¹ Beck, Theodore, ‘The Principal's Annual Report for 1898–99’ (‘Principal's Report, 1898–99’), Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College Magazine (Aligarh) (MAOCM),Google Scholar and Aligarh Institute Gazette (Aligarh) (AIG), New Series VII, 11 (15 July 1899), 9–11, 29–31. At this time the two journals were temporarily merged.Google Scholar

² Syed Mahmud to Beck, 16 April 1898, Aligarh Archives, Maulana Azad Library, Aligarh Muslim University (AA).

³ Khan, Samiullah, ‘Memorandum’, December 1898; Hakim Ajmal Khan, ‘Jawab-e-Memorandum’, 1899, Papers relating to Board of Trustees Proceedings, 1899, AA.Google Scholar

⁴ Khan, Habibullah, Hayat-e-Aftab (Allahabad, 1947), pp. 48–9.Google Scholar

⁵ Proceedings of a Meeting of the M A-O College Board of Management held in the Aligarh Institute, 31 03, 1898, pp. 3–4.Google Scholar

⁶ Syed Mahmud to Beck, 25 November 1898, AA; Smith, V. C., Secretary to the Lieutenant-Governor, to Samiullah, 6 September 1898, in Samiullah, ‘Memorandum’, December 1898, AA.Google Scholar

⁷ MAOCM, VII, 1 (January 1899), 15–21.

⁸ ‘Proceedings, Annual Meeting of the Board of Trustees, Aligarh’, MAOCM, VII, Special Number (02 1899).Google Scholar

⁹ MAOCM, VII, 3 (03 1899), 48.Google Scholar

¹⁰ MAOCM, VII, 1 (01 1899), 15–21; IX, 4 (April 1900), 7–8.Google Scholar

¹¹ ‘Principal's Report, 1898–99’, MAOCM and AIG, New Series VII, 11 (15 July 1899), 1, 11.

¹² MAOCM, VII, 12 (1 October 1899), 21. A Beck Memorial Fund was established to aid the university cause.

¹³ Rafiuddin Ahmad came from Poona. He lived in London where he was founder-president of an expatriate anti-Congress organization, the Muslim Patriotic League.

¹⁴ Ahmad, Rafiuddin, ‘The Proposed Muslim University in India’, The Nineteenth Century, XLIV (1898), 915–21.Google Scholar Rafiuddin envisaged colleges all over the Muslim world becoming affiliated to Aligarh, and he saw the project as a British counter to Russia's flirtation with Islam. Ibid. The article was reprinted in MAOCM, and Mohsin ul-Mulk read an Urdu translation of it to the Educational Conference at Lahore in December 1898.

¹⁵ Intikhab Report Muhammadan Educational Conference darbab Mujawaza Muhammadan University(Agra, 1899).Google Scholar

¹⁶ Ibid., pp. 72–89.

¹⁷ Beck, T., ‘The Allahabad University’, MAOCM, III, 4 (1 04 1896), 149; III, 6 (1 June 1896), 236;Google Scholar‘Principal's Report, 1898–99’, MAOCM and AIG, New Series VII, 11 (15 07 1899), 5.Google Scholar

¹⁸ One post had been vacated by T. W. Arnold during the financial crisis.

¹⁹ Beck, , ‘The Mahomedan University’, MAOCM, VII, 3 (03 1899), 41–8.Google Scholar

²⁰ MAOCM, VIII, 4 (04 1899), 74.Google Scholar

²¹ ‘Principal's Report, 1898–99’, MAOCM and AIG, New Series VII, 11 (15 07 1899), 5.Google Scholar

²² Sir Syed Memorial Fund Collections (1899–1900) File, AA; MAOCM, IX, 4 (04 1901), 7–8.Google Scholar

²³ ul-Mulk, Mohsin, Note on the Progress of the M A-O College, Aligarh, during the years 1899–1903… (Aligarh, 1903).Google Scholar

²⁴ MAOCM, VIII, 2 (15 01 1900), 31–7.Google Scholar

²⁵ Bhatnagar, S. K., History of the M A-O College Aligarh (Aligarh, 1969), pp. 141, 177–8.Google Scholar

²⁶ Confidential Report of the Committee of Enquiry at Aligarh M A-O College, March 1907 (Enquiry Report 1907) (Allahabad, 1907), pp. 4–14.Google Scholar

²⁷ Zuberi, Mahomed Amin, Viqar-i-Hayat (Aligarh, 1925), pp. 432–42.Google Scholar

²⁸ Aligarh Monthly (AM) (Aligarh, English), III, 2 (02 1905), 74.Google Scholar The figure 3,000 is an estimate based on Ahmad, Tufail, Muhammadan College Directory (Badaun, 1914), Parts I and II.Google Scholar

²⁹ Rules and Regulations for the Appointment of the Trustees of the M A-O College, Aligarh… [as] amended … up to … 1907 (Aligarh, n.d.), pp. 6–7.Google Scholar

