CHAPTER- jiJ;

THE EST~BLISHl•1ENT OF THE UNIVERSITY: SECOND PHASE ( 1898-1907)

The present chapter which traces the history of the

establishment of Aligarh University during the first decade

after the death of its founder, Sir Syed, in 1898 is

primarily concerned with, if not particularly confined to,

the views of his colleagues and contemporaries - officials

as well as non-officials - regarding the character of the

contemplated university at Aligarh. Besides, it aims at

studying their ways and methods of implementin~ them Rnd the

obstacles they had to over come in that process. Since,

intellectual currents are best examined in a wider context

and against the background of socio-political developoents

it is necessary to examine the extent to which official

attitude and policy towards the 14uslims, Hindu-revivalism,

pan-Islamism, the partition of Bengal ( 1905), the for~ation

of l·1uslim League ( 1906), Stiadeshi lwiovement ( 1906-07), the

students strike at the M.A. o. College ( 1907) and above all

the deteriorating relation among the trustees, staff and

stu0ents of the college affected the prospects of its

expanSion into a university. Perhaps, this might throw

light on the relationship between education and politics.

This chapter also attempts to examine the extent to uhich

the ideas of the contemporaries were similar to those of

the founder and if not, in which respects they differed and

the reasons for their differences. Before taking up these

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aspects, it is necessary to identify those who championed

the cause of the university and study their motives and

aims, as it would help in making an indepth analysis of

their ideas on Aligarh University. This would possibly

enhance our understanding of the development and working of

the mind of Muslim Community in India during the period

1898-1907.

Sir Syed had many friends and followers. But only

a few of them took interest in his scheme of the university.

It was because of various factors. While the expansion of

educ~tion extended the educational facilities to the people

of all regions and religion, 1 the education of the Muslims

in particular was boosted by the Government of India

Resolution of 1885. 2 Besides, as a result of the efforts

made by intellectuals like Ameer Ali, Badruddin Tyabji,

Shibll Nomani (1857-1914) 3 and t.he Muslim associations like

1. During the period 1892-1897 while the number of educational institutions in India was increased by 7 per cent that of pupil (of all religion) shorTed an increase of 13 per cent. But in N.w. Provinces and Oudh, the increase was by 35 per cent~in the former case and 29 per cent in the latter. It '\-Tas the highest among all the provinces. For further details see, fEogresa of Eduga~ion in India 1892-93 to 1896-9Z: TAira Quinfuennial ReJiesr by J.s. Cotton (London: Her Majesty's Stat onary Office, 1898), PP• 8, 15, 24.

2. For details of the Resolution see, ~ndia Select Documents p. 187 and for details of the progress of Muha:nmadan education upto 1896 see J.s. Cotton, ou.cit., PP• 335-49·

3. Born at \zamgarh and edUC"l.ted at Azamgarh, Ghazipur, Rampur and Lahore. He served as a Professor of Persian at J:I.A. o. College 1882-1892; and education Department at Hyderabad ( 1899-1904). He was a founder meillbcr of Nadwatul Ulema at Lucknow.

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Anjuman-i-Himayat-i Islam of Bombay etc., many Muslim

institutions came up. While Aligarh supplied the "model" 1

for the Islamiya College at Lahore2 ( 1898), a professor of

Aligarh College dissatisfied with it, established Nad~atul

Ulema3 at Lucknow in 1898. Thes~ institutions had very

1. Hon'ble Sir Louis Dane, Lieutenant Governor of Punjab to Dunlopsmith, dt. October~ 1908, Letter No. 95, Minto Papers ( l•licrofilm Copy, NAi), Reel No.3. LHenceforth abbreviated as 1•1. P. _/

2. For a brief background and idea of the Islamiya college, see an address from the 1-Iuhammadan Community of Punjab to Lord Chelmsford dt. 13th April 1917, Chelmsford Papers (Nicrofilm Copy, H1·1L), Reell1lo.13, Vol.27, po312. lHenceforth abbrevi~ted as C.F.P~. lfhe l,~oslem Chroniclflt,. 29 April 18""99, P• 249 (Microfilm Copy, NHL) t Reel No. ,j•

Punj2P Govexru~ent Gazetteer 1888-89 (Calcutta: n.p., n.d.), PP• 185-88. i•l. Yanuek, "Huslims of the United Provinces 1906-1922: The Politics of a Community" (Ph.D dissertation, University of Chicago 1973; I~ew Delhi: N1'.1.L, lticrofilm Copy, No.121), PP• 376-9.

3. It was founded to create a tradition of liberal orthodoxy. It occupied a middle position between Deoband and modern Aligarh. It aimed at imparting instruction in l•luhammadan literature, cultivating goodwill and harmony among the different sects of Muhammadans and constitutinJ a committee for giving decisions in (disputed) religious matters and revis·ing the curriculum of l·1ulla Nizamuddin. English ,.,as taught as a second language. Hhile Nadwa taught religion as the principal subject and gave instruction in secular knowlerlge as a secondary subject, it was vice versa at Aligarh. lt'or further details see, Aziz Ahmad and Van Grunebaun, eds., g~.cits, p.11. The No§.lem Chronicle, 28 February 189 ( .i:wlic rofilm Copy), Reel Ho. 1. 1-iehr-i-Nimrozt 28 January 1898 ( Bijnor) in SVNNHPO, P• 62. Oudh Akbbar ( Lucknm'l) 4 January 1899, in Ibid, , P• 17. Al Bay an ( Luckhorr) 31 !>larch 19 02 in Uniteg l?ro:x:tnc es. HE~ Newaaaper renortR LHenceforth abbreviated as UPN.i.iR.J, P• 329 • Oudh Akbar ( Lucknow) 3 .t-1arch 1902 in lbj,d!l.., p. 149.

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cordial relations with Aligarh. 1 However, as they started

meeting the educational needs pf Muslim youth locally, the

importance of Aligarh as the only institution of its kind

diminished. Moreover, due to the pro-British policy of

Aligarians, the nationalist Muslims did not evince active

interest in Aligarh. However, there were few who still

pinned all their hopes on Aligarh, despite the opposition

from some quarters. To some of them, the fulfi~ent of .

the founders idea of a university at Aligarh t·ras a worthy

cause, which if. successfully pursued would be timely tribute

to him. To others, the issue of the university seemed to

be not only sentimental but also significant for. it gave

them a chance of their life time to thobilise the masses

and win thefr confidence and leadership and thus step into

the political arena. However, it would be wrong to believe •

that all of them advocated the same type of uniyersity. In

fact, there were different shades of opinion regarding the

ooncept of the contemplated university and it can be traced

to their political philosop~ and educational and social

background. Their views were expressed in different. ·

publications and platforms - the .most important b~ing the

Mohammedan Educational Conference, the meetings of the Board

of Management of M.A.o. College, .Sir Syed Memorial Fund

Committee~ and Old Boys' Association.

1. When the members of Sir Syed Memorial Fund Committee visited the Islamiya College at Lahore in course of their tour, Navab l·Iohsinul Mulk, the President of the Co.rm.ni ttee promised to institute a scholarship at the institutlo~ l4ohsinul Mullt proposed a resolution at the 11ohammedan Educational Conference showina its sympathy towards the

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Qrigis at the Cgll§ge and the Resngnse gf the Brit~sh

In 1898 when the idea of the university was being

revived by the colleagues and contemporaries of Sir Syed

the British had developed a keen interest in the M.A. o. College. Counting its establishment among the ''peaceful

victories of his time" 1 Antony MacDonnell, Lieutenant

Governor of U. P. ( 1895-1901) hoped that the college \'rould

grow into the t·i.ohammedan university, and it \·Jould become

the ''Cordova of the Ea.st 11 where Mohammedan genius trould

discover and ,.,ork out ''that social, religious and

political regeneration of which neither Sta..;tboul (sic) ~

nor Mecca Lcoulcj} afford a prospect. "2 But MacDonne11' s

effort to appease the Muslims, especially of Aligarh, who

were wielding considerable influence in U.P. was obstructed

by the outbreak of the plague in 1897 and the official anti­

plague measures which made the Muslims as well as Hindus

unhappy. 3 There was considerable "restlessness" among the

. establishment of Nadwat-ul-Ulema. See .llilelem Chronicle, 9 July 1898, 4 !ciarch 1899 (Microfilm Copy), Reel No.2, P• 806; Reel No.3, p. 116.

1. See the reply of Sir Antony Patrick l'-1acDonnell to an address presented to him by the Trustees of M.~.o. College, Aligarh dt. 24 January 1896 in Aligatb DQcument§, Vol.III, p.763.

2. Ibid., P• 7 64.

3. Indians, specially the orthodox l•luslims believed that the British 'invented' pl~gue in order to enable police to enter their houses and rob them and thus recoup the cost of A1"&han vTar. l•1acDonnel to Elgin dated ~1ay 5, 1898, Letter No. 252, Bligin Papers ( f-...icrofilm Copy, NAI), Reel lilo.11. LHereafter abbreviate~' as E. PJ. G. I.. Verma nPlague of 1897-1907 and Its Social and Political Repercussions" The Hod ern Revierr; 786 (June 1972): 458-61.

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Indians due to faudne and communal disturbances. 1 All these

socio-political developments were not at all conducive to

the promotion of education.

As we have seen in the last chapter, the state of

affairs l'Ti thin the H • .fl. o. College during 1395-98 was also

far from satisfacto IJ due to the rivalries among the trustees

and the financial crisis. As a result of this, not only did

the construction of college buildings remain suspended, 2 but

also the enrolment of the students declined considerably. 3

On ?8 Harch 1898, when Sir S:yed expired, the condition of

the college, as pointed out by a trustee had become

"dangerously critical. 114 It v1as because of the infights

among the trustees for seizing the control of the college.

1. For a brief account of the social, political and economic conditions during 1894-99, see Rashmi Pande, "Viceroyalty of Lord Elgin, 1894-1899 n (Ph.D disserta.tion, Lucknow University, 1978), , PP• 11-15 9 161-256; 359-66.

2. See the address presented by the Trustees of M.A. o. College to Sir Antony 14acDonneJ.i dt. 24 J'anuary 1896 in op. cit., P• 759·

3. The number of students came down from 565 to 343 during the period 1895-1898. s. K. Bhatnagar, .PJ?• ci_t., P• Hi4.

4. Haji lwlohammad Ismail Khan to Chief Secretary to the Government of ill'. H. Provine es dt. 2 April 1989, Enclosure II to the letter from l•.1acDonneJi to !Elgin 19 ,, April 1898, Letter No.216, E.P., Reel No.11.

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The control of' the college, though vested in the

Board of Trustees comprising of sixty six members, was

~ tacto exercised by two of its members; i.e. Honorary

Secretary of the college and the Principal. 1 There was no

obj eetion from any of the trustees as long as Sir Syed was

alive and functioned as the Secretary. After Sir Syed's

death th~ problem came up when, Syed Mahmud, the son of Sir

Syed took his father's place ~ccording to the article 46 of

the Constitution of the College) 2 and began to exercise the

extensive powers of the Secretary and without the prior

approval of the Board of Trustees appointed Theodore Beck

as the Registrar of the College. 3 This was resented by

Moulavi Samiullah, the leader of the orthodox Section of

the trustees who was an aspirant to the post of Secretary

and was not in good terms with Beek. 4 In view of the

opposition of Samiullah, who could command considerable

support from the ;•.lohammedan landlords of .Aligarh, the British

felt that the College would not thrive as long as Syed Mahmud

continued as Secretary5 and even feared that the failure of

1. Z.1acDonnelRto Elgin, 19 April 1898, letter No.216, Ibid.

2. See Syed l-lahmud to Chief Secretary to the Government of' N. VI. Provine es. Inclosure I, Ibid.

3. Ha.cDonnelR to .filgin, 19th April 1818, j:..oc. cit.

4. Haji Mohammad Ismail Khan to Chief Secretary to the Government of N.W. Provinces dated 2nd April 1898. hnclosure II, 1QQ·~lt•

5. LaTouche, Officiatin;s Lt. Governor of N.H. Provinces and Oudh to Elgin, 12 Hay 1898, Letter 1-.o. 268, E. P. Reel No. 11.

