Aligarh Muslim University


Aligarh Muslim University is a collegiate, central, and research university located 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 1920, following the Aligarh Muslim University Act.
The university offers more than 300 courses in traditional and modern branches of education. It is an Institute of National Importance and is listed in the Union List under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India.

History

Funding

The university was established as the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. It began to function on 24 May 1875. The movement associated with Syed Ahmad Khan and the college came to be known as the Aligarh Movement, which pushed to realise the need for establishing a modern education system for the Indian Muslim populace. He considered competence in English and Western sciences necessary skills for maintaining Muslims' political influence. Khan's vision for the college was based on his visit to Oxford University and Cambridge University, and he wanted to establish an education system similar to the British model.
A committee was formed by the name of foundation of Muslim College and asked people to fund generously. Then Viceroy and Governor General of India Thomas Baring gave a donation of 10,000 while the Lt. Governor of the North Western Provinces contributed 1,000, and by March 1874 funds for the college stood at 1,53,920 and 8 annas. Maharaja Mahindra Singh Saab Bahadur of Patiala contributed 58,000 while Raja Shambhu Narayan of Benaras donated 60,000. Donations also came in from the Maharaja of Vizianagaram as well. The college was initially affiliated to the University of Calcutta for the matriculate examination but became an affiliate of Allahabad University in 1885. The seventh Nizam of Hyderabad, HEH Mir Osman Ali Khan made a remarkable donation of 5,00,000 to this institution in the year 1918.

Establishment as university

Around 1900, the Muslim University Association was formed to spearhead efforts to transform the college into a university. The Government of India informed the association that a sum of rupees thirty lakhs should be collected to establish the university. Therefore, a Muslim University Foundation Committee was started and it collected the necessary funds. The contributions were made by Muslims as well as non-Muslims. Mohammad Ali Mohammad Khan and Aga Khan III had helped in realising the idea by collecting funds for building the Aligarh Muslim University. With the MAO College as a nucleus, the Aligarh Muslim University was then established by the Aligarh Muslim University Act, 1920. In 1927, the Ahmadi School for the Visually Challenged, Aligarh Muslim University was established and in the following year, a medical school was attached to the university. The college of unani medicine, Ajmal Khan Tibbya College, was established in 1927, and the Ajmal Khan Tibbiya College Hospital was established later in 1932. The Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College And Hospital was established in 1962 as a part of the university. In 1935, the Zakir Husain College of Engineering and Technology was also established as a constituent of the university.
Before 1939, faculty members and students supported an all-India nationalist movement, but after 1939, political sentiment shifted towards support for a Muslim separatist movement. Students and faculty members supported Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the university came to be a center of the Pakistan Movement.

Women's education

is the founder of the Women's College of Aligarh Muslim University and had pressed for women's education, writing articles while also publishing a monthly women's magazine, Khatoon. To start the college for women, he had led a delegation to the Lt. Governor of the United Provinces while also writing a proposal to Sultan Jahan, Begum of Bhopal. Begum Jahan had allocated a grant of 100 per month for the education of women. On 19 October 1906, he successfully started a school for girls with five students and one teacher at a rented property in Aligarh. The foundation stone for the girls' hostel was laid by him and his wife, Waheed Jahan Begum, after struggles on 7 November 1911. Later, a high school was established in 1921, gaining the status of an intermediate college in 1922, finally becoming a constituent of the Aligarh Muslim University as an undergraduate college in 1937. Later, Abdullah's daughters also served as principals of the women's college. One of his daughters was Mumtaz Jahan Haider, during whose tenure as principal Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad had visited the university and offered a grant of 9,00,000. She was involved in the establishment of the Women's College, organised various extracurricular events, and reasserted the importance of education for Muslim women.
The professional courses are run with a co-educational system. Female students are accommodated in six well established halls of residence, where they have all facilities of living and studies. The hostels inside these halls are equipped with reading rooms, common rooms, sports facilities, and dining halls.

Minority institution status

Aligarh Muslim University is considered to be an institution of national importance, under the seventh schedule of the Constitution of India. In 1967, a constitution bench of the Supreme Court had held that the university is not a minority educational institution protected under the Indian constitution; the verdict had been given in a case to which the university was not a party. In 1981, an amendment was made to the Aligarh Muslim University Act, following which in 2006 the Allahabad High Court struck down the provision of the act which accorded the university minority educational institution status. In April 2016, the Indian government stated that it would not appeal against the decision. In February 2019, the issue was referred by the Supreme Court of India to a constitution bench of seven judges.
In November 2024, seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court, by a 4:3 majority, overruled a previous 1967 judgement in the case of S. Azeez Basha vs. Union of India. The 1967 ruling had stated that an institution established by a statute, such as the Aligarh Muslim University, could not claim minority status. The Supreme Court verdict overturned this precedent, paving the way for AMU to potentially assert its rights as a minority institution. However, the final determination of AMU's minority status will be decided by a separate bench, which will examine the specific provisions of the AMU Act.

Main campus

The campus of Aligarh Muslim University is spread over 467.6 hectares in the city of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. The nearest railway station is the Aligarh Junction.
It is a residential university, with most of the staff and students residing on the campus. There are 19 halls of residence for students with 80 hostels. The halls are administered by a provost and a number of teacher wardens who look after different hostels. Each hall maintains a dining hall, a common room with facilities for indoor games, a reading room, a library, sports clubs and a literary and cultural society. The halls are named after people associated with the Aligarh Movement and the university.
Sir Syed Hall is the oldest hall of the university. It houses many heritage buildings, such as Strachey Hall, Mushtaq Manzil, Asman Manzil, Nizam Museum and Lytton Library, Victoria Gate, and Jama Masjid.
The campus also maintains a cricket ground, Willingdon Pavilion, a synthetic hockey ground and a park, Gulistan-e-Syed.
Other notable buildings in the campus includes the Maulana Azad Library, Moinuddin Ahmad Art Gallery, Kennedy Auditorium, Musa Dakri Museum, the Cultural Education Centre, Siddons Debating Union Hall and Sir Syed House.
The main university gate is called Bab-e-Syed. In 2020 a new gate called Centenary Gate was built to celebrate the centenary year of the university.

Organisation and administration

Governance

The university's formal head is the chancellor, though this is a titular figure, and is not involved with the day-to-day running of the university. The chancellor is elected by the members of the University Court. The university's chief executive is the vice-chancellor, appointed by the President of India on the recommendation of the court. The court is the supreme governing body of the university and exercises all the powers of the university, not otherwise provided for by the Aligarh Muslim University Act, and the statutes, ordinances and regulations of the university.
In 2018, Mufaddal Saifuddin was elected chancellor and Ibne Saeed Khan, the former Nawab of Chhatari, was elected the pro-Chancellor. Syed Zillur Rahman was elected honorary treasurer. On 17 May 2017, Tariq Mansoor assumed office as the 39th vice-chancellor of the university.

Faculties

Aligarh Muslim University's academic departments are divided into 13 faculties:
Aligarh Muslim University maintains 7 colleges:
The university also maintains 15 centres, 3 institutes, and 10 schools, including Minto Circle and the Ahmadi School for the Visually Challenged. The university's Faculty of Theology has two departments, one for the Shi'a school of thought and another for the Sunni school of thought.