³⁰ Khan, Habibullah, Hayat-e-Aftab, pp. 7–53; Aftab Ahmad Khan Ahmadi, Diary 1892–93 (MS), AA.Google Scholar

³¹ MAOCM, VII, 4 (04 1899), 80.Google Scholar

³² The chairman of the commission, Thomas Raleigh, besides being vice-chancellor of Calcutta university and the legal member of the viceroy's council, was a cousin of Beck's widow. Another member of the commission was Syed Husain Bilgrami (Nawab Imad ul-Mulk), who had been closely associated with Aligarh from the start. The commission heard evidence at Aligarh, including a long testimony from Mohsin ul-Mulk. Mohsin's paper, published as an Urdu pamphlet Tehriri Shahadat Nawab Mohsin ul-Mulk … ki ru b'ru University Commission ke (Agra 1902), virtually ignored the Muslim university schemes.Google Scholar

³³ This was in spite of the fact that in England the affiliating system of London university was abolished in 1903.

³⁴ Report of the Indian Universities Commission, 1902 (Simla, 1902);Google ScholarNurullah, Syed and Naik, J. P., History of Education in India (Bombay, 1943), pp. 239–54;Google Scholar and Ashby, Eric, Universities: British, Indian, and African (London, 1966), pp. 73–83.Google Scholar

³⁵ Universities Commission Report, p. 8; see also Orange, H. W., Progress of Education in India, 1902–07 (Calcutta, 1909), pp. 5–7.Google Scholar

³⁶ For enrolment statistics see Bhatnagar, History of the M A-O College, p. 186.

³⁷ Morison, Theodore, ‘A Mahomedan University’, The National Review, XXXII (1898–1899), 243–8.Google Scholar

³⁸ He argued that there should be Hindu, Muslim and Parsi universities in India, since such institutions would combat the irreligion prevalent amongst western- educated Indians, and would be likely to attract private Indian philanthropy. Morison, T., History of the M A-O College, Aligarh (Allahabad, 1903), pp. 30–3.Google ScholarHowever, as a member of the legislative council, Morison offered no opposition to the Universities Act of 1904, which embodied the recommendations of Curzon's Universities Commission. AM, II, 4 (04 1904), 27–31.Google Scholar

³⁹ AM, III, 1 (01 1905), 7.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ In 1903, the distinguished Persian scholar, E. Denison Ross, principal of the Calcutta madrasa, visited Aligarh and helped Morison to work out the scheme. Ross took the line that the British should patronize an ‘intellectual revival’ of Muslims by encouraging the study of Arabic. The scheme called for a staff consisting of Ross, two Egyptians from al-Azhar, two Persians, three Indian maulvis, and six fellowships tenable for five to seven years. Only graduates would be taught, and they would ultimately find posts in various Indian universities and the British consulates and embassies in the Arabic-speaking world. English officials could use the school to learn Arabic, and the institution would maintain an Arabic library and publish scholarly editions of Arabic texts. Ross to Miller, and Morison to Miller January 1904, Educ September 1904, 275/5, Uttar Pradesh Secretariat Records, Lucknow (UPS).

⁴¹ Ibid.

⁴² The Statesman, 26 January 1904, in Ali, Syed Riza, Essays on Moslem Questions (Allahabad, 1912), pp. 25–32.Google Scholar

⁴³ Khan, Habibullah, Hayat-e-Aftab, pp. 54–8.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ Ali, Syed Riza, A'mal Nama (Delhi, 1943), pp. 174–5.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ Memorandum by La Touche, 6 February 1904, Educ September 1904, 275/5, UPS.

⁴⁶ H. H. Risley to La Touche, 14 May 1904, (demi-official), Ibid.

⁴⁷ Note by Harcourt Butler, 12 March 1906, Educ April 1906, 275/5, UPS.

⁴⁸ Hyder, Sajjad, ‘Should All Reform Wait for a Muslim University?’, AM, I, 9 (09 1903), 1–6.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ The Dawn Magazine, 08 1911, pp. 89–90.

⁵⁰ Mohsin ul-Mulk did not allow him to deliver his speech at the 1903 Educational Conference, but he was able to publish it in a British periodical.Google ScholarAli, Mahomed, The Proposed Mohamedan University (Bombay, 1904), p. 2.Google Scholar

⁵¹ Hydari, Akbar, ‘A Mahomedan University for India’, East and West, 30 08 1904, pp. 765–73.Google Scholar

⁵² ‘…a Mohamedan University only means a larger Aligarh’, Mohomed Ali told the Conference.

⁵³ Ali, Mohamed, The Proposed Mohamedan University.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ Student enrolment in the college and school was 661 in 1905, 816 in 1906, and 955 in 1910. Bhatnagar, History of the M A-O College, pp. 244, 325.

