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WRITINGS AND SPEECHESOF

SIR SYED AHMAD KHAN

Compiled and edited by

SHAN MOHAMMAD

Foreword by

RAM GOPAL

NACHIKETA

NACHIKETA PUBLICATIONS LIMITED5 Kasturi Buildings, J. Tata Road,

Bombay 20

6

SIR SYED AND THE EDUCATION COMMISSION

In 1882 the Government of India appointed an EducationCommission under the Chairmanship of Sir W. W. Hunter toascertain views of responsible Indians, Sir Syed was also one ofthe witnesses who appeared before the Education Commission.The proceedings of the Education Commission commenced inthe Hall of the Aligarh Institute. Sir Syed appeared as a witness>The cross-examination is as follows:

Question: Are you acquainted with the state of private andpublic instruction in Upper India, and more especially in theNorth-Western Provinces and Oudh?Answer: Yes, I have such an acquaintance. But I am betteracquainted with the state of education in the North-WesternProvinces than with that in Oudh or the Panjab.

Question: With reference to high and primary indigenousschools, will you please describe what kind of schools they are,and how are they established?

Answer: In the North-Western Provinces and Oudh and thePanjab the high and primary indigenous schools were, and arestill, found to be of four classes as specified below:

(I) Private Schools—This class consists of those schools whichare kept by private individuals at their own houses: when aperson engages a teacher primarily for the instruction of his ownchildren, and allots a separate place for the purpose. But it notinfrequently happens that the children of his relatives and ofhis neighbours are also admitted to it, each paying a triflingfee to the teacher; and thus a small school is established. Such aschool lasts as long as the teacher, or any successor of that teacher,continues in office.

84 Writings and Speeches of Syed Ahmad Khan

(2) Self-Supporting Schools—These schools come into existencein the following manner: A teacher of some reputation, and onewho enjoys the confidence of the people, takes a house in a quarterof a city or town, fixes his residence there, and opens a schoolfor the tuition of boys. He lives entirely on the fees paid by theboys. He and the school continues as long as the income derivedfrom the fees suffice for the maintenance of the teacher.

(3) Schools of private individuals, who devote themselves inoffering gratuitous instruction to people simply for public benefit.The widespread fame of such persons generally attracts a largenumber of pupils from distant parts of the country, who fix theirresidence in the same town or city in which the teacher resides/and study the various branches of learning. I have myself seenthe number of such students (whose proficiency may be classedwith the standard of our higher College classes) rising to 30 andeven to 40 in some places.

(4) Schools established by private funds or charitable endow-ments—In this class of schools a number of teachers are enter-tained; and students are not only gratuitously taught, but someprovision is occasionally made for their maintenance also. TheArabic schools which existed in Jaunpur, Deoband, Saharanpur,and in the grand mosque at Aligarh, fall in this category, and,if J remember rightly, the Maharaja of Cashmere had, a few yearsago, projected a scheme for the establishment of a similarSanscrit school at Benares.

Question: Are the existing arrangements for their inspectionquite efficient, or do they call for improvement? What suggestionswould you make on this point?

Answer: I do not think the present system of inspection adequate.The Inspectors whose circles comprise a vast area do not, as amatter of course, find sufficient time for inspection, and have nomeans of acquiring an intimate acquaintance with the real stateof the schools under them. It is exceedingly doubtful that theywill be able to recognise the students of a certain school alreadyinspected by them, should such students be again presented be-fore them with the boys of some other school. I do not meanto say that the reports of Deputy Inspectors and sub-DeputyInspectors are not reliable, but their contents certainly require

Sir Syed and the Education Commission, 1882 85

to be examined and ascertained, for which the Inspectors haveof course rare opportunities.

I had an opportunity of inspecting many schools while I wasa member of the Educational Committee at Aligarh. I alwaysfound the registers of those schools which were situated at somedistance from the city in a wretched state, and attendance wasnever found to correspond with the number of students givenon the rolls. I have occasionally had reasons to suspect thecorrectness of the school registers. It was not unusual to entersupposed names in them. Once I set out to inspect a villageschool which used to send regular reports of its working, and itappeared that a reasonable number of students were reading in it.But on reaching the village I was surprised to find that therewas no school at all, that the place which was represented as theschool building was no other than a shed for buffaloes, and thatthe contents of the registers and reports were altogether fictitiom

Although I am naturally led to believe that an improvementhas since been introduced into the system of inspection, and thatsuch flagrant cheating have disappeared, or, at any rate, havebecome rare, yet I do not consider the present system satisfactory.I have reasons to believe that the Deputy Inspectors and sub-Deputy Inspectors are generally assiduous in making their reportsshow a greater number of students than what it really is, witha view of obtaining credit for good work. For these reasons theexisting arrangements are not satisfactory in my opinion.

Question: Are the standards of education and the courses ofstudy in vernacular schools popular? Do you consider them quitesuitable for the purposes of education?

Answer: The standard of education fixed for vernacular schoolsis, in my opinion, not popular, and is certainly not suitable. Thestandard of literature taught in those schools is hardly sufficientfor enabling a student to acquire tolerable proficiency in sub-jects which are of use to him in his after-life. The degree ofproficiency acquired in indigenous schools in this respect farsurpasses that afforded by these schools. And this fact makesthem contemptible in the eyes of the people. It is, therefore,absolutely necessary to raise the standard of literature in thoseschools. The regular study of arithmetic should, in vernacularprimary schools, be supplemented by the indigenous method of


gur which is more practical. The present standards of history invernacular middle schools,—which does not go beyond giving a listof the names of kings, the dates of their accessions and death, anda very brief and imperfect account of their reigns, which leave noimpression on the mind of the student, and which are forgottenas. soon as the boy feels he has no more to do with them—shouldbe carefully revised and replaced by a more advanced standardcalculated to develop his mind. And when the standard of lite-rature will also be improved, the students will have no difficultyin mastering the more important points of the subject in whichthey should be examined, instead of the minor ones. At presentthere exists a nice translation of Elphinstone's History of Tndia,besides a number of other histories containing the Hindu,Muhammadan and English periods, and compiled by some of theablest men of this country, such as Munshi Zakaullah,1 Professorof the Muir Central College, Allahabad. These works, or portionsof them, can with advantage be introduced into the vernacularmiddle schools, of which the present standard of educationevidently calls for improvement.

Question: Does the system of middle class vernacular examinationstand in need of an improvement? What would, in your opinion,be the best plan for the examination of primary vernacularschools?

Answer: I have no objection against the manner in which thevernacular middle class examination is at present conducted. ButI would object to the mode in which the question papers are nowset. If the papers set by various examiners were referred to acertain committee under the control and supervision of theDirector of Public Instruction in order that those papers may bereduced to a uniform standard as regards work and difficulty,it would surely further the objects of the examination. As regardsprimary schools, their examination had better be left to thosewho exercise an immediate supervision over them. I am averseto mustering the students of the various schools at a central pointfor the purposes of examination.

I am also unable to support the system of awarding scholarships

i One of the colleagues of Sir Syed. He acted as the Professor of Mathematicsat the Muir Central College, Allahabad. He tried his best to reproduce thescience and mathematics of the West in Urdu. He is also famous for his historyof India.


after the vernacular middle class examinations, for at the timewhen these scholarships are given the vernacular study is, in fact,at an end. The system of payment by results would, therefore,be more appropriate. Scholarships should be given to thosestudents only who may join the middle class after passing theprimary examination, and who may thus prove themselvesdeserving of those scholarships.

Question: Can you suggest any improvement in the present systemof tuitional fees?Answer: I have no objection to raise against the present systemof levying the tuitional fees. But I must question the proprietyof requiring the sons of zamindars and cultivators of land study-ing in vernacular schools to pay tuitional fees, when a separateeducation cess of one per cent of the Government revenue isalready levied upon all zamindars, affecting as it does in itsincidence all the classes connected with land. Although this argu-ment may not be accepted as logically true, this immunity willnevertheless tend to swell the number of such boys in vernacularschools.

