ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Madrasahs in Pakistan [untill: 2005] 2- Madrasahs In Pakistan Madrasahs and the Pakistan Movement The Aligarh Movement, which had been basically an educational movement, gradually became a political movement when Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, its founder, initiated the demand for reservation of seats for the Muslim community in elected bodies and the representation of Muslims through a separate electorate.

Not satisfied with the performance of the Indian National Congress as representative of all communities of India, the supporters of the Aligarh Movement set up their own political organization, the Muslim League, with the explicit objective of protecting the rights of the Muslim community.

Earlier the stand taken by Sir Syed for the defense of Urdu (when extremist Hindus tried to replace it by Hindi as official language in 1867) had determined a different course to be chosen from that of the Congress for the protection of the rights of the Muslims of the Subcontinent.[^66] He had become uneasy at the Congress plan for “democratizing” India. He felt this would leave Muslims at the mercy of the numerically superior Hindus. A.

Hamid quotes him in the Aligarh Movement in the following words: Ours is a vast country inhibited by diverse folks deeply divided by racial and religious antagonisms. They lack homogeneity. Different sections of the population stand at varying levels of cultural development. So long as religion and caste are the chief props of the Indian social system, electoral machinery based on the Western pattern would lead neither to equality nor to fraternity.

It would enable the more advanced sections of the population to hold their less fortunate countrymen in thralldom. Cultural difference, caste dissentions and religious wrangling would be more pronounced than ever. Inequalities would sink deeper in the society.[^67] The Deobandi ulema were content with their socio-religious role until the end of the nineteenth century. However with the beginning of the twentieth century they made explicit their political views.

The approach of the Deoband ulema to Indian politics differed fundamentally from its counterpart at Aligarh*.* They believed that geography was the ultimate determinant of nationalism in the context of India and the concept of Indian Muslim nationalism contradicted the concept of universal Muslim nationalism.