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the college would be a "disaster of great magnitude," not

only to the 1·1uslims of U. P. region but also for all the

Muslims of British India. 1 This is no doubt an exaggeration.

Yet, it shows the concern of the British to protect the

college.

In order to improve the condition of the college,

MacDonnell, the then Lieutenant Governor of North Western

Provinces convened a meeting of Syed Mahmud and Theodore

Beck at Allah~bad on 4th May 1898 ~nd discussed the

possibilities of streamlining the account and the reorgani­

zation of the administrative set up of the college. 2 He

also visiter the college on 20 May 1898 to make an indepth

study of the problem. He realized that the orthodox members

of the Board of Trustees, were not only c r1 tical of Syed

.lvla.hmud' s taking over the post of Secretary from his father

as "a private inheritance," but also of Beck's role in the

management of the college, which they felt s~uld have been

by the "best men" from the i:Iuslim Community. 3 The Government

was in a dile~na because the removal of Syed ~ahmud though

necessary, vTas not easy, since it needed 2/3 support from

the members of the Board of Trustees. If the Government

succeeded in removing Syed l'Iahrnud, the Viceroy feared that

1. MacDonnell to £1gin, 19 April 1898, Loc. cit.

2. !1acDonnell to Elgin, 5 ha.y 1898, Letter No. 252, F .• .h, Reel No. 11.

3. La.Touche to R. B. Smith, Pri vete Secreto.ry to Viceroy, 20 JUne 1898, Letter No.315, Ibid.

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Samiullah, an orthodox leader might succeed in getting

elected as the Secret~, which would be "nothing less than

a misfortune," for he might turn Aligarh into a Centre of

orthodoxy and oriental education. 1 While the Viceroy was

exploring the means of solving the problem, Theodore Beck,

who was finding it difficu~t to pull on smoothly with Syed

M~.hmud2 put fonTa.rd a solution ... possibly in consultation

rTith Nawab Hohsinul Mulk, 3 one of the close associates of

Sir Syed l"lho disliked Syed Mahmud due to his "incurably

drunken habits. "4- Beck's plan was to create a. new post of

President for Syed Mahmud and offer the post of Secretary

to 1•1ohsinul 1-iulk, 5 rrhose viel'TS were in "entire accord

tV"i th that of Government and the policy of Sir Syed. " 6 \.Jhile

Syed l'lahmud was to remain as Life President, the tenure of

the Secretary was fixed for a period of three years. The

duties of Life President was restricted to presiding over

1. H.:&. Smith to LaTouche, 15 June 1898, LetterNo.299, Ibid.

2. For details see,. Habibulla Khan, '!ifiyath-e Aftab,' (Allahabad, 190"1), PP• 48-49.

3. Nawab Mehdi Ali Hasan Hohsinul t4ulk ( 1837-1907) was born at Aligarh and served as tehsildar at Eta\'lah in 1861 and deputy collector at 1-Iirzapur in 1867. Later he joined the .i~izam' s Service as Inspector General of Revenue. He was the Secretary of the 14.A. o. College from 1898-1907.

4. hacDonnell to Curzon, 31 August 1900, Letter No.89, C.P. Reel No.8.

5. Beck to H. B.• Smith, 26 July 1898, Letter lifo. 45, E. P. Reel ~o. 12.

6. LaTouche to H. B. Smith, 27 July 1898, Letter No. 48, ;Ibid.

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the meetings of the Board of Trustees and appointing

European staff. Beck's plan was acceptable to the Government

and it was implemented vthen LaTouche visited the College on

23rd July 1898 and impressed upon the Trustees the need of

making changes in the Constitution of the College. In this

way the British tried to effect reconciliatiop between the

two factions of the Trustees. As a result of this Samiullah

and Syed Mahmud buried their differences 1 and the college

\-ras nback in smooth water again. 112

Why did the British take so much interest in the

college? According to Elgin tt was to encourage self-help

and self-reliance in the matter of higher education. 3 But

when we stud~ the political developments of the period, the

apparent high sounding education~l objectives of the British

emerge as nothing but the shrewed political strategies for

strengthening their rule in India. British were getting·

panicky about the growing Hindu-Muslim unity. 4 As Aligarh

was their loyalist ally British did not want to weaken the

institution. Besides, they hoped that the official support

1. See Syed l•lahmud' s Letter to Samiullah regarding reconcilia­tion in enclosure to the letter from LaTouche to ~B. Smith 28 July 1898, Letter No.49, Ibid·

2. H. B. Smith to LaTouche, .30 July 1898, Letter No. 34, Ibid·

3. Lord Elgin to LaTouche 13 July 1898, Letter No. 16, Ibid,

4. The anti-plague measures of the Government brought the Hindus and Huslims together.'\Jhile Elgin suspected that the improvement of Hindu N.uslim relations might be associated \'fith a joint conspiracy against the Govern.nent.J Ha.n.ilton was frightened by the growing solid~rity of native opinion and races and religion in antagonism to British rule. For details see, s. Gopal, ~ritisb Policy in India, pp.201-2.

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to Aligarh in a way would encourage the 14uslim Community to

support1 the college, when its financial condition was weak • . Thus by keeping Aligarh happy British were trying to rule

out the possibilities of Hindu-Muslim unity. The strength

and support of .iligarh h'-ld become ; importa-nt for the success

of British rule in India ~uring the last years of nineteenth

century.

It was against this background of financial criais

at the college, conflicts among its trustees and cooperation

from the rulers that the idea of the university was being

revived by the well wishers of Sir Syed. Hence, the

Lieutenant Governor considered it a "mistake to talk of a

university. " 2 The whole idea seemed to be not only "crude

and prematuren but e.lso there was opposition to a purely

sectarian university even from the 14uslims, like Haji Ismail 3 4 .

Khan. ~ et Theodore B0ck ( 1859-99), the principal of 1-1. A. o. College ( 1883-89) requested the Govern~ent not to "discourage

the idea" since it would have a depressing effect on the .....

subscription to the Sir S;y ed hemoria.l lt'und.:; However, he

clarified:

1. Ibid., p.202.

2. LaTouche to H.L. Smith, 20 June 1898, Letter No.315, E.P. Reel No. 11 ..

3. Note on the 1-1 •• 1. o. College, Aligarh, 24 Z..lay, 1898 by LaTouche~ Enclosure to the Letter from LaTouche to H.& Smith, 2? May 1898, Letter No. 290, Ibiq.

4. He w1s educated at Cambridge and Oxford and was recruited by Syed i4ahmud for the post of principal of 1~1. (. o. College.

5. This point has been dealt later in this chapter.

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By the university we simply mean to develop the college •••• All intellig

1ent people know that this

must be a distant ideal.

At the same ti1 .. e, in public platforms, he spoke of the need

of developing the college into a "great and independent

Hohammadan Uni versi ty"2 in due course of time.

Beck-~gr_ipon Cancent of University

Beck had formulated some of his ideas on the type

ot univer-sity ~o be established at Alig arb during the life

tiwe of Sir Syed itself. He antici .. .Jated th."'t the university

should ~cultivate not only the intellects but also the

sentiments,~ 3 and train some students for vocation and others

to become tlg entleruen and enlightened leaders. •t 4 But he. did

not specify the t~pe of profession the students should take

up. He, however, exhorted the Musli .... •s to develop themselves

through eC.ucation.5 He believed that since the success of

the university depended on the quality of the students,

•'~uslims should first set up good schools and provide scholar­

ship to brilliant students. 6 He also highlighted the

----------------------------1. Beck to LaTouche, 5 July 1892, Letter No.18, E.P., Reel

No. 12.

2. See speech of Beck delivered Pt the condolence meeting of Sir .Syed, held on 31 Harch 1898, Thf :•iosle,;:l Chronicle, 2 April 1898, p .. 614 ( .. · .. icrofilm copy , Reel No.2.

3. Speech of Beck, 2 March 1886, Aligarh Institute Qazette, 20 !-larch 1886 t tUcrofilm copy), Reel No.1.

4 f B k P t I'bi f •. • Speech o ec at a na, ___ , 2 January 1886 ( .. tlcrofilm copy), rleel 1~o. 1.

5. Speech of Beck, 1 l~arch 1886, Ibi,d., 2 l1arch 1886.

6. Speech of Deck at Patna, Loc.p~.

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importance of imparting religious education to the Hohammedan

students 1 and clarified that the Englishmen were not opposed

to oriental learning. He encouraged the Indians to draw 2 inspiration from the "recollections of a great past. " · At

the same time he cautioned them not to bury themselves

exclusively in it. In short, he emphasised the importance of

Western learnings, science and arts.

It seems th3t before 1898, Beck bad not given serious

and systemat.ic thou,6ht to the various aspects of the university.

It may be bec13,use of his preoccupation vd th the a.dministrati ve

\'fork a.t the college. It is also probable that ·he did not want

to express his views when the founder of the institution was

alive.

An analysis of the writings and speeches of Beck,

especially after the death of Sir Syed, gives a cohesive picu$re

of his cone ept of the university. Beck stood for a "real

teaching university"3 to honour the founder and to achieve a

"great reform .. in Iruilian education. 4 He wanted to establish

such a university at Aligarh by raising the 1·1.. A. o. College. 5

1. Beck to s. H. Bil~ramm, 13 September 1888. Syed Hossein Bilg rami Papers <. ... J.l·1L). LHereafter abbreviated as B. P!-/ Beck Correspondence File, 13-2, Part II.

2. Speech of Beck, 12 April 1886, Aligarh Institute Gazette, 1 t-~ay 1886 ( :t-licrofilm Copyl Reel No.1.

3. Beck's Sveech at Lahore, The i·.~.oslem Chronicle, 6 August 1898 ( I>licrofilm copy) Reel No.2, p. 872.

4. Speech of Beck at Sir S) ed Hemori al Fund deli vercd on .Tune 26, 1898 in Important Speeches related to h• ! .... o. College, Appendix B., 1'ile No.5, p. 47. B. P. ·

5. Beck to S.H. Bil.grand,~ 13 Septe:.uber 1898, Beck Correspondence File B-2, Part II D.¥. See also Beck's Speech at Lahore, Lgc.cit.

- 2?0 -

Though his proposal of the university waa criticised as a

"wild goose chase" 1 he remained optimistic. He presented

a detailed plan of the university at Mohammedan Educational

Conference of.1898, in which he justified the need of an

university as a means of "national prosperity" and to create

a band of men of character and learning to serve their Queen

in various parts of the Empire in nposts of honour ~nd 2 responsibility." He explained that th.)ugh there were several

openings for the Muslims in different parts of the ever

extending British Empire, particularly in Africa their supply

was not equal to dem~nd and it was only such a university as

the one proposed at Aligarh that would be able to meet the

requirements. 3

His plan l-ras to r~.ise such a university gradually by

recruiting more professors, admittinJ more students and

constructing aclditional buildings, so that "by degrees as

the plant grows into the tree, it would became a magnificant

and noble institution. " He preferred a residential university

with academic freedom to professors to design their courses.

He expected the proposed university to have intimate relations

vii th other Hohammedan educational institutions all over India

and to affiliate about hundred l~luslim schools to the university

1. e.g., See Najmul Hind ( i{oradabad) 12 December 1898 in SYi1E~ t1P, P• 666.

2. Speech of Beck, ~~~, 4 February 1899, Supplement ( l.fic rofi lin- copy) t Reel No.3.

- 271 -

and prepare their students for its entrance examination, so

that the Muslim Colleges and schools would find the

university as a training ground for their professors and

school masters. He also highlighted the importance of

maintaining the Muslim character by celebrating Islamic

festivals and services.

Beck considered that such a university would

accomplish nothing short of the "regeneration n of the Indian

1-1ohammedan "nation. " Besides, poll tic ally, he thought it

l·rould be of utmost value both to the Englishmen and the

Indian Huslims as it would provide more opportunities for

friendly intercourse between the British faculty and the

Indian students and thereby increase the loyalty of the

latter to_British rule. 1 Beck, however, clarified that the

real intention of the university was not only to give liberal 2 education to the upper and middle class Mohammedans, but

also to "accomplish the object of the life of Sir Syed 11 \'Tho

not only worked for the welfare of the people but also for

the stability of the British rule. 3 n

From the above analysis of Beck's cone ept of the

university it becomes evident that he did not differ from

Sir Syed's idea of the university in any respect except for

1. A note by Theodore Beck on 'the proposed 11ohammedan University' at Alig arb, n. d. , File No.5 9 PP• 1-5 9 B. P.

2. See Theodore Beck' s artie le, "The Nohammadan University", H. ~. O. C~ lleg e l·1gz a3in~, Vol. II I, No.3, ( Aligarb 1899), PP• 42-4 •

3· Theodore Beck to H.B. Smith, Private Secretary to Viceroy, 2 April 1898, Letter No. 18lt-, E. P. Reel No. 11.

- 272 -

affiliation. As he was one of the intimate colleagues of

the founder he might have been influenced by him and he

would have considered it to be a moral duty to give practical

shape to the original ideas of the founder instead of

deviating from them. Moreover, Beck did not feel the urge

to deviate from Sir Syed's aim of making the students loyal

towards British as it was not contrary to the official·policy.

His motive was both educQtional and political. Thus Beck was

only happy to implement the idea of the founder. This· made

·him a true follower of the founder and thereby enabled him

to seek the cooperation of the contemporaries of Sir Syed in

raising the college to the status of the univeTsi ty and thus

emerge as the messiah of the J.<Iuslims.

His early death in 1899, however, deprived him of the

opportunity to work for the establishment of the university

at Aligarh.

Sir Theodore l·~orison, 1 ( 1863-1936), a contemporary of

Sir Syed, 1-1ho served as a professor at the 14. A. o. College

( 1889-1899) and later, as its principal ( 1899-1904), ·was a

staunch supporter of the scheme of the Aligarh university.

Like Beck, he also gave serious thought to the idea of a

Muslim Oniv~rsity only after the death of the founder in 1898.

1. Sir Theodore 14os-ison was as a member of Viceroy's LegislP.ti v~ Council ( 1903-04) and Council of India ( 1906-16). He \-Tas also the President of the I1oh?..mmedan Educational Conference in 1904.

J

- 273 -

He believed that since the prevalent university education

vas unsuitable to the needs of the Huslims, a separate

11uslim University was required. 1 But he clarified that the

new university '"'as not to be somethlng different from the

H.!. o. College. It \·Tas to be the enlargement of the college. 2

It was to be a residential university. 3 Unlike Beck, he

\"forked out the details of curriculum to be adopted at the

university. He suggested the formation of the faculties

for huropean Arts, Science and Oriental studies respectively. 4

He also made it clear that rudimentary theology should be

compulsorily taught to al15' and moral and scientific training 6 should go side by side. Such a university, he believed

trould create a nevT school of thought and thereby gradua1ly

transform the Muslim society. Hence he stated that it

deserved a special degree of attention and the sympathy of

the English public. 7

1. Theodore 1>1orison, "A Scheme of the Proposed 1·1ohe.mmedan University," File ~o.5, p.6, B.P.

2. ,lbi.<1•, P•7•

3. Ibi_d., p.15. · See also ~he Iwloslem ~hronic~ ( 11icrofilm Copy~, June 18, 1898, P• 79 2 and July 9, 1398, P• 808, Reel No.2.

4. Theo(lore i•lorison, uA Scheme of the Proposed .Z.lohammedan University, 11 OP• cJ._t., P• 8.

5'. Ibid., p.11.

6. See l4orison' s Speech delivered at the l4ohammedan Educational Conference held at Lahore, dt. 27 December 1898, fbe Moslem Chronicle Jun.nlement, 14 January 1899 ( l•dcro film Copy) , Reel No.3.

7. Theodore Morison, "A 1-luha.wmadan University" 'the Moslem Q.hron;lgle~ 7 January 1899, p.7. { Hicrofilm Copy), Reel No.3.

- 274 -

Horison justified the creation of a 1·1uslim University

from cultural and political view points. He argued that the ' Muslims like Hindus were a separate religtous entity and the

British should encourage their activities. "The Muhammadans,"

he explained, "have a very distinct moral and intellectual

inheritance of teaching .va~ues and so, they should be allowed

to use these in the educatioiJ6f their children." 1 He believed

that morality so taught in their respective institutions would ~

have more power to influence conduct than any electic .system ,...

of ethics, because in India an ethical system was likely to

be accepted in exact proporti.on .e,s it had the sanction of

religion. 2 Because of this, he argued for separate Hindu,

t:luslim and Farsi Universities, which he thought \..rould help in

l-Tiping out the growing irreligiousness prevalent among- the

English educated 1-iuslims, besides encouraging the private

philanthropy. 3 The growth of Muslim university, he felt would

be "a useful focus for Muslim political development. n4 In

short, Morison's vievrs were identic'ial with those of Sir Syed

and Beck•

1. Theodore Eorison quoted in Eric Ashby and 14ary Anderson, Universities: BritiJ?h0 Indian and African (London: Wei0enfield and Nicholson, 1966), p.105.

2. Theodore Morison, Imp§riaJ. Rule in In~ ( ~vestminster: Archibald Constables & Co., 1899), p.12 •

3. Theodore Morison, Historx gf the M.A.o. Coblege Aligarh (Allahabad: Pioneer Press, 1903), PP• 30-33.

4. Theodore Morison, cited in Gail Hinault and David Lelyveld, "Campaign for a J.1uslim University 1898-1920," ~rn Asian StudiAA, 8 (April 1974), P• 155 •

- 275 -

Tn~ Views of the Intellectuals of India

The intellectuals of India, many of whom were the

compatriots of Sir Syed, also evinced keen interest in the

scheme of the proposed university. Justice Ameer Al~ the

founder President of the National Huhar.umadan Association

of Calcutta, fully supported Morison's idea of a denomina­

tional residential university. 1 But he opposed the idea of

making the study of .lrabic language compulsory· beyond lower

standard, for he considered that to force the youth to devote

the whole or a·considerable portion of their energy to study

·such a difficult ·language(?) was to handicap them at the

very start. He believed the,t a "nation "t-Thich tried to wrap

itself in the mantle of dead past was doomed to extinction."2

In the proposed university he stressed the signific a.nc e of

imparting Islamic ethical teachings and training of the

heart and head, instead of lips, so as to make the Muslim

youth "true Island tes instead of merely professed Muslims. 113

He hoped that the aim of its promotors should be directed to

the steady advancement of the l4ohammed ans of India so as to

bring them into line 1-ri th the "progressing and prog res si ve

communities" of the Hest. 4

1. Justice Ameer Ali, "Note on the Hoh~edan Universipy Proposal," Rile No.5, PP• 59-63, B. P. See also The l•io..Alem Chronicle Sumemen:t, 14- January .1899 f.i•acrofilm Copy), Reel No.3. Excerpts of Ameer 1..11' s artie le on "Mohomedan University" in The Nineteenth Centu~ (October 1905) cited in Leonard Alston, ~ation ~d C~tizenship in India. (London.: Longmans, 1910),p.77•

2. Justice Ameer All "Note on the Mohamed an University, " rule cit. , P• 62.

3. ;tbi.d., P• 63.

4. Ibid., P• 61.

- 276 -

Syed Hossain Bilgrami 1 ( 18lf2-1926), an eminent

scholar, an educationist and an ardent supporter of Sir Syed' s

political ideology, 2 joined Ameer Ali in criticising the

unsuitability of the Governu:ent system of education to the

needs of .toluslims and upholding th~ Lnporta.nce of impa.rting

practical religious education to them. 3 Like Ameer .lli he

also feared that organizing a distinct faculty of oriental

learning at the proposed university ~ould dissipate the small

amount of funds. On the other hand he felt the need for a

faculty of physical sciences, as it would enable the Muslims

to correct their "peculiar errors of mind," and give the old

world moulvies a newer organon. According to him the

university should confine itself to a combination of Western

culture with that of the East as represented in their language

and 11 terature, besides aiming at encouraging all branches

of learning. He betieved that the best way to impart

European education was to leave it in English hands and

hopec th~t from the close and const~nt contact ~dth Europ~an

scholars and gentlemen, the impermeable crust of sloth,

prejudice and ignorance of the Muslims would Jradually

1. :Ie 1.-1as born at ·nydera~ad and educated at presidencp college Calcutta. He served as Professor of Arabic at Canning College, Lucknow ( 1866-73) and then entered Nizam's service as Secretary to Salar Jung, from 1887-1902. Later he served Nizam Govern~ent in the capacity of D.P.I. He was a member of 1902 university Commission and Imperial Legislature Council during 1907-09.

2. ~Jhen Sir Syed decided to keep a\'ray from the Congress ~ovewent and founded Patriotic Association to oppose Congress de.aanos, s .. H. .dilgra.;:ili congratulated him and stated that the Congress movement l-Ias an "engine for turning this rest into unrest. n s. :n. Bil.graoi to Syed Ahmad Kh:m, Hyderabad, dt. 20 August 1888, File No.3, Part III, &P.

3. For details see, Presidential S,tJeech or s. B. Bilg rami at dohawedan Educational Conference held at i·leerut, 30 December 1896, File Ho.3, Part III, !bid.

- 2:77 -

disappear. Besides, to mould the lives of the youth after

the best European models of excellence and to direct their

moral and mental tendencies towards lofty ideas, he wanted

to establish a residential university on the British model

with a number of European ·professors. Since he believed

that the f;Johammedans of India were not a united people ·and

their conceptions of the best interests '\'Tere as d"ivergent

as the localities in which they ·lived and feared thqt left

to itself, Aligarh college would not develop into anything

higher but t1ould Ln all probability degenerate into an ·

"ill taught and l-Torse disciplined maktab of the old type,"

he ju·stified the expansion of the l·l.A.o. College into a

fullfledg ed residential university. 1 According to Bilg rami,

helping the college to expand into a distinguished seat· of

western and eastern learning was the most important duty of

the .L·lohalililledans and bene e be exhort eo them not to rest till 2 sufficient funds were raised for that purpose. He pointed

out that the expansion of the college into a university was

not altogether a nell phenomenon ( sine e in the past ..>ublin

college had grown into a university) and by creating conducive

circumstances, the lluslim community in India could also hope

1. Syed Hossain Bilgrami, "The Hohammedan University" Hyderabad 23 December 1898, File Ho.5, B. P. (This Paper \'Tas read in absent!~ at the i•lohammecan Educational Conference held at Lahore 1898 by Na'\'rab huhsinul Kulk, A reprint of this can be round in Th~ ReportJ?f I[~ ian Uniyersi ti §s Cqdmis§iQU, 1902s 1Usc ellaneQJ6S Pr.pera Simla: uovcrnment Printing, 1902), Vol.V, PP• 137-44.

