Three decades is a relatively short period in the history of a university, but the impact that the Aga Khan University has had in its formative years is not to be underestimated. And while the institution may be young, its spirit is far older.
One-hundred-fifty years ago, a civil servant in Delhi set out on a path towards social reform that held education at its core. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan established the Scientific Society at Aligarh, with the purpose of translating Western works and making available a modern, science-based approach to knowledge and education in the traditional languages of pre-partition India.
Over the next several decades, Sir Syed would go on to found the Mohammedan Anglo Oriental College, patterned on the universities at Cambridge and Oxford, but infused with Muslim values. The MAO College became the crucible for the Aligarh movement, which outlived him in its drive to establish a Muslim university of the highest calibre.
While the torch of the Aligarh movement was carried forward by many, none took it so far as a young Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan, the 48th hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, and grandfather to Mawlana Hazar Imam. A fervent fundraiser in the effort to realise Sir Syed Ahmed Khan’s dream of establishing a university, Mawlana Sultan Mahomed Shah inspired passion and drew crucial support with his vision of an institution that would be decidedly Muslim in its outlook, yet impart education at an international standard.
“Aligarh should not only turn out learned and capable men, but good Musalmans,” said Mawlana Sultan Mahomed Shah, addressing the Trustees of the MAO College on 26 January 1910.
Read more at The Ismaili.
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