‘Introducing a new approach to education was the main contribution of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan to

improving the lives of Muslim people during the nineteenth century.’ How far do you agree with this
statement? Explain your answer.

Sir syed contributed a lot for improving the lives of muslims during the 19 th century through his political
education religious and social contributions.

Firstly sir syed worked a lot to improve the literacy rates of muslims. He was immensely dedicated and
established a lot of schools and insitutions in the sub contienent. He introduced western education in
the sub contienent as he thought it was nesscary for improving their lives that they get western
education. Thus he established the anglo oriental college in the 1875, in this college western education
was combined with religious education and it was very crucial and important for muslims as this college
later turned into a university and even taught future leaders of pakistan like ayub khan and liaquat ali
khan showing its immense important and contribution. This college provided them with the nesscary
education to improve their lifestyle and get good jobs.

Sir syed even politically contirbuted as he encouraged muslims to leave the congress as he predicted
way before that it would be a indu majority party. infact he encouraged muslims to advocate for their
own rights and in his established conference the making of muslim league was announced in 1906 He
was the one who introduced the 2 nation theory in which he suggested the making of a seprate nation
and no one before him had this bold idea and spoke up for it.

With this he also established some more schools like gulshan school In muradabad for basic education
and Victoria school in ghazi pur for western education. In ghazi pur he also established the scientific
society which translated scientific research into urdu so that muslims could also get advanced In this
field. He set up a Aligarh insutite gazettee which had information on advanced math sans sciences. A
committee was set up in 1870 for the checking and ensuring of progress of education. Then in 1875 a
conference was started by him in which they worked towards convincing muslims for western education
and thos conference turned into a movement which resulted in the making of muslim league in 1906.

His social contributed are not to be forgetting as he played a major role in the improvement of the
relations between british and muslims. He worte several articles like loyal mohammadans in which he he
mentioned the times were muslims showed loyalty to british and he highlighated that they looked up to
british and not all the mulims were against them. He also worte causes of indian revolt in which he
reduced the blame placed upon muslims and explained that muslims were the only reason the war of
independence started and thus eased the tension between the 2 parties. He wrote tabin ul kalam and
ahkam e taam e alh e kitab which were 2 articles pointing of similiaraties between Christianity and islam.
Clarification of the word nadarth which was acutlaly a praise but was misunderstood by the british, the
word meant nasir benefactor which also improved the relations. The zeeb ul ikhlaq was a article in which
he highlighted the view of those muslims who wanted to contribute with the british but within the
boundaries of Islamic values.

In my opnion his religious reforms weren’t to be forgetted as when he went England he saw a book on
the holy prophet which consisted of some errors and thus he corrected those errors which was a great
religious contirbutions. The article tabiyin ul kalam which was a comnetary on bible and ahkam e taam e
ahl e kitab which was food laws and similairties between the food laws of chistinaity and islam. Lastly he
wrote tehzeeb ul ikhlaq which was article consisting of series of articles. However, I still think his political
contributions were the most important in the lives of muslims as he was the one who suggested the 2
nation theory and is also known as the idealogy of the pakistan movement and this was the thing that
impacted the mulims lives the most positively.

Why did sir syed start his Aligarh movement

Sir syed started his Aligarh movement as he believed and planned to empower muslims through
providing them with education. he saw the low literacy rates and the poor conditions in which muslims
were living and decided that education would be the best solution for them as they would be able to
improve their economic condition by getting better jobs opporuntiies. He was also inspired by the
education in England

Secondly it was because he believed that it would improve the relations with the british. after the war of
independence the muslims were blamed for the war and they were treated really badly. Through
improving muslims education sir syed aimed to get them to have a better understanding with the british
as they would be qualified to work alongside them and thus develop an understanding between them.

Lastly, after the war of independence while the muslims were blamed and held accountable the hindus
weren’t and they took advantage of that and improved their situation economically and educational
wise and they were also progressing In getting a better understanding with the british. thus to counter
their growing influcne sir syed wanted to improve the socioeconomic status of muslims and being the on
par with the hindus.

The work of shah walliullah was the most important for the revival of islam. Discuss?

there were many reformers that attempted to revive islam in the sub cintient like shah walliullah syed
ahmend barveli and haji shariatullah. All of these were really important figures who worked really hard
and contributed immensely.

Firstly shah walliullah contributed to the reivial of islam as he worked and promoted it in several ways.
When he came back Mughals were already in decline and the islam was very weak. Thus he actively
worked to improve the situation and bring back islam. Thus he taught students and then he used to
dispatch them and give them instructions to encourage people to practice islam more regularly. He also
translated quran in Persian which was a great achievement as many people would now understand the
actual teachings. Later his sons also translated it in urdu. He wrote 51 books on the topic of islam
educating people about it.

He also wrote to ahmed shah badali at the time when the marathas were getting very powerful so he
asked him to assist the Mughals in defeating them thus in the 3rd battle of panipat the marathas were
defeated with the help of ahmed shah abdali. He was one of the first people to voice the fact that the
decline of Mughal empire was due to ignorance of islam. He established madrasa rehmaniya in which
students were taught islam and its teaching and importance it played a vital role in the promotion and
revival of islam. Lastly shah walliullah worked towards the finishing of sectarian differences as he
thought that it would and was weakening islam and the muslim ummah further.