2. See reply of s. H. Bilgrami to an acdress presented to him at Aligarh dt. 18 February 1900, E'ile llo.8, Part III, B· P.

- 278 -

for a similar development. 1 But he drew the attention of

his community towards the necessity of seeking the

cooperation of the Hindus and associating them with their

venture for he observed that the Hindus were far ahead

than the Muslims an0 so the latter would be benefitted by

such an association. 2 In short, he wanted a university to

build up a centre of "J.1usalman thought, culture and teaching"

which would influence the vast Mohammedan population of

India in the right direction by elevating .their ideals,

reforming their morals and manners and purifying their

11 ter~ture. 3

Hhile Bilgrami preferred a purely residential

university, Ziauddin -~hmad4 ( 1878-1947) an alumni of the

:i•I. A. o. College \fent a step ahead of him by suggesting an

affiliating cum residential university which would bring

in its fold all the Aligarh model institutions and aim

at enabling its graduates to compete successfully with other of

Indians and to win political leadershiplthe Muslim community?

1. See Syed Hossain Bilgrami's presidential address at the !Jlohammedan Educational Conference, held at Rampur, 1900, File No.9, Part III, p.10, B.P.

2. Jb!.d•, PP• 17-19 •

3, Ib!r., PP• 24-25.

4. Born at I•feerut in 1878, educated at M.A. o. College, Aligarh and Trinity College, Cambridge; D. Sc. 1901; Isac Newton Scholar at Cambridge member Sadler Commission 1917, Principal M.A. o. Coliege 1919; Pro-Vice Chancellor and v. c. of A. 1;1, u. during 19 28; and 19 35-47 respect! vely.

5. Minault and Lelyveld, qn.cit., p.149.

- 279 -.

The idea of an affiliating aniversity was definitely a

deviation from the residential system of education advocated

by the founder and Ziauddin was the first Muslim educationist

to propound and popularise the viev. \'/hat prompted him to

put forl-rard such an idea remains obscure. Perhaps, he might

have been influenced by Beck or dazzled by the thought that

by bringing more and more l1uslim·colleges scattered in·

different parts of the country ~der the folds of Aligarh,

the influence of Aligarh could be easily spread and the

Huslims all over India could be brought tot;ether more closely,

so that they could raise their demands unitedly·in.due·course.

He might have also tho~ght that such a step would belp·in

fosterinci the study of Muslim culture as widely as possible.

He hardly ever thought about the technical difficulties.

involved in it as it would encroach upon the territorial

limits of other universities.

Ziauddin's idea of an affiliating cum residential

university ¥las fully appreciated and advocated by l<Iohanunad

Ali 1 ( 1878-1931) who justified the creation of such a

university not only to impart training to the youngmen in

1. Born in 1878 at Rampur, educated at M.A. o. College, Allgarh and Lincoln College Oxford. Served as Chief Education Officer of Rampur 190o and in the opium Department of the Baroda State. Founcler editor o.f Comradg \1eekly and the Hamda4d daily, he established Anjudlan-i-Khudam-i-Kaba & was associated rlith the foundation o.f Aligarh :1usl1m university and .Jamia 1-iillia Is la.ad.a.

- 280 -

~

"Islamic character rather than an instruction in text books

of Islamic theology" 1 but also to "guide Muslilil education"2

throughout India. To achieve these, he wanted to evolve a

special type of education by combining "Eastern matter and

Hestem manner, n3 in a residential university \~hich would

be open to all the Muslim students of the world irrespective

of Shia-Sunni differences.~ He clarified that the proposed

university meant only an "expansion of Aligarh"5 and hoped

that it \·rould aim at "nothing short of the regeneration of

the Indian Mohawaedans." Thus basically, there was no

contradiction between the ;tdeas of Sir Syed and 1-lohammed Ali.

Apart from the above mentioned Aligarians, a few

others who were not connected with Aligarh also showed interest

in the scheme of the university. It was because of the

realization that the future prospects of Indian Muslims were

1. 14oharumad Ali, The Pro.,nosed Mohammedan Oniyersity { Bombays Caxton Press, 1901;), P• 30. Alig,arh Institute Gaz~, ~ August 1904.

2. Mohammad Ali cited in Jamiluddin Ahmad!. "I-laulana i•lohammad -~li," in Syed Rais Ahmed Jafri ed., S~u,ect!ans from f.lla,ulana t.fohamad Ali's Cgmrade ( Lahorez Nohamad Ali Academy, 1965), p. 190. LHenceforth C.omrade SelflCtion§._/·

3. Nohammad Ali, QP• cit•, P• 18.

4. !.Qin. , P• 29.

5· Ibi<"., p.1o.

- 281 -

bound up with Aligarh's progress. 1 Rafiuddin Ahmed who

lived in London, published an article in Ihe Nineteenth

Century in 1898, 2 pleading for the establishment of an

affiliating university at Aligarh, which would serve the

Muslims all over Asia and remain as the most eloquent

testimony to the success of British rule in India and at the

same time, increase and strengthen the prestige of England

in the eyes of the l•luslims besides elevating their moral,

mental and intellectual status and furnishing an inexhaustible

store bouse for the supply of educated, enlig'htened and loyal

Mohammedans to assist British Statesmen. 3

Not all the Muslim intellectuals readily supported

the idea of a Muslim university. Badruddin Tyabji, perhaps

to rlin over Sir Syed tol'rards Indian National C.:mgress, ·or to

express his magnanimity and concern for the education of his

correligionists contributed a sum of ~. 2,000 towards Sir Syed

Memorial Fund (to raise the M.A. o. College to a university)

and appreciated the idea of providing modern as well as

religious education at the same place. 4 To quote him:

1. See Principal's Annual Report 1898-1899 in Aligarb Institute Gazette, 4 August 1911; 15 July 1S99.

2. l-1ohsinul 14ulk read an Urdu translation of it to the ciohammedan Educational Conference at Lahore in December 1898.

3. Rafiuddin Ahmad, "The Proposed Muslim University in India, n Moslem Chronicl~, 7 January 1899 ( Nicrofilm Copy) Reel No.3, P• 6.

4. Bactruddin Tyabji to Nawab Mohsinul Hulk dt. 21. 12. 1898, Letter No. 109, Vol. 2, T. P.

- 282 -

Western education should not be altogether disassociated from oriental and religious learning. Our greatest misfortune hitherto has been that most learned of our moulavi~s and theologians are ent·irely ignorant of evury other branch of kno,'i"ledge except their own. The result is that we have narrow minded bigotted and fanatical set of religious teachers who are looked upon with contempt by people of any enlightenment. We must put a stop to this so that our future learned men may also be enlightened and educated men in true sense of these words. On the other hand, it is, I think is equr:tlly impo.rtant that Hussalman youngmen l'Jho have acquired the . knowledge of Western literature arts Pnd science should not be altogether ignorant of their1own language, literature, history and religio.il..

Forr.aation of Sir Syed 1·1emorial Fgnd Committee ang the Collectio..!LOf F'gnds

The well wishers of Sir Syed, not only expressed

their ideas on the proposed university but also simultaneously

initiated ~ series of steps to implement them. At a meeting

of the Board of lJ!anag ement of the 1·1. A. o. College held on 31

l·~arch 1898, soon after the death of Sir Syed, Aftab A.hmatl Khan2

( 1867-1930) an alumni of the college made the earliest move

when he placed a resolution to form an endowMent of rupees ten

lakhs (to be named as Sir Syed Hemorial Fund) rTith a view to

p!'l.y off the debts of the college3 and raise 1 t to the status

1. Ibid ••

2. Bou.n at Karnal, educated at .t..ligarh and Cambrid~e.) practiced law at Aligarh. Trustee of the college sine e 1o9 6. Joint Secretary of Muslim Educational Conference { 1905-1917).

3. At the time of the dAath of Sir Syed, the College was indebted to the extent of about ~.50 1 000 on account of loans besides outstanding debts of 'lls· 13, oou and liabilities on account of the trust fund lost in embezzlement bringing up the total indebtedness to about a lakh of rupees. See an address presented by Sir Syed Hernorial Fund Committee to Lt. Governor at Alignrh on 23 July 1898 in Moalem Chronicl§, 13 August 1898, P• 888. ( lucrofilm Copy), Reel No.2.

- 283 -

of a university. 1 Besides, he also proposed the name of

Nawab Mohsinul Mulk for the post of the President of Sir

Syed Memorial F'und Committee. 2 Aftab Ahmad's str~.tegy had

several motives. On the one hand he was trying to save the

college from the financial crisis and then to expand it to

a university to fulfil the desire of the founder and thus

emerge as the spokesman of his collli1lunity. On the other

hand pe was trying to safeguard the college from falling

into the hands of old fashioned trustees like Maulavi

Samiullah, who was trying to form a clique with Nal·rab Mohsinul

1~ulk9 mainly to check the grO\ving influence of English faculty

"" especially of Beck~ and keep the control of the college within

the l•luslim community. 4 .Aftab Ahmad Khan, whose interest in

the affairs of Aligarh college was no less than that of

Samiullah, was closer to the British faculty at the college

(possibly due to his higher studies at Cambridge) and so, did

not \·lish to see the Samiullah·i'.i.ohsinul 1·1ulk alliance succeed,

lest the institution should come under the control of the

orthodox people. He knew that it was not an easy task to

1. See the report of the Proceedings of a meeting of the Board of .Manag eutent of .l".i.. ~. o. College held at Ali6 arh, 31 !•larch 1898 in Ibid., !!J.iga~ Institute G,azette, 9 Apri.l 1898, p. 614 ( l.·lic rofilm copy , Ree 1 No.2.

2. Ibid.

3. On thi.s point see Syerl l'iuh!:!.m.nad Ahmad Khan, "Beck's Interference in College Affairs, 11 i·loslem ChronicJ.e 11 February 1899, p. 84 ( .ttlcrofilm Copy), Reel No.3.

4. Theodore Beck to Syed Hossain Bilgrau~ dt. September 13, 1898. Beck Corresponc: enc e File, B-2, Part I 1 B. P. See also ltinault and Lelyveld, .on. cit., P• 14'/.

- 28lt -

dissuade iwiohsinul Mulk. So by proposing the name of

Mohsinul Mulk for the post of the President, Aftab Ahmad Khan,

succeeded in weakening Samiulla•s faction. In this he had the

cooperation of Beck, who naturally did not like the domination

of conservative trustees.

The Sir Syed Memorial Fund Committee was constituted

with Mohsinul Mulk as its President, Aftab Ahmad Khan and the

collector of Aligarh as its Secretary and treasure.rz resp~ctivelyJ 2 Though several local fund committees were also formed, the

flow of the fund was slow. It was mainly because of th~

attitude and apprehension of the people as well as the press

towards the scheme of the proposed university. 3 At this

J~cture, the British Govern.nent, obviously influenced by the

loyalism of Aligarh did not prefer to see its decline and

came to its rescue. The Lieutenant Governor of N. V'. Provine es . requested the Viceroy to make a contribution to the Fund so as

to "stimulate donations.">+ Since the Viceroy consic!lered it to

be "a misfortune of no small magnitude" for the Muslims of

British India, if the usefulness of the college was diminished

or the scope of its activity curtailed by the pressure of

1. For the details of the rules and regulation of the Co.nmittee see J.'loalem Cer~ntc lfl, 11 February 1899, P• 88 and 25 February 1899, PP• 10 - Microfilm Copy) Reel No.3.

