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Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan's Contribution to the Development of Muslim Nationalism in India*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Hafeez Malik
Hafeez Malik
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Villanova University, Pennsylvania 19085.
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Extract

By a general consensus among historians, the modern age is characterized as the age of nationalism. Despite this general agreement, however, the phenomenon of Muslim nationalism in India, which finally fulfilled itself in establishing the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, has remained misunderstood. In the first decade after the partition of India, the creation of Pakistan was explained away in terms of the divide and rule policy of the British and/or the religious fanaticism of the Muslims. This was so because Indian nationalists of all descriptions had assumed that Indian nationalism was a single and unified movement working for the unity or homogeneity of Indian civilization.

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Articles
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , March 1970 , pp. 129 - 147
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1970

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References

1 Heimsath, Charles H., Indian Nationalism and Hindu Social Reform, Princeton, 1964, pp. 132–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Cf. Also Kennedy, J., Asian Nationalism in the Twentieth Century, New York, 1968, pp. 84, 179 ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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18 The members of the Select Committee were: (1) Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan (First Secretary) (2) Mawlavi Muhammad Arif (3) Mawlavi Sayyid Abdullah (4) Muhammad Yar Khan (5) Sayyid Zain al-Abidin (6) Mirza Rahmat Allah Beg (7) Mawlavi Ashraf Husain Khan (8) Mawlavi Muhammad Samy 'i Allah Khan (9) Munshi Muhammad Akra Husain (10) Sayyid Amdad Ali (11) Mawlavi Qutb-ud-Din Hasan (12) Mawlavi Hamid-ud-Din (13) Munshi Muhammad Subhan (14) Mawlavi Muhammad Isma'il (15) Mawlavi Abd al-Rahman (16) Mawlavi Hafiz-ud-Din (17) Mir Badshah (18) Mawlavi Sayyid Farid-ud-Din (19) Munshi Muhammad Akbar Husain. SirKhan, Sayyid Ahmad, ‘Tariyqah Ta'lim Musalmanan’, Tahdhīb al-Akhlāq, Aligarh, 10, Rabi I, 1289 A.H./1872.Google Scholar

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29 In order to gain a view of the Muslims' share in the administration of the British-Indian Government, see appendices A and B, attached at the end of this paper.

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33 Manglori, Sayyid Tufayī Ahmad, Musalamanuñ Ka Roshan Mustaqbil, Delhi, 1945, p. 279. In the later years of Sir Sayyid's life Mawlavi Sami'y Allah was his major opponent.Google Scholar

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36 Husain, S. Abid, The Destiny of Indian Muslims, New York, 1965, p. 39. During his visit in May 1967 to Hafeez Malik (at Villanova University, Pennsylvania) Dr Husain admitted that no authentic evidence was available supporting the contention that Sir Sayyid was thoroughly dominated by Beck, and that he formulated his policies on Beck's suggestion. Dr Husain also regretted the fact that instead of doing his independent research on this issue, he relied excessively upon Manglori's assertions.Google Scholar

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39 Ibid., p. 449.

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41 Ibid., pp. 348–9.

42 Ibid., p. 357.

43 Ibid., pp. 351–2.

44 Ibid., p. 353.

45 Ibid., p. 354; Cf. also, Hali, , op. cit., pp. 316–17.Google Scholar

46 For Sir Sayyid's view of democracy, concept of Muslim nationalism and national progress see also, Malik, Hafeez, ‘Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan's Role in the Development of Muslim Nationalism in the Indo-Pakistan Sub-Continent’, Islamic Studies, Rawalpindi, 12 1966, Vol. V, No. 4Google Scholar; and ‘Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan's Theories of Muslim Nationalism and National Progress’, Modern Asian Studies, July 1968.