Sir Syed and his discipline
February 25, 2021, 6:56 PM IST
A senior assistant editor with the Times of India, Mohammed Wajihuddin writes about Muslims, their issues, hopes and aspirations. Committed to upholding inclusiveness, communal amity and freedom to dissent and debate, he endeavours to promote peaceful existence. A passionate reader of Islam, he endeavours to save the faith from the clutches of the jihadists. An ardent lover of Urdu poetry, he believes words are the best weapons to fight jingoism. LESS... MORE
Lessons learnt in childhood stays with you till the end. It happened with Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-1898) too. Once in his adolescence, Sir Syed’s mother turned him out of the house in Delhi for hitting a servant. He stayed with his aunt (khala) for a couple of days. The aunt brought Syed Ahmed—he was conferred with the hoonour of ‘Sir’ which became part of his name much later in life—home and produced him before his mother. She relented only after he apologised to the servant.