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The root cause of Muslim backwardness inIndian subcontinent and the sad story of SirSyed Ahmed KhanBy iqbal.latif (http://iqballatif.newsvine.com/)Sun Jun 15, 2014 4:18 AM

education (/education)

438LikeTweet 32 D I S C U S S : 1 1 !

There is no magic wand, it has to start somewhere. Inequities towards Indian Muslims in

the Indian subcontinent were not spearheaded by RSS/BJP, it has a long history. I wrote

back on 23 December 2006 on why Muslims remained backward, I have rehashed it to

meet the new developments: The enemy is within!

The story of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and what did we do to him is sad and disgraceful. It

is not RSS/BJP; it is the Fatwas of Maulana Qasim Nanotvi and Maulana Yaqoob of

Deoband that we are in this mess. Nothing happens overnight, the clergy planned

meticulously over a hundred of years for this calamity to strike. And like mindless

repetitive parrots, our experts hold either Modi (nowadays), or at best Ziaul Haq, or

Saudis responsible; no, it is Deoband and Bareli as Sir Syed puts it, it was the terrifying

call of Kanpur, the lyrical satire of Lucknow, the idle tattle of Agra and Allahabad, the

fatwas of Rampur and Bareilly and the snide remarks of holy men of Delhi...

Great nations are not made overnight, every Muslim child that remains uneducated is the

responsibility of those Draconian fatwas; what we sow is what we shall reap, we had sown

venom and hate. Maulvi Ali Bakhsh did the needful and traveled to Mecca and Medina on

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the pretext of pilgrimage and secured a fatwa calling for beheading of Sir Syed if he

repented not and persisted with his plan to establish the college.

The problem of Muslim backwardness and under representation in public services is a fact

but this is not a problem of independent India. In 1878 Sir Syed had said that "Muslims

had derived least benefit from European sciences and literature" and in 1882, appearing

before the Education Commission of the Central Legislative Council, presented

voluminous evidence to show almost negligible Muslim presence among the graduates

of Calcutta University. According to his memo there was no Muslim among 6 Doctors of

Law and 4 Honors in Law. Among the Bachelors and Licentiates of Law there were 8 out

of 705 and 5 out 235 respectively. Likewise in Engineering and Medicine there was not

a single Muslim graduate. In MA there were 5 Muslims out of 326 and in BA there were

only 30 out of 1343. The memo pointed out that based on the population covered by

Calcutta University the number of Muslim graduates should have been 1262 whereas

they actually were just 57. On the basis of these figures Sir Syed pleaded not for job

reservation but government help in initiating programs for their educational betterment.

It is worth noting that this memorandum was presented just 24 years after the formal

collapse of uninterrupted Muslim rule for almost 800 years.

Before presenting these figures to the commission it was pointed out that "in 1824 when

Government decided to start a Sanskrit College in Calcutta, the Hindu leaders met

under the leadership of Raja Ram Mohan Roy and demanded that they did not want

Sanskrit College to be established by Government but wanted that it should start

English colleges as far as possible. On the other hand in 1835, after 11 years when the

Mohammedans came to know that Government intends to start English teaching in all

schools, they submitted an application signed by 8000 Moulvis of Calcutta to stop it.

Muslims vehemently opposed the new system of education believing that the philosophy

and logic taught in English was at variance with the tenets of Islam. They looked upon the

study of English as little less than embracing of Christianity."

Later at the time of starting Committee for diffusion of knowledge among Muslims Sir Syed

said "it was a matter of deep regret that Muslims considered their religion which was so

great and enlightened, weak enough to be endangered by the study of western literature

and science."

Sir Syed described his vision of the institution he proposed to establish in an article written

sometime in 1872 and re-printed in the Aligarh Institute Gazette of April 5, 1911:

"I may appear to be dreaming and talking like Shaikh Chilli, but we aim to turn this M.A.O.