2. For details see .!.l.U..d·, 16 April 1898, P• 632 (Microfilm Copy) Reel No.2.

3. e. g. See Oudh .Akhbar ( Lucknow) 16 August 1899 in BYNNWf p. 4-4f.; Jamiul Ulum ( Noradabad) ~1 August 1899 in I.bi.d·, P• 462

4. LaTouche to H.B. Smith, 20 June 1898, Letter No.315, Loc.cit.

- 285 -

financial or administrative difficulties, he contributed

a sum of tl-TO thousand rupees to the Sir Syed Memorial Fund. 1

LaTouche, the then acting Lieutenant Governor of N.w. Provinces also reiterated the readiness of the Government

to aid the college and donated five hundred rupees to the

fund. 2 Official contributions seems to have motivated

wealthy Indians. The Nawab of R~mpur made a donation of

half a lakh of rupees and increased the monthly grant to

the college from one to t\10 hundr.ed rupees. 3 ' The-Queen.of

England also expressed her willingness to send .a "small

contribution" to the college for she considered the l.fuslims

to be ttpoli tic ally the most loyal to the crown. n4 . The

Viceroy, Lord Curzon, preferred to watch the proposed scheme

with a "friendly eye. ,5 He considered that the movement must

be patronised and supported fi rat by the "natural supporters, u

viz.' the leading J.olohammedans, princes, nobles and wealthymen

and in due course, he would indicate his sympRthy.6

1. Elgin to LaTouche, 13 July 1898, Letter No.16, E. P. Reel No. 12.

2. See S:peech of LaTouche delivered at H. A. o. College Aligarh on 23 July 1898, Selec.tions from the S:g.eegbes of Sir J. J.D. LaToyg})e: Lieytenant Gov:ernor of u. P. 1901-1906 rNa.ini tal: U. P. Government, 1906), PP• 1-7 •

3. LaTouchetoH.B. Smith, 30J"uly 1898, LetterNo.56, E.P. Reel No. 12.

4. ~ueen Empress to Viceroy of India dated 17 January 1899, Letter No.6, Vol.I, C.P. Reel No.1.

5. Cur~on to Queen Empress, 23 February 1899, Letter No.6, Vol. II, Ibid.

6. Curzon to C(ueen Empress, 5 July 1899, Letter No. 19, Ibid. However, Curzon made a contribution of one thousand rupees to the construction of college hospital building. Morison to Lawrence, P. s. to Viceroy, 6 August 1906, Ibicl., Reel No.9.

- 286 -

The Aligarians had already become a\-Tare of the

importance of approaching the ~Tell-to-do 14usl1ms and the

members of royal families for the funds. -They knew that

official patronage, though essential was not enoug~ for

raising the huge resources required for the-expansion of

the college into a university. The members of the Fund

Committee submitted a memorandum to the Nizam Government

stating that for the "honour of Islam and Muslims ·of India,"

it was necessary to raise the college into a university and '1

so:.:tght financial aid from him. \-lith a vievr to A.ttract

more donations, the Aligarians tried to publicise the idea

of Muslim university by passing a resolutlOn in favour of it

at the 12th Session of the Hohammedan Anglo oriental

EducationA.l Conference in 1899. 2 The Muslim press also

helped in publicising the cause of Aligarh. Al !3asbir

observed:

The establishment of such a university will make British rule sta0le in the country not only by providing civilizing and loyalty engendering . education for Indian Husalmans but also for the wild frontier tribesmen and A&ghans. The greatest dangers which the British Government at present dreads in India come from the North West Frontier. Should Russia invade India, the power which is supported by the Afghans and the Frontier.tribes

1. See J.lemorandum from College Funo Committee, 18 February 1900 to S.H. Bilgrami, Director of Public Instruction of Nizam Government, File No.5, B. P. Already the Nizam was giving a grant of ns. 250 P• m. to M.A.o. College. See the Letter from Asmanjah to Sir Syed, 20 July 1888 in Aligath Institute Gaaette, 24 July 1888 (Microfilm Copy), Reel No.2.

2. See Resolution No.III, in Ngs1em Chronicle, 7 January 1899 ( l'dcrofilm Copy), Reel No. 39 P• 6.

- 287 -

will certainly be very strong. No\"r to make sure of the permanent good will of these Afghan people, a mere appeal to their greed is not sufficient; but steps should be taken to ingrain their new generations with feelings of lGve and affections towards tha British Government and this obj eet l'rill be best served if orders are issued to the political officers to induce the Afghan people to s;nd their sons for education to the Aligarh College.

In spite of the best efforts of the Aligarians and

the favourable attitude of the Government and the Muslim

press, the fund committee could succeed only in raising a

small amount of ~. ?0,084 during the period 1898-99• 2 It

was because of the anti Aligarh campaign launched by a

section of·press. Anis-i-Hind, considered Aligarh not·a

"truly national institution" and stated that its expansion

\'fOUld simply be spending money on a "useless object. "3

According to Sbabna-i-Hind, the idea of a university was a

"foolish" one and the task itself was beyond the capabilities

of Sir Syed's followers. 4 So the paper made a plea for

handing over the college to Nadwatul ulema.5 ~oh!ah-i~Hind suggested the abandoning of the scheme, in favour of a

technical college open to both the communities because of

its fear that the move for a Muslim University would induce

1. Al Bashir ( Etawah) 7 August 1899 in SVNN1'1FO, P• 433.

2. See, rrA Short l•1emorandum of Progress or the M. .a. o. College Aligarhu by l4ohsinul I-iulk, dated 12th July 1899 in t<tloslfm Chronicle, 15th December 1900, p.1462 (Microfilm Copy , Reel No.4.

3. Anis-i-Hind ( Heerut) 20th July 1898 in SVNN\vPO, P• 403.

4. Shahna-i-Hind (Meerut) 24 February 1899 in .!bi..d· P• 110. See also Hindi Pradip (Allahabad) March-April 1898 in Ibid., P• 268.

5. Shahna-i-Hind ( .i•leerut) 8 and 16th .April 1898 in Ibid., PP• 215, 228.

- 288 -

the Hindus to establish a Hindu University. 1 (The fear of

the paper came true; when Annie Besant established the

Central Hindu College, the nucleus of the future Hindu

University, at Benaras on 7th July 1898). 2 Hoveve~, a

perusal of the writings and speeches of Annie Besant during

1898-99 do not show any connection between her scheme and

that of Aligarh. So the establishment of the Hindu College

cannot be considered as a reaction to the Aligarh scheme.

Anti-1iuslim .Pqlicy g{ the British and the Reaction g! ~li_gari anJia..

At this juncture when more efforts were being needed

to justify the expansion of the college into a university

and collect more funds for it, political developments in

British India diverted the attention_of Aligarh le~ders from

education to politics. Several factors bad a.lready begun to

affect the fortunes of the 1•1us lims. The pro-Muslim policy

of the British was being replaced by the pro-Hinrlu policy.

The Hindu-Muslim unity, as evident during the anti-plague

riots at Kanpur in 1-larch-April. 1899, 3 the growing pan-Islamic

tendencies amon& the l'luslims and the failure of the l-iuslim

officials to give useful inforu..ation about it to the high­

ups, 4 and the Hindu revivalism, especially the demand of the

1. Tohfah-i-Hind ( Bijnor) 27th April 1898 in I'Qifl., p. 241.

2. ]·or details of the Institution see, s. L. Dar and s. Somaskandan, DJ;h cit., PP• 88-89 • "A note on the history of the Central Hindu College" by Verney Lovett, Governw.ent of India, Home Political, l~ay 1910, Ho.10 (NAI).

3. On tbis point see, G. L. Verma, ,fe.rt:v: Po~fics in u. f>., 1901-1920 (Delhi: Sandeep Prakashan, 197 , PP• 17, 34--35 •

4. Francis Robinson, AQ•Cit., p.134.

- 289 -

Hindus for the use of Devan5iri scripts in the courts of

1 u. P., and the g row·ing realization that ignoring the claims

of Hindus vho formed the majority would be a "political

blunder," were some of the factors that forced the British

to make a shift in their policy tol-rards the 1-iuslims. Since

the Government had no 'faith' in ~uslims 2 and considere~

them to be 'hostile' towards the. British they were more

interested in encouraging a "Hindu predominance than a

hohomeflan predominance"3 and. hence, issued a notification

on .April 21, 1900, allowing the use of Devanagiri scrip:t

and laid down that no person should be appointed except in

a purely English office, to any ministerial appointment

henceforth, unless he could read and write both the Nagri

and the Persian character. 4

This decision threatened Muslims more than others

because they preferred Urdu to Hindi and hence they rightly

fearec thr-'.t they would be gradually discriminated and

displaced from Government Service. Protest meetings were

held in different places5 and the 2-~uslims tried their best

----·---------------------------1. Ls. L. Verma, gy. c.;t t. , P• 35.

2. lbi.Q.~, p.38

3. l1ac.Donnell to Curzon, 18 hay 1900, Letter No. 213, c. P. Reel Uo. 8.

4. See the copy of resolution of Government of N. ·.1. Provinces and Oudh on the use of bcript in courts and offices dated Allahabad 21st April 1900, A.P. (SQA) •.

5. The first meetin6 to consider the resolution was held on 1st .-lay at the residence of l•lohsinul l>1ulk at Aligarh. It was follo"red by several meetings at Agra., Allahabad, Lucknow, i;~oradabad anc elsewhere in u • .t'. Kashmir! Brahmins also joined the meetings. But Government considered it as tbe

- 290 -

to safeguard their interest. Nawab lvlohsinul l1ulk, the

leader of the Muslims steppe~ into the scene by organising

Urdu Defence Association. 1 Mohsinul Mulk's involvement in

poll tics infuriatated MacDonnell because that was the first

time the Aligarians had dared to dabble in anti-British

e.gi tation. 2

How could the British tolerate such sentiments from

an institution patronised by them? Government financial

aid on which.the future of the College depended came as a

convenient weapon to pressurise and persuade 1-iohsinul Mulk

to disassociate himself from. the. Urdu Defence Association. 3

outburst of feelings of ~<!ohammedan members of Legal profession. Curzon considered it as "howls of the l':ussulmans. " See Aligarh Institute Gazette 7th May 1901, PP• 201-2. Al Bashir ( Etal-iah) 24th September 1900 in SVNl~vlP, P• 494. Report of the Progs. of the meeting of Viceroyal Council 5th October 1900 in J.1oslem Chronicle, 20th October 1900, p. 1347 ( i·licrofilm Copy), Reel No.4. 1-i. s. Jain, CW• cih, P• 66. S. Gopal OP•Cbt•, p.259 Francis Robinson, on.cit., PP• 135-6.

1. It may be noted that it was organized not as denovo but deJure by reorganizing one of Sir Syed's earlier organization 11. A. o. Defence Association of upper India. Ib;i.d. J

2. Even the students of the College participated in the anti-British meetings, see .:lligarh restitute Ga7,ette, 7th Hay 1901 ( lticrofilm Copy), Reel Uo. 1 •

3. See i•.i. s. .Jain, QP• cit., PP• 66-67 s. i·l. Iltram, op. cit. , P• 86.

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Curzon had already instruc·ted the Lieutenant Governor of

U.P. that grant-in-aid should not be given to any

educational institution, whose manager, teachers or students

remained connected ~dth any political organization-or

movement. 1 Besides Syed Mahmud, the President of the Board

of Trustees, also disliked the active involvement of

Mohsinul Mulk - the Honorary Secretary of the College in

politics. 2 In this background of pressure from the former

and the displeasure of the latter, Mohsinul l•iulk was obliged

to severe his connection with the Urdu Association.3 As he

had identified himself with the college and ,.,as working for

its expansion into a university, he preferred to please both

by keeping off from wider national issue,~ lest he should fail

in his original task. 4 In this way he followed the footsteps

of the founder and remained as his true follower. Thus by

2. Syed Mahmud informed the trustees that such a policy had never been pursued by his f~ther. ~.S.Jain, kQc.cit.

3. Hohsinul Hulk and the trustees of the college tendered suitable apologies and the former resigned from the Presidentiship of the Association and the associati~n died soon. 1-1. s. J'ain, op. cit., P• 67. Al Bashir { Etawah) 4th l1'ebruary 1902 in l.lh'J~'l&~, P• 109. cf: Hhile some of the Hindus were irritated by the activities of c4.ssociation, few others welcomed it. c. A. Bayly, op. c;i, t•, P• 17 2.