Question: What steps would it, in your opinion, be most advis-able to take to give a wider extension to these schools, and torender them more efficient and popular?Answer: I do not think there is any necessity for increasing thenumber of these schools, except in special eases. Our endeavoursshould rather be confined to making the existing institutionsmore useful and popular, which can be brought about in thefollowing manner:

1st — By reforming the courses of study and raising the standardof literature.

2ndly — By appointing such persons to be teachers of the schoolas are popular and possess the confidence of the people resid-ing in that locality.

3rdly —By fixing their salaries on a standard sufficient to makethem appreciate their appointment.

4thly — By securing the co-operation of respectable men in eachpargana in the cause of education.

If the present system of Halqabandi were so re-cast that eachvillage in which a Patwari resided might be provided with a


vernacular primary school for the benefit of all the villages ofthe circle under the said Patwari, it would give a more regularappearance to the system, and would perhaps increase thenumber of the schools if so desired.

Question: With reference to English schools for primary, middle,high and collegiate education, do you consider that Englisheducation is essentially requisite for the interests of the country,and for the people in their daily affairs of life? If so, to whatstandard?

Answer: About thirty years have now elapsed since the despatchof 1854. During this period the condition of India has under-gone a considerable change. Railways have united distant pro-vinces, and have facilitated intercourse to a great extent. Tele-graphic lines have been extended all over the country, and haveprovided facilities for distant persons to talk with one anotheras if they were in the same room. These very things have in-fluenced a new life into commercial business, and have given afresh impulse to every sort of enterprise.

In 1854, when the above named despatch was written, Indiawas certainly in a condition which might justify our thinkingthat the acquisition of knowledge through the medium of thevernaculars of the country would be enough to meet our imme-diate wants. But now such is not the case. Vernacular educationis no more regarded as sufficient for our daily affairs of life. Itis only of use to us in our private and domestic affairs> and nohigher degree of proficiency than what is acquired in primaryand middle vernacular schools is requisite for that purpose; noris more wanted by the country. It is English education whichis urgently needed by the country and by the people in theirdaily life. It will be useless to realize the truth of what I havesaid by any theoretical argument when we practically find somany proofs of it every day. We see that an ordinary shop-keeper, who is neither himself acquainted with English nor hasany English knowing persons in his employment, feels it a serioushindrance in the progress of his business. Even the itinerantpedlars and boxwalas, who go from door to door selling theirarticles, keenly feel the necessity of knowing at least the Englishnamies of their commodities, and of being able to tell their pricesin English. A gentleman who visits a merchant's or a chemist's


shop to make necessary purchases, but is neither himselfacquainted with English nor is accompanied by a person knowingthat language, feels his position as one of real perplexity, Inconsequence of the facilities afforded for travelling, respectablemen are often under the necessity of sending and receivingtelegraphic messages, and their ignorance of English proves aserious hardship to them. A few months ago a respectable Nativegentleman sent his wife by railway from one station to another,telegraphing to a relation of his at the latter station to be presentat the railway station with a conveyance for the lady, who wasof course a pardahnashin. The message reached him in time,but he was unhappily not acquainted with English. He was yetin search of an English-knowing person who might explain tohim the import of the communication, when the train reachedthe station and the lady was necessarily compelled to leave thecarriage and to wait outside. The state of affairs has thereforebeen so altered during the last thirty years that a necessity forEnglish education is as much felt as that for a Vernacular one.The standard of matriculation would, in my opinion, answer thepurposes above described. In these days, the name of populareducation can> in fact, most appropriately be applied to thisvery standard of English education. It is high time that Govern-ment as well as the people should exert to their utmost in extend-ing this popular education, if I may be allowed so to call it. Itrust that the observations I have made will not be construedinto any desire on my part to suppress high education, or that Ido not attach much importance to it. I shall show shortly howessentially necessary it is for the country.

Question: What amount of benefit has the country, in youropinion, derived from Government, private and missionary insti-tutions teaching European sciences and literature?

Answer: Almost the whole amount of benefit derived by thecountry from English education may be attributed to Govern-ment and Ecclesiastical institutions. The latter have contributedno less than the former in affording the benefit of English edu-cation to the country. Some of the Missionary institutions ratherpossess a better staff of European teachers than that in Govern-ment institutions of the same status, owing to the fact thatMissionary teachers are generally wont to offer their services in


this charitable cause on lower salaries than what their attainmentscould justly claim.

