RAGHIBSM.Pdf

Colonial Rule in India and its Impact on Education of Muslim and their Poverty Level Colonial Rule in India and its Impact on Education of Muslim and their Poverty Level Syed Mohammad Raghib* Abstract: The scholarly candid historical literature on the account of colonial rule in the united India, the most shocking thing comes outthat, since the War of Mutiny of 1857, Muslim has become marginalised in the colonial rule. In absence of Muslim power in the last 258 years, since the War of Plassey in 1757, the 190 years of colonial rule alone harmed Muslims a lot. India, which was ruled by Muslim rulers since 1206 till 1857 (Qutub-Uddin Aibak to Bahadur Shah Zafar), lost their social, political and educational glory, when the British took power from them. The discrimination started after the Plassey War. During the British rule the development of Muslims was not up to the mark, the Britishers restricted institutional and structural development of Muslim gradually. The British did not want to promote Muslims because they perceived a kind of threat from the Muslim as they took power from them. After the Independence, the Muslim of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh hardly achieved substantial development in the education and economic stability as a whole, despite having sizeable populations. Due to lack of literacy and poverty, Muslims appear to be overrepresented among day labourers and vendors and underrepresented in public sectors in India. Keywords: Muslim, British, War of Mutiny, Colonial Rule, Muslim Power, Literacy, Development, Poverty. Introduction Islam firstly arrived in South India throughArab traders in the Western coastal state of Kerala, in in the early 7th century.The Arab traders had frequently visited Konkan, Gujarat and Malabar due to their trade route and had deep relations with people. The most significant historical fact is that, the first Mosque of India was Cheraman Juma Masjid. It is situated at Methala of Kodangallur, Thrissur district of Kerala in 629 AD and establishedby Malik Ibn Dinar. The second phase of Islam comes through the northern part of India, Sindh in 711 AD by the Muhammad Bin Qasim (an Ummayad General), who conquered the Sindh and other adjacent areas, when he was just sixteen years old, later died in 715 AD, when he was just 20 years.1 1 See the book which was written in Urdu by Akbar Shah Najibabadi and revised by Sufi-Ur-Rahman Mubarakpuri, (2001), History of Islam, Vol. 2, published by Darussalam. * PhD Student, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Centre for West Asian Studies Correspondence: [email protected] 353 INTERNATIONAL ILEM SUMMER SCHOOL / Social Justice and Poverty in Muslim World This was the beginning of Islam through the Arab Ummayad rulers (711-750 AD) in the Sindh, later the Islam flourished in India by the contributions of Muslim Sufis and Saints2 along with rulers who propagated Islam by their own way. Abu Mansur Sabugtigin (977- 997 AD)3, Mohammad Ghauri and Mohammad Ghaznavi (These Afghani rulers attacked India and looted its royal wealth, Ghaznavi even attacked 17th times),4including one of the famous the Somnath temple in 1027 AD. The first Muslim king in India was Qutub- ud-Din-Aibak (1150-1210), who established the Slave Dynasty,and was a Turk slave. He was an intelligentand pervasive and set up his capital in Delhi (Near Mahrauli). He builds some historical architecture like Qutub-Mianr, Quwat-ul-Islam Mosque (Masjid), which considersbeing the first mosque of North India. A brief account of Sultanate period was mentioned in the book of Abraham Eraly “The Age of Wrath: A History of the Delhi Sultanate”, in which he discussed the ground reality of the sultanate period in India.5 There were a number of Muslim scholars, who influence Indian society like Ali Tabari, Ibn Hazm, Ghazali, Ibn Taymiyya, and Ibn Rushd, by their ideas and books which are still very important and have a source of guidance.6 The Sultanate Period (1206-1526), was the initial stage of Muslim rule in India. Qutubuddin Aibak7 was the first ruler of Mamluk or Slave Dynasty (1206-1290), who ruled India till 1210 AD (Farishta, 2008:154).8Six other dynasties(Khilji Dynasty, Tughlaq Dynasty, Syyid Dynasty Lodhi Dynasty, and Sur Dynasty), ruled India during the Sultanate period. Sher Shah Suri (1540-45) was the first king of the Sur dynastywho defeated second Mughal King Humayun. There were three very popular and strong Muslim Dynasties (Safavid, Ottoman and Mughal) during the medieval period in the Islamic World.9 Mughal Dynasty (1526-1857) was established by the Babur. He was the first Mughal ruler, and Bahadur Shah Zafar was the last kingof the Mughal Dynasty, considered to be the last King of united India.The British forces took the power from Mughal and become ruler of India. 2 See the book by RaziuddinAquil (2012), Sufism, Culture, and Politics: Afghans and Islam in Medieval North India, New Delhi: Oxford University Press. 