{"id":3474,"date":"2026-08-11T22:11:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T16:41:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/notes\/sir-syed-ahmed-khan\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T02:58:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T21:28:19","slug":"sir-syed-ahmed-khan","status":"publish","type":"psir_note","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/notes\/sir-syed-ahmed-khan\/","title":{"rendered":"Sir Syed Ahmed Khan"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"n-wrap\">\n<div class=\"n-shell\">\n<div class=\"n-crumb\"><a href=\"\/psir\/psir-notes\/\">PSIR Notes<\/a><span class=\"sep\">\u203a<\/span><a href=\"\/psir\/psir-notes\/#i-a\">I-A Political Theory and Indian Politics<\/a><span class=\"sep\">\u203a<\/span><span>Sir Syed Ahmed Khan<\/span><\/div>\n<header class=\"n-head\">\n<div class=\"n-eyebrow\">Paper I \u00b7 Political Theory and Indian Politics<\/div>\n<h1 class=\"n-title\">Sir Syed Ahmed Khan<\/h1>\n<div class=\"n-syl\"><b>Syllabus \u00b7 Paper I-A \u00b7 9<\/b> \u2014 Indian Political Thought: Dharamshastra, Arthashastra and Buddhist Traditions; <span class=\"cur\">Sir Syed Ahmed Khan<\/span>, Sri Aurobindo, M. K. Gandhi, B. R. Ambedkar, M. N. Roy.<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"n-grid\">\n  <main class=\"n-body\"><\/p>\n<h3 id=\"sir-syed-ahmed-khan-aligarh-science-and-the-minority-questio\">Sir Syed Ahmed Khan \u2014 Aligarh, science and the minority question<\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"n-sch\">Sir Syed Ahmed Khan<\/span> was a leading reformer of nineteenth-century India: an educationist, Muslim modernist, religious rationalist and, in his early phase, a pluralist. Born into a family linked to the Mughal court, he watched the old Muslim elite lose authority after 1803 and lose it sharply after 1857.<\/p>\n<h4 id=\"after-1857-three-realisations\">After 1857 \u2014 three realisations<\/h4>\n<p>Serving as Sadr Amin in Bijnor during the Revolt, he protected British lives even as his own family suffered, and concluded that open confrontation was suicidal. <span class=\"n-sch\">Peter Hardy<\/span> and <span class=\"n-sch\">David Lelyveld<\/span> both read the post-1857 moment as the turning point: Muslims fell behind in English education and colonial service while other communities adapted faster. His answer was not rebellion but <span class=\"n-term\">education, science, rational Islam and cooperation with the British<\/span>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"n-lab\">Armed resistance had become suicidal<\/span> \u2014 British reprisals showed the cost of direct confrontation.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"n-lab\">Education had become the key to power<\/span> \u2014 communities that took modern learning gained administration and influence; Muslims risked permanent disadvantage.<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"n-lab\">Muslim society needed a middle path<\/span> \u2014 between orthodox rejection of modernity and wholesale abandonment of tradition: modernise education, preserve Islamic identity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4 id=\"major-works\">Major works<\/h4>\n<p><span class=\"n-term\">Asar-us-Sanadeed<\/span> (study of Delhi&#8217;s monuments); <span class=\"n-term\">Asbab-i-Baghawat-i-Hind<\/span> (the causes of 1857 \u2014 the British did not understand Indian opinion and had shut Indians out of governance; the argument anticipated the inclusion of Indians under the Indian Councils Act of 1861); <span class=\"n-term\">The Loyal Mohammedans of India<\/span> (1860, against the charge that Muslims as a community were disloyal); <span class=\"n-term\">Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq<\/span> (1870, moral and social reform); <span class=\"n-term\">Khutbat-i-Ahmadiya<\/span> (a reasoned reply to William Muir&#8217;s <em>Life of Muhammad<\/em>).<\/p>\n<h4 id=\"the-aligarh-movement-education-and-scientific-temper\">The Aligarh Movement \u2014 education and scientific temper<\/h4>\n<p>The Aligarh Movement was the first major reform awakening among Indian Muslims. Its principle: accept Western education without weakening Islamic allegiance. He founded the <span class=\"n-term\">Scientific Society<\/span> (1863, Ghazipur, later Aligarh) to translate Western knowledge into Urdu; launched the <span class=\"n-term\">Aligarh Institute Gazette<\/span> (1866); and after studying British institutions, founded the <span class=\"n-term\">Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College<\/span> (1875), which grew into Aligarh Muslim University. <span class=\"n-sch\">George Farquhar Irving Graham<\/span> praised the Society as a pioneering Muslim effort to bring Western knowledge to the masses; <span class=\"n-sch\">Mohammad Hashim Kamali<\/span> stresses the place of scientific observation and rationality in his reading of the Qur&#8217;an \u2014 his reformism was rationalist, not anti-religious.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"n-quote\">\n<p>&#8220;Muslim youth should carry the book of science in one hand and the Holy Quran in the other hand.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><cite>Sir Syed Ahmed Khan<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h4 id=\"social-reform-and-early-pluralism\">Social reform and early pluralism<\/h4>\n<p>He criticised polygamy, the ban on widow remarriage and irrational custom, and supported women&#8217;s education. His early politics were civic and inclusive: the MAO College had Hindu donors, teachers and students \u2014 in the early years Hindu students even outnumbered Muslims \u2014 and cow slaughter was banned on campus out of respect for Hindu feeling. <span class=\"n-sch\">David Kopf<\/span> places his work within a wider current of social harmony across communities, and compares his role with <span class=\"n-sch\">Raja Ram Mohan Roy<\/span>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"n-quote\">\n<p>Hindus and Muslims were &#8220;the two beautiful eyes of a beautiful bride.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><cite>Sir Syed Ahmed Khan<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h4 id=\"two-phases-of-his-political-thought\">Two phases of his political thought<\/h4>\n<p><span class=\"n-term\">One reformer, two political phases \u2014 the hinge of 1887<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"n-tw\">\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>First phase (to 1887)<\/th>\n<th>Second phase (after 1887)<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>secular \u00b7 nationalist \u00b7 pluralist \u2014 &#8220;by qaum I mean both Hindus and Muslims&#8221;; religion separate from politics; one soil, one ruler, shared benefit and hardship<\/td>\n<td>communal \u00b7 pro-British \u00b7 anti-Congress \u2014 opposed representative government for India; preferred nomination and British safeguards<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>worked with <span class=\"n-sch\">Surendra Nath Banerjee<\/span> to restore the civil-services age limit<\/td>\n<td>drew on <span class=\"n-sch\">Theodore Beck<\/span>, principal of MAO College, for the loyalist turn<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<h4 id=\"why-the-shift-after-1887\">Why the shift after 1887<\/h4>\n<p>Several pressures combined: <span class=\"n-term\">demographic anxiety<\/span> (representative democracy read as Hindu-majority rule, with better-educated Bengali Hindus dominant); the <span class=\"n-term\">Urdu\u2013Hindi controversy<\/span> over the Nagari script; <span class=\"n-term\">institutional dependence<\/span> of the MAO College on British goodwill; the influence of <span class=\"n-sch\">Theodore Beck<\/span>; the rise of Hindu revivalism alongside Congress; and post-1857 pragmatism.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"n-quote\">\n<p>&#8220;Now I am convinced that these two nations will not work unitedly in any cause\u2026 on account of the so-called educated people, it will increase a hundred-fold in the future.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><cite>Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, to Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h4 id=\"on-democracy\">On democracy<\/h4>\n<p>He did not reject democracy as a moral idea; he rejected <span class=\"n-term\">Western representative democracy for India<\/span>. His reasoning: majority rule may suit a relatively homogeneous society, but a country divided by religion, caste, race and education would let the more numerous and better-educated community override the smaller one. His democratic thought was shaped by minority anxiety, not general anti-modernism \u2014 hence the tension between supporting education and consultation while opposing elections, agitation and representative government.<\/p>\n<h4 id=\"criticism-legacy-and-contemporary-relevance\">Criticism, legacy and contemporary relevance<\/h4>\n<p>His record is debated: the shift from common nationalism to separate Muslim interests, the opposition to representative government and a free press (he backed Lord Lytton&#8217;s press restrictions), the elite base of the Aligarh Movement, and the fact that many Muslims \u2014 <span class=\"n-sch\">Badruddin Tyabji<\/span>, Congress Muslims, Deoband \u2014 took other paths. Yet his educational legacy is his strongest: a model of modern learning with Islamic grounding that produced a new intelligentsia. The <em>Sachar Committee Report<\/em> on Muslim educational backwardness, and the figure of roughly three per cent Muslim representation in the civil services discussed around it, keep his stress on education and his rational reading of Islam relevant against backwardness and extremism alike.<\/p>\n<div class=\"n-pyq\"><span class=\"n-pyq-chip\">UPSC 2021 \u00b7 15m<\/span><span class=\"n-pyq-q\">&#8220;When a nation becomes devoid of arts and learning, it invites poverty.&#8221; In the light of this statement, assess the role of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as a reformer in modern India.<\/span><a class=\"n-pyq-a\" href=\"\/psir\/psir-pyq\/when-a-nation-becomes-devoid-of-arts-and-learning-it-invites-upsc-psir-2021-1109\/\">Answer<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"n-next\"><a href=\"\/psir\/notes\/buddhist-traditions\/\"><em>Previous<\/em><b>Buddhist Traditions<\/b><\/a><a class=\"r\" href=\"\/psir\/notes\/sri-aurobindo\/\"><em>Next<\/em><b>Sri Aurobindo<\/b><\/a><\/div>\n<p><\/main><\/p>\n<aside class=\"n-rail\">\n<h4>On this page<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"#sir-syed-ahmed-khan-aligarh-science-and-the-minority-questio\">Sir Syed Ahmed Khan \u2014 Aligarh, science and the minority question<\/a><\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sir Syed Ahmed Khan for the UPSC PSIR optional \u2014 PSIR Notes \u203a I-A Political Theory and Indian Politics \u203a Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Paper I \u00b7 Political Theory and Indian Politics Sir Syed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"fx_note_key":"I-A.9.4","fx_note_sec":"I-A","fx_note_point":"9","fx_note_desc":"Sir Syed Ahmed Khan for the UPSC PSIR optional \u2014 PSIR Notes \u203a I-A Political Theory and Indian Politics \u203a Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Paper I \u00b7 Political Theory and Indian Politics Sir Syed","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3474","psir_note","type-psir_note","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/psir_note\/3474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/psir_note"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/psir_note"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/psir_note\/3474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3867,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/psir_note\/3474\/revisions\/3867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/psir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}