Mohammed Ali Jauhar was a product of the Aligarh movement and a principal figure in the historical processes that resulted in the emergence of Pakistan. To appreciate the contributions of this towering personality one must retrace the footprints of history in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The decimation of the Muslim aristocracy in northern India following the uprising of 1857 created a political vacuum which left the masses despondent and rudderless. A new order had come into being, dictated by British imperial interests in which the prerequisite for advancement and prosperity was acquiescence to, and adaptation of western education and cultural values. The Muslims distrusted the new order as hostile to their own values, beliefs and traditional educational systems. The distrust was mutual. The British, on their part, looked askance at the Muslims whose rule they had usurped in large parts of the subcontinent through conquest, diplomacy or deceit. a principal figure.
