Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Robert Malley, The Call from Alge-

ria: Third Worldism, Revolution, and the Turn to Islam

(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996); Hugh 

Roberts,  The Battlefield: Algeria 1988–2002, Studies in 

a Broken Polity (New York: Verso, 2003); John Ruedy, 

Modern Algeria: The Origins and Development of a Nation

(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992).

Aligarh

A city in Uttar Pradesh (a state in northern i

ndia

), 

Aligarh first came under Muslim influence at the 

end of the 12th century during the rule of Qutb 

al-Din Aybak (r. 1206–11), the 

sUltan

  at  d

elhi

. 

i

bn

 b

attUta

 (d. 1369), the great Muslim traveler, 

visited Aligarh during his journeys in India. The 

region remained under Muslim rule through the 

Mughal period until 1785, when it was conquered 

by the Hindu Marathas and eventually annexed by 

the British in 1803.

The town is most famous for an educational 

institute founded by Sir s

ayyid

  a

hmad

  k

han

 (d. 

1898) in 1871. Beginning as a boys’ school in 

1878, the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental (MAO) 

College was incorporated there. The curriculum 

incorporated Islamic sciences with instruction 

in Arabic and modern 

edUcation

 modeled on 

the British system with instruction in English. 

Although the college’s mission has always been 

focused on uplifting the Muslim population of 

India, the enrollment has also been open to non-

Muslims. The goal of the institution was to cre-

K  32  

Aligarh

---

ate an educational center that could produce a 

progressively educated Muslim population who 

could excel under the British regime as the Hin-

dus had. Ahmad Khan himself advocated a critical 

reevaluation of Islamic law in which the Quran 

and the hadith (to a limited extent) would be 

considered. He believed true Islam was a wholly 

rational faith and entirely compatible with mod-

ern science