The history of Aligarh Muslim University begins with the Aligarh movement, which was a movement to establish a Western style of education for the Muslims of British India. The movement was pioneered by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, who founded the Muhammadan Anglo Oriental College in Aligarh. Sir Syed retired at Aligarh, and undertook the charge of raising funds for the college, and supervising the construction of the campus.
After Sir Syed's death in 1898, a fund was instituted to convert the college into a university. With the rise of the Khilafat movement during the first world war, the college became a center of Muslim political activity. In 1920, the college was converted to the Aligarh Muslim University by an act of the British government. In 1935, the engineering college was established. The university remained a center of politics, with both the Indian independence movement and the Pakistan movement gaining traction at the university.
After Indian independence and partition in 1947, a large number of students and staff migrated to the newly created Pakistan. Zakir Husain was appointed vice-chancellor to steer the university during this tumultuous period. The medical college was established in 1962, and the dental college in 1996. In the 21st century, degree-granting centers of the university were established in Malappuram, Murshidabad, and Kishanganj.
The failure of the Indian Mutiny of 1857 against company rule in India led to the collapse of the last vestige of the Mughal empire. In the post-mutiny period, the Muslim upper classes and ulema (scholars) in India were increasingly conservative, and suspicious and hostile towards the British government, as well as Western-style education introduced by the British. [1]
Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, a who was a scholar and judge, was convinced that adopting Western education and fostering loyalty to the British empire was imperative to improve the situation of the Muslims of India. He started a movement, which would later be termed as the Aligarh movement, to reform Muslim society and remove the antagonism towards Western education and government service. He established a schools at Muradabad and Ghazipur, and in 1863, established scientific society for Muslims at Aligarh. The movement attracted prominent scholars including Jai Kishan Das, Moulvi Samee Ullah Khan, Khwaja Muhammad Yusuf, and Zakaullah Dehlvi. [1]
On 26 December 1870, the "Committee for the Better Diffusion and Advancement of Learning among the Muhammadans of India" was set up, with Sir Syed as its secretary. The members of this committee included several ruling princes, government officials, and wealthy landowners. The committee solicited essays written by Muslims in Urdu to summarize the reasons for the underrepresentation of Muslims among government schools and colleges, decline of the old systems of education, and the lack of modern scientific education among the Muslims. [1]
In 1872, Sir Syed presented a report, known as the Benares Committee Report, which consisted of the findings of the committee. The initial sections outlined the essay competition, and contained discussions by the members of the committee about the points in the essays. In the third part, among other suggestions, it was proposed that a large college, with three departments— the departments of English, Urdu, and Arabic and Persian. This college would function along the lines of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Copies of the report were sent to government officials and other influential persons, and drew praise from the Governor General and the Lieutenant Governor of the North-Western Provinces, both of whom contributed to the college fund. The orthodox Muslims and the ulema remained opposed to the idea, and issued fatwas ruling it unlawful to contribute to the fund. [1]
In a meeting held on 8 November 1872, Aligarh was chosen as the site for the college. The committee identified a plot troops from the old cantonment used to parade, which was long abandoned. In 1874, John Strachey was made governor of the United Provinces. He allotted the plot, on the condition that the college buildings would be taken over by the government in case the college shut down. With the land allotted, Moulvi Samee Ullah Khan made necessary arrangements, and the college was founded in 1875. [1]
The official opening ceremony of the school took place on the birthday of Queen Victoria, on May 24, 1875. In 1876, Sir Syed retired and permanently settled down at Aligarh. The foundation stone was laid by Lord Lytton on January 8, 1877. [1] Henry George Impey Siddons was appointed as the first principal of the college.
Sir Syed traveled across India in order to raise funds for the college, and by 1880, had secured considerable grants from the Nizam of Hyderabad, Maharaja of Patiala, Nawab of Rampur, and Salar Jung I. He also personally oversaw the construction of buildings at the campus. Construction of the Jama Masjid, designed in a Mughal style, began in 1879 although it wouldn't be inaugurated until 1915. [2]
Efforts were made to inculcate Western mannerisms among the boarders. The use of dentrifice, laced or thin clothing, the use of henna to dye palms, and long curls, were banned. The cricket club was established in 1878, and the Siddons Union Club in 1884 modeled after Cambridge Union. [1]
In 1898, Sir Syed died, and was buried at a tomb near the mosque on campus. Two factions emerged after his death,
After Beck's death in 1899, Theodore Morrison succeeded him as principal. He outlined a proposal to convert the institution into an Arabic college, with the intention to recruit from Aligarh candidates to fill positions in the British possessions in the Middle East. The proposal ended in the creation of a chair in Arabic.
