Syed Ameer Ali

Syed Ameer Ali CSI (6 April 1849 – 3 August 1928) was an Indian jurist, a prominent political leader, and the author of a number of influential books on Muslim history and the modern development of Islam.

He hailed from the State of Oudh, from where his father moved and settled down in the Bengal Presidency, and is credited for his contributions to the Law of India, particularly Muslim personal law, as well as the development of political philosophy for Muslims, during the British Raj.

He was a signatory to the 1906 Petition to the Viceroy and was thus a founding member of the All India Muslim League. He played a key role in securing separate electorates for the Muslims in British India and promoting the cause of the Khilafat Movement.

He was born on 6 April 1849, toward the end of the Mughal Empire in India, at Cuttack in Odisha as the fourth of five sons of Syed Saadat Ali (d. 1856) from Mohan in Unnao of Oudh State. The Shiite family traced its descent to Muhammad through his daughter Fatima from Imam Ali al-Rida, his great-grandfather having moved to India from Khorasan in 1739, during Nadir Shah's Indian campaign.

His father settled in Cuttack after Ameer Ali's grandfather (who worked in the service of Asaf-ud-Daulah - the Nawab of Awadh) died in 1820. There he married the daughter of Shamsuddin Khan, one of the nobles of Sambalpur. He would later move the family to Calcutta, and then to Chinsura where they settled more permanently. His family took advantage of the educational facilities provided by the British government but was otherwise shunned by the Muslim community. He received his initial education at Hooghly Mohsin College, and with the assistance of his British teachers and supported by several competitive scholarships, he achieved outstanding examination results, graduating from Calcutta University in 1867, and gaining an MA degree with Honours in history in 1868. The LLB degree followed quickly in 1869. He then began legal practice in Calcutta. By this time, he was already one of the few outstanding Muslim achievers of his generation.

After moving to London, where he stayed between 1869 and 1873, he joined the Inner Temple (one of four professional associations for barristers and judges) and made contacts with some people of London. He absorbed the influence of contemporary liberalism. He had contacts with almost all the administrators concerned with India and with leading English liberals such as John Bright and the Fawcetts, Henry (1831–1898) and his wife, Millicent Fawcett (1847–1929.)

Syed Ameer Ali resumed his legal practice at Calcutta High Court on his return to India in 1873. The year after, he was elected as a Fellow of Calcutta University as well as being appointed as a lecturer in Islamic Law at the Presidency College, Kolkata. In 1878, he was appointed as a member of the Bengal Legislative Council. He revisited England in 1880 for one year.

He became a professor of law at Calcutta University in 1881. In 1883, he was nominated to the membership of the Governor General Council. In 1890, he was made a judge in the Calcutta High Court. Earlier he had founded the political organization, Central National Muhammedan Association, in Calcutta in 1877. This association later spread nationwide, with 34 branches from Madras to Karachi. This made him the first Muslim leader to put into practice the need for such an organisation due to the belief that efforts directed through an organisation would be more effective than those originating from an individual leader. The Association played an important role in the modernization of Muslims and in arousing their political consciousness. He was associated with it for over 25 years and worked for the political advancement of the Muslims.