As a colleague of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan he made a contribution to the school of Muslim Modernists and presented reformative thinking about the Qur'an. He contributed numerous works to the school of Muslim Modernists such as A Critical Exposition of the Popular Jihad and Proposed Political, Legal and Social Reforms Under Moslem Rule. His interactions with Christians in British India also marked him as a Muslim apologist with a particular focus on the wars of Muhammad.