Sayyid Ahmad Khan
The reformer who founded Aligarh College and drove the modernization of India's Muslims.
Life
Mughal nobleman
Sayyid Ahmad Khan came from a Mughal noble family in Delhi and served in the judicial service of the East India Company. During the Revolt of 1857 he protected British people, and afterward he wrote The Causes of the Indian Revolt, analyzing why the uprising happened.
Aligarh
Believing that Muslims had to learn Western science and English to overcome their backwardness, he founded the Scientific Society and had Western works translated, and in 1875 founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh, which later grew into Aligarh Muslim University and trained a generation of Muslim elites.
Two communities
In his later years he opposed Muslims joining the Indian National Congress, holding that Hindus and Muslims were two distinct communities. He died in 1898.
Legacy
Sayyid Ahmad Khan promoted the modernization of India's Muslims, and his ideas had a far-reaching influence on the later Muslim League and the Pakistan movement.
Major works & achievements
- The Causes of the Indian Revolt
Did you know? He also wrote a monograph surveying the monuments of Delhi, which remains an important source for the study of Delhi's history.
Key dates
- 1858Wrote The Causes of the Indian Revolt
- 1864Founded the Scientific Society
- 1875Founded Aligarh College
- 1887Opposed Muslims joining the Indian National Congress
- 1898Died