⁵⁵ By the end of 1910, only about Rs 270,000 had been collected, of which about Rs 145,000 were in hand, the rest having been spent in paying the college debts and completing the college buildings. Government had made large grants for the Arabic and science departments, but even so, the total fund was less than half the ten lakhs set as a goal in 1898. Towle, J. H. (Principal), ‘Annual Report, 1910–1911’, M A-O College, Aligarh, Calendar, 1911–12, p. 3.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ The Simla delegation of 1906 was led by the Aga Khan and Mohsin ul-Mulk; its address was drafted by Syed Husain Bilgrami; Aftab Ahmad Khan and Archbold, Aligarh's principal, acted as intermediaries. See ‘Simla Delegation, 1906 file’, AA.

⁵⁷ Enquiry Report 1907, pp. 4–14.

⁵⁸ AIG, New Series IX, 34 (23 08 1909), 1–19.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ During Mohsin ul-Mulk's tenure there was a continuous criticism of the trustees for not asserting themselves.

⁶⁰ When the board of trustees was increased to 120 in 1909, the Old Boys Association requested the right to send fifteen representatives; they got five. AM, VII, 5 (05 1909), 9.Google Scholar

⁶¹ Ikram, S. M., Modern Muslim India and the Birth of Pakistan (Lahore, 1966), p. 150.Google Scholar

⁶² Enquiry Report 1907.

⁶³ AM (Urdu Section), IV, 1 (01 1906), 34–41.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ Report Committee Tahqiqat muta'aliq b'Old Boys Association Madrasat ul-'Ulum Aligarh (Aligarh, 1917), pp. 16–17.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ Ibid., p. 17; cf. Khwaja, Abdul Majid, ‘Salana Report…Old Boys Association’, Ruidad Old Boys Association (OBA), 1918, p. 52. Old Boys Lodge, Aligarh Muslim University.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ Ruidad OBA, 1908–12, Ibid.

⁶⁷ Ahmadi, Aftab Ahmad Khan, Diary, 27 November 1893, AA.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ Ali, Shaukat, ‘The late Mr Beck and his Pupils’, AM, III, 10 (12 1905), 10;Google Scholarcf. Khan, Habibullah, Hayat-e-Aftab, p. 52.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Hewett to Butler, 3 June 1911, Home Educ A August 1911, 1–2, National Archives of India, New Delhi (NAI).

⁷⁰ AIG, New Series IX, 34 (23 08 1909), 18–19.Google Scholar

⁷¹ The Old Boys Association would elect thirty-five out of the seventy-five members. 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 1907,Mahomed Ali Papers, Jamia Milla Islamia, New Delhi (MAP).Google Scholar

⁷² AIG, New Series X, 4 (26 01 1910), 3, 10–11; X, 23 (15 June 1910), 6; X, 22 (8 May 1910), 3–4.Google Scholar

⁷³ Besant to Viqar ul-Mulk, 4 January 1910; Viqar to Besant, 1 March 1910, Educ May 1911, 14. UPS. Viqar ul-Mulk sent copies of this correspondence to the UP government.

⁷⁴ Towle, ‘Annual Report, 1910–11’, pp. 3–5. The fanfare of this campaign in turn inspired Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya to join hands with Mrs Besant and revive his old scheme for a Hindu university, promising to double or triple whatever the Muslims collected. Note by H. V. Lovett, 15 April 1911, Educ May 1911, 14, UPS. Relations between the Hindu and Muslim university movements were quite cordial, though they had a friendly rivalry over the success of their fund-raising drives. The Aga Khan gave a handsome donation to the Hindu University, which was reciprocated by the Maharaja of Darbhanga, president of the Hindu University Society. See List of Donors in: ‘Muslim University Regulations Committee File’ (MURC), AA; and Collegian, III (1913), p. 292. For the Hindu University Movement, see Sundaram, V. A. (ed.), Benares Hindu University, 1905 to 1935 (Benares, 1936).Google Scholar

⁷⁵ The Aga Khan told an audience in Karachi: ‘… the next step will be to have a network of Mohamedan Colleges all over India on the lines of the present Aligarh College…Sind will be one of the first to get a college’, Comrade, 27 01 1912, Comrade Selections, p. 329.Google Scholar

⁷⁶ Towle, ‘Annual Report, 1910–11’, p. 5.

⁷⁷ us-Saqlain, Khwaja Ghulam, an Old Boy who edited an Urdu journal, ‘Asr-i-Jadid (Meerut), and was then embarking on a political career in Meerut, accused Aftab of maladministration of the college programme. Aftab now withdrew from the Old Boys Association. Viqar, who tried to remain neutral in Old Boy disputes, did not give Aftab unstinting support in his battles with the Ali brothers and other rivals. Aftab reacted publicly by criticizing Viqar, who in turn rebuked Aftab for his arrogant efforts to monopolize power.Google ScholarKhat o Kitabat ma-bin Honorable Sahibzada Aftab Ahmad Khan Sahib o Nawab Viqar ul-Mulk Bahadur (Aligarh, 1910);Google Scholar see also Bhatnagar, History of the M A-O College, pp. 255–6.Google Scholar

⁷⁸ As a young man, the Aga Khan had visited Aligarh in 1896, and promised Syed Ahmad an annual grant. In 1902 he had spoken in favour of a Muslim university in his presidential address at the Muhammadan Educational Conference, but then he returned to the race courses of Europe. His second visit to Aligarh was in 1904, when he gave a handsome donation to Morison's Arabic studies scheme.