4. But his action was severely criticised by local press and he was rated as a coward, hypocrite and unsteady leader. See Azad, 22 October 1901 in UPN.irR .. _, p. 36

.. 292 -

adopting a timely but "stern policy" 1 tO\-Jards the College,

British succeeded in holding the reigns of tt, when its

"political status as a quasi political body"2 had already

been recognised by them. In other words, Briti~h vranted to

encourage only the pro-British politics at Alig~rh which

· -rrould strengthen their rule.

The Pro-Aligarb Policy and the Prospects of the Univet51tY

The prospects of Aligarh became bright \'Then Sir James

LaToucbe, lvho succeeded 1-IacDonnell as the Lieutenant

Governor of U.F. ( 1901-1906), adoptee a policJ of conciliation

tolv~rds l1.iuslims in General and .Alig~"rh in particular, to vTin

over them and seek their cooperation to run the a0ministration

smoothly. LaTouche believed that 11vrhen riding a restive horse,

it is a mistake to be alwaJs pulling the curb"3 ~nd criticised

his predecessor for going too far in favour of Hindi a~d

Hindus. 4 LaTouche who was interested in keeping .Alig:grh at

peace knew that :i~ai:rab i•:ohsinul Hulk' s resignation from the

post of the Honorary Secretarj of the College,5 would be

1. On this point see, F.C.R. Robinson~ "Consultation to Control: The United Provinces Government and its Allies 1860-1900," l•.~.odern Asian Stp.di§s, 5 (October 1971): 332-3.

2. Theodore ~'iori son to s. H. Bilg rami, 10th 11Jovember 1900 Letter No. 17 .l'iorrison File, Part I, B. P.

3. LaTouche to Lord Curzon, 17th FebrU'l'JI 1902, Letter i'Jo.57, c • .£-'., Reel No.9.

4. LaTouche to Curzon, 15th hay 1902, Ibig. cf: Earlier Cur?on had permitted I: .. acDonnell to go ahead \1i th F.inci and. ignore the nhowls of the l-1us lims. " See, s. Gopal, op.cit., p.259

5. l~lohsinul l-1ullt stated that as he had some important work for the welfare of the .dusli.us, he \'las resigning from the post. Besides he said that he had no time to devote to the collection of funds for the university. Probably he

- 293 -

interpreted as British manoeuvring and lead to conflicts

among the trustees for the vacant post and disturb the

status-quo at Aligarh; rushed to that place and assured

Government help and cooperation to the institution and

appealed to 1-iohsinul !vlulk to wi thdra\'f his reaianation,

which he did. 1 In pursuing a pro-Alig arb policy. and

satisfying the conservative Muslim leaders 2 the British . ~ - ~ .

were trying to trim off the growing wee~s of Muslim political

associations 3 and at the same time rule out the possi bill ties

of their ~lliance with the younger militant generation and

ignore their demands for some sort of political organiz'ation. 4

wanted to express his protest towards British for forcing him to keep away from national politics. See Alkarh Institute Gazette, 23 Janu1ry 1902 ( Hicrofilm Copy), Reel No.1). S.K. Bhatnagar, on.c_j.:It., _;p. 177-8.

1· See LaTouche's reply to the address presented by the trustees of the .iv.I.A.o. College .ll.ligarh on 13th 1-Ia.rch 1902 in §elect!ons from.qneeghe§ ot Sit ~~D. LaTouche, pp.13-14.

2. Besides bestowing liberal pensions upon the family of Sir Syed, British did not iwplement the Hindi Resolution with full vigour and directives were sent to local officers to employ more Muslims ~.nn thus tried to s'ltisfy the Muslim leaders. See, ~'rancis Itobinson, lvluslim Separati§m, p. 141; G.L. Verma, op.cit.t.., p.46.

3. In 1901, after the failure of Urdu Defence Association, the younger generation of Muslims tried to form l>iohammedan Political Associations at different places under the leader­ship of Viquar-ul-Mulk to fight for their rights. But due to L~.Touche' s favourable policy towB.rds l•1us lims! these associations did not come up. See AJigarh Instttfte Gaz§tte 31st October 1~01 and August 1903 ( hicrofilm copy Reel Nos. 14, 16. ~rancis Robinson, oP•Cit•t PP• 138-40.

4. I bid. , P• 141.

- 294 -

The favourable British policy towards Aligarh, though

contributed to its prosperity, 1 did not enable the leaders

to push fo~ard their pet idea of transforming the college

into a university. By November 1901, Sir Syed Memorial Fund

Committee could collect about ~.1,27,000 of which, ~.55,620 2 were spent on clearing off the debts of the college, and

the remaininJ small amount e-as too meagre to go ahead with

the expansion. But it was not the money that mattered.

Even if the A,l.ig'-=!rians bad succeeded in collecting the ten

lakh rupees needed for the university it vras doubtful whether,

they. would have got the green signal from the Curzon

govern~.ent, because of his contempt for the Indian universi­

ties, '"hich according to him lacked "corporate existence. n3

He observed th~t an oxford or an Indian Cambridge c·annot be

crP-ated by a stroke of pen and felt that the country tras

not re~dy for such an experiment and the funds were also not

forthcomin6. 4 The defects of higher education vrere pointed

out not only b:1• the offici., ls5 but also by the Indian press. 6

1. The number of students doubled between 1898 and ·1902; i.e. from 229 to ~ 3 and the college w'ls also in a flourishing condition. Govem·1ent grant also increaseJ. See LaTouche to Curzon, 19 July 1902, C.P. Reel No.10. S.K. Bhatnag?r, ~~' PP• 161-2.

2. Ibic., PP• 175-6.

3. Curzon's speech at &imla Conference, 2nd Septemb~r 1901, Home bducation '~' ~rogs., Vctober 1901, No.19 Appencix A (~li).

4. Ib},g._

5· e.g., Sec the :t:;ote of LevTis, 28th April 1902, Al:ahabad in Reppxt of Indi.en l1niuz:sitie§ Com~.rl..!}s;lon 1902: Hiscella­neous EP.vars, Vol. V.

6. e. g., See The Advoc1.te ( Luckno':r), 6th, 13th :md 20th April ~nd 21st August 1902 in Ui-'J.'!.i::R, pp.241, 266-7, 27?-8, 521.

- 297 -

But Curzon appreciated Aligarh type of education as it was

modelled after the pattern of Cambridge. He said " I shall

always rejoice to hear of the success in life et. any of the

pupils of 1ligarh."1

On the subject of converting the 1~. A. o. College into

a university, Lord Curzon was outspoken. "Upon this," he

said "I am not called upon to pronounce an opinion, bu~ one

admission I do not shrink from baking namely, that you will

never get from a university which consists of little but an

examining board that lofty ideas of education that sustained

purpose of that spirit of personal devotion that are

associated with the universities of ~ngland and ancient

universities of Islam. " 2 In other words, he l'Tarned the

Aligarh leaders not to plan a stereotype affiliating univer­

sity. Like an astute politician, he neither committed nor

criticised the scheme. However, the publication of the

ije:goxt of Indian Uniyer§ities Com.J.i§sion3 in 1902 clarified

1. Curzon' s Speech at Aligarh in ~em Cbronicle 11 May 1901, P• 1751 ( 1·iic rofilm Copy), Reel No.4.

2. lbid., P• 175 2.

3. It h?d seven members,(two of them being Indians~ Thomas Raleigh (Chairman); Syed Hussain Bilgrami, ;r. P. Hewelt (Secretary to the Government of India), A. Pedler (D.P. I. • Bengal), A. c. Bourne (Principle of Presidency College}, Rev. E. ~·lakichan {Principle of Wilson College, Bombay} and .rustic e GoorudaJ'l,S Banerjee. ,.he Commission \-Tas constituted to inquire into the condition and prospects of universities established in British India and to recomillend measures to improve the standards of university teaching. See Government Resolution, 27 January 1902 in Report a! Indi.an Universiti,es CoiJ.qissian 1902, Hiscellrmeoua Papers., Vol. V, p. 1.

- 296 -

the official reaction to the proposal of nniversity, The

Commission observeds

It does not appear that these proposals have received the support which would be necessary to give the scheme a practical character. And even if resources adequate to the formation of a complete university were forthcoming, it is for the Government to decide as to expediency of creating a denominational university. In the present circumstances of India, we hold that while no obstacle should be placed in the way of denominational colleges, it is important to maintain1 the undenominational character of the university.

Thomas Raleigh, the Chairman of the Co.i.lmission doubted

whether a .t-1ohammedan university l·TOuld be 11 as various and

comprehensive as a universitJ-· ought to be. n2 He felt that

it woul0 be better for the 11oha.ui.medans of India if they

tried to secure ac1equate representation of their lea.ming

in the existing universities. 3 It seems that he wanted them I

to develop on secular lines and not to deepen th~ chasm

between different co ... wuni ties. Not only the officials, but

the Hindus also criticised the proposal of a Huslim

university because of the fear that the establishnent of such

a university would nndo much of the good done by other

. . ti 4 un~vers~ es.

1. Repgrt of Indian lJnivers;Lties CoYWlissign 1906, V.ol. I, PP• 7-8.

2. Thomas .tlaleigh to Halter La\'lrence dated 21st April 1900, Simla, Raleigh Correspondence File No. R-1, B. P. Sir John Hewett, a illember of the Commission was also •.:~pposed to deno.mination~l universities. See, Education Department 'A' Progs. Decewber 1902, Nos. 67-78, Paras 29-32 t N.ii).

3. Ibid.

4. e. g., See the observ!>.tion of ~lr • .r. Sundarmaiya in Tho Indie.n Reyi rot, October 190 2, cited in Leonard Alston, op. cit;. , P• 0

- 297 -

In fact, during 1902-1903 when several prominent

intellectuals viz., Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Asutosh

Mukherjee, Dinshaw D. Raner boldly opposed the recommenda­

tion of Indian Universities Cowmission with regard to the

offieialization of the universities and converting them

into the teaching and residential institutions, as a

"premature attempt" and "detrimental devicen to ,check the

growth of higher education, 1 the spokesmen of f,.ligarb

remained silent, The British had already bought their

silence by giving handsome grants to the l-1. A. o. College

and meeting t~eir demands. Any protest by them would have

made them anti-British and they were not prepared for that

due to the fear of losing official patronage at a time when

Indian middle classes under Congress were becoming more

powerful. Even Syed Hossein Bilgrami, who was one of the

ardent advocates of the Aligarh University and was a member

of the Iridian Universities Commission, did not dissent. How

could he? After all, he was a loyalist and an official

nominee to the CoriJDis sion and such persons often keep a

diJ;nified slblence to please the Government.

