Syed Ameer Ali's Contribution To Muslim Politics

The British were among several European competitors; The Portuguese, the French, and the Dutch who had secured small footholds in the country in the seventeenth century. They started their career in the teeth of bitter opposition as a purely trading corporation which was the East Indian Company. During the period of Mughal supremacy the British did not think of conquering India. But when India surrendered to anarchy they were obliged to protect their settlements and finally began to interfere in the politics of this country through the rebellious princelings. However, situations had changed significantly by the close of the eighteenth century. Superior maritime powers and handy diplomacy enabled the English to get rid of their ill-equipped European competitors. Clive’s masterly stroke of policy, in securing the Dewani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, won a legal status for the British in India. It ‘caused a great glee in the hearts of the Proprietors of the Company’ who ‘were dazzled by golden visions of the future.’ The East India Company soon passed

He introduced a dynamic force in his program of serving the cause of the Muslims of the sub-continent. Ameer Ali’s contribution to Muslims politics is more important and powerful than Syed Ahmad Khan as he was the first Muslim to realize the necessity of a political organization of the Muslims and Central National Muhammadan Association he established at Calcutta in 1877 was the first political body of the Muslim community of the sub-continent. Syed Ameer Ali felt that the moral and intellectual revival of the Muslims was a fundamental necessity for their educational and political development. He aimed at making their moral revival the basis of their political movement. He believed that the knowledge of the past history and tradition of Islam would serve as a great inspiration to the Muslims in their social and political