INDIAN MUSLIMS: A HISTORICAL REVIEW

with their rulers as it was not going to serve their purpose. He tried to convince the Muslims that bright opportunities for the acquisition of knowledge were lying open for them, outside the sphere of the political dominance of the British. He tried to impress upon them that if they could devote their energies to the field of knowledge, their history would itself begin to change. The Encyclopedia Britannica gives the following description of Sir Sayyid’s mission: The supreme interest of Sayyid’s life was, however, education— in its widest sense. (…) (He) advised the Muslims against joining active politics and to concentrate instead on education (1/369). While Hirohito’s people accepted their leaders’ advice, Sir Sayyid’s people rejected their leader’s advice castigating him as a British agent. The difference in the result of respective responses is for all to see. Japan today occupies the top rung of the ladder of the world’s developed nations. On the contrary, the Muslims are today engaged in putting pressure upon the Indian government to declare Muslims a backward class so that they may avail of the privileges mandated for such reserved communities. It is the verdict of history that a community which fails in the test of prudent action can never compensate for its loss through agitational campaigns and charter of demands, even if their poets, orators and writers all join together in support of this demand. Far from observing the whims and fancies of any group, this world strictly adheres to the immutable laws of nature. Every individual and collective achievement in this world can be gained only by conforming to the laws of nature. Those who follow their own desire will receive nothing in this world. The Indian Muslims have to start their history anew from the point where they had left Sir Sayyid. They will have to learn to starve the problems and feed the opportunities already at hand. By availing the existing opportunities one enables oneself to solve other problems as well, whereas one who is entangled in the problems not only loses out on the existing opportunities but also fails to solve the problems. o By availing the existing opportunities one enables oneself to solve other problems as well, whereas one who is entangled in the problems not only loses out on the existing opportunities but also fails to solve the problems.