# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/syed-ahmad-khan
# Generated: 2026-09-01T05:04:30.839Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/syed-ahmad-khan"
name: "Syed Ahmad Khan"
slug: "syed-ahmad-khan"
description: "He believed British-style education would save India's Muslims from orthodoxy — and ended up the intellectual architect of partition. Syed Ahmad Khan spent decades preaching Hindu-Muslim cooperation, then reversed course and laid the groundwork for the two-nation theory that split the subcontinent in 1947."
tagline: "Indian Muslim reformer and social activist (1817–1898)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/SAKhan.jpg"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "India"
  isoCode: "IN"
category:
  name: "Academics"
  slug: "academics"
profileType:
  name: "Academic"
  slug: "academic"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "1817-10-17"
deathDate: "1898-03-27"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           56.75
  momentum:             2.775479503572771
  historical:           24.011624
  currentAttention:     15.41933057540429
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Activists"
    slug: "activists"
  - name: "Academic"
    slug: "academic"
  - name: "Philosophy"
    slug: "philosophy"
  - name: "Law"
    slug: "law"
  - name: "Politics"
    slug: "politics"
  - name: "News Broadcasting"
    slug: "news-broadcasting"
  - name: "Activism"
    slug: "activism"
  - name: "19th Century"
    slug: "19th-century"
sources:
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    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syed_Ahmad_Khan"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/Syed%20Ahmad%20Khan"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
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    title: "السيد احمد خان"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seyid_%C6%8Fhm%C9%99d_Xan"
    title: "Seyid Əhməd Xan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%88%E0%A6%AF%E0%A6%BC%E0%A6%A6_%E0%A6%86%E0%A6%B9%E0%A6%AE%E0%A6%A6_%E0%A6%96%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A8"
    title: "সৈয়দ আহমদ খান"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad-Khan_Bahadur"
    title: "Ahmad-Khan Bahadur"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sajjid_Ahmad_Ch%C3%A1n"
    title: "Sajjid Ahmad Chán"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayyid_Ahmad_Khan"
    title: "Sayyid Ahmad Khan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syed_Ahmad_Khan"
    title: "Syed Ahmad Khan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syed_Ahmed_Khan"
    title: "Syed Ahmed Khan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B3%DB%8C%D8%AF_%D8%A7%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF_%D8%AE%D8%A7%D9%86_%D9%87%D9%86%D8%AF%DB%8C"
    title: "سید احمد خان هندی"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syed_Ahmad_Khan"
    title: "Syed Ahmad Khan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gom.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%AF%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%A6_%E0%A4%85%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%A6_%E0%A4%96%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A8"
    title: "सय्यद अहमद खान"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Syed Ahmed Khan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Syed Ahmed Khan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Syed Ahmed Khan"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "საიდ აჰმად ხანი"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "ಸೈಯ್ಯದ್ ಅಹಮದ್ ಖಾನ್"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "사이이드 아흐마드 칸"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "سید احمد خان"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://az.wikiquote.org/wiki/Seyid_%C6%8Fhm%C9%99d_Xan"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
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    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Syed_Ahmed_Khan"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://eo.wikiquote.org/wiki/Syed_Ahmad_Khan"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://hi.wikiquote.org/wiki/%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%88%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%A6_%E0%A4%85%E0%A4%B9%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%A6_%E0%A4%96%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A8"
    title: "Wikiquote"
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# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Born into a family with strong ties to the Mughal court in 1817, Ahmad studied the Quran and science before joining the East India Company in 1838, eventually becoming a judge. During the 1857 Indian Mutiny he saved European lives, then published a booklet blaming British policies for causing the revolt. Convinced that Muslim rigidity threatened their future, he founded Victoria School at Ghazipur in 1863, a scientific society in 1864, and in 1875 the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College — the first Muslim university in Southern Asia. He promoted Urdu as a common language, called for loyalty to the Raj, and opposed parliamentary democracy on the grounds that communal tensions and limited education would prevent impartiality. The University of Edinburgh awarded him an honorary LLD in 1889. He died in 1898, his advocacy for rationalist Islam and Quranic reinterpretation still shaping reformist thought, his legacy claimed by Pakistan as foundational.