Abstract

Aligarh Movement can rightly be considered as the torchbearer of modern trends in Urdu literature as it introduced new trends in Urdu literature hitherto non-existent therein. The efforts of the exponents of the movement expanded the horizons of Urdu literature beyond poetry that too, in the past, was limited only to the praise of the beloved; it enabled Urdu literature to open up its folds to embrace new realities of life, thus paving the way for a utilitarian view of literature. It is justifiably credited with for laying the founding stone for new movements in Urdu Literature like Romanticism, Progressive Movement, and Halqa Arbab-e-Zauq. This movement is so prolific and holistic in its nature that it lefts imprints on every field of Urdu Literature and even after the lapse of more than 150 years, it is still relevant while finding out historic and literary genesis of various trends in Urdu literature.

Key Words

Aliarh, Urdu Literature, Trends, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Movement

Introduction

Aligarh Movement, in the latter half of the 19th Century, was responsible for the social, moral and political uplift of the Muslims of the Sub-continent. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan's tireless efforts laid the foundations of the Movement. The basic purpose of the movement was to address the deplorable plight of the Muslims and to save them from the atrocities of the British Raj after the War of Independence, in 1857. It is an admitted fact that the natives of the Sub-continent collectively pledged their last efforts to free themselves of the clutches and shackles of British Slavery. The British Raj regarded the revolution as 'mutiny' simply to downgrade its importance in the annals of history. But, the fact is that it was a popular uprising and Lord Canning himself admitted the War of Independence as 'organized rebellion instead of scattered mutiny’ (Saeed, 2000, p.2). Once the rebellion was over, all the blame of the rebellion was laid at the threshold of the Muslims as they were the previous rulers of the Sub-continent. In those trying times, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, came forward for the rescue of the Muslims and took several steps for the uplift and betterment of the Muslims as a nation. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan's efforts soon took the shape of a movement that ultimately left positive effects on the socio-cultural, political and educational aspects of the Muslim community. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan used Urdu as a mode of communication with his people to impart his message to the masses that introduces new trends in Urdu language and literature. 




The Case of Urdu Language

Before moving towards the new trends introduced in the Urdu language and literature by the Movement, it is important to have a look on the case of Urdu language fought by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and afterwards by his disciples.  Garcine de-Tassi has been quoted by Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali that the Hindus prejudicially tried to get rid of everything that reminded them of the Muslim Rule. So, they opposed the Urdu language, as a medium of education and source of literary and social understanding and heritage despite the fact that many renowned Urdu scholars like Ratan Nath Sarshar, Munshi Prem Chand, Chakbast, Pandit Daya Shankar Naseem, Krishan Chandar contributed towards the rich literary heritage of Urdu Literature irrespective of their caste, creed, and religion. The readers of Urdu literature did never bifurcate the works by Muslim writers or writers from other religions. But, the Hindus, out of their centuries’ old hatred towards Muslims, opposed the Urdu Language at every step. Dr. Abid Hussain Abid has been quoted as saying that the fact of Urdu being an official language was adversely affecting the Hindus and they considered that if Hindi is introduced as official language in courts and offices that would increase the chances of service opportunities for the Hindus. But, the cause of the Hindus’ opposition to the Urdu language was more than that as they thought that Urdu was the language of the Muslims; so, with the fall of the Muslim rule in India, Urdu Language as symbol of Muslim rule should also be abolished (Siddiqui, 2011, pp. 179-180). 

This extreme opposition to the Urdu language by the Hindus forced Sir Syed Ahmad Khan to predict that the Muslims of the Sub-continent would ultimately part their ways from the Hindu community. This movement to oppose Urdu introduce Hindi as an official language has the backing of Babu Shiv Parshad who was associated with the Education Department for the North-Western Districts. He even attacked Sir Syed's Scientific Society and persuaded the Hindu members of the Society that books being translated from the Society should be in Hindi and even the Institute Gazette should also be published in the Hindi language with nagri script. This fact very much disturbed the thinking of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan who hitherto considered Hindus and Muslims as two eyes of the bride and damage to one eye would make the bride ugly. He was now of the opinion that both the nations could not go hand in hand in any matter and in coming days this opposition would only enhanced and he deplored that one would see his prediction coming true in the future. So, in 1898, in the last days of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s life, a memorial was presented to Anthony Macdonnel, Lt. Governor of UP, a highly prejudicial British official towards the interests of Muslims, to introduce Hindi and Devnagri scripts in government offices. He notified Nagri script alongside Persian script in courts and offices in 1900. The prophesy of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan came true When the Congress formed ministries in 1937 and came leashing on Muslim interest including the Urdu language (Saeed, 2000, pp. 54-55).  




Sir Syed’s View of Literature

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was very well aware of the inadequacies of Urdu prose and poetry. He rendered many useful ideas for the writers of Urdu literature. Despite the fact that there were a lot of critics of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s literary point of view even during his lifetime, but no one has the guts to move his pen against Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. He was an ardent advocate of the utilitarian viewpoint of literature. He was of the view that literature should not be based on stories, legends and imagination. He was abhorrent of poetry that has no ability to instill or infuse activism in its readers. The old Urdu literature was full of verbosity, phraseology and construction; even Urdu prose was full of rhyme and rhythm and writing rhythmic prose was considered a sign of distinction. Ceremonial writing was the fashion of the day and writing in simple language was not in vogue. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was of the opinion that literature was not about the collection and representation of beautiful words and diction. He was of the view that our old books did not teach us truthfulness, simplicity, frankness, and reality. The simple language of Fort William College, on the other hand, was also not liked by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan because that was appropriate only for stories and legends. He considered the diction used in Ghalib’s letters was only appropriate for day-to-day conversation. Therefore, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan presented essays in simple and plain language on political, economic, literary, and religious topics. He laid the foundation of academic prose and so new Urdu prose was introduced in Urdu literature (Naqvi, 2010, pp. 75-77).  




