Pakistan Studies

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Key Questions 1-4 for the 2012 Pakistan Studies Syllabus

These notes are meant to be available to all races and factions and I sincerely hope that you benefit from it in any way possible. If you do, however, find them useful, please pray for my success and not to mention, vote for me in the National Assembly.
-Mustafa in his famous 1950 speech

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Key Question 1: How successful were the religious thinkers in spreading Islam in the sub-continent during the 18th and 19th centuries?
Answer: During the 18th and 19th centuries, there had been few very important thinkers and leaders who revived Islam at the time when Mughal were at their inevitable end. These religious thinkers helped Muslims wake up and it also set examples for the future generations. Shah Waliullah is one of the earliest, most important names. He believed that no community can succeed without the good understanding of Islamic principles. He therefore laid great stress on it and preached the importance of good morals of a society. He translated the Quran into Persian and later his sons translated it to Urdu. He believed Quran should be well-understood to be able to know the real purpose and conduct of life. He wrote 23 Arabic and 28 Persian books focusing on Islamic rules and teachings. His famous works include Hujjatullah-ul-Balighah and Izlatul Akhfa.He also requested Ahmed Shah Durrani to defeat Marathas in Delhi who were overpowering and in the Battle of Panipat in 1761, he did. His belief in justice and equality was preached further by his disciples and others took it as an example. Without his teaching, the sleeping, heavily outnumbered Muslims would not have awoken. Another name was Syed Ahmed Shaheed Barelvi who was distantly related to Shah Waliullah.He placed great emphasis on jihad or struggle. He founded the Jihad movement and collected people from different parts of the subcontinent to fight.This movement was to fight against the hardships Muslim faced practising their religion(Especially the Sikh Rule in Punjab).He therefore started the jihad from Punjab.He was joined by different Muslim leaders.The Mujahideen had Peshawar in their hands and were joined by many other tribesmen growing to 80000 men.It shortly ended when a sudden attack on mujahideen killed Syed Ahmed but it set up an example for the Muslims to fight against oppression and later even became an example for the Pakistan movement and gave them a reason to stand up against tyranny or they would be brutally ruled over by Hindus due to them being outnumbered. In 19th century, Islam even revived in Bengal.Haji Shariatullah went to Arabia for pilgrimage and being influenced by Muhammad Abdul Wahab here, on his
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return, sought to purify Islam from the Hindi influences.His followers grew and were called Faraizis(meaning ones who fulfil their obligations).His work was continued by his son, Mohsinuddin who was more politically active and was hated by Europeans and Hindus.Another from this area was Mir Mithar Ali.He struggled with Hindus over their oppressing rule over Muslims.One of the examples of his struggles was with a Hindu landlord who imposed a tax on beards.

Key Question 2: What were the causes and consequences of the decline of the Mughal Empire?
Answer: There were several reasons why the Mughal empire had to crumble in the mid 19th century and all of the factors played major role in its fall. Primarily, Aurangzeb is believed to have caused instability of the Mughal Empire.During his time, Mughal empires territory reached its peak and it became very difficult to control it.He concentrated power into his own hands which proved to be negative.During his reign, the non-Muslims also rebelled against him and there was increased enmity towards him.His long absences from Delhi also led to corruption.It however, took another 150 years from his death for the Mughal empire to crumble. After his death, one of his sons Bahadur Shah acceded to the throne but due to his age, he himself died shortly.There were then quick and repeated wars of accession as there were removal of kings by the powerful courts. Meanwhile, there were internal and external threats coming from various places.In 1739, Nadir Shah led an invasion in the Mughal empire.Much of the wealth of Mughal was looted including its famous jewels like the peacock throne.The Mughals, being so unstable were unable to fight back and Kabul, Sindh and West Punjab were never to come under Mughal empire again. There was also threat coming from Sikhs and Marathas who had conquered various parts of Punjab and Delhi.Ahmed Shah Durrani defeated and reconquered these places but unfortunately was imprisoned by his own court and died in the prison.

