The Campaign for a Muslim University, 1898-1920 Author(s): Gail Minault and David Lelyveld Reviewed work(s): Source:

Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 8, No. 2 (1974), pp. 145-189 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/311636 . Accessed: 18/10/2012 19:09
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8, Modern AsianStudies,

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97+), pp.

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89. Printedin GreatBritain.

University, for a Muslim TheCampaign

THE campaignto establisha MuslimUniversityat Aligarhis a good of educationand politicsin modernIndia. exampleof the confluence The politicalmotivesinvolvedweresimilarto thosethat lay behindthe Collegein I875: a sense Anglo-Oriental foundingof the Mahomedan By the to enfranchisement. that Englisheducationwas a prerequisite involvedhad werehigherandtheinterests the stakes turnof the century, expandedin numberand complexity.The MuslimUniversitymovenothing less than an effort to create an all-India ment represented and to carveout for it a decisivepiece of political Muslimconstituency power. It was political both in its attempt to consolidatesupportto policies,and also as a directchallengeto influencespeciScgovernment accessto power. Britishcontrolof the educational The Muslim Universitymovementwas not only political; a good In fact, forthe university. designs dealof thoughtwentinto educational bound together: were closely politicaland educational, the two aspects, demandedcultural structureand curriculum plans for the university had to decidefor whomit of the university The promoters deSnitions. would be and what they wantedtheirstudentsto become.In Aligarh, as in India as a whole, emergingleadershad beforethem a varietyof identitiesto choosefrom.And an importantaspectof India'smodern betweenoverlapping historyis the politicaland culturalcornpetition categoriesof men. Nor was the universitymovementmonolithic;it withinit many conflicts,both conceptualand personal.Its harboured concerned withthe qualityof educators includedprofessional supporters politiciansanxious to use the the university,as well as professional university,and the movementto create it, as vehicles for popular Becauseof thesevaryingaims, the movementdeveloped mobilization. The which becameone of its chief characteristics. a bitterfactionalism universitycampaignthus raised the issue of power: what were the channelsto it and who wouldhave accessto them. The campaignpassedthroughfour phasesbetweenits initiationin I898 and its binary culminationin I920. The Indian Universities I45

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GAIL MINAULT AND DAVID LELYVELD

Commission reportin I902 and the subsequent act of I904 brokethe early momentumof the movement.The issues had, however, been defined.A new and morevigorousdrivewas madein I9I I, only to be broughtup shortby government veto in I 9 I 2. In I 9 I 5 the bill for the BenaresHindu Universitywas passed, giving new incentive to its Muslimcounterpart. Finally,in I920 the AligarhMuslimUniversity and the Jamia Millia Islamia were establishedin the midst of the firstnon-cooperation movement. Duringthesetwo decades,the Muslim League,Turkish affairs, the WorldWar,the Montford reforms, and the Khilafatmovement all provided the publiccontextof eventsduringthe MuslimUniversitycampaign.Somewhatless public were the varying views and alignmentswithin the movementitself, and among the Britishoicials, as to the political and educationalsignificance of a Muslimuniversity. The first campaign,
I898 - I9I0

Althoughthe earliestschemefor a Muslimuniversitywas set out in I873, the idea was morea metaphor than a practicalprogramme until f the death of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Aligarh's founder,in I898. The campaign wasstartedthenmainlyin orderto shoreup the Mahomedan Anglo-Oriental Collegein an hourof crisis. Colleges everywhere were feeling the pinch of the governments demandsfor higher fees and harder examinations.At Aligarh, the numberof studentsfell from 595 in I895 to 323 at the time of Sir Syed's deathon27 MarchI 898, andbythefollowingJuly hadplummeted to I89; and the situation was madeworseby an embezzlement scandal in I895, and by renewedattacksfromSir Syed'sold collaborators who had brokenwith the college in I889. The college accountswere in disorder, and as a resultof embezzlement, the suspension of grantsfrom a number of benefactors, and the fallin incomefromfees,the institution was heavilyin debt.l Sir Syed'sdeath unleasheda strugglefor power among the heirs: Syed Mahmud, the founders son and legal successoras honorary secretary of the college;SamiullahKhan, a retireddistrict judge, who was a co-founderof the college but had become Sir Syed's bitter enemy;NawabMohsinul-Mulk,formerly a high oicial in Hyderabad
1Theodore Beck, 'The Principal'sAnnual Report for I898-99' ('Principal's Report,I 898-99'), Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College Magazine (Aligarh)(MAOCM), and Aligarh Institate Gazette (Aligarh)(AIG:), New SeriesVII, I I (I5July I899),9-I I, 29-3I. At this time the twojournalswere temporarily merged.

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and now ambitiousto find a role appropriate to his oratoricalskills; and Snally, TheodoreBeck,the college'sEnglishprincipal.Mahmud, brilliantbut unstable,had beenforcedout of his positionas high court judge five years earlierand became addictedto drink and irrational fits of anger. He clung to Beck, whom he had originallyrecruitedat Cambridge in I882, and had him appointed registrar ofthe collegeand responsible for its financialafEairs.2 This extensionof the Englishman's authoritywas a new grievancefor Samiullah'sfaction, who wanted Muslims aloneto controlthe college.Samiullah calledon the Nawabof Rampur'sSnancial aid to try to dispossessSyed Mahmud and to ensure Muslim control of the college.3 Mohsin ul-Mulk, a skillful diplomatist, hedged his bets. Beck at first sided with Mahmud, but when the latter proved a weak reed he turned to Mohsin ul-Mulk. This was the setting in which the Muslim universitymovement began. Immediatelyafter Sir Syed's death, Aftab Ahmad Khan, an old studentwho had returnedto Aligarh as a barrister, joined with Beck to preventan alliancebetweenSamiullahand Mohsinul-Mulk. Togetherthey workedout a schemefor a Sir Syed MemorialFund to raise the college to a university,and at the same time to pay off its debts. They hoped to appease Mohsin'sambition by making him president of the fund, and by sendinghim touringthe countryto raise money.4On 3 I March I 898, Aftab proposedthis to the college's boardof management, whichagreedto raisefundsto coverthe college's debts, to establisha ten-lakhendowment, and ultimatelyto make the collegea university. Mohsinul-Mulkwas electedpresident of the fund, and Aftabbecameits secretary. Amongthe old boysof the collegewho became membersof the fund-raisingcommittee was Shaukat Ali, Aligarh's hero on the cricketSelds.5 The drive for fundscould make little progressuntil Aligarhset its housein order.The Britishgovernment decidedto intervene,usingits influenceagainstSyed Mahmudand Samiullah.6 VisitingAligarhin
2 Syed
Aligarh Mahmud Muslim to Beck,

I6 April
(AA).

I898,

Aligarh

Archives,

Maulana

Azad

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3 Samiullah
'Jawab-e-Memorandum',

'Memorandum',

December relating to

I898;
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Hakim Trustees

Ajmal

Khan,

I899,

Papers

Proceedings.

I899,

AA. Khan, of March, Hayat-e-Aftab of the 3-4. 25 November 6 M (Allahabad, A-O College

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I947),
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Samiullah, AA.

I 898,

Samiullah,

I898,

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January I899, Sir Anthony MacDonnell,lieutenant-governor of the North-WesternProvinces, claimed that Muslims would not help Aligarhuntil they had confidencein its administration. He pledged government aid if the collegechangedits rulesto securestablecorporate managementwith sufficientsupervisory powersfor government,and promisedto secure a donationfrom Rampur, now forced by threat of governmentdispleasure to dissociatehimselffrom Samiullah.7 On 3I Januarythe college'strusteesdid what MacDonnellwanted, and elected Mohsin ul-Mulk honorary secretary. Beck's position as principalwasguaranteed for life.8'A greatmanypersons', wroteBeck, 'have alleged as a reasonfor not subscribing the unsettledcondition of the management of the (College affairs.These questionshave now beensatisfactorily settled.'9 The fund drive made some progress. By May I899, sixty thousand rupees had been promised, the major contributioncoming from Rampur.This was barelyenoughto pay currentdebts;lbut Beckwas able to report that the college was again in a strong position. The numberof studentswas slowly climbingand had reached3I3. This risewas 'due to one causeonly)viz. the effortsto collectmoneyfor the Memorial Fund,wherebyknowledge of the aimsand natureof the . . . Collegehave [sic] been vastlyextended'.According to Beck,everyone now realizedthat 'the futureprospects of the Indian WIusalmans are bound up in [Aligarh's]success'.llFor all its halting progress,the university campaignhad managedto tide the collegeover, but in the process,Beckkilledhimselfwith overwork. He died on 2 September I899, and his place was taken by TheodoreMorison,an Englishman cut frommuchthe sameclothand Beck's second-in-command formany years. 12 What kind of universitydid the Muslimshave in mind? In I898 Maulvi RafiuddinAhmadl3 wrote an articlein TheSNineteenth CAentury arguingthat a Muslim university would becomea centreof learning for all Muslims in the British Empire (now the largest Muslim 7 MAOCM, VII, I (JanuaryI 899),I 5-2 I .
8 'Proceedingsn AnnualMeetingof the Boardof Trustees, Aligarh',MAOCM, VII, SpecialNumber(FebruaryI 899). 9 MAOCM, VII, 3 (MarchI 899), 48. MAOCM, VII, I (JanuaryI 899),I5-2I; IXn4 (April I900)n 7-8. 11'Principal's Report, I8g8-99fn MAOCM and AIG,iNewSeriesVII, I I (I5 July

MAOCM, VII, I2 (I OctoberI899), 2I. A BeckMemorial Fundwas established to aid the universitycause. 13 Rafiuddin Ahmad came from Poona. He lived in London where he was founder-president of an expatriateanti-Congress organization, the Muslim Patriotic League.
12

I899), T,

II.

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commonwealthin the world), and that by bringingthem together the British would strengthen theirrule.Aligarh)on whosefoundations the university wouldbe built,was organized according to the collegiate modelof Oxfordand Cambridge) and Cloyalty to Britishrule . . . is one of the foremost lessonsimpartedto the students'.But the college was too small to undertake sucha task,and it was inherently limitedby its affiliation to a local secularuniversity. The proposed university would be modern,but it would also be Muslim.It would be universal,not
paroChial. 14

The proposalsfor a Muslim universitywere fully discussedat the Muhammadan Educational Conference at Lahorein DecemberI898. Aboutgoo peopleattendedand the Conference showeda new spiritof enterprise Morison proposed that a Muslim universityshould be founded,observing that it would reallybe no more than an expanded version of Aligarh College. Beck reminded the audience that the university would be the Indian MuslimsS passport to office. BadruddinTyabji of Bombay,Sir Syed's old-political antagonist, subscribed Rs 2,000 to the university, and, from Calcutta,Syed Amir Ali pledged his support.l5A number of young English-educated Muslimsalso spokeup. Among them was ZiauddinAhmad, assistant professor of mathematics at Aligarh,who for Efty years was to be a dominantfigureon the staS. ZiauddinwantedAligarhto be a strictly residential university, with its studentsunderthe moraltutelageof the professors. Only studellts livingin collegewouldbe eligiblefor degrees, whichwouldnot onlyguarantee intellectual attainments, butsignifythe qualitiesof a gentleman.The university would enableits graduates to competesuccessfully with otherIndians and to win politicalleadership in the Muslimcommunity.The universityshouldhave the power to afliliate colleges establishedon the Aligarh model, such as the new IslamiaCollegein Lahore.l6 Beckhad his own ideasfor a Muslimuniversity. Forsomeyearspast, he had beendisenchanted withAllahabad university, anexamining body whichaffiliated scattered colleges,all of which'arecopiesof each other'. He argued that Aligarh should become a 'specializing'institution
14 RafiuddinAhmad, 'The Proposed MuslimUniversityin India', TheJ>ineteenth Century, XLIV (I898), 9Io-2I. Rafiuddinenvisagedcolleges all over the Muslim world becomingaffiliatedto Aligarh,and he saw the projectas a Britishcounterto Russia's flirtationwith Islam. Ibid. The article was reprintedin MAOCM,and Mohsinul-Mulkread an Urdu translationof it to the EducationalGonference at Lahore in DecemberI898. 15 Intikhab ReportMuhammadan Educational Conference darbab MujawazaA@uhammadan Uniuersity (Agra, I899). 16 Ibid.,ppv 72-89*

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GAIL MINAULT AND DAVID LELYVELD

with emphasison English, Arabic, history, and mathematics.He wanted to get away from the London Universitymodel and move towards something moreon the residential and teachinglinesof Oxford and Cambridge. Beckcriticizedthe universityexaminations for being excessivelyacademic,which tended to encouragecrammingschools ratherthan character-building institutions suchas Aligarh.l7 In March I899, afterthe LahoreConference, Beckpresented a 'roughsketch'of a Muslimuniversity basedon an expandedAligarhcollege. His scheme made no mention of afliliation.At this time the college had three Britishprofessors and six Indians.l8Beck proposedto add five more Britishlecturers,including'a distinguished WesternOrientalist',and three new posts for Indians in Muslimhistory,Urdu literature,and natural sciencesfor art students.Such a staS, Beck argued, would enableAligarhto give its own B.A. degreeand to turn the collegeinto 'the nucleusof a learnedsociety'.Beck wanted to allow the teachers time for researchand he also proposedthe creationof four research fellowships.His universitywould begin life as an independentarts college: 'Our Universityis intendedto give a liberaleducationto the upperand middleclassesof Mahomedans, as well as to train scholars. And our scholarswould to begin with devote themselvesto history, economics,and philology. . . ratherthan to NaturalScience.'In the distant future a science departmentwould be added, followed by schoolsof medicine,engineering and agriculture. To raise money for his scheme,Beckproposed an all-Indiancampaignto collectdonations large and small. Meetingswould be held all over the countryon the anniversary of Sir Syed'sdeath. Targetswould be set for every town and district, startingwith those in Punjab and the North-Western Provinces,and extendinglater to the rest of India. Even if such a campaigndid not bringin large donations,'it will tend to perfectour organization,and will spreadabroad an interestin the College and makeit a truly nationalinstitution'.l9 In the face of more grandioseschemes, Beck injected a note of modestyinto the discussion.His friend, Sir Arthur Strachey, Chief Justice of the AllahabadHigh Court, did likewisewhen he told a fund-raising meetingbluntlythat the point was to buildup the college at Aligarh,not to worryabout far-offuniversity schemes.20 But many
17 T. Beck,'The Allahabad University',MAOCM, III, 4 (I April I896), I49; III, 6 ( I June I 896), 236; 'Principal's Report, I 898-99', MAOCM and AIG,New Series VII, I I (I5 July I899)n 5 18 One post had been vacatedby T. W. Arnoldduringthe financialcrisis. 19 Beck, 'The MahomedanUniversity',MAOCM, VII, 3 (March I899), 4I-8. 20 MAOCM, VIII, 4 (AprilI899)n 74

