Aligarh Muslim University (AMU)

Subject: History

Section: Modern INDIA

Concept:

It grew out of the work of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and the Aligarh Movement.
It was founded as the Madrasatul Uloom in 1875 in Aligarh and evolved into the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College.
In 1877, Sir Syed founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in Aligarh and patterned the college after Oxford and Cambridge universities that he had visited on a trip to England.
The objective was to build a college in tune with the British education system but without compromising its Islamic values.
AMU became a University in 1920, through an Act of Indian Legislative Council by elevating the Mohammedan Anglo Oriental (MAO) College to the status of a Central University.
The University campus is located in the city of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. It also has three off-campus centres in Malappuram (Kerala), Murshidabad-Jangipur (West Bengal) and Kishanganj (Bihar).

Contributions of Syed Ahmed Khan

He started his career as a civil servant and served the British before the revolt of 1857.
The 1857 revolt was one of the turning points in Syed Ahmed’s life and he penned a pamphlet titled “The Causes of the Indian Revolt” to explain the reasons of the revolt from a “native perspective”.
He supported the British during the 1857 revolution.
He raised voice against the existing religious intolerance, ignorance and irrationalism prevailing in the society at that time.
He denounced the orthodox systems of purdah, polygamy and easy divorce of the Muslim community.
TahzebulAkhlaq (Social Reformer in English), a magazine founded by him, tried to awaken people’s consciousness on social and religious issues in very expressive prose.
He instituted the 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.
He launched The Aligarh Institute Gazette, an organ of the Scientific Society in March 1866 and succeeded in agitating the minds in the traditional Muslim society.
In 1875, Sir Syed founded the MadarsatulUloom 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.

The Aligarh Movement:

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan is best known for the Aligarh Movement a systemic movement aimed at reforming the social, political and educational aspects of the Muslim community.
In 1886, he set up the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental Education Congress which was later renamed the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental Educational Conference. It aimed to bring together education and culture.
He also emphasised the need for an autonomous Muslim institution free of any government funding.
It undertook to modernise Muslim’s education by adapting English as a medium of learning and western education rather than just focusing on traditional teachings.
The movement helped the Muslims revival and gave them a common language Urdu.