Conception
Under the British rule, two trends contributed to the birth of Jamia. One was anti-colonial activism and the other was the pro-independence aspiration of the politically radical section of western educated Indian Muslim intelligentsia. In the political climate of 1920, the two trends gravitated together with Mahatma Gandhi as a catalyst. The idea was to project Indian Muslims as nationalist and anti British. The anti-colonial activism signified by the Khilafat and the pro-independence aspirations symbolized by the Non-Cooperation Movement of the Indian National Congress helped to harness creative energies and the subsequent making of Jamia Millia Islamia.
Responding to Gandhi’s call to boycott all educational institutions supported or run by the colonial regime, a group of nationalist teachers and students quit Aligarh Muslim University, protesting against its pro-British inclinations. The freedom fighter and Muslim theologian, Maulana Mehmud Hasan, laid the foundation stone of Jamia Millia Islamia at Aligarh on Friday, October 29, 1920, during the meeting of the Foundation Committee of Jamia Millia Islamia.
On November 22, 1920, Hakim Ajmal Khan was elected the first chancellor of Jamia. Mohamed Ali Jauhar became Jamia’s first Vice Chancellor.
Read more about this topic: Jamia Millia Islamia
Famous quotes containing the word conception:
“Whoever will imagine a perpetual confession of ignorance, a judgment without leaning or inclination, on any occasion whatever, has a conception of Pyrrhonism.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“The philosopher’s conception of things will, above all, be truer than other men’s, and his philosophy will subordinate all the circumstances of life. To live like a philosopher is to live, not foolishly, like other men, but wisely and according to universal laws.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The fact is that all writers create their precursors. Their work modifies our conception of the past, just as it is bound to modify the future.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)