Two-nation theory in the context of "Opposition to the partition of India"

The Pakistan Movement was a nationalist political and social movement, emerging in the early 20th century, that advocated the formation of Pakistan as a separate Muslim homeland in the Muslim-majority parts of what was then the British Raj. It was rooted in the two-nation theory, which asserted that Muslims of the subcontinent were fundamentally and irreconcilably distinct from Hindus of the subcontinent (who formed the demographic majority) and would therefore require separate self-determination upon the Decolonisation of the subcontinent. The idea was largely realised when the All-India Muslim League ratified the Lahore Resolution on 23 March 1940, calling for the Muslim-majority regions of the Indian subcontinent to be "grouped to constitute independent states" that would be "autonomous and sovereign" with the aim of securing Muslim socio-political interests vis-à-vis the Hindu majority. It was in the aftermath of the Lahore Resolution that, under the aegis of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the cause of "Pakistan" (though the name was not used in the text itself) became widely popular among the Muslims of South Asia.

Instrumental in establishing a base for the Pakistan Movement was the Aligarh Movement, which consisted of several reforms by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan that ultimately promoted a system of Western-style scientific education among the subcontinent's Muslims, seeking to enrich and vitalise their society, culture, and religious thought as well as protect it. Khan's efforts fostered Muslim nationalism in South Asia and went on to provide both the Pakistan Movement and later the country that it would yield with its leadership.

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (17 October 1817 – 27 March 1898), also spelled Sayyid Ahmad Khan, was an Indian Muslim reformer, philosopher, and educationist in nineteenth-century British India.

Though initially espousing Hindu–Muslim unity, he later became the pioneer of Muslim nationalism in India and is widely credited as the father of the two-nation theory, which formed the basis of the Pakistan movement. Born into a family with strong ties to the Mughal court, Ahmad studied science and the Quran within the court. He was awarded an honorary LLD from the University of Edinburgh in 1889.