Aligarh Movement

The Aligarh Movement was the push to establish a modern system of Western-style scientific education for the Muslim population of British Raj, during the later decades of the 19th century.

[1] The movement's name derives from the fact that its core and origins lay in the city of Aligarh in Central India and, in particular, with the foundation of the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875.

The education reform established a base, and an impetus, for the wider Movement: a Pakistani Muslim renaissance that had profound implications for the religion, the politics, the culture and society of the Indian subcontinent.

The chief detractors of the Aligarh Movement were the conservative Ulemas of the time who blamed Sir Syed for promoting Western ethics and customs among the Muslims.

[73] Sir Syed and the movement was ridiculed in the Awadh Punch by his detractors like Pandit Ratan Nath Sarshar, Munshi Sajjad Hussain and Akbar Allahabadi.