Importance of Aligarh movement for the Muslims of India (1857)

Aligarh Movement:

Aligarh movement was led by Sir Sayed Ahmed Khan to educate the Muslims of the Indian
subcontinent after the defeat of the rebels in the Indian rebellion of 1857. It had great success and
had a profound impact on the future of the subcontinent. Its most significant achievement was
the establishment of Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh, which later became
Aligarh Muslim University. The Aligarh Movement of Syed Ahmad Khan played a very
significant role in bringing about an intellectual revolution among the Indian Muslims. Thus it
succeeded in achieving its major objectives.

Reason for establishing Aligarh movement:

Basically the Britishers replaced Persian with English which was the official language of
Muslims. Muslims were not prepared to learn English at the other hand Hindus quickly adopted
it. Now the Muslims were not able to participate in the political activities as their mother
language was ignored.

Here are some of the important points which can completely explain the reasons for establishing
the Aligarh movement.

Objectives:

1. To protect Islam against the onslaught of Orientalists and to prove that it was the one true
religion.
2. To remove the bitter enmity that had arisen between the Muslim and the British for
religious or political reasons and to establish friendly relations between them.
3. To reinterpret the teaching of Islam and bring them in harmony.
4. To encourage the Muslims to learn science and philosophy so that educated Muslims
while holding on to their religion, might take a rational and enlightened view of life and
meet the demands of the new age.
5. To remove the state of tension between the Muslims and the British people.
6. To persuade Muslims to learn the English language and Western sciences so that they
might secure a substantial share in the administration of the country.
7. To maintain Urdu along with English as an associate official language and to develop it
through translations and original writings

What was the reason for stopping the Muslims from involving into the political activities?

In 1857, when sir sayed noticed that if Muslims joined the political parties and get involved into
the political activities, they will not be able to fight against the Hindu and British because
Muslims are not as educated as the British.

Sir Syed Ahmed khan advised the Muslims against joining active politics because he wants them
to concentrate on education. Later, when some Muslims joined the Indian National Congress, he
came out strongly against that organization and its objectives, which included the establishment
of parliamentary democracy in India. He argued that, in a country where communal divisions
were all-important and education and political organizations were confined to a few classes,
parliamentary democracy would work only inequitably. Muslims, generally, followed his advice
and did not get involve into the politics until several years later when they had established their
own political organization i.e. Muslim League.