Urdu Prose

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was a prolific writer; he wrote logical and scholarly prose influencing many others to follow his footprints. Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali and Maulana Shibli Naumani also wrote in Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s style. Both these scholars contributed a lot in Aligarh Movement. The most important example in this regard is Tehzeeb-ul-Akhlaq; a journal that advanced Urdu prose. This journal contained essays and articles on every aspect of life. Whenever a controversial issue becomes the topic, many more essays and writings surfaced in favour of or against the issue and this would go on for days. It is fact that writing on controversial issues damaged the cause of the Aligarh Movement but Urdu prose benefitted a lot form it. The fashion of writing prose in a simple and logical style with a utilitarian view of literature in writers' mind, was not liked by many of the readers and writers of the opposite school of thought. The opposite school was of the opinion that a utilitarian mindset in literature has damaged the true essence of literature. The overwhelming concept of utility and purposefulness of literature has laid restrictions on the minds of writers. Besides, the reader should also be entertained while imparting moralities to the masses. So, Awadh Punch, was launched from Lucknow in 1877 by Munshi Sajjad Hussain. Opposite to Sir Syed’s style, this weekly was satirical and humorous in nature. In this way, the foundations of satire and humor can also be traced back to Aligarh Movement. Renowned Urdu humorist Akbar Allahabadi was also associated with this paper who is still named as one of the biggest name in humorous and satirical poetry in Urdu literature. 




Urdu Novel

The traces of the Urdu novel are also traced back to Aligarh Movement. Hitherto, legends were abundant in Urdu literature which were mainly based on the imaginative flight of the story-tellers with supernatural elements that had nothing to do with reality. The Aligarh Movement was mainly focused on reformative aspects of readers especially Muslims of India. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan wrote reformative essays and articles; Deputy Nazir Ahmad wrote allegories for the reformation of Muslim society. He had some differences with Sir Syed Ahmad Khan's views but was in conformity with Sir Syed's thoughts as regards the uplift, reformation, and education of Muslims. His allegories explain the problems of the Muslim household in an interesting way. He focused on the education of Muslim girls. His diction was simple and effective with phrases of Dehlvi day to day life (Siddiqui, 2014, pp. 62-63). He was in the first ranks to propagate Sir Syed’s educational plans. For many years, Deputy Nazir Ahmad had been regarded as the first novelist of Urdu literature and his novel ‘Mirat-ul-Uroos’ which was published in 1869 had been considered the first novel of Urdu (Akhtar, 2013, pp. 331-332). However, later critics consider it as an allegory which is deficient in many aspects to be called a novel. Nonetheless, his allegories are rightly considered as the foundation of the Urdu novel upon which Mirza Hadi Ruswa, the first Urdu novelist, laid the first brick of the Urdu novel.   




Historiography

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan had a keen interest in history that manifested in research treatises accepting the fact that the rulers are always better than the ruled ones. His rectified and compiled edition of Abul Fazl’s ‘Ain-e-Akbari’ is very famous. He also compiled ‘Tarikh-e-Ferozshahi’ and ‘Tuzk-e-Jahangiri’ by Zia-ud-Din Barani but ‘Asaar-us-Sandid’ received incomparable fame in its time. This book was about history, old buildings, archaeological sites, and famous personalities of Delhi. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was so aware of the importance of simple and comprehensible diction that afterwards, he changed the style and diction of this book. The revised edition contained some modifications and corrections that were not included in the first edition. The salient feature of the later edition was that it was free of Asiatic overstatements and formalities (Hali, 2000, p. 69). Sir Syed Ahmad Khan attracted Hali and Shibli to choose biographies of renowned Muslim personalities for the uplift and motivation of the Muslims of India. Maulana Shibli Naumani wrote famous biographies in Urdu literature that are still considered to be the beacon house for the biography writers of Urdu literature. The most famous biographies of Shibli include ‘Seerat-un-Nabi’, ‘Al-Farooq’, ‘Al-Mamun’, ‘Al-Ghazali’ and ‘An-Nauman’. The prefaces to these biographies are the rich sources of the principles of historiography for future historians and biographers. He says that wherever a group of human beings was present, so they have history and memoirs with them because people used to quote the feats of their ancestors for the purpose of showing their superiority (Naumani, 2013, p. 13). The style of Maulana Shibli Naumani was later followed by his disciple Syed Suleman Nadvi. On the other hand, Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali wrote the biographies of the personalities from the near past; ‘Hayat-e-Javed’ was about the life and work of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan whereas ‘Yaadgaar-e-Ghalib’ was about the life and work of Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib. The preface to ‘Yaadgaar-e-Ghalib’ by Hali throws light on the purpose of selecting the personality of Mirza Ghalib. He says that generally in every nation and specifically in backward nations seldom born individuals of high standards whose personalities, though not directly benefit the nation, become the source of real addition and heritage in field of any science, art or literature and added something new to the heritage of ancestors. To ponder upon the lives of such individuals, to scrutinize their work and to benefit from the novelty of their thoughts is included in those duties of the nation oblivion of which would be a matter of remorse (Hali, 2002, p. 15).          

The movement that had been started by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was multidimensional, diverse and multi-purpose. On the political front, it strived to instill the sense of cultural survival, political progress and social uplift in the Muslims. On the religious front, this movement strived to redress the problem of superstition in Muslims and it also paved the way for religious explanation in the light of new science (Sadeed, 1991, p. 280). It was perceived by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan that non—Muslims, especially the Orientalists, was presenting a tarnished image of Islam that was damaging not only the true spirit of Islam but also causing discomfort among the Muslim of India. He was of the opinion that religion must be in conformity with the demands of time. To him, the work of interpretation and explanation of religion was the most important task. He was utterly convinced that if religion was not in conformity with the demands of time that would lead to a situation where religion becomes irrelevant for human life. The biggest threat to religion during that time was the new inventions of science. For this purpose, Sir Syed Ahmad khan introduced religious interpretations in the light of science and scientific theories. He was probably the first Indian to comprehend the need of studying comparative religion. For that purpose, he introduced Sansikrit in Aligarh College, motivated people to read the Bible, he also stressed that the misconceptions being spread in the West about the Prophet (SAWW) and Islam can only be effectively responded in the logical and philosophical way (Nizami, 1994, pp. 19-20). ‘Jala-ul-Qulub bi Zikr-il-Mehbub’, ‘Ta’am Ahl-e-Kitab’, ‘Kalma tul-Haq’, ‘Tab’een-ul-Kalam’, Raah-i-Sunnat Dar Radd-i-Bid’at’, and ‘Tafseer-ul-Quran’ are the books which are the evidence of the style and Philosophy of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. The most prominent book by an orientalist at that time was “The Life of Muhammad” by William Muir in which he presented a distorted picture of Islam and attacked the personality of the Prophet (SAWW) in a derogatory manner. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was moved by the attacks of William Muir and decided to respond to the allegations in a logical and investigative way. for that purpose, he travelled to England and consulted British libraries to build his thesis and wrote ‘Khutbaat-e-Ahmadiya’. The book was later on translated into English by his son. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan discussed various topics related to the life of the Prophet (SAWW) and tried to refute the charges against the Prophet (SAWW) (Hopf, 2021, p. 75). Likewise, moved by the work of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Syed Ameer Ali wrote ‘The Spirit of Islam’ to do away with the damage done to the image of Islam. Maulana Shibli Naumani’s ‘Seerat-un-Nabi’ is also a pearl of the same necklace.  