Sir Syed was opposed to modern education for Muslim women. [5] After his death, Sheikh Abdullah raised the issue of establishing a girls' school.
In 1898, on the recommendation of Sahibzada Aftab Ahmad Khan, the Sir Syed Memorial Fund was established with the objective of clearing the college's debts and ultimately converting the college into a university. [6]
On 1 December 1920, the Aligarh Muslim University Act came into effect, converting the college into the Aligarh Muslim University. The Raja of Mahmudabad was the inaugural vice-chancellor, while Sultan Jahan, Begum of Bhopal and Aga Khan III were made chancellor and pro-chancellor respectively. The government made an annual grant of Rs. 100,000 for the university. [6] [7]
In 1920, the non-cooperation movement was launched by Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi delivered a speech at the university on 12 October. Subsequently, members of the Khilafat movement including Shaukat Ali, Mohammad Ali Jauhar, and Abul Kalam Azad arrived at the university, and a number of students (estimates ranging from 200 to 700) joined the movement and left Aligarh to enroll themselves at Jamia Milia Islamia. Throughout the 1920s and until the mid-1930s, Indian nationalism remained popular at the university and the student union was largely pro-Congress. [8] [9]
In 1937, the All India Muslim Students Federation was established. Support for the Muslim League had grown at the university. Teachers with "socialistic" and "atheistic" ideas were dismissed, purdah was reintroduced at campus, and "dangerous" books on rationalism and religion were removed from the Lytton Library. By the 1940s, with the passing of the Lahore resolution and several speeches given by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Liaqat Ali Khan at the campus, the student body became overwhelmingly sympathetic to the Pakistan movement. The student magazine regularly carried articles in favor of Jinnah and Pakistan. [8] In 1941, Ziauddin Ahmad, who had joined the Muslim League, was elected vice-chancellor. [9]
By 1947, the university had come to primarily depend on students' fees for funding, with some additional funding coming from the British government and Muslim princely states such as Hyderabad. With Indian independence and partition in 1947, a large number of students and staff, including vice-chancellor Zahid Husain migrated to Pakistan. The number of students, which had been in excess of 5000 in 1946–7, had fallen to 1000 in 1949. The princely states were also integrated into India and Pakistan, with their rulers losing power. As such, the university fell into considerable financial crisis. [10]
The university's image was tainted by the association with the Pakistan movement. [11] Rumors were circulated of Pakistani officials recruiting students at Aligarh, and of arms and ammunition stored on the campus. Demands were also made in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly and in parliament to shut down the university. [8] On campus, discipline suffered and hooliganism became rife, and the university administration, in an effort to display loyalty to the government, suppressed political dissent. Communist students and faculty members, including notable professors Zahida Zaidi and Iqtidar Alam Khan, were arrested. [12]
In 1948, Zakir Husain was appointed with vice-chancellor and tasked with modernizing the university by Abul Kalam Azad, the minister of education. Husain, who took regular charge in 1950 following a long absence due to illness, began the process of restoring discipline. The communist students, on their release from prison, were readmitted. He also began filling the vacancies among teaching positions by inviting eminent professors from all over India to join the university. These appointments included the professors Abdul Aleem, Saiyid Nurul Hasan, D. P. Mukerji, and Piara Singh Gill. [12]
The Aligarh University Amendment Act of 1951 was passed. [10] The university was brought under direct control of the central government, and
In 1965, a student riot broke out and vice-chancellor Ali Yavar Jung was injured. On M. C. Chagla's recommendations, an ordinance was passed which suspended the university constitution and reduced the university court to an advisory body. [13] [11] [14]
In 2020, the university centenary celebrations were held, primarily online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [15] The Centenary Gate was built to mark the occasion. [16]
In 2014, the death of professor Ramchandra Siras. In 2016, violence broke out between two student groups, resulting in one death. In 2019, during the Citizenship Amendment Act protests, the protests at the university were violently quelled, with about 60 students injured. [17]
In 2008, the university submitted a proposal to set up five centers of the university. The government sanctioned funds to set up the centers at Malappuram and Murshidabad, which were set up in 2010. [18] [19] In 2013, the center at Kishanganj was established.