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Muslimsupporters of the movementhad something moreambitiousin mind. Different motives in the movement had inspired different designs for the university.As long as the dominant theme was to bolsterthe collegeat Aligarhby castingthe net widerfor moremoney and more students,it seemedenough to talk about Aligarh'sspecial role in higher education for Muslims. Whereas the Educational Conferencestressed the importance of religious education) Beck emphasized the development of a community of scholars, capableboth of transmittingEuropeanlearning and of preservingCthepeculiar culture of Islam'.2l But already a different theme was emerging: the idea of a Muslimuniversity with a networkof ailiated collegesin India)and perhapsevenoutsideit. Thisimpliedthe development of an autonomous systemof educationcutting acrossthe systemestablished by the British.In time this would raise the all-important issue of the university's relationship to the raj. While thesediscussions were going on, the Sir Syed MemorialFund made slow progress.By the end of its second year it had received pledgesfor only about Rs I25,000. Delegations, with Mohsinul-Mulk usually acting as orator, toured major cities, and Aligarh old boys canvassed subscriptions. Effortswere mXade to establishlocal agencies, but mostwere ephemeral. In the United Provinces, twenty-six districts were represented on the pledge list, but twenty-five of them together did not equal Aligarh'smodest contributionof Rs 2s,000. Among individual benefactors,the Nawab of Rampur remained the most generous patronwith a pledgeof Rs 50,000.Punjabpromised lessthan Rs 2s,000 with nearly half coming from Lahore. A trickle of subscriptions camefromthe NorthWestFrontier, Bengal,and the Central Provinces.Moreover,only a small fractionof the money promised had actuallybeen collected.The goal of ten lakhs was far off.22 But with the fund the college debts could be paid oS, and Sir Syed's original building programmecould be completed. Meanwhile, the enrolmentof the college and school made good progress:in I9OI it reached the I 895 level of 560 students, and by I 9QS there were over 700 students,four-fifths of them from Punjab and the United
Provinces.23

Under the leadershipof Mohsin ul-Mulk the EducationalC:on'Principal's Report, I898-99', MAOCM and AIG,iNewSeriesVII, I I (I5 July 5 22 Sir Syed MemorialFund Gollections(I899-I900) File, AA; MAOCM,IX, 4 (April I 90 I ) n 7-8 23 Mohsin ul-Mulk, SNote on theProgress of the M A-O CollegeAligarh during the yearsI 899-I903. . . (Aligarh, I 903).
21 I 899),

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movementbeganto enlistwidersupport.In ferenceand the university movedout of upperIndia and met in DecemberI899, the conference Calcuttaunder the presidencyof Amir Ali. The Sir Syed memorial took of the conference The I9OI session fundstarteda Bengalbranch.24 place in Madras.The followingyear, the Aga Khan presidedover the was held in Bombay meeting in Delhi, and in I903 the C:onference under BadruddinTyabji. Wider participation,however,also meant a greatervarietyof ideas about the university;if Aligarhwas to ask in return. it had to offersomething for moneyfromsuchfar-offplaces, To scoresof meetingsMohsinul-Mulkand othersheld out the image of Aligarhas the best hope of the Indian Muslims, the restorerof past greatness.The universitywas becominga symbolof a reviving Islam. In Aligarh itself a new conflict was brewing. Mohsin ul-Mulk, honorarysecretaryof the college, had been regardedas the political spokesmanfor Muslims.But he found his influence much reduced him to disengagefrom a campaign pressured afterthe UP government against the recognitionof Hindi as a judicial language along with who had not known Urdu.25Moreover,a new group of Englishmen Sir Syed were now teaching at Aligarh. When complaintsabout Britishmeddlingin the college managementwere raised again, the conduct of these newcomers, who repudiated the Beck-Arnoldand betweenEnglishmen in the relations policyof 'sympathy' Morison Indiansat Aligarh,made mattersworse.The students,in turn, were it was even and less well-mannered; reportedto be more aggressive In confrontations said that some were sympatheticto C:ongress.26 call on betweenthe studentsand the staS the formercould sometimes for thosewho allies among the trusteesand old boys. The spokesman opposed any increase in British authority at Aligarh was Nawab Viqar ul-Mulk, a former Hyderabadofficial, less wordy but more tough-mindedthan his colleague Mohsin. Viqar, however, refused to lead an opposition'party' because in principle he was opposed In practice there was as yet no faction for him to factions.27 to lead. elementat Aligarhwasthe old boys,who sinceOctoberI 899 Another of the Old Boys of their own. The chief organizers had an association VIII, 2 ( I 5 January I 900), 3I-7. 24 MAOCM,
25S. I 77-8 I907 March M A-OCollege, at Aligarh of Enquiry of theCommittee Report 26 Confidential (Allahabad,I907), pp. 4-I4. I907) Report (Enquiry (Aligarh, I925), pp. 432-42. 27 MahomedAmin Zuberi, Viqar-i-Hayat

(Aligarh, I 969), pp. Aligarh of theMA-O College History K. Bhatnagar,

I4I,

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Associationbelongedto Aftab Ahmad Khans group. Startingas an annualdinner,the association aimedat recruiting Aligarhgraduates as activeworkers forthe college,eachdonatingI per cent of his incometo its support. At Srstfewpeoplewerewillingto pay thisamount.In I904, when Aftab himselfbecamesecretary,there were only fifty-sixactive membersout of some 3,ooo survivingold- boys of the school and college.28In I903, the associationgained the right to elect three representatives to Aligarh'sboard of trustees,still dominatedby the older generation,giving it for the firsttime a say in the management of the college.29 AftabAhmadKhan was one of the principalfiguresin the Aligarh university movement. Educated at the M A-O Schoolandat Cambridge and the Inns of C:ourt, he had, as a studentat Aligarh,organizedthe 'Duty Society', to raise funds for the college by sendingout student delegations to 'beg' duringtheir vacations.At Cambridge he decided that Aligarhshouldbe the centreof his lifes work.As a trusteeand a member of the board of management,he was closely involved in collegeadministration. Throughthe MemorialFund, the Educational Conference,and the Old Boys Association,he worked to spread Aligarh's influence --and his own. But Aftab'sgroupwas still too young and too smallto assertits leadership.30 The university proposal,despiteits potentiaiityfor dispute,had not yet affectedAligarh's internalpolitics.This was becauseits realization was still distant. Everyoneat Aligarh was agreed that the college should be strengthened. It was over the issuesof autonomyand the powerto affiliate othercollegesthat, later,groupscontending forpower were to divide. The government brought these issues in-to the open. Curzon,shortlyafterhe arrivedin India as viceroy,announcedhis approvalof a Muslim universityon conditionthat it was merely a continuationof the Aligarh college.3lBut his governmentwas also reconsideringits general policies toward university education in India whichwas regardedas intellectually unsuccessful and politically dangerous.In January I902, Curzonformedan Indian Universities
28Aligarh Monthly (AM) (Aligarh,English),III, 2 (FebruaryI905), 74. The lSgure 3,ooo is an estimatebasedon TufailAhmad,Muhammadan College Directory (Badaun, I 9 I 4), PartsI and II. 29 Rules and Regulationsfor the Appointment of theErustees of the MA-OCollege, Aligarh. .. [as] amended . . . u, to . . . I907 (Aligarh,n.d.), pp. 6-7. 30 Habibullah Khan, Hayat-e-Aftab, pp. 7-53; Aftab Ahmad Khan Ahmadi, Diary I892-93 (MS), AA. 31 MAOCM, VII, 4 (April I899), 80.

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Commission.32 Its reportcalled on the governmentto maintainhigh standardsby centralizingand not dissipatingits educationaleffiorts. More universities meant lower standards and less governmentsupervision.Thereshouldbe no new Indianuniversities beyondthe existing five, which shouldcontinueas large affiliatinginstitutions33 but with teaching functions.All this would give governmentmore power to intervenein universityaSairs,to enforcestudentdiscipline,to deSne the territorial limits of a university,and to ensurethe uniformityof fees and curriculum.34 Referringto the proposedMuslim university, the reporturgedthat 'the undenominational character of the Universities'be maintained. Communal competition shouldbe keptout of the universities.Furthermore, a Muslim university,with the power to affiliatecolleges,would challengethe territorial jurisdiction of the five universities, upon which the government was stakingits policy. The commission's reportwas thuscompletely unsympathetic to the Muslim universityproposal,which in any case, the commission felt, did not have enough popular support or financial backing to make it viable.35 The commission's verdictput the university campaignon the rocks. Aligarhwas not yet ready to oppose the government;it had always couchedits claimsto specialconsideration in extravagant expressions of loyaltyto the raj. The institution andits beneficiaries weredependent on government patronage.Aligarhhad managedto achievea special relationship with governmentas the spokesman of Muslim needs in general,and it did not want to compromise this relationsllip. But after this setbackto the university idea which had been a valuableprop to the college, enrolmentsbegan to slip again.36 Thereforean attempt was madeto keepthe university schemealive,despitethe government's
32 The ehairmanof the eommission, Thomas Raleigh, besidesbeing vice-ehancellor of Caleutta universityand the legal member of the vieeroy'seouneil, was a cousin of Beek'swidow. Another memberof the commissionwas Syed Efusain Bilgrami (lElawab Imad ul-Mulk), who had been closely associatedwith Aligarh from the start. The commission heard evideneeat Aligarh,ineludinga long testimonyfromMohsinul-Mulk.Mohsin's paper,publishedas an Urdu pamphletTehrfri Shahadat Na7wab MoAsin ul-Mulk . . . ki ru b'ruUniversity Commission ke (Agra I902) virtuallyignoredthe Muslimuniversity sehemes. 33 This was in spite of the faet that in Englandthe affiliating systemof London university was abolishedin I903. 34 Report of theIndianUniversities Commissionn I902 (Simla, I902); Syed iI!;urullah and J. P. Naik History of Education in India(Bombay,I943), pp. 239-54; and Eric Ashby, Universities: British, Indian, andAfrican (London,I966), pp. 73-83. 35 Universities Commission Report, p. 8; see also H. W. Orange,Progress of Education in India,I902-07 (Caleutta,I 909), pp. 5-7. 36 For enrolment statisticssee Bhatnagar, History of theMA-O College, p. I86.

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verdict.Theodore Morison, who hadbeenassociated with the university movement fromthe beginning, tookup the task.In an astutearticlefor fAeJVational Review of I898 he had commented on the politicalimplications of the scheme, and argued that Muslimswere separatefrom Hindus,but were not a 'nation'.Like the Jews, they were a qaum, a peopleidentifiedby religionratherthan homeland,and, like theJews, Muslimswere beginningto realize the value of united action. The Britishwould do well to encourage this unity, and a university would be a usefulfocusfor Muslimpoliticaldevelopment.37 Despitethe commission's recommendations, Morisoncontinuedto pressfor a Muslim university.38 But his strategy was to call on Muslims to build up Aligarh to the level of a university.Even if governmentopposition persisted,Muslimswould in practice have the thing itself, 'Charter or no Charter'.39 So there was no reason for people to stop giving money to Aligarh. Early in I9Q4, Morisonproposeda scheme calculated to elicit supportfrom more orthodoxMuslimsand to be the corner-stone of his 'Charteror no C:harter' university.He proposed the establishment of a schoolof advancedArabicstudiesat Aligarh.40 Morisonarguedthat Aligarhwas the properplace for such an effort, not Deoband or the Nadwat ul-Ulama of Lucknowwhich he dismissedas 'the dwindlingadherents of a lost cause'.Aligarhwas 'progressive', andwas a movement fromwhich'all enlightened and modern Musalmans draw their inspiration'. The initial cost was estimatedat one lakh for books and buildings,and for this he expectedsupport
37 TheodoreMorison,'A Mahomedan University', fhe J%atiorlal Review, XXXII 898-99), 243-8. 38 He arguedthat thereshouldbe Hindu, Muslimand Parsiuniversities in India, since such institutionswould combat the irreligionprevalent amongst westerneducated Indians, and would be likely to attract private Indian philanthropy.T. Morison, History of theM A-OCollege, Aligarh (Allahabad,I903), pp. 30-3. However, as a memberof the legislativecouncil,Morisonofferedno oppositionto the Universities Act of I904, which embodiedthe recommendations of Curzon'sUniversities Commission. AM, II, 4 (AprilI904), 27-3I. 39 AM, III, I (JanuaryI905), 7. 40 In I903, the distinguished Persianscholar,E. Denison Ross, principalof the Calcuttamadrasa, visitedAligarhand helpedMorisonto workout the scheme.Ross took the line that the Britishshouldpatronizean 'intellectual revival'of Muslimsby encouraging the studyof Arabic.The schemecalledfor a staS consisting of Ross,two Egyptiansfrom al-Azhar,two Persians,three Indian maulvis, and six fellowships tenable for five to seven years. Only graduateswould be taught, and they would ultimatelyfind posts in variousIndian universities and the Britishconsulatesand embassiesin the Arabic-speaking world. English officialscould use the school to learn Arabic, and the institutionwould maintain an Arabic library and publish scholarly editionsof Arabictexts.Rossto Miller,and Morison to Miller,January I 904, Educ SeptemberI904, 275/5, Uttar PradeshSecretariat Records,Lucknow(UPS). (I

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from the Government of India.41 Morison's schememet with a sharp rejectionon the part of some of Aligarh'sown graduates. A hue and cry was raisedthat Morisonand his Britishassociates were trying to turn Aligarhinto an Arabic madrasa.InvokingSir Syed's memory, Syed Riza Ali, a recentgraduate,wrotea strongletterto TheStatesman totally rejecting the scheme. What Muslims needed was practical educationand materialprosperity,not archaic scholarship.Culture had a place when 'power, riches and prosperity'were assured,but Muslims weretoo poorforsuchluxuries. If theywanteda 'renaissance', they shouldfind it in Europeanculture,in Shakespeare, Bacon, and Locke.42 Riza Ali's opinion was echoed by Aftab Ahmad Khan.43 In the Union Club,students voted theirdisapproval of the proposal.44 The governmentdid not like Morison'sscheme either. Sir James La Touche, lieutenant-governor of the United Provinces,thought it smacked of revivalism: 'If thereis a revivalit mustbe reactionary, and in hostilityto the west.' So he was preparedto appoint a European professor of Arabic,but that was all.45Simla agreedwith La Touche and feared that Morison'sproposed university 'might become a focus of political intrigue'.46 The Arabic scheme was reduced to hiring one European professorand one Indian assistantprofessor subsidizedin part by the governmentand in part by some wealthy benefactors, notablythe Aga Khan and the Raja of Jehangirabad. A specialselection committee in Europerecruited a distinguished German scholar.47 To balance the Arabic programme,a Bachelorof Science coursewas startedin I906 with endowment fromthe Old BoysAssociation and the Raja of Mahmudabad. But this broughtthe Muslim universityno closer, and its former supportersgrew sceptical. Sajjad Hyder, a distinguishedAligarh graduate, arguedthat Muslims had got theirpriorities wrongin making so much of the universityproposal; he claimed there were more important tasksof educational and socialreformat hand.48 Badruddin Tyabji,speakingas presidentof the I903 Muhammadan Educational
41 Ibid. 42 TheStatesman, 26 January I904, in SyedRiza Ali, Essays onMoslem Questions (Allahabad, I9I2), pp. 25-32. 43 Habibullah Khan, Hayat-e-Aftab, pp. 54-8. 44 SyedRizaAli, A'mal J\fama (Delhi,I943), pp. I74-5. 45 Memorandum by La Touche, 6 February I904, EducSeptember I904, 275/5, UPS. 46 H. H. Risley to La Touche, I4 MayI904, (demi-official), ibid. 47 Noteby Harcourt Butler, I2 March I906, Educ AprilI906, 275/5, UPS. 4g Sajjad Hyder,'Should All Reform Waitfor a Muslim University?', AM, I, g (September I 903), I-6.