⁷⁹ The Memoirs of the Aga Khan: World Enough and Time (London, 1954), p. 120.Google Scholar

⁸⁰ Hasan, Shaikh Ali, Tarikh-i-Mahmudabad, III, Part I. Mahmudabad House, Lucknow.Google Scholar

⁸¹ Ibid.

⁸² Half brother of Syed Husain, who for some years had acted as spokesman for Aligarh in London.

⁸³ Dr Ziauddin replaced Bilgrami, who had suddenly died.

⁸⁴ Butler to Hewett, Simla, 26 May 1911, Home Educ A August 1911, 1–2, NAI.

⁸⁵ Butler to Hewett, 26 May 1911, Ibid.

⁸⁶ Shaukat Ali to Mahomed Ali, 30 March 1911, MAP.

⁸⁷ Comrade (Calcutta), 15 04 and 17 06 1911.Google Scholar

⁸⁸ Ashby, , Universities, p. 84.Google Scholar

⁸⁹ Butler to Hewett, 26 May 1911, Home Educ A August 1911, 1–2, NAI.

⁹⁰ Hewett to Butler, 3 June 1911, Ibid.

⁹¹ Indian officials were forbidden to participate in fund-raising or even attend meetings for the Muslim and Hindu universities. Note by P. Harrison, Chief Secretary of UP, to Heads of all Departments, District Officers, etc., 26 May 1911, General Administration Department (GAD) 1911, 271, UPS.

⁹² Note by Marris, 17 May 1911, Educ 1918, 40, UPS.

⁹³ Viceroy to Secretary of State, 10 June 1911, Home Educ A August 1911, 1–2, NAI.

⁹⁴ Secretary of State to Viceroy, 18 July 1911, Ibid.

⁹⁵ Butler to Mahmudabad (demi-official), 31 July 1911, Ibid.

⁹⁶ Butler to Mahmudabad (confidential), 31 July 1911, Ibid. Butler privately warned that London's scrutiny ‘may mean quite a good deal’, since the India Council with Raleigh and Morison as members, would examine the scheme very carefully; their assent was ‘entirely general and reserved’. Butler to Mahmudabad (private), 31 July 1911, Ibid.

⁹⁷ Mahmudabad to Butler, 9 September 1911, Home Educ A February 1912, 12–15, NAI.

⁹⁸ Aziz, an Aligarh old boy had been Viqar ul-Mulk's protégé in Hyderabad, and was now Secretary of the Muslim League. The League had recently moved from Aligarh to Lucknow and was thus no longer an arena for Aligarh's factional disputes.

⁹⁹ ‘The Moslem University Constitution’, Supplement to Comrade (Calcutta), 24 08 1912.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁰ Syed Ross Masud, Syed Mahmud's son, had expressed views similar to Butler's, Comrade, 22 July 1911. He opposed affiliation, emphasizing the special spirit of Aligarh which was so closely associated with ‘the union, the cricket field, and the courts which Sir Syed Ahmad planned’.

¹⁰¹ Report of a meeting between Sir Harcourt Butler and the Muslim University Constitution Committee, Simla, 23 September 1911, Home Educ A February 1912, 12–15, NAI.

¹⁰² H. Sharp, Report on the proposed Aligarh Muslim University, 26 September 1911, Ibid.

¹⁰³ Fifteen years earlier Morison had affiliated a number of secondary schools in the Aligarh vicinity to M A-O College. AIG, New Series II (23 01 1897), 8.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁴ ‘One of the hopes entertained about a teaching University was that it would become a genuine seat of learning at which examinations would be subordinate to teaching and in which the teachers, freed from the tyranny of the text book, would carry their pupils with them in their own branches of study. If affiliation of other institutions is allowed, this hope must go by the board.’ Note by Morison, 1 January 1912, Judicial and Public, 1912, 1146, India Office Library, London (IOL), quoted in Ashby, Universities, pp. 393–4.

¹⁰⁵ Secretary of State to Viceroy, 23 February 1912, Home Educ A March 1912, 60–2, NAI; see also note of 11 January 1912, J & P, 1912, 1146, IOL, in Ashby, Universities, p. 395.

¹⁰⁶ Ashby, , Universities, p. 87.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁷ Secretary of State to Viceroy, 23 February 1912, Home Educ A March 1912, 60–2, NAI.

¹⁰⁸ Comrade, 12 February 1912, Comrade Selections, pp. 262–3.

¹⁰⁹ Muslim Gazette (Lucknow), 18 03 1912, United Provinces Native Newspaper Reports (UPNNR) 1912, p. 306.Google Scholar

¹¹⁰ He was referring to the Regulations Subcommittee appointed in September 1911, with Ziauddin as secretary, two European members of the Aligarh staff, Habib ur-Rahman Khan Sherwani, a wealthy Aligarh landholder who was a well-known Islamic scholar, and Mahomed Ali. ‘The Moslem University Constitution’, Supplement to Comrade, 24 08 1912.Google Scholar

¹¹¹ AIG, 22 May 1912, UPNNR 1912, pp. 520–1.

