A mother, no doubt, is the peerless exhibition of the Almighty’s mercy and kindness Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was born in Delhi on 17 October 1817, and died at Aligarh on 27 March 1898. His ancestor has migrated from Herat, Afghanistan, in the reign of the Mughal Emperor Jehangir, and settled in the capital, Delhi. He was welcomed warmly at the court and given appropriate employment, and was thus given not only shelter, but wealth, status, property and titles. Sir Syed’s grandfather was made a ‘Mansab Qazi’ and was given the title ‘Mir Imdad Ali Khan’ by the Emperor Alamgir II. In this way, Sir Syed’s family name became Khan. Before that no one used the name Khan in their family. Sir Syed’s father Mir Muhammad Muttaqi became the personal adviser of the Mughal Emperor Akbar II, and had been very close to him since the latter’s childhood as a prince Sir Syed was awarded the title ‘Asif Jang’ by the last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar Sir Syed’s maternal grandfather, Khwaj Fareeduddin, was appointed Wazir (minister to the Emperor) and given a set at court. The Mughal Empire was undergoing a decline, and Sir Syed left it alone and joined hands with the British, who were the implacable enemies of the Mughals, the Muslims and the whole empire of India.
He even saved the lives of British Europeans during the 1857 War of Independence. Sir Syed was rewarded a lot by hsd new masters, the British. One would have expected him to be on the side of his and his family’s benefactors, the Mughals, and that of his co-religionists, the Muslims, but he remained loyal to the British, the East India Company and the British Crown. For saving the lives of the British, he was rewarded by the British government and the British Crown.
The awards he received included:
-appointment by the Viceroy as Fellow of Calcutta University in 1876
-appointment by the Viceroy as Fellow of Allahabad University, also in 1876
-Award of the title of Khan Bahadur
-Award of a knighthood vin 1968, as Knight Commander of the Order of the Str of India, for his loyalty to the British Crown, through his membership of the Imperial Legislative Council
-Award of an honorary PhD by the University of Edinburgh in 1889.
Despite his mother’s great wish and efforts, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan did not reach the highest degree in worldly education. He took up a clerical post with the East India Company in 1838, ans ended his education. He stopped getting an education as he embarked on his career with the British with unstinted loyalty.
Sir Syed’s mother, Azeezun-Nisaa Begum, was a religious-minded housewife. Her education was traditional, being gotten at home, and comprising recitation of the Holy Quran. Words, and sentences to recite were part of her daily routine. She gave her spiritual allegiance (ba’ait) to Hazrat Ghulam Ali, a religious personality of those times. She strongly condemned the worship except of the Almighty. She fervently believed in Tauheed (His Oneness). Sir Syed himself quoted a saying of hers with great pride: ‘Har baat ke liye sirf khuda se dua ki. Jaawe phir woh jo chahe karega’ (I have prayed to the Almighty for everything. Then whatever happens is as He wills.)
Azeezin-Nisaa Begum was a woman of principles. Once Sir Syed, who was then in his 11th year, bet n old family servant. When Sir Syed’s mother learnt of this, she became very angry with him, to the extent that she put him out of the house. He stayed at his maternal aunt’s house, which was nearby.
After three days his aunt took him back home, Azeezun Nisaa Begum said angrily that only if the sera vnt forgave him would she let him back. Ultimately, Sir Syed had to apologize to the servant, and only then did his mother pardon him. In later life, Sir Syed said that the incident had great deal of influence on him.
Azeezun Nisa Begum not only brought up her son, but also provided him his early education at home. For Quranic education, she provided him a female tutor, even though it was against the tradition of the times. Syed Ziaur Rehman wrote about the thought and efforts made by Azeezun Nisaa Begum for her son, to get him educated in both ways, traditional as well as modern:
“Their mother, Aziz-un-Nisa, played a formative role in Sir Syed’s early life, raising him with rigid discipline with a strong emphasis on modern education.”
Despite his mother’s great wish and efforts, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan did not reach the highest degree in worldly education. He took up a clerical post with the East India Company in 1838, and ended his education. He stopped getting an education as he embarked on his career with the British with unstinted loyalty.
His mother had wished he would get the highest qualification and degree, but this was never fulfilled, Instead he was more interested in serving the British, the Est India Company and the Crown. This he did, in opposition to the Mughals, the Muslims and the Indian freedom fighters.
