannot solve the educational problems of Muslims. So he planned for a kind of national education institute, where all the available powers could be centralized for furthering instruction in the community. His statement in the Aligarh Educational Conference held on 27 December 1886 is very important in this respect. He said: “Till now this is our situation that, although we are said to be one Muslim community, yet the people living at one place are un acquainted with (the conditions) of the people living at another, so that we, so to speak, are strangers to each other. We do not know what views people in the Panjab hold about their popular education and the promotion of the national cause, and they do want to do…. We haven’t such an institution where people come together at a certain moment from various provinces in order to hear about the conditions of each other…. In order that national unity or, I would rather say, national brotherhood should be born, in spite of the fact that we are a community which consists of different races. On account of these considerations the project was made that every year people from various towns and provinces should assemble to study the education and progress of the Muslims.”[9]

It was with this idea Ahmad Khan organized the Mohammedan Educational Conference. The aims and objectives of the conference included; 1- to try to spread the highest western education among the Muslims; 2- to inquire into the state of religious instructions in English schools founded by Muslims, and to conduct it in the best possible way; 3- to support the instruction of eastern learning and religious subjects which Muslim divines were giving everywhere on their own, and to make provision for it so that it could be kept going regularly; and 4- to examine the state of instruction of the vernacular schools which was given on the old lines, and to make preparations for their restoration, if they had decayed.[10] The conference took steps to save the Muslim school from degeneration and also appealed the government that in the government schools the Muslims should get an opportunity of receiving religious instruction. The different conference sessions have done much for the union and revival of a Muslim community, so scattered and cast adrift.

It was not his educational activity, but his qur-anic interpretations earned him critics from among all sections of Muslim society. The ulama of all sections of Muslims dubbed him a naturalist and heretic and antichrist. A verdict came from Makkah appealed the Muslims, not to support the college since the man behind the collage was an enemy of Islam and everyone who defend Islam must oppose the college as much as he can.[11] The famous pan Islamic leader Jamaluddin Afghani said that the British ‘seeing in him a useful instrument to demoralize the Muslims, began to praise and honour him , helped him to build a college in Aligarh, and called it the college of the Muslims, that it should be a trap in which they might catch the sons of the believers in order to rear them in the ideas of this man.”[12] One Imdad Ali, a deputy collector of Kaunpur started a campaign against the college by saying that the intention of the college is to propagate the heretic teaching of Ahmad Khan.[13]

Reforming endeavors of Ahmad Khan in the religion were not so successful as they were in education. His own friends were not always in favour of his Qur-anic interpretation. Many of his most competent and attached cooperators held aloof with regard to his religious views. The greatest difficulty in putting aside their religious feeling in favour of their appreciation of Ahmad Khan’s work for the nation was felt by Nazir Ahmad, Musinul Mulk, and Alama Shibli Nu’mani. All of them were close supporters of Ahmad Khan in building the Aligarh College. It was decided however, that the religious ideas of Ahmad khan need not to be taught at Aligarh College. The religious affairs were wholly put in the hands of the traditional ulama. The college authorities also started a theological department in which graduation was given in sunni and shiite jurisprudence. Not one of the small or big text books in the college contains any writings by sir sayyid and no researches is going on in Quran and jurisprudence. Moulana Abdul Bari, the great Hanafi jurist and Khilafat leader decided to send his sons to Aligarh, when he learnt that Ahmad Khan’s religious ideas were not conveyed there.

Despite all the criticisms, the crown of Ahmad Khan’s life’s work, the Muhammedan Anglo Oriental College, now Aligarh Muslim University stands firm as a living symbol of his amazing perseverance, astounding courage and great foresight. It was Aligarh that gave the Muslim community strength and confidence to fight against the backwardness, not only in India but in the whole world. It is the duty of the community to keep the Aligarh movement alive and this can be done by reviving the movement within the Aligarh campuses growing at different parts of the nation.

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