Azizun Nisa Begum, mother of Sir Syed, was killed by the British forces in 1857

Guest Column,

Mahino Fatima  / Awaz e Khwateen  

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan is often credited, and rightly so, for bringing renaissance of modern education among Indian Muslims. Among Muslims in general, and Aligarhians in particular, his male comrades are also talked about in high esteem. Sadly, like any other historiography, much of history remains silent about the women who played their role in the Aligarh Movement, which is an organized attempt at developing modern outlook among Indian Muslims.

I will be writing about a woman, who had an important role in shaping up the personality of Sir Syed. Azizun Nisa Begum, a woman who has lost it to the male dominant historiography. Rarely people talk about her, about whom Sir Syed wrote that as a mother, she was better than thousands of teachers.

Azizun Nisa Begum never went to a modern educational institution but she could read Arabic and Persian well. Gulistan of Sadi was taught to Sir Syed by her. He wrote that she would keep a stick with her while listening to school lessons from him. The lessons taught and the values imparted by her, according to Sir Syed, were the reasons behind the man he was.

Sir Syed recalled that once when he wanted to inflict revenge upon a person, rightfully so, his mother asked him not to. She argued that if you leave the revenge for Allah, it would be more severe and thus one should not take revenge no matter what. This teaching remained with him for the rest of his life and can be assumed to be one of the reasons why he did not confront the British after 1857 as well.

Another lesson was taught when he was an eleven years old boy. Sir Syed slapped a servant. For this, his mother expelled him from the home and he had to live at his aunt’s place for three days. The matter was solved only after he publicly apologized to the servant and the servant forgave me. After this, he always showed humility to the poor people around him. The lesson developed into an important characteristic of how we remember Sir Syed.

Another very important aspect of Sir Syed often celebrated was the notion of cooperation. The Aligarh Muslim University (Aligarh College in his time) was established with crowd funding. The idea that wealth belongs to the society and should be used for social, rather than personal, causes was deep rooted in him. He wrote that once when Azizun Nisa was ill and Sir Syed bought him medicine, she secretly fed it to an old widow, Zeba, dependent on her. After a few days when his mother got healthier, Sir Syed excitedly told her that the medicine was really good. To this, his mother smiled and asked if he really believed that only medicines and not Allah cured humans. She said that the medicines were given to Zeba because if we did not care about our fellow humans then we could not claim to be human ourselves. This incident was very much evident in the social life of Sir Syed later on.

Begum would visit the families facing boycott because of intercaste marriages. It was her argument that humans were equal and should not discriminate on the basis of manmade social structures. She would help widows and other women with money as well.

Begum would teach him to remain down to earth. It was because of her influence that Sir Syed would walk by foot more often than by horse cart. She used to tell him that a person should always be prepared for hard times.

Almost everyone, who knows about Sir Syed, knows that he had written a book analyzing the factors behind the First War of Independence of 1857. It is this revolt of 1857, which convinced him that Indian Muslims needed modern education and outlook. But, what people do not know is the reason behind this profound impact of 1857 upon him.

Sir Syed’s mother, Azizun Nisa Begum was killed by the torture of the British forces during the First War of Independence of 1857. At the time of the revolt, Begum was living in Delhi with her blind sister and a few servants, while Sir Syed was posted in Meerut. When the British defeated the Indian forces, they unleashed a reign of terror in Delhi among Indians. The troops also entered Begum's house and ransacked it. She saved her own and sister’s life by hiding in the servants quarter. For more than a week, she remained there without food and water. After a week, Sir Syed arrived in Delhi looking for her only to find that she was without a single drop of water in the last three days. He could not find any drinkable water in the whole Delhi and at last an English officer in Red Fort gave him some, which was fed to his mother, aunt and servants. A horse carriage of the postal department was arranged and these women were taken to Meerut. But, the trauma was too much for Begum. She could not digest a single morsel and would vomit even medicines. Her health deteriorated and in a few days, she left the world.

This event shook up Sir Syed and made him ponder over the reasons of the revolt, and its consequences. This was the event which convinced him that the Indians in  general, and Muslims in particular, needed to adopt a modern scientific approach towards life. Today, people studying in Delhi rarely know about Azizun Nisa Begum, her profound impact on Sir Syed and hence the Aligarh Movement.

(Dr. Mahino Fatima is a young scientist by profession and a writer by passion. Her research fields are neurobiology, genetics, environmental sciences etc.)