Abstract
During colonial period Indian education system became the victim of colonial designs. The colonial modern education system served colonial interest of creating a new collaborating elite which helped the British in administration and maintaining local political control. At the same time the colonial state supported Christian Missionaries who dominated the education system and played a key role in educating the Indian middle and lower classes, and propagating Christianity among the Indian masses. To oppose this colonial educational religious wave, Muslim theologians, scholars and Sufis came forward to secure Indian Muslim community religiously as well as politically. In central India, first Muslim reaction in the realm of education came in the form of Dār al-‘Ulūm Deoband while in north-western part of India, particularly in Punjab, it was spearheaded by the native Chishtī Sufi Khānqāhī (shrine) institutes. In this paper, two prominent Chishtī Khānqāhī Madrasahs’ educational services are discussed along with their religious and political impact, which stirred anti-colonial sentiments among the followers of Chishtī Sufis and shrine based communities. This paper focuses on the Madrasah of Khānqāh of Khawaja Sulaiman Taūnswī, who was the Khalifa of Khawaja Nūr Muhammad Mahārwī, and on the Madrasah of Khānqāh of Khawaja Shams al-Din Sialwī which was the daughter Khānqāh of Khawaja Sulaiman Taūnswī in the north-western part of the Punjab.

Muhammad Ijaz, Tahir Mahmood. (2020) Education in India: A case study of Chishtī Madrasahs’ Response to Colonial Education in Punjab, Journal of the Punjab University Historical Society, Volume 33 , Issue 1.
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