New Poetic Vision

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan's utilitarian view of literature was most evidently manifested itself in the poetry of Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali. Like prose, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and his follows propagated a utilitarian view of literature in poetry. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan himself wrote poetry in his early literary career but he found himself not inclined towards poetry. Mualana Altaf Hussain Hali was basically a poet of ghazal but when he was associated with poetic symposiums of Anjuman Punjab, he diverted his attention towards new verse and penned down mathnavis like ‘Barkha Rut’, ‘Nishat-e-Ummeed’, ‘Hubb-e-Watan’, Manazir-e-Rehm-o-Insaf’. Hali wrote ‘Madd-o-Jazar-e Islam’ in the form of Musaddis which later on got famous as ‘Musaddis-e-Hali’ on the motivation of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. It was so much liked by Sir Syed that he said that on the day of judgment when Allah would ask him that what he has brought for Him form the world he would say that I have brought ‘Musaddis-e-Hali’ with me. This epic poem is about the rise and fall of the Muslims. Hali has brought to the fore the plight of the Muslims of that time and reminded them about their glorious time when they were the rulers of the world. In this way, Hali aimed at uplifting the social, religious, educational, and political stature of the Muslims. Hali writes in preamble to the first edition of Musaddis that his childhood was the days of a Kingman ship and were free of care and worries; they days of youth were devoid of love affairs and self-adoration. He further states that, in youth, he intentionally became pseudo-lover who was lost in the thoughts of an imaginary beloved. He was like a rudderless boat from the age of twenty to forty. When he came to the senses, he noticed that he was there from where he started his journey. Then, he met a person who seems tired and weary yet ready to help out his fellow countrymen (referring to Sir Syed Ahmad Khan). It appeared that not only he was helping the hapless but also motivating other people to help others. The plight of the nation was touching lowest ebbs of moral and social canons. The verse that is liked by most of the populace had never been used to awaken the sleepy nation. It seemed difficult to use poetry as a tool of awakening but the advice of the advisor (Sir Syed) was encouraging him to do the same. So, he began writing the Musaddis with a view to remind the Muslims of their past glories and to achieve the same again through activeness and awareness. So, he preferred simplicity over verbosity and reality over imagination in his poetry and laid the foundation of modernism in Urdu verse. Later on, Maulana Muhammad Hussain Azad introduced free verse in Urdu literature. Hali further paved the way of national poetry by the poets like Allama Muhammad Iqbal and Hafeez Jalandhari. 




Literary Critisim

In the field of poetic criticism, ‘Muqaddama Sher-o-Shairi’ by Hali is a book of such a standing that it is still relevant in contemporary Urdu literature. It propagated the cause of purposeful poetry in Urdu. He says that in the contemporary world, couplet is considered as a magic lantern that gives more light when it is put in more dark room. Likewise, when poetry is manifested in the days of darkness and ignorance, it becomes more effective. He is of the view that the talent of poetry is not without significance. He believes that the poetic imagination is God-gifted and cannot be learnt by efforts; only that individual becomes a poet who has been gifted by nature with such qualities. He is convinced of the effects of poetry that it induces feelings of joy or sadness in its reader which signifies how effectively it can be used for achieving a purpose. Then, he goes on to quote the examples of Byron, Memoon bin Qais, Rodki, Omar Khayyam, and Firdousi who influenced generations with their poetry (Hali, 2001, pp. 12-22). Iqbal’s ‘Baal-e-Jibreel’, ‘Asrar-e Khudi’, ‘Ramuz-e Be-khudi’ and ‘Piyam-e Mashriq’ are the evidence of the fact that his poetry is based on Hali’s poetical theory. Hafeez Jalndhari’s ‘Shahnama-e-Islam’ is also an example of the poetry which has been envisaged by Hali in his ‘Muqaddam Sher-o-Shairi’. 




Urdu Travelogue

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan travelled to London and wrote a travelogue by the name of ‘Safarnaama Musaafiraan-e London’ that is about his experiences of travel to England. The diction and style of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was simple and comprehensible and his travel was with a certain purpose and was not a leisure trip. When Sir Syed and Shibli travelled to Europe and shared their experiences through their travelogues, it motivated others to write travelogues and so travelogue began surfacing as a separate branch of Urdu literature (Sadeed, 1991, pp. 308-309). Shibli has to travel to foreign libraries in search of material for his research work. So, he wrote ‘Safarnaama Room-o-Misr-o-Sham’ about his experiences and difficulties in the search for literary material. The commonality between the travelogues of Sir Syed and that of Shibli was the purpose of the travel. Maulana Muhammad Hussain Azad’s ‘Sair-e-Iran’ was also a travelogue of that era. This travelogue lacks coherence as Maulana was preoccupied with the task of searching books in the libraries of Iran. The other travelogue writers of that era like Nisar Ali Baig (Sairi-e-Europe), Nawab Muhammad Umar Khan (Aina-e-Farang, Zaad-e-Ghareeb, Safarnaama-e-Raees, Arzhang-e-Cheen), Nawab Hamid Ali Khan (Sair-e-Hamdi) and Muhammad Ali Shah Sabzwari (Khaufnaak Duniya) may be included in the list who were influenced by the style of Sir Syed Ahmad khan and his fellows. Apart from travelogues of the travels to a foreign land, travelogues of travels to different parts of the Sub-continent were also written by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (Safarnaama-e-Punjab), Miandad Khan Sayyah (Sair-e-Sayyah), Munshi Sri Ram Dehlvi (Waqaye Sri Ram), Lala Junaida Ram (Safarnaama Junaida Ram), Pandit Gopi Nath and Kishan Parshad Shad (Sair-i-Punjab). Travelogues by the pilgrims of sacred lands were also written in that period by Mansab Ali Khan Meerthi (Maah-e-Maghrib), Haji Bahadur Shah (Rafeeq-e-Hajj), Munshi Barkat Ali (Rehnuma-e-Hajj), Babu Meeran Bakhsh (Khuddam-e-Hajjaj), Hafiz Abdur Rehman Amritsari (Safarnaama Balaad-e-Islamiya).




