Misplaced Pages

#334665

189-625: Native speakers of Urdu are spread across South Asia . The vast majority of them are Muslims of the Hindi–Urdu Belt of northern India , followed by the Deccani people of the Deccan plateau in south-central India (who speak Deccani Urdu ), and most of the Muhajir people of Pakistan . The historical centres of Urdu speakers include Delhi and Lucknow . Another defunct variety of the language

378-642: A dialect continuum ranging from Persianised to Sanskritised vocabulary, but now they are more and more different in words due to politics. Old Urdu dictionaries also contain most of the Sanskrit words now present in Hindi. Mutual intelligibility decreases in literary and specialised contexts that rely on academic or technical vocabulary. In a longer conversation, differences in formal vocabulary and pronunciation of some Urdu phonemes are noticeable, though many native Hindi speakers also pronounce these phonemes. At

567-504: A tafsir , or commentary on the Quran , in 1877. It was published as Tafsir ul-Quran in seven volumes; the first volume appeared in 1880 and the last volume was published six years after his death in 1904. In this work, he analysed and interpreted 16 paras and 13 surahs of the Quran. In the first volume, he also included a detailed article titled Tahrir fi Usool al-Tafsir ( The Notes on

756-459: A Biradari (brotherhood) whose affairs are controlled by annually elected Sardars, the chief of the Biradari. they control all the activities of the community both internally and in relation with the outside world. The delinquent is severely ostracised which in their parlance, the man punished is not respectable enough to smoke the same Huqqa or drink from the same bowl as the honourable Biradari. If

945-458: A University similar to that of Oxford or Cambridge. Like the churches of Oxford and Cambridge, there will be mosques attached to each College... The College will have a dispensary with a Doctor and a compounder, besides a Unani Hakim . It will be mandatory on boys in residence to join the congregational prayers ( namaz ) at all the five times. Students of other religions will be exempted from this religious observance. Muslim students will have

1134-558: A book in England by Hafiz Ahmad Hasan, the Vakil of Tonk. Sir Syed based his arguments upon Muhammad's own conduct during holy wars. Through the 1850s, Syed Ahmad Khan began developing a strong passion for education. While pursuing studies of different subjects including European jurisprudence, Sir Syed began to realise the advantages of Western-style education, which was being offered at newly established colleges across India. Despite being

1323-485: A broader, radical reinterpretation of the Quran to make it compatible with science and modernity, continues to influence the global Islamic reformation . Many universities and public buildings in Pakistan bear Sir Syed's name. Aligarh Muslim University celebrated Sir Syed's 200th birth centenary with much enthusiasm on 17 October 2017. Former President of India Pranab Mukherjee was the chief guest. Do not show

1512-832: A clear distinction between jihad and rebellion. In August 1871 William Wilson Hunter , a Scottish historian and member of the Indian Civil Service published Indian Musalmans: Are They Bound in Conscience to Rebel Against the Queen? in which he discussed the Indian Wahabi movement , its role in the rebellion and argued that the Muslims were a threat to the Empire. Hunter links Wahhabism with rebellion and terms them as self-stylised jihadis. His accusations led to

1701-406: A core vocabulary of native Sanskrit and Prakrit derived words and a significant number of Arabic and Persian loanwords, with a consensus of linguists considering them to be two standardised forms of the same language and consider the differences to be sociolinguistic ; a few classify them separately. The two languages are often considered to be a single language (Hindustani or Hindi-Urdu) on

1890-451: A devout Muslim, Sir Syed criticised the influence of traditional dogma and religious orthodoxy, which had made most Indian Muslims suspicious of British influences. Sir Syed began feeling increasingly concerned for the future of Muslim communities. A scion of Mughal nobility, Sir Syed had been reared in the finest traditions of Muslim elite culture and was aware of the steady decline of Muslim political power across India. The animosity between

2079-574: A first-hand impression of Western civilisation. He was also a reader of Darwin and, while not agreeing with all of his ideas, he could be described as a sort of theistic evolutionist like his contemporary Asa Gray . Syed Ahmad was one of the first in the Islamic world to adopt this view. His arguments in favour of the idea were based on both findings from his own scientific research and quotes from earlier Islamic scholars like Al-Jahiz , Ibn Khaldun and Shah Waliullah . Sir Syed started working on

SECTION 10

#1732773028335

2268-594: A good Muslim. By 1873, the committee under Sir Syed issued proposals for the construction of a college in Aligarh. Maulvi Samiullah Khan was appointed as the secretary of the sub-committee of the proposed school. Members of the committee toured the country in order to raise funds for the school, which was finally established on 24 May 1875 in Aligarh as the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental Collegiate School . Two years later, in 1877,

2457-490: A heavy influence on both as a co-official language. According to Bruce (2021), Urdu has adapted English words since the eighteenth century. A movement towards the hyper-Persianisation of an Urdu emerged in Pakistan since its independence in 1947 which is "as artificial as" the hyper-Sanskritised Hindi that has emerged in India; hyper-Persianisation of Urdu was prompted in part by the increasing Sanskritisation of Hindi. However,

2646-530: A journal on scientific subjects in English and Urdu. Sir Syed felt that the socio-economic future of Muslims was threatened by their orthodox aversions to modern science and technology. He published many writings promoting liberal, rational interpretations of Islamic scriptures , struggling to find rational interpretations for jinn , angels , and miracles of the prophets. One example was the reaction to his argument – which appeared in his tafsir (exegesis) of

2835-591: A judge at a Small Causes Court in 1867, retiring from this position in 1876. During the Indian Mutiny of 1857 , he remained loyal to the British Raj and was noted for his actions in saving European lives. After the rebellion, he penned the booklet The Causes of the Indian Mutiny – a daring critique, at the time, of various British policies that he blamed for causing the revolt. Believing that

3024-518: A literary medium for Indian writers from the Bombay Presidency, Bengal, Orissa Province, and Tamil Nadu as well. As Urdu and Hindi became means of religious and social construction for Muslims and Hindus respectively, each register developed its own script. According to Islamic tradition, Arabic , the language of Muhammad and the Qur'an , holds spiritual significance and power. Because Urdu

3213-595: A notable novel being Umrao Jaan Ada . According to the Navadirul Alfaz by Khan-i Arzu, the "Zaban-e Urdu-e Shahi" [language of the Imperial Camp] had attained special importance in the time of Alamgir ". By the end of the reign of Aurangzeb in the early 1700s, the common language around Delhi began to be referred to as Zaban-e-Urdu , a name derived from the Turkic word ordu (army) or orda and

3402-702: A phonological level, speakers of both languages are frequently aware of the Perso-Arabic or Sanskrit origins of their word choice, which affects the pronunciation of those words. Urdu speakers will often insert vowels to break up consonant clusters found in words of Sanskritic origin, but will pronounce them correctly in Arabic and Persian loanwords. As a result of religious nationalism since the partition of British India and continued communal tensions, native speakers of both Hindi and Urdu frequently assert that they are distinct languages. The grammar of Hindi and Urdu

3591-589: A policy continued by the Mughal Empire , which extended over most of northern South Asia from the 16th to 18th centuries and cemented Persian influence on Hindustani. Urdu was patronised by the Nawab of Awadh and in Lucknow , the language was refined, being not only spoken in the court, but by the common people in the city—both Hindus and Muslims; the city of Lucknow gave birth to Urdu prose literature, with

3780-518: A regime of religious, literary and military training which was focused on the transformation of the recruit's identity, who played a significant role as a kind of artificial family in-group attached to their patron. Before Muhammad Khan's death, the separation between the various tribes and castes broke down, forming a homogenous group, so that Muhammad Khan had founded his own Indian Muslim tribe or caste. To increase his independence from his nobles further, he continued to encourage immigration of Pashtuns of

3969-533: A scholar were the two editions of Asar-us-Sanadid and that of the Ain-e-Akbari . In 1847, he published the book Asar-us-Sanadid ( The Remnants of Ancient Heroes ) documenting antiquities of Delhi dating from the medieval era. The work is divided into four sections: the first describes the buildings outside the city of Delhi; the second describes the buildings around the Delhi Fort; the third describes

SECTION 20

#1732773028335

4158-674: A second term that lasted until 1883. He served the Legislative Council of the Lieutenant Governor of the North- Western Provinces for two terms from 1887 until 1893. Sir Syed's early influences were his mother Aziz-un-Nisa and maternal grandfather Khwaja Fariduddin both of whom took special interest in his education. Apart from serving as a Wazir in the Mughal court, Khwaja Fariduddin was also

4347-507: A sectarian divide of "Urdu" for Muslims and "Hindi" for Hindus, a divide that was formalised with the partition of colonial India into the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan after independence (though there are Hindu poets who continue to write in Urdu, including Gopi Chand Narang and Gulzar ). Urdu had been used as a literary medium for British colonial Indian writers from

4536-529: A sense of pride in home (watan). Families of Muslim service people from gentry families were bound together by tight marriage alliances, which often became permanent arrangements. Bitter factionalism over between clans over land-rights was also a common feature of society. The Sadaat-i Bilgram are a tribe of Indian Muslim Sayyid families who inhabit the historic district of Bilgram in Hardoi District . The Bilgrami Sayyid were important power brokers in