In the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, and the Panjab,English education has hitherto made very little progress, andthey stand in great need of primary and secondary education. Itis indeed much to be regretted that private institutions in thiscountry have taken very little part in the diffusion of Englisheducation, although it was their duty to take the lead in thematter.

Question: Have all classes of the people beiiefited from the studyof Western sciences and literature in Government or otherinstitutions, and have the Muhammadans also derived thisbenefit as readily as the communities? If not, to what causes maytheir forbearance be attributed?

Answer: Of all the sections of the Indian community the Muham-madans have derived the least benefit from European sciencesand literature. It is evident from the annual reports on publicinstruction that in Government and missionary schools andcolleges, which may be regarded as the only means of disseminat-ing Western science and literature in this country, the numberof Muhammadans is extremely limited.

To verify this statement by more obvious argument I had, in1878, drawn up for submission to the Local Government thefollowing statistical table for the twenty preceding years. Thistable conclusively shows the smallness of success which Englisheducation has had amongst Mussalmans (p. 91).

Now taking the figures given in the "Memorandum on theCensus of British India of 1871-72" presented to Parliament, thepopulation of Hindus in the provinces subject to the CalcuttaUniversity (Bengal, Assam, North-Western Provinces, Ajmere,Oude, Panjab and Central Provinces) is 90,484,547 and that ofMuhammadans amounts to 35,679,138, in other words the numberof Muhammadans is about 2/5ths of the Hindus. It would there-fore be expected that the number of Muhammadan graduateswould be about 1,262; but the table given on page 91 shows thenumber to be only 57, and the proportion is therefore a littleless than 1/55. Turning to the calendar of the Rurki CivilEngineering College, which gives instruction with a view tosecure properly trained officers for the Public Works Depart-


Name of the Total Number ofUniversity Number of University RemarksDegree graduates graduates

Doctor in Law 6 NoneHonors in Law 4 NoneBachelor in Law 705 8 None from the

•N.W. ProvinceLicentiates in Law 235 5 „ „ „Bachelor in Civil Engg. 36 NoneLicentiates in Civil Engg. 51 NoneMasters in Arts 326 5 No Mohammadan

has passed eitherin English orscience.

Bachelor of Arts 1,343 30Doctor in Medicine 4 NoneHonors in „ 2 NoneBachelor in „ 58 1 None from the

N.W. Provinces.Licentiates in Med. & Sur. 385 8 « » „

Total 3,155 ~W

ment, the number of Muhammadans who have successfullypassed the examinations is disproportionately small. From theyear 1850 to 1876 the number of students who successfully passedthrough the engineering class is 226, out of which only 3 areMuhammadans. The results of the Upper Subordinate GlassExamination (which required a knowledge of English) areequally unsatisfactory. Between the year 1848 and 1876 no lessthan 707 students passed the Upper Subordinate Class Examina-tion, but of them the number of Muhammadans is only 11.

The effect of the above results appears in a much more un-satisfactory light when it is taken into consideration that thegreater portion of the Hindu population consists of agriculturistsand of persons employed in low occupations of life, whilst thesame is not true of the Muhammadans who, being descendedfrom the former rulers of the country, have inherited learningas the principal means of livelihood. Hence the figures abovecited conclusively prove that, owing to some serious causes,English education has found no favour with the Musalmans.

I have myself earnestly endeavoured for years to trace thecauses to which this shortcoming of the Muhammadans may beascribed. And in 1871 my humble endeavours resulted in theformation of a committee the object of which was to investigatethe causes which prevented our community from taking^ advan-tage of the system established by Government, and to suggest


means by which education could be spread amongst them. Asa means of receiving aid in their enquiries the committee offeredthree prizes for the best essays by educated Muhammadangentlemen on the subject of Muhammadan education, and noless than thirty-two essays were sent in. The views expressed inthese essays were fully discussed at a large meeting of respectableand educated Musalmans, and the committee arrived at the con-clusion that Muhammadans had strong feelings of dislike tomodern education, and that their antagonism to the Governmenteducational system was not a mere matter of chance.

This aversion of the Musalman community is due to the factthat when in the reigns of the Caliphs of Baghdad the Greeksciences of logic, philosophy, astronomy, and geography, weretranslated into Arabic, they were accepted by the whole Muham-madan world without hesitation, and, with slight modificationand alterations, they gradually found their way into the religiousbooks of the Muhammadans, so that in course of time thesesciences were identified with their very religion, and acquired aposition by no means inferior to that of the sacred traditions ofthe faith. A few spurious but well-known foreign as well asindigenuous traditions which referred to remote historical events,and to which time had lent a charm, were likewise adopted andaccepted like other religious doctrines.

European learning, which was founded on the results ofmodern investigations differed widely in principle from theseAsiaticised Greek dogmas, and the Muhammadans certainly be-lieved that the philosophy and logic taught in the Englishlanguage were at variance with the tenets of Islam, while themodern sciences of geography and astronomy were universallyregarded, and are still regarded by many, as altogether incom-patible with the Muhammadan religion. History was viewed inno better light, inasmuch as it differed from their adopted tradi-tions. As regards literature, it must be admitted that it is asubject which is always more or less connected with the religionof the nation to which it belongs: as such being the case, theMuhammadans, as a matter of course, viewed this branch ofknowledge, too, in anything but a favourable light. Theirantipathy was carried so far indeed that they began to look uponthe study of English by a Musalman as a little less than theembracing of Christianity, and the result was that Muham-


madans generally kept aloof from the advantages offered byGovernment institutions. There are still some Musalmans whodenounce the study of English in the severest terms, and thosewho pursue or endeavour to promote that study are positivelypronounced to be Christians. But this prejudice has of latedecreased to a great extent, and is not entertained by so large aportion of the Muhammadan community as formerly. This maybe said to be the main cause of the abstention of the Muham-madans from the study of European science and literature.Question: Can you suggest how the causes, which may havehitherto operated in excluding the Muhammadans from thisbenefit, might be removed?Answer: The very nature of the cause which have operated inexcluding the Muhammadans from the benefit of English educa-tion, makes it impossible for Government to bring about theirremoval. Government could in no way interfere with or makean attempt to expose the fallacy of, those views which theMuhammadans had rightly or wrongly believed to be their re-ligious doctrines. There was no remedy but that some membersof their own community might undertake the arduous task ofimpressing on the Muhammadans the advantages accruing fromEnglish education, and of proving by argument and reason thatsuch education was in no way inconsistent with the tenets oftheir religion, and that the fanciful theories of Arabicised Greekscience and philosophy which the advance of modern scienceand enlightenment tended to subvert, had no connection withthe doctrines of Islam. Nuinerous discouraging circumstancesand serious social dangers lay in the path of those advancedMuhammadans who undertook the task, odious as it seemed tothe detractors of modern civilisation among Muhammadans. Theadvocates of reform and enlightenment were sure to be madethe object of furious and frantic abuse, and to be denounced asatheists, apostates, and Nazarenes. But they were fully convincedthat the Muhammadan nation could never be able to get ridof those illusive ideas and prejudices, until some members oftheir community prepared themselves to incur the odium whichfanaticism and bigotry are always ready to offer to the advocatesat enlightened reform. I was an humble participator in theendeavours of those who determined to devote themselves to thisunpleasant task for the well-being of their co-religionists. With


this object a periodical, named the Muhammadan Social Re-former? was issued, in which the more advanced Muhammadansfrom time to time wrote articles on the subject of education andsocial reform, and, in spite of the vigorous opposition from thebigoted and conservative Muhammadans, made public speechesin various parts of Upper India to rouse the Muhammadans tomake exertions to educate themselves and to realise their dutiesas citizens. The advocates of the cause of reform and enlightenrment had, of course, anticipated the opposition with which theyhad to contend before undertaking so momentous a task andhad prepared themselves for the worst consequences to theirpersonal popularity among the common people. They did notmind the difficulties and obstacles which bigotry and ignoranceplaced in their way, but persevered in their endeavours; andI am glad to notice that my co-religionists have now begun toyield to reason and to acknowledge and amend their errors. Thenumber of Muhammadan students in English-teaching institu-tions is now much greater than what it was ten years ago. TheMuhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh has some twohundred and twenty-five Muhammadan pupils at present, mostof whom belong to good families, and have travelled fromvarious parts of India to study European science and literaturealong with their own religion, languages, and literature. TheMusalmans are now everywhere relaxing their undue prejudices,and reconciling themselves to modern thoughts and conditionsof life. Time is no doubt a great reformer, but I think theendeavours above alluded to, which have been going on for thelast twelve years, have in no small degree contributed to thepresent state of things. The remedy therefore lies in no handsbut those of the Muhammadans themselves, and the evils canbe removed by their efforts alone.

Question: What course would, in your opinion, be best cal-culated to secure the co-operation of private individuals andlocal corporations in the diffusion of knowledge and the en-lightenment of the country?

Answer: The object would, in my opinion, be best secured by

2 Sir Syed started it in 1870 and is popularly known in Persian and Urdu asTabzeeb-ul-Akhlaq. It was modelled after the style of the Tatler and theSpectator started by Sir Richard Steele and Addison in 1709 and 1711respectively.


extending the grant-in-aid system, and by placing it on moresatisfactory footing. If the present rules for grant-in-aid berevised and made more liberal, they will, I believe, not fail tocommend themselves to the people, to stimulate and encourageprivate enterprise, and to lead to the formation of local corpora-tions which will co-operate with Government in enlighteningtheir country. Such a step is, at least, calculated to give a freshimpulse to missionary enterprise, and to increase the number ofmissionary institutions, which are, in my opinion, equally usefulfor the country.

Questions asked by Mr Syed Mahmood

Question: Plfcase state whether, in your opinion, religious pre-judices are the only causes which have kept Muhammadansaloof from English education. Is there anything in their socio-political traditions which has the same effect.

Answer: It may be briefly stated that the causes which have keptthe Muhammadans aloof from English education may be tracedto four sources—to their political traditions, social customs,religious beliefs, and poverty. An insight into the political causescan be obtained by studying the history of the last two centuries,and especially by studying the well-known work written by theHon'ble the President of the Commission and named OurIndian Musalmans, Briefly, I may say that the Muhammadanpublic was not opposed to the establishment of British rule inIndia, nor did the advent of British rule cause any politicaldiscontent among that people. In those days of anarchy andoppression, when the country was in want of a paramount power,the establishment of British supremacy was cordially welcomedby the whole Native community; and the Muhammadans alsoviewed this political change with feelings of satisfaction. But thesubordinate political change which this transition naturallyinvolved as a consequence, and which proved a great and un-expected blow to the condition of the Muhammadans, engen-dered in them a feeling of aversion against the British, andagainst all things relating to the British nation. For the samereason they conceived an aversion for the English language andfor the sciences that were presented to them through the mediumof that language. But this aversion is now declining in the samedegree in which education is spreading among Muhammadans.


The Muhammadans were proud of their socio-political posi-tion and their keeping aloof from English education may insome measure be ascribed to the fact that the Governmentcolleges and schools included among their pupils some of thosewhom the Muhammadans, with an undue pride and unreason-able self-conceit and vanity, regarded with social contempt, andunder this vain impression they did not think it worth theirwhile to associate with persons whom they considered inferior tothemselves in social position. The same vanity, self-conceit andprejudice of the Muhammadans led them to attach an undueimportance to their own literature, metaphysics, philosophy,and logic; and in the same spirit they regarded the Englishliterature and modern science as quite worthless, and produc-tive of no mental and moral good. They did not tolerate thosepersons being called learned men who had acquired a respect-able knowledge of European literature or science. They couldnever be brought to admit that sound and useful learningexisted in any language except Arabic and Persian. They hadgiven peculiar form to moral philosophy and had based it onreligious principles which they believed to be infallible; and thiscircumstance had dispensed, as they thought, with the necessityof European science and literature. I still remember the dayswhen in respectable families the study of English, with the objectof obtaining a post in Government service or of securing anyother lucrative employment, was considered highly discreditable.The prejudice has now, however, much slackened.