Literary Memoirs

Special attention was given towards memoirs during Aligarh Movement. The salient feature of the memoirs of that period was the exclusion of Persian phrases from Urdu text. The most important memoir was ‘Aab-e-Hayat’ by Maulana Muhammad Hussain Azad. He benefitted from many memoirs ranging from ‘Nakat-ush-Shu’ra’ to ‘Tazkira Khush Ma’rka-e-Zeba’. In spite of collecting the lives of poets in alphabetical order, he divided them into periods and presented the literary specifications of each period. He also discussed the origin of the Urdu language and tried to find out the sources of this language. The other important memoir of that period was ‘Armughan-e Gokul Parshad’ that has been considered of vital importance by Doctor Farman Fatehpuri. ‘Sukh’n-e Shu’ra’ Abdul Ghafoor Nastakh, and ‘Baharastan-e Naaz’ by Faseehuddin Ranj were also important memoirs of that period. 




Letters

Another genre of Urdu literature that developed during the period of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan is letters. Letters are written by individuals on the spur of their personal needs. During that time, letters were a source of communication between individuals. But, the letters written by literary figures are distinguished from the letters written by commoners because of their content, diction and style. This is the reason that the letters written by literary figures are always regarded as a basic source of information about those personalities. Many collections of letters by intellectuals have been published and letters are regarded a separate genre of literature. Ghalib’s letters are regarded as the most significant form of prose during the period of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan himself wrote letters to various personalities that throw light on his thoughts and philosophy. Ghalib’s letters are written in simple language describing the contemporary events of Delhi. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s letters were also written in simple language. Rajab Ali Baig Suroor’s letter writing came to the fore in the shape of ‘Insha-e-Suroor’. Like Ghalib, Suroor was also standing on the junction of old and new. Wajid Ali Shah’s letters were written to his wives and contained personal communication. Shibli’s letters are also wrapped in the envelope of personal communication but the diction and language of his letters prove him as an aesthetician; his letters written to Atiya Begum are important in this regard. Deputy Nazir Ahmad is successful for infusing literary grandeur even in dry and tasteless discussions. The simplicity that is the most significant quality of letters written by Sir Syed and Ghalib becomes a demerit in letters written by Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali because his letters are much colorless, plain and without a taste of diction. The letters of Nawab Waqar-ul-Mulk are the embodiment of complaints about friends and fellows whereas the letters of Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk are only a source of communication. Maulana Muhammad Hussain Azad's letters differentiate him from the Azad of 'Aab-e-Hayaat. Akbar Allah Abadi’s letters contain those thoughts and feelings which he cannot share in the general public. All these letters influenced the art of letter writing in the future besides being a source of firsthand information about the India of post War of Independence. 




Urdu Journalism

The most oppressed was the field of journalism after the War of Independence because the British were of the view that newspapers would become a source of another uprising in India. Of twenty-five Urdu newspapers, only twelve were left after 1857. The British were suspicious about Muslim journalism whereas the Hindu press successfully obtained the patronage of the Raj. Many renowned men of letters like Mirza Hairat Dehlvi, Ratan Nath Sarshaar, Abdul Haleem Sharar remained associated with ‘Awadh Akhbar’ that was published by Munshi Naval Kishore. The newspaper mainly focused on social issues using simple language and avoiding confrontation with government policies. ‘Fasana-e-Azaad’ was published in this paper in episodes. ‘Awadh Punch’ was published by Munshi Sajjad Hussain. Besides promoting humor in Urdu literature, this paper introduced reactionary school against the thinking and philosophy of the Aligarh Movement. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan issued ‘Scientific Society Akhbar’ or ‘The Aligarh Institute Gazette’ which was published in Urdu and English with a vision to communicate the grievance of the Muslims to the Government. The most important task done by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan after his return from London was the issuance of ‘Tehzeeb-ul-Akhlaq’ on the patterns of English papers ‘The Spectator’ and ‘The Tatler” with a view of the reformation of Muslims. The other prominent paper of that period include ‘Punjabi AKhbar’ Muhammad Azeem from Lahore, ‘Rafeeq-e-Hind’ by Maulvi Mehroom Ali Chishti from Lahore, ‘Paisa Akhbar’ by Maulvi Mehboob Alam from Lahore, ‘Dil Gudaz’ by Abdul Haleem Sharar from Lucknow, ‘Jareeda-e-Rozgaar’ by Murtaza Shah Qadri from Madras and ‘Khursheed-e-Dakkan’ by Mirza Kazim from Deccan. All these newspapers set high standards of journalistic and literary values to be followed by the papers of the future. 




Sir Syed’s Legacy

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s most significant achievement was infusing the spirit of literature and research in his friends and fellows. Shibli and Hali directly benefitted from the scholarly taste of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. Syed Mehmud was groomed by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. Maulvi Abdul Haq was convinced of Syed Mehmud’s qualities of mind and heart. Among the contemporaries of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan were Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk, Nawab Waqar-ul-Mulk, Maulvi Nazir Ahmad, Hali and Chiragh Ali enthusiastically propagated his educational mission on every front. They were provided with the platform of ‘Tehzeeb-ul-Akhlaq’ and the Educational Conference for their training. The first generation of Aligarh advanced the cause of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan on every front of literature and politics. Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar’s English paper ‘Comrade’ and Urdu paper ‘Hamdard’ was even famous overseas. Sajjad Haider Yaldaram was interested in Turkey literature and he translated many literary pieces to Urdu. He is regarded as the first short story writer of Urdu literature. Abdur Rehman Bijnauri was interested in Ghalib and produced the master piece of Urdu critique ‘Mahasin Kalaam-e-Ghalib. Mehdi Hassan Affadi, Khawaja Ghulam-us-Saqlain and Aziz Mirza are other prominent literary figures influenced by Aligarh Movement (Nizami, 1994, pp. 27-43).          

