DESPITE the enormous research carried out on the life and works of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan during the past hundred years, there are certain aspects of his personality, as well as of the services rendered by him, that remain controversial. Strongly condemned by the Ulema of his days, he was daring enough to express his views in an age that was, by no means, liberal or tolerant. However, judged in an impartial manner, education appears to be the cornerstone of all the efforts he made for the reawakening of the Muslims of British India. “Educate, educate, educate,” was his motto, writes Graham, his biographer.
The prolific writer that he was, Sir Syed Ahmed’s works range from religion to homeopathy. He not only kept his pen sharpened throughout his life, but also encouraged others to write purposely. As he noted in one of his letters to a friend: “When on the Day of Judgment I shall be asked about good deeds performed by me in my earthly career, I shall say ‘Nothing, except that I got Hali to write his Musaddas’.”
Out of these works by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, a book that can be singled out for its form and content is Musafiran-i-London. Written in a facile manner, as it was the need of the day in the second-half of the 19th century, Musafiran-i-London consists of the dispatches sent by Syed Ahmed Khan, later Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, for publication in the magazine of the Scientific Society, Aligarh. Originally, these writings were in the form of letters and short essays which he, on his return from England, revised and edited and got them published in another magazine, Tehzeeb-al-Akhlaq, as a travelogue.
Musafiran-i-London comprised five persons: the writer himself, his two sons M/S Hamid and Mehmood, a friend Mirza Khuda Dad Beg and Mian Chajju, the valet.
After its publication in Tehzeeb-al-Akhlaq, Musafiran-i-London remained in oblivion until the Board for Advancement of Literature (Majlis-i-Taraqqi-i-Adab) first published it in book form in the early ‘60s. Noted dramatist, Syed Imtiaz Ali Taj, deputed Maulvi Ismail Panipati for its compilation who, in addition to a scholastic foreword, also deemed it appropriate to annex some other related writings of Syed Ahmed Khan with the original travelogue, thus giving it a more comprehensible touch. These writings include relevant extracts from Hayat-i-Javed by Hali regarding Sir Syed’s stay in London, a letter by famous French orientalist Garcin de Tassy and the text of Sir Syed’s address to the Missionary School, Gorakhpur, on May 29, 1874, in connection with the birth anniversary of Queen Victoria.
Apparently, Sir Syed ventured to undertake this journey to accompany his son, Syed Mehmood, to England who had been awarded a scholarship by the British Indian Government to study law at Cambridge. Yet, by implication he meant: (a) to observe closely the educational system of Britain, the most advanced nation of the world at that time, in order to establish an institution on the same lines; (b) to bridge the social gap between the rulers and the ruled in the British India, specially Muslims so that may be able to follow the British way of life, and (c) to collect sufficient research material from the British libraries in order to rebut the contents of the book The Life of Mohammad by Sir William Muir, the then Governor of UP.
The entire account is full of the comparisons drawn by the writer between the people and places he visited in Britain and those of India. On his way to England, the palaces of Versailles remind him of the beauties of the Red Fort, the buildings of Paris bring to his mind the famous Qutab ki Laat and Roza-i-Taj Gang and the mannerism of the salesgirl in a Paris shop saddens him as the uneducated young girls of India flash into his mind.
The petty details described by Sir Syed Ahmed in this book range from how to use the toilet in the ship to the protocol required for meeting a Baron or an M.P. in London. In one of these instances, he shows his inability to call on a certain dignitary in London as he cannot afford to hire a four-horse coinage, for going to see that dignitary on an ordinary single or two-horse cab would be embarrassing.
Sir Syed Ahmed came under heavy fire by the Indian Muslim clerics for some of the contents of this travelogue, but he never ceased to advise the Muslims to take full advantage of the opportunities for higher education and to adopt the ways and means of the most advanced nation of that age. He thoroughly describes in this book the English manners from dining to visiting a club. He was greatly impressed by the reading habit of the British people, and noted with admiration that even the ordinary coachman waiting for his master outside the mansion of the host picks out a book from underneath his seat and keeps on reading till his master returns. Also, the maidservant employed by Sir Syed for petty household chores was educated enough to read her copy of the half-penny paper.
Having been offered the honorary membership of the prestigious Athenaeum Club in London, he seems favourably impressed by the habits and the manners of the English people. He is all praise for their industry, punctuality, cleanliness and their orderly mode of living.
Description of the minute details about the journey by ship is, perhaps, the most interesting part of the book. Sir Syed not only gives a thorough description of the ship itself, but also introduces the readers to his fellow travellers. The educationist or the reformist within Sir Syed compels him to guide his countrymen how to use toilets while journeying by ship, a rare experience in those days. He also dilates upon the games offered by the ship management to the passengers to kill boredom.
What makes the narration more informative for the readers of that age is the engineering details of the Suez Canal, that had yet to be formally opened for general use. But more than the strategic, commercial and political aspect of the canal, Sir Syed admires the patriotism of the French engineer, the project in-charge of the Suez, who declined the offer to name the canal after him. Instead, he suggested to name the canal after his beloved country, France.
The book is out of print since long. The communicative style of the 19th century Urdu prose, as well as the contents of the book, ardently deserve a reprint. Apart from the researchers, the general reader may also benefit a lot from this book.
DESPITE the enormous research carried out on the life and works of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan during the past hundred years, there are certain aspects of his personality, as well as of the services rendered by him, that remain controversial. Strongly condemned by the Ulema of his days, he was daring enough to express his views in an age that was, by no means, liberal or tolerant. However, judged in an impartial manner, education appears to be the cornerstone of all the efforts he made for the reawakening of the Muslims of British India. “Educate, educate, educate,” was his motto, writes Graham, his biographer.
