SIR SYED AHMAD KHAN’S LEGACY

existed opportunities, side by side with them. In very simple terms, he gave the people a viable formula: Ignore the problems, feed the opportunities, and, by availing of opportunities, build your life. In Sir Syed’s time, even those who had eyes failed to see the wisdom of this dictum. But now, after the experience of a hundred years, even sightless people can see that Sir Syed’s way was the wisest and most appropriate. In Sir Syed’s own time, his approach had appeared to be one of cowardice and inaction. But its subsequent results showed its wisdom, and what its potential had been for positive action. In fact, it was the only possible strategy to adopt. Had his advice been heeded in the initial stages, the Muslim condition would certainly have been very different from what it is today. But the inability to learn from the past is an ever-present human weakness. Hence the prevalence today of the same shortsightedness as existed in Sir Syed’s time. People, of course, have now begun eulogizing the Sir Syed of the past, but if anyone speaks of applying Sir Syed’s solutions in the present, they again turn hostile to him as his own contemporaries did. The most pressing reality of this world is its competitiveness. In such a set-up, it is inevitable that one group or the other will be left behind. This state of affairs has existed since the days of Abel and Cain (the sons of Adam), and it will continue to exist till Doomsday. This system, created by God Himself, will never change. What needs to be done in this world of competition is not to keep protesting against the prevailing circumstances, but to make a careful study of them. Instead of reacting against the way things are, some method of adjusting to realities must be sought. Sir Syed’s formula is the key to such an adjustment. This world, being one of competition, is bound to be problem-ridden. It has been so throughout the ages and it is still so today. But it must be borne in mind that problems stem from nature’s own system and not from the oppression and prejudice of others. What is even more According to the system devised by nature itself, problems in this world are always followed by opportunities.