Introduction

Aligarh Movement, in the latter half of the 19th Century, was responsible for the social, moral and political uplift of the Muslims of the Sub-continent. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan's tireless efforts laid the foundations of the Movement. The basic purpose of the movement was to address the deplorable plight of the Muslims and to save them from the atrocities of the British Raj after the War of Independence, in 1857. It is an admitted fact that the natives of the Sub-continent collectively pledged their last efforts to free themselves of the clutches and shackles of British Slavery. The British Raj regarded the revolution as 'mutiny' simply to downgrade its importance in the annals of history. But, the fact is that it was a popular uprising and Lord Canning himself admitted the War of Independence as 'organized rebellion instead of scattered mutiny’ (Saeed, 2000, p.2). Once the rebellion was over, all the blame of the rebellion was laid at the threshold of the Muslims as they were the previous rulers of the Sub-continent. In those trying times, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, came forward for the rescue of the Muslims and took several steps for the uplift and betterment of the Muslims as a nation. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan's efforts soon took the shape of a movement that ultimately left positive effects on the socio-cultural, political and educational aspects of the Muslim community. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan used Urdu as a mode of communication with his people to impart his message to the masses that introduces new trends in Urdu language and literature. 




The Case of Urdu Language

Before moving towards the new trends introduced in the Urdu language and literature by the Movement, it is important to have a look on the case of Urdu language fought by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and afterwards by his disciples.  Garcine de-Tassi has been quoted by Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali that the Hindus prejudicially tried to get rid of everything that reminded them of the Muslim Rule. So, they opposed the Urdu language, as a medium of education and source of literary and social understanding and heritage despite the fact that many renowned Urdu scholars like Ratan Nath Sarshar, Munshi Prem Chand, Chakbast, Pandit Daya Shankar Naseem, Krishan Chandar contributed towards the rich literary heritage of Urdu Literature irrespective of their caste, creed, and religion. The readers of Urdu literature did never bifurcate the works by Muslim writers or writers from other religions. But, the Hindus, out of their centuries’ old hatred towards Muslims, opposed the Urdu Language at every step. Dr. Abid Hussain Abid has been quoted as saying that the fact of Urdu being an official language was adversely affecting the Hindus and they considered that if Hindi is introduced as official language in courts and offices that would increase the chances of service opportunities for the Hindus. But, the cause of the Hindus’ opposition to the Urdu language was more than that as they thought that Urdu was the language of the Muslims; so, with the fall of the Muslim rule in India, Urdu Language as symbol of Muslim rule should also be abolished (Siddiqui, 2011, pp. 179-180). 

This extreme opposition to the Urdu language by the Hindus forced Sir Syed Ahmad Khan to predict that the Muslims of the Sub-continent would ultimately part their ways from the Hindu community. This movement to oppose Urdu introduce Hindi as an official language has the backing of Babu Shiv Parshad who was associated with the Education Department for the North-Western Districts. He even attacked Sir Syed's Scientific Society and persuaded the Hindu members of the Society that books being translated from the Society should be in Hindi and even the Institute Gazette should also be published in the Hindi language with nagri script. This fact very much disturbed the thinking of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan who hitherto considered Hindus and Muslims as two eyes of the bride and damage to one eye would make the bride ugly. He was now of the opinion that both the nations could not go hand in hand in any matter and in coming days this opposition would only enhanced and he deplored that one would see his prediction coming true in the future. So, in 1898, in the last days of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s life, a memorial was presented to Anthony Macdonnel, Lt. Governor of UP, a highly prejudicial British official towards the interests of Muslims, to introduce Hindi and Devnagri scripts in government offices. He notified Nagri script alongside Persian script in courts and offices in 1900. The prophesy of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan came true When the Congress formed ministries in 1937 and came leashing on Muslim interest including the Urdu language (Saeed, 2000, pp. 54-55).  




Sir Syed’s View of Literature

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was very well aware of the inadequacies of Urdu prose and poetry. He rendered many useful ideas for the writers of Urdu literature. Despite the fact that there were a lot of critics of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s literary point of view even during his lifetime, but no one has the guts to move his pen against Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. He was an ardent advocate of the utilitarian viewpoint of literature. He was of the view that literature should not be based on stories, legends and imagination. He was abhorrent of poetry that has no ability to instill or infuse activism in its readers. The old Urdu literature was full of verbosity, phraseology and construction; even Urdu prose was full of rhyme and rhythm and writing rhythmic prose was considered a sign of distinction. Ceremonial writing was the fashion of the day and writing in simple language was not in vogue. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was of the opinion that literature was not about the collection and representation of beautiful words and diction. He was of the view that our old books did not teach us truthfulness, simplicity, frankness, and reality. The simple language of Fort William College, on the other hand, was also not liked by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan because that was appropriate only for stories and legends. He considered the diction used in Ghalib’s letters was only appropriate for day-to-day conversation. Therefore, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan presented essays in simple and plain language on political, economic, literary, and religious topics. He laid the foundation of academic prose and so new Urdu prose was introduced in Urdu literature (Naqvi, 2010, pp. 75-77).  




Urdu Prose

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was a prolific writer; he wrote logical and scholarly prose influencing many others to follow his footprints. Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali and Maulana Shibli Naumani also wrote in Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s style. Both these scholars contributed a lot in Aligarh Movement. The most important example in this regard is Tehzeeb-ul-Akhlaq; a journal that advanced Urdu prose. This journal contained essays and articles on every aspect of life. Whenever a controversial issue becomes the topic, many more essays and writings surfaced in favour of or against the issue and this would go on for days. It is fact that writing on controversial issues damaged the cause of the Aligarh Movement but Urdu prose benefitted a lot form it. The fashion of writing prose in a simple and logical style with a utilitarian view of literature in writers' mind, was not liked by many of the readers and writers of the opposite school of thought. The opposite school was of the opinion that a utilitarian mindset in literature has damaged the true essence of literature. The overwhelming concept of utility and purposefulness of literature has laid restrictions on the minds of writers. Besides, the reader should also be entertained while imparting moralities to the masses. So, Awadh Punch, was launched from Lucknow in 1877 by Munshi Sajjad Hussain. Opposite to Sir Syed’s style, this weekly was satirical and humorous in nature. In this way, the foundations of satire and humor can also be traced back to Aligarh Movement. Renowned Urdu humorist Akbar Allahabadi was also associated with this paper who is still named as one of the biggest name in humorous and satirical poetry in Urdu literature. 




