Notes Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and his Historical Writings

Authors

  • Syed Munir Wasti

Abstract

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was interested in history and history-writing. His areas of interest were Islamic and South Asian history. In this essay, we examine certain relevant facets of this interest and its manifestation. There are a vast number of studies on the life, achievements and goals of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan [1817-1898]. His essays have been collected from his journalism in 18 volumes by Muhammad Ismail Panipati1 and his other writings, lectures and letters have also received editorial attention. A useful tool in this regard is the compilation titled Kitabiyat-i-Sir Syed made by Ziauddin Lahori.2 As this paper focuses on Sir Syed’s historical writings, we may mention here a recent doctoral thesis of Syeda Jabin Zehra on this very topic.3 As a matter of fact, any and all of Sir Syed’s writings be they on education or religion now come under the ambit of history but our narrower focus will be on those writings that deal with history as history alone though they may also admit of other classifications.

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Published

2020-02-14