4725-464: A separatist political force, throwing a Western cloak of nationalism over the Islamic concept of culture. Furthermore, in 2008 Syed Nadeem Ahmed brought forward the idea of Urdu Nationalism by presenting his theory of "Urdu Qaum" based on Urdu language and culture. The distinct sense of value, culture and tradition among Indian Muslims originated from the nature of Islamization of the Indian populace during

4914-481: A significant role in the development of the Urdu register. Hindi became the distinct register spoken by those who sought to construct a Hindu identity in the face of colonial rule. As Hindi separated from Hindustani to create a distinct spiritual identity, Urdu was employed to create a definitive Islamic identity for the Muslim population in India. Urdu's use was not confined only to northern India – it had been used as

5103-595: A sincere and friendly report. The foreign secretary Cecil Beadon , however, severely attacked it, calling it 'an extremely seditious pamphlet'. He wanted a proper inquiry into the matter and said that the author, unless he could give a satisfactory explanation, should be harshly dealt with. Since no other member of the Council agreed with his opinion, his attack did no harm. Later, Sir Syed was invited to attend Lord Canning's durbar in Farrukhabad and happened to meet

5292-680: A social group referred to as the "Hindustani Mahomedans". This included Indian Muslim Baradaris of the Urdu-Hindustani Belt such as the Ranghar(Rajput Muslims) , Sheikhs , Sayyids , Mughals , and Indianized Pathans . British officers such as Skinner , Gardner and Hearsay had become leaders of irregular cavalry that preserved the traditions of Mughal cavalry, which had a political purpose because it absorbed pockets of cavalrymen who might otherwise become disaffected plunderers. The Governor-general insisted that it

5481-664: A sort of common brotherhood among themselves and took up the cause of every individual as an insult to the whole group and an infringement to the rights of Sayyids in general. In the 20th century, Mohsin-ul-Mulk founded the Urdu Defence Association , or the Anjuman-i Taraqqi-i Urdu, committed to the perpetuation of the Urdu language. The Alvis (the term derived from the Arabic term al-Alawi , meaning 'of Ali ') are those who claim descent from

5670-749: A specific group of Indian Shaikhzadas called the Bukhari Sayyids. These were descendants of Makhdum Jahanian or Jalal Bukhari who was born in Multan in Punjab, and so in recent history were immigrants from the Punjab, but retained the title Bukhari due to genealogical links to the saint Jalaluddin Bukhari. By the 16th century, they had lived for several generations in Hindustan and were Indian Muslims associated with specific regions in Hindustan. Among these

5859-614: A symbol of their religious identity. Hindus in northwestern India, under the Arya Samaj agitated against the sole use of the Perso-Arabic script and argued that the language should be written in the native Devanagari script, which triggered a backlash against the use of Hindi written in Devanagari by the Anjuman-e-Islamia of Lahore. Hindi in the Devanagari script and Urdu written in the Perso-Arabic script established

Urdu-speaking people - Misplaced Pages Continue

6048-602: A teacher, mathematician and astronomer. He was also disposed towards Sufism, which left its impact on Sir Syed since his early childhood. His maternal uncle Khwaja Zainuddin Ahmad, who was an expert in music and mathematics, also influenced him in his early days. Sir Syed's early theological writings demonstrate the influence of three school of religious thought on his outlook - the Naqshbandi tradition of Shah Ghulam Ali Dahlavi , Shah Waliullah Dehlawi and his teachings, and

6237-639: A tribe of Indian Muslims who claim descent from the Bani Israil . The Qidwai were recruited in the household cavalry of Shuja-ud-Daula , which was mainly composed of the Sheikhzadi. These clans had not taken any profession other than a soldier or a civil officer. Abdul Majid Daryabadi belonged to the Qidwai clan in Daryabad and FS Hussain belonged to the Qidwai in Lucknow . Medieval sources refer to

6426-450: A uniform consisting of a black alpaca, half-sleeved chugha and a red Fez cap... Bad and abusive words which boys generally pick up and get used to, will be strictly prohibited. Even such a word as a "liar" will be treated as an abuse to be prohibited. They will have food either on tables of European style or on chaukis in the manner of the Arabs ... Smoking of cigarette or huqqa and

6615-419: A uniting language. Urdu was chosen as a symbol of unity for the new Dominion of Pakistan in 1947, because it had already served as a lingua franca among Muslims in north and northwest of British Indian Empire . Urdu is also seen as a repertory for the cultural and social heritage of Pakistan. While Urdu and Islam together played important roles in developing the national identity of Pakistan, disputes in

6804-465: A vehicle of poetry, (especially under the Bahmanids ), and is known as Dakhini , which contains loanwords from Telugu and Marathi . From the 13th century until the end of the 18th century; the language now known as Urdu was called Hindi , Hindavi , Hindustani , Dehlavi , Dihlawi , Lahori , and Lashkari . The Delhi Sultanate established Persian as its official language in India,

6993-464: A very significant number among the nearly 800 districts of India, there is a small Urdu-speaking minority at least. In Araria district , Bihar, there is a plurality of Urdu speakers and near-plurality in Hyderabad district, Telangana (43.35% Telugu speakers and 43.24% Urdu speakers). Some Indian Muslim schools ( Madrasa ) teach Urdu as a first language and have their own syllabi and exams. In fact,

7182-478: A wealthy area of the city. They were raised in strict accordance with Mughal noble traditions and they were exposed to politics. Their mother Aziz-un-Nisa played a formative role in Sir Syed's early life, raising him with rigid discipline and a strong emphasis on modern education . Sir Syed's education was initiated by Shah Ghulam Ali , his father's spiritual mentor in 1822. He was taught to read and understand

7371-523: A well known book on archaeology called Athar-ul-Sandeed. He also developed interest in literature as he met a few of India's well known writers. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan's career as an author began when he published a series of treatises in Urdu on religious subjects in 1842. In his early religious writings his religious thoughts were more orthodox; over time, with his increasing contact with the West, his views gradually became more independent. His early works show

7560-548: Is a protected language in the constitution. It is also spoken as a minority language in Afghanistan and Bangladesh , with no official status. Urdu and Hindi share a common Sanskrit - and Prakrit -derived vocabulary base, phonology , syntax , and grammar, making them mutually intelligible during colloquial communication . While formal Urdu draws literary, political, and technical vocabulary from Persian , formal Hindi draws these aspects from Sanskrit; consequently,

7749-527: Is not officially recognised by the Government of Bangladesh . The Urdu spoken by Stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh is different from this dialect. Many bilingual or multi-lingual Urdu speakers, being familiar with both Urdu and English, display code-switching (referred to as " Urdish ") in certain localities and between certain social groups. On 14 August 2015, the Government of Pakistan launched

Urdu-speaking people - Misplaced Pages Continue

7938-488: Is one variety, is spoken much more widely, forming the third most commonly spoken language in the world, after Mandarin and English . The syntax (grammar), morphology , and the core vocabulary of Urdu and Hindi are essentially identical – thus linguists usually count them as one single language, while some contend that they are considered as two different languages for socio-political reasons. Owing to interaction with other languages, Urdu has become localised wherever it

8127-550: Is peculiar to themselves, yet it is destitute of Letters to express it; and therefore in all their Writings in their Mother Tongue, they borrow their letters from the Heathens , or from the Persians , or other Nations. The rural Upper Doab and Rohilkhand was dominated by a literate and homogenous elite, who embraced a distinctive Indo-Persian style of culture. This service gentry, performing both clerical and military service for

8316-593: Is read and written as in other parts of India. A number of daily newspapers and several monthly magazines in Urdu are published in these states. Dhakaiya Urdu is a dialect native to the city of Old Dhaka in Bangladesh , dating back to the Mughal era . However, its popularity, even among native speakers, has been gradually declining since the Bengali Language Movement in the 20th century. It

8505-552: Is said to have arisen as the "language of the camp", or " Zaban-i-Ordu " means " Language of High camps " or natively " Lashkari Zaban " means " Language of Army " even though term Urdu held different meanings at that time. It is recorded that Aurangzeb spoke in Hindvi, which was most likely Persianized, as there are substantial evidence that Hindvi was written in the Persian script in this period. During this time period Urdu

8694-626: Is shared, though formal Urdu makes more use of the Persian "-e-" izafat grammatical construct (as in Hammam-e-Qadimi , or Nishan-e-Haider ) than does Hindi. The following table shows the number of Urdu speakers in some countries. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan Sir Syed Ahmad Khan KCSI , FRAS (17 October 1817 – 27 March 1898), also spelled Sayyid Ahmad Khan , was an Indian Muslim reformer , philosopher , and educationist in nineteenth-century British India . Though initially espousing Hindu–Muslim unity , he later became

8883-729: Is spoken by large numbers of migrant South Asian workers in the major urban centres of the Persian Gulf countries. Urdu is also spoken by large numbers of immigrants and their children in the major urban centres of the United Kingdom , the United States, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, and Australia. Along with Arabic , Urdu is among the immigrant languages with the most speakers in Catalonia . Religious and social atmospheres in early nineteenth century India played

9072-492: Is spoken, including in Pakistan. Urdu in Pakistan has undergone changes and has incorporated and borrowed many words from regional languages, thus allowing speakers of the language in Pakistan to distinguish themselves more easily and giving the language a decidedly Pakistani flavor. Similarly, the Urdu spoken in India can also be distinguished into many dialects such as the Standard Urdu of Lucknow and Delhi , as well as