Urdu Novel

The traces of the Urdu novel are also traced back to Aligarh Movement. Hitherto, legends were abundant in Urdu literature which were mainly based on the imaginative flight of the story-tellers with supernatural elements that had nothing to do with reality. The Aligarh Movement was mainly focused on reformative aspects of readers especially Muslims of India. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan wrote reformative essays and articles; Deputy Nazir Ahmad wrote allegories for the reformation of Muslim society. He had some differences with Sir Syed Ahmad Khan's views but was in conformity with Sir Syed's thoughts as regards the uplift, reformation, and education of Muslims. His allegories explain the problems of the Muslim household in an interesting way. He focused on the education of Muslim girls. His diction was simple and effective with phrases of Dehlvi day to day life (Siddiqui, 2014, pp. 62-63). He was in the first ranks to propagate Sir Syed’s educational plans. For many years, Deputy Nazir Ahmad had been regarded as the first novelist of Urdu literature and his novel ‘Mirat-ul-Uroos’ which was published in 1869 had been considered the first novel of Urdu (Akhtar, 2013, pp. 331-332). However, later critics consider it as an allegory which is deficient in many aspects to be called a novel. Nonetheless, his allegories are rightly considered as the foundation of the Urdu novel upon which Mirza Hadi Ruswa, the first Urdu novelist, laid the first brick of the Urdu novel.   




Historiography

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan had a keen interest in history that manifested in research treatises accepting the fact that the rulers are always better than the ruled ones. His rectified and compiled edition of Abul Fazl’s ‘Ain-e-Akbari’ is very famous. He also compiled ‘Tarikh-e-Ferozshahi’ and ‘Tuzk-e-Jahangiri’ by Zia-ud-Din Barani but ‘Asaar-us-Sandid’ received incomparable fame in its time. This book was about history, old buildings, archaeological sites, and famous personalities of Delhi. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was so aware of the importance of simple and comprehensible diction that afterwards, he changed the style and diction of this book. The revised edition contained some modifications and corrections that were not included in the first edition. The salient feature of the later edition was that it was free of Asiatic overstatements and formalities (Hali, 2000, p. 69). Sir Syed Ahmad Khan attracted Hali and Shibli to choose biographies of renowned Muslim personalities for the uplift and motivation of the Muslims of India. Maulana Shibli Naumani wrote famous biographies in Urdu literature that are still considered to be the beacon house for the biography writers of Urdu literature. The most famous biographies of Shibli include ‘Seerat-un-Nabi’, ‘Al-Farooq’, ‘Al-Mamun’, ‘Al-Ghazali’ and ‘An-Nauman’. The prefaces to these biographies are the rich sources of the principles of historiography for future historians and biographers. He says that wherever a group of human beings was present, so they have history and memoirs with them because people used to quote the feats of their ancestors for the purpose of showing their superiority (Naumani, 2013, p. 13). The style of Maulana Shibli Naumani was later followed by his disciple Syed Suleman Nadvi. On the other hand, Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali wrote the biographies of the personalities from the near past; ‘Hayat-e-Javed’ was about the life and work of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan whereas ‘Yaadgaar-e-Ghalib’ was about the life and work of Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib. The preface to ‘Yaadgaar-e-Ghalib’ by Hali throws light on the purpose of selecting the personality of Mirza Ghalib. He says that generally in every nation and specifically in backward nations seldom born individuals of high standards whose personalities, though not directly benefit the nation, become the source of real addition and heritage in field of any science, art or literature and added something new to the heritage of ancestors. To ponder upon the lives of such individuals, to scrutinize their work and to benefit from the novelty of their thoughts is included in those duties of the nation oblivion of which would be a matter of remorse (Hali, 2002, p. 15).          

The movement that had been started by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was multidimensional, diverse and multi-purpose. On the political front, it strived to instill the sense of cultural survival, political progress and social uplift in the Muslims. On the religious front, this movement strived to redress the problem of superstition in Muslims and it also paved the way for religious explanation in the light of new science (Sadeed, 1991, p. 280). It was perceived by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan that non—Muslims, especially the Orientalists, was presenting a tarnished image of Islam that was damaging not only the true spirit of Islam but also causing discomfort among the Muslim of India. He was of the opinion that religion must be in conformity with the demands of time. To him, the work of interpretation and explanation of religion was the most important task. He was utterly convinced that if religion was not in conformity with the demands of time that would lead to a situation where religion becomes irrelevant for human life. The biggest threat to religion during that time was the new inventions of science. For this purpose, Sir Syed Ahmad khan introduced religious interpretations in the light of science and scientific theories. He was probably the first Indian to comprehend the need of studying comparative religion. For that purpose, he introduced Sansikrit in Aligarh College, motivated people to read the Bible, he also stressed that the misconceptions being spread in the West about the Prophet (SAWW) and Islam can only be effectively responded in the logical and philosophical way (Nizami, 1994, pp. 19-20). ‘Jala-ul-Qulub bi Zikr-il-Mehbub’, ‘Ta’am Ahl-e-Kitab’, ‘Kalma tul-Haq’, ‘Tab’een-ul-Kalam’, Raah-i-Sunnat Dar Radd-i-Bid’at’, and ‘Tafseer-ul-Quran’ are the books which are the evidence of the style and Philosophy of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. The most prominent book by an orientalist at that time was “The Life of Muhammad” by William Muir in which he presented a distorted picture of Islam and attacked the personality of the Prophet (SAWW) in a derogatory manner. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was moved by the attacks of William Muir and decided to respond to the allegations in a logical and investigative way. for that purpose, he travelled to England and consulted British libraries to build his thesis and wrote ‘Khutbaat-e-Ahmadiya’. The book was later on translated into English by his son. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan discussed various topics related to the life of the Prophet (SAWW) and tried to refute the charges against the Prophet (SAWW) (Hopf, 2021, p. 75). Likewise, moved by the work of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Syed Ameer Ali wrote ‘The Spirit of Islam’ to do away with the damage done to the image of Islam. Maulana Shibli Naumani’s ‘Seerat-un-Nabi’ is also a pearl of the same necklace.  