¹¹² AIG, 5 June 1912, UPNNR 1912, p. 568.

¹¹³ AIG, 12 June and 26 June 1912, UPNNR 1912, pp. 599, 648–9.

¹¹⁴ If anyone had subscribed funds on the assumption that affiliation would be granted, Crewe advised that they should be entitled to a refund.

¹¹⁵ Secretary of State to Viceroys, 12 July 1912, Home Educ A July 1913, 4–12, NAI. But it would not be necessary for the central government to approve the appointment of professors.

¹¹⁶ Memorandum by Hardinge, 15 July 1912, Ibid.

¹¹⁷ Ashby, , Universities, pp. 90–2.Google Scholar

¹¹⁸ Butler to Mahmudabad, 9 August 1912, Home Educ A July 1913, 4–12, NAI.

¹¹⁹ Mahmudabad to Butler, 20 July 1912, Butler Papers, MSS. Eur. 116/53/I, IOL. The authors are indebted to William Crawley for this reference.

¹²⁰ Mahmudabad to Butler, 12 August 1912, and 13 August 1912, Home Educ A July 1913, 4–12, NAI.

¹²¹ The Committee included fifty-four members in addition to all the M A-O. trustees ex officio. Among them were Aftab, the Ali brothers, Shibli Nomani, Rafiuddin Ahmad (now a Muslim League man in Poona), moderates such as Mahomed Shafi and Ziauddin Ahmad, journalists such as Bashiruddin of Etawah, lawyers and politicians such as Wazir Hasan of Lucknow, wealthy merchants from Bombay and landlords from the UP. List of Members of the Constitution Committee, MURC, AA.

¹²² AIG, September and 25 September 1912, UPNNR, 1912, pp. 851, 899.

¹²³ Letter about proposed establishment of Aligarh University, from one H. M. Ajmal Khan, Haziq-ul-Mulk, to the Private Secretary of the Viceroy, 8 August 1912, Home Educ A November 1912, 7–8, NAI.

¹²⁴ Muslim Gazette, 18 September 1912, UPNNR, 1912, p. 884.

¹²⁵ AIG, 4 September 1912, UPNNR, 1912, p. 851.

¹²⁶ Al-Bashir (Etawak), 24 September 1912, UPNNR, 1912, p. 899.

¹²⁷ All-India Muslim University ke Muta'aliq Nawab Mushtaq Husain Viqar ul-Mulk Bahadur ki Rai (Aligarh, 11 1915).Google Scholar

¹²⁸ Stapleton, H. E., ‘A University in the Making’, offprint of Eastern Bengal Notes and Queries, Second Series, I (1920), i–ix; Educ 1919, 384, UPS.Google Scholar Ironically, one of the architects of Dacca university was W. A. J. Archbold, the principal who had been forced out of Aligarh in 1909.

¹²⁹ Comrade, , 7 October 1911 and 10 February 1912, Comrade Selections, pp. 245–8, 262–3.Google Scholar

¹³⁰ Comrade, , 2 August 1913, Comrade Selections, pp. 300–4.Google Scholar

¹³¹ Zuberi, Mahomed Amin, Viqar-i-Hayat, p. 593.Google Scholar

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¹³⁴ Report on Conditions at Aligarh, by S. P. O'Donnell, Education Secretary, UP, 13 September 1913. Home Educ A October 1913, 58–60, NAI; Report on the Attitude of Muslims to Government, by R. Burn, Chief Secretary, UP, 17 September 1913, Home Poll A October 1913, 100–18, NAI. Bilgrami had been elected Education Member of the board of trustees earlier in the year after a campaign to get Ali the job was foiled by a threat of the European staff to resign in a body. Muslim Gazette, 12 March, 1913, UPNNR, 1913, p. 238.

¹³⁵ Mahomed Ali to Sir James Meston, 2 May 1913, MAP.

¹³⁶ Report by O'Donnell, 13 September 1913, Home Educ A October 1913, 58–60, NAI; Bhatnagar, History of the M A-O College, p. 268.

¹³⁷ Agra Akhbar, 21 July 1913; Mashriq (Gorakhpur), 12 08 1913, UPNNR, 1913, pp. 772, 863.Google Scholar

¹³⁸ Muslim Gazette, 16 July 1913, UPNNR, 1913, pp. 741–2.

¹³⁹ AIG, 20 August 1913, UPNNR, 1913, p. 900.

¹⁴⁰ Agenda of Meeting of the Muslim University Foundation Committee, 26 July 1913, MAP.

¹⁴¹ Musawat (Allahabad, Urdu), 7 08 1913, UPNNR, 1913, p. 253.Google Scholar

¹⁴² Wazir Hasan became secretary of the League and Riza Ali, Ghulam us-Saqlain and Naziruddin Hasan were other Aligarh graduates prominent in the League. However, the League was not an Aligarh preserve, and at this time was most concerned about the Morley-Minto reforms.

