The impact of colonial experience on the religous and social thought of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan and Ahmad Hassan: a comparison

This thesis studies in a comparative framework the impact of colonial experience of the religous and social thought of two modernists, Ahmad Khan of India and Ahmad Hassan of Indonesia. At the religous level, both modernists were much concerned with the purification of Islam. They called upon the Muslims to return to the Qur'an and hadith, abandon taqlid and to undertake ijtihad. Ahmad Hassan, influenced by the natural sciences and rationalism of the West, was also inclined to interpret Islam in a naturalistic and rational manner. Ahmad Hassan, on the other hand, was very much preoccupied with the purification of Islam and the return to the Qur'an and hadith, and was little influenced by the Western impact through colonialism. At the social level, both modernists considered education to be the essential means to sical betterment. But whereas Ahmad Khan also believed in cooperation with the British, Ahmad Hassan was opposed to the Dutch.This study concludes by showing that, given the Western colonial experience, Ahmad Khan's socio-religous thought was rational, realistic, liberal and dynamic. While Ahmad Hassan too lived in a colonial society, his socio-religous thought was puritanical, defensive and ideological.vii, 99 hl