New Poetic Vision

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan's utilitarian view of literature was most evidently manifested itself in the poetry of Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali. Like prose, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and his follows propagated a utilitarian view of literature in poetry. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan himself wrote poetry in his early literary career but he found himself not inclined towards poetry. Mualana Altaf Hussain Hali was basically a poet of ghazal but when he was associated with poetic symposiums of Anjuman Punjab, he diverted his attention towards new verse and penned down mathnavis like ‘Barkha Rut’, ‘Nishat-e-Ummeed’, ‘Hubb-e-Watan’, Manazir-e-Rehm-o-Insaf’. Hali wrote ‘Madd-o-Jazar-e Islam’ in the form of Musaddis which later on got famous as ‘Musaddis-e-Hali’ on the motivation of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. It was so much liked by Sir Syed that he said that on the day of judgment when Allah would ask him that what he has brought for Him form the world he would say that I have brought ‘Musaddis-e-Hali’ with me. This epic poem is about the rise and fall of the Muslims. Hali has brought to the fore the plight of the Muslims of that time and reminded them about their glorious time when they were the rulers of the world. In this way, Hali aimed at uplifting the social, religious, educational, and political stature of the Muslims. Hali writes in preamble to the first edition of Musaddis that his childhood was the days of a Kingman ship and were free of care and worries; they days of youth were devoid of love affairs and self-adoration. He further states that, in youth, he intentionally became pseudo-lover who was lost in the thoughts of an imaginary beloved. He was like a rudderless boat from the age of twenty to forty. When he came to the senses, he noticed that he was there from where he started his journey. Then, he met a person who seems tired and weary yet ready to help out his fellow countrymen (referring to Sir Syed Ahmad Khan). It appeared that not only he was helping the hapless but also motivating other people to help others. The plight of the nation was touching lowest ebbs of moral and social canons. The verse that is liked by most of the populace had never been used to awaken the sleepy nation. It seemed difficult to use poetry as a tool of awakening but the advice of the advisor (Sir Syed) was encouraging him to do the same. So, he began writing the Musaddis with a view to remind the Muslims of their past glories and to achieve the same again through activeness and awareness. So, he preferred simplicity over verbosity and reality over imagination in his poetry and laid the foundation of modernism in Urdu verse. Later on, Maulana Muhammad Hussain Azad introduced free verse in Urdu literature. Hali further paved the way of national poetry by the poets like Allama Muhammad Iqbal and Hafeez Jalandhari. 




Literary Critisim

In the field of poetic criticism, ‘Muqaddama Sher-o-Shairi’ by Hali is a book of such a standing that it is still relevant in contemporary Urdu literature. It propagated the cause of purposeful poetry in Urdu. He says that in the contemporary world, couplet is considered as a magic lantern that gives more light when it is put in more dark room. Likewise, when poetry is manifested in the days of darkness and ignorance, it becomes more effective. He is of the view that the talent of poetry is not without significance. He believes that the poetic imagination is God-gifted and cannot be learnt by efforts; only that individual becomes a poet who has been gifted by nature with such qualities. He is convinced of the effects of poetry that it induces feelings of joy or sadness in its reader which signifies how effectively it can be used for achieving a purpose. Then, he goes on to quote the examples of Byron, Memoon bin Qais, Rodki, Omar Khayyam, and Firdousi who influenced generations with their poetry (Hali, 2001, pp. 12-22). Iqbal’s ‘Baal-e-Jibreel’, ‘Asrar-e Khudi’, ‘Ramuz-e Be-khudi’ and ‘Piyam-e Mashriq’ are the evidence of the fact that his poetry is based on Hali’s poetical theory. Hafeez Jalndhari’s ‘Shahnama-e-Islam’ is also an example of the poetry which has been envisaged by Hali in his ‘Muqaddam Sher-o-Shairi’. 




Urdu Travelogue

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan travelled to London and wrote a travelogue by the name of ‘Safarnaama Musaafiraan-e London’ that is about his experiences of travel to England. The diction and style of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was simple and comprehensible and his travel was with a certain purpose and was not a leisure trip. When Sir Syed and Shibli travelled to Europe and shared their experiences through their travelogues, it motivated others to write travelogues and so travelogue began surfacing as a separate branch of Urdu literature (Sadeed, 1991, pp. 308-309). Shibli has to travel to foreign libraries in search of material for his research work. So, he wrote ‘Safarnaama Room-o-Misr-o-Sham’ about his experiences and difficulties in the search for literary material. The commonality between the travelogues of Sir Syed and that of Shibli was the purpose of the travel. Maulana Muhammad Hussain Azad’s ‘Sair-e-Iran’ was also a travelogue of that era. This travelogue lacks coherence as Maulana was preoccupied with the task of searching books in the libraries of Iran. The other travelogue writers of that era like Nisar Ali Baig (Sairi-e-Europe), Nawab Muhammad Umar Khan (Aina-e-Farang, Zaad-e-Ghareeb, Safarnaama-e-Raees, Arzhang-e-Cheen), Nawab Hamid Ali Khan (Sair-e-Hamdi) and Muhammad Ali Shah Sabzwari (Khaufnaak Duniya) may be included in the list who were influenced by the style of Sir Syed Ahmad khan and his fellows. Apart from travelogues of the travels to a foreign land, travelogues of travels to different parts of the Sub-continent were also written by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (Safarnaama-e-Punjab), Miandad Khan Sayyah (Sair-e-Sayyah), Munshi Sri Ram Dehlvi (Waqaye Sri Ram), Lala Junaida Ram (Safarnaama Junaida Ram), Pandit Gopi Nath and Kishan Parshad Shad (Sair-i-Punjab). Travelogues by the pilgrims of sacred lands were also written in that period by Mansab Ali Khan Meerthi (Maah-e-Maghrib), Haji Bahadur Shah (Rafeeq-e-Hajj), Munshi Barkat Ali (Rehnuma-e-Hajj), Babu Meeran Bakhsh (Khuddam-e-Hajjaj), Hafiz Abdur Rehman Amritsari (Safarnaama Balaad-e-Islamiya).




Literary Memoirs

Special attention was given towards memoirs during Aligarh Movement. The salient feature of the memoirs of that period was the exclusion of Persian phrases from Urdu text. The most important memoir was ‘Aab-e-Hayat’ by Maulana Muhammad Hussain Azad. He benefitted from many memoirs ranging from ‘Nakat-ush-Shu’ra’ to ‘Tazkira Khush Ma’rka-e-Zeba’. In spite of collecting the lives of poets in alphabetical order, he divided them into periods and presented the literary specifications of each period. He also discussed the origin of the Urdu language and tried to find out the sources of this language. The other important memoir of that period was ‘Armughan-e Gokul Parshad’ that has been considered of vital importance by Doctor Farman Fatehpuri. ‘Sukh’n-e Shu’ra’ Abdul Ghafoor Nastakh, and ‘Baharastan-e Naaz’ by Faseehuddin Ranj were also important memoirs of that period. 




