(Following is an excerpt from a letter written by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan which was originally published in the Aligarh Institute Gazette in 1869 & translated by G. F. I. Graham in 1885. Here, Syed was writing about his visit to Yemen with his two sons and a servant.)
Did Sir Syed Ahmad Khan support Wahhabism?
Sir Syed’s emotions for Prophet Muhammad
“On Friday, the 16th April, (1869) the Arabian coast came in sight, greatly to my delight. As I gazed upon it, I thought of God having caused our blessed Prophet to be born in it. Major Dodd, Director of Public Instruction at Nagpur, my great friend, came up to me as I was gazing, and asked me if I had seen the land of the Prophet ? I said ‘ Yes ; this is Arabia the blest.’ That evening the lofty mountain on which Aden is situated was visible, the lighthouse to guide us in gleaming brightly from it.”
Hindus & temples in Yemen
“We afterwards visited the bazaars, where we came across a couple of shops which sold roasted Indian corn, of which we bought in memory of Hindustan. We also bought bread and meat, and chupattis cooked like those at the Kutab, near Delhi ; and going to a masjid, had our food, and gave away what remained to the beggars.
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan on Ottoman Caliph or Turkish Sultan
” There are many races in Aden, but Arabs and Egyptians preponderate. The Somalis are most numerous, but I have not been able to find out what race they are. They speak Arabic, but so badly that I could only understand four or five words. They also did not understand my Arabic well. I was greatly delighted to hear these Somalis talking a little Urdu, which they knew sufficient of to make it easy for a Hindustani to get all necessary work done. The Somalis are also pretty well up in English and French knowing the former, however, better than the latter. There are several masjids here, the largest being the Idris, ‘-the ‘ Jumma ‘ being the largest convent. On leaving our mosque where we had eaten, I saw a Hindu, to whom I spoke, and found that he was a Marwari from Bombay, and was then a merchant at Aden. He had been here for a long time, having, however, constantly visited Bombay. He told me that there were three Hindu temples in Aden, those of Mahadeo, Hanuman, and another, the name of which I have forgotten, all of which had been built by contributions from Hindus visiting the place. I was delighted to find that Hindus could come so far across the ocean in steamers without losing their caste. God grant that the Hindus of my part of India will soon take this to heart. All the inhabitants, shopkeepers and others, were very dirty, the Somalis being just like savages. The English certainly are the cleanest of nations, although some of their customs are open to cavil.”