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Conference, described the plansfor a university as premature. Muslims should first lay a strong foundationof local Muslim schools and colleges which, initially at least, could be affiliatedto the existing government universities.49 Akbar Hydari, Tyabji's nephew, spoke out againstthe wholeidea of a Muslimuniversity.50 Hydariarguedthat for secularadvancement Muslimswould be better off at the existing universities.Serious theological training was adequately provided in existing madrasas.Moreover,it would be foolhardyto bring the doctrines of diffierent Muslimsectsinto open rivalryat one centre.51 At a regionalmeetingof the Educational Conference in Ahmadabad in October I904, Mahomed Ali, younger brother of Shaukat Ali, replied to Hydari in an eloquent restatementof the Beck-Morison concept of a Muslim university.52 He called upon his experienceat Aligarhand Oxfordto arguefor 'the expansion of Aligarh'.Mahomed Ali projecteda bold view of India as a 'federation of religions';only if l\Iuslims and Hindus were allowed to cultivate their distinctive culturaltraditionscould they live togetheramicably.Thereforeboth the Muslimuniversity at Aligarhand the Hindu university at Benares, proposed earlierin the yearby PanditMadanMohanMalaviya,should be encouraged.Professing'no concern with politics, and certainly no desireto confoundit with education',MahomedAli none the less warned that governmenteducationalpolicy must respond to the wishes of the people. The idea of a Muslim universityhad been generated by a popularmovement:'Aligarh is the people'sveryown.'53 Mahomed Ali's maiden speech, modelled on the style of Burke and with quotationsfrom Latin, Arabic,Persian,Urdu, and English literature,proved the swan song of the first phase of the Muslim university movement. A few monthslater,in FebruaryI905, Theodore Morisonleft Aligarhfor a new careerin England.For five yearsafter his departurelittle was heard of the Muslimuniversityexcept for an occasionalresolutionof the MuhammadanEducationalConference. The I904 Universities Act closedthe questionfor the time being, and the universityproposalwas becomingless necessaryas a publicity device for the college. After a reversalin I905, the enrolmentmade
7Che Daze)n Magazzne, AugustI 9 I I, pp. 8g-go. soMohsinul-Mulkdid not allowhim to deliverhis speechat the I903 Educational Conference) but he was able to publishit in a Britishperiodical.MahomedAli 7Che Proposed Mohamedan Um7verszty (Bombay,I904), p. 2. 51 AkbarHydari, SAMahomedan Universityfor India', EastandWest,30 August I 904, pp. 765-73 52 ;. ., a MohamedanUniversityonly means a larger Aligarh', MahomedAli told the Conference. 53 Mahomed Ali, TheProposed Mohamedan Universzty.
49

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GAIL MINAULT AND DAVID LELYVELD

impressive advances.54 Collections for the Sir Syed MemorialFund, on the otherhand,camealmostto a halt.55 While Muslimswere organizinga delegationto the viceroy,setting up the League and establishingits head-quarters at Aligarh,56 the college itself was rent with factions.The old frictionbetweentlle less sympatheticEnglish professors and the more self-assertive students culminatedin a widely publicizedstudentstrikein FebruaryIg07.57 Later that year, after the death of Mohsin ul-Mulk,Viqar ul-Mulk became honorarysecretaryand began to reassertthe powersof that position in the managementof the college. Interveningin matters of administration, schedules,and discipline,Viqar came into open conflict with the staS, and especially with Archbold, Morison's successor as principal.The stafffoughtbackin I909 by petitioningthe lieutenant-governor, SirJohnHewett,forthe redress of theirgriesrances. Hewett openly intervened) bringingon himselfa loud chorusof condemnationfrom public meetings and Muslim newspapers.He was forcedto retreat,Archboldresigned,and powerin the collegebecame open to competition.58 The new generation of Aligarhold boyswas now readyto compete. In the past the powerof the Britishstaff backedby government, and the weaknessor apathy of the older generationwho dominatedthe seventy-one man boardof trusteeshad blockedtheir aspirations. Now only the board stood in the way.59The boardaestablishedin I889) was an all-Muslim3 self-electingbody, and each member enjoyed lifetime tenure. The only exceptionswere the three representatives of the Old BoysAssociation.60
Studentenrolmentin the college and schoolwas 66I in I905, 8I6 in I906, and in I9I0. Bhatnagar5 History of theMA-O College, pp. 244, 325. 55 By the end of I9I0, only aboutRs 270,ooohad been collected,of whichaboutRs I45,000 were in hand, the rest having been spent in paying the college debts and completingthe collegebuildings.Government had made large grantsfor the Arabic and sciencedepartments, but even so, the total fund was less than half the ten lakhs set as a goal in I8g8.J. H. Towle (Principal),'AnnualReport, I9I0-I9IIS, MA-O College, Aligarh, Calendar, I9II-I2, p. 3. 56 The Simla delegationof I906 was led by the Aga Khan and Mohsinul-Mulk; its address was draftedby SyedHusainBilgrami; AftabAhmadKhan and Archbold, Aligarh's principal,acted as intermediaries. See 'SimlaDelegation,I906 file', AA. 57 Enquzry Report I907, pp. 4-I4. 58 AIS, New SeriesIX, 34 (23 August I909), I-I9. 59 DuringMohsinul-Mulk's tenuretherewas a continuous criticismof the trustees for not assertingthemselves. 60 When the boardof trustees was increasedto I 20 in I909, the Old BoysAssociation requestedthe right to send fifteenrepresentatives; they got five. AM, VII, 5 (May I909), 9.
54 955

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The main critic of the Board was MahomedAli, whose brother, Shaukat, was a leadinglight amongAligarhold boys.A trusteeand an active participantin all Aligarh activities,Shaukatdevoted most of his freetime to the college,despitethe fact that his government service forcedhimto live at somedistance fromAligarh.Restless andambitious, Mahomedwas a moreformidable critic. Afterstudyingat Oxford,he returned to Aligarhin searchof a job.61In the eventhe joined government servicein Baroda.In I904, the year of his Ahmadabadspeech, he wrote his firstcritiqueof the college administration for the Lahore Observer, and soon becamethe bFte noire of the EnglishstaS as a result of his criticalarticlesand his popularityamongthe students.62 In I905 a factionaldisputedevelopedwithin the Old BoysAssociation between the Ali brothersand the group associatedwith Aftab Ahmad Khan. Under Aftab the association had made rapidprogress. Overtwo hundred old boysweresendingin their I per cent assessment, enabling the associationto pay the salaryof Aligarh'snew science professor.63 In I905 Aftab had to vacate his post as secretaryof the Old Boysbecauseof somelegal workin Hyderabad,and he delegated it to his closefriend,Mir WilayatHusain,secondmasterof the Aligarh School.At the time, ShaukatAli wasjoint-secretary of the association and felt entitledto the post; but sincetherewere no clearrules,Aftab decreedthat Shaukat was disqualified, becausehe was not a resident at Aligarh.64 At the EducationalConferencelater that year, Shaukat allegedly assaultedone of Aftab'sclose friends,ShaikhAbdullah,the distinguished pioneerin Muslimfemaleeducation.In the scandalthat followed,Shaukat wasforcedto resignhis positionas a trustee.65 The Old BoysAssociation rapidlydividedinto two clearlydefined parties, 'Aftab & Co' and the Ali brothers.In I 907 Shaukat and MahomedAli organizedan Old Boys Reform League to press the claims of non-residents of Aligarh to become secretary,to exclude members of the collegestaFfromall officialpositions in the association and to driveout Aftab'sruling'clique'.In the followingSve yearsall thesegoalswere achieved.Duringthe sameperiodmembership of the association rosefrom265to I o87.Aftab's group withdrew, and ensconced themselvesin the MuhammadanEducationalConference.Shaukat 61 S. M. Ikram, Modern Muslim India and the Birth of Pakistan (Lahore, I966), p. I so.
62 Enquiry 64 Report
Aligarh Report Committee

I907.
Tahqiqat

63 AM
muta'aliq

(Urdu b'Old

Section), Boys

IV,

I (January

I906),

34-4I.
ul-'Ulum

Association

Madrasat

(Aligarh, p. Old

I9I7), I7;
cf. Abdul

pp.

I6-I7.
Majid (OBA), Khwaja, 'Salana Repott Old Boys . . . Old Lodge, Boys Association', Muslim

6s Ibid.,
Ruidad University.

Boys

Association

I9I8,

p.

52.

Aligarh

I60

GAIL MINAULT AND DAVID LELYVELD

Ali finally became secretary of the Old Boys Association in

The two partiesseemed distinct. Aftab had once flirted with the Congress.67 The Ali brothers,on the other hand, tended to speak disparagingly of such politicalactivity. In style, Aftab made a point of adoptingdistinctivemodernMuslimdress Turkishcoat and fezwhilethe Ali brothers werenotedfortheirfashionable Englishclothes.6s But in the courseof their rivalrythey virtuallyexchangedpositions. Ideologicallythere was little real diffierence betweenthe two groups. In the matter of control of the Aligarh college, both Aftab and the Ali brothers were staunchdefenders of the authorityof the board of trusteesas representatives of the Muslimcommunity;both groups were viewed with suspicion by British authorities.69 In the I 907 strike and the I909 trustee-staffdispute, Aftab vied with the Ali brothers as spokesman for the Muslimposition,and it was Aftabwho carriedthe day againstArchboldand Hewett.70 In fact, the only real difference betweenthe two groupswas that Aftabwas on the spot and the Ali brotherswere not. But issues of principlewere not long in bolstering the factionaldisputeamongthe old boys.In I907 Mahomed Ali put forwarda schemeto abolishlife membership on the boardof trusteesand insteadto elect representatives for five-yearterms.7l This effiort to establisha voting constituency for the board was similarin aim to the Old Boys ReformLeague.The Ali brothers were playing politicsin earnest.To begin with, their effiorts were directedtowards capturingpower at Aligarh, but in time the momentumof their ambitions was to carrythem muchfurther. The campaign revived, Early in
I9 I I9I0-I2

there were rerlewedefforts to establishthe Muslim

cf. Habibullah Khan, Hayat-e-Aftab, p. 52. 69Hewett to Butler, 3 June I9II, Home Educ A August I9II, I-2, National Archives of India, New Delhi (NAI). 70 AIG, New Series IX, 34 (23 August I909), I8-I9. 71 The Old Boys Association would elect thirty-lSveout of the seventy-lSvemembers. Another thirty would be elected by the old trustees and the rest would be sent by the Educational Conference, the Muslim League, and regional Muslim organizations of Punjab,Bengal, Bombay, and Madras. 'A New Scheme for the Selection of Trustees for the M A-O College, Aligarh', 22 October I907, Mahomed Ali Papers, Jamia Milla Islamia, lNew Delhi (MAP).
I0;

2, ibid. 67 Aftab Ahmad Khan Ahmadi, Diary, 27 68 Shaukat Ali, 'The late Mr Beck and his

66 Ruidad OBA, I908-I

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I6I

university.The Aga Khan spokeabout it when he visitedAligarhin January. Viqar ul-Mulk, Mahomed Ali, and Shaikh Abdullah all tried to give the schemenew life.72 At the same time, Annie Besant was publicizingher projectfor 'A Universityfor India' to include all religionsand regions,free from governmentpatronage.In January I9IO she wrote to Viqar ul-Mulk, calling for Aligarh support and claimingthat Morisonand AkbarHydari were sympathetic.Despite her insistence thatherproposal wouldnot standin the way of a Muslim university, Aligarhwould have nothingto do with it.73 MrsBesant's plan foran autonomous nationaluniversity was given a less revolutionary appearance by being linkedwith the appeal to the coming CoronationDurbar. The King-Emperor himself would be askedto lay the corner-stone of the new university. l:5his struckthe Aga Khan as a splendididea, and he decided to appropriateit for the Muslim university movement. At the MuhammadanEducational Conference at Nagpurin December,the Aga Khan issueda 'now or never) appeal, and threw himself into a whirlwind campaign far surpassing the effiorts of the previoustwelveyears.The Syed Memorial Fund Committeewas replacedby a Muslim UniversityFoundation Committeeunder the presidencyof the Aga Khan. Viqar ul-Mulk was the secretaryat head-quarters in Aligarh; there was a wide networkof provincialand local committees.ChoosingShaukatAli to accompanyhim, the Aga Khan touredIndia collectingfunds for the university.74 Travellingin a specialrailwaycarriage,the Aga Khan and Shaukat Ali were reportedenthusiastically in the Urdu press whereverthey went. Their speechesrepeatedlystressedthat the Muslim university
72 AIG,New SeriesX, 4 (26January I9IO), 3, IO-I I; X, 23 (IsJune I9IO)) 6; X, 22 (8 May I9IO)n 3-4* 73 Besant to Viqar ul-Mulk, 4 January I9IO; Viqar to Besant, I March I9IO, Educ May I 9 I I, I 4. UPS. Viqar ul-Mulksent copiesof this correspondence to the UP government. 74Towle, 'Annual Report, I9IO-II', pp. 3-5. The fanfareof this campaign in turn inspiredPandit Madan Mohan Malviya to join hands with Mrs Besant and revivehis old schemefor a Hindu university, promising to doubleor triplewhatever the Muslimscollected.Note by H. V. Lovett, I 5 April I 9 I I, Educ May I 9 I I, I 4, UPS. Relationsbetween the Hindu and Muslimuniversitymovementswere quite cordial, though they had a friendlyrivalry over the successof their fund-raising drives.The Aga Khan gave a handsomedonationto the Hindu university,which was reciprocated by the Maharaja of Darbhanga, presidentof the Hindu University SOGiety. See List of Donors in: sMuslimUniversityRegulationsCommitteeFile' (MURC), AA; and Collegian, III (I9I3), p. 292. For the Hindu UniversityMovement, see V. A. Sundaram(ed.), Benares HinduUniversity, I905 to I9,35 (Benares, I 936) ,

would affiliatecolleges on the Aligarh model all over India.75This promise helped to raise money, since felt that their moneywould be used Muslims from other regions for their own direct benefit,not merelysiphonedoS to one collegein the UP. Their successwas extraordinary.In five monthsthey received pledgesfor Rs 2,250,000 and actually collectednearly two and a half lakhs. By August I9II the amount pledged was twenty-fivelakhs; the amount collected was nearlyfour lakhs.76 The revived campaign came at an opportune moment for the collegewhichwassuffering yet againfromthe clashbetweenthe trustees and staffin I909 and furtherinternal controversies of I9I0. The latest disputewas betweenAftab Ahmad Khan and Viqar ul-Mulk,which resultedin their temporaryresignation from the governing bodies ofthe college.77 But the mainspring of the universitymovementwas nolongerhousedin Aligarh;it had takenon a life of its own. At the helm of the movementwas the Aga Khan, whoseconnexion with Aligarhhadup tillthenbeenintermittent andpurelyfinancial.78 To theAga Khan, supportof Muslim education and political causes was a matter of noblesse oblige.As spiritual sectthe Aga Khan was fabulously leader of the Ismaili Khoja wealthy, and he looked upon political leadership as his due. His campaignfor the Muslimuniversity was a two-yearwonder.He droppedit as soon as the going got rough. Significantly, his autobiography datesthe inauguration of the university in I 9 I 2 insteadof I 920.79 Much of the attractionof the renewed campaignwas the lavishness
75 The
network College Aga of Khan Mohamedan will p. be 329. Report, us-Saqlain, was then of Viqar, told an audience all the in over first to Karachi: India get a '. on . . the the next lines of step the 27 Colleges one of will be to have Aligarh a . . . Sind present January college') Comrade

