Reform movements also started among the Muslims of India in the 19th century. Muslim society was divided into two major classes - first, the upper elite consisting of the emperors, the amirs and their family members and second, the common people consisting of soldiers, workers, servants and small work Muslims. There were also those Muslims in the second class who were originally Hindus and had become Muslims due to many reasons.
Even after the conversion, there was no significant change in their social status. The upper Muslim elite had lost political dominance in the 18th and 19th centuries but was rapidly falling behind due to lack of accustomed to manual work. After the failure of the military revolution of 1857 AD, the prestige of this class also ended, because the British held the upper class Muslims responsible for this rebellion.
The main objective of the Muslim social reform movement was to acquaint the rich-Muslim class with the changed conditions and to draw attention to Western education. The social and religious life of Muslims was based on the Quran. Therefore, in order to make changes in the ancient social and religious way of life, it was necessary that the Quran should be interpreted contemporary and it should be told that the prevailing social and religious system is not in accordance with the Quran or Hadith.
Wahhabi Movement
The first process of reform of Muslims started in the form of Wahabi movement or Waliullah movement. Shah Waliullah (AD 1703-63) was the first leader of the Muslims who spoke of a liberal interpretation of Islam and to remove the evils prevalent in the Muslim society. Waliullah started a reform movement to end the discrimination prevailing in the Muslim community.
Waliullah's son Shah Abdul Aziz, his nephew Mohammad Ismail and his disciple Ahmed Ballavi popularized Waliullah's ideas as well as gave it a political colour. Under the leadership of Syed Ahmed Barelvi, the Wahhabi movement took a completely political form. He said that Islam could flourish only under favorable political and social conditions.
He declared that India was a Dar-ul-Harb (country of infidels) and to make it Dar-ul-Islam (country of Muslims) it was necessary to overthrow all non-Islamic rulers. Initially this campaign was against the Sikhs in Punjab, but after the annexation of Punjab by the British in AD 1849, this movement opened the jihad against the British.
This movement continued till AD 1870 in many parts of the Frontier Territories, Punjab and Bengal, but it was crushed by the British Government with the help of military force.
Aligarh Movement
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (AD 1817-98) instilled in the Muslims the feeling of becoming self-reliant, helping themselves and becoming modern by taking English education. The Aligarh movement led by him remained the focal point of his field of work. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was born in AD 1817 in Delhi.
At the age of 20, he went to government service. During the military rebellion of AD 1857, he did special service to the British, due to which he gained the goodwill of the British. He used this goodwill in the interest of Indian Muslims. Till that time Indian Muslims had kept themselves away from English education and civilization.
His relations with the British were also not good and this was the main reason for his decline. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan made two main objectives of his life-
(1.) To fix the relations between the British and the Muslims.
(2.) To spread modern education among Muslims.
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan explained to the Muslims that their interests could be served by being loyal to the government. He explained to the British that the Muslims were not against his rule, with a little sympathy shown by the British, they would become loyal to the government. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan established the English school at Ghazipur in AD 1864.
A year later, Vigyan Samaj was established to translate English books into Urdu. After his visit to London in AD 1869, he started a movement to improve the social condition of Muslims. In December 1870, he started publishing a magazine called Tehzeeb-ul-Akhlaq and informed the Muslims about the changing circumstances. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan did not consider the ancient social values and ways of living of the Muslims as appropriate to the times.
For a new interpretation of the Quran, he started writing Tafsil-ul-Quran which could not be completed. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan told the purpose of his newspaper Tehzeeb-ul-Alkhaq to civilize the Muslims. He said that Muslim society cannot become civilized until it abandons the old traditions and adopts new traditions.
He believed that every tradition should be adopted according to the time and circumstances because in changing circumstances the traditions also prove to be useless. He severely criticized the works of performing Hajj, distributing Zakat, building a mosque, etc. and advised the Muslims to adopt Western civilization and method.
The main objective of the Aligarh movement was to popularize Western education among the Muslims, while the Muslims considered Arabic, Persian and religious education necessary and did not consider it good to study English. Some mullahs and clerics also considered Arabic, Persian and religious education necessary. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan attributed the distaste of the Muslims to the defects of the English education system.
