Sir Syed Ahmed Khan – a renowned philosopher and reformer of nineteenth century British India who pioneered the famous ‘Two Nation Theory’ - was born approximately 60 years before Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
While there is no direct connection between the two, Jinnah was to eventually become the heir who materialised Sir Syed Ahmed Khan’s long-term vision. Upon studying this.. in my opinion it seems that the two did, in fact, have a very indirect connection with one another.
In his later years, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was convinced that western education in the Indian subcontinent was the key to produce future muslim leaders. He proceeded to setup the famous Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College (later known as the Aligarh University). Here, Sir Thomas Walker Arnold was hired as a teacher. While this institution was on its rise during the early 1890s, Jinnah was all the way in London, training to become a barrister.
Sir Thomas Walker Arnold was to eventually become the teacher of Sir Muhammad Iqbal at the Government College Lahore – it was him who convinced Iqbal to pursue higher education in the west and thereafter he was educated in Germany and Great Britain.
Sir Muhammad Iqbal later went on to become one of the greatest academic scholars of the subcontinent and eventually had a close connection with Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
This is the connection between Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
