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Aligarh Movement
Notable ideas
Notable members
Notable institutes
Publications
Associated Movements

The Aligarh Movement was the push to establish a modern system of Western-style scientific education for the Muslim population of British India, during the later decades of the 19th century.[1] The movement's name derives from the fact that its core and origins lay in the city of Aligarh in Central India and, in particular, with the foundation of the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875.[2] The founder of the oriental college, and the other educational institutions that developed from it, was Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. He became the leading light of the wider Aligarh Movement.

The education reform established a base, and an impetus, for the wider Movement: an Indian Muslim renaissance that had profound implications for the religion, the politics, the culture and society of the Indian subcontinent.

History

The failure of the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 saw the end of the Mughal empire and the succession of the British. The Muslim society during the post mutiny period was in a deteriorating state. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan found the Muslim society to be educationally, socially and culturally backward. He blamed the prevailing education system for the degrading state of the Muslim society.[3] This led Sir Syed to initiate a movement for the intellectual, educational, social and cultural regeneration of the Muslim society. This movement came to be known as the Aligarh movement after Sir Syed established his school at Aligarh which later became the center of the movement.[4]

The Aligarh Movement introduced a new trend in Urdu literature. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and his association left the old style of writing in the Urdu language, which was rhetorical and academic, and started a simple style which helped Muslims to understand the main purpose of the movement. Sir Syed Ahmed was the central figure behind this awakening.

Institutes

Members

The prominent members involved with the movement have included.

Opposition

Main article: Deoband–Aligarh relations

The chief detractors of the Aligarh Movement were the conservative Ulemas of the time who blamed Sir Syed for promoting Western ethics and customs among the Muslims.[3] The Deoband school was also opposed to the Aligarh Movement.[73] Sir Syed and the movement was ridiculed in the Awadh Punch by his detractors like Pandit Ratan Nath Sarshar, Munshi Sajjad Hussain and Akbar Allahabadi. He was also opposed by Pan-Islamist thinker and activist Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī.[74]

Impact

The Aligarh Movement has made a weighty and lasting contribution to the political emancipation of Indian Muslims.[75] The movement had a profound impact on the Indian society, particularly on the Muslim society compared to the other powerful but less adaptable movements of the 19th century. It influenced a number of other contemporary movements to a great extent that it caused the emergence of other socio-religious movements during the 19th century. The impact of Aligarh Movement was not confined to the Northern India only, but its expansion could be seen on the other regions of the Indian sub-continent during the 20th century.[76] The annual Educational Conferences held in different parts of the country played an effective role in the promotion of education among Muslims and directly or indirectly influenced the growth of institutes like Aligarh Muslim University, Osmania University, Dacca University, Anjuman-i-Tarqqi Urdu, Jamia Millia Islamia, Dar-ul-Uloom Nadva, Lucknow, and Dar-ul-Musannfafin, Azamgarh.[77] By the early 1900 Aligarh Movement became the progenitor to a number of socio-religious movements like the Urdu movement,[78] the Khilafat Movement[79] and the Pakistan Movement.[80]

References

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Cited sources

Further reading

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