¹⁴³ Comrade, , 3 02 1912, Comrade Selections, p. 404.Google Scholar

¹⁴⁴ Muslim Gazette, 15 January 1913, UPNNR 1913, p. 42.

¹⁴⁵ History sheet of Mahomed Ali, 1913, Home Poll B November 1913, 149, NAI.

¹⁴⁶ Order by H. C. Beadon, District Magistrate, Delhi, 8 June 1913, MAP.

¹⁴⁷ Jafri, Rais Ahmad, Sirat-i-Muhammad Ali (Delhi, 1932), p. 227.Google Scholar

¹⁴⁸ AIG, 26 June and 10 July 1912, UPNNR, 1912, 637, 679.

¹⁴⁹ Bhatnagar, , History of the M A-O College, p. 313.Google Scholar

¹⁵⁰ AM, XI, 5 March 1913, 121–6. Dr Ziauddin lectured the students against listening to journalists and falling prey to ‘mean and ungentlemanly’ behaviour. Ibid.

¹⁵¹ History sheet of Azad, 1921, Home Poll 1921, 45, NAI.

¹⁵² Comrade, , 23 March 1912, Comrade Selections, pp. 443–5Google Scholar.

¹⁵³ A lavatory attached to the mosque was demolished to make way for a road. The viceroy finally ordered it to be restored. Minute on the Cawnpore Mosque Incident by Sir James Meston, 21 August 1913, Home Poll A October 1913, 100–18, NAI; The Times, 16 October 1913.

¹⁵⁴ Mahomed Ali and Wazir Hasan to Sir James La Touche, 4 November 1913, MAP.

¹⁵⁵ Amir Ali to Wazir Hasan, 22 October 1913; Aga Khan to Wazir Hasan, 3 November 1913, MAP. The Aga Khan gave as his excuse that he was not getting to India much these days and that he did not want to stand in the way of the League's development.

¹⁵⁶ Note by S. D. Fremantle, Collector of Allahabad, 21 November 1915, Home Poll D December, 6, NAI.

¹⁵⁷ Comrade, , 18 April 1914, Comrade Selections, pp. 429–37; Letter to Shaukat Ali signed by 100 Old Boy Government Servants, in Report Tehqiqat Old Boys Association, Appendix II, pp. 135–8.Google Scholar

¹⁵⁸ AIG, 3 February 1915, UPNNR 1915, p. 155.

¹⁵⁹ Comrade, , 6 June 1914. The association remained subordinate to the Muslim University Foundation Committee, which still had title to the money.Google Scholar

¹⁶⁰ Collegian, VIII, 1915, 262.Google ScholarThis meeting of the Muslim University Association was the first time Jinnah visited Aligarh. Ruidad OBA, 1915, p. 54.Google Scholar

¹⁶¹ On the eve of war, Dr Ziauddin Ahmad, the brothers' arch-enemy and then Acting Principal of Aligarh College, admitted that he could not control the student body in view of Mahomed Ali's hold on them. He predicted that, if war were declared against Turkey, 80 per cent of the student body would follow Mahomed Ali's lead. Memorandum by Sir Reginald Craddock, Home Member, 15 October 1914, Home Poll A January 1915, 76–97, NAI.Google Scholar

¹⁶² Ali, Muhammad, ‘Ba 'Ali Khidmat Janab Honorary Secretary Sahib Old Boys Association, Madrasat ul-Ulum Musulmanan’, Aligarh, in Ruidad OBA, 1916.Google Scholar

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¹⁶⁴ Ruidad Ijlas Muslim University Association, 15 10 1915 (Aligarh, 1915).Google Scholar

¹⁶⁵ Letter to editor, Leader (Allahabad), 11 11 1915, UPNNR, 1915, p. 1168.Google Scholar

¹⁶⁶ Ruidad Ijlas Muslim University Association, 15 10 1915.Google Scholar

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¹⁶⁸ H. M. Hayat to Mahomed Ali, 28 March 1917, MAP.Google Scholar

¹⁶⁹ The leader of the other old faction, Aftab Ahmad Khan, was also leaving the stage. In 1916 he refused to attend the League, broke with it, formed the Muslim Defence Association, and in 1917 accepted a place on the India Council in London. The two main rivals for power at Aligarh were both frustrated. Yet, with their similar backgrounds, they ended by moving in opposite directions: the Ali brothers into non-cooperation and Aftab into high office under the raj.Google Scholar

¹⁷⁰ Both were German Ph.D.s like Ziauddin Ahmad. Dr Bijnori had been one of the students threatened with expulsion after the 1907 strike, had taken part in the Turkish Medical Mission, and had opposed acceptance of the university at the 15 October 1915 meeting. Enquiry Report 1907.Google Scholar

