History of Muslim Press in Sub-Continent – Part Four

History of Muslim Press in Sub-Continent – Part Four

Continued from the previous part …

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was a great Muslim reformer, educationists and politician of the Sub-continent. After the revolt against the British, when the position of the Muslims in the Sub-continent was quite pathetic and Muslims were going through a social and
financial crisis, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan came to the forefront and created awareness amongst Muslims about the importance of education and a lifestyle which was closer to the British. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan made sure that the Muslims understood the importance of
the modern education and science, so that they could compete with the Hindus and could claim their rights for the job opportunities and a better lifestyle.

Sir Syed started Aligarh Movement, which had a motto of promoting education amongst the Muslims after the revolt of 1857. He fought against the Hindu conspiracies against Urdu. Risala-dar-Asbab-i-Bhagawati-i-Hind, Ahkam-i-Ta’am-i-Ahl-i-Kitab and Loyal Mohammadans
of India were some of his best works. He started various schools and colleges where English language was taught with Urdu and Persian. He founded a Scientific Society where he started the periodical which was first called Scientific Society Papers and later,
the Aligarh Institute Gazette.

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan played a significant role in reshaping the public opinion amongst the Muslims. After 1857, Sir Syed had realized that it is very hard for Muslims to survive with the Hindus but still he was in favour of the United India until the Urdu-Hindi
controversy.

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan would always be remembered in the history books as a revolutionary leader who gave a new direction to the Muslims of the Sub-continent which took them to the way of independence. Sir Syed’s role can be referred as the root of the making
of Pakistan and the separation from the Hindus.

For the purpose of creating awareness amongst the Muslim masses in India, Sir Syed used press to great effect during the late 19^th century.

Khilafat movement was an effort by the Indian Muslims to save the Ottoman Empire. It was a pan-Islamic movement between 1919 till 1924. Some of the great journalists of that time like Maulana Mohammad Ali Johar and his brother Maulana Shaukat Ali worked
very hard for this cause with lots of other important personalities. The Muslim press and newspapers also played an important role amongst the Muslims about the importance of the Khilafat Movement. Initially the movement was quite successful through strikes
and protests all over India but this movement could not gain a lot of success in the long run. However, the role of Muslim press during that time would always be remembered in history with golden words.

Although the Khilafat Movement was not a success, it united the Muslims of Sub-continent and injected a new spirit amongst them which was the real energy behind the independence movement later on.

To be continued …

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Posted by Yasir Hashmi on Dec 8 2011. Filed under Pakistan, South Asia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry