Lesson 3/44 min
The Wahhabi movement and Aligarh
In 1831 the Wahhabi leader Syed Ahmad Barelvi was killed in the battle of Balakot. The movement takes its name from Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab of Arabia.
The Wahhabi movement
- The name comes from Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792), who lived in Najd in Saudi Arabia
- Aim: to remove superstition and un-Islamic customs and restore Muslim society on the simple commands of the Quran and Hadith
- The pioneer of Wahhabi ideas in India was Syed Ahmad Barelvi
- He was a disciple of Shah Abdul Aziz and Shah Abdul Qadir, sons of the Delhi scholar Shah Waliullah
- Killed in 1831 at the battle of Balakot
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and the Aligarh movement
- Founder of the Aligarh movement; after 1857 the British blamed the Muslims, who lagged behind in English education
- Founded the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College (later Aligarh University)
- Founder of the Ghazipur Scientific Society; the Aligarh society's journal was ‘The Aligarh Institute Gazette’ (started 1866)
- Books: Essays on the Life of Mohammad; Loyal Mohammedans of India — written to remove the British suspicion that Muslims were behind the 1857 revolt
- His son Syed Mahmud was a High Court judge
Watch out: Zubair writes Aligarh ‘University’, but in the movement's time it was a college (MAO College); the university came later. Khandokar calls Syed Mahmud the first Muslim judge of the ‘Calcutta High Court’; according to sources he was a judge of the Allahabad High Court (permanent from 1887).
Check yourself
Who was the founder of the Aligarh movement?
At a glance
- 1
The name Wahhabi comes from Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792) of Najd.
- 2
The pioneer of Wahhabi ideas in India was Syed Ahmad Barelvi; killed at Balakot in 1831.
- 3
The Aligarh movement's founder was Sir Syed Ahmad Khan; the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College.
- 4
The Aligarh Institute Gazette (from 1866); book Loyal Mohammedans of India.