Born on 17th October 1817 in Delhi, Sir Sayed Ahmed Khan was the well-known reformer of 19th century. Whenever we seek the man of this educational and political advancement of Muslims in present India, we no doubt reach at this great personality of the history. That assisted the Muslim minority so as to escape from the depth of ignorance was his splendid visionary. He was called by Mahatma Gandhi as a Prophet of Education. The founder Prime Minister of India Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru (1889- 1964) said “Sir Saiyad was an ardent reformer and he wanted to reconcile modern scientific thought with religion by rationalistic interpretations and not by attacking basic belief. He was anxious to push new education. He was in no way communally separatist. Repeatedly he emphasized that religious differences should have no political and national significance”.
As far as Muslims in pre-independent India are concerned, they were waging persistent battles against the British sovereignty. In several part of India they the Muslims restlessly agitated against foreign forces. In Malabar region The Muslims were in severe fighting for about four and half century long term. They the Muslims of Malabar initiated this state of anti-colonial war from the Vasco da Gama (1460-1524) from Portugal and his co-travelers reached at Calicut on May 20, 1498 and continued this situation till the midnight of freedom of mother land from British whip-hand. Written the authentic history at the very first regarding of the advent of Islam to India and the situation of believers under the tremendous colonial assaults, Mr. Shaik Zainudheen Makhdoom II (R) very woefully has explained about colonial barbarities in his book Tuhfat Al Muahidin Fi Bad akhbar al Burtughaliyyin (tribute to the Holy Warriors in respect of a brief account of the Portuguese)
In general, the Indian Muslims were in serious struggle against British raj after Sirajuddaula nawab of Bengal was defeated in the Battle of Plassey (23 June 1757) and Bahadur Shah Zafar [1775-1862] the last Mughal king was exiled to Rangoon (now Yangon), Burma (now Myanmar), in 1858 where he lived his last five years and died in 1862 at the age of 87. In addition to this, the Muslims of India potently annunciated due to intensity of aversion towards the foreigners that that learning English is haraam (prohibited) and boycotted English education. In the same time itself, the Muslims were pitilessly oppressed and crushed by British aggressors. For the reason that decades-long conflict, they the Muslims lost their power, riches and forwardness as well as so many valuable lives and their farms, business and not even excluding of their ultimate being were put in confusions.
These unhappy occurrences alarmed Mr. Sir Sayed Ahmed Khan a lot. Among the problems which preoccupied him most intensely was, naturally enough, the question of the future of the Muslims. He who motivated by Shah Waliullah Muhaddith Dehlvi (February 21, 1703 – August 20, 1762) who was a famous Islamic scholar and remarkable reformer to appear during the period of Muslim decline loudly declared “Oh my bothers, stop these extreme stupidities” he continued “this order-less activities will not lead us to ultimate aim. Our struggles as these are totally leading to endless destructions. Let us march together to peace and Equanimity. Let us give the way of war up and find out the way co-operation. The modern education as it is of British nowadays is not to winnow out at all. We have to at any rate obtain it. And we ought to avail ourselves of likeliness of the modern politics in the very closest future. And we must be very well aware of that without these two most important things we are not able to get away out of this predicament”. He had always believed that without a stimulating clash of opinions and views there never can be at all intellectual progress in Muslim society.
Somebody might raise the question how could he in distinction from all other Muslim leaders of that time make such a statement to a community imbued with enthusiasm in order to spifflicate the British pongos?. The answer is very crystal clear. Served as employee in judiciary under the auspices of British government Mr. Sir Sayed earnestly was ever so aware of strength-secret of Europe. (it reflects on fact that the major reason for our defeats in many struggles which done by us in history is our ignorance pertaining to force of foemen) Mr. Sir Sayed was able attain this arcanum of triumph of the alien force during his visit to England. He portrayed the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge (Established c. 1209) “the institutes which produce new generations of ability so as to conquer the world”. With objective of rendering the modern education to community he set out Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental College (or) later became Aligarh Muslim University in 1920, in 1875 at Aligarh and founded All India Muhammadan Educational Conference in 1886. In a letter to Nawab Salar Jung he wrote about MAO College that this collage is in model of Oxford and Cambridge Universities and the products of our collage should be of having same quality of students of these both universities.
The opinion made by Mr. Inder Kumar Gujral, Former Prime Minister of India about Sir Sayed is that noteworthy “Sir Saiyad’s vision and his laborious efforts to meet the demands of challenging times are highly commendable. The dark post 1857 era was indeed hopeless and only men like Raja Mohan Roy and Sir Saiyad could penetrate through its thick veil to visualize the Nation’s destinies. They rightly believed that the past had its merits and its legacies were valuable but it was the future that a society was called upon to cope with. I offer my homage to Sir Saiyad for his vision and courage that withstood all obstructions both from the friends and the foes”. Passed away on March 27, 1898 Aligarh in British India left a message to boys and girls in end of his life “I know how difficult it is to standup against selfish motivation. It is exactly the thing I have fought against and I want you to stand once again. Stand erect, be counted and that time I would like you to bow before Almighty Allah. Pray for my soul and pray for the success of the mission that I had undertaken”