RELIGIOUS, SOCIAL AND POLITICAL TRENDS IN TAHZIB-UL-AKHLAQ OF SIR SYED AHMAD KHAN DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement* for the Award of the Degree of iWaiter of $fjtlo£opl)p IN HISTORY BY PERWfcZ NAZIR Under the supervision of DR. M. P. SINGH CENTRE OF ADVANCED STUDY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY ALFGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALK3ARH (INDIA) 1995 men /• £>£ - 21SO *<&j*i. ^.!-> 2 4 AUG 1934 CI*^ CKLID-20CZ CENTRE OF ADVANCED STUDY _ , . i External : 4 0 0 1 41> Telephones J Interna) J4, DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH—202 002 (U.P.). INDIA L^ertLticah This is to certify that the dissertation 'Religious, Social and Political Trends in Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan' submitted by Mr. Perwez Nazir is an original piece of research prepared under my supervision. It is based on original sources and first hand information and is fit for the award of M. Phil, degree. (M.P. Singh) Supervisor 3o'*.ir oDedlca ted Do trainer cine er CONTENTS Page Nc PREFACE I . TAHZIB - UL -AKHLAQ 1-14 II. SIR SYED AHMAD KHAN 15-32 III. RELIGICUS TRENDS IN TAHZIB- UL-AKHLAQ 3 3 - 5 G IV. SOCIAL TRENDS IN TAHZIB-UL-AKHLAQ 51-68 V. POLITICAL TRENDS IN TAHZIB-UL-AKHLAQ 69-86 VI. SIR SYED AHMAD KHAN AND NATIONAL MOVEMENT 87-94 BIBLIOGRAPHY 95-103 PREFACE For educating the masses newspapers, magazines and other Press media had been playing a very significant role. Sir Syed Ahmad Khar, during and after the revolt of 1857 found the Muslim illiterate, ignorant, backward, economically in hardship and distress. Not only this they lost confidence of cue ruler who looked down at them as rebel and traitor, who tried to overthrow the English. Sir Syed, who personally participated in relief operation of the revolt was crushed, he was very much moved to see miseries of his co-religionists. He thereafter took pledge to do whatever he could to better and uplift the condition of Muslims. After close analysis, Sir Syed felt that the main cause of the Muslim miseries and backwardness was their abstaining from school and college; their ignorance to Science, technology and modernism of the western world and above all their too much conservatism which taught them that learning English, Science, technology and modernism was anti- Islamic and therefore ought not be undertaken or adopted. Majority of them lived below poverty line none the less they were willing to have religious traditions and conservatism. ii It was in these circumstances that Sir Syed Ahmad decided to launch movement to librate Muslims from illiteracy, backwardness and conservatism. He along •.•.• ith close friends started an urdu magazine called ~ahzib-ul-Akhlaq. It was in this magazine that Sir Syed particularly also his close associates used to contribute articles on current problems related to Muslims such as illiteracy, ignorance to Science and technology and modernization of west. I r. the present dissertation 'Religious, Social and political trends in Tahzib-ul - Akhlaq of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan', an attempt is made to investigate on the basis ci articles contributed by various scholars to Tahzib into the problem of Muslims and how Sir Syed and his associates sought to solve them. Tahzib-ul- Akhlaq from 1870 onwards became spokesman of Muslim intellectuals and reformists whose mission was educational, social and economic upliftment of Muslim. Sir Syed wanted Muslims to set aside orthodox traditions and conservatism and to became part and parcle of Indian mainstream. First of all, I must avail this opportunity to express my most humble gratitude to Almighty, The Allah, without whose help I would not have completed the task. I am thankful to my highly revered teacher and guide Dr. M.P. Singh, under whose able guidelinee I have been able to finish the present work successfully. He has been extremely generous to guide me at each and every stage of this work. I confess that it was due to his constant interest that I finished the dissertation. I would also like to acknowledge the encouragement extended by Mr Jamal Ahmad Khan, Mr Rajiv Bargoti and Mr. Reyaz Ahmad Khan for what I inspire to achieve. I am beholden to my friend Mr. Muzaffar Hussain who put in his best effort when the work was in its progress. I would like to acknowledge the valuable advice and suggestion to Dr. Asghar Abbas S'z. I am also indebted to Mr. Waseem Raja, Mr. M.K. Pundhir, Mr. M.Z. Nomani and Mansoor. A. Siddiqui. I am indeed grateful to Ishtiyaq, Ekram Rizvi Sajjad and Aftab. My thanks are due to my brothers: Tarique, Nezam, Khalid, Farooque, Tanwir, Asad who extend to me their co-operation at all stage of my life. I also express my gratefulness to Mr. Sohail, Mr. Qadeer, Vikram Singh and Sajed. I