The religious aspect of the question I have already described.The poverty of the Muhammadan community is only too obviousto require any comment. I am, however, of opinion that theabove-mentioned socio-political causes, though still extant, havebeen mitigated to considerable extent, and the Muhammadansare gradually freeing themselves of old prejudices, and takingto the study of English literature and science,

Question: What has been the result of the attitude of Muham-madans.towards English education?

Answer: The importance of a knowledge of English in thiscountry cannot be questioned. The Government has justlyrendered the possession of that knowledge indispensable toNatives who are placed in charge of high and responsible offices


in executive and judicial administration; and the blessings ofthe British rule will no doubt be increased when Native sub-ordinate officials who are to assist the English officers in the workof administration are acquainted with the English language. Inthe same manner, a knowledge of the English language isessential to those who engage in trade, or who adopt the legalor medical profession. The want of attention shown by theMuhammadans towards the study of English has unfortunatelydebarred them from these lucrative professions, and has con-sequently increased their poverty, depriving them at the sametime of the benefit of other sorts of learning also.

Question: Have any special measures been taken by the peopleor the Government for spreading English education among theMusalmans?

Answer: As far as I know the Muhammadans have, during thelast few years, established a few small schools in various places,but the course of study in such schools has been confined to in-struction in Arabic and Persian literature and theology. I knowof no school established by the people for the diffusion ofEnglish learning among the Muhammadans except the Muham-madan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh. But I hear that aschool has recently been established by Nakhuda MuhammadAli Rogay at Bombay for the same object.

The "Calcutta Madrisah", established by the Government ofBengal long ago, does not meet the object satisfactorily. It neitherimparts English education to an adequate standard, nor makesthat education compulsory, and the result has been that somethree hundred of the Muhammadan scholars reading in it haveremained destitute of English education.

In 1871 the Government of India passed a Resolution in whichthe attention of the Local Government was invited to the subjectof Muhammadan education. The Government of Bengal, too,established several schools for the benefit of the Muhammadansfrom the income of the Muhsin Endowment3 and CalcuttaMadrisah Funds; but I hear that a considerable number of thestudents of these schools have not received the benefit of Englisheducation. Similar specific measures for the intellectual advance-

3 In the eighteenth century Haji Mohammed Moshin, a millionaire,a trust out of his vast fortune, as well as that of his sister Manu Jan Khanam.Its income was used for educational purposes.


ment of the Musalman community were adopted by the Govern-ment of Madras during the administration of Lord Hobart.Small schools were also established in the North-Western Pro-vinces for the same purpose; but I am not aware of the effectwhich these schools had upon primary and secondary education.I can only say that the measures have produced no material effectupon high education among Muhammadans, or upon their socialand moral condition.Question: Please state whether, in your opinion, Governmentshould take any further special measures for the advance ofEnglish education among Muhammadans?Answer: I am decidedly of opinion that the Musalman com-munity has no right to expect Government to adopt any denomi-national measure for them. The system of education establishedby Government is equally open to all sections of the population,and it cannot, and should not, show any partiality for a particularclass or section. The failure of the Muhammadans to derive anadequate share of benefit from it is their own fault. They shouldnow abide by the consequences of that failure, and must thankthemselves for their backwardness in the race of progress. Inconsideration, however, of the exceptionally unfortunate con-dition of the Muhammadans and of their deplorable ignoranceand poverty, Government would only be according an indulgenceto them if it should be pleased to consider the subject of Muham-madan education as a special case; and in doing so the best planfor the Government would, in my opinion, be to use everyendeavour to induce the influential and well-to-do classes of theMuhammadans to establish schools and colleges for the intellec-tual and moral advancement of their co-religionists to encourageand support the endeavours of such men by a more liberal andextended system of grant-in-aid, and to cause such Europeanofficials as have hitherto viewed such affairs with discouragingcoldness to take a more indulgent interest in them. TheMuhammadans have undoubtedly a just and natural claim to allendowments which have been made by men of their own raceexpressly for the education of the Muhammadan community, andthe disposal of some of which at present rests with Government.But I regret to say that I am unable to regard the uses to whichthose endowments are at present applied as calculated to do anysubstantial good.

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