Founder

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, one of the architects of modern India was born on October 17, 1817 in Delhi.  His father Syed Mohammad Muttaqi was a Mughal noble descendent who had, in the time of Akbar, migrated to India from Herat.       

The 1857 revolt was one of the turning points of Syed Ahmad�s life. Before it, his career had been that of a civil servant and a scholar. Most of the historical works, which were to win him an honorary fellowship of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, were completed before 1857. In 1847, he published the famous archaeological masterpiece, �Asarus Sanadeed� � a book that provided a wealth of information on countless historical monuments in Delhi from the eight hundred year long Muslim era.n 1855, he published yet another book �Ain-e-Akbari�.  After the 1857 revolt, Syed Ahmad authored the marvelous book �Asbab-e-Baghawat-e-Hind' (The causes of Indian Revolt).  The publication of this book in 1859 was, in fact, Syed Ahmad�s induction to public life. He also witnessed the terrible revenge the British wrought on Delhi and its inhabitants after the city was recaptured in September 1857. At personal level, he found an uncle and a cousin dead; his aunt died of thirst before his eyes; he succeeded in rescuing his mother only for her to die because of the privations she had experienced. Muslims were the main target of the Government�s wrath. In spite of all the suffering, Syed Ahmad was highly impressed by the culture and customs of Western society. He instituted Scientific Society in 1864 to create a scientific temperament among the Muslims and to make the Western knowledge available to Indians in their own language. He got translated many scientific works from English into Urdu.

The Aligarh Institute Gazette, an organ of the Scientific Society was started 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 the face of strong opposition but Sir Syed responded by bringing out another journal �Tehzibul Akhlaq� which was rightly named in English as �Mohammedan Social Reformer�. The Tehzibul Akhlaq succeeded in infusing a new desire amongst Muslims for acquiring modern knowledge. It also gave a new direction to Muslim social and political thought. It advocated the stance that Muslims should avoid getting involved in political issues until they achieved parity with the Hindu community in the field of education.

Along with his search for a solution to the community's backwardness, he continued writing for various causes. He wrote to defend Islam against the attacks of Christian missionaries, and to overcome religious prejudices.

Sir Syed finally reached to the conclusion that education was the main cause of the backwardness of the community. He thus rose to establish the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh. He wanted this College to act as a bridge between the old and the 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 of the value of oriental learning and wanted to preserve and transmit to posterity the rich legacy of the past. He, therefore, decided to keep a fine balance between the two. For a man born into a feudal family that had experienced the trauma of a declining Mughal empire, he was highly pragmatic in his outlook and attitude. The College he founded was the visible embodiment of reason and progress. 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. To this end, he instituted All India Mohammedan Educational Conference. The Aligarh Movement motivated the Muslims to help open a number of educational institutions. Sir Syed was the member of the Viceroy�s Legislative Council from 1878-82. He presented evidence to Hunter Education Commission of 1882, and served on the Public Service Commission of 1887. He was knighted in 1888. In 1889 he received honorary LLD from Edinburgh University. He died on March 27, 1898 and was buried next to the mosque at AMU. 

Sir Syed Vision

Sir Syed described his vision of the College/University he proposed to establish in an Urdu article written sometime in 1872, and re-printed in the Institute Gazette of April 5, 1911.  

"I may appear to be dreaming and talking like Shaikh Chilli", he wrote,"but we aim to turn this M.A.O. College into a University similar to that of Oxford or Cambridge." 

"Like the churches of Oxford and Cambridge, there will be mosques attached to each College. "

"There will be boarding houses, in which students will be provided with a suite complete with a bath, a study and a retiring room. The boarding house will have a Common Hall and a common dinning room. There will be playground and a swimming pool attached to it. There will be four bungalows constructed for the residence of the Principal, the Head Master and other Professors. The College will have a dispensary with a Doctor and a compounder, besides a Unani Hakim."

"IT will be mandatory on boys in residence to join the congregational payers (namaz) at all the five times. Students of other religions will be exempted from this religious observance. "

"Muslim students will have a uniform consisting of a black alpaca, halfsleeved chugha and a red Fez cap. All students shall be required to put on a pair of socks and shoes of western style.

"There will be fixed times for study, dinner, lunch, breakfast, bath, change and for every other activity."

"All articles of sports will be provided for. Bad and abusive words which boys generally pick up and get used to, will be strictly prohibited. Even such a word as a "liar" will be treated as a abuse to be prohibited."

"They will have food either on tables of European style or on chaukis in the manner of the Arabs. This will be decided by the students themselves, by a majority of votes. They will have special food once a week, to be decided by majority every week."

"Furniture, bedding etc. will be supplied by the College. The services of bearers, servants, watermen etc., will be provided and supervised by the boarding house authorities. Students will be required to possess sufficient quantity of clothes to keep them neat and clean. They will not be allowed to put on gaudy, or such fine clothes as might expose their body."

"Smoking of cigarette or huqqa, and the chewing of betels shall be strictly prohibited." 

"No corporal punishment or any such punishment as is likely to injure a student's self-respect will be permissible. Stock punishment such as "standing" or extra home work or class work only will be meted out to erring students. Boys misbehaving in society will be sent down for a specified period." 

"It will be strictly enforced that Shia and Sunni boys shall not discuss their religious differences in the College or in the boarding house." 

"At present it is like a day dream. I pray to God that this dream may come true."