Introduction of: Aligarh Muslim University History: Raising the status of MAO College at Aligarh into a great Muslim University H.H. Sir Aga Khan ascended to the throne of 48th Imam of Ismaili Muslims in August 1885 at an early age of 7 years. The charming Prince made his first visit to M.A.O. College at Aligarh in June 1896 at a very young age of 19 years. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan welcomed him in the historical Strachey Hall. Sir Aga Khan appreciate Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and his vision and mission. He extended his cooperation to Sir Syed and Aligarh Movement and never widthraw till his last breath. Sir Aga Khan believed that the root cause of Muslim backwardness in India was illiteracy, and therefore, education was the panacea for their ills. He thought that education should be a medium of service to others and a tool for modernization. He also considered the aim of education to be character building. In his book, The Aga Khan III, Mr. Islamuddin writes It was he, who translated the dream of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan into reality, by raising the status of MAO College at Aligarh into a great Muslim University[1]. Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah states in The Prince Aga Khan (London, 1933, p. 65) that, It was Sir Syed Ahmed who founded M.A.O. College at Aligarh, but it was the Aga Khan, an ardent enthusiastic promoter of the ideal of education, who has been mainly responsible for the raising of its status to that of a University[2]. After the death of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan in 1898, Sir Aga Khan III advised Mohsin al-Mulk, the Secretary of Aligarh College, to tour India to procure public opinion for the cause of Muslim University. His interest in the Aligarh College dates from the time when he was called upon to preside at an Educational Conference held at Delhi at the time of Lord Curzons proclamation Durbar in 1902. He used the platform of Muslim Educational Conference to bring home to the Muslims, the importance of education, and Muslim University at Aligarh. In his Presidential address to the Muslim Educational Conference, the Aga Khan said: If, then, we are really in earnest in deploring the fallen condition of our people, we must unite in an effort for their redemption and, first and foremost of all, an effort must now be made for the foundation of a University where Muslim youths can get, in addition to modern sciences, a knowledge of their glorious past and religion and where the whole atmosphere of the place, it being a residential University, nay, like Oxford, give more attention to character than to mere examinations. Muslims of India have legitimate interests in the intellectual development of their co-religionists in Turkey, Persia, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, and the best way of helping them is by making Aligarh a Muslim Oxford. We are sure that by founding this University we can arrest the decadence of Islam, and if we are not willing to make sacrifices for such an end, must I not conclude that we do not really care whether the faith of Islam is dead or not? We want Aligarh to be such a home of learning as to command the same respect of scholars as Berlin or Oxford, Leipzig or Paris. And we want those branches of Muslim learning, which are too fast passing into decay, to be added by Muslim scholars to the stock of the worlds knowledge[3]. Addressing the annual session of Muslim Educational Conference in 1903 at Bombay under the Chairmanship of Justice Badruddin Tayabji, the Aga Khan III said: The farsighted among the Muslims of India desire a University, where the standard of learning should be the highest and where with the scientific training, there shall be that moral education, that indirect but constant reminder of the eternal difference between right and wrong, which is the soul of education. I earnestly beg of you that the cause of such a University should not be forgotten in the shouts of the market place that daily rise amongst us. The plan for the Muslim University had by 1910 taken on the complexion and force of a national movement. The session of the All India Muslim Educational Conference at Nagpur in December, 1910 was presided by Abdullah Ibn Yusuf Ali Khan. In his address, Sir Aga Khan gave the signal for a concreted, nation-wide effort to raise the necessary funds for the projected University. In moving the resolution on the University, the Aga Khan III made a stirring speech. He said, This is a unique occasion as His Majesty the King-Emperor is coming out to India. This is a great opportunity for us and such as is never to arise again during the lifetime of the present generation, and the Muslims should on no account miss it...We must make up and make serious, earnest and sincere efforts to carry into effect the one great essential movement which above all has a large claim on our energy and resources. If we show that we are able to help ourselves and that we are earnest in our endeavours and ready to make personal sacrifices, I have no doubt whatever that our sympathetic government, which only requires proper guarantees of our earnestness, will come forward to grant us the charter. `Now or never seems to be the inevitable situation. To make a concerted drive for the collection of funds, a Central Foundation Committee with the Sir Aga Khan III as Chairman with Maulana Shaukat Ali (1873- 1938) as his Secretary; and prominent Muslims from all walks of life as members was formed at Aligarh on January 10, 1911. The Aga Khan III accompanied by Maulana Shaukat Ali, who was still in government service and had taken a years furlough, toured throughout the country to raise funds, visiting Calcutta, Allahabad, Lucknow, Kanpur, Lahore, Bombay and other places. Willi Frischauer in his book, The Aga Khans writes, His campaign for the Aligarh University required a final big heave and, as Chairman of the fund raising committee, he went on a collecting tour through Indias main Muslim areas: `As a mendicant, he announced, `I am now going out to beg from house to house and from street to street for the children of Indian Muslims. It was a triumphal tour. Wherever he went, people unharnessed the horses of his carriage and pulled it themselves for miles[4]. The response to the touching appeal of the Sir Aga Khan III was spontaneous. On his arrival at Lahore, the daily Peace of Punjab editorially