In an era where Islam is perceived as the wayward manifestation of a pre-modern religiosity and people look for a nuanced and textured countervailing narrative of Islamophobia, one has to run across the writings of a widely-known but hardly read public intellectual of 19th century India – Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, who is hardly known beyond the founder of Aligarh Muslim University. This is what the book "Sir Syed Ahmad Khan: Muslim Renaissance Man" of India that appeared recently excellently articulates.
To mark the bicentenary celebrations of Sir Syed, widely-acclaimed academician and prolific author A.R. Kidwai, produced an astutely edited work that illumines every aspect of dazzling oeuvre of Sir Syed. The contributors of commemorative volume drawn from different parts of the world offer a nuanced appraisal of Sir Syed’s seminal and amazing contribution to various domains of enlightenment, the Quranic exegesis, the biography of the Prophet, social and educational reforms, history, political thoughts, archaeology, inter-faith dialogue, journalism and Urdu language and literature.
The book carrying 19 articles penned by well-known academicians including David Lelyveld, Barbara D.Metcalf, Christian W. Troll, Hafeez Malik, Gordon Campbell, Geoffrey Nash, Charles M Ramsey, Robert Ivermee, Shan Mohammad, Asim Ali, Iftikhar Malik, Amineh Hoti and Mazhar Hussain zero in on Sir Syed’s endeavours that mobilise us in the cause of mutual trust, coexistence, peace, justice and equality in a time when the storm of suspicion, bigotry and pseudo-religiosity threatens us to sweep off our feet.
In his brilliantly written introduction Farhan Nizami concludes that Sir Syed believed that Muslims should discuss freely the local customs and ceremonies inherited from their near past, and study them objectively. They should approach their history as a reservoir of human experience from which to learn. He is quite right in pointing out that Sir Syed sees Muslims as part of the cultural mainstream of the nation and the world, not a side channel, nor a private lake nor a back water.
Describing Sir Syed as towering figure of Islamic modernist thought, Barbara Metcalf in her poignantly written article "Language, Friendship and Respect: Two Families in Colonial India", argues Sir Syed embraced Macaulay’s programme heart and soul by fostering the language and culture of English but he hardly stitched up a respectful egalitarian relationship that he thought of. She proffered a perceptive discussion on social dynamics of relationship with the British that families of Sir Syed and Begum Bhopal tried to foster. It left both the families disillusioned.
For David Lelyveld, Sir Syed was the person who believed that there was no honour in being the unworthy heirs of a glorious past and that is why in later part of his life Sir Syed did not talk about in terms of genealogies but rather refer to social category identified as the Muslims of India but he was never dismissive about the past. David is not off the mark in asserting that the design of the Aligarh College buildings, which Sir Syed so meticulously oversaw, expressed continuities with the Mughal past along with a conscious effort to integrate that past to styles associated with the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge.
Spelling out the contours of paradigm for social and cultural change set in motion by Sir Syed, eminent thinker Hafeez Malik says on religious front Sir Syed vehemently argued for reformation of rituals, discontinuance of traditional dogmas, and codification of definitive beliefs and for him education symbolises harmonisation of religious and secular training. Sir Syed’s reported obtuse refusal to female education is highlighted by several authors but Hafeez Malik quite rightly does not buy it. Sir Syed espoused an alternative model – may be a bit retrogressive – home based tutor education but it cannot be reckoned as aversion to women’s education.
Gordon Campbell visited AMU before jotting down in his well-documented article, "The Inheritance of Sir Syed: A view from the West". Having visited Aligarh Muslim University which hits the headlines for the wrong reasons Campbell makes some pertinent observation about the university which generally elude us. "Finally, I have to admire the primacy of values particularly at the university. In Aligarh, the creation and dissemination of knowledge, including practical knowledge is grounded on agreed values. The vision of the vice chancellor Zameer Uddin Shah, for this university, for example, speaks of honour, of tehzeeb, of the quality of dedication, of discipline of cohesion of integrity."
In a time where there is no dearth of wiling hand to bear arms, one needs to be encouraged for living the dream of peace and tranquility and this book focusing on Sir Syed is sculpted to capture that cherished desire.
