Famous Buildings in AMU and Personalities After Which They Are Named

Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) occupies a unique position among universities and institutions of higher learning in the country and across the world. There are many great names which have been associated with AMU, either as its Alumni or its founding members. Many buildings on the campus have been named after such great personalities. Some of them include:

 

• Colleges

 

1. Ajmal Khan Tibbiya College

• As the name denotes, Ajmal Khan Tibbiya College was named after Hakim Ajmal Khan, who was an outstanding physician (hakim) by profession, hailing from a family of physicians. Today, he is more known today as a nationalist leader, freedom fighter, president of Indian National Congress (1921) and a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi. Ever since his successful involvement in the movement to elevate the MAO College into the status of a university, his dream was to found an academic institution, free of government control. He remained firm in his commitment to Jamia when the crisis of 1924 happened. He spent the latter part of his life and the better part of his wealth for the welfare of Jamia, often bailing Jamia out of the dilemmas and financial crises.

2. Ziauddin Ahmad Dental College

• Ziauddin Ahmad Dental College was named after one man and he was Sir Dr. Ziauddin Ahmad, who was a mathematician, parliamentarian, politician, educationist and scholar. He was also one of the longest serving vice-chancellors and later on rector of Aligarh Muslim University.

3. Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College

• India’s first and longest serving Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, was a man of vision. Having participated in the long struggle for freedom from the British, Nehru, fondly called Pandit Nehru, a reference to his Kashmiri Pandit community roots, was a firm believer in nation building, as he understood that the young Indian nation had a tryst with destiny.

4. ZHCET

• Zakir Hussain College of Engineering & Technology was named after the first Muslim President of India Zakir Hussain. When Zakir Husain was 23 years old, with a group of students and teachers he founded the National Muslim University, today known as Jamia Millia Islamia (a central university). Under Husain, Jamia became closely associated with the Indian freedom movement.

 

• Centres

 

1. K A Nizami Centre for Quranic Studies

• K. A. Nizami was an acknowledged historian of South Asia and Islamic scholar who authored over fifty books and was associated with the University for almost half century, having served under various capacities as Professor and Chairman of the Department of History, Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences, Provost of Sir Syed Hall, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Vice Chancellor and Ambassador to Syria.

2. M N Faruqi Computer Centre

• Mohammad Naseem Faruqui was the Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University from 1990-1994. Prof. Faruqui obtained his Ph.D degree in 1965 from IIT Kharagpur and served as its Deputy Director.

3. Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Diabetes and Nephrology

• At 41, Rajiv Gandhi was the youngest Prime Minister of India and perhaps one of the youngest elected heads of Government in the world. Besides being the harbinger of a generational change in the country, Mr. Gandhi received the biggest mandate in the nation’s history. In the elections to the Lok Sabha, which he ordered as soon as the mourning for his slain mother was over, the Congress party got a much higher proportion of the popular vote than in the preceding seven general elections and captured a record 401 seats out of 508.
• Halls (Girls)

1. Abdullah Hall

• Abdullah Hall was named after Sheikh Abdullah, who was one of the most distinguished political leaders who ruled in the Kashmir valley, prior to the Indian Independence and post the freedom struggle in India. His never-say-die attitude earned him the moniker of “Sher-e-Kashmir” (Lion of Kashmir), by his ardent supporters. Abdullah was the founder and leader of the National Conference, which was believed to be one of the biggest political parties in that region. The aim was to work actively for the progress of the common people. Sheikh Abdullah was a reputed man and he worked for equal rights, medical infrastructure for the people and establishment of trade and commerce in Kashmir, during his tenure.

2. Begum Azeezun Nisa Hall

• On 1st April, 2019 the Hall got its name, Begum Azeezun Nisa Hall, after the name of the beloved mother of the Founder of the University, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan

3. Begum Sultan Jahan Hall

• Born in 1858, Begum Sultan Jahan ascended the throne in 1901. While she was the fourth female ruler of Bhopal, she is credited with many firsts. She was known for ruling in the present with her eyes set on the future. Her progressive policies for women, at a time when they were shackled by the forces of patriarchy, have made her a feminist icon even today.

4. Bibi Fatima Hall

• Bibi Fatima Hall was named after Fatima Bint Muhammad r.a. commonly known as Fatima al-Zahra was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) (pbuh) and his wife Khadija. Fatima’s husband was Ali Ibn Abitalib r.a., the fourth of the Rashidun Caliphs and the first Shia Imam. Fatima’s sons were Hasan r.a. and Hussain r.a., the second and third Shia Imams, respectively.