3 See book by Mohammad QasimFarishta (Translated in Urdu by Abdul Hai Khawaja),“Tareekh E Fa- rishta”, Lahore:Published by Al-Mizan, Vol.1, 2008, p.50-51. 4 Farishta, History of the Rise of Mohammedan Power in India, Volume 1: Section 15. Packard Humanities Institute. Retrieved 08-06-2015. 5 See the book of Abraham Eraly,The Age of Wrath: A History of the Delhi Sultanate, Penguin Books, 2014. 6 See the book by Professor Masudul Hassan, History of Islam, Vol. 2, (2009), New Delhi: Adam Publis- hers. 7 QutubuddinAibak was the Turk Slave of Subugtgeen. 8 See book by Mohammad QasimFarishta (Translated in Urdu by Abdul Hai Khawaja),“Tareekh E Fa- rishta” Lahore: Published by Al-Mizan, Vol.1, 2008, p.154-55. 9 Islamic world also called “Ummah”, which is rightly used by Thomas Patrick Hughes in his book”Dictionary of Islam. New Delhi: Cosmo Publications, 1978, p. 654. 354 Raghib / Colonial Rule in India and its Impact on Education of Muslim and their Poverty Level Company Involvement in India’s Business and Politics till theWar of 1857 After the death of Aurangzeb in 170710, the Mughal Empire becomes weak, control over the kingdom become tough.The majority of the ruler of the different provinces of India declared independence. The East India Company also took this opportunity; the company actively participated in the internal politics of India and established three more presidency towns of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. In spite of these setups, the real power comes under the East India Company subsequent to the Battle of Plassey in 1757. The Company was granted, right to collect the revenue of Bihar and Bengal from the hand of Nawab of Bengal and finally took the power in their hand in 1773 furthermore established his capital in Calcutta. Till the end of the Mughal period, the education was at his climax, but gradually begins to decline due to the siege of Delhi by the British army. In fact the decline of the Mughal Empire was a historical setback for Indian Muslim. By the end of the four-month siege, Delhi was reduced to a bat- tered, empty ruin, and Zafar was sentenced to exile in Burma. There he died, the last Mughal ruler in a line that stretched back to the sixteenth century” and he also further said that, Zafar’s death may have marked the end of a great ruling dynasty 350 years old (William Dalrymple, 2006:474).11 Rise of British Rule and its Implication on Education In 1848, Lord Dalhousie was appointed Governor General of India. He was ambitious enough, within his eight years of rule, he secured more land for the British, his period called greatest period of British rule. He started a policy of Annexation against the rulers. But when Dalhaousie annexed Oudh (Awadh) in 1856, it becomes a mass resent- ment against the British. Muslims elite realized that the British wanted to destroy the Muslim power and their next target will be Delhi, where Mughal was also not in a condition to defend. In such annexation policy by the Britishers, some Muslim, though that, India would be lost as a Darul-Islam.12 In1773, Warren Hastings becomes Governor General of Bengal. He was not an academician, but he did many extraordinary works for educational development. He founded Madrassa Aliya or Mohamdan College of Calcutta in 1781, it was the first foundation by the Britishers in the education field, and he also founded the Bengal Asiatic Society, with the help of Sir William Jones, a great academician at the contem- 10 Aurangzeb (1658-1707), was the last Mughal King, who ruled the whole united India, till his death in 1707. 11 Ibid. P.474. 12 For details see the Fatwa by MaulviKaramat Ali Jaunpuri, published by the Mohammedan Literary Society, Calcutta. 355 INTERNATIONAL ILEM SUMMER SCHOOL / Social Justice and Poverty in Muslim World porary time. The Alia Madrasa was elevated to university after 227 years, in 2008. This Madrasa was not only educational centre, but, a hub of cultural learning as well, where Arabic and Persian was taught. Hastings was also had knowledge of Sanskrit and Persian. Mohammedan College of Calcutta was endowed with lands, which were after- wards commuted for annual money payment of 30,000 rupees (Syed Mahmood, 1805: 18)13 and separate Madrasa English class sanctioned 4800 rupees (Lynn Zastoupil and Martin Moir, 2013:35).14 One of the other significant change comes up during the time of William Bentick (1828-1835), there was a significant change reported replac- ing Persian with English as the official language of government (Lynn Zastoupil and Martin Moir, 1999:23).15 Struggle for Education for Muslim in Post 1857 The Great Mutiny of 1857 startedwithin most of the North India against the British rule, in which most of ruler accepted the leadership of last Mughal King Bahadur Shah Zafar.16 The moment when the great mutiny started in 1857, a large number of the Muslim Ulema participated, supported and contributed a lot at all levels against the Britishers (Fringhis).17 Meanwhile, the major chunk of Muslim Ulema was against the British education system,18 especially English medium of teaching.

Load more