Letters

Another genre of Urdu literature that developed during the period of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan is letters. Letters are written by individuals on the spur of their personal needs. During that time, letters were a source of communication between individuals. But, the letters written by literary figures are distinguished from the letters written by commoners because of their content, diction and style. This is the reason that the letters written by literary figures are always regarded as a basic source of information about those personalities. Many collections of letters by intellectuals have been published and letters are regarded a separate genre of literature. Ghalib’s letters are regarded as the most significant form of prose during the period of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan himself wrote letters to various personalities that throw light on his thoughts and philosophy. Ghalib’s letters are written in simple language describing the contemporary events of Delhi. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s letters were also written in simple language. Rajab Ali Baig Suroor’s letter writing came to the fore in the shape of ‘Insha-e-Suroor’. Like Ghalib, Suroor was also standing on the junction of old and new. Wajid Ali Shah’s letters were written to his wives and contained personal communication. Shibli’s letters are also wrapped in the envelope of personal communication but the diction and language of his letters prove him as an aesthetician; his letters written to Atiya Begum are important in this regard. Deputy Nazir Ahmad is successful for infusing literary grandeur even in dry and tasteless discussions. The simplicity that is the most significant quality of letters written by Sir Syed and Ghalib becomes a demerit in letters written by Maulana Altaf Hussain Hali because his letters are much colorless, plain and without a taste of diction. The letters of Nawab Waqar-ul-Mulk are the embodiment of complaints about friends and fellows whereas the letters of Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk are only a source of communication. Maulana Muhammad Hussain Azad's letters differentiate him from the Azad of 'Aab-e-Hayaat. Akbar Allah Abadi’s letters contain those thoughts and feelings which he cannot share in the general public. All these letters influenced the art of letter writing in the future besides being a source of firsthand information about the India of post War of Independence. 




Urdu Journalism

The most oppressed was the field of journalism after the War of Independence because the British were of the view that newspapers would become a source of another uprising in India. Of twenty-five Urdu newspapers, only twelve were left after 1857. The British were suspicious about Muslim journalism whereas the Hindu press successfully obtained the patronage of the Raj. Many renowned men of letters like Mirza Hairat Dehlvi, Ratan Nath Sarshaar, Abdul Haleem Sharar remained associated with ‘Awadh Akhbar’ that was published by Munshi Naval Kishore. The newspaper mainly focused on social issues using simple language and avoiding confrontation with government policies. ‘Fasana-e-Azaad’ was published in this paper in episodes. ‘Awadh Punch’ was published by Munshi Sajjad Hussain. Besides promoting humor in Urdu literature, this paper introduced reactionary school against the thinking and philosophy of the Aligarh Movement. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan issued ‘Scientific Society Akhbar’ or ‘The Aligarh Institute Gazette’ which was published in Urdu and English with a vision to communicate the grievance of the Muslims to the Government. The most important task done by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan after his return from London was the issuance of ‘Tehzeeb-ul-Akhlaq’ on the patterns of English papers ‘The Spectator’ and ‘The Tatler” with a view of the reformation of Muslims. The other prominent paper of that period include ‘Punjabi AKhbar’ Muhammad Azeem from Lahore, ‘Rafeeq-e-Hind’ by Maulvi Mehroom Ali Chishti from Lahore, ‘Paisa Akhbar’ by Maulvi Mehboob Alam from Lahore, ‘Dil Gudaz’ by Abdul Haleem Sharar from Lucknow, ‘Jareeda-e-Rozgaar’ by Murtaza Shah Qadri from Madras and ‘Khursheed-e-Dakkan’ by Mirza Kazim from Deccan. All these newspapers set high standards of journalistic and literary values to be followed by the papers of the future. 




Sir Syed’s Legacy

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s most significant achievement was infusing the spirit of literature and research in his friends and fellows. Shibli and Hali directly benefitted from the scholarly taste of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. Syed Mehmud was groomed by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. Maulvi Abdul Haq was convinced of Syed Mehmud’s qualities of mind and heart. Among the contemporaries of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan were Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk, Nawab Waqar-ul-Mulk, Maulvi Nazir Ahmad, Hali and Chiragh Ali enthusiastically propagated his educational mission on every front. They were provided with the platform of ‘Tehzeeb-ul-Akhlaq’ and the Educational Conference for their training. The first generation of Aligarh advanced the cause of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan on every front of literature and politics. Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar’s English paper ‘Comrade’ and Urdu paper ‘Hamdard’ was even famous overseas. Sajjad Haider Yaldaram was interested in Turkey literature and he translated many literary pieces to Urdu. He is regarded as the first short story writer of Urdu literature. Abdur Rehman Bijnauri was interested in Ghalib and produced the master piece of Urdu critique ‘Mahasin Kalaam-e-Ghalib. Mehdi Hassan Affadi, Khawaja Ghulam-us-Saqlain and Aziz Mirza are other prominent literary figures influenced by Aligarh Movement (Nizami, 1994, pp. 27-43).          

Conclusion

To conclude with, the Aligarh Movement was the harbinger of new trends in Urdu. It not only influenced and changed the old trends of Urdu literature but also introduced new trends. This movement basically aimed at socio-cultural and political uplift of the Muslims that used every genre of Urdu literature to convey its message to the masses. In the process of conveying its message to the masses, it influenced every branch of literature. Urdu poetry that was limited to the flight of imagination and stories of love, was enabled to address and accommodate the problems and needs of contemporary life. Urdu get rid of old style that full of verbosity, textual adoration and Persian phrases giving way to simple and purposeful language with focus on the content not the form. The principles of Historiography were laid down by the component of the Movement for future writers of history and biography. The way for the novel was paved by the writing of allegories. The travelogues were also written with new dimensions. The reaction to the utilitarian view of literature propagated by Aligarh movement paved the way for future movements of literature like Romanticism, Progressive Movement and the Movement of Halqa Arabab-e-Zaoq. The journalistic standards were raised for future journalism. Special attention was given to translations as it was considered as an important way of introducing foreign content and style in Urdu and the same trend became the reason of introduction of short story in Urdu literature. Memoirs of this period focused on qualities and features of poetry besides life history of the poets. So, affecting every branch of Urdu literature, Aligarh Movement proved to be the torchbearer of modern trends in Urdu literature.  

References

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