9261-527: Is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan , where it is also an official language alongside English . In India , Urdu is an Eighth Schedule language , the status and cultural heritage of which are recognised by the Constitution of India ; and it also has an official status in several Indian states. In Nepal , Urdu is a registered regional dialect and in South Africa , it

9450-481: Is used in education , literature , office and court business, although in practice, English is used instead of Urdu in the higher echelons of government. Article 251(1) of the Pakistani Constitution mandates that Urdu be implemented as the sole language of government, though English continues to be the most widely used language at the higher echelons of Pakistani government. Urdu is also one of

9639-687: The Aligarh Movement and the Deoband Movement . It was made the official language of British India in 1825 and got large opposition from the Hindus and thus sparking the Hindi-Urdu controversy in 1867. This resulted in Sir Syed's Two Nation Theory in 1868. The Urdu language was used in the emergence of a political Muslim self-consciousness. Syed Ahmed Khan converted the existing cultural and religious entity among Indian Muslims into

SECTION 50

#1732773028335

9828-734: The All-India Muslim League . The Gardezi tribe of Manikpur are an Indian community of Sayyids who had settled in Manikpur since the 12th century. In the 1700s, Raji Muhammad Khan who belonged to the Gardezi tribe of Manikpur was the Mir-i-Atish, or artillery chief, of the Mughal Emperor Jahandar Shah after he had blown up prince Jahan Shah's powder magazines. The first immigrants to Mau were

10017-402: The Awadh than to the Rohillas of Rampur, and sympathized with the Nawab of Awadh. A large number were recruited in the army of Ghulam Muhammad Khan of Rampur during the Second Rohilla War . A large number led by Diler Khan betrayed the Nawab of Rampur and defected to the side of the Nawab of Awadh. Khan Barkat Ali Khan who belonged to the Shahjahanpur Pathans as a risaldar rendered services to

10206-469: The Bombay , Bengal , Orissa , and Hyderabad State as well. Before independence, Muslim League leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah advocated the use of Urdu, which he used as a symbol of national cohesion in Pakistan. After the Bengali language movement and the separation of former East Pakistan , Urdu was recognised as the sole national language of Pakistan in 1973, although English and regional languages were also granted official recognition. Following

10395-413: The British Raj and promoted the adoption of Urdu as the lingua franca of all Indian Muslims . Syed criticized the Indian National Congress . Sir Syed maintains a strong legacy in Pakistan and among Indian Muslims . He became a source of inspiration for the Pakistan Movement and its activists , including Allama Iqbal and Muhammad Ali Jinnah . His advocacy of Islam's rationalist tradition, and

10584-463: The Central Hindi Directorate was established earlier in 1960, and the promotion of Hindi is better funded and more advanced, while the status of Urdu has been undermined by the promotion of Hindi. Private Indian organisations such as the Anjuman-e-Tariqqi Urdu, Deeni Talimi Council and Urdu Mushafiz Dasta promote the use and preservation of Urdu, with the Anjuman successfully launching a campaign that reintroduced Urdu as an official language of Bihar in

10773-635: The Dakhni ( Deccan ) of South India. Because of Urdu's similarity to Hindi , speakers of the two languages can easily understand one another if both sides refrain from using literary vocabulary. Although Urdu is widely spoken and understood throughout all of Pakistan, only 9% of Pakistan's population spoke Urdu according to the 2023 Pakistani census . Most of the nearly three million Afghan refugees of different ethnic origins (such as Pashtun , Tajik , Uzbek , Hazarvi , and Turkmen ) who stayed in Pakistan for over twenty-five years have also become fluent in Urdu. Muhajirs since 1947 have historically formed

10962-403: The Deccanis , the Biharis and Dhakaiyas (who speak Dhakaiya Urdu ) in Bangladesh, the Urdu-speaking members of the Madheshi community in Nepal, some Muslims in Sri Lanka and a section of Burmese Indians . In addition, there are Urdu-speakers present amongst the South Asian diaspora, most notably in the Middle East , North America (notably the United States and Canada), Europe (notably

11151-406: The Devanagari and Latin script ( Roman Urdu ) to allow its survival, or whether this will only hasten its demise and that the language can only be preserved if expressed in the Perso-Arabic script. For Pakistan, Willoughby & Aftab (2020) argued that Urdu originally had the image of a refined elite language of the Enlightenment, progress and emancipation, which contributed to the success of

11340-414: The Ilm Pakistan movement, with a uniform curriculum in Urdish. Ahsan Iqbal , Federal Minister of Pakistan, said "Now the government is working on a new curriculum to provide a new medium to the students which will be the combination of both Urdu and English and will name it Urdish." Standard Urdu is often compared with Standard Hindi . Both Urdu and Hindi, which are considered standard registers of

11529-450: The Khariboli dialect of the Delhi region). Dakhni (also known as Dakani, Deccani, Desia, Mirgan) is spoken in Deccan region of southern India . It is distinct by its mixture of vocabulary from Marathi and Konkani , as well as some vocabulary from Arabic, Persian and Chagatai that are not found in the standard dialect of Urdu. Dakhini is widely spoken in all parts of Maharashtra , Telangana , Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka . Urdu

SECTION 60

#1732773028335

11718-519: The Khwastgaran-i-Taraqqi-i-Talim-i-Musalman (Committee for the Better Diffusion and Advancement of Learning among Muhammadans ) on 26 December 1870. By 1872, it was converted into a Fund Committee for the establishment of a school. Sir Syed described his vision of the institution he proposed to establish in an article written sometime in 1872 and re-printed in the Aligarh Institute Gazette of 5 April 1911: I may appear to be dreaming and talking like Shaikh Chilli, but we aim to turn this MAO College into

11907-617: The Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent . The Biradari, a term of Persian origin literally translating to "brotherhood", is the word used for a social unit based on kinship such as tribe or clan. The chief of the Biradari is the "Sardar", who is usually an elder man annually elected as the greatest man in the Biradari. Decisions on important matters are taken only after consulting the Biradari, and once taken binding on every member, especially in rural life. Despite their tribal geneaologies tracing to foreign regions, these elites embellished rural seats and traditions within India, developing

12096-428: The Punjabi elite of Pakistan, have adopted Urdu as a mother tongue and identify with both an Urdu speaker as well as Punjabi identity. Urdu was chosen as a symbol of unity for the new state of Pakistan in 1947, because it had already served as a lingua franca among Muslims in north and northwest British India . It is written, spoken and used in all provinces/territories of Pakistan , and together with English as

12285-441: The Qur'an by a female tutor Areeba Sehar. He received an education traditional to Muslim nobility in Delhi . He attended a maktab run by a learned scholar, Moulvi Hamiduddin, in a house adjacent to his ancestral home and started learning Persian and Arabic. He read the works of Muslim scholars and writers such as Sahbai, Zauq and Ghalib . Other tutors instructed him in mathematics , astronomy and algebra . He also pursued

12474-476: The Quran – that riba referred to interest charges when lending money to the poor, but not to the rich, nor to borrowers "in trade or in industry", since this finance supported "trade, national welfare and prosperity". While many jurists declared all interest to be riba, (according to Sir Syed) this was based "on their own authority and deduction" rather than the Quran. On 1 April 1869 he went, along with his sons Syed Mahmood and Syed Hamed, to England, where he

12663-435: The Saharanpur branch of the family. Many great figures also arose from the Yusufpur branch of the family such as Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari , Qazi Faridul Haq Ansari , Shaukatullah Shah Ansari and former Indian Vice-President, Hamid Ansari . The Ranghar were classified as an "agricultural tribe" by the British Raj administration and were recruited heavily in the British Indian Army , especially in Skinner's Horse .

12852-428: The Turkan-e-Chahalgani , the Corps of Forty Turkic slave emirs, whose power was broken up by Ghiyas ud din Balban , and as a result they fled and settled down in the different villages of Katehr, near Badayun which was an important centre of the empire. They primarily speak Urdu and are Indian Muslims in customs, traditions, and language. Suspicious of outside interference, the Turk villages are closely knit together into

13041-433: The United Kingdom ), the Caribbean region, Africa (notably South Africa and Mauritius ), Southeast Asia (notably Singapore ) and Oceania (notably Australia and Fiji ). Urdu Urdu ( / ˈ ʊər d uː / ; اُردُو , pronounced [ʊɾduː] , ALA-LC : Urdū ) is a Persianised register of the Hindustani language , an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia . It

13230-489: The Utilitarians such as John Stuart Mill , whose works he often quoted in his own writings. He was also influenced by the essays of Joseph Addison and Richard Steele and modelled his own journals after their Tatler and Spectator . While continuing to work as a junior clerk, Sir Syed began focusing on writing, from the age of 23 (in 1840), on various subjects (from mechanics to educational issues), mainly in Urdu, where he wrote, at least, 6000 pages. He also wrote

13419-416: The War of 1857 , Abdul Latif Khan of Khanpur, the head of the Barah Basti Pathans raised the standard of revolt against the East India Company , writing a petition to the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar promising to come to the Dehli court, and to bring some elephants with him, representing that he had been unwell. Nawab Walidad Khan of Malagarh occupied Aligarh and Khurja and attracted to his standard

13608-399: The de jure legal status and de facto political status of Urdu, how much Urdu is used as language of instruction and chosen by students in higher education, and how the maintenance and development of Urdu is financially and institutionally supported by governments and NGOs. In India, although Urdu is not and never was used exclusively by Muslims (and Hindi never exclusively by Hindus),

13797-637: The irregular cavalry but rarely enlisted in the infantry. Muhammad Khan or Nawab Khair Andesh Khan , a prominent Kamboh Nawab of Meerut in the reign of Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb , built a fort in Meerut , the gate of which is the Khairnagar Darwaza. In 1690 he also built the Khairul Masjid wal Mu'abid in the heart of Meerut city, as well as Khairandeshpur in Etawah. The Qidwai are

13986-547: The 18th century and two similar standard forms came into existence in Delhi and Lucknow . Since the partition of India in 1947, a third standard has arisen in the Pakistani city of Karachi . Deccani , an older form used in southern India , became a court language of the Deccan sultanates by the 16th century. Urdu has a few recognised dialects, including Dakhni , Dhakaiya , Rekhta , and Modern Vernacular Urdu (based on

14175-483: The 1950s (particularly those in East Pakistan , where Bengali was the dominant language), challenged the idea of Urdu as a national symbol and its practicality as the lingua franca . The significance of Urdu as a national symbol was downplayed by these disputes when English and Bengali were also accepted as official languages in the former East Pakistan (now Bangladesh ). Urdu is the sole national, and one of

14364-479: The 1960s, the Urdu lobby and eventually the Urdu language in Pakistan has been associated with religious Islamism and political national conservatism (and eventually the lower and lower-middle classes, alongside regional languages such as Punjabi, Sindhi, and Balochi), while English has been associated with the internationally oriented secular and progressive left (and eventually the upper and upper-middle classes). Despite governmental attempts at Urduisation of Pakistan,

14553-663: The 1970s. In the former Jammu and Kashmir state , section 145 of the Kashmir Constitution stated: "The official language of the State shall be Urdu but the English language shall unless the Legislature by law otherwise provides, continue to be used for all the official purposes of the State for which it was being used immediately before the commencement of the Constitution." Urdu became a literary language in

14742-637: The 1979 Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan and subsequent arrival of millions of Afghan refugees who have lived in Pakistan for many decades, many Afghans, including those who moved back to Afghanistan, have also become fluent in Hindi-Urdu, an occurrence aided by exposure to the Indian media, chiefly Hindi-Urdu Bollywood films and songs. There have been attempts to purge Urdu of native Prakrit and Sanskrit words, and Hindi of Persian loanwords – new vocabulary draws primarily from Persian and Arabic for Urdu and from Sanskrit for Hindi. English has exerted

14931-644: The 20th century, Syed Hussain Bilgrami was one of the early leaders of the Muslim League . The Barha tribe of Sayyids are an Indian Muslim community claiming Zaidi Sayyid descent who are named after the Barha country in Uttar Pradesh between Meerut and Saharanpur . Their settlements, known as Qasbas , are named Behra Sadaat . Due to their reputation for bravery, to the point of recklessness,

15120-518: The 4th Rashidun caliph , Ali ibn Abi Talib (the cousin, son-in-law, and companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad ), through his wives whom he married after the death of Fatima , the prophet's daughter. In the Indian subcontinent , they settled mainly in Hyderabad and present-day Uttar Pradesh . The former president of Pakistan, Arif Alvi belongs to the same Alvi clan. Like Urdu-speaking people,

15309-560: The Alvis of Kakori are referred to as Moulvizadigan (Moulvis) or Makhdûmzadigan (Makhdûms) indicating whether they are descendants of Mullah Abu Bakr Jami Alavi, who settled in Kakori in 1461 or descendants of Qari Amir Saifuddin Alavi, who settled in Kakori in 1552, they are mostly known as Shaikh . The Ansaris who claim origin from the descendants of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari (the stand-bearer of

15498-575: The Bangash and Afridi clan in Tirah. In India they were referred to as qaum-i-bangash which became a wider and more diffused label. 1.5 million residents in the regions of Moradabad , Amroha and Sambhal , belonging to an Indian Muslim brotherhood descending from Turks, primarily from the era of the Delhi Sultanate. According to Professor Abhay Singh, these community originate from the era of

15687-823: The Barah tribe held the hereditary right to lead the vanguard of the Army of the Mughal Empire in every battle. 6 years after Aurangzeb's death, the Barha Sayyid nobles became highly influential in the Mughal Court under leadership of the Sayyid Brothers , Qutb-ul-Mulk and Hussain Ali Khan , who became de-facto sovereigns of the empire when they began to make and unmake emperors. The Sayyids had developed

15876-638: The British and Muslims before and after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 threatened to marginalise Muslim communities across India for many generations. Sir Syed intensified his work to promote co-operation with British authorities, promoting loyalty to the Empire amongst Indian Muslims. Committed to working for the upliftment of Muslims, Sir Syed founded a modern madrassa in Muradabad in 1859; this

16065-670: The British during the Anglo-Sikh War of 1848. After his retirement he settled down in Lahore and devoted work to the Anjuman-i-Islamiya. He gave constant support to the Aligarh Movement and to Sayyid Ahmad Khan, and was instrumental in the establishment in the first Girls School at Lahore. The Kamboh tribe likely originated in Punjab . The Muslims are referred to by the name of Zuberi. The Kamboh Sheikhs were found among

16254-594: The Capital was relocated to Delhi and named Shahjahanabad and the Bazar of the town was named Urdu e Muallah. In the Akbar era the word Rekhta was used to describe Urdu for the first time. It was originally a Persian word that meant "to create a mixture". Amir Khusrau was the first person to use the same word for Poetry. Before the standardisation of Urdu into colonial administration, British officers often referred to

16443-648: The Delhi region of India the native language was Khariboli , whose earliest form is known as Old Hindi (or Hindavi). It belongs to the Western Hindi group of the Central Indo-Aryan languages. The contact of Hindu and Muslim cultures during the period of Islamic conquests in the Indian subcontinent (12th to 16th centuries) led to the development of Hindustani as a product of a composite Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb . In cities such as Delhi,

16632-426: The English liked to use the name "Moors" for Urdu: I have a deep knowledge [ je possède à fond ] of the common tongue of India, called Moors by the English, and Ourdouzebain by the natives of the land. Several works of Sufi writers like Ashraf Jahangir Semnani used similar names for the Urdu language. Shah Abdul Qadir Raipuri was the first person who translated The Quran into Urdu. During Shahjahan's time,

16821-725: The Government and refused theory which the British had invented to explain the causes of the Mutiny." When the work was finished, without waiting for an English translation, Sir Syed sent the Urdu version to be printed at the Mufassilat Gazette Press in Agra. Within a few weeks, he received 500 copies back from the printers. One of his friends warned him not to send the pamphlet to the British Parliament or to

17010-516: The Government of India. Rae Shankar Das, a great friend of Sir Syed, begged him to burn the books rather than put his life in danger. Sir Syed replied that he was bringing these matters to the attention of the British for the good of his own people, of his country, and of the government itself. He said that if he came to any harm while doing something that would greatly benefit the rulers and the subjects of India alike, he would gladly suffer whatever befell him. When Rae Shankar Das saw that Sir Syed's mind

17199-636: The Heathens, or from the Persians, or other Nations. In 1715, a complete literary Diwan in Rekhta was written by Nawab Sadruddin Khan . An Urdu-Persian dictionary was written by Khan-i Arzu in 1751 in the reign of Ahmad Shah Bahadur . The name Urdu was first introduced by the poet Ghulam Hamadani Mushafi around 1780. As a literary language, Urdu took shape in courtly, elite settings. While Urdu retained

17388-405: The Indian government do not actively support the preservation of Urdu in professional and official spaces. Because the Pakistani government proclaimed Urdu the national language at Partition, the Indian state and some religious nationalists began in part to regard Urdu as a 'foreign' language, to be viewed with suspicion. Urdu advocates in India disagree whether it should be allowed to write Urdu in

17577-534: The Islamic prophet, in Medina ), mainly through the 13th century Khwaja Abdullah Pir Haravi , inhabited the town of Panipat . Prominent Ansaris in the pre-modern era include Lutfullah Khan Sadiq, the governor of Shahjahanabad under the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah . His brother Sher Afkan Panipati possessed an armed train composed solely of Indian Muslims or Hindustanis. In the modern era,

17766-488: The Life of Prophet Muhammad and Subjects Subsidiary Therein ) as a rejoinder to William Muir 's widely known four-part book, The Life of Mahomet published in 1864. He was deeply distressed by Muir's portrayal of Islam and the character of Muhammad. He was concerned that the book might create doubts among the younger generation of Muslims. In order to prepare for the book, he accompanied his son to England, as he wanted to get

17955-484: The Loyal Mohammedans of India) from Meerut containing episodes in the life of those Muslims who stood by the British during the 1857 uprising. It was published in three issues, the first and second issues appeared in 1860, while the third was published in 1861. The first issue highlighted the bravery of those Muslims who stood by the British while the second issue carried an article on jihad in which he makes

18144-634: The Marathas. According to the Urdu poet, Mir Taqi Mir, it was a Sayyid of Amroha , Syed Sadaat Ali, who convinced him to pursue poetry in Urdu, the verse which resembled Persian poetry, which was the "language of Hindustan by the authority of the king". The first use of the term Rohilla was in the 1600s, to refer to the community of Diler Khan Rohilla, who was born in India, and was the founder of his community in Shahjahanpur and Hardoi . This community over generations had become culturally closer to

18333-561: The Mughal administration. His maternal grandfather Khwaja Fariduddin served as Wazir in the court of Emperor Akbar Shah II . His paternal grandfather Syed Hadi Jawwad bin Imaduddin held a mansab (lit. General ) – a high-ranking administrative position - and the honorary name of "Mir Jawwad Ali Khan" in the court of Emperor Alamgir II . Sir Syed's father, Syed Muhammad Muttaqi, was personally close to Emperor Akbar Shah II and served as his personal adviser. However, Syed Ahmad

18522-476: The Mughal empire and its successor states, provided cultural and literary patronage that contninued, even after the political decilne, to act as preservers of Indo-Persian traditions and values. The end of Muslim rule saw a large number of unemployed Indian Muslim horsemen, who were employed in the army of the East India Company . Thus 75% of the cavalry branch of the British army was composed of

18711-716: The Mujahidin movement of Syed Ahmad Barelvi and his earliest disciple Shah Ismail Dehlvi . While Sir Syed shared the desire for religious forms in India with the Mujahidin movement, he was opposed to the Indian Wahhabi movement. During his formative years in Delhi he came in contact with Ghalib and Zauq whose exquisite style of prose and poetry influenced Sir Syed's style of writing. He would often visit Imam Baksh Sahbai and Sadruddin Khan Azurda Dehlawi in his learning years. Another influence on him

18900-526: The Muslim community. Sir Syed supported the East India Company during the 1857 uprising , a role which has been criticised by some nationalists such as Jamaluddin Afghani . In 1859 Sir Syed published the booklet Asbab-e-Baghawat-e-Hind ( The Causes of the Indian Revolt ) in Urdu in which he studied the causes of the Indian revolt. In this, his most famous work, he rejected the common notion that

19089-459: The Muslim gentry and middle classes. However, MAO College was open to all communities, and had a sizeable number of Hindu students. The first graduate of the college was a Hindu. The curriculum at the college involved scientific and Western subjects, as well as Oriental subjects and religious education. The first chancellor was Sultan Shah Jahan Begum , a prominent Muslim noblewoman, and Sir Syed invited an Englishman, Theodore Beck , to serve as

19278-553: The Principles of Commentary ), in which he laid down 15 principles on which he based his commentary. History was Sir Syed's preferred area of study and in 1840, Sir Syed compiled a book of chronological tables about the Timurid rulers of Delhi from Timur to Bahadur Shah Zafar at the behest of Robert N. C. Hamilton, his patron. It was later published under the title Jam-i-Jum ( Jamshed's Cup ). In Silsilat-ul-Mulk he compiled

19467-914: The Rajputs, to the campaigns in Kandahar. The current Shahi Imam of the Jāmi’ah Masjid in Delhi is a Bukhari Sayyid. Indo-Persian cultural synthesis meant that Indo-Persian influence played a large role in the making of Indo-Muslim cuisine in Northern India. Characteristic ingredients of this cuisine include onions and garlic, spices such as cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, mace, back pepper and cinnamon, and use of yoghurt, cream and butter. Special dishes include biryani , qorma , kofta , seekh kabab , nihari , haleem , nargisi koftay , roghani naan , naan , sheer-khurma (dessert) , other Indo-Persian origin flat-breads and chai (sweet, milky tea) . Although

19656-710: The Ranghars were the nucleus of the 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry which captured Delhi in 1857 Barabasti refers to a Biradari of Indian Pathans named after their origin from twelve villages known as Barah Basti in Bulandshahr , where "Barah" means "twelve" in Hindustani, similar to the naming of the Indian Muslim Barah Sayyids of Muzaffarnagar . Like other Pathans in Northern India, they are quite Indian in language, manners and appearance. In

19845-542: The Rejection of Innovations ), his fourth treatise, was published in 1850. In this work, he expressed his opposition to certain religious practices and beliefs of his fellow Muslims, which he felt were mixed with innovation and deviated from the true Sunnah . In 1852 he published Namiqa dar bayan masala tasawwur-i-Shaikh ( A Letter Explaining the Teaching of tasawwur i shaikh ), in which he defended tasawwur-i-Shaikh ,

20034-524: The Sufi practice of visualizing within, the image of one's spiritual guide. In 1853 he translated some passages of al-Ghazali 's Kimiya al Sa'ada ( The Alchemy of Happiness ). In 1862 while stationed at Ghazipur, Sir Syed started working on a commentary on the Bible and its teaching, with the aim to explain them in terms of Islam. It was published in Urdu and English in three parts from 1862 to 1865 under

20223-569: The Urdu poet Altaf Hussain Hali , wrote the book Musaddas-e Hali is considered by Pakistani scholars as an important text leading to the development of the Pakistan Movement . Many other towns were also inhabited by the descendants of Abdullah Ansari . Lucknow 's Firangi Mahal is home to many Ansari scholars, Saharanpur , Kakori , Gorakhpur , Aligarh and Yusufpur . Indian political activist Muhammad Mian Mansoor Ansari hailed from

20412-445: The absorption of vocabulary from various regional Pakistani languages, while some Urdu vocabularies has also been assimilated by Pakistan's regional languages. Some who are from a non-Urdu background now can read and write only Urdu. With such a large number of people(s) speaking Urdu, the language has acquired a peculiar Pakistani flavor further distinguishing it from the Urdu spoken by native speakers, resulting in more diversity within

20601-606: The aggressive view of British historians towards Islam. His first treatise published in 1842 was a biographical sketch of Muhammad , called Jila al-Qulub bi Zikr al-Mahbub ( Delight of the Hearts in Remembering the Beloved ), in line with the reformist ideas of Shah Waliullah . It was prose for recitation on Mawlid written in idiomatic Urdu. He published his second treatise Tuhfa-i Hasan ( The Gift to Hasan ) in 1844 on

20790-407: The ancient language Old Hindi began to acquire many Persian loanwords and continued to be called "Hindi" and later, also "Hindustani". An early literary tradition of Hindavi was founded by Amir Khusrau in the late 13th century. After the conquest of the Deccan , and a subsequent immigration of noble Muslim families into the south, a form of the language flourished in medieval India as

20979-507: The biographical data of all the rulers of Delhi in history. During his stay in Bijnor, he wrote a history on the city of Bijnor, but it was destroyed during the 1857 rebellion. He also wrote critical editions of books like Ziauddin Barani 's Tarikh-e-Firoz Shahi published in 1862, and Tuzk-e-Jahangiri published in 1864. However, his most important historical works that brought him fame as

21168-403: The biography of Sir Syed that: "As soon as Sir Syed reached Muradabad, he began to write the pamphlet entitled The Causes of the Indian Revolt ( Asbab-e-Baghawat-e-Hind ), in which he did his best to clear the people of India, and especially the Muslims, of the charge of Mutiny. In spite of the obvious danger, he made a courageous and thorough report of the accusations people were making against

21357-475: The chewing of betels shall be strictly prohibited. No corporal punishment or any such punishment as is likely to injure a student's self-respect will be permissible... It will be strictly enforced that Shia and Sunni boys shall not discuss their religious differences in the College or in the boarding house. At present it is like a day dream. I pray to God that this dream may come true." He began publishing

21546-413: The consequences of the mutiny for his fellow Muslims in particular. He wrote a number of articles and pamphlets such as Asbab-e-Baghawat-e-Hind ( The Causes of the Indian Revolt ), Loyal Muhammadans of India , and Review on Dr Hunter's Indian Musalmans: Are They Bound in Conscience to Rebel Against the Queen? to defend Muslims and Islam and create a cordial relations between the British authorities and

21735-502: The conspiracy was planned by Muslim elites, who resented the diminishing influence of Muslim monarchs. He blamed the East India Company for its aggressive expansion as well as the ignorance of British politicians regarding Indian culture. Sir Syed advised the British to appoint Muslims to assist in administration, to prevent what he called ‘haramzadgi’ (a vulgar deed) such as the mutiny. Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali wrote in

21924-599: The court language of various Indo-Islamic empires . Religious, social, and political factors arose during the European colonial period that advocated a distinction between Urdu and Hindi, leading to the Hindi–Urdu controversy . According to 2022 estimates by Ethnologue and The World Factbook , produced by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Urdu is the 10th-most widely spoken language in

22113-484: The courts. At the outbreak of the Indian rebellion , on 10 May 1857, Sir Syed was serving as the chief assessment officer at the court in Bijnor. He stood by the British officers of Bijnor and saved the lives of many officers and their family members from the revolting soldiers. The conflict had left large numbers of civilians dead. Erstwhile centres of Muslim power such as Delhi, Agra, Lucknow and Kanpur were severely affected. He lost several close relatives who died in

22302-430: The death of his father in 1838, Sir Syed had lived a life customary for an affluent young Muslim noble. Upon his father's death, he inherited the titles of his grandfather and father and was awarded the title of Arif Jung by the emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar . Financial difficulties put an end to Sir Syed's formal education, although he continued to study in private, using books on a variety of subjects. Having recognized

22491-732: The descendants of the Khwaja Bayazid Ansari, the ethnic Ormur leader and founder of the Roshaniyya movement who had settled in Mau and Shamsabad. Muhammad Khan Bangash, the first Hindustani Pathan mercenary, was rewarded with the jagir of Farrukhabad area. He was so illiterate that he did not understand a single word of Persian or Pashto . Being few in number, the bulk of Muhammad Khan's soldiers were elite slaves known as 'disciples', primarily Hindu Rajputs and sometimes Brahmins who were adopted, converted to Islam and submitted to

22680-644: The districts of Bulandshahr . Nahar Ali Khan, who received the Taluqa of Pitampur from the Emperor Shah Alam II in 1774, offered resistance against the East India Company with his nephew Dunde Khan. Mir Muhammad Baquar Ali Khan was the Raja Of Pindrawal while Nawab Saeed-ul-Mulk Chhatari , the last Prime Minister of the Nizam of Hyderabad , was one of the most prominent politicians of

22869-415: The early 21st century an increasing percentage of Indian Muslims began switching to Hindi due to socio-economic factors, such as Urdu being abandoned as the language of instruction in much of India, and having limited employment opportunities compared to Hindi, English and regional languages. The number of Urdu speakers in India fell 1.5% between 2001 and 2011 (then 5.08 million Urdu speakers), especially in

23058-476: The early Muslim kingdoms developed Indian Muslim clan-groups who were well-rooted social groups that acted as warrior lineages providing court officers and military soldiers. These evolving communities or tribes played a key role in providing a local Muslim leadership. The language developed at the time of Sultans of Dehli due to the mixture of people, likely to be soldiers, from Turkish, Arabic, Persian, Afghan and Indian background. As early as 1689, Europeans used

23247-482: The encouragement of his friend Nur al Hasan. It is an Urdu translation of the tenth and twelfth chapter of Shah Abdul Aziz Dehlavi 's Tuhfah-i Ithna Ashariyya ( A treatise on the 12 Imams ), which was a critique of Shia beliefs. The tenth chapter deals and answers the Shia accusations against the Sahabi and Hazrat Aisha and the twelfth deals with the Shia doctrines of tawalli and tabarri . His third treatise, entitled Kalimat al-Haqq ( The True Discourse ),

23436-414: The exalted camp . Earlier it was known as Hindvi, Hindi and Hindustani . Urdu, like Hindi , is a form of Hindustani language . Some linguists have suggested that the earliest forms of Urdu evolved from the medieval (6th to 13th century) Apabhraṃśa register of the preceding Shauraseni language , a Middle Indo-Aryan language that is also the ancestor of other modern Indo-Aryan languages. In

23625-414: The face of Islam to others; instead show your face as the follower of true Islam representing character, knowledge, tolerance and piety. Syed Ahmad Taqvi 'Khan Bahadur' was born on 17 October 1817 to Syed Muhammad Muttaqi and Aziz-un-Nisa in Delhi , which was the capital of the Mughal Empire during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar II . Many generations of his family had been highly connected with

23814-432: The fanatic Muslims of Barah Basti community from which many of the sowars of the Irregular Cavalry were recruited, along with the Sayyids of Shikarpur , and his 'near relation' Ismail Khan, who was the kotwal of Meerut and had served in the Skinner's Horse . The Lalkhanis are Muslim Rajput converts from the Bargujar tribe, who assimilated to Lalkhani identity after their conversion. The Lalkhanis held estates in

24003-425: The first lithographically produced book illustrations in India. Syed Ahmad released the second edition of Ansar-as-Sanadid in 1854. However, the second edition was radically different from the first – the second was abbreviated and more factual. This work brought Sir Syed a wider fame and earned him the reputation of a cultured scholar. In 1861, it was translated into French by Gracin de Tassy in Paris. The book

24192-420: The foreign secretary there. He told Sir Syed that he was displeased with the pamphlet and added that if he had really had the government's interests at heart, he would not have made his opinion known in this way throughout the country; he would have communicated it directly to the government. Sir Syed replied that he had only had 500 copies printed, the majority of which he had sent to England, one had been given to

24381-488: The future of Muslims was threatened by the rigidity of their orthodox outlook, Sir Ahmad began promoting Western–style scientific education by founding modern schools and journals and organizing Islamic entrepreneurs. Victoria School at Ghazipur in 1863, and a scientific society for Muslims in 1864. In 1875, founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College , the first Muslim university in Southern Asia. During his career, Syed repeatedly called upon Muslims to loyally serve

24570-535: The government of India, and the remaining copies were still in his possession. Furthermore, he had the receipt to prove it. He was aware, he added, that the view of the rulers had been distorted by the stress and anxieties of the times, which made it difficult to put even the most straightforward problem in its right perspective. It was for this reason that he had not communicated his thoughts publicly. He promised that for every copy that could be found circulating in India he would personally pay 1,000 rupees. At first, Beadon

24759-412: The grammar and core Indo-Aryan vocabulary of the local Indian dialect Khariboli, it adopted the Nastaleeq writing system – which was developed as a style of Persian calligraphy. Throughout the history of the language, Urdu has been referred to by several other names: Hindi, Hindavi, Rekhta, Urdu-e-Muallah, Dakhini , Moors and Dehlavi . In 1773, the Swiss French soldier Antoine Polier notes that

24948-417: The independence movement. But after the 1947 Partition , when it was chosen as the national language of Pakistan to unite all inhabitants with one linguistic identity, it faced serious competition primarily from Bengali (spoken by 56% of the total population, mostly in East Pakistan until that attained independence in 1971 as Bangladesh ), and after 1971 from English. Both pro-independence elites that formed

25137-507: The influence of Sufism and his upbringing in Delhi. The main themes of these works are popularization of the practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad as the one true path and the desire to reform the lives of Indian Muslims from religious innovations, thus endeavoring for the purity of Islamic belief in India. His later religious writings, such as his commentary on the Torah and Gospel and his essays on Muhammad, were stimulated in response to Christian missionary activities in India and

25326-435: The journal Tehzeeb-ul-Akhlaq ( Social Reformer ) on 24 December 1870 to spread awareness and knowledge on modern subjects and promote reforms in Muslim society. Sir Syed worked to promote reinterpretation of Muslim ideology in order to reconcile tradition with Western education. He argued in several books on Islam that the Qur'an rested on an appreciation of reason and natural law, making scientific inquiry important to being

25515-403: The label "Moors dialect" , which simply meant "Muslim", to describe Urdu, the language associated with the Muslims in North India, such as John Ovington, who visited India during the reign of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb : The language of the Moors is different from that of the ancient original inhabitants of India, but is oblig'd to these Gentiles for its characters. For though the Moors dialect

25704-430: The language as " Moors " or "Moorish jargon". John Gilchrist was the first in British India to begin a systematic study on Urdu and began to use the term "Hindustani" what the majority of Europeans called "Moors", authoring the book The Strangers's East Indian Guide to the Hindoostanee or Grand Popular Language of India (improperly Called Moors) . Urdu was then promoted in colonial India by British policies to counter

25893-458: The language in the Perso-Arabic script in courts and government offices, though Hindus continued to employ the Devanagari script in certain literary and religious contexts. Through the late 19th century, people did not view Urdu and Hindi as being two distinct languages, though in urban areas, the standardised Hindustani language was increasingly being referred to as Urdu and written in the Perso-Arabic script. Urdu and English replaced Persian as

26082-518: The language of Bollywood films tend to contain a large number of Persian and Arabic words and thus considered to be "Urdu" in a sense, especially in songs. India has more than 3,000 Urdu publications, including 405 daily Urdu newspapers. Newspapers such as Neshat News Urdu , Sahara Urdu , Daily Salar , Hindustan Express , Daily Pasban , Siasat Daily , The Munsif Daily and Inqilab are published and distributed in Bangalore, Malegaon, Mysore, Hyderabad, and Mumbai . Outside South Asia, it

26271-883: The language. In India, Urdu is spoken in places where there are large Muslim minorities or cities that were bases for Muslim empires in the past. These include parts of Uttar Pradesh , Madhya Pradesh , Bihar , Telangana , Andhra Pradesh , Maharashtra ( Marathwada and Konkanis), Karnataka and cities such as Hyderabad , Lucknow , Delhi , Malerkotla , Bareilly , Meerut , Saharanpur , Muzaffarnagar , Roorkee , Deoband , Moradabad , Azamgarh , Bijnor , Najibabad , Rampur , Aligarh , Allahabad , Gorakhpur , Agra , Firozabad , Kanpur , Badaun , Bhopal , Hyderabad , Aurangabad , Bangalore , Kolkata , Mysore , Patna , Darbhanga , Gaya , Madhubani , Samastipur , Siwan , Saharsa , Supaul , Muzaffarpur , Nalanda , Munger , Bhagalpur , Araria , Gulbarga , Parbhani , Nanded , Malegaon , Bidar , Ajmer , and Ahmedabad . In

26460-497: The leadership of the Muslim League in Pakistan and the Hindu-dominated Congress Party in India had been educated in English during the British colonial period, and continued to operate in English and send their children to English-medium schools as they continued dominate both countries' post-Partition politics. Although the Anglicized elite in Pakistan has made attempts at Urduisation of education with varying degrees of success, no successful attempts were ever made to Urduise politics,

26649-466: The legal system, the army, or the economy, all of which remained solidly Anglophone. Even the regime of general Zia-ul-Haq (1977–1988), who came from a middle-class Punjabi family and initially fervently supported a rapid and complete Urduisation of Pakistani society (earning him the honorary title of the 'Patron of Urdu' in 1981), failed to make significant achievements, and by 1987 had abandoned most of his efforts in favour of pro-English policies. Since

26838-404: The main languages of instruction, although the people from differing provinces may have different native languages. Urdu is taught as a compulsory subject up to higher secondary school in both English and Urdu medium school systems, which has produced millions of second-language Urdu speakers among people whose native language is one of the other languages of Pakistan – which in turn has led to

27027-437: The majority of Urdu-speakers reside in Pakistan (including 30 million native speakers, and up to 94 million second-language speakers), where Urdu is the national and official language, most speakers who use Urdu as their native tongue live in northern India , where it is one of 22 official languages . The Urdu-speaking community is also present in other parts of the subcontinent with a historical Muslim presence , such as

27216-400: The majority population in the city of Karachi , however. Many newspapers are published in Urdu in Pakistan, including the Daily Jang , Nawa-i-Waqt , and Millat . No region in Pakistan uses Urdu as its mother tongue, though it is spoken as the first language of Muslim migrants (known as Muhajirs ) in Pakistan who left India after independence in 1947. Other communities, most notably

27405-438: The military and service gentry of the region in the Mughal empire. Amroha became a hereditary jagir, as the family of Saiyyid Khwaja Ahmad Khan, sadat-i-Amroha, held pargana Amroha in their jagir for about a hundred years. When the Marathas invaded and plundered Rohilkhand , the country of Western Uttar Pradesh was burnt with the exception of Amroha owing to a few thousand Amrohi Sayyid soldiers that drove out and conciliated with

27594-400: The monuments in Shahjahanabad; and the last section presents a brief historical account of the various settlements of Delhi as well as the prominent inhabitants of Delhi, including Sufis (such as Shah Ghulam Ali and Saiyid Ahmad Shahid), physicians, scholars, poets, calligraphers, and musicians. It also contained around 130 illustrations drawn by Faiz Ali Khan and Mirza Shahrukh Beg, which were

27783-403: The most Urdu-speaking states of Uttar Pradesh (c. 8% to 5%) and Bihar (c. 11.5% to 8.5%), even though the number of Muslims in these two states grew in the same period. Although Urdu is still very prominent in early 21st-century Indian pop culture, ranging from Bollywood to social media, knowledge of the Urdu script and the publication of books in Urdu have steadily declined, while policies of

27972-564: The most alive language and moving ahead with times" in India. This phenomenon pertains to the decrease in relative and absolute numbers of native Urdu speakers as opposed to speakers of other languages; declining (advanced) knowledge of Urdu's Perso-Arabic script, Urdu vocabulary and grammar; the role of translation and transliteration of literature from and into Urdu; the shifting cultural image of Urdu and socio-economic status associated with Urdu speakers (which negatively impacts especially their employment opportunities in both countries),

28161-505: The natives of Hindoostan on education ). Upon his transfer to Aligarh in 1864, Sir Syed began working wholeheartedly as an educator. The Scientific Society was transferred from Ghazipur to Aligarh and rechristened as the Scientific Society of Aligarh . Modelling it after the Royal Society and the Royal Asiatic Society , Sir Syed assembled Muslim scholars from different parts of the country. The Society held annual conferences, disbursed funds for educational causes and regularly published

28350-405: The next few years, but neither of them was anything like the A'in : a vast and triumphalist document on the governance of Akbar. During the uprising of 1857, Sir Syed was posted as a chief assessment officer at the court in Bijnor . He recorded the history of the mutiny in Tarikh i Sarkashi-ye Bijnor ( History of the Bijnor Rebellion ), which was published in 1858. He was deeply worried about

28539-467: The offender repends and expresses a desire to retrieve his guilt, he must atone by means of a grand feast to the community. Occasions of celebration in the villages include the event of Ghazi Salar Masud's invasion on his way to Bahraich, which are celebrated with wrestling and fencing matches. The Sadaat-i-Amroha belong mainly to the Naqvi sub-group, because they are descendants of the Sufi saint Syed Sharfuddin Shah Wilayat. The Amrohi Sayyids formed

28728-461: The official languages in northern parts of India in 1837. In colonial Indian Islamic schools, Muslims were taught Persian and Arabic as the languages of Indo-Islamic civilisation ; the British, in order to promote literacy among Indian Muslims and attract them to attend government schools, started to teach Urdu written in the Perso-Arabic script in these governmental educational institutions and after this time, Urdu began to be seen by Indian Muslims as

28917-418: The officially recognised languages in India and also has the status of "additional official language" in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh , Uttar Pradesh , Bihar , Jharkhand , West Bengal , Telangana and the national capital territory Delhi . Also as one of the five official languages of Jammu and Kashmir . India established the governmental Bureau for the Promotion of Urdu in 1969, although

29106-438: The ongoing Hindi–Urdu controversy and modern cultural association of each language with the two religions has led to fewer Hindus using Urdu. In the 20th century, Indian Muslims gradually began to collectively embrace Urdu (for example, 'post-independence Muslim politics of Bihar saw a mobilisation around the Urdu language as tool of empowerment for minorities especially coming from weaker socio-economic backgrounds' ), but in

29295-451: The pioneer of Muslim nationalism in India and is widely credited as the father of the two-nation theory , which formed the basis of the Pakistan movement . Born into a family with strong ties to the Mughal court , Ahmad studied science and the Quran within the court. He was awarded an honorary LLD from the University of Edinburgh in 1889. In 1838, Syed Ahmad entered the service of East India Company and went on to become

29484-454: The position and prestige of English only grew stronger in the meantime. There are over 100 million native speakers of Urdu in India and Pakistan together: there were 50.8 million Urdu speakers in India (4.34% of the total population) as per the 2011 census; and approximately 16 million in Pakistan in 2006. There are several hundred thousand in the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, United States, and Bangladesh . However, Hindustani, of which Urdu

29673-418: The previous emphasis on Persian. In colonial India, "ordinary Muslims and Hindus alike spoke the same language in the United Provinces in the nineteenth century, namely Hindustani, whether called by that name or whether called Hindi, Urdu, or one of the regional dialects such as Braj or Awadhi ." Elites from Muslim communities, as well as a minority of Hindu elites, such as Munshis of Hindu origin, wrote

29862-448: The prosecution of Muslims in India especially in the North Western Provinces and those associated with Wahhabism were severely punished. Many Muslims found his arguments one-sided and this prompted Sir Syed to write a rejoinder of the book. He reviewed the book in The Pioneer in a series of articles which were reprinted in Aligarh Institute Gazette from 24 November 1871, to 23 February 1872. They were later collected and published in

30051-482: The same clans were dominant groups in the associations in the defence of Urdu and district Muslim Leagues which were among the first forays of Muslims into electoral and pressure-group politics. In the19th century, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and his followers such as Mohsin-ul-Mulk further advocated for the adoption of Urdu as the language of Indian Muslims , and led organizations such as the Anjuman-i Taraqqi-i Urdu and Urdu Defence Association , which won popular support in

30240-486: The same language, Hindustani (or Hindi-Urdu), share a core vocabulary and grammar . Apart from religious associations, the differences are largely restricted to the standard forms : Standard Urdu is conventionally written in the Nastaliq style of the Persian alphabet and relies heavily on Persian and Arabic as a source for technical and literary vocabulary, whereas Standard Hindi is conventionally written in Devanāgarī and draws on Sanskrit . However, both share

30429-435: The school was converted into the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College . He retired from his career as a jurist the following year, concentrating entirely on developing the college and on religious reform. Sir Syed's pioneering work received support from the British. Although intensely criticised by orthodox religious leaders hostile to modern influences, Sir Syed's new institution attracted a large student body, mainly drawn from

30618-454: The southern part of Awadh , and remained an important and influential clan, throughout the Middle Ages. The Bilgrami Sayyids were supporters of the Indo-Muslim Shaikhzada faction of Munim Khan II during the reign of the Emperor Bahadur Shah I . When Ruh-ul-Amin Khan of Bilgram reportedly entered state service with only 60 horsemen and foot soldiers, the Grand Vizier Munim Khan created him a mansab of 6000 and made him his close associate. In

30807-424: The steady decline in Mughal political power, Sir Syed decided to enter the service of the East India Company . He could not enter the colonial civil service because it was only in the 1860s that Indians were admitted. His first appointment was as a Serestadar (lit. Clerk) of the Criminal Department in the Sadr Amin's office in Delhi, responsible for record-keeping and managing court affairs. In February 1839, he

30996-407: The study of medicine for several years under Hakim Ghulam Haider Khan. Sir Syed was also adept at swimming , shooting and other sports. He took an active part in the Mughal court's cultural activities and attended parties, festivals and recitations. Syed Ahmad's elder brother launched a weekly, “Syedul Akhbar”, from Delhi, which was one of the earliest Urdu newspapers in northern India. Until

31185-583: The style of Urdu spoken on a day-to-day basis in Pakistan is akin to neutral Hindustani that serves as the lingua franca of the northern Indian subcontinent. Since at least 1977, some commentators such as journalist Khushwant Singh have characterised Urdu as a "dying language", though others, such as Indian poet and writer Gulzar (who is popular in both countries and both language communities, but writes only in Urdu (script) and has difficulties reading Devanagari, so he lets others 'transcribe' his work) have disagreed with this assessment and state that Urdu "is