¹⁷¹ Bhatnagar, , History of the MA-O College, p. 325.Google Scholar

¹⁷² The Governor-General in Council had the power to remove any member of the teaching staff, to appoint special examiners with regard to any aspect of the university, and to issue binding instructions. The all-Muslim court would be subject to the Governor-General in Council; it would represent the Old Boys Association, the Muhammadan Educational Conference, ulama, Islamia colleges, a guild of Muslim graduates, donors and benefactors, and representatives of the senate. The court had the right to maintain other colleges and schools only within Aligarh itself. Courses of study, examinations and discipline would be under the senate. For details see Revised Draft of Act and Statutes by Bijnori, amended by Wali Mahomed, 1916, and Wali Mahomed, draft bye-laws, 1917, MURC, AA. Cf. Benares Hindu University Act (XVI of 1915).Google Scholar

¹⁷³ Suggestions by Dr Ziauddin Ahmad, MURC, AA.Google Scholar

¹⁷⁴ The oriental faculty was in line with Morison's 1904 scheme, but with undergraduate as well as graduate courses. Bijnori put considerable emphasis on providing for a law faculty which would include advanced study of Islamic jurisprudence. Theology would be compulsory for all Muslims. Original Draft of Act, Statutes and Regulations, Typescript, MURC, AA.Google Scholar

¹⁷⁵ Suggestions by Shaikh Abdullah, 1 August 1917, Ibid.

¹⁷⁶ Suggestions by Ziauddin Ahmad and Shaikh Abdullah, Ibid.

¹⁷⁷ Resolutions passed at MUFC meeting, Aligarh, 8 April 1917, Home Educ D June 1917, 5, NAI.Google Scholar

¹⁷⁸ Bijnori, though the drafter of the Muslim University Constitution, had also proposed founding a Muslim college at Dehra Dun, independent of government control and patronage. For this scheme he had the financial backing of Prince Hamidullah of Bhopal, another Aligarh old boy, and Dr Ansari. Mahmudabad to Mahomed Ali, 31 March 1917; Abdul Rahman to Mahomed Ali, 24 March 1919, MAP.Google Scholar

¹⁷⁹ Mahomed Ali to Mahmudabad, 6 04 1917, MAP.Google Scholar

¹⁸⁰ The committee included among its members Mahmudabad, Mazhar ul-Haq, Ansari, Nawab Ishaq Khan, Prince Hamidullah of Bophal, Jinnah, Bijnori and Wali Mahomed.Google Scholar

¹⁸¹ Meeting of Regulations Committee of Aligarh Muslim University, 25, 27–28 August and 1 September 1917, MURC, AA.Google Scholar

¹⁸² The Old Boys Association in its 1918 meeting objected to the proposal to have a graduate electorate in addition to an Old Boys Association electorate for the court, and demanded forty representatives on the court. The same meeting supported Bijnori's Dehra Dun scheme and ignored Mahomed Ali's proposal to establish it in Aligarh. Ruidad OBA, 1918.Google Scholar

¹⁸³ Note by Sharp, H., 10 October 1917, Home Educ A February 1918, 17, NAI.Google Scholar

¹⁸⁴ Along with the Muslim League the Nawab boycotted Montagu's visit to India.Google Scholar

¹⁸⁵ ‘The young party … badgered Ishaq Khan till he finally went over to it. Oakden to Butler, 10 February 1919, Educ 1919, 140, UPS.

¹⁸⁶ Syed Mahomed Ali succeeded him, in preference to Khan, Hamidullah, Jang, Nawab Sarbulan, Bhatnagar, , History of the M A-O College, pp. 267–8. The old family rivalry at Aligarh was thus carried into the next generation: Syed Mahomed Ali was of Sir Syed's family, while Sarbuland Jang was the son of Samiullah Khan (and father-in-law of Khwaja Abdul Majid). But now the feud had an ideological content as well, since Sarbuland Jang and Khwaja Abdul Majid supported the Ali brothers and, ultimately, non-cooperation, while Syed Mahomed Ali remained staunchly loyal to the raj.Google Scholar

¹⁸⁷ ‘Trouble in the Aligarh College and the Resignation of Mr Towle, the Principal and other European Professors’, Educ 1918, 221, UPS.Google Scholar

¹⁸⁸ Ross Masud, a member of the Indian Educational Service, grandson of Sir Syed, and son-in-law of Aftab, was defeated on the grounds that he demanded too high a salary and would work too closely with his cousin, the honorary secretary. Oakden to Butler, 10 February 1919, Educ 1919, 140, UPS.

¹⁸⁹ Oakden to Butler, 19 February 1919, Ibid.