5. Indira Gandhi Hall

• Indira Gandhi was the daughter of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru. Smt. Gandhi became a Member, Congress Working Committee and Central Election of the party in 1955. In 1958 she was appointed as a Member for Central Parliamentary Board of Congress. She was the Chairperson, National Integration Council of A.I.C.C. and President, All India Youth Congress, 1956 and Women’s Dept. A.I.C.C. She became the President, Indian National Congress in 1959 and served till 1960 and then again from January 1978. She had been Minister for Information and Broadcasting (1964- 1966). Then she held the highest office as the Prime Minister of India from January 1966 to March 1977. Concurrently, she was the Minister for Atomic Energy from September 1967 to March 1977.

6. S N Hall

• Sarojini Naidu was born in Hyderabad on 13 February, 1879. Her father, Aghorenath Chattopadhyay, was a Bengali Brahmin who was the principal of the Nizam’s College in Hyderabad. She was educated in Madras, London and Cambridge. Following her time in England, where she worked as a suffragist, she was drawn to Indian National Congress’ movement for India’s independence from British rule. She became a part of the Indian nationalist movement and became a follower of Mahatma Gandhi and his idea of swaraj. She was arrested, along with other Congress leaders including Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Madan Mohan Malaviya for participating in 1930 Salt March. Sarojini was one of the major figures to have led the Civil Disobedience Movement and the Quit India Movement. She faced repeated arrestings by the British authorities during the time and even spent over 21 months (1year 9months) in jail. She was appointed the President of the Indian National Congress in 1925 and later became the Governor of the United Provinces in 1947, becoming the first woman to hold the office of Governor in the Dominion of India.

 

• Halls (Boys)

 

1. Aftab Hall

• Aftab Hall was established in 1932 and named after Sahibzada Aftab Ahmad Khan who was the University’s second Vice- Chancellor and one of the most outstanding figures associated with the University. After his death in 1930, the A.M.U. Old Boy’s Association decided to construct a hall of residence in his memory.

2. Allama Iqbal Boarding House

• It is named after Sir Allama Dr. Mohammad Iqbal, commonly known as Allama Iqbal. Sir Iqbal was undoubtedly one of the greatest poets, philosophers and seers of humanity of all times. He took a prominent part in the politics of the country and in the intellectual and cultural reconstruction of the Islamic world. His contribution to the literature and thought of the world will live for ever. Iqbal is widely known as one of the most important figures in Urdu and Persian literature, having written numerous volumes of poetry in both languages.

3. R. Ambedkar Hall

• As the name indicates, the Hall is named after Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, a lifelong champion of social justice and civil rights for the “untouchable” Dalit caste, received his PhD in Economics from Columbia University in 1927 and an honorary degree in 1952. Ambedkar was the first highly educated, politically prominent member of the Hindu “untouchable” caste. He is best remembered today for leading colonial India’s only autonomous struggle for Dalit rights and social recognition; for his extensive writings that reprised caste as a form of inequality and historical injustice; and for his role as Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Indian Constitution, which allowed him to leave a profound and enduring mark on Indian trajectories of democratic justice and affirmative action policy.

4. Hadi Hasan Hall

• Syed Hadi Hasan born on September 3rd, 1896 in the City known for origin of Urdu poetry, Hyderabad. He was bestowed with a highly reputed and educated family. Among his ancestors, Ata Hussain, Tahsin, was a prominent Scholar of Etawah, Uttar Pradesh and his father Syed Ameer Hasan was commissioner in the then Hyderabad state of erstwhile Nizam`s Rule. He was nephew of Nawab Mohsinul Mulk Syed Mahdi Ali Khan, a close companion of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan.

5. Mohammad Habib Hall

• The hall is named after a prominent Indian Historian Mohammad Habib, who worked at the Aligarh Muslim University. He was involved in the Indian Independence movement, and was an associate of both Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. He was a candidate in the 1967 Indian vice-presidential election, which he lost to V. V. Giri. Habib, contesting as an independent candidate, received 28.55% of the votes.

6. Mohsinul Mulk Hall

• Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk was born on 9th December 1837 in the town of Etawah, a part of United Provinces. He was the son of Syed Mir Zaamin Ali. His real name was Syed Ali Mehdi and he got his early education in and around Etawah. He was given the education of Persian and Arabic. He participated in Aligarh and he was also included in those people who were founder of All India Muslim League. In 1867, he topped in the Provincial Civil Service examination. He was elected for Deputy Collector in U.P. He proceeded to Hyderabad into the service of the Nizam in 1874. Due to his twenty year service he got titles of Munir Nawaz Jang and Nawab Mohsin-ul-Daula by the Nizam of Hyderabad.

7. N T Hall

• The hall is named after a young Engineering graduate residing in Saudi Arabia, Nadeem Tarin offered to build a Hall of residence for 550 boys at the cost of Rs. 2.4 crores. He gave away his own hard earned Rs. 2.4 crore to a dream, to an idea, and as repayment of a debt that he felt he owed to his alma mater. The foundation stone of the Nadeem Tarin Hall was laid by the Governor of Madhya Pradesh, Mr. Shafi Qureshi on April 7, 1993.

