Syed Ahmed Khan Biography 
Syed Ahmed Khan was an Indian Muslim educator and politician. He was popular called as Sir Syed. He worked to impart modern education to the Muslims in India. He founded the Muhammedan Anglo – Oriental College in 1875 to promote the social and economic conditions of Muslim community in India. This college was later changed into the Aligarh Muslim University.
He was born on 17th October 1817 in Delhi in a wealthy family. He learned to read and understand Quran. He also studied Persian, Urdu and Arabic and other subjects like mathematics, astronomy and the works of scholars like Sahbai, Rumi and Ghalib. He pursued his education in medicine but he could not finish it till the end. He was titled as Arif Jung by the emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar.
He became a member of the Legislative Council of Viceroy in 1878. He arranged for the All India Muhammadan Educational Conference at Aligarh in 1886. He wanted to integrate the Muslim community and impart modern education to them. To encourage the entry of the Muslims into the Indian Civil Service he started the Muhammadan Civil Service Fund Association in 1883.
He was a versatile writer and has written many books on various subjects. Most of his works are in Urdu. He finished writing Jila Ul Qulub bi Zikr il Mahbub and Tuhfa i Hasan in 1842 and Tahsil fi jar i Saqil in 1844. His works in 1852 are Namiqa dar bayan masala tasawwur i Sahikh and Silsilat ul Mulk. He wrote a series of essays on the life of Muhammad and many other books like Loyal Muhammadans of India and Tabyin ul Kalam.
He did not have full faith in Indian Independence Movement and Indian National Congress. He got the award of Order of the Star in India on 6th August 1869 from the British Government. He was made as the member of the Civil Service Commission by Lord Dufferin in 1887 and was knighted in 1888. He received honorary LL. D from Edinburg University. He died on 27th March 1898 in Aligarh in British India.
Published: N/A
Updated: June 04, 2012