¹⁹⁰ Bhatnagar, , History of the MA-O College, p. 325.Google Scholar

¹⁹¹ Mahomed, Wali, ‘A brief note on the decrease in the number of students at the M A-O College, Aligarh’, 11 January 1919, Educ 1919, 221, UPS.Google Scholar

¹⁹² De la Fosse, the Director of Public Instruction, UP, commented: ‘Nothing but a period of adversity can bring the Trustees to their senses.’ De la Fosse to Keane, 4 October 1918, Educ 1919, 140, UPS.Google Scholar

¹⁹³ Meston to Chief Secretary, UP, 28 January 1918, Educ 1918, 221. UPS.Google Scholar

¹⁹⁴ UP Secret Abstracts, 4 October 1919, Educ 1918, 40, UPS.Google Scholar

¹⁹⁵ By then he was in Delhi as Assistant Secretary in the Education Department.Google Scholar

¹⁹⁶ K. Maharaj Singh to H. Sharp, 12 December 1919, Educ 1918, 40, UPS.Google Scholar

¹⁹⁷ Akbar Hydari had been the chief mover in this, but the detailed work had been carried on by a number of people closely associated with Aligarh, including Ross Masud and Habib ur-Rahman Khan Sherwani.Google Scholar

¹⁹⁸ Included on the Lucknow University Committee were Ziauddin, Wali Mahomed, Wazir Hasan, and Archbold, now Principal of Muir Colleges, Allahabad. De la Fosse to Butler, 9 September 1919, Educ 1919, 384, UPS.Google Scholar

¹⁹⁹ Keane to H. R. L. Hailey, 22 June 1920, Ibid.

²⁰⁰ The Shia College was opposed by Aligarh leaders, including Mahmudabad—a Shia—on the grounds that it would accentuate Shia—Sunni differences. Despite efforts to compromise by locating it in Aligarh, it was ultimately established in Lucknow with government blessing. De la Fosse to Butler, 9 September 1919, Ibid.

²⁰¹ Note by Shafi, 22 January 1920; Shafi to Sir George Lowndes, 25 April 1920, Home Educ A 08 1920, 1–7, NAI.Google Scholar

²⁰² In 1920 Mahmudabad acceded to the wishes of his old friend, Butler, by becoming Home Member in the UP government.Google Scholar

²⁰³ For some details of this pilgrim's progress see Shaukat Ali to Khaliquzzaman,10 May 1909, Home Poll A July 1919, 2–32; Mahomed Ali to Ansari, 12 May 1919, Home Poll B June 1919, 494–97, NAI;Google ScholarTribune (Lahore), 6 01 1920.Google Scholar

²⁰⁴ Indian Annual Register, 1921 (Calcutta, 1922), pp. 43, 114–15, 194–5.Google Scholar

²⁰⁵ Ziauddin to Butler, 1 September 1920, Educ 1918, 40, UPS.

²⁰⁶ For the provisions of this Act, see Aligarh Muslim University Act, XL of 1920.

²⁰⁷ Letter to Syed Mahomed Ali, 12 October 1920, signed by the All brothers, Dr Ansari, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Mu'azzam Au, Amir Mustafa Khan (Secretary of the Old Boys Association), Musa Khan, H. M., Khan, Mahomed Ismail, and Ahmad, Zahur; reprinted in the Independent, 15 10 1920Google Scholar.

²⁰⁸ Letter from Dr Ziauddin to the parents of Aligarh students, published in Tribune, 21 October 1920.

²⁰⁹ Bombay Chronicle, 28 October 1920.

²¹⁰ Independent, October 1920.

²¹¹ ul-Hind, Hazrat Shaikh, Maulana, Mahmud ul-Hasan, Khutbah-e-Sadarat aor Fatwa-e-Tark-e-Mawalat (Deoband, 1920).Google Scholar

²¹² AIG, 30 October 1920; Independent, 7 November 1920; Tribune, 9 November 1920.

²¹³ AIG, 1 and 4 November 1920; Bombay Chronicle, 5 Novermber 1920.

²¹⁴ Bombay Chronicle, 29 11 1920.Google Scholar

²¹⁵ Ali, Mahomed, A Scheme of Studies for National Muslim Institutions in India (Delhi, 1921).Google Scholar The standard general history of the Jamia is Abd ul-Ghaffar Madholi, Jam'iah ki Kahani (New Delhi, 1965).Google Scholar

²¹⁶ The fate of the University Fund concerned them more than the desertion of their pupils. Of the 326 students who left Aligarh during non-cooperation, only 125 joined the Jamia; the rest stayed at home. (Aligarh Muslim University Vice-Chancellor's Annual Report, 1921–22, AA.) But the Muslim University Association and the Foundation Committee still controlled the funds. Once the Muslim University Act was passed, the funds would by law be transferred to the university—unless the Association met before this happened and froze the funds. Syed Mahomed Ali to H. Sharp, 6 November 1920; Office-bearers of M A-O College to Butler, 11 November 1920, Home Educ B April 1925, 3–20, NAI.Google Scholar

²¹⁷ The Begum of Bhopal was chancellor, the Aga Khan pro-chancellor and Ziauddin pro-vice-chancellor. The government made an annual grant of Rs 100,000—which was Rs 88,000 more than M A-O College had been getting. See Maharaj Singh, officiating Education Secretary, Government of India, to Education Secretary, Government of UP, 7 January 1921Google Scholar, Ibid.

²¹⁸ Mahomed Ali to Mahmudabad, 19 December 1920, Tribune, 23 12 1920.Google Scholar