ALIGARH MOVEMENT:

                                                                                The British had taken over power and leadership of the sub-continent from the Muslim. They considered Muslim as their strong opponent and enemy. After the war of independence in 1857, Muslim of the sun-continent became victims of atrocities of the British. Muslim were deprived of their religious, political, economy, social and educational rights. This left the Muslim in fear and despair. On the other hand Hindu joined hands with British and advanced in all sphere of life. In these circumstances, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan felt sorry at the sad stage of Muslim and started an awakening movement for them. His movement is known as Aligarh Movement. The following were the main objectives of this movement.

 

1. GENERAL AWERENESS:  

                                                   Sir Syed Ahmed Khan stressed upon the Muslim that their golden era had passed and now they were by the British. They should accept this ground reality. Instead of living in past, they should look at their present and plan for the future progress. In this way , Sir Syed tried to improve the lot of the Muslim.

 

2. ESTABLISHING A GOODWILL BRITISH:

                                                                       Sir Syed emphasized the need for maintaining friendly relationship with British to earn their goodwill. He tried to convince the British that the Muslim alone were not responsible for the war of 1857. Hindu and other nations in India also participate in the war of 1857. In order to clear the doubts from the mind of the British about Muslim, Sir Syed wrote pamphlet ‘’THE CAUSES OF INDIAN REVOLT’’.

 

3.MOTIVATION FOR MODERN KNOWLEDGE:

                                                                                           Sir Syed was fully convinced that unless Muslim in the sub-continent received education and learnt modern scientific knowledge, they would remain backward and would be unable to complete with non-Muslim in the sub-continent .

 

4.MUHAMMADAN ANGLO-ORIENTAL COLLEGE:

                                                                                       Afterwards, Sir Syed established a school in Aligarh on the model of Cambridge university (England), which was later on raised to the level of a college named Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental college (MAO College).

 

5. NON-CONFRONTAL POLITICS:      

                                                                 Sir Syed advised to keep them away from indulging into politics till the time they were established and the pleasant relations between the Muslim and the Englishman were cultivated. Sir Syed wanted that Muslim should concentrate on receiving education and avoid political wrangling.