A beginning is made toward reconciling the…

A beginning is made toward reconciling the traditional views of Indian Muslims and the new ideas and education system being introduced by the British in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, under the leader=ship of a Muslim noble and writer, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-98).

Syed is responsible for the founding in 1875 of the Muhammadan-Anglo Oriental College (renamed the Muslim University of Aligarh in 1921), where Islamic culture and religious instruction are combined with a British university system.

Syed is one of the first Muslims to recognize the problems facing his community under a government ruled by the Hindu majority.

He does not propose specific alternatives to majority rule, but he warns that safeguards were necessary to avoid the possibility of open violence between the religious communities of India.