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Syed Ahmed Khan Bio Sir Syed Ahmad Khan Bahadur, born on October 17, 1817 at Delhi, died March 27, 1898 at Aligarh, was a Muslim educator, jurist, and author, founder of the Mohammedan Anglo Oriental College, which later became Aligarh Muslim University, at Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India. His father, who received an allowance from the Mughal administration, became something of a religious recluse; his maternal grandfather had twice served as prime minister of the Mughal emperor of his time and had also held positions of trust under the East India Company. Sir Syed's brother established one of the first printing presses at Delhi and started one of the earliest newspapers in Urdu. The death of Sir Syed's father left the family in financial difficulties. For his livelihood, he started his career as a clerk with the East India Company in 1838. He qualified three years later as a sub-judge and served in the judicial department at various places. Sir Syed Ahmad had a versatile personality, and his position in the judicial department left him time to be active in many fields. His career as an author (in Urdu) started at the age of 23 with religious tracts. In 1847 he brought out a noteworthy book, Athar Assanadid ("Monuments of the Great"), on the antiquities of Delhi. Even more important was his pamphlet, "The Causes of the Indian Revolt". In this booklet he ably and fearlessly laid bare the weaknesses and errors of the British administration that had led to dissatisfaction and a countrywide explosion. Widely read by British officials, it had considerable influence on British policy. The supreme interest of Sir Syed's life was education, in its widest sense. He began by establishing schools, at Muradabad (1858) and Ghazipur (1863). A more ambitious undertaking was the foundation of the Scientific Society, which published translations of many educational texts and issued a bilingual journal, in Urdu and English. These institutions were for the use of all citizens and were jointly operated by the Hindus and the Muslims. During a visit to England (1869-70) he prepared plans for a great educational institution, they were for "a Muslim Cambridge". On his return he set up a committee for the purpose and also started an influential journal, Tahdhib al-Akhlaq ("Social Reform"), for the "uplift and reform of the Muslim". A Muslim school was established at Aligarh in May 1875, and, after his retirement in 1876, Sir Syed devoted himself to enlarging it into a college. In January 1877 the foundation stone of the college was laid by the Viceroy. This college made rapid progress. In 1886 Sir Syed organized the All-India Muhammadan Educational Conference, which met annually at different places to promote education and to provide the Muslims with a common platform. Sir Syed advised the Muslims against joining active politics and to concentrate instead on education. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was an open-minded person. He was a staunch patriot and loved India .he considered all the Indians as one nation and was a great advocate of Hindu Muslim unity. Speaking at a meeting of Indian association he said,"I look to both Hindus and Muslims with the same eyes & consider them as my own eyes. By the word nation I only mean Hindus and Muslims and nothing else. We Hindus and Muslims live together under the same soil under the same government. Our interest and problems are common and therefore I consider the two factions as one nation." However the attitude of Hindus and congress compelled Sir Syed to reconsider his ideas, He was pained to see both congress and hindus working against the interest of the muslims. Congress was working as a pure hindu body and was working on the lines which would have erased the muslims completely from the indian society as a nation. Sir Syed always advocated Hindu Muslim unity and did every effort to bring them closer on one single platform.The membership of British Indian association was kept open for the Hindus and Muslims. In 1886 Sir Syed Founded the British Indian association which worked for the safeguards of the rights of Indian People. Mohammed Anglo Oriental College at Aligarh was established in 1877For the sole purpose of giving better education to not only Muslims but also Hindu students. Hindi-Urdu Controversy In 1876 the Hindus demanded that Hindi should be made an official language in place of Urdu. They launched an intense aggressive agitation to press for their demands of making Hindi as the official language. The government surrendered and made Hindi as the official language in place of Urdu, which was the language of the Muslims. Sir Syed felt sorry that the Hindus killed Muslims & burnt so many houses for the replacement of Urdu with Hindi as official language. Sir Syed expressed his views about Hindus and Muslims for the first time while speaking to Mr. Shakespeare the governor of Banaras," I am now convinced that the Hindus and Muslims could never become one nation as their religion and way of life was quite distinct from one and other". Sir Syed believed that the Hindus and Muslims had a different culture, religion, history and civilization. The Prophet of Two Nation Theory Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was practically the First person to declare the Muslims as a separate nation. Thus he opposed the introduction of the representatives government. But India was a country consisting of racial discriminations and diversities of culture. He attempted for hindu-muslim Unity but "Hindi-Urdu controversy" made him remark "Now I am convinced that both these communities will not join whole heartedly in anything. At present there is no open hostility between the two communities but it will increase immensely in the future." In spite of serious efforts made by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan to create an atmosphere of peace and brotherhood the Hindus always adopted a policy to damage the Muslim cause. Publications Magazines he started Organizations he started Institutions he started See also Khan, Syed Ahmed Khan, Syed Ahmed
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