I62

GAIL MINAULT AND DAVID LELYVELD

Comrade Selections,

I9I 2>

76 Towle, 77 Khwaja
jtadid (Meerut), Aftab of the Old did not

Annual Ghulam and

I 9 I 0-I
an

I ', p. 5.
Old Boy on a who edited an career Aftab neutral with who Kitabat Bahadur in the turn ma-bin (Aligarh, Ali Urdu in now in Old brothers journal, Meerut, withdrew Boy 'Asr-iaccused from disputes, and Aftab other for his

embarking the college who tried in his

political

maladministration Boys give Association. Aftab reacted to unstinting publicly monopolize Sahib of the the grant. address race o M Aga In at courses

programme. to remain

support by criticizing power. Nawab A-O Eiqar College, had he

rivals. Aftab arrogant

battles Viqar,

effiorts Shan History

rebuked Honorable

Aftab Ahmad Bhatnagar,

Khat ul-Mulk

Sahibzada see also

I9I0);
and

78 As

pp.
visited had

a young

255-6.
Aligarh in in favour

man,

Khan

Ahmad an

annual in his presidential he returned when he gave to the

I902
the of

I896,
of a

promised

Syed

spoken

Muslim

university but was in then

Muhammadan Europe. to World His

Educational second Arabic and Time visit to

Conference, Aligarh scheme.

a handsome of the Aga

donation Khan:

I904, IR0.

79 7Che Memoirs

Morison's Enough

studies (London,

I954),

p.

CAMPAIGN

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I63

with which it was conducted.At Lucknow,the Aga Khan was the guest of the Raja of Mahmudabad, anotheroccasionalbenefactorof AligarhCollege.The highlightof the visit was a sumptuous banquet given by the Raja at the QaisarBagh Baradari,a weddingcake of a buildingsituatedin the greatcourtyard of the old Nawabipalace.The Raja outdid his legendaryhospitality by invitingnot only dignitaries, but people fromall walksof life, and servingbirianis,pulaos,kababs, curries,sweetsand pan fit for a Mughal Emperor.For the occasion, the Aga Khanhad discarded his SavileRow suit andput on traditional Irani dress. The followingday, a meeting was held to collect subscriptionsfor the UniversityFund. Mahmudabad pledged a lakh of rupees, Jehangirabad another lakh,and Pirpurhalfa lakh.Betweenthe three of them they matchedthe entiresum collectedfor the Sir Syed MemorialFundduringthe past twelveyears.80 Following the Aga Khan'sexample,A/Iahmudabad hireda trainand proceededto tour the Punjab and Sind with Viqar ul-Mulk, Aftab Ahmad Khan and Maulana Shibli Nomani. They joined the Aga Khanat LahorewhereNawabFatehAli Khan and Mian Muhammad Shafi were given the opportunityto display their wealth. Then the Raja's party moved on to Karachi for another series of fabulous feastsand substantial donations fromSeth GhulamHasanChaglaand others.Finallythey returnedto the UP and once morecombedit for money.The Muslimuniversity had at last becomea fashionable cause and potentiallya successful one.8l It was afterthis invigorating tour that the promoters beganto think what formthe Muslimuniversity wouldtake.A constitution committee was set up with Mahmudabad as chairman;a draft constitution was preparedby Syed Ali Bilgrami82 and presentedto the committeein mid-April I 9 I I . A monthlatera deputation consisting of Mahmudabad, Viqar,Aftab,and Ziauddin83 met Harcourt Butler,Education Member of the viceroy'scouncil, in Simla.84 Aftab was spokesman;the Ali brothers were excluded. The draft constitutiondealt with the form of governmentrather thanwith the contentof education at the futureuniversity. It vestedthe officeof chancellorin the viceroy,who could appointvisitors,inquire
80 Shaikh Ali Hasan, Tarikh-i-Mahmudabad, III, Part I. MahmudabadHouse, Lucknow. 81 Ibid. 82 Half brotherof Syed Husain who for some years had acted as spokesman for Aligarhin London. 83 Dr Ziauddin replacedBilgrami, who had suddenlydied. 84 Butlerto Hewett, Simla, 26 May I9I I, Home Educ A August I9I I, I-2, NAI.

It4

GAIL MINAULT AND DAVID LELYVELD

into universityaffairs,and advise the governingbody. All academic regulations, courses of study,andthe appointment of thevice-chancellor would be subjectto his approval,and he could veto administrative statutesand teachingappointments. The main governingbody would be the court of trustees,composedentirelyof Muslims,which would elect the twenty-fivemembersof the executivecouncil for three-year terms. For the universityto be truly Muslim and to commandthe confidenceand the purses of the community,the deputation told Butler,the courtof trustees wouldhave to be large,and representative of Muslimsfrom all over India. A senate composedof forty people, eachelectedforfiveyearswouldhave the powerto co-optthe principals and professors of colleges that, with the consent of the chancellor, would be affiliatedto the university.(This provisionwas the sole reference to the delicatematterof affiliation.) Finallytherewas to be a syndicate, consistingof the vice-chancellor,the deans of the five faculties,the provostand three memberselected by the senate. The senate and syndicate would concern themselveswith educational matters suchas curriculum, examinations, and discipline;the executive council of the court would handle the administrative businessof the
university.85

While the draft constitution was being prepared,the Ali brothers attempted to interferefrom the sidelines. The proceedingsof the constitution committeeand their dealingswith the government were kept strictlysecret, and the draft constitutionwas not made public until August I9I I. The Ali brothers'information,therefore,was basedon rumour.In MarchShaukatwroteto Mahomedthat a move was afoot to give the governmenttoo much power in the university. He felt that the viceroycould be chancelloras a guaranteeof educational standards, but 'we want no outsiders on our Senate except the Viceroyand the EducationMember'.Shaukatwas afraidthat 'Aftab and Co'wouldprepare an alternative constitution and use the situation to claim credit for defendingAligarhXs autonomy,'comingout again as a hero and saviourof the community'. Shaukatdirectedhis brother to beat Aftab at his own game by proposingan even more attractive scheme:
You must get ready to prepare a really liberal one. All fellows elected throughindependentelectoratebodies. All Musulmangraduatesof India must elect some, Old Boys,members of the Conference, benefactors, etc. . r . Mohamedyou mustsave the situation.... [L]ife trusteesor life fellowswill
85Butler to Hewett, 26 May -I 9 I I, ibid.

920 I65 not be tolerated. Everyclassof Musulmans will havethe rightto electhis
CAMPAIGN FOR A MUSLIM UNIVERSITY, I 898-I
representatives.86

Mahomedresponded to these directionsin the columnsof Comrade. On the eve of the deputation to Butlerhe wrotean articleingenuously stating that the governmentwould accept Muslim control of the universitybecausethe Britishbelievedin self-help.Later, Mahomed wasprepared to allowthat,sincethe Muslims neededofficial recognition of their degrees, some governmentsupervisionwas necessary.To maintainstandards,the governmentshould be allowed to nominate IO per cent of the academicsenate and have some powersof veto. The real problemfor him, however,was not the relationship between governmentand the universitybut between the universityand the Muslimcommunity. The university mustbe seen to be the creationof the entire Indian Muslimcommunityand must be controlleddemocratically by electorates representingoutlying provinces, wealthy donors, Muslim graduates,and the Muslim masses.It must not be controlledby a small local group,as had been the case at Aligarh. In Comrade, MahomedAli complainedbitterly about the secrecy surrounding the constitution committeeand its failureto publishthe draft.87 The reasonfor this secrecywas that negotiationswere at a delicatestage, largelyowing to disagreement within the government. HarcourtButler, as EducationMember,wanted to use the Muslim and Hindu universitydemandsto launch a new policy for Indian education:the creationof new teaching and residentialuniversities that would break through the system of affiliationand centralized controlof curricula.88 Butler,an old friendof Mahmudabad, claimed a deep sympathyfor Muslimculture.After meeting the deputation, Butlerwroteto Hewettthat Muslims shouldbe giventheiruniversity 'to carrythementhusiastically with us'. The constitution couldbe tinkered with to increasegovernmentpower, but on the whole it would be best to show friendlyneutrality.'Government has never irlterfered in the administration of Aligarh,I think, and I doubt whetherit could usefullydo so.'89 Despitehis dislikefor denominational universities and his distrustof men such as AftabAhmad Khan, Hewett agreedthat, since Muslims were so unitedin theirdemand,it would be unwisenot to acquiesce. But government powerover the university wouldhave to be much greaterthan that providedin the draftconstitution.90
86 Shaukat Ali to Mahomed Ali, 30 March I9I I, MAP. 87 C.omrade (Calcutta), I5 April andI7June I9I I. 88 Ashby, Universities, p. 84. 89 Butler to Hewett,26 May I 9 I I, HomeEducA August-I9 I I, I-2, NAI. soHewett to Butler, 3 June I 9 I I,

ibid.

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GAIL MINAULT AND DAVID LELYVELD

But if Butlerwas a good ally, therewere othersin government who were not.9l The Collectorof Aligarh,William Marris,who wrote a scathingindictmentof the M A-O ColIegeand the university scheme, was a typicalcritic.Aligarhhad becomea centrefor cheap,hasty,easyeducation; and aboveall . . . a frankly political instrument.... [T]heyarenot thinking of education in itselfat all, but of more boys, moresubscriptions, more candidates for government employment, morelawyers to fill seatsin Council, and morepolitical powergenerally. For this one cannotblamethem:but it is perfectly obvious that if such people controlunguidedthe whole destiniesof the college, collegiate education is goingto be sacrificed. He pointedto the politicalactivitiesof Aftab and the Ali brothersat Aligarhand 'the enlistingof nationalleaderslike the Aga Khan: the attempt to give the movementan all-India complexion'.As for the universityschemeitself,its promoters had no clear idea of what they wanted; their statements were riddledwith contradictions, with talk of a teaching and residentialinstitutionat one moment and of an amllatlngone tne next. lnelr lnterestln nlgner eclucatlon was tactltious; all they wantedwas the power to give their own degreesto as many studentsas they could. The draft constitutioncontainedsuch a 'cloud' of overlappingauthorities that, if put into effect, it would naturallylead to increased factionalism. AlreadyAligarhwas seething with faction; all factionswanted to get free from governmentand diSered only on the tactical question of what concessionswere necessary in orderto get theiruniversity. True well-wishers of Aligarh and Muslimeducation would want to see the universityunder strong government control.g2 For the time being, Butler carried the day; the Governmentof India advisedLondonto accepta teachinguniversity at Aligarhopen to non-Muslims, adequatelyfunded and under eSective government control.g3 The secretaryof state agreed to negotiationsalong these lines.s4Giving the good news to Mahmudabadat the end of July, Butlerwrote-that it was now up to the Muslimsto raisethe moneyand put together an acceptable constitution.95 Buthe addedthat the govern1 * * 1 fT5l * * * 1 * 1 1 * o v

91 Indianofficials wereforbidden to participate in fund-raising or eoren attend meetings fortheMuslim andHindu uniorersities. NotebyP. Harrison, Chief Secretary ofUP, to Headsof all Departments, District Officers, etc.,26 May I9I I, General Administration Department (GAD)I 9 I I, 2 7I, UPS. 92 Noteby Marris, I 7 MayI 9 I I, EducI 9 I 8, 40, UPS. 93 Viceroy to Secretary of State,IO June I9I I, HomeEducA AugustI9I I, I-2, NAI. 94 Secretary of Stateto Viceroy, I 8 July I 9 I I, ibid. 95 Butler to Mahmudabad (demi-official), 3I July I 9 I I, ibid.

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ment would not acceptan unwieldysenate and that the viceroymust have the power to approve universityappointments,not merely a subsequentveto. Lord Crewe, the secretaryof state, made no other stipulations but reserved the rightto scrutinize everyclauseof whatever schemethe Aligarhpeoplemightpresent. The government had clearlyhedgedits approval.96 Mahmudabad now called a meetingof the constitutioncommittee for I 8-20 August I 9 I I in Lucknow.The committeewas in a fighting mood. It reaffirmed the supremacy of the all-Muslimcourt of trustees (asat Aligarhcollege),and its authority overthe senate,whichincluded Britishprofessors. Moreover,the committee-wanteda representative courtof two hurldred members, and it was not prepared to acceptthat all appointments be approved by the viceroy.97 A second draft constitution,preparedby Aziz Mirza98 made clear provisionfor the affiliationof schoolsand colleges to the university. It gave the court ultimatecontrolover the senate,subjectto the veto of the viceroyas chancellor.The university would be open to women and non-Muslims. Therewouldbe compulsory theologyfor all Muslim students.99 On 23 September, Butlermet the constitution committee andwarned them that governmentwould never approve an expanded court of trustees with powerto overrulethe senate.As to the viceroy'spowers, Butlerinsistedthat the government demandswere moderateand that the committee was being unreasonable.As for affiliation, Butler reminded the committee aboutgovernment's misgivings overdenominationaluniversities. In its view the casefora Muslimuniversity depended on its being a teaching, not merely an examining,body, with the unique residentialtraditionsof M A-O College.lFinally, Butler
96 Butler to Mahmudabad (confidential),3 I July I 9 I I, ibid. Butler privately warned that London's scrutiny 'may mean quite a good deal', since the India Council with Raleigh and Morisonas members,would examine the scheme very carefully;their assentwas 'entirelygeneral and reserved'.Butlerto Mahmudabad (private),3 I July I9I I, ibid. 97 Mahmudabad to Butler,g September I9I I, HomeEducA February I9I2,I2-I5j LINAI. 98 Aziz, an Aligarhold boy had been Viqar ul-Mulk's protdgd in Hyderabad,and was now Secretaryof the Muslim League. The League had recentlymoved from Aligarhto Lucknow and was thusno longeran arenafor Aligarh's factionaldisputes. 99'The Moslem UniversityConstitution',Supplementto Comrade (Calcutta), 24 August I 9 I 2. 100 SyedRossMasud,Syed Mahmud's son, had expressed viewssimilarto Butler's, Comrade) 22 July I9II. He opposed affiliation,emphasizingthe special spirit of Aligarhwhich was so closely associatedwith 'the union, the cricketfield, and the courtswhich Sir Syed Ahmadplanned'.

