Undoubtedly, there has been a consistent focus on the towering historical figure of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and his experiment, the Aligarh Movement, which blossomed into Aligarh Muslim University. However, since the 200th birth anniversary of Sir Syed in 2017, followed by the 100-year celebration of his experiment, Aligarh Muslim University, as a direct descendant of Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College in 2020, there has been a surge in interest in this area. This has led to the development of an amorphous body of work termed "Sir Syed Studies," which includes serious academic endeavors, such as the edited volume The Cambridge Companion to Sayyid Ahmad Khan by Yasmin Saikia and M. Raisur Rahman (2019), Shafey Kidwai's Sir Syed Ahmad Khan: Reason, Religion and Nation (2020) and the recently acclaimed Between Nation and 'Community': Muslim Universities and Indian Politics after Partition by Laurence Gautier (2024). Additionally, coffee table books featuring snapshots of the university’s history and monuments, monographs on Sir Syed's social, religious, educational, and political ideas, and hagiographical sketches on his life and mission have emerged.
This emerging field of "Sir Syed Studies" has almost assumed the potential of developing into a distinct discipline, refining methodological tools and examining the phenomenon through multiple perspectives. One such methodological tool employed here can be loosely described as historical analogy, in which two different historical phases and personalities are compared by highlighting similar attributes, either through reason, common sense, or convenience.
Sir Syed's life, in the context of a critical historical juncture, can be compared to three different phases and thinkers of the Western Philosophical Tradition. Beginning with classical ancient Greek philosophy, Sir Syed reflects a Platonic persona, especially in his conception of a unified form of knowledge. During the classical phase, knowledge was seen as a unified whole, and there were no such divisions as we have today. Plato’s Republic: Concerning Justice contains ideas on polity, statecraft, psychology, social stratification, ethics, and education. Similarly, Sir Syed’s contributions to theology, archaeology, jurisprudence, politics, and education establish parallels with the holistic conception of knowledge ingrained in classical Greek philosophy and the teachings of Plato.
Secondly, Sir Syed’s vision parallels that of the Italian philosopher Machiavelli, sharing at least two similar attributes, though they existed in entirely different historical contexts. In the periodization of Western Philosophy, Machiavelli represents a point where the medieval period was transitioning towards the modern. The Renaissance was reaching its pinnacle, dismantling the vestiges of medieval polity, economy, and philosophy. Similarly, though in a different time frame, Sir Syed witnessed and responded to the demise of the remnants of medieval India and the onset of modern polity, economy, and society under British colonial power.
Another attribute that Sir Syed shares with Machiavelli is found in their writings, particularly comparing Machiavelli’s The Prince with Sir Syed’s The Causes of the Indian Mutiny. Machiavelli wrote The Prince as advice to Lorenzo de' Medici, the new ruler who had assumed power after deposing the previous regime, in which Machiavelli had held a position of authority. With this objective in mind, The Prince became a masterpiece on statecraft. Similarly, Sir Syed wrote The Causes of the Indian Mutiny to soothe the temper of the British colonial power, whose wrath and devastation upon Indian Muslims in the aftermath of the failed 1857 revolt are well documented in historical writings. Like Machiavelli, Sir Syed provided suggestions to the new ruler on how to avoid similar revolts in the future and solidify their political power. One crucial suggestion Sir Syed made in The Causes of the Indian Mutiny was the inclusion of Indian elements in the administration of Indian affairs. This led to the formulation of the Indian Councils Acts of 1861 and 1892 during his lifetime, which made provisions for the inclusion of Indians in governance. Another suggestion involved the reorganization of the military, which resulted in the exclusion of upper-caste recruits, particularly from the Awadh region, and the creation of regiments based on multiple identities to prevent the emergence of a united all-India national consciousness among military personnel.
The Causes of the Indian Mutiny, like Machiavelli’s The Prince, played an instrumental role in winning favor with the new regime and in the reorientation of statecraft policies. In the Indian context, it was due to Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s efforts that, within two decades, the same colonial power, instead of further persecuting Muslims, extended support to his endeavor to establish a modern educational institution for Muslims in India. In 1857, the last pensioned Mughal ruler was exiled to Burma, and Muslims faced extermination on an unprecedented scale. However, within 20 years, in 1877, the British Governor-General, Lord Lytton, was inaugurating and laying the foundation stone of the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh, the precursor to present-day Aligarh Muslim University, a brainchild of Sir Syed and a product of the Aligarh Movement.
Thirdly, in a manner similar to the modern phase of Western Philosophy, Sir Syed aligns with Hegel’s conception of the "World-Historical Individual." In his Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1837) , the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel argued that world-historical individuals are those whose actions and ideas have universal significance. These individuals embody the will of the world spirit and are devoted to a single purpose, even if it means disregarding other interests. With some adjustment to the historical context, Sir Syed can easily be identified as a world-historical individual, as his vision and mission responded to the universal phenomenon of colonialism, which was part of the broader development of capitalism. As Hegel envisioned, Sir Syed was able to sense the direction of historical change and align himself accordingly. He was devoted to the single cause of uplifting the Muslim community from medieval slumber. Disregarding immediate benefits and interests, he worked tirelessly to provide—not impose—modern scientific education to Muslims in India, helping them keep pace with the times.
Mohammad Aftab Alam is Professor of Political Science at AMU, Aligarh
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