Then comes syed ahmed barevli and he worked towards the revival of islam through the method of
jihad. He fought for the freedom of the people living in Punjab as they were oppressed by the tyrant
ruler ranjit singh. He worked for their political economical and social freedom as the muslims there were
living miserable lives and were not allowed to freely practice their religion nor pray properly. The non
muslims there would make the masjids as stables for horses and noisy acitivites would be done at the
time of prayer and ranjit singh didn’t do anything to stop all this

Thus first with all respect syed ahmed wrote ranjit singh a letter and asked then to leave when ranjit
singh didn’t leave syed ahmed realized that it was inevitable to use violence to drive him out. Thus for
the first time the concept of jihad was introduced and syed ahmed gathered an army of 80 000 with
support of shah abdul aziz and defeated the sikh forces at hazro akora in 1826. He also capured
neighboring areas like Peshawar. Sadly in 1831 he was killed in the battle of balakot due to several
reasons. He work and struggle to revive was marvelour and inspiring, many future reformers were
insipired by him

To conclude, haji shriatullah and his farizi movement was also of great importance. He started his farizi
movement in order to revive islam and he wanted the people to perform their faraiz. he awakened the
muslims of Bengal by intiating his movement. He started it in the most depressed section of muslim
society and farmers and he gave the dejected and oppressed farmer hope through his movement. He
encouraged the people to discard unislamic activities and observe the priciples of faith and rules of
shraiah and refrain from hindu pratices. But I still think shah walluullah was the most important and
contributed the most because he also wrote an account on all the 4 caliphs and he insipired many future
leaders.

How were regional languages promoted?

Radio television pakistan started to broadcast in balochi. Famous writies like azad jamal din wrote many
books in balochi. Famous poets like atta shad wrote beautiful poetry on it. Balochi literacy borad was set
up which published many articles in balochi. Quetta university offered a masters degree in balochi.
Lastly bible was also translated in balochi language

The sindhi language was also promoted by the government through several techiniques like a
establishment of a sindhilogy department . a Sindh literacy board was set up to promote it. Sachal
sarmast and shah abdul latif battali wrote poetry upon spread of islam humanity and peace. Sarmast
academy was set up in his memory. Newspapers like ibrat were published. Bazm ma tul maula was set
up to promote its literature and famoue poets like qazi qazan also wrote poetry

Punjabi Is spoken by most of the popularity of pakistanis. It was promoted through poetry which was
famous for its new mediuns and gazals. Famous peots like bullay shah wrote beautiful poetires in
Punjabi. Punjabi film industry is extremely fanmous nad had contributed immensely to the popularity of
Punjabi language. Punjabi theatre is also famous

Then comes Pashto language and it was also taught upto ma level. Pashto films and songs were famous.
Peots like Rehman baba promoted this language through beautiful poetry. Islamia college was set up
after the efforts of shazada abdul qayum. Pashto dictionary was also published.

In my opinion, Punjabi language was the most famous as quran was translated into Punjabi. Moreover
Punjab university offered a ma level degree in Punjabi. However Punjabi didn’t even need much
promotion as it was already very famous thus it is the most successfully promoted.
Why was urdu chosen as national language?

Urdu was chosen as national language because Muhammad ali Jinnah thought that it would act as an
unting force among the pakistanis as a common language would avoid conflicts and promote unity and
peace.

Secondly it was chosen due to its rich history urdu was a mixture of many languages like the Arabic
Persian and Turkish. It was also similar to the Arabic script and thus connected to islam. In fact it became
quite popular in the western past of india which is now pakistan thus it was important to continue its
legacy because it also replaced the Persian language.

Lastly, it was due to its importance to the pakistan movement. When the political leaders were
struggling for a new nation urdu also played a vital role. The 2 nation theory by sir syed and all of his
other publication relating the idea of a new nation were in urdu moreover alma Iqbal another prominent
leader also wrote poetry and his alllahbad address in urdu thus showing the importance of urdu and its
role in the pakistan movement and it couldn’t be ignored.

Why were the regional languages promoted?

the regional languages have been promoted since the 1947 so that the culture of these languagesand
background would be preserved like the writings of shahs abdul latif battali. Therefore these languages
background must be preserved so that it could be passed on to the future generations

secondly it is done because some languages are very less known and throught their promotions its aim
was to keep these languages and its culture intact. The government relazied its importance and for
example balochi was developed through balochi literacy board as it would go extcint if they didn’t

lastly, it was done to ensure political and social peace. Through the promotion of regional languages the
people were kept satisfied and conflict was avoided. It ensured political stability and restricted political
differences.

Why did syed ahmed barelvi start his jihad movement?

Syed ahmed started his jihad movement as he belived that through armed struggle he could improve
the lives of muslims. During that time the Mughal rule was in decline and the eic were taking over.
Muslims were losing their importance and value in the sub contienent. British wer taking over muslim
areas and muslims were being oppressed thus to achieve freedom he declared jihad movement.

Being a man of action he belvied he could restore muslim rule in some areas. He belived that there was
a need to eliminate all the corrupt non muslim forces that were causing the muslims to be away from
islam. Thus for the revival of islam and stop the growing influcne of non muslims he declared this
movement

Lastly, it was due to the bad conditions the muslims were living in. due to the tryant ruler ranjit singh the
people In Punjab and nwfp were living oppressed lives and they weren’t able to freely practice their
religion. Masjids were made stables and during the time of prayer nosiy activities were dilberately
oeganized to disturbe muslims. Thus for the freedom of these people jihad movement was launched.