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warnedthat the thirtylakhstargetset for the university fundwouldnot be erlough.lol The governmentand the Muslim universitypromotersdisagreed fundamentally on the issueof affiliation. A secondmeetingbetweenthe education departmentand the constitutioncommittee was hastily calledfor 25 September. MahomedShafija Lahorebarrister associated with the universitymovementfrom the beginning, though not an Aligarh graduate, acted as spokesman.If the Muslim university affiliated collegesto it throughout India, then the Britishrajcouldlook forwardto an institutionas loyal as Aligarh. But any move to veto affiliationwould meet grave opposition from the Muslim public. Muslimshad supported the university on the understanding that local collegeswouldbe affiliated to it; if theircollegescouldnot be affiliated, Muslimsoutsidethe UP would not pay up. The government remained unconvinced, but was preparedto accept affiliation on conditionthat it was limited to one college in each provincewith a large Muslim
population.lo2

In NovemberI9II, the Government of India submittedthe draft constitution to London,recommending that the powerof affiliation be granted on the groundsthat it would be little used and could be properly controlled. Morison now on the India Councilopposedthis as a threatto academic standards, butfelt thatit shouldnot be an obstacle to establishing the university.l03 The othermembers of the IndiaCouncil werelesswillingto compromise. Crewe's despatchon 23 FebruaryI9I 2 forbadeaffiliation outsideAligarhdistrict,pointingout that the main intentionof the movement had beento raiseAligarhcollegeto a university, not to establish far-flung branches. Calcuttarepliedthat, if affiliationwasnot granted, therewouldbe politicaltrouble, andaskedthatthe decisionbe reconsidered. But then Morisontook the lead in opposing
101 Report of a meetingbetween Sir HarcourtButlerand the MuslimUniversity Constitution Committee,Simla, 23 SeptemberI9I I, Home Educ A FebruaryI9I 2, I 2-I 5, LINAI. 102 H. Sharp,Report on the proposed AligarhMuslimUniversity,26 September
I 9 I I , ibid. 103 Fifteen yearsearlierMorisonhad affiliated a numberof secondary schoolsin the

Aligarhvicinityto M A-O College.AIG,;lSew SeriesII (23January I897), 8. 104 'One of the hopes entertained about a teachingUniversitywas that it would become a genuineseat of learningat which examinations would be subordinateto teachingand in which the teachers,freedfrom the tyrannyof the text book, would carry their pupils with them in their own branchesof study. If affiliationof other institutions is allowed,this hope mustgo by the board.';I!Wote by Morison,I January I 9 I 2, Judicial and Public, I 9 I 2, I I 46, India OfficeLibrary,London (IOL), quoted in Ashby, Universities, pp. 393-4.

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affiliation,l04 and India was told that nothing more than a 'federal' university of closelyneighbouring collegeswouldbe permitted.London also decided that the universityshould be called 'The Universityof Aligarh',not 'The MuslimUniversity, Aligarh'.l05 Crewe'sdespatchalso tackled the problem of how the university would be governed. Sir Thonzas Raleigh advised Crewe that an academic senatedominated byprofessional educators wasall a university needed in the way of governingbodies. While not going this far, Morisonand his other colleaguesfelt that the draft constitutiongave too much authorityto the court of trusteeson which teachershad no say.l06So the secretaryof state informedIndia that the senate must not be subordinateto the court. It would not do to vest the chancellorship in the viceroy, giving 'AligarhUniversityan honour which cannot be shared by other existing and future universitiesof India.'Instead,the governor-general in council,wouldhave to approve changesin the university statutes, and the educationdepartment would makeperiodicinspections and receiveannualfinancialreportsbefore making the government grant.l07 While the Britishwere engagedin these lengthy deIiberations, the Muslimpublic grew impatientand Muslimnewspapers renewedthe demandfor a Muslimuniversityon their own terms. MahomedAli reiteratedthe demand for an all-India affiliatinginstitutionrun by Muslimswith a minimum of governmentinterference.l08 The Aga Khan, on the otherhand, arguedthat the degreeof controldesiredby the government was reasonable, and was attackedby an Urdu newspaper of Lucknowfor failing to representthe Muslim community; Muslimswould ratherdevote the fundsto other educationalpurposes than accepta university undersuchconditions.l09 Viqar ul-Mulk,compelledby ill health to retirefromthe secretaryship of Aligarh Collegeand from the constitutioncommittee,took a partingshot at the committeeand at the government's attitude.The constitution committeehad made too many decisionsin private and had shown more concernfor the interestsof the staff than the com602,

Secretaryof State to Viceroy, 23 FebruaryI9I2, Home Educ A March I9I2, ;NAI;see also note of I I January I9I2) J & P, I9I2) I I46, IOL, in Ashby, Universities p. 395. 106 Ashby,Untuersitiesa p. 87. 107 Secretary of State to Viceroy, 23 FebruaryI 9 I 2, Home EducA March I 9 I 2, 60-2, iINAI. 108 Comraden I2 February I9I2, Comrade Selectzons, pp. 262-3. lo9 Muslzm Gazette (Lucknow),I 8 MarchI 9 I 2> United Provinces NativeNewspaper Reports(UP;NNR)I 9 I 2, p. 306.
105

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munityat large.1l0 Viqarwas particularly concerned aboutthe relative power of the staff and the trustees,and even suggestedthat Muslinrs shouldrejecta universityover which they had even less controlthan they had over AligarhCollege.But he hoped that government would see sense and accept affiliationof colleges establishedon Aligarh's residential model.1ll The Raja of Mahmudabadhurried to Aligarh to reassureViqar ul-Mulk.In the Aligarh Instit?lte Gazette he promised to publishany draft constitutionand expose it to public criticismbeforesubmittingit to the government.1l2 The Rajawas a man of few commitments exceptto his own image as a patronand leaderwho dispensedpatronage.His interestin Aligarhwas an effortto widen his prestigeoutsideOudh. He was flexible and anxiousto please. Viqar, in turn, realized that harshcriticismwas likely to damagefund-raising, and so he accepted MahmudabadSs reassurances.113 After the constitutioncommitteemet at Lucknowin June I9I2n Mahmudabadtried to arrangean official meeting with Butler. But Butlerrefused because he wasstilltryingto get Londonto reconsider the February despatch. When London finally replied the university promotersand the Government of India were equally disappointed. The secretary of statereaffirmed his earlierdecisionaboutaffiliation1l4 and aboutvestingcontrolin the governor-general in council.1l5 Hardingewrote:
The decisionof the Secretaryof State is a great disappointment to me . . . [T]he Government of India and thoseinterestedin the two universities see eye to eye, and as it is not a matter of vital political importancethat is involvedn it is absurdthat a few ex-oEcialsfrom India and a few outsiders shoulddecidea questionin oppositionto the expressed viewsof the Government of India and the Indian public. I fear therewill be agitationover this
decision.ll6

lloHe was referringto the RegulationsSubcommitteeappointedin September I9II, with Ziauddin as secretary,two Europeanmembers of the Aligarh staff, Habib ur-RahmanKhan Sherwani,a wealthyAligarhlandholderwho was a wellknown Islamicscholar,and MahomedAli. 'The MoslemUniversityConstitution', Supplement to Comrade, 24 AugustI 9 I 2. AIG,22 May I9I2, UPlXlfR I9I2, pp. 520-I. 1j2AIG, sJune I9I2, UPNNR I9I2, p. 568. 113 AIG, I 2 June and 26 June I9I2, UPNNR I9I2, pp. 599, 648-9. 114 If anyone had subscribed funds on the assumptionthat affiliationwould be granted,Creweadvisedthat they shouldbe entitledto a refund lls Secretaryof State to Viceroy, I2 July I9I2, Home Educ A July I9I3, 4-I2, NAI. But it would not be necessaryfor the central governmentto approve the appointment of professors. 116 Memorandum by Hardinge,I5 July I 9 I 2, ibid.

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But if the Government of India wanted concessions on affiliation, it was London that took the more liberal positionover government controlof the university.Morisonin Londonarguedthat the universities should be free to make mistakesn but Calcuttabelieved that a strongofficialhand would preventthe Muslimand Hindu universities becomingcentresof politicalagitation.In the end, the Government of India carriedthe day on the questionof officialcontroland London prevailedon affiliation.ll7 The officialmind had divided on the two mostcrucialissues,but in bothcasesthe decisionhad comedownon the side opposedto the Muslimdemand. Butler had the thanklesstask of conveying the bad news to the Aligarhcommittee.On g August,he informedMahmudabad that the decisionwas 'final'.ll8 The Raja had recentlywarnedhim:
The fact that the Hinduswill submitto the decisionof the Home Government will not in the least affect our decision.... You will shortlyfind out what the rejectionof the aHiliation questionmeansto the Muslimpublic.1l9

The constitutioncommittee met hurriedly in Lucknow on I I-I 2 August and passed three resolutionsn refusing to accept London's decisionon affiliation, the viceroy's role as chancellor, and the nameof the university.l20 The constitution committeehad a good claim to be representative of Musliminterests.l2t Otherexpressions of the Muslims' consternation werequickto follow. Aftab and ShaikhAbdullahwere willing to give way over affiliation, but they insistedon havingfull Muslimcontrolof the university. They werenot prepared to sacrifice theiractualpowerin Aligarhin the hope of a wider influenceover Indian Islam; they thereforeproposedto abandonthe universityidea for the present.l22 Hakim Ajmal Khan, a M A-O trustee,thoughtthe government had beenunwisein callingits decision'final',becausewhen agitationforcedthe government to give
pp. 90-2. Mahmudabad, g August I9I2, Home Educ A July I9I3, 4-I 2, NAI. 119 Mahmudabad to Butler,20July I9I2, ButlerPapers,MSS.Eur. I I6/53/I, IOL. The authorsare indebtedto WilliamCrawleyfor this reference. 120 Mahmudabad to Butler, I2 August I9I2, and I3 August I9I2, Home Educ A July I9I3, 4-I2, NAI. 121 The Committeeincluded fifty-fourmembersin addition to all the M A-O. trustees ex AmongthemwereAftab,the Ali brothers, ShibliNomani,Rafiuddin Ahmad (now a Muslim League man in Poona), moderatessuch as Mahomed Shafiand ZiauddinAhmad,journalists such as Bashiruddin of Etawah,lawyersand politicianssuch as WazirHasan of Lucknow,wealthymerchants fromBombayand landlords fromthe UP. Listof Members of the Constitution Committee, MURC, AA. 122 AIG,4 September and 25 SeptemberI9I2, UPJ;1fR, I9I2, pp. 85I, 899.
118Butlerto
o,00icao.

117 Ashby, universitieS

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way it would be humiliated.l23 The Muslimpublic did not knowthat Calcutta had beentellingLondon just thisformonths. The common reaction was that Muslimswould never accept a university on government's termsand so the fundscollectedshouldbe spent in some other way.l24Aftab suggestedthat the money should simplybe given to M A-O College.l25 MaulanaAbdul Bariof Firangi Mahal, Lucknow, a leading alim, wanted the money for Muslim primaryeducationand for the propagationof Islam.l26 And Viqar ul-Mulk proposedan independentUrdu-mediumuniversitywithout benefitof government aid or recognition.l27 This proposalcut against the grainof the Aligarhmovement, and for the time beingwas ignored. Whateverthe meritsof such an institutionfrom the point of view of traditional Islamiceducation, it did not meet one of the basicdemands of the university movement,which was to find places for the Muslim elite under the raj. Viqar ul-Mulk'sproposalhinted that this breadand-buttermotivation might soon have to compete with a more intangibledrivefor self-assertion. Some of the moreperceptiveofficialsin India had warnedLondon of the consequences of blocking the universitydemand. And some Muslimmoderates were also aware of them. Mahomed-Shafi saw in affiliation a meansof reinforcing the 'loyalMuhammadan' constituency, a legacyof Sir Syed.He fearedthat the refusal to allowthe university to affiliate colleges would alienate that constituency,not only from government, but fromits moderate leaders,and wouldgive an opportunity to irreconcilable elementsamongthe Muslims. However,the demandfor an affiliating Muslimuniversity was by no meansuniversalamongIndian Muslims.For twelveyearsit had been largelyignored;and if it now had a large and enthusiastic following, there were still important and articulate centres of opposition or indiSerence. BengaliMuslims,for example,had campaigned all along for a university at Dacca.l28 In I9I I, MahomedAli, writingin Comrade
123 Letter about proposedestablishment of Aligarh University,from one H.M. Ajmal Khan, Haziq-ul-Mulk,to the Private Secretaryof the Viceroy, 8 October I 9 I 2, Home Educ A NovemberI 9 I 2, 7-8, NAI. 124 Muslim Gazette, I 8 September I 9 I 2, UPNNR, I 9 I 2, p. 884. 125 AIG,4 SeptemberI9IX, UPSSR, I9I2a p. 85I. 126 Al-Bashir (Etawak),24 SeptemberI 9 I 2, UPNNR, I 9 I 2, p. 899. 127 All-India MuslimUniversity ke Muta'aliq Jawab Mushtaq HusainViqarul-Mulk Bahadur ki Rai (Aligarh, NovemberI 9 I 5). 128 H. E. Stapleton,'A University in the Making',offprintof Eastern Bengal Notes andQueries, SecondSeries,I (I920), i-iX; Educ I9I9, 384, UPS. Ironically,one of the architectsof Dacca university was W. A. J. Archbold,the principalwho had been forcedout of Aligarhin I909.