Zakir Hussain Khan was an Indian educationist and politician who served as the third president of India from 13 May 1967 until his death on 3 May 1969.
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, 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.
Jamia Millia Islamia is a central university located in New Delhi, India. Originally established at Aligarh, United Provinces during the British Empire in 1920, it moved to its current location in Okhla in 1935. It was given the deemed status by University Grants Commission in 1962. On 26 December 1988, it became a central university.
Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk, Munir Nawaz Jang, also known as Syed Mehdi Ali, was an Indian Muslim politician. He was a close friend of Syed Ahmed Khan, was involved in the Aligarh Movement and was one of the founders of the All India Muslim League in 1906.
SirZiauddin Ahmad was an Indian mathematician, parliamentarian, logician, natural philosopher, politician, political theorist, educationist and a scholar. He was a member of the Aligarh Movement and was a professor, principal of MAO College, first pro vice-chancellor, vice chancellor and rector of Aligarh Muslim University, India.
Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman is an Indian scholar of Unani medicine. He founded Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine and Sciences in 2000. He had earlier served as Professor and chairman, Department of Ilmul Advia at the Ajmal Khan Tibbiya College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, for over 40 years before retiring as Dean Faculty of Unani Medicine. Presently, he is serving AMU as "Honorary Treasurer". In 2006, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri for his contribution to Unani Medicine.
The Scientific Society of Aligarh was a literary society founded by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan at Aligarh, India. The main objectives of the society were to translate Western works on arts and science into vernacular languages and promote western education among the masses.
Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College is the constituent medical college of Aligarh Muslim University, located in Aligarh, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Syedna Tahir Saifuddin School, better known by its initials STS School, and by its former name Minto Circle, is a K–12 semi-residential high school under Aligarh Muslim University at Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India. Established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental Collegiate School in 1875, it later evolved as Aligarh Muslim University and is one of the five senior secondary schools run by the university.
Jamal Khwaja was an Indian philosopher.
Abdul Majeed Khwaja was an Indian lawyer, educationist, social reformer and freedom fighter from Aligarh. In 1920, he along with others founded Jamia Millia Islamia and later served its vice chancellor and chancellor.
AMU Malappuram Centre is one of the prominent educational institution of Aligarh Muslim University in south India in the state of Kerala in Malappuram district near Perinthalmanna at Cherukara post. It was established in 2010 by the ministry of Human resource and Development, central government of India. The President of India in her capacity as the Visitor accorded sanction to establish two Centers of Aligarh Muslim University, one at Malappuram and the other at Murshidabad in 2010.
Aligarh Muslim University is a public central university in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875. Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College became Aligarh Muslim University in 1921, following the Aligarh Muslim University Act. It has three off-campus centres in AMU Malappuram Campus (Kerala), AMU Murshidabad Centre, and Kishanganj Centre (Bihar).
The Aligarh Movement was the push to establish a modern system of Western-style scientific education for the Muslim population of British India, during the later decades of the 19th century. The movement's name derives from the fact that its core and origins lay in the city of Aligarh in Central India and, in particular, with the foundation of the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875. The founder of the oriental college, and the other educational institutions that developed from it, was Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. He became the leading light of the wider Aligarh Movement.
Sahibzada Aftab Ahmad Khan was an attorney and educator. He was a former vice chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University.
Nadeem Akhter Tarin is an educationist, philanthropist and businessman in Saudi Arabia.
The Faculty of Law, Aligarh Muslim University is the law school of the Aligarh Muslim University which has a history of over 100 years of teaching and writing law. Law classes were inaugurated by Justice Douglas Straight on December 29, 1891.
Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College was founded in 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, initially as a primary school, with the intention of turning it to a college level institution. It was inspired by the Cambridge education system. It started operations on Queen Victoria's 56th birthday, 24 May 1875.
The Aligarh Muslim University Students' Union (AMUSU) is the official Students' Union of the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. The Aligarh Muslim University Students' Union is the university-wide representative body for students and is autonomous in nature. It works according to their own Constitution written by Amin A. Bulbuliya. It is primarily responsible for building and preserving a healthy political culture and an atmosphere of open debates on the campus. Students are kept informed about the public meetings, discussions and other issues through pamphlets and notices.
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