must thank Mr. Muneeruddin who typed the work. I am also thankful for help and kind cooperation of the Maulana Azad Library, AMU staff. I am particularly beholden to the staff of Research Seminar Library, History Department, AMU. They continued to be helpful and co-operative through out period I worked with them. Finally I am also thankful and grateful to all others with whom I happened to have intimacy. But none of these is responsible for errors that still remain. (PARVEZ NAZIR) CHAPTER I TAHZIB-UL-AKHLAQ During his stay in England, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan came in close contact with the newspapers namely 'Tatler' and 'Spectator' which were accredited to have revolutionized the entire socio-political structure of that country, through creating awareness among the people and infusing a new life in the English people. 'Tatler' edited by Sir Richard Steel, first appeared in 12th April 1709. In this task he was accompanied by Joseph Eddison. Later on Richard Steel was forced to stop its publication without any prior notice, this act annoyed Joseph Eddison, who decided to publish another newspaper by the name of 'Spectator' , its first issue was published on 1st March 1711, Regarding the objective of its publication Eddison wrote: "The aim of my paper is to publish a sheet full of thoughts every morning for the benefit of my contemporaries and to contributed to the diversion and improvement of the country in which I live". Undoubtedly these two newspapers impregnated the cultural life of people and created mannerism. "The major aim of the writer was to attack bad manners and bad taste, ignorance and immorality". These newspapers made an earnest effort to do away conservatism from the masses and to create an enlightened atmosphere to develop scientific temper, apart from this these papers served as a vehicle to create a sense of Liberty. During the 18th century, women in England were discarded to get education, these papers strongly advocated for women education of which they were deprived, and criticised all other social evils. During the 18th century in England, though there were a large number of newspapers in circulation but 'Tatler' and 'Spectator' achieved highest of the popularity due to the services of the people they rendered. :Sir Syed Ahmad was very much impressed by these two papers and decided to bring out a newspaper on the same model in his country, with an ambition to imbibe among the people a lesson of progress . Regarding his plan to publish a paper, he wrote a letter to his life companion Mohsin -u1 -Mu1k on 27th May 1870. On his return to India in October 1870, he started a paper, came to be known as Tahzib-ul -Akhlaq. In its first issue the aims and object of the journal were set out 3 in detail -- aims which very closely rejected what Sir Syed had been thinking and saying during his stay in England. The introductory manifesto reads: "The aim in publishing this magazine is persuade the Muslims of India to adopt a perfect kind of civilization no as to remove the attempt with which they are looked upon by the civilized nations and so that they also may be regarded as one of the respected and civilized people of the world. It is true that the religion of a nation participate in making it civilized. There are certain religions which are regarded as a hindrance to civilization. We have to see whether the religion of Islam is one of these Refinement in religion can be whence have come those customs and habits which are a hindrance to the civilization and they have been introduced and assimilated among us, and if we then give up those of them which are defective, had and hindrance to civilization and if we reform those which are reformable and keep comparing them with our religious principles to see whether omission or reform is in conformity with the injunctions of the Sharia (religious law) . In this Way we and our religion may escape the contempt of other nation". Alike 'Tatler' and 'Spectator' Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq too had to face a great challenge from co-religionist. The orthodox section of the Muslims asked people not to go through the paper which would misled and deviate them from true path. One basic difference between Tahzib-ul-Akhlaq and these English papers was of religious discussion. 'Tatler' and 'Spectator' had nothing to do with any religious affair. But Sir Syed Ahmad Khan purposely took up the religious issue because he wanted people to discord religious fanaticism and other religious practices observed in the name of religion, which hardly had any religious sanct ion. Earlier Sir Syed Ahmad Khan used to write in 'Syed-ul-Akhbar', a paper edited by his brother Syed Mohammad but in 1864, he started a paper named sAkhbar Scientific Society' from Ghazipur.