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All the next Mughal kings were not firm and of the wrong temperament to lead the Mughal back to glory. The threats of the empire being exposed, there were threats emerging from Europe as well.In In 1757, Bengal was defeated in the Battle of Plassey was one of the richest states and in 1764, the British defeated the state of Bihar in the Battle of Buxar which.In 1765, , Shah Alam was also forced to give the control of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to the East India Company for annual rent of 26 Lakh Rupees. At this point, there was little doubt that the Britain were more powerful than Mughals.In 1784, British passed the Regulation act; the British government could appoint governor-generals, provincial governors and commander-in-chief. In 1803, British also took over Delhi. In 1843, Sindh was also captured .The British, after the death of Ranjeet Singh whom they knew as a genious, also conquered Punjab. In 1852, Doctrine of Lapse was introduced which meant that the state of any prince without a direct male heir would be taken by British .There were changes in educational schemes and English was made the official language Eventually, In 1862, the Mughals saw their inglorious end with the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah II dead who died in his exile to Rangoon for his role in the 1857 war of independence. The British was then strong enough to rule over the whole subcontiners.A new era in the history of subcontinent began.

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Key Question 3: What were the causes and consequences of the War of Independence 185758?
Answer: There were several causes of the War of Independence that erupted in 1857.Firstly, Hindus and Muslims both felt that their respective religions were under threat due to the British rule.English was made the main language and changes in educational schemes enraged the Indians.The British army also consisted of Muslims and they were unhappy fighting with fellow Muslims of India. The immediate cause of the revolt was the coating of a new rifle cartridge in both cow and pig fat in January 1857.This enraged both, Hindus and Muslims.Cows were sacred in Hindu beliefs and pigs were forbidden in Islam.In Meerut, the sepoys killed their European officers and this gave birth to other uprisings and hence, the War of Independence. British had lost some lands like Kanpur, Jhansi and Allahabad but recovered it shortly and British had Delhi as their priority to recapture.Though resistance wasbravely shown by figures like Rani of Jhansi who fought for the city of Jhansi. By August 1958, British had got hold of the rebellion.The war, overall, was a failure as there were different objectives and interests of the local community. Muslims were the ones who fought most actively but Hindus, Sikhs and Marathas were suspicious that they just wanted to revive the Mughal Empire.Some princes even helped British.The last Mughal empire Bahadur Shah Zafar had no power or interference to either aid the rebellions or to stop the war and he was more interested in poetry. The consequence was that the British abandoned their friendliness with the states and they were now totally determined to take all matters of the whole subcontinent into their own hands.There was also hostility shown towards Muslims as they were largely the ones to fight the War of Independence and for the Muslims themselves, the blow and shock took long enough to recover. Secretary for the state was to be appointed with Cabinet rank and the governor-generals were now called Viceroys.The first empress was Queen

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Victoria appointed in 1877.English was also made the national language and the education was to be based on the British system.

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Key Question 4: How important was the work of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan to the development of the Pakistan Movement during the 19th century?
Answer: Sir Syed Ahmed Khan is undoubtedly a major figure who played a great role in the revival of Islam and the formation, later, of the Pakistan movement. He worked in East India company and soon realized the situation. Muslims were far behind the times and had educational disadvantage. He believed that Muslims were in no state to fight back or rebel against the British. In the war of independence of 1857, he was not interested in fighting and in fact helped somewhat to the British. This made him unpopular among the Muslims who knew him as a traitor. He, however, who expressed his such beliefs were ahead of his time. The Muslims saw it themselves and understood what he meant. Later he also wrote books like Essay on the Causes of Indian Revolt and The Loyal Mohammedans of India to make the relations between British and Muslims better. He also wrote up a commentary between Bible and Quran to show in which aspects the religions are similar. He did various educational works for the sake of Muslims as he believed if Muslims are to progress, an educated population would be their foremost necessity. In 1863, he founded the Scientific Society of Ghazipur which had the objective of translating Persia, Arabic and English works into Urdu so that Muslims could get knowledge in their native language. In his book Tahdib ul Akhlaq he also said that western knowledge was not unislamic and education would only shed light to the beauty of Gods creations. In 1875, he established a school which in the next year became Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College and later became the Aligarh University which produced a number of important leaders who were later to lead the Pakistan movement. Conferences were held to popularize the high quality of education at the College. In 1885, as the Congress was formed, Sir Syed was instantly suspicious of it and again, ahead of his time. He believed that Muslims and Hindus were two separate nations living together(The Two-Nation Theory) and Muslims right will not be safeguarded once the British leave India.He organized the United Patriotic Alliance to counter Congress. Events in which music was played in
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front of the mosques made him sure about this ideology. Other Muslims also realized this and not long after his death, Muslim League was born which was later to develop the Pakistan movement. His works were first not welcome whole-heartedly but Muslims realized and accepted his theory of the need of education. Thanks to him, there were many educated Muslim leaders who helped the creation of Pakistan. His work towards reconciliation with British was also met with success. Although it took time for the British to recover from their anger towards Muslim, there was lesser hostility between the two parties.

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