One of the builders of modern India Sir Syed Ahmad Khan still lives in our hearts. An educationist of highest calibre, he believed India could bring about a renaissance through the floodgates of education. And it did! A new book on this illustrious personality produced and edited by the celebrated author and widely-acclaimed academician A.R. Kidwai, touches upon many facets of Sir Sayed Ahmad Khan and his life.
The compendium titled, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan: Muslim Renaissance Man of India (A Bicentenary Commemorative Volume) is brought out by Viva Books Private Limited, and priced at Rs. 1895.00. It is a glorious tribute to Sir Syed Ahmad Khan whose 200th birth anniversary falls in 2017. Vividly bringing his life to fore, the essays in the book takes the reader through his work and vision while seamlessly interweaving the conditions of Muslims and offering solutions.
He was born on October 17, 1817 and is the founder of Anglo-Mohammedan Oriental College which became Aligarh Muslim University in 1920. The aim of Sir Syed was not merely restricted to establishing a college at Aligarh but at spreading a network of Muslim-managed educational institutions throughout the length and breadth of the country. Keeping in view this end, he instituted All India Muslim Educational Conference that revived the spirit of Muslims at national level. His objective was to build a college in tune with the British education system but without compromising its Islamic values.
The Aligarh Movement motivated the Muslims to help open a number of educational institutions. It was the first of its kind of such Muslim NGOs in India, which awakened the Muslims from their deep slumber and infused social and political sensibility into them. And today the Aligarh Muslim University is one the best universities in the world.
As a gesture to perpetuate Sir Syed’s memory the Aligarh Muslim University had chalked out a gamut of events. Some of them already held and many are on the anvil. The programmes include publication of commemorative Volumes, a coffee table edition, Sir Syed Bibliography in world languages, a biography of Sir Syed in Hindi, special issues of Tehzibul Akhlaque and Fikr-o-Nazr, English translations of Sir Syed’s works and directory of prominent AMU alumni; organisation of multi-level lectures, seminars, conferences and awareness rallies on Sir Syed; commissioned research projects; essay writing and painting competitions; Sir Syed Exhibitions and sound and light show.
As part from this the University will also make efforts to produce a motion picture on the life and times of Sir Syed, get the Govt. issue a Bicentenary stamp, collect all objects associated with Sir Syed for the Museum and bring out some special souvenirs to mark the grand celebration.
The book, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan: Muslim Renaissance Man of India, contains 19 articles penned by well-known academicians, including David Lelyveld, Barbara D.Metcalf, Christian W. Troll, Hafeez Malik, Gordon Campbell, Geoffrey Nash, Charles M Ramsey, Robert Ivermee, Shan Mohammad, Asim Ali, Iftikhar Malik, Amineh Hoti and Mazhar Hussain, zeroing in on Sir Syed’s endeavours that mobilise us in the cause of mutual trust, coexistence, peace, justice and equality in a time when the storm of suspicion, bigotry and pseudo-religiosity threatens us to sweep off our feet.
Reviewing the latest book, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan: Muslim Renaissance Man of India, English daily The Hindu writes, “In his brilliantly written introduction Farhan Nizami concludes that Sir Syed believed that Muslims should discuss freely the local customs and ceremonies inherited from their near past, and study them objectively. They should approach their history as a reservoir of human experience from which to learn. He is quite right in pointing out that Sir Syed sees Muslims as part of the cultural mainstream of the nation and the world, not a side channel, nor a private lake nor a back water.”
When Mutiny of 1857 miserably failed and Muslims were shattered and were on the abyss of educational and social backwardness, a new dawn arose. It was at that time when Sir Syed appeared on the scene and embarked on a mission to empower the Muslims. He armed the Muslims with most modern scientific education of the time. Sir Syed was a distinguished son of India who transformed social and intellectual India after the failure of the First War of Independence. So, books like the one which we are talking about is the right tribute one can offer to commemorate his ideals and vision.
This bicentenary commemorative compendium features those lesser discussed areas of Syed Ahmad’s life which were usually ignored by scholars or perhaps were least discussed. The book gives a kaleidoscopic view of his life, his religious ideology and his relevance in the postcolonial world.
In his well-researched article named, “Sir Syed’s Tafsir: Issues in Terminology and Concepts”, Syed Asim Ali argues that Sir Syed’s “entire focus rests on reading the Qur’ān not only as book of enigmatic, stupefying wonders but as a practical, universal guide appealing fervently and recurrently, to human reason and common sense.”
Shehnoor Shan, a Research Scholar, Department of English, Aligarh Muslim University, writes,” Sir Syed’s legacy continued even after his death in 1898. His ideals never failed to inspire the upcoming generations who too felt that education was the only weapon to eradicate the evils which were dominant in the Muslim society of the 19th century. Prof. Farhan Nizami, in his elaborate Foreword to the book, writes, “As a proud alumnus of the Aligarh Muslim University, I am bound to welcome this collection of essays to mark the bicentenary of Sir Syed’s birth.” He expresses his happiness for the fact that these essays put forward Sir Syed’s relevance in the contemporary world. Indeed this is a commendable approach by Prof. A.R. Kidwai, whose critical insight and literary scholarship made the task possible.”
The Volume carries a dedication to the Vice Chancellor, Aligarh Muslim University, “for having launched Sir Syed Bicentenary Celebrations on a befitting scale”. The contributors have done justice to the title by producing scholarly articles with substantial proofs that Syed Ahmad Khan was one of the major names in the history of India’s reawakening or renaissance. Overall the book seems promising, and is a perfect gift for scholars who wish to delve into a glorious past of the Muslims of India in general and Sir Syed Ahmad Khan in particular.”
Prof. B. Sheikh Ali, an eminent historian who was vice-chancellor of Mangalore and Goa Universities, once wrote about him, “…. In short Sir Syed Ahmed Khan stands out prominently among the makers of Modern India. If for Muslims eighteenth century was of Shah Waliyullah, nineteenth century was of Sir Syed. His hard work washed off the accumulated dust of centuries and melted the ice of rigidities that had made his people moribund, as he stirred the stagnant pools that activated no mills. His concept of moral values was different from others. It was not the kindness which Jesus preached, not the harmony which Plato advocated, and not the strength which Nietzsche propounded, but it was the reflex of the Divine as seen in man’s intellect. It was aristocracy of intellect tempered with sublimity of soul that Sir Syed stood for. Man’s conscience when kindled with the torch of learning would make him realise the responsibility he owed to the society. The king-pin of Sir Syed’s reforms rotated round the acquisition of knowledge, higher knowledge, which would gift man new attitudes and values, new humanism and peace. The instrument he used for the social reformation was on institution of higher learning, the Aligarh College, which was to perpetuate an impulse through time.”
His life is a deeply inspiring story for all us to emulate.