8. Ross Masood Hall

• Syed Ross Masood was the grandson of an important reformist Muslim educator, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. He received English education at Oxford (where Forster met him for the first time in 1908), and later went on to serve the institution his grandfather founded, the Muslim Anglo-Indian College (today Aligarh Muslim University).

9. SS Hall (North and South)

• A visionary who carved a space for rationalist thought, gave a new direction to education, and laid the parameters of modernist Urdu prose, is none other than Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. He did not only evolve a new philosophy and pedagogy for public instruction and write remarkable discursive prose, but also affected a change in the attitude of people, especially of the Muslim community, towards social, cultural, and national identity. He was an iconoclast who promoted a scientific view of life and found space for pure rationalism as opposed to romantic sentimentality. As he also influenced poets and writers, he came to be acknowledged and valued as one of the major reformers of modern India.

 

10. Sir Shah Sulaiman Hall

• Sir Shah Sulaiman was a well–known public figure in India. During the last few years of his life, he held the distinguished position of one of the three judges of the newly established Federal Court at Delhi. The news of his death early this year at the age of fifty–five came as an unpleasant surprise to his many friends and admirers, and elicited numerous well–merited tributes to his personality and career. He also served as Chief Justice of the High Court at Allahabad for several years and as vice–chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University over a considerable period.

11. Sir Ziauddin Hall

• Both Dr. Ziauddin Ahmad Dental College and Sir Ziauddin Hall were named after one man and he was Sir Dr. Ziauddin Ahmad, who was a mathematician, parliamentarian, politician, educationist and scholar. He was also one of the longest serving vice-chancellors and later on rector of Aligarh Muslim University.

12. Viquarul Mulk Hall

• Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk was born on 24 March 1841, in Meerut. His real name was Mushtaq Hussain. He was one of the founders All India League. He was a famous Muslim politician. He was a self-made man. He did his engineering from Engineering College Roorki. Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk joined the M.A.O. College in October 1892 in Aligarh. Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk, Sir Agha Khan, Sir Shafi and Nawab Salim-ul-Khan organized a Mohammedan Educational Conference in December 1906.On the same occasion they also launched a new party called All India Muslim League. He was appointed as Honorary Secretary of M.A.O College in 1907.

 

• Schools

 

1. ABK High School (Boys & Girls)

• Abdul Baseer Khan High School was named after Abdul Baseer Khan, who was a senior Professor in Zoology Department and had a high reputation among the teachers and students. He was also the Hony, Treasurer of AMU Students.

2. Ahmadi School for the Visually Challenged

• It was named after Sahibzada Aftab Ahmad Khan who was the University’s second Vice- Chancellor and one of the most outstanding figures associated with the University. After his death in 1930, the A.M.U. Old Boy’s Association decided to construct a hall of residence in his memory.

3. Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh School (City School)

• Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh School, commonly known as City School is recently got his name changed to Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh School after the Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, who was an Indian freedom fighter, journalist, writer, revolutionary, President in the Provisional Government of India, which served as the Indian Government in exile during World War I from Kabul in 1915, and social reformist in the Republic of India.

4. Sayyid Hamid Senior Secondary School

• Saiyid Hamid was a prominent Indian educationist and diplomat. He was a member of Indian Administrative Service and also served as the Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University. He had also served in several important committees, including the Sachar Committee set up by the UPA government to probe the social and economic conditions of the Indian Muslim community.

5. S T S High School

• Taher Saifuddin, also known as Tahir Sayf al-Din, was the 51st and longest serving Da’i al-Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohras. Saifuddin adapted the modernisation in Western and European ideas, and established its benefits for the Bohras, whilst still steeped in the traditions and the culture of the community’s Fatimid heritage.Saifuddin laid substantial groundwork in terms of philanthropy, education, entrepreneurship, social outreach, political outreach, and community upliftment upon which his successors, Mohammed Burhanuddin and Mufaddal Saifuddin, continued to build, resulting in unprecedented era of prosperity among the Dawoodi Bohras.

 

• Academy and Library

 

1. Sir Syed Academy

• It is also named after the founder of MAO College, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. The way Sir Syed shaped his Aligarh Movement; he influenced Indian society and culture in multiple ways. This movement not only opened new horizons to Urdu language and literature, but also created a condition for developing new discourses and in a new idiom for larger appeal. He thus brought literature and intellectual preoccupations close to each other in order to bear upon the contemporary realities of life.

 

2. M A Library

• The Asia’s biggest library must’ve been named after someone as great as the Library Itself, and thus it was named after Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, the first Education Minister on India. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was one of the most influential independence activists during India’s freedom struggle. He was also a noted writer, poet and journalist. He was a prominent political leader of the Indian National Congress and was elected as Congress President in 1923 and 1940. Despite being a Muslim, Azad often stood against the radicalizing policies of other prominent Muslims leaders like Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Azad was the first education minister of independent India. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was posthumously awarded ‘Bharat Ratna’, India’s highest civilian honor, in 1992.