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in Calcutta,foundit 'staggering' that Muslims in Bengalshouldremain indifferentto the proposalfor an all-India university:preferringa provincialuniversity of theirown to a collegethat would be affiliated to Aligarh. He assuredthem that the establishment of a centre at Aligarhwouldraisethe educational conditionof aIl Muslims:
The tidal wave of the University,even if it could be felt in its greatest force at Aligarhitself, will not leave the most distant creek stagnant.l29

For MahomedAli the whole point of a Muslim universitywas the unification of IndianMuslims. His emphasis on controlof the university by the Muslim communitywas basedn paradoxicallyn on a desire to createa community.MahomedAli, frustrated in his desireto capture Aligarhsoughtan all-Indiaconstituency. For him the idea of a centralized and autonomoussystem of Muslim education was crucial. Withoutit, 'the main object of the Universitymovementfalls to the
ground.l30

Whenthe MuslimUniversity Foundation Committee metin Lucknow on 26 DecemberI9I2 the campaignfor a university movedinto a new phase.This phasehad two main characteristics. The firstwas that the various factions anxious to capture command at Aligarh failed to resolvetheir differences and none of them managedto exert its will overall. The secondfeaturewas that the Ali brothers beganto diversify their activities, and changed political circumstances provided them with new opportunities for asserting their leadership over the Muslim communities.As Muslim enthusiasmfor the university lproposal decreased, the factions at Aligarhitselfbeganto movetowards accepting the government's termsfor a university at Aligarh.MahomedAli was unable to preventthis drift. This set the stage for the final phase in which a Muslimuniversity was foundedat Aligarh,modestin scope, local, and under government control,while the Ali brothers,after a last ditch attempt to prevent a rapprochementbetween the old Aligarhleadersand the government,set up a separate,independent institution: theJamia MilliaIslamia. Partisan splits in the movement,
I9I3-I6

At the MuslimUniversityFoundationCommittee's meetingin Lucknow on 26 DecemberI9I2, the air wasfull of acrimony. The leadership 129 Comrade, 7 October I 9 I I and I O February I 9 I 2, Cgomrade Selections, pp.245-8,
262-3. 130

Comrade, 2 August I9I3, CXomrade Selections, pp.

3OO-4.

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was denouncedfor bunglingthe universitymovement.l3lIn the van were Viqar ul-Mulk, MahomedAli, and Abul-KalamAzad. A proposal to send a deputationto the viceroywas passedonly after being roundlycriticizedas pusillanimous; and when ZiauddinAhmad was nominated for membership, he was beratedas a government stooge.l32 The meetingwas followedby an orgyof back-biting in the Urdu press. Even MahomedAli was attackedby Azad and Hasrat Mohani for moderatinghis attack and associatinghimselfwith the deputation. Mazharul-Haq,a Biharbarrister who had beenchosenas a memberof the deputation,resigned,calling the whole business underhanded and unpopular.l33 Aligarh'sbitterfactionalism now pervadedthe university movement and helped to plunge it to new depths of public controversy. WhenTheodoreMorison came to Aligarhin I9I3, he was boycotted by the Ali brothersas the man who had blockedthe university.The Ali brothersalso attackedNawab MahomedIshaq Khan, a retired district judge who had succeeded Viqarul-Mulkas honorary secretary. Ishaq was favouredby the government,becausehe avoided politics and did not interferewith the teachingstaff. But he was unpopular with the studentsand the Muslimpublic, an unpopularity which the Ali brothers did theirbest to increase.They denouncedhim as a front man for Aftab and ShaikhAbdullahand tried to replacehim, late in I 9 I 3, with Syed Hasan Bilgrami, another Bilgrami brother, who returned to Aligarh from London.l34Meanwhile, Mahomed Ali renewedhis effortsto abolishlife tenure on the board of trustees,l35 which was showing signs of moving towards his way of thinking. Ishaq Khan was findingit increasingly difficultto get a majority,and as the older men died they were replacedon the board by men like WazirHasan,Riza Ali, Ghulamus-Saqlain, Dr Ansari,andJinnah.l36
131 Mahomed Amin Zuberi, Fiqar-i-Hayat, p. 593. 132 SyedRiza Ali, A'mal J\Zama, p. 307. 133 Urdu-e-Mt4'alla (Aligarh),I I JanuaryI9I3; Leader (Allahabad),I4 MarchI9I3, UP;NNR,I9I3, pp. I I I, 239. 134 Reporton Conditions at Aligarh,by S. P. O'Donnell,EducationSecretary, UP, I3 September I9I3. Home Educ A October I9I3, 58-60, NAI; Report on the Attitudeof Muslimsto Government, by R. Burn,ChiefSecretary, UP, I 7 September I 9 I 3, Home Poll A October I 9 I 3, I 00-I 8, NAI. Bilgrami had been electedEducation Memberof the boardof trusteesearlierin the year aftera campaignto get Ali the job was foiled by a threat of the EuropeanstaS to resign in a body. Muslim Gazette, I 2 March, I 9 I 3, UPSSR, I 9 I 3, p. 238. 135 Mahomed Ali to SirJamesMeston,2 May I9I3, MAP. 136 Report by O'Donnell, I3 September I9I3, Home Educ A October I9I3, 58-60, NAI; Bhatnagar, History oftheMA-O College, p. 268.

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The different factions jockeyed for position when the Muslim UniversityFoundationCommitteemet in Aligarhon 26 and 27 July I 9 I 3 to frame instructions for the deputation elected the previous December. A fewof the members werereadyto acceptthe government's conditions-at leastas a temporary expedient.l37 The mainrivalrywas still between Aftab's faction and sympathizers of the Ali brothers. Aftab was willing to sacrificeaffiliationin return for full Muslim controlof Aligarhitself.If they couldnot get this, he proposed that the university be abandonedfor the time being and the fundsbe used for the benefitof the college.The Ali brothers insistedon both affiliation and Muslimcontrol;otherwisethe fundsshouldbe spent on sending youngMuslims abroador on othereducational andpolitical purposes.l38 Since they did not controlthe college,the Ali brothers had no interest in turningoverthe university fundsto it. At the meetingtheAli groupresorted to disruptive tactics.Everytime one of the 'loyalists' as theiropponents derisively calledthem roseto speak,he was shouteddown.The Ali groupproposed the resolutions of instructions for the deputation. But, interestingly enough,they seemto have won approvalfromAftab'sgroupand fromMuzamilullah Khan Sherwani, one of the oldestof the old guard.l39 The differences between the factions,therefore, were still more a questionof personalities than principles. The meetingresolvedto cut down the chancellor's powers, and reaffirmed that the senate should be clearly under the court of trustees.l40 Aftab'sparty scoreda point when the meetingdecidedto reservethe MuslimUniversityFund'scapitalfor the university alone, but to use the interestfor improving AligarhCollege.l4l In I 9 I O the Muslim League had moved its head-quarters from Aligarh to Lucknow. Although it was still dominated by Aligarh graduates,l42 it was less concernedwith college matters.Its leaders tendedto sympathize with the Ali brothers' line on AligarhaSairs,but they were anxious not to compromisetheir politics by getting too involvedin the college'sdomesticissues.Meanwhilethe Ali brothers
137 AgraAkAbar, 2 I July I 9 I 3; Mashriq (Gorakhpur), I 2 August I 9 I 3, UP;N;NR, I9I3, pp. 772 863 38 Muslim Gazette, I6 July I9I3, UP;NNR,I9I3, pp. 74I-2. 139 AIG,20 August I 9 I 3, UPNNR, I 9 I 3, p. 900. 140Agendaof Meeting of the MuslimUniversityFoundationCommittee,26 July I9I3, MAP. 141 Masawat (Allahabad, Urdu), 7 AugustI9I3, UPINNR,I9I3, p. 253. 142 WazirHasanbecamesecretary of the Leagueand Riza Ali, Ghulamus-Saqlain

and NaziruddinHasan were other Aligarh graduatesprominentin the League. However,the Leaguewas not an Aligarhpreserve,and at this time was most concernedabout the Morley-Minto reforms.

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saw an opportunityfor fulfillingtheir wishes for recognitionas the leadersof Indian Islam in the events both inside and outside India that were stirringMuslimopinion.In I9I I the partitionof Bengalwas revoked and Mahomed Ali expressedMuslim indignation at this rebuSto his community's 'loyalty'.l43 The Tripolitanand Balkanwars, threateningthe integrity of the Ottoman empire, added religious grievancesto his campaign.l44 In I9I3 the Ali brotherstoured India raisingmoneyfor the Turkishrelieffund,l45 and their paper,Comrade, was bound over for publishingTurkishpropaganda.l46 Their fundraising talents were placed behind Ansari'sRed CrescentMedic-al Mission. 147 At Aligarh, studentsrespondedenthusiastically to their lead,givingup meatandrichfoodsin orderto contribute to the Turkish relief fund,l48and some of them went to Turkey with the medical mission.l49 By I9I3 Aligarh aSairs were intimatelytangled with the tumultuous politicaleventsoutside.Some Aligarhstudentsboycotted merchants selling Europeangoods, otherswere expelledfor agitating about Turkey, and everyonegave the medical missiona triumphal reception on its returninJuly.l50 As the Muslimpressgrew morevocal, and the Ali brothers became more radical,they found new allies. Among them were Abul Kalam Azad, a former associate of Shibliand an articulate advocateof Islamic self-assertion, who publishedAl-Hilalfrom Calcuttaand soon established himselfas a leading critic of both the Britishand the loyalist Muslims,l5land Zafar Ali Khan, a class-fellowof Shaukat Ali at Aligarh,who had transformed hisfather's paper,Zamindar, published in Lahore,froma mouthpiece of 'loyal'farmers into a passionateorgan of Muslimassertiveness.l52 Muslimdisappointment over the university movementand their increasingdisaffection with the governmenton other groundsgave the young politiciansa chance to challengethe established leadership on both educationaland politicalfronts.Their opportunitycame with the desecration of the CawnporeMosque in the summer of I9I3. Comrade, Al-Hilal and other Muslimjournals
143Comrade 3 February Ig I2 Comrade Selections, p. 404. 144 Muslim Gazette, I5January I9I3,UPNNRI9I3,p. 42. 145 History sheetof Mahomed Ali, I9I3,HomePollB November I9I3, I49,;NAI. 146 Order by H. C. Beadon, District Magistrate, Delhi,8June I9I3,MAP. 147 RaisAhmad Jafri,Sirat-i-Muhammad Ali (Delhi,Ig32),p. 227. 148AIG, 26JuneandIoJulyI9I2,UPNNR,I9I2,637,679. 149 Bhatnagar, History of theM A-OCollege, p. 3I 3.

1soAM, XI, 5 MarchI9I3 I2I-6. Dr Ziauddin lectured the students against listening tojournalists andfalling preyto 'mean andungentlemanly' behaviour. Ibid. 151 History sheetof Azad,I 92I, HomePollI 92I, 45, ;NAI. 152 Comrade, 23 MarchI9I2,Comrade selectionsn pp. 443-5.

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attacked the government,and the widespreadagitation ultimately carriedthe day.l53 Mahomed Ali and WazirHasanwent to Englandto agitateaboutthe university, the Cawnpore Mosqueand freedomof the Muslimpressfromgovernment interference.l54 Theirvisitwas supported afterthe fact by the MuslimLeague,but the League's two mostrespectable leaders,both resident in Europe,now resigned:AmirAli because he felt he had been challengedas the League'sspokesman in Britain, and the Aga Khan becausethe Leaguewas becomingtoo radical.lss The approach of the war presented furtheropportunities for the Ali brothers. ShaukatAli helpedto organizethe Anjuman-e-Khuddam-eKa'aba'to defendthe holyplacesof Islamfromnon-Muslim aggression'. Sensingthe possibilities of appearing as the defenders of Islam,the two young dandiesgrew beardsand arrayedthemselves in flowingrobes. They began to be addressed 'maulana'.l56 The college trusteesand a group of Aligarh old boys in governmentservice demanded that Shaukatchoose betweenthe Anjuman,with its pro-Turkish implications, and his positionas honorarysecretary of the Old BoysAssociation.l57Shaukatchose both, claimingthat the Anjumanwas 'purely religious'.ls8 But the Comrade's sympathy for the Turks cost it its securitydepositwhen war was declaredbetweenthe OttomanEmpire and GreatBritainin NovemberI9I4. In I9I4, after much delay, a Muslim UniversityAssociationwas electedalongthe representative linesproposed forthecourtoftrustees.l59 It met for the first time in May I9I5 under pressurefrom the Aga Khan, who threatenedto withdrawhis donationif the government's termsforthe university werenot accepted.The promoters of the Hindu
lS3 A lavatory attachedto the mosquewas demolished to makeway for a road.The viceroyfinallyorderedit to be restored.Minuteon the CawnporeMosqueIncident by SirJames Meston, 2I August I9I3, Home Poll A October I9I3, IOO-I8, NAI; Ehe Tsmes, I 6 October I 9 I 3. 154 MahomedAli and Wazir Hasan to Sir James La Touche, 4 November I9I3, MAP. 155Amir Ali to Wazir Hasan, 22 October I9I3; Aga Khan to Wazir Hasan, 3 NovemberI9I3, MAP.The Aga Khan gave as his excusethat he wasnot gettingto India much thesedays and that he did not want to standin the way of the League's development. 156 Note by S. D. Fremantle, Collectorof Allahabad,2I November I9I5, Home Poll D DecemberI 9 I 5, 6, NAI. l57Comrade, I8 April I9I4, Comrade Selectsons, pp. 429-37; Letter to ShaukatAli signedby IOO Old Boy Government Servants,in Report 7Cehqzqat OldBoysAssoczation, AppendixII, pp. I35-8. 158 AIG,3 FebruaryI 9 I 5, UPNNR I 9 I 5, p. I 55. l59Comrade, 6 June I9I4. The associationremainedsubordinateto the Muslim UniversityFoundation Committee, whichstill had title to the money.

