Aligarh Muslim University

ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY

THE FOUNDER

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, one of the architects of modern India was born on October 17, 1817 in Delhi and started his career as a civil servant.

The 1857 revolt was one of the turning points in Syed Ahmed's life. He clearly foresaw the imperative need for the Muslims to acquire proficiency in the English language and modern sciences, if the community were to maintain its social and political clout, particularly in Northern India.

He was one of those early pioneers who recognized the critical role of education in the empowerment of the poor and backward Muslim community. In more than one ways, Sir Syed was one of the greatest social reformers and a great national builder of modern India. He began to prepare the road map for the formation of a Muslim University by starting various schools. He instituted Scientific Society in 1863 to instill a scientific temperament into the Muslims and to make the Western knowledge available to Indians in their own language.

The Aligarh Institute Gazette, an organ of the Scientific Society, was launched in March 1866 and succeeded in agitating the minds in the traditional Muslim society. Anyone with a poor level of commitment would have backed off in theface of strong opposition but Sir Syed responded by bringing out another journal, Tehzibul Akhlaq which was rightly named in English as 'Mohammedan Social Reformer'

In 1875, Sir Syed founded the Madarsatul Uloom in Aligarh and patterned the MAO College after Oxford and Cambridge universities that he went on a trip to London. His objective was to build a college in line with the British education system but without compromising its Islamic values.

He wanted this College to act as a bridge between the old andthe new, the East and the West. While he fully appreciated the need and urgency of imparting instruction based on Western learning, he was not oblivious to thevalue of oriental learning and wanted to preserve and transmit to posterity therich legacy of the past. Dr. Sir Mohammad Iqbal observes: "The real greatness of Sir Syed consists in the fact that he was the first Indian Muslim who felt the need of a fresh orientation of Islam and worked for it -- his sensitive nature was the first to react to modern age".

The aim of Sir Syed was not merely restricted to establishing a college at Aligarh but at spreading a network of Muslim Managed educational institutions throughout the length and breadth of the country keeping in view this end, he instituted All India Muslim Educational Conference that revived the spirit of Muslims at national level. The Aligarh Movement motivated the Muslims to help open anumber of educational institutions. It was the first of its kind of such Muslim NGO in India, which awakened the Muslims from their deep slumber and infused social and political sensibility into them.

Sir Syed contributed many essential elements to the development of the modern society of the subcontinent. During Sir Syed's own lifetime, 'The Englishman', a renowned British magazine of the 19th century remarked in a commentary on November 17, 1885: 'Sir Syed's life "strikingly illustrated one of the best phases of modern history". He died on March 27, 1898 and lies buried next to the main mosque at AMU. 

Facts

Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) occupies a unique position amongst universities and institutions of higher learning in the country. It was established in 1920, and evolved out of the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College (MAO College) which was set up in 1877 by the great visionary and social reformer, Sir Syed Ahmad khan. From its very inception, it has kept its door open to the members of all communities and from all corners of the country and the world. The Aligarh Muslim University is the realization of a vision which was broad, far- reaching and realistic.

Spread over 467.6 hectares in the city of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, Aligarh Muslim University offers more than 300 courses in the traditional and modern branches of education. It draws students from all states in India and from different countries, especially Africa, West Asia and Southeast Asia. In some courses, seats are reserved for students from SAARC and Commonwealth Countries. The university is open to all irrespective of caste, creed, religion or gender. It ranks 8th among the top 20 research universities in India.
In spite of the establishment of a numbers of universities and institutions of higher learning all over the country, this university has been maintaining its national and international character as an institution of excellence. It has more than 28,000, students, 1,342 teachers and some 5,610 non-teaching staff on its rolls. The university now has 12 faculties comprising 98 teaching departments, 3 academies and 15 centres and institution. A special feature of the university is its residential character with most of the staff and students residing on the campus. There are 19 halls of residence for students with 80 hostels.

Apart from the conventional Under graduate and Post graduate courses in  Social Sciences, Sciences  and Humanities, the university keeps pace with the nations growth by offering facilities for specialized learning in areas of  technical, vocational and inter- disciplinary studies.  It has the Zakir Hussain College of Engineering and Technology, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Dr. Ziauddin Dental College, Institute of Ophthalmology, Food Craft Institute, Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit, Centre of Advance Study in History, Department  of West Asian Studies, Centre of Wildlife, Centre for South African & Brazilian Studies, Department of Islamic Studies, Academic Staff College, Women's College, Ajmal Khan Tibbiya College, University Polytechnic –separately for boys and girls and Computer Centre etc.

The university has opened two new centres of study outside Aligarh w.e.f. 2011 at Murshidabad, West Bengal and Mallapurum at Kerala state. At present teaching facility of MBA and Integrated Law course is available in these two centres. It is projected that in ten years down the time line both the centres will have more than 10,000 students each in advance study and research.
The university maintains one primary, seven High schools (including one for the Visually Challenged), and two Senior Secondary schools for boys and girls. The University also offers courses   in Indian, Oriental and Western Languages. The medium of instruction in the university is primarily English.

Games and sports have been a distinctive feature of the AMU. The Cricket, football, hockey, Tennis, Basketball, Skating and Horse Riding teams have excelled at the inter-University level. Perhaps this is the only university with a Horse Riding Club.
The General Education centre is the nucleus of most of the extra-curricular activities and caters to the cultural environment. This centre organizes these activities through its various clubs viz., the AMU Drama, the Hindustani and western Music Club, the Literary Club and the Hobbies Workshop etc.

It is proudly Islamic and proudly Indian institution: a living symbol of composite culture of India and a bulwark of its secular principles.

VISIT AMU

Aligarh Muslim University

Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh is situated in the middle of Doab – the land between the Ganga and Yamuna rivers, at a distance of 130 km Southeast of Delhi on the Delhi-Howrah rail route and the Grand Trunk Road.  The latitude is 27o 54' N and longitude is 78o 05' E. The climate is hot and dry in summer and cold and dry in winter with an intervening rainy season.  The University campus is 2 kms away from the Aligarh Railway Station.

Malappurum Centre

Malappuram is the headquarters of the district of the same name in the state of Kerala.  It literally means `a land on top hills’ and is situated 50 km southeast of Kozhikode, bounded by the Nilgiri hills in the east, the Arabian Sea in the west and Thrissur and Palakkad districts in the South.  The Malappuram district extends from 10 oand 12 oN latitudes and 75 o to 77 olongitudes. The climate is generally hot and humid with the annual range of temperature varying between 20oC and 30oC.

Murshidabad Centre

Murshidabad district got its present name from the Nawab Murshid Quli Khan who made Murshidabad the capital city of Suba Bangla, comprising the Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. The district of Murshidabad is situated to the south of the Ganga River in West Bengal.  It extends from 23o 43’ to 24o 52’ N latitudes, and 87 o49’ to 88 o44’ E longitudes.  Murshidabad has a tropical wet and dry climate and the monthly mean temperature varies from 17oC to 35C.