1. For details of their v:ee\"TS see the follo\'Tin~:P Note by Gokhale, in Letters from G.K. Gokhale, Nos.203-16, F'ile No. 203, Part III, Gokhale Papers ( NAI). LHenceforth abbreviated as G. P=-f Speech of Gokhale in Legislative Council Proceedings 1904 (Calcutta, 1905), PP• 237-8, 187, 124, 120. S c vJ • Go K h G ed •

• G. Karve and Ambedka.r D.V. Poona., 1967 , Voi.III, PP• 4, 7-9, 26, 28-29. Speech of Asutosh Mukherjee in Hundred Years of Calcutta UnivruLsitx, p.175. Speech of Asutosh :L·Iukherj ee in Leg:l.s.J.atiye Counci.l Proceedings 1904, PP• 159, 184, 277, 279. Dinshaw's letter to Gokhale dated 20.2.1904, Bombay; No.144-1/0-II, G.P.

- 298 -

Revi:v:e,l of Public Interest and Horison'§ PJ,ea rot an Oriental College

The Aga Khan III { 1877-1957) a \'!ealthy leader of the

Ismaili Sect of Muslims highlighted the need for an

affiliating university at Aligarh notwithstanding the

oppositi~n of 190a Commission for such a university.

Presiding ,over .the N.ohammedan ;Educational Conference held

at Delhi in 1902, he stated that one of the surest way to

avert the decay of Muslim power would be the found~tion of

a Muslim University with affiliated Colleges all over India

'l"Thich he considered would be the "intellectual capital and

a home of elevated ideas and noble ideals" and l-rhich would

provide modern education in a 11l-1uslim atmosphere. " 1 By

advocating an affiliating university, he deviated from the

original idea of the founder and strengthened the plea of

Ziauddin Ahmad for such a university.

The idea of ~ Muslim university continued to dominate

the thoughts of the leaders o:f the community who were not

even connected with \ligarh and also opposed to the political

ideology of Aligarians. Badruddin Tyabji, \vhose opposition

to Sir Syed' s anti-na.tional congress plea is \'lell known, did

refer to the proposed university in his presidential address

to the Hohammec an Education~ 1 Conference held in Bombay in

1903. He believed that "a good n university conducted on

1. Aga Khan's speech cited in Naoroji M. Dumesia, the Aga_ Khan flnf R.is Ancestg;rs: A Biggra,:ohica). a.nCI Histgr~ Sketch Bombay: Times of Inr'lia .i?ress, 1939) 9 PP• 183:.4; 187-8.

- 299 -

sound basis \':Tas necessary to maintain espirit-.d.g-corps

among the l•Iuslims, inculcate moral principles, to cultivate

discipline and impart good religious instruction. But he

felt that a number of efficient colleges and educational

institutions for i·~ohammedans through-)ut India should be

established prior· to the university, so as to provide a firm

foundation. "We can do 1.-r.l thout a university, but we cannot

do without loca.l educ~tional institutions. n 1 Thus in a

realistic manner, he drew the attention of the proponents of

the idea of a university, to review their d emA.nd ~:~nd rightly 2 considered the proposa.l to be "premature. " But hi.s nephew,

Akbar Hycl ari, altogether conder.med the idea. He felt that

it l'TOUld be "injurious"3 to the cause of secular eduC<-'l.tion

among the Muslims which would be better off in the existing

uni versi ties. If such a university was estAblisher, he

feared thDt it woulr accentu~te tendencies which were not

consistent with the ultimate and highest interests of the

l1usJi11ts~ The proposal, he feared \-Tould cause an "uneconomic

expenditure of time and money"' and even expressed doubts

as to ho\·! far it vTould be an "unifying influence for

1. Tya.bji' s speech cited in Noslem Chronicl~, 16th J'anuary 1904, P• 38 ( .l·dc rofilm Copy), Reel No.6.

2. Minault ann Lelyveld, ap.cit., p.157.

3. A. Hydari, ".L l·l? homed an Uni ve rsi tJ for India" reprinted from East and Hest (August 1904) in ~e Dayrn, November 1911 { :·iic rofi lm Copy), Reel No.5, P• 1 7.

4. Ibid. , P• 1 64.

5. Ibid.

- 300 -

Mussalmans." 1 He observed that it would be horrifying to

cast the intellectual and moral character of the Muslims

all over India in the 111 ron uniform mould, "2 His

observations and fears were shared by Hohammad Shamsul Huda.

Huda characterised the scheme as "mischievous" and

"practically impossible" and intended to "retard" the

progress of friendly feelings betl'reen Hindus and. Muslims. 3

A §ection of the ulemas, the Barelvis also opposed the

scheme of A.~.U •. due to the apprehension that it would

encourage "heterodox ideologies and \'leaken the faith. !•4

The criticisms,5 though rational and secular were

not left unanswered by the supporters of Aligarh. Maulana

Mohammad ~li not only wrote a critique of Hydari•s paper6

1. Ibids, p.161.

2. Ibid· , P• 163.

3. 11ohammed Shamusul Huda, "Aligarh University" in Moslem Cbx:onicle, 16th April 1904, supplement (Microfilm Copy), Reel No.6. See also Indian Peqnle, 8th May 19049 p.8 (Microfilm Copy) Reel No.2.

4. For further details see, s. J"amaluddin, "The Barelvist The Khilafat and Non-Cooperation Movements," paper pres en ted at the Seminar on the role of Mohammad Ali in Indian Politics, held at Jamia i~llia Islamia, 30 December 1980 ( Mimeographed), P• 13.

5. cf: It has been observed that the Muslim intelligenttia, middle classes and influential ulemas 'unanimously supported' the university project. This observation is either due to the failure of the author to lay his hands on sources or due to his intention to project the uni~ersity movement in rosy colour. See Matur Rahman, op,cit., p.220.

f-6. For details see, Mohammad Ali, The Prgposed Mohammedan

Unixersitx, PP• 11-42.

- 301 -

but also justified the creation of a I-;uslim University on

cultural grounds 1 and thus tried to silence to saboteurs

of the scheme.

The eloquent speeches at the Mohammedan Educational

Conference pleading for the establishment of a modern

university at Alig~rh and the election of Morison as the

President of the Mohammedan Educational Conference in 1904,

made a group of orthodox Muslims (some of them were 2 congress men also) unhappy and ·restless and th.ey ','hoped

to capture"3 the Muslim Educational Conference during its

Lucknow session in 1904, so as to push up the studies of

Arabic and Theological Sciences at the proposed university

for which substantial donations-were promised to t~em.~ Theodore Noris on, then Principal of the 11 ... A. o. College and

the President of the Mohammedan Educational Conference in

1904 who was interested in the scheme of 1-iuslim university

tried to pacify the orthodox section by proposing to

establish a school of advanced studies for Arabic at

Aligarh? and thus effect reconciliation between. the orthodox

1. This aspect has already been examined earlier in this chapter. See PP• 279-81.

2. Especially the Ulema of Firangi Mahal and Shia Mujtabis were unhappy. See, s.K. Bhatnagar, op,cit., p.146.

3. · LaTouche to Curzon, 31st December 1904, Letter No. 24, c. P. Reel No. 11.

4. e.g., Raja's of Jehangirabad, Mahmudabad and Bezum of Bhopal had promised to pay ~.20,000J 3?,000 and 34,000 respectively. Ibid.

?. This scheme was worked out in consultation with the distinguished Persian scholar, E. Dennison Ross the Principal of the Calcutta Madrassa. Eminent Scholars from Al Azhar University of Cairo, were to be recruited to the

- 302 -

and progressive Mohammedans. 1 In this way though he tried

to keep the university scheme "alive"2 and all the well

wishers of it united, he could not succeed in his attempt

because or the stiff opposition from the old boys of

Aligarh3 and the non-cooperation of the trustees,~ who

preferred European to archaic learning. Government of India

considered the scheme "tar too ambitious" and full of

"po~tical,int~gue"5 and rejected it on the plea of

faculty, along with Indian Moulavis. It was to be a post graduate school and its object was "advancement of oriental learning" rather than the preparation of young­men, for, a profession. It was stated that the school would not only "deepen.the religious convictions of the Aligarh students, but also provide an opportunity to the Englishmen to gatn an insight into the Mohammedan Society~" For further details, see T. Morison to Miller, 31 January, 190lt-, Letter No. 33, c. P., Reel No. 11.

1. E. Dennison Ross to Miller, January 190lt-, Ibid.

2. Minault. ~nd Lelyveld, O'Q• cit. , P• 15~·

3. Prominent among the old boys who condemned the proposal were Syed Riza Ali and Aftab Ahmad Khan. The Students' Union also disapproved the proposal. I fed§' P• 15 6. T yateam§n, 26 January 1904. s. K. Bhatnag ar, op. cit., P• 1?9 •

4, In a private and confidential letter to Syed Hossein Bilgrami, Theodore Morison regretted that his "constitution" (presumably the scheme) was not distributed by Nawab Mohsinul Mulk. This shows that Nawab, who was the Honorary Secretary of the college, was not interested in Morison's proposal. Mohsinul Mulk, s. H. Bilg rami, Ameer Ali, Sha Din etc. opposed the move and wrote against it in Aligarh Institute Gazette. Morison to BilgramiL 2nd February 1905, Morison Correspondence No.1"/, Part I, B. P. Aligarh Instttfte Gazette~ 22nd February, ?th March, 14th March of 190 Microfilm Gopy}, Reel No. 16. ·

5'. Risely to La Touche, 14 May 1904, Letter No.110 2_ File No. 2?5', Education Department, U,P., Frogs., No.1 (uPSA).

- 303 -

"no money." 1 But, La Touche, the Lieutenant Governor of

U.P., vehemently opposed it because of the feeling and

fear that:

If there is revival, it must be reactionary and retrograde and in hostility to the \-Jest.... The school will become a focus 2of disaffection and of pan-Islamic aspirations.

Since pan-Isl~mic tendencies at Allgarh3 had already become

evident and t'liere was no dearth of institutions f·or oriental

studies in the United Provinces; 4 and "no genuine dem~nd"5

1. Secretary to Dovernment of U.P. to Honorary Secretary of N.A. o. College, 9 l~a.rch 1905. File No.275, Education Department, U.P., Progs. No.7 (U~SA).

2. La Touche to l-tlller, 6th February 1904, Letter No.44·A, c. P. Reel No. 11.

3. Chowdhury Khaliquuzzaman, and Dr. Sye~ Mahmud who ~ere students at Aligarh during 1900-07 have given first hand impressions abo~t the pan-Islamic feelings prevalent among the students. 'Urdu-e-l"ioalla' - a pro pan-Islamic weekly \'Tas published from Alig arb by a student, Hazrat Mohani since 19p3. llnr. Syed Mahmudc;. interview./ in Qral Trauss;riyt Cop_y; ( Ni;lL) . No. 231 PP• 4-5 • Chowdhury Khallquzzaman, PathliM-i2 Ea.ki stan, ( Lahore: Long mans, 19 61), r· 17 • Al Bashir ( ~tawah , 24th September 1900, in SVNNll~Q, P• 491. Shahna-i-Hind ( ~w:teerut) 1st October 1900 in I:Qid., p.500. \-leekly Report of the Director of Crimin~lintellig ence 24th August 1907, Home Political B, August 1907, No.135-45 ( NAI).

4. In 1902 there weee about 28 important institutions imparting oriental eduC'ition to 111Uslims. They \vere: one at Deoband, three at Saharanpur, six at Delhi, four at £'Ieerut, two each at Bulandshahr, 1•1ore.dabad and Lucknow, eight at Amroha, Bareilly, Muzaifarnagar etc. See "Noteoon NahomedF~.n Learnins in 1902" by Sye0 Hossein Bilgrami in File rlo.3, Part III, B.P. See also, s. N. Jamil, co;.np., ,I he Huslim Year }3ook of India and Hbe' s. Hho 12!1:~ (Bombay: Bombay Newspaper Co. • n.d.), PP• 2. 7-90.

