May 2017

AMU Welcomes New Vice Chancellor: The President of India, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, has appointed Professor Tariq Mansoor to be the next vice chancellor of the AMU. Dr Mansoor currently serves as the principal and chief medical superintendent of the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, and will take over the reins of the University following the retirement of the current VC, Lt General Zameer Uddin Shah.

Professor Mansoor has over 33 years of teaching and research experience, has supervised 49 post-graduate students and has published over 90 papers in national and international journals. He has been a member, of the executive Council, and is a former president of the Association of Surgeons of India (UP Chapter).

Scholarship Grants from Aligarh Alumni Associations: The Alumni Associations of Michigan and Texas have, respectively, provided scholarships worth Rs 5,000 to 205 AMU students and Rs 4,000 to 60 students in the current academic year. In addition, the Old Boys Association, Bihar, has awarded scholarships worth Rs 6,000 to three students.

Women’s College Organizes Annual Mushaira: Poets from across the country recently gathered at AMU’s Women’s College for the Annual Mushaira, which was inaugurated by the Pro Chancellor, Nawab Ibne Saeed Khan of Chattari. It was attended by the Vice Chancellor, Lt General Zameer Uddin Shah as the Chief Guest. Prominent poets attending the Mushaira included: Mr Azhar Inayati, Mr Vaquar Manvi, Mr Alam Khursheed, Mr Popular Meeruthi, Mr Jameel Manvi, Ms Salma Shaheen, Ms Azra Naqvi, Dr Shehla Nawab, Mr Mohid Rasheedi, Dr Gulam Sarwar, Professor Abid Ali Abid and Dr Zoya Zaidi. (Adapted from AMU News, May 2017)

Maulana Abul Hasan Ali Nadavi (1914-1999), popularly known as Ali Mian, was an eminent Islamic scholar and a prolific author in several languages. He devoted his life to teaching and scholarship at Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama, Lucknow. In 1938, at an early phase of his career, he visited the AMU at the invitation of Professor Syed Suleiman Ashraf, head of the department of theology, to produce a course book, blending religious teachings and Islamic history, for undergraduate students. He was paid Rs 500, a princely sum at the time, as compensation for his work. The amount was nearly ten-times his monthly salary at Nadwa.

In the absence of an official guest house, Ali Mian was lodged in the office of Maulana Abu Bakr Sheesh Faruqui, nazim of the theology department, located next to the Jama Masjid. The concurrent presence of Maulana Syed Suleiman Ashraf and Abu Bakr Sheesh, two luminaries, had given the AMU a reputation of excellence in ecclesiastical scholarship.  In the following paragraph taken from his book, “Karawan-e-Zindagi,” Maulana Ali Mian, recorded his impressions of AMU, gained during his two-month stay.

“Maulana Sheesh was a celebrity in the theology department at AMU, a polymath, highly knowledgeable, with expertise in astronomy and mathematics, besides religious and doctrinal studies. He was greatly respected, and senior professors often came to listen to his lectures. He was also an acute connoisseur of Urdu and Persian poetry, and held in high esteem by the students. Since I was staying at a central location near the Sir Syed Hall, I had a vantage position to observe the behavior and daily life of the students and others. I used to regularly walk by the SS Hall through Bob-e-Ishaq onto ZakaUllah road on my way to Maulana Sheesh’s house and where I had my daily meals.  

The students I met showed unfailing courtesy and deference to members of religious faculty, and always took precedence in greeting me with a loud Salam Alaikum. Never did I hear any sardonic comments made to or directed at me. Their behavior was in sharp contrast to the treatment I received routinely at the Lucknow University campus which I had to cross on my way to Nadwa to teach. In general, people in religious garb, like me, were favorite targets of the students and had to endure derision and mockery.” (Translated and adapted from: Karawan-e-Zindagi)