Lecture# 2 (Pakistan Studies)

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan & Aligarh Movement

Aligarh Movement

• The War of Independence 1857 ended in a disaster for the Muslims.
• The British believed that the Muslims were responsible for the war of 1857 and therefore, they were subjected to ruthless punishment and merciless revenge.
• The British had always looked upon the Muslims as their enemies because they had ousted them from power. 
• With the war of 1857 this feeling was intensified and every attempt was made to ruin and suppress the Muslims forever. Thus the Mughal rule came to an end and the subcontinent went directly under the British crown. 
• After the Muslim rule, the new rulers, the British, implemented a new educational policy with drastic changes.
• The policy restricted Arabic, Persian and religious education in schools and made English as the only medium of instruction as well as the official language.
• Sir Syed Ahmed Khan had the conviction that regeneration of the Indian Muslims had not at all visualized that mankind had entered a very important phase of its existence, i.e. an era of science and learning which was the source of progress and prosperity for the British. Therefore, modern education became the pivot of his movement for the regeneration of the Indian Muslims.
• Sir Syed’s first and foremost objective was to modernize the Muslims following the Western cultural values that could create friendly atmosphere for the two communities.
•  He motivated his community to learn the Western philosophy and English literature to get along with the ruling people. Therefore, in order to fulfil this desire he started the Aligarh movement. 
• He had two immediate objectives in view: 

1. To remove the state of tension between the Muslims and the British government.
2. To induce them to get jobs and other facilities under the new government. 

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