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university had alreadydecidedto acceptthe government's conditions. Nevertheless, the MuslimUniversity Association resolved to rejectthem outright,and Mahomed Ali'sproposal to sendtwentyAligarhstudents abroad was accepted despite Ziauddin'sopposition.l60 Shortly after this meeting,the Ali brotherswere internedat Chhindwara.l6l They continuedto take a keeninterestin AligarhaSairs,but theirinfluence was less eSective, being further removed. Consequentlythey grew more uncompromising. MahomedAli, reportingin IgI6 to the Old Boys Associationas their representative on the board of trustees, threatened 'boycott'of the college and even 'revolution'.l62 On I OctoberI9I5, the BenaresHindu UniversityBill was passed. It couldnow be arguedthatit wasfutileforthe Muslims to holdout for better conditions.On I5 Octoberthe MuslimUniversityAssociation met to considerwhetherthey should accept a universityalong such lines. Its leaders felt they must move or risk losing the University Fund: the foreignscholarship schemehad been attackedin the press as a misappropriation of funds, and a patron from Bombay had instituted legal actionto recover his Rs I25,000.163 At the October meeting the factions organized in earnest. The motionto accepta university on the government's termswas proposed by Dr Naziruddin Hasan,an Aligarhold boy and a Lucknow barrister who hithertohad associated himselfwith the moreradicalfaction.He was supported by Riza Ali, AftabAhmadKhan, MahomedShafiand Habibur-Rahman Khan Sherwani. The supporters of the Ali brothers made a strongeffortto block acceptance;they tried to postponethe discussion until the releaseof their leaders,and broughtmen into the meeting who were not membersof the association.Khwaja Abdul Majid,Shaukat's successor as old boy secretary, pressedfor postponement, and his motionwas passedby thirty-one votes to thirty.He was supportedby Azad, Hasrat Mohani, and Dr Ansari.The leadersof the other party objectedthat some votes had not been counted, so Mahmudabad as president calledfor a secondvote. At this point, the
160 Collegzan, was Acting body against Poll the 161 On first the VIII, time eve I9I5, 262. visited Dr Ali's cent Reginald 'Ba 'Ali This meeting Ahmad, admitted on them. student body Home Janab He of the OBA, the that he Muslim I9I5, could follow brothers' that, University p. not 54. and the were I9I4, Old I9I6. then control if war Mahomed student declared Ali's lead. Home Boys arch-enemy Association Jinnah of war, of Aligarh 80 by per Sir Ali, XI, Aligarh. Ruidad Ziauddin College, hold of the NAI. Khidmat 8. Honorary Aligarh, Secretary in Ruzdad Sahib OBA, Musulmanan',

Principal in view Turkey,

of Mahomed

predicted would Member,

Memorandum A January 162 Muhammad Association,

Craddock,

I5 October

I 9 I 5, 76-97, Madrasat ul-Ulum October

I9I5,

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Ali brothers' followingwalkedout in protest,and the originalmotion to acceptthe university passedby thirty-six votesto one.l64 Defeatedin the meeting-room, the Ali groupcounter-attacked in the market-place. The Raja of Mahmudabad, who had alwaystried to stay orl the right side of the Ali brothers,was now condemnedas a traitor.l65 The supporters of acceptance, however,were slow to presstheir victory.It was not until IO April I9I6 that the MuslimUniversityFoundation Committeefinally met to ratify acceptance.Mazharul-Haq put the case for having the university.Once again, Khwaja Abdul Majid pressedfor postponement. Aftera five-hourdebate,Khwajaagreedto give way on conditionthat the regulations framedfor the university be passed by a two-thirdsmajority of both the constitutionand the foundationcommittees. A MuslimUniversityRegulationsCommittee was elected which included Mazhar ul-Haq,Jinnah, Aftab, Ansari, JusticeAbdurRahimandAbdurRahmanBijnori. The threelatterhad originallysupported postponement.l66 The proposalto includeZiauddin on the committeewas hooted down, and a motion thankingthe Ali brothersfor their valuableservicesand regrettingtheir enforced absencewaspassedenthusiastically.l67 The Ali brothers werestill in the fight. The decisionin I9I6 to accept a university on government's terms endedthe planfora grandiose, independent, centralMuslim institution. Weakenedby faction, the Aligarh leaderswere happy to take what they could get. Old loyalistswere now joined by the Aftab group as well as by Mahmudabad,Mazhar ul-Haq, and Riza Ali who had previously held out for the largerplan. With the Ali brothers interned, theirsupporters had eitherto give way or to withdraw completely from AligarhaSairs. The Raja of Mahmudabad, a key figurein Muslimpoliticsduring I9I6 and I9I7, tookthe opportunity duringthe Lucknow session ofthe League to persuadesuch men as Jinnah, Mazhar ul-Haq and Dr Ansarito acceptthe university on the government's termS.l6x Whatever reservations they may have had in private,the Ali brothers remained adamantagainstacceptancein public. They were comingto see that
64 Ruidad Ijlas MuslimUniversity Association, I 5 October I 9 I 5 (Aligarh, I 9 I 5) . 165 Letter to editor, Leader(Allahabad), I I November I9I5, UP;INNR, I9I5, p. I I 68. 166 Ruidad IjlasM7lslim University Association, I5 OctoberI9I5. 167 Copy of resolutionspassed at Muslim University Foundation Committee (MUFC) meeting, Lucknow, IO April I9I6; Report of the meeting by R. Burn, ChiefSecretary, UP, I 4 April I 9 I 6. Home EducD May I 9 I 6, I, NAI. 168H. M. fIayat to Mahomed Ali, 28 March I9I7, MAP.

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to found a popular universityindependentof governmentcontrol, they mighthave to breakwith Aligarhonce and for all.l69 Establishment of two Mllslim universities,
I9I7-20

The final phase of the Muslim universitymovementwas an anticlimax.The university proposalhad been pushedoff the centreof the stage by more explicitlypoliticalconcerns.Planningfor the university was left in the hands of a few educators,notably Abdur Rahman Bijnori and Wali Mahomed,Aligarh'sprofessorof physics.l70 They prepareda seriesof detaileduniversityconstitutions after protracted negotiations with government. For a long period nothing happened; publicinterestin Aligarhwas low, and the enrolment, afterreachinga peak in I 9 I 4, declinedsteadily. 171 In I9I6 Bijnoriprepareda draft constitution in which all sections regardinggovernment powerswere taken verbatimfrom the Benares HinduUniversity Act.l72 A seconddraftby Bijnori and Wali Mahomed in I9I7 gave the university the rightto establish and recognizeschools outside Aligarh.l73The regulationsprovided for faculties of arts, science,law, orientalstudies,and theology.l74 The relativepower of
169 The leaderof the other old faction,AftabAhmadKhan, was also leaving the stage. In I9I6 he refusedto attend the League, brokewith it, formedthe Muslim DefenceAssociation, and in I9I7 accepteda place on the India Councilin London. The two main rivals for power at Aligarh were both frustrated.Yet, with their similarbackgrounds, they ended by movingin oppositedirections:the Ali brothers into non-cooperation and Aftabinto high officeunderthe raj. 170Both were GermanPh.D.s like ZiauddinAhmad. Dr Bijnorihad been one of the studentsthreatened with expulsionafter the I907 strike,had taken part in the TurkishMedical Mission,and had opposedacceptanceof the universityat the I5 October I9I5 meeting.Enquiry Report I907. 171 Bhatnagar, History of theMA-OCollege, p. 325. 172 The Governor-General in Councilhad the powerto removeany memberof the teachingstaS, to appointspecialexaminers with regardto any aspectof the university, and to issue binding instructions. The all-Muslimcourt would be subject to the Governor-General in Council; it would representthe Old Boys Association,the Muhammadan Educational Conferencen ulama, Islamiacolleges,a guild of Muslinz graduates, donorsand benefactors, and representatives of the senate.The courthad the rightto maintainothercollegesand schoolsonly withinAligarhitself.Courses of study, examinationsand discipline would be under the senate. For details see RevisedDraftof Act and Statutesby Bijnori, amendedby Wali Mahomed,I 9 I 6, and Wali Mahomed,draft bye-laws,I9I7, MURC, AA. Cf. BenaresHindu University Act (XVI of I9I5). 173 Suggestions by Dr ZiauddinAhmad,MURC, AA. 174 The orientalfacultywas in line with Morison'sI904 scheme,but with undergraduateas well as graduatecourses. Bijnoriput considerable emphasis on providing for a law faculty which would include advancedstudy of Islamicjurisprudence. Theology would be compulsoryfor all Muslims. Original Draft of Act, Statutes and Regulations,Typescript,MURC, AA.

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government, teachers,and trustees was still an important question.All Aligarhleadersagreed that they would not accept a universitythat assignedless powerto the trusteesthan was the case with the M A-O College. ShaikhAbdullahcomplainedthat the draft constitutiondid not give the courtsufficient powerover appointments) promotions, and dismissals of staff.175 But ZiauddinAhmadand ShaikhAbdullahwere anxiousthat the Old BoysAssociation, still an Ali stronghold, should not be represented on the court. Accordingto ShaikhAbdullah,the association represented only I2 per cent of the graduates.176 In April I 9 I 7, the Muslim University Foundation Committee reaffirmedits decision to accept the university,this time without conditions,but simply'the best university'they could get within the limits of the Benaresmodel.177 Mahmudabadurged MahomedAli, who was still interned,to supportthe acceptanceand not to throwhis weight behind Bijnori'sschemefor an independentcollege at Dehra Dun,178 but MahomedAli expressed surprise at the Raja's'variegated development of views',claimingthat he alone had kept faith.Granted the presentstate of Aligarh,he wrote: 'For the presentat least, we are incapableof controllingeven a college, let alone the university we once dreamedof controlling'. So he remainedagainstacceptance. As for the DehraDun college:
I see the need of anotherinstitutionwhere we could work out in practice the theoriesand ideals which we who are the first-bornof Sir Syed axld Aligarh so to speak,have long cherished.... [M]any of us are incliIledto give up Aligarhratherthan the dreamsthey had dreamtthere.179

In late August I9I7, the regulations committee180 met Sir Sankaran Nair, Butler'ssuccessoras EducationMember. The delegation explained that the Aligarhtrusteeswere unwillingto lose controlover the institution as the pricefor a university. Previously, the government
75 Suggestions by ShaikhAbdullah,I7 August I9I7, ibid. 176 Suggestions by ZiauddinAhmadand ShaikhAbdullah,ibid. 177 Resolutions passedat MUFC meeting,Aligarhn 8 April I9I7 Home Educ D June I 9 I 7, 5, NAI. 178Bijnori,though the drafterof the Muslim UniversityConstitution, had also

proposedfounding a Muslim college at Dehra Dun, independentof government control and patronage.For this scheme he had the financial backing of Prince Hamidullahof Bhopal,anotherAligarhold boy, and Dr Ansari.Mahmudabadto MahomedAli, 3I March I 9 I 7; Abdul Rahman to MahomedAli, 24 March I 9 I 9, MAP. 179 MahomedAli to Mahmudabad, 6 April I 9 I 7, MAP. 180The committeeincludedamong its membersMahmudabad, Mazharul-Haq, Ansari,NawabIshaqKhan, PrinceHamidullah of Bophal, Jinnah, Bijnoriand Wali Mahomed.

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GAIL MINAULT AND DAVID LELYVEL D

had never had the right to dismissprofessors at the college. Nair was unsympathetic: the recognition of schoolswas no moreacceptable than the affiliation of colleges,and he tookexception to compulsory theology. If the government was to recognizethe degree,it must have some say in setting the standardsof examinations. 181 The government also objectedto representation of the Old BoysAssociation on the court182 and the proposal to give the courtpowerover the senate.183 While the regulations were being drafteddomestic raised its headyet againin Aligarh.NawabIshaqKhan, a dissension belatedconvertto radicalism,184 began to asserthis rightsas honorary secretary to interferein the internaladministration of the college.185 However,he died in October IgI8,186 during a new crisis between the staS and the trusteeswhen two British teachers were denied the usual annual incrementin their salaries.Despite governmenteffortsto discourage themfrompressing the matter,all eight of the BritishstaS resigned.187 Aligarh'steacherswere now all Indians, and a Serce competition ensued for the principalship,with Ziauddin outmanocuvring Wali Mahomedand Syed Ross Masud.188 Then on 25 January I9I9 the trustees met to consideramendments to the collegeruleswhich would
181 Meeting of Regulations Committeeof Aligarh Muslim University,25, 27-28 August and I SeptemberI 9 I 7, MURC, AA. 182 The Old BoysAssociation in its I9I8 meetingobjectedto the proposalto have a graduate electoratein additionto an Old Boys Association electoratefor the court, anddemandedforty representatives on the court. The same meeting supported Bijnori's Dehra Dun schemeand ignoredMahomedAli's proposal to establishit in Aligarh. Ruidad OBA,I9I8. 183 Note by H. Sharp, IO October I9I7, Home Educ A February I9I8, I7, iNAI. 184 Along with the Muslim League the Nawab boycotted Montagu's visit to India. 185 'The young party . . . badgeredIshaq Khan till he Oakden to Butler,I O FebruaryI 9 I 9, Educ I 9 I 9, I 40, UPS. finally went over to it. 186 Syed Mahomed Ali succeeded him, in preference to Hamidullah Khan, lfawab SarbulandJang, Bhatnagar,Hijtory of theM A-O C.ollege, pp. 267-8. The old familyrivalry at Aligarh wasthuscarried into the nextgeneration: SyedMahomed Ali was of Sir Syed'sfamily,while Sarbuland Jang was the son of SamiullahKhan (and father-in-law of KhwajaAbdul Majid). But now the feud had an ideological content as well, since Sarbuland Jang and KhwajaAbdul Majid supportedthe Ali brothers and, ultimately, non-cooperation, while Syed Mahomed Ali remained staunchly loyal to the raj. 187 'Trouble in the AligarhCollegeand the Resignation of Mr Towle, the Principal and otherEuropeanProfessors', Educ I9I 8, 22I, UPS. 188 Ross Masud, a member of the Indian EducationalService, grandsonof Sir Syed, and son-in-lawof Aftab, was defeatedon the grounds high a salaryand would work too closelywith his cousin, that he demandedtoo the honorarysecretary. Oakden to Butler, I O FebruaryI g I 9, Educ I g I9, I 40, UPS.

