A book with both content and candor

The book ‘A great benefactor of sub-continent Muslims: Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’ thoughtfully and forthrightly written by Jamil Yousaf is by far the best on the subject. It presents an in-depth account of one of the architects of Muslims’ destiny in the sub-continent.

Drawing upon an extensive range of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s writings, speeches, and addresses, the writer offers a penetrating study that would stay as a guide to everyone interested in Sir Syed Ahmad Khan.

Many are not cognizant of quite a lot of fascinating aspects of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s personality. The book explores the life and amazing works of Sir Syed on the colonial law and administration, the concept of blasphemy, conversion, education, religious beliefs, freedom of the press, the emancipation of women, Hindu-Muslim unity, and Urdu-Hindi controversy in the wider setting of socio-political discussions.

This book adds to the discussion on Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, the nineteenth-century reformer of Muslims. It acknowledges and confirms his tale of contributions to education that improved the Muslims’ situation in colonial India and motivated Muslims, an exceptional feat accomplished by a single person who struggled against all odds.

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan saw the benefits of modern education in getting fruitful employment. Against the backdrop of establishing colleges for modern education by different communities, the Muslims lagged behind, with all its resultant consequences.

This perception of educational backwardness, because of the tough dealing meted out to Muslims by the British administration following the events of 1857, pushed Sir Syed Ahmad Khan to put emphasis on modern education. A primary step was the formation in 1866 of a Scientific Society to make accessible to his audience translations of some writings on modern science.

After his visit to England in 1869, he started publishing a journal, Tehzib-ul-Akhlaq, to encourage Muslims to come out of the old-fashioned rut and absorb new education. After that in 1877, MAO College materialised, which became Aligarh Muslim University in 1920.

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan underscored the critical importance of higher education and stated that as long as the Muslim community does not produce such people, they will remain inferior to others.

He had a serious perception that the Muslims were out of step with the times politically compared to Hindus and suffering economically due to lack of necessary qualifications for the job market. The underlying cause was an approach to tradition and religious dogma and the need, in his view, to separate out the essential from the non-essential to empower the community to cultivate a positive view on modernity.

The Jamil Yousaf puts his finger on the pulse of those times in invigorating the image of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as a superstar who tried to arouse genuine awareness rather than propagating dictatorial prescriptions.