In AD 1882, he testified before the Hunter Commission and said- 'Muslims do not want to go to such educational institutions, where people of other sects also study, because Muslims consider them inferior to them. .' Muslims believed that getting Western education increased unrighteousness and that studying English was tantamount to accepting Christianity.
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan established the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College in Aligarh in AD 1875, which initially was a primary school. The college was duly inaugurated by Lord Lytton in January 1877 and the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, William Muir, provided the land for this college. In this way, from the very beginning, this institution was favored by the British.
This college later became Aligarh University. In this, the Muslims of modern ideology received education and it became the center of the Aligarh movement. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan established the Mohammedan Educational Conference and joined many such Muslims who were eager to bring Muslims in contact with Western civilization.
Aligarh Mohammedan College became an educational institution for Muslims as well as a center for improving social and political conditions. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan believed that the students who came out after studying here would bring change in the society. In this college more emphasis was given on the all round development of the student.
Debate competition, sports, compulsory hostel accommodation and socializing with English teachers and officials were all part of college education. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan laid more emphasis on English education, as it was necessary to get a government job.
He believed that the prestige of a person in a community can be judged on the basis of his position in the state service. He laid more emphasis on higher education than elementary education. The students of Aligarh Mohammedan College used to work more for the interests of the Muslim community.
The main work of social reform among Muslims in the 19th century was confined to English education of men. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan considered education unnecessary and purdah system mandatory for Muslim women. He considered polygamy to be justified. He was in favor of making women efficient mothers and housewives and not working women. Therefore, the Aligarh movement was not in favor of changing the traditional education and way of life for women.
On the one hand, the Aligarh movement was successful in bringing a new attitude towards western civilization among the Muslims, but on the other hand it gave a lot of encouragement to Muslim communalism. Inspired by Theodore Beck, the first principal of Aligarh College, an organization of Muslims was formed in AD 1893, whose goal was to keep Indian Muslims separate from politics.
After Beck, when Morrison became the principal of the college, he started organizing Muslims to oppose the National Congress. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan himself also became a staunch opponent of the Congress. On most of the occasions he expressed views full of communal fanaticism.
The Muslim League was founded in AD 1906 by the inspiration of the Principal Archibald of Aligarh College and the Minister of Aligarh College, Nawab Moshi-ul-Mulk. The Aligarh movement was opposed to Indian nationalism and politics. There were several reasons for this protest-
(1.) Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and his Aligarh movement were dependent on the sympathy of the British from the beginning. Therefore it was necessary that they should support British diplomacy against progressive and national Hindus.
(2.) Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was highly influenced by Western civilization, so he was a great supporter of the British.
(3.) Sir Syed Ahmed Khan feared that the minority Muslims would not be able to compete with the majority Hindus. Therefore supporting the British and relying on their help was necessary for the interests of the Muslims.
According to the ideas expressed by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, there were mainly four bases of the Aligarh Movement-
(1.) Hindus and Muslims are two different political units with vast differences in interests and perspectives.
(2.) By establishing representative assemblies in India on the basis of democracy and conducting civil services examination in India, it will not be possible to protect the interests of the Muslims, because this will put the minority Muslims under the majority Hindu authority, which will be under the British rule. Worse than that.
(3.) Muslims should consider their interests safe within the British Empire. Therefore, Muslims should not participate in any political movement against the British.
(4.) The interests of Muslims are safe in the hands of the British, so they should stay away from politics and develop their own culture. By staying away from politics, they will be able to weaken the political movement of Hindus.
Thus the Aligarh movement proved helpful in increasing Muslim communalism. It was always in opposition to the Indian national movement. He had a great contribution in the formation of Pakistan, but this movement succeeded in connecting many Muslim youths with English education.
Deoband Movement
In AD 1867, a group of Ulama led by Maulana Muhammad Qasim established a madrasa in Deoband town of Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. The main objective of this movement was to spread the pure teachings of Quran and Hadith. The Aligarh movement supported Western education and the British government, while the Deoband movement propagated Islam in a traditional style.
This movement fiercely opposed the British government. While Sir Syed Ahmed Khan opposed the Congress and advised Muslims to stay away from politics, the Deoband branch welcomed the Congress and called upon the Muslims to participate in the general political movement.
Abul Kalam Azad was associated with Deoband, he participated prominently in the national movement. Deoband movement supported the non-cooperation movement started by Gandhiji.