Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi The Aligarh Muslim University Old Boys Association-Riyadh last Thursday celebrated Sir Syed Day. It was the 194th anniversary of the birth of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, the founder of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Functions to mark his birthday are organized each year by old students of AMU in various parts of the world to commemorate the greatest educationist and social reformer of the Indian subcontinent. Being an old student and graduate of the prestigious university, I have had the opportunity to attend several Sir Syed Day celebrations held in India and elsewhere. But I have never witnessed or heard about the splendor of a grand function to mark the day like the one organized by the alumni in Riyadh this year. The credit for this goes to this newspaper which published my column titled “Aligarh and Aligarians” in November last year. Some members of the Riyadh Association learned about my association with their institution through this article. Subsequently, the Association's Vice President Dr. Muhammad Ahmed Badshah Khan, who is a professor at Riyadh's King Saud University, contacted me and expressed his interest in many of the ideas that I had mentioned in the article. He also invited me to attend this year's Sir Syed Day celebrations as the Guest of Honor, and that invitation I accepted. The organizers invited the eminent Indian film director and producer and social worker Mahesh Nanabhai Bhatt as the Chief Guest of the event. Bhatt, who is a modest person, came from India specially to attend this function. But I realized his prominence and popularity when observing the standing ovation that he received when stepping into the conference hall of the hotel in Riyadh. A large number of young Indians were seen rushing to get his autograph. The hall was packed and most of the attendees were in the traditional Indian attire that Aligarians wear on formal occasions. What drew my attention the most was that the organizers and those receiving the guests were prominent figures, including consultant doctors, university professors and senior engineers. This produced an electrifying impact on me and I felt a great sense of pride in being an Aligarian. This prestigious university has produced many great leaders, including several former heads of state and prime ministers. They include the first prime minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan, the third governor general of Pakistan Ghulam Muhammad, former president of Pakistan Fazal Elahi Chaudhry, former president of Maldives Muhammad Amin Halim Didi, and former prime minister of Bangladesh Mansoor Ali. The Riyadh celebrations began with a recitation from the Holy Qur'an. Then, it was the turn of a number of speakers whose speeches focused on the great struggle and the remarkable achievements made by Ahmed Khan especially in the educational field at a time when Indian Muslims were lagging behind in all spheres of life and were living in the quagmire of ignorance and illiteracy. Their situation turned from bad to worse after the first Independence Struggle of 1857 in which Muslims played a great role. They suffered the most as victims of British oppression following the failed rebellion. Khan, who did not take part in the rebellion, played an important role in discouraging British rulers from pursuing oppressive measures against those who took part in the uprising. He wrote a book about the causes of the rebellion in which he blamed the British rulers and colonial policies for what happened. When it was time for me to deliver my speech, I started by expressing my delight and sense of pride and honor to be one of the speakers on this august occasion. I first thanked the organizers for inviting me and then Saudi Gazette which was instrumental in getting me this opportunity to attend the event as the Guest of Honor which allowed me to share my feelings and views about AMU. I especially thanked the newspaper's Editor-in-Chief Khaled Almaeena who had called me just a few minutes before my address to the gathering in order to convey his greetings and best regards to the participants and their Association. He requested me to convey his apologies for not being able to attend the event because of his participation in the Cairo Islamic Summit. I then said that I did not know what I could say about Khan in front of this grand gathering of great Aligarians. Should I speak about his origin? I pointed to some sources of reference that indicate that his roots were in Arabia where his ancestors came from. They traveled first to Iran and then to the Indian subcontinent. Should I speak about his education, especially about the great care and concern of Khan's mother, who was a strict, God-fearing lady? She showed extraordinary interest in the education, character building and upbringing of her son and that helped him to learn Qur'an and the Arabic language. He always gave credit to his mother for his acquisition of higher education. Should I speak about his service as a judge or his remarkable contributions as a philosopher, social reformer, author and above all as an interpreter of the Holy Qur'an? He wrote interpretation of the meanings of some verses of the holy book.
Some people agreed with them while others raised their objections. But we can say that he made endeavors (Ijtihad) in this. (In Islamic Shariah, Ijtihad is one of the fundamentals that can be followed in reaching decisions on religious matters). I told the audience that I was proud to have been associated with AMU. I also talked about the legacy of Khan as the founder of one of the oldest and most renowned seats of learning in the world and one of the most prestigious universities in India. There can only be a few universities in the world like AMU where such an immense number of students belonging to various nationalities have studied and graduated. While concluding my speech, I put forward in front of the alumni the same proposal that I had made while addressing the Aligarians in Jeddah on a previous occasion. I said: “The best way to pay tribute to Sir Syed is to follow in his footsteps by founding an Endowment Trust in his name for the purpose of promoting education, especially among the needy and the disadvantaged.” I requested that all Aligarians should contribute to the endowment even if only a small amount. — Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi is a former Saudi diplomat who specializes in Southeast Asian affairs. He can be reached at [email protected]