31374-483: The title Tabin al-al-kalam Fi tafsir altawrat Wa ‘I-injil’ala millat al Islam ( Elucidation of the World in Commentary of the Torah and Gospel According to the Religion of Islam ). While the first part deals with the Islamic approach towards biblical writings, the second and third part contains commentary on the Book of Genesis and the Gospel of Matthew respectively. In 1869 he wrote Al-Khutbat al-Ahmadiya fi'l Arab wa'I Sirat al-Muhammadiya ( A Series of Essays on

31563-408: The two languages' mutual intelligibility effectively decreases as the factor of formality increases. Urdu originated in the area of the Ganges-Yamuna Doab , though significant development occurred in the Deccan Plateau . In 1837, Urdu became an official language of the British East India Company , replacing Persian across northern India during Company rule ; Persian had until this point served as

31752-425: The two official languages of Pakistan (along with English). It is spoken and understood throughout the country, whereas the state-by-state languages (languages spoken throughout various regions) are the provincial languages , although only 7.57% of Pakistanis speak Urdu as their first language. Its official status has meant that Urdu is understood and spoken widely throughout Pakistan as a second or third language. It

31941-420: The violence. Although he succeeded in rescuing his mother from the turmoil, she died in Meerut , owing to the privations she had experienced. In 1858, he was appointed as Sadarus Sudoor , a high-ranking post at the court in Muradabad , where he began working on his most famous literary work, The Cause of the Indian Revolt . In 1862, he was transferred to Ghazipur , and later to Aligarh in 1864. In 1864 he

32130-490: The word that the British had been expelled from Delhi, interpreted as the breakdown of British authority, acted as a catalyst for mutiny as well as revolt. Regiments in other parts of northern India only revolted after Delhi had fallen. British characterizations of Muslims as fanatics took the fore during and after the Great Rebellion, as well as produced the Indian Muslims as a unified, cogent group, who were easily agitated, aggressive, and inherently disloyal. Even in later days,

32319-436: The work to his satisfaction, and believing that Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib was a person who would appreciate his labours, Syed Ahmad approached the great Ghalib to write a taqriz (in the convention of the times, a laudatory foreword) for it. Ghalib obliged, but what he did produce was a short Persian poem castigating the A'in-e Akbari, and by implication, the imperial, sumptuous, literate and learned Mughal culture of which it

32508-455: The world , with 230 million total speakers, including those who speak it as a second language . The name Urdu was first used by the poet Ghulam Hamadani Mushafi around 1780 for Hindustani language even though he himself also used Hindavi term in his poetry to define the language. Ordu means army in the Turkic languages . In late 18th century, it was known as Zaban-e-Urdu-e-Mualla زبانِ اُرْدُوئے مُعَلّٰی means language of

32697-417: Was Shaikh Farid Murtaza Khan , the Indian Muslim of Delhi who was the Mir Bakhshi of Akbar and Jahangir. The Bukhari Sayyids, the Barha Sayyids and the Kambohs were specially favoured for high military posts. Jahangir mentioned the great commanders and armies as involved in the Deccan campaigns with Shah Jahan as a prince, especially the Sayyids of Barha and Bukhara, the Shaikhzadas, the Hindustani Pathans and

32886-533: Was a product. The least that could be said against it was that the book had little value even as an antique document. Ghalib practically reprimanded Syed Ahmad Khan for wasting his talents and time on dead things. Worse, he praised sky-high the "sahibs of England" who at that time held all the keys to all the a’ins in this world. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan never again wrote a word in praise of the A'in-e Akbari and in fact gave up taking an active interest in history and archaeology. He did edit another two historical texts over

33075-420: Was also presented to the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland in London, which made him an honorary fellow. In 1855, he finished his scholarly, and illustrated edition of Abul Fazl 's A'in-e Akbari . The first and the third volume of the work were both published in 1855. The second volume, sent to the publisher in 1857, was destroyed in the rebellion that took place that year. Having finished

33264-420: Was also translated by the government of India and several members of parliament, but no version was offered to the public. A translation which had been started by Auckland Colvin , a government official was finished by Sir Syed's friend, Colonel G.F.I. Graham, and finally published in 1873. In 1860, Sir Syed wrote a series of bilingual pamphlets called the Risala Khair Khwahan-e Musalmanan-e-Hind (An Account of

33453-403: Was awarded the Order of the Star of India from the British government on 6 August. Travelling across England, he visited its colleges and was inspired by the culture of learning established after the Renaissance . Sir Syed returned to India in the following year determined to build a school modelled on Cambridge and Oxford imparting modern education to Indians. Upon his return, he established

33642-426: Was born at a time when his father was involved in regional insurrections aided and led by the East India Company , which had replaced the power traditionally held by the Mughal state, reducing its monarch to a figurehead . Syed Ahmad was the youngest of three siblings. With his elder brother Syed Muhammad bin Muttaqi Khan and elder sister Safiyatun Nisa, Sir Syed was raised in the house of his maternal grandfather in

33831-422: Was his teacher and friend in Agra, Nur al Hasan of Kandhala, a teacher in Arabic at Agra College in the early 1840s who encouraged and corrected his early works. He was also influenced by the works of the Tunisian reformer Hayreddin Pasha and adopted his approach of utilising freedom of expression for bringing reforms in the Muslim community. The western writers who most influenced his political thoughts were

34020-418: Was historically spoken in Lahore for centuries before the name "Urdu" first began to appear. However, little is known about this defunct Lahori variety as it has not been spoken for centuries. The term "Urdu-speakers" does not encompass culturally non-native speakers who may use Urdu as a first or second language, which would additionally account for a much larger number of total speakers in South Asia. From

34209-598: Was incumbent upon the British to "give military employment" to various north Indian Muslim soldiers, particularly those "formerly engaged in military service of the Native powers". The lingua franca spoken in the army was a form of Urdu referred to in colonial usage as "military Hindustani". The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was initiated by the 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry in Meerut, which was composed mainly of Indian Muslims. The mutineers made for Delhi, where its garrison revolted, massacring its British population, and installed Bahadur Shah Zafar as its nominal leader. The spread of

34398-425: Was intentioned as means of unification for Muslims in Northern India and later Pakistan, it adopted a modified Perso-Arabic script. Urdu continued its role in developing a Pakistani identity as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was established with the intent to construct a homeland for the Muslims of Colonial India. Several languages and dialects spoken throughout the regions of Pakistan produced an imminent need for

34587-428: Was made up and nothing could be done to change it, he wept and remained silent. After performing a supplementary prayer and asking God's blessing, Sir Syed sent almost all the 500 copies of his pamphlet to England, one to the government, and kept the rest himself. When the government of India had the book translated and presented before the council, Lord Canning, the governor-general, and Sir Bartle Frere accepted it as

34776-452: Was not convinced and asked Sir Syed over and over again if he was sure that no other copy had been distributed in India. Sir Syed reassured him on this matter, and Beadon never mentioned it again. Later he became one of Sir Syed's strongest supporters. Many official translations were made of the Urdu text of The Causes of the Indian Revolt . The one undertaken by the India Office formed the subject of many discussions and debates. The pamphlet

34965-549: Was one of the first religious schools to impart scientific education. Sir Syed also worked on social causes, helping to organise relief for the famine-struck people of North-West Province in 1860. While posted in Ghazipur in 1863, he established a madrasa which later became the Victoria High school. He also formed the Scientific Society in Ghazipur to promote educational reforms across the country. He wrote an insightful tract on education titled Iltimas Ba Khidmat-e-Sakinan-e-Hind Dar Bab-e- Taraqqi Taleem in Ahl-e-Hind ( Address to

35154-444: Was published in 1849. It is a critique of the prevalent Sufi practices around pir – murid relationships. The first part of the work is devoted to the concept of piri . In this part, he argues that Muhammad is the only valid pir. The work's second part is focused on muridi and the notion of bay'ah . He calls for reforms in the pir-murid relationship and the associated practises. Rah i Sunna dar radd i Bid'a ( The Sunna and

35343-452: Was referred to as "Moors", which simply meant Muslim, by European writers. John Ovington wrote in 1689: The language of the Moors is different from that of the ancient original inhabitants of India but is obliged to these Gentiles for its characters. For though the Moors dialect is peculiar to themselves, yet it is destitute of Letters to express it; and therefore, in all their Writings in their Mother Tongue, they borrow their letters from

35532-455: Was sent to Banaras and elevated to the position of a Sub-Judge of Small Causes. In April 1869, he accompanied his two sons Syed Hamid and Syed Mahmood to England, the latter had obtained a scholarship to study in England. Sir Syed retired from government service in 1876 and settled in Aligarh. In 1878, he was nominated as an additional member of the Imperial Legislative Council, which he served from July 1878 to July 1880. He also served

35721-564: Was transferred to Agra and promoted to the title of Naib Munshi or deputy reader in the office of the Commissioner. In 1841 he was appointed as the Munsif or Sub-Judge of Fatehpur Sikri and later transferred to Delhi in 1846. He remained in Delhi until 1854 except for two short-term postings to Rohtak as officiating Sadr Amin in 1850 and 1853. In 1855 he was promoted to the post of Sadr Amin in Bijnor . Acquainted with high-ranking British officials, Sir Syed obtained close knowledge about British colonial politics during his service at

#334665