Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and Moradabad

Much before Aligarh, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan founded Schools in Moradabad and Ghazipur. His Educational and Social activities prominently started after the 1857 Mutiny. On 1^st April 1858, Sir Syed was appointed as Sadr-us Sudur at Moradabad. The school was founded here in 1859. It was known as Tehseel School and the name of Sir Syed (the founder of the School) was previously lost in files. Some new construction happened across decades and the Heritage building was in very bad shape. Now the original building is completely lost. His wife, Parsa Begum died in Moradabad (1861) and her grave is in the Shaukat Bagh compound. Interesting to note that the grave of Syed Zainul Abideen is close to Sir Syed in the vicinity of Jama Masjid, AMU and wife of Syed Zainul Abideen is buried close to Parsa Begum.

My recent visit to Moradabad to meet my Alig friends Mohammad Mohiuddin & Tehzeeb Ahmad was a different experience. Visit to the school was a big disappointment as the Heritage building was completely demolished a few days back. This is high time to get ourselves aware of our Heritage and Culture first and subsequently work for the preservation as well as promotion. My recent book, Discovering AMU captured the photograph of the grave in Moradabad which was clicked just a few months back by Mohammad Mohiuddin. The positive impact is the installation of inscription recently (the year needs to be corrected to 1861) and it needs more maintenance and beautification. In view of the Centenary Celebrations of AMU, Parsa Begum should be honored as we lack any building / institution in her name at Aligarh Muslim University !

During his stay at Moradabad, Sir Syed revised Tarikh-e Firozshahi and the revised edition was published by the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1862. A lot of research work is required on the life and thought of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. Although we have many books on the subject, plenty of missing links are there in his biography which needs to be properly documented. Various scholars need to connect and work in a Team !

This is a big question mark on the passion of Aligs based across everywhere. Why we are not able to preserve our Heritage. All such places related to Sir Syed Ahmed in various cities are declining. However, London preserved his home; the visit there was only for 17 months. This is high time to get ourselves aware of our Heritage and Culture first and subsequently work for the preservation as well as promotion. All the tangible aspects should be preserved and his vision be followed.