commented and called upon the Muslims to wake up, as the greatest personality and benefactor of Islam was in their city. The paper recalled a remark of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan prophesying the rise of a hand from the unseen world to accomplish his mission. That personality the paper said, was of the Sir Aga Khan III. On that day, the London Times commenting upon the visit, regarded him as a great recognised leader of Muslims. Allama Shibli Nomani was with Sir Aga Khan in the delegation for fund raiser to Lahore. Shibli recited a very passionate Persian poetry to motivate the audience for fund raiser. The significant aspect of the Aga Khans fund collection drive was not the enthusiastic welcome accorded to him, but the house to house collection drive. Qayyum A. Malick writes in his book Prince Aga Khan that once the Aga Khan on his way to Bombay to collect funds for the university, the Aga Khan stopped his car at the office of a person, who was known to be his bitterest critic. The man stood up bewildered and asked, Whom do you want Sir? I have come for your contribution to the Muslim university fund, said the Aga Khan. The man drew up a cheque for Rs. 5000/-. After pocketing the cheque, the Aga Khan took off his hat and said, Now as a beggar, I beg from you something for the children of Islam. Put something in the bowl of this mendicant. The man wrote another cheque for Rs. 15000/- with moist eyes, and said, Your Highness, now it is my turn to beg. I beg of you in the name of the most merciful God to forgive me for anything that I may have said against you. I never knew you were so great. The Aga Khan said, Don’t worry! It is my nature to forgive and forget in the cause of Islam and the Muslims. The drive received further great fillip from the announcement of a big donation of one lac rupees by Her Highness Nawab Sultan Jahan Begum of Bhopal. The Aga Khan III was so moved by her munificence that in thanking her, he spoke the following words: Dile banda ra zinda kardi, dile Islam ra zinda kardi, dile qaum ra zinda kardi, Khudai taala ba tufaile Rasul ajarash be dahad” It means, You put life in the heart of this servant; you put life in the heart of Islam; you put life in the heart of the nation. May God reward you for the sake of the Prophet!” In sum, Sir Aga Khan collected twenty-six lacs of rupees by July, 1912 in the drive and his personal contribution amounted to one lac rupees. [5] On October 20, 1920, the Aligarh University was granted its official Charter. On December 17th, the Aligarh Muslim University came into being. According to the act (Section III) Sir Aga Khan was appointed as Founding Pro-Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University. The inaugural ceremony of University took place on the 17th December, 1920. In spite of several obstacles, the Aga Khan continued his ceaseless efforts for the Muslim University, and further announced his annual grant of Rs. 10,000/- for Aligarh Muslim University, which was subsequently raised. On his behest a lot of individuals made their generous contributions to Aligarh Muslim University. For instance, Mr. Kassim Ali Jairajbhoy gave Rs. 1,25,000 to found chairs of Philosophy and Science in the Aligarh in memory of his father. It must be noted on this juncture that in January, 1857, Lord Canning (1856-1862) had passed the Acts of Incorporation in India which provided for the establishment of universities in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. The fourth university was then established in 1882 by a Special Act of Incorporation in Punjab and the fifth was that of Allahabad University in 1887. Thus, by the end of 1902 there were five universities in India, and the demand was to make Aligarh Muslim University as the sixth one. The demand was not accepted till 1920 and instead of sixth, Aligarh Muslim University became tenth University of India preceded by Universities of Calcutta, Bombay,Madras (all in 1857), Punjab (1882), Allahabad (1887), Maysore (1914),Banaras Hindu University (1916) University of Patna (1917), Osmania University (Hyderabad-1918) and Aligarh Muslim University (1920). It will remain as a historical reminder of the fact that the Sir Aga Khan gave continuity to the traditions of his ancestors as pioneers of education in Egypt and elsewhere - traditions associated with the foundation of Al-Azhar, the oldest existing university in the world, which to this day is crowded with students from all parts of the globe. The Aga Khan III instituted the Aga Khan Foreign Scholarship programme for the promising students. Dr. Sir Ziauddin Ahmad : Founder of Ziauddin Hospital - Karachi Pakistan It is worth mentioning here that Dr. Sir Ziauddin Ahmad was one of the students of the Aga Khan in the sense that the Aga Khan paid for his years of study at Cambridge. Among other great Muslim scholars, who benefited from the munificent help were Dr. L.K. Hyder, the well known economist, Mr. Wali Muhammad, a great physicist, Dr. Zafarul Hasan, a learned theologian, and Dr. Zaki etc. The Movement of establishing a Muslim University writes Mumtaz Moin in his The Aligarh Movement [6], is an important chapter of our history. Initiated by Waqar al-Mulk it soon became a live issue under the patronage of the Sir Aga Khan. Sir Aga Khan was associated with Aligarh Movement till his last breath. He made numerous visits to Aligarh. In 1936, he suggested to establish engineering and Agriculture College in Aligarh Muslim University. His was a regular generous donor to support the Aligarh Muslim University. He delivered 20th Convocation address of Aligarh Muslim University in 1940. He served as pro-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University till April 1930. Aligarh Muslim University honored one of its great patrons by naming one of the hostel after him, “ Aga Khan House” in Sir Shah Sulaiman Hall. [1] The Aga Khan III (Islamabad, 1978, p. 22) ,Islamuddin. [2] The Prince Aga Khan (London, 1933, p. 65) , Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah. [3] Khutbat-i Aliyah, Aligarh, 1927, Part I, p. 206. [4] The Aga Khans (London, 1970, p. 76), Willi Frischauer [5] Prince Aga Khan (Karachi, 1954, p. 64), Qayyum A. Malick [6] The Aligarh Movement (Karachi, 1976, p. 184), Mumtaz Moin The Academy of Leadership TheAcademyofLeadership.org
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 07:10:36 +0000
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