5. Secretary to Government of U. P. to . Honorary Sec retF~.ry of H. A. o. College, 6 July 1904, File £~o. 275, Educa.tion Department, U.P. Frog. No.2 (UPSA). .

- 30lf. -

and above all, Sir Syed, the founder himself gave more

prominence to the study of European languages, literature

and Science at Aliga.rh; the Government as \'Tell as the

Aligarians were right in opposing the move of Morison.

The progress of the proposed university at Aligarh

was, however, halted by Curzon's higher educational policy

of 1904 which (incorporated the recowmenda~ions of the

Indian Universities Commission of 1902) over ruled the 1 creation of any new universities.

Politic~l Inyolvemgnt of tba Aligarians.

The progress of the university scheme was also

hampered by the involvement of its architects viz., lfawab

Mohsinul Mulk, Nawab Vi qarul Mulk and Syed Hossein Bilgrami,

in the wider political concerns of their community. The

younger generation at .!ligarh being dissatisfied with Sir

Syed' s policy of waitin~ on Government was becoming

sympathetic to the Congress. 2 Since such a situation was

2. Dr. Syed l1ahmud, who was a student at Aligarh during 1904-05, recalls that "it was difficult for anyone to speak against the congress or against Hindus in the union club. He was hooted if anyone did so. " See Dr. Syed Mahmud's interview, in gp.cit. p.4. The strength of Congress sympathisers vas stroDB at Allgarb because in 1906 and 1907 the prominent leaders of Indian National Congress, viz., Pandi t 1·iadan Mohan Malaviya and Gokhale were invited by the students union to speak at Aligarh college. Not only some of the .Allgarh students .attended··~9o?· mession of Indian National Congress at Banaras; but also the students union adopted motions for joint Hindu Muslim action in Politics. See, Hewett to 1tinto, 6 September 1907 in Minto Papers, No.172, P• 171 ( NML), Reel No.4. L,Henceforth M.P._/ In<lian People (Allanabad) 2lt-th May, 8th July, 1906

- 305 ...

not tolerable to the English principal of the college,

Theodore Morison, who considered that congress rank and

file leaders played with "fire and spread dissatisfaction;"

suggested the necessity of forming a separate party which

differed from congress "not by race but by a rea·l difference

of political p:r;inciples, 111 and by July 1903 Nawab Viquar­

ul-Hulk, formed the lilohariD11edan Political Association, 2

presumably under the inspiration from the Principal and ..

particularly by propg,gating the need for such an organization

through the Aligarb In~titute Gazette. 3

The departure of Viqar-ul-Muak for Haj and the

resignation )f Norison in 1904 on account of differences

with the management of the college, 4 and the fttctional

·dispute developed within the Old Boys Association5 in 1905,

considerably lowered the tempo of the campaign for the

University.

-----------------------------(Microfilm Copy), Reel No.4. Weealy Report of the Director of Crimina1Intelligence1 24th August 1907, Home Political B, Progs., August 19o7, No. 135-4 ( Nll).

1. See the Confidential Private Letter from Theodore Morison to s. H. Bilgrarnm, Aligarh, dated 5th May 1903 in l.forison Correspondence, No. 1'7, Part I, B. P.

2. Muslim League Documents, P• xxxi.

3. e.g., See ~igarb IRstitute Gazett~ of 21st February, 11 April, July, 1 th July of 1903 ( Microfi 1m Copy) Reel No. 16.

4. On trds point, see s.K. Bhatnagar, ou.cit., PP• 146-7, 164-5; Dr. Syed I<1ahmud' s interview in .9.R!.Cit., p.10.

5· The dispute arose because Old Boys wanted greater representation in the Board of Trustees.7or details see, Minault and Lelyveld, qp.cit., p.159.

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The re-election of Nawab Mohsinul Mulk on 29th

January 1905, as the Honorary Secretary of the Board of

Trustees and the loining of W.A.J. Archebold as the new

principal of the College on 16 October 1905 and the

settlement of the Old Boy's disputes, though cleared the

hurdles that had hampered the progress of the proposed

universi t;r during 1904-1905, did not lead to any tangible

outcome during the next year. It was primarily because

of the involvement of Aligarians with the Simla deputation

in 1906.

The political developments of the sub-continent

perturbed the promotors of the University scheme and

diverted their attention from educntion to politics. When

Curzon left India in November 1905, he was replaced by

l;dnto and soon, Balfour's Conservative Govern1.1ent gave way

to a Liberal Government and it appeared inevitable that a

system of election would be introduced in Indian Legislative

Councils. Morley, the Secretar; of State, after his

discussion with Gokhale announced that reforms were being

contemplated. 1 As it was clear that these would tend

towards an enlargement of the elected element in the

Legislative Councils, the Aligarh leaders realized that they

should do something to safeguard the position of the Muslims.

1. See, Norley' s buc~get speech on 20 July 1906 in the House of Commons in l'lu.slim League Documents, pp. xxxiii­xxxiv; R.J. i4oore, Liberallpm and Indian Pollt:t<ts 0 1872-1922 ( London: Edward, 19 66), P• 83.

- 30? -

So Hohsinul .fl.iulk consulted some of the prominent l4uslims

viz., Syed Hossein Bilgrami, ~ftab. Ahmad Khan, and

Viquar-rul Mulk and thought of representing the Muslim

vierrs to the Viceroy and accordingly contacted 4-rchebold, 1

who was holidaying at Simla enquiring about the possibility

of submi tttng a memorandum to the Viceroy. 2 On getting tho

green signal, a deputation consisting of 35 prominent

Muslims led by the Aga Khan, met the Viceroy at Simla on

October 1 ,. 1906 and submitted a memorandum for more Muslim

representation in judiciary, unversity bodies and legislative

Councils and demanded communal electorate for their

representatives in the .keformed Council., 3 f\egar~ing the Muslim

University, they observed:

1. There are two schools of thought regarding the brain behind the Simla Deputation. Patwardhan and Ashok Mehta, Ram Gopal, Rajendra Prasad, Lal Bahadur, l1ohammed .Ali B. M. Chaudhuri, have asserted that the l•iuslini deputatlon was planned by the Government to offer resistance to nationalist activities. But recent historians, viz., s. R. Wasti, t-1.N. Das N.atiur-Rahman, Francis Robinson, David Lelyveld, .M.s. 3-ain, G. L. Verma, Amales Tripath1, R. Coupland etc., have rightly shown that Mohsinul Mulk was the originator. Ashok 14ehta and Patwardhan, gp. c:j. t., P• 62. Raj endra Prasad, gp. ci:t!.., P• 112. H. s. J'ain;L ~ih, PP• 153-6. Francis Robinson, op.cit., p.143. David Lelyvelcl, ~ib., P• 337-8. G. L. Verma, .ru>· cih, P• 211.

2. Nawab 1•1ohsinul Mulk to Archebold~_ .August 4, 1906, Mus&l~.League Dgcument~, PP• 34-~5.

3. See uTbe Muslim address to His Excellency the Right Hon' ble the Earl of !Unto. n October 1, 1906, Morley Papers (l•licrofilm Copy, NHL), Reel No.6, Vol.35, see para 5-6, 9,13.

... 308 -

He are convinced that our aspirations as a community and our future progress are largely dependent on the foundation of a 1-iuhawmadan University which ld 11 be the centre of our religious and intellectual life ••• In assisting the Muhahlmadan subjects of His Majesty at this stage in the development of Indian affairs, Your Excellency will be strengthening the basis of their unswerving loyalty to the throne and laying the foundation of tveir political advancement and national prosperity.

The Viceroy acknowledged the grievances of the liluslims

sympathetically. 2 But he did not make any statement or

commitment with regard to the university proposal and it made

young Muslim gentlemen unhappy. 3 .At this juncture, Na.v1ab

SalimuJ lab of Dacca was planning to found a "14uslim A.ll-India

· Confealeracy" to counteract the influence of Congress, 4 and

the Aligarh leaders feared th~~ the unhappy Muslim youth

perhaps migh.t join Salimulla' s organization and hence their

( ..Aligarh' s) importance would be diminished. So the .A.ligarians

le.ft for Dacca to capture the key posts in the newly proposed

Muslim organization of Salimullah in which, they succeeded.5

1· Ib;i.Q.., see para 16.

2. See Lord lv.iinto' s reply to the Simla Deputation, in B. r.. Grover, A Do~ntarx st~~ Britisn Pol~cy TQwar~ In~an N~t~onalism 188i-1909 Delhi: National Publication, 1967), PP• 270-3.

3. There were criticisms in Urdu l'Ieekly ( edited by Haznat 1'-Iohani) Urdu- e-M.Qbll.l.l!J.., publl shed from Alig arb. See Francis Robinson, op.cit., p.147.

4. See i•luslim League Documents, Vol. I, PP• xiv-x/ix.

5. Francis Robinson, ~~' PP• 148-9.

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The election of Aligarh leaders, Nawab Mohsinul 14ulk and

Viqar-ul-Mulk as the joint secretaries of the ne~ly formed

All India Muslim League 1 on 30 December 1906 and their

subsequent involvement with the preparation of the

Constitution of the League, 2 practically took away their

time and energy and hence, they could not devote any time

to the scheme of Aligarh University during 1907.

Moreover, the outbreak of students' strike at the

college in 1907 due to the suspension of a student on

disciplinar-.r grounds by the College .Principal, 3 affected

the prospects of the expansion of the college into a

university. The attention of the members of the college

Management, leaders of the community and even the Government

of u. P., was focussed on resolving the conflict· and restoring

normalcy in the campus. To some extent, Annie Besant's

Scheme of "National University" and her correspondence with

some of the prominent Aligarians in that connection during

---------------------------1. For details of the formation of Huslim League, see,

M. l. Becker, "All India Muslim League 1906-46 - A. Study of Leadershipt" (Ph.D dissertation;Redcliff College, 195'7; New Delhi: N~·J..L, Microfilm Copy, No. !'31).

2. See Huslim.League Documents, Vol.I, PP• 11-12.

3. For details of Strike, see Confidential lle~. of the Committee of :&.nguir:v at Aliga.rh H. A. o. College, Harch_ 12.Q.Z. (Allahabad, 1907). c. Khaliquzzaman, op.cit., PP• 11-17. Priv::tte confidential letters :from J.P. Hewett, Lt. Governor of U.P. to S.H. Bilgrami, 21st August and 27 1\lovember 1907, Naini tal in Hewett Correspondence No.9, Part I, B. P.

- 310 -

1906-07, 1 also might have diverted the attention of the

Aligarh leaders. In this background the campaign for

Aligarh University commenced soon after the death of the

founder in 1898 and carried on by his colleagues and

contemporaries with the blessings of the British, more

or less uninterruptedly for a dec ado - though \11th varying

intensity - and influenced invariably by the political

developments of British India came to a standstill. As

soon as the stalemate caused by the strike vas resolved,

the efforts towards the establishment of the university

~ere revived by the successors of Sir Syed. They,

hovever, succeeded in it by 1920 and their story of

strivings during 1908-20, forms the theme of the

subsequent chapter.

1. Annie Besant had written to 1-Iadan 1·1ohan l·1alaviya and Nat1ab Viquarul Hulk about the necessity of tforking out a common national university instead of two separate Hindu and ~~slim universities. For details, see Annie Besant, "On National Univcroity" 21 January 1906, in Ann6e ...B.ea.ant: BJlj..),d,_er of N ro=r ~.i,A ( 14ad ras: Theosophical Society, n.d.)~ pp.~-6; Aparna Ba.su, ,QJle.£J,.t..!..9 PP• 7o-79· ·