I realized that I should not desert my post...

I realized that I should not desert my post, but stand by my people in their ordeal and sink or swim with them....”[^1] Sayyid Ahmad viewed the Mutiny as an outcome of racial misunderstand­ing and administrative blunders. After the outbreak had been quelled, he threw himself heart and soul into the task of bringing about a better under­standing between the British and the Indians, and between the British and the Muslims.

His thought-provoking book on the causes of the revolt and his com­mentary on the Bible belong to this period. He anticipated his educational work by setting up two schools in the cities of Muradabad and Ghazipur. In 1281/1864, he founded the Scientific Society, almost the first learned body in Northern India.

The periodical of this association, The Aligarh Institute Gazette , was noted for its sober tone, objective reporting, and scrupulous avoidance of cheap journalistic tricks, qualities rare in early Indian journal­ism. Three years later, Sayyid Ahmad found himself involved in an unedifying wrangle with the protagonists of Hindi who were determined to do away with Urdu as the language of the law-courts in Upper India.

This together with his visit to England in 1286-87/1869-70 gave a fresh orientation to his ideas and a new direction to his efforts and he dedicated himself to the social and intellectual regeneration of the Indian Muslims. On his return to India Sayyid Ahmad brought out his magazine, the Tahdhib al-Akhlaq , with the sub-title Mohammedan Social Reformer . This bright periodical had a chequerred career and ultimately its publication ceased in 1311/1893.

Sayyid Abmad himself was its principal contributor. The essays that he wrote for it are universally acknowledged among the classics of Urdu literature. They examined the foundations of Muslim society and subjected Muslim institutions to a powerful searchlight. Whereas Bentham inquired into the utilitarian bases of institutions, Sayyid Ahmad applied to them the test of reason and religious sanction.

The Tahdhib gathered round itself a select and highly discriminating readership that shared Sayyid Ahmad’s zeal for reform. It countered on the one hand the forces of scepticism and irreligion unleashed by Western influences, and on the other beat down the firmly entrenched opposition to Western education.