College into a University similar to that of Oxford or Cambridge. Like the churches of

Oxford and Cambridge, there will be mosques attached to each College... The College will

have a dispensary with a Doctor and a compounder, besides a Unani Hakim. It will be

mandatory on boys in residence to join the congregational payers (namaz) at all the five

times. Students of other religions will be exempted from this religious observance. Muslim

students will have a uniform consisting of a black alpaca, half-sleeved chugha and a red

Fez cap... Bad and abusive words which boys generally pick up and get used to, will be

strictly prohibited. Even such a word as a "liar" will be treated as a abuse to be prohibited.

They will have food either on tables of European style or on chaukis in the manner of the

Arabs... Smoking of cigarette or huqqa and the chewing of betels shall be strictly

prohibited. No corporal punishment or any such punishment as is likely to injure a

student's self-respect will be permissible... It will be strictly enforced that Shia and Sunni

boys shall not discuss their religious differences in the College or in the boarding house. At

present it is like a day dream. I pray to God that this dream may come true."

What happened after that call? Maulana Hali in his biography of Sir Syed says that 60

maulvis and alims had signed fatwas accusing Sir Syed of disbelief and apostasy. Sir Sayyid

Ahmad Khan in his biography Hayat-i Jawaid by Maulana Hali, the storm of condemnation

and takfir against Sir Sayyid is fully detailed. And these were not a few clerics; they were

the Creme de la Creme of the faith of the nation of Islam.

Hali writes: "One day as Sir Syed was discussing educational affairs of Muslims with Mr.

Shakespearethe then Commissioner of Banaras Mr. Shakespeare looked surprised and

asked him, "This is the first time when I have heard you talking specifically about Muslims.

Before this you used to talk about the welfare of the common Indians.

Sir Syed then told him, "Now I am convinced that the two communities [Muslims and

Hindus] will not put their hearts in any venture together. This is nothing [it is just the

beginning] , in the coming times an ever increasing hatred and animosity appears on the

horizon simply because of those who are regarded as educated. Those who will be around

will witness it." (Hali, 1993)

Sir Sayyid was called atheist, irreligious, Christian, nature-worshipper, anti-Christ, and

many other things. Fatwas that he was a kafir were prepared, and signatures of Maulavis of

every town and city were obtained. Even those who remained silent against Sir Sayyid as

regards takfir, were called kafir. (p. 623)

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All the Muslim sects in India, be they Sunni or Shiah, conformist or non-conformist, the

seals and signatures of the known and unknown Ulama and priests of all these are on

these fatwas. (p. 627)

A fatwa was obtained from Makka, bearing the seals of Muftis of all the four schools, in

which it was written:

This man is an heretic, or he was inclined to unbelief (kufr) from Islamic law in some

aspect. ... If he repents before he is arrested, and turns away from his misguided views,

and there are clear signs of repentance from him, then he should not be killed. Otherwise,

it is obligatory to kill him for the sake of the faith. (p. 633)

Maulana Qasim Nanotvi and Maulana Yaqoob of Deoband issued fatwas against

Aligarh, actually Sir Syed offered not to have any role in matters of religious instruction

in the college and invited leading clerics to prepare the syllabus. They shot down the

proposal saying they cannot associate with an institution which will have Shia students

on campus.

Sir Syed was targeted when he shared food with the British and defended his action in a

signed article. The opposition became fierce during his stay in London. Sir Syed responded

through a memorandum saying: The terrifying call of Kanpur, the lyrical satire of Lucknow,

the idle tattle of Agra and Allahabad, the fatwas of Rampur and Bareilly and the snide

remarks of holy men of Delhi grieve me not. My heart is overflowing with the idea of

welfare of my people and there is no room in it for any anger or rancor.

Sir Syed visualised India as a "beautiful bride, whose one eye was Hindu and, the other,

Muslim". Due to this view, he was regarded as a reformer and nationalist leader.

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a very beautifully written piece,giving us insights into the reasons for backwardness among muslims,which squarely rest on

hijacking of the religion by maulvis

Abhinav Sharma commented Jun 24, 2014

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