Saad Qaisar
Today (October 17, 2008) marks the 191st birthday of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1817-1898).
In the history of Indian Sub-Continent, the role Syed Sahib played for Muslims of India deserves golden words. Sir Syed was the most influential leader and social reformer of his time. He felt that the socio-economic future of Muslims was threatened by their orthodox aversions to modern science and technology. He made significant contributions in this regard that had long term implications for the Muslims of India that eventually lead to creation of state of Pakistan.
Either it be his advocacy for Urdu to be recognized by British empire as second language of India & a symbol of Muslim heritage or establishment of a ‘Muslim Cambridge’ in form of MAO college at Aligarh, he is seen as a most vocal figure for the rights of Indian Muslims in the second half of 19th century under British Raj. At Aligarh, Sir Syed formed Scientific Society of Aligarh, the first scientific society of its kind in India that assembled Muslim scholars from across India, held annual conferences, disbursed funds for educational causes and regularly published a journal on scientific subjects in English & Urdu.
His views, at times, challenged orthodox clergy who appeared averse to his message of ‘change’.
Today, as we find our nation amidst divergent schools of thought, when one segment of society is bent towards ultra-liberalism & appear to blindly follow western civilization, more of its bad than good and on other end, there are those who are hell bent to stick to age-old orthodox philosophy, do we await another Syed Sahib that would channelize our energies to the middle path. Or can we revive spirit of Syed Sahib’s life as a guideline in all the issues that confront us as a nation? Men like Syed Sahib are born once in decades, or perhaps, centuries! Are we ready to wait centuries for that to happen or reformulate our thought in-line with modern demands, choice is ours!
As Iqbal rightly put it:
aaen-e-nau say darna, tarz-e Kuhan pe aRna
manzil ye hi katthan hai, qaumoN kee zindagi meiN
‘To be afraid of modern ways, to get stuck on age old patterns, is the biggest hurdle in the life of Nations’.
Photo Credits: Khurram Ali Shafique and Wikipedia.com
Guys please stop this childish discussion. Cant we evern just respect our heros in peace without turning it into a shouting match!
Without Sir Syed there would have been no Pakistan. That is the real reason why the mullahs who hate Pakistan also hate Sir Syed.
At the time of partition, the priorities in front of the two nations of India and Pakistan were very clear. Educate your masses, respect your values, generate citizens that can truly be called universal citizens. Isn’t this the same message given by Quran. Is’nt this the same message behind Sir Syed’s movement. Those who criticize him should remember that the other Syed i:e Syed Ahmed Shaheed and Syed Ismail Shaheed called Jihad against the Sikhs but not against the British. They were butchered by their own muslamans because they did the same mistake as the taliban. Instead of gradually bringing them towards the message, they told them they are ignorant idiots. The rest is history. And their message was much more subtle and much more humane than the Talibans.
Coming back to partition. So which nation prioritize their objectives to the better aims. And which nation decides to find out kuffars among their own selves because we sent the actual ones to the other side of the border at the time of partition. When India is reaching the moon, we are going to the IMF. The simple reason….nobody over their criticizes the founders of their education movement because they might be against certain religious and cultural values. They wholeheartedly accepted their message and immerse themselves in education and still not leaving their cultural and religious norms. They had their issues and they have their issues. But they call the social evils and not a part of their culture. When we are still discussing whether beard is in Islam or Islam is in the beard, they are successful in propagating their better face throughout the globe.
We can still go down the same route and be a part of history which nobody likes to read or stand up to the rising sun and takes our share of its warmth. We dont have to shed our cultural and religious values because they are all good. But we have to remember…We are all human beings first. In the eyes of an outsider we are just brown people cutting each other throats.
Reformers have always been attacked by the Mullahs. Sir Syed was attacked by teh mullah mind then and he still is!
ylh,
I think I was not clear in my previous statement. Considering Jinnah secular by secular left is itself an example of offending Jinnah’s vision. I am not an “expert” on Jinnah like you but yes I also have access to resources and have read his speeches(not only 11th Auguest speech). :-)
I know you have been religiously running a movement to “prove” Jinnah was not willing an Islamic state without giving any substantial proof so I better rest my case.