Arya Samaj In The Punjab

At the same time, Arya Samaj was making inroads into the Punjab. Within a short span of time, Arya Samaj made its presence felt in the Punjab. The Samaj, founded by Swami Dayananda Saraswati in 1875 at Bombay, got a ready response in Punjab. In 1877, Dayananda opened a branch of the Arya Samaj at Lahore. After Uttar Pradesh, Punjab had the highest branches of Arya Samaj during his lifetime. Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh, who led the agrarian agitation of 1907, were the prominent Arya Samajists. Hindus and Sikhs of the province warmly welcomed his call ‘Back to Vedas’ which stressed on the purity of original religion and rejected all false beliefs and practices prevalent in Hinduism. In fact, Arya Samaj was a reform movement based on rationality.

These associations, like other religious communities aimed at the religious, material and social uplift of community members. At the same time, they faced a grave threat from the increasing proselytising activities of the Christian missionary societies and growing economic prosperity of the Hindus, who, by virtue of their advancement in education, commerce and public services, were emerging as a dominant community in the province (Malik, Muslim Anjumans and Communitarian Consciousness, 2000, p. 112). Thus, the emergence of these Anjumans represented a new consciousness and responsiveness among the Muslims. Anjuman-i-Islamia, Lahore; Anjuman-i-Islamia, Amritsar; Anjuman-i-Himayat-i-Islam, Amritsar were some important associations which played an active role in the Muslim affairs. The objectives of these Anjumans were to propagate Islam, to appoint preachers, to publish pamphlets and journals and to make arrangements for the religious instruction of the Muslim boys and girls so as to ward off adverse affects of the teaching of other religions. The members of these associations strived for social reform and moral improvement of the Muslim community. They established several schools, orphanage homes and publishing houses. However, the membership of these Anjumans, except a few, was not large enough; it usually was confined to the range of 100-400. Members of the middle and upper middle classes such as scions of aristocratic families, honorary magistrates, lawyers, traders and government officials assumed the leadership of these Anjumans. These Anjumans contributed significantly in the field of education. The Muslim community set up schools (Madrassas) for girls and boys in Batala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Shimla, Ropar, Amritsar, Rawalpindi and Multan. Although, the education imparted in these institutions was not of incredibly high standard, but they fulfilled the great need of the Muslim