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givethe principal greater power,andwouldadoptcivilservice standards with regard to pay, terlure, and working conditions of the staff. Hakim Ajmal Khan objected to a proceduralinterpretation which would allow the rules to be amendedby two-thirdsof the members present, ratherthantwo-thirds of the entirebodyof trustees as had been customary.After a bitter debate, the Hakim, Dr Ansari, Khwaja and four othersstormedout of the meeting, threateningto take the issueto court.l89 Studentenrolment, which had been fallingover the past fouryears, now fell to below the level of I91I. C:ounting the school,Aligarhnow had fewer studentsthan in I908. In the college proper there were now only 59I students, overtwo hundredlessthan the previous year.t90 Whereas Aligarhused to refusehundreds of applications becauseof its overcrowded boarding houses,now no applicants wererefused, and the boardinghouseshad over threehundredvacancies.l9t The reactionof severalgovernment officials was to washtheirhandsof Aligarh,leaving it to saveitselfor be damned.l92 Others-disagreed: 'It wouldhave been quiteeasyto have a breachin the College,to withdraw the Government grant,to get Rampurto withdraw his, and to precipitate a smash',but it wouldbe wiserto backup the 'goodMuhammadans'. WhileAligarh remained a college, the trustees,no doubt, had scope for making trouble; but there would be more control of the situationwhen it becamea university.l93 While affairsin the college were thus embroiled,no progress at all had beenmadetowards the university until 23 September I9I9 when a groupfromthe MuslimUniversityAssociation met again in Lucknow with Mahmudabad presiding.They discussedinconclusively the collectionof unpaidsubscriptions and the possibility of sendinga deputation to the viceroy.l94 Then in November,Butlervisited Aligarh, as lieutenant-governor of the United Provinces. This was taken as a sign of encouragement from the government,and the followingmonth a deputationof Syed MahomedAli, Ziauddin,Wali Mahomedt95 and
FebruaryI 9 I 9, ibid. Bhatnagar, History of theM A-OCollege, p. 325. 191 Wali Mahomed,'A briefnote on the decreasein the numberof studentsat the M A-O College Aligarh', I I January I9I9, Educ I9I9, 22 I, UPS. 192 De la Fosse,the Director of PublicInstruction, UP, commented: 'Nothingbut a periodof adversitycan bring the Trusteesto their senses.'De la Fosseto Keane, 4 October I 9 I 8, Educ I 9 I 9, I 40, UPS. 193 Mestonto Chief Secretary, UP, 28 January I 9 I 8, Educ I 9 I 8, 22 I . UPS. 194 UP SecretAbstracts, + October I 9 I 9, Educ I 9 I 8, Xo, UPS. l95 By then he was in Delhi as AssistantSecretaryin the Education Department.
189Oakdento Butler,I 9

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Mahmudabad met Butleras a preludeto approaching the Government of India directlyaboutframinga MuslimUniversityBill.l96 The situationin Indian higher educationhad now changed considerably, sincegovernment decidedto encouragethe creationof new non-affiliating universities. In I9I8, Hyderabad State had inaugurated the Urdu-medium-Osmania University.l97 The Calcutta University Commission Report of I9I8 had set down detailed policies for the teachingand residential university of Dacca,which^ras to be openedin I920. In addition,Butler was vigorouslyinitiating efForts to create similar universities at Lucknow andAgra.l98 The Rajaof Mahmudabad, who could hardlyneglecta university for Lucknow,his own city, was activein raisingfundsfor it.l99The Universityof Lucknow includeda new Shia C:ollege,founded by a group of Shias dissatisfiedwith Aligarh.200 Thus all the ambitionsfor Aligarhas a centralinstitution in an independent,Muslim, all-India educationalsystem had gone by the board. Whereas the Hindu universityhad representedno threatto Aligarh's pretensionsall theseotheruniversities competedfor Muslimpatronageand recruitment. Moreover, the Motltagu-C:helmsford reforms placed university education under the control of the provincialgovernments.Butler favouredrecastingthe proposeduniversityconstitutionso that the chief regulatingauthoritywould be the governmentof UP, not the central governmentn but of course this would completely destroy Aligarh's claimsto all-Indiastatus.By now, the EducationMemberin the Government of India was MahomedShafi, Aligarh'sold loyalist wheel-horse.At first Shafi accepted Butler's suggestion,but after meetingwith a deputation fromAligarhin MarchI92O, he agreedwith his Aligarh friendsthat the Muslim UniversityBill should not be delayed lest it fall prey to 'mischiefmakers'in the new reformed legislativecouncil.The Aligarhpeople thereforedecided to pressfor
K. MaharajSinghto H. Sharp, I2 DecemberI9I9, Educ I9I8, 4o,uPs. AkbarE{ydari had been the chiefmoverin this, but the detailedworkhad been carriedon by a numberof people closely associatedwith Aligarh includingRoss Masud and XIabibur-Rahmanlihan Sherwani. 198 Included on the Lucknow University Committee were Ziauddin Wali Mahomed,WazirHasan,and Archbold,now Principalof Muir College Allahabad. De la Fosseto Butler,g SeptemberI 9 I 9, Educ I 9 I 9 384, UPS. 199 Keane to EE. R. L. EIailey, 22June I920, ibid. 200 The Shia Collegewas opposedby Aligarhleaderts, includingMahmudabada Shia-on the groundsthat it would accentuateShia-Sunni differences. Despite effortsto compromiseby locating it in Aligarh, it was ultimately establishedin Lucknowwith governmentblessing. De la Fosse to Butler, g SeptemberIgIg,
196 197

ibid.

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the Muslim UniversityBill as it stood. Since from the government point of view it was 'no longera controversial measure',Shafifeit that it would be expedient to pass the bill 'shortly before the Turkish peace termsare published'.20l Shafi'shasteto-passthe bill was understandable. The RowlattActs, the 'Punjab wrong',andthe Khilafat issuehadweakenedthe moderates in both C:ongress and League. At the League's I9I8 Delhi session, Dr Ansari condemnedBritain'sTurkish policy, and the Raja of Mahmudabad and his protege, Wazir Hasan, resigned from the Muslim League in FebruaryIgIg.202 Meanwhile, the Ali brothers becameveryinvolvedwith the Khilafatissue, allyingwith the ulama, and finally joining with Gandhi in advocating a policy of noncooperation .203 In May I920, when the Turkisil peace terms were published, ShaukatAli called on all Muslimsto dissociatethemselves from their ungodlygovernment shouldMuslimdemandsconcerning the Khilafat not be met; and Gandhi urged all Indiatls to support the Muslim demands,and added the 'Punjabwrong',as an issue to interestIlonMuslimsin non-cooperation.204 In SeptemberI920, the Congress,the League, and the Khilafat Committeemet in specialsessionin Calcuttaand voted in favourof non-cooperation, whichincludedthe boycottby students andteachers of all government or government-supported educational institutions. Shafiand the Aligarhauthorities thus had good reasonfor puttingthe Aligarh Muslim UniversityBill onto the statute book as quickly as possible.205 It was passedin SeptemberIg20.206 Mahomed Ali launched into non-cooperation work with all his usual gusto. His first target, not surprisingly, was Aligarh,where he made his final bid to commandits destiny.On I2 October I920, the Ali brothers and Mahatma Gandhi descended upon the college and addressed a meetingof trustees, staff, and studentsin the College Union on non-cooperation. The sameday they and theirsympathizers
201 Note by Shafi, 22 January I920; Shafi to Sir GeorgeLowndes,25 April I920, HomeEducA AugustI 920> I-7, NAI. 202 In I920 Mahmudabadacceded to the wishes of his old friend Butler by becomingHome Memberin the UP government. 203 For some detailsof this pilgrim's progress see ShaukatAli to Khaliquzzaman, I 0 May I 9 I 9, Home Poll A July I 9 I 9, 2-32; Mahomed Ali to Ansari,I 2 May I 9 I 9, Home Poll BJune I9I9, 494-97, NAI; Eribune (Lahore),6 JanuaryI920. 204 Indian Annual Register, I92I (Calcutta,I922), pp. 43, I I4-I5, I94-5. 205 Ziauddin to Butler,I September I920) Educ I9I8, 40, UPS. 206 For the provisionsof this Act, see Aligarh Muslim UniversityAct, XL of I 920.

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on the boardof trustees sent an ultimatumto the boardto give up any further grants-in-aid fromthe government, to refuseanykindof government interference in the afEairs of the college, and to dis-affiliate the college from Allahabad University. If the trusteesdid not comply by 29 Octoberthey intendedto call upon the teachersand studentsto withdraw fromthe college.207 The college authoritieshurried to organize their defences. The principal, Ziauddin, wroteto all parentsof Aligarhstudents, requesting them to come and take chargeof their boys beforethe fatefulday and thus prevent'the effortsof the late Sir Syed,of his successors, and the combined devotionand energyof the community for the last forty-five years. . . [frombeing]wasted'.208 By this move,Ziauddinhoped to get most of the studentsout of the way, and to keep the non-cooperators from staging a mass walk-out.The honorarysecretarythen called a meeting of the board of trusteesfor 27 October,to vote on the ultimatum.This meeting,held in the home of Muzamilullah Khan, was attendedmostly by the trusteeswho lived near by. They resolvedto rejectthe ultimatum,disapproved of the action of the Ali brothers in stirring up agitationamongthe students, and agreedto closethe college and schoolfor a month.209 Meanwhile,MahomedAli had ensconcedhimselfin the Old Boys' Lodge,whichhad the advantage of belongingto the Old BoysAssociation ratherthan to the collegen shouldthe collegeclose,he couldnot be evicted. He and MaulanaAbul Kalam Azad addressed a meetingof studentson 24 October,urgingthem not to cooperatewith a governmentthat so disregarded theirreligious dutiesand sentiments. About a hundredand fiftystudentssigneda pledgeto leave the college,should the trustees veto non-cooperation.210 On 29 October MahomedAli announcedthe opening of a new independent CMuslim NationalUniversity',the Jamia Millia Islamia. It was inaugurated in the AligarhCollegemosque,with an addressby MaulanaMahmudul-Hasan,the reveredreligiousleaderof Deoband who had recentlyreturnedto India afterinternment on Malta during the war. He spoke on the religiousreasonsfor non-cooperation and expressed the hope that the Jamia Millia would reconcilethe English
207 Letter to Syed Mahomed Ali, I2 October I920, signed by the Ali brothers, Dr Ansari, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Mu'azzam Ali, Amir Mustafa Khan (Secretary of the Old Boys Association), H. M. Musa Khan, Mahomed Ismail Khan, and Zahur Ahmad; reprinted in the IndXendent, I 5 October I 920. 208 Letter from Dr Ziauddin to the parents of Aligarh students, published in Tribtene, 2I October I920. 2s Bombay Chronicle, 28 October I920. 210 Independent, 27 October I920.

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education of Aligarh and the religious education of Deoband.2ll Present at the ceremony were Mahomed Ali, appointed principal of the new institution, KhwajaAbdul Majid,HakimAjmalKhan, Dr Ansari,the other non-cooperating trusteesand the studentswho had agreed to follow them, as well as a large numberof Aligarh townspeoplewho turnedout to see the leaders.2l2 In his addresson this occasion, MahomedAli declared that his intentionwasnot to starta newinstitution, but ratherto purifyAligarh Collegeitself. He and his studentfollowersremainedin possession of some boarding-house rooms and the Old Boys' Lodge for two days, refusingto leave. Finally,on 3I Octoberthe college authorities called on the collector of Aligarhforhelp.The policesurrounded the occupied buildingsand serveda noticeon MahomedAli intimatingthat he and his followers could eitherwithdrawpeacefully,or be forcefully evicted as criminal trespassers. They withdrew to a make-shiftcollection of bungalowsand tents nearby.2l3 MahomedAli was thus forced to abandonhis dreamof reforming his alma mater and to found a new institution. On 22 Novembera MuslimNationalUniversityFoundationCommitteewasorganized, and electedHakimAjmalKhan as president and Haji Musa Khan of Aligarh as secretary.Present at the meeting, among others, were the Ali brothers,Gandhi, Azad, Ansari, and HasratMohani.Ironically, the meetingresolved to begininstruction at the new institutionwith the standarduniversity curriculum, with the additionof theology.A new curriculum, embodying the bestin English and Islamic educationwould, 'it is expected',be evolved. The committee also voted to arrange for examinations,without saying by whom they would be recognized, and to affiliate other national institutions outsideAligarh.2l4 The major purpose of theJamiaMilliaIslamiawasto actasa counterweightto the government-sponsored university at Aligarh.It wouldbe free of governmentinfluenceand wholeheartedly committedto the Indian nationalistmovement.The contentof educationat the Jamia was intended to put far greater emphasison Islamic religion than had been the case with Aligarh.Accordingto a schemedrawnup by MahomedAli, the Jamia, from the primarystage onward, would
211

Hazrat Shaikh ul-Hind, Maulana Mahmud ul-Hasan, Khutbah-e-Sadarat aor

Fatwa-eEark-e-Mawalat (Deoband, I 920) . 212AIG, 30 October I920; Independent, 7 November

Tribune, 9 November
I920.

AIG,I and 4 November I920; Bombay Chronicle, 5 November Bombay Chronicle, 29 ;lfovember I920.

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requirean 'intimateknowledge'of the Quran and Arabic. Primary school studentswould be given lessonsin ritual and basic religious principles. At the secondary and university level, Muslim jurisprudence and similarsubjectswould be a major part of the curriculum. The mediumof instruction throughout wouldbe Urdu; European languages wereoptional.MahomedAli's schememade scantyprovision for some history, geography, politics, economics, psychology, mathematics, logic, naturalsciences,and drawing.An importantpart of the curriculum was the provisionfor manual and vocational training. The Jamia became a symbolfor Congress leaders,but they devotedlittle attentionto it. Forfiveyearsthe Jamia campedat Aligarh,but many of its students and teachers returned to the Muslim university, and its enrolmentfell almost to nothing with the collapse of noncooperation. Not manypeoplewere willingto sacrificethe advantages of a recognized degree.Reluctantly,the Jamia leadersgave up their effortto use the institutionas a tool for taking over AligarhUniversity.-Under Dr Zakir Husain, the school moved to the outskirts of New Delhi and becamedevoted entirelyto Gandhianeducational
work.2ls

With the Jamia at their doorsthe Aligarhauthorities were anxious to get their university established and the UniversityFund safelyinto theirhands2l6 The gc)vernment was sympathetic,and c)n I December I920, the Muslim UniversityAct was brought into force, with the Raja of Mahmudabad as the firstvice-chancellor.2l7 Of those who had played leading roles in the realizationof the Aligarh Muslim University,Mahomec} Ali was conspicuousby his
215 MahomedAli, A Scheme of Studies for J%ational Muslim Institutions in Indiv(Delhi, I92I). The standardgeneral history of the Jamia is Abd ul-Ghaffar

Madholi, ]vm'iah ki Wahani (;New Delhi, I965). 216 The fate of the UniversityFund concernedthem more than the desertionof theirpupils.Of the 326 studentswho left Aligarhduringnon-cooperation, only I25 joinedtheJamia; the rest stayedat home. (AligarhMuslimUniversityVice-Chance or's AnnualReport, I92I-22, AA.) But the MuslimUniversityAssociation and theFoundationCommitteestill controlledthe funds. Once the MuslimUniversity Actwas passeda the fundswould: by law be transferred to the university unlessthe Association met beforethis happenedand frozethe funds.Syed MahomedAli to H. Sharp, 6 lfovember I920; Office-bearers of M A-O Collegeto Butler,I I November I920, Home Educ B April I92I, 3-20, NAI. 217TheBegum of Bhopal was chancellor,the Aga Khan pro-chancellorand Ziauddin pro-vice-chancellor. The government made an annualgrantof Rs I00,000 -which was Rs 88,ooo more than M A-O Collegehad been getting. See Maharaj Singh, officiating Education Secretary, Government of India,to Education Secretary, Government of UP, 7 JanuaryI 92 I, ibid.
.

CAMPAIGN

FOR A MUSLlM

UNIVERSITY,

I 898-I

920

I89

absencefromits inauguration on I7 DecemberI920. Replyingto the Raja'sinvitationto the ceremony, he wrote:

This articlehas concentrated on certainaspectsof Muslimpolitical development to the unavoidable exclusionof otherswhichthe authors recogniseas equallyimportant.See also G. Minault'sPh.D. thesison the Khilafat Movement (Universityof Pennsylvania,I972), idem., 'Islamand Mass Politics:the Indian Ulama and the KhilafatMovement', in D. E. Smith (ed.)>Religaon andPolitical Modernization (New Haven, I974), idem., 'Urdu politicalpoetryduringthe KhilafatMovement', Modern AsianStudies) forthcoming;and D. Lelyveld's Ph.D. thesison the M A-O College,Aligarh(University of Chicago,I974), and idem.,'Three Aligarh students:Aftab Ahmad Khan, Ziauddin Ahmadand Muhammad Ali', Modern AsianStudies (forthcoming).
218 Mahomed Ali to Mahmudabad, I9

DecemberI920, 7Eribune, 23 DecemberI920.