Ek hi saf mein khare ho gaye Mahmud-o-Ayaz (Mahmud of Ghazni and his slave stood shoulder to shoulder in prayer.) The mosque, madrasa and the marketplace became centres for social mobility. But even this apparently egalitarian system could not escape stratification—albeit, larger ones: Ashraf, Ajlaf and Arzal. (Elite, weavers and middle craftsmen and the menials.) As we have seen, Sir Syed Ahmad’s Aligarh Muslim University was meant only for the Ashraf, consisting of Sayyids, Pathans and Shaikhs or converts from Hindu upper castes among the Hindus.
