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| The Hindu Phenomenon |
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RETREAT AND RAGE |
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fierce was the opposition that Sir Sayyid had to agree not to have
anything to do with students in order to pacify his critics. Of his
two successors, it may be noted that Viqar al-Mulk was profoundly
interested in increasing the Islamic content of education and daily
life at Aligarh and Mohsin al-Mulk played a leading role in the
politics of the Muslim League.
This brings me to Aligarh's ventral role as an instrument of Muslim separatism. It produced young men deeply conscious of being Muslims and capable of operating effectively in the modern world, which the ulema, by and large, were not. While the latter could provide support to modern political movements, as they in fact did to the Kailafat movement and the Muslim League's campaign for a separate homeland, they could not promote and lead such movements. The leadership of the Khilafat movement, it may be recalled, centred on Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali, both products of Aligarh and not on Maulana Abal Kalam Azad. Aligarh students served as the League's storm troopers. It has long been accepted that the
cause of education among Muslims in the then North-West Province
would not have suffered if the Aligarh University had not been
established. Muslim presence in educational institutions in Bengal
was abysmally low. In the North-West Province, if anything, it was
in excess of the size of the Muslim population. Aligarh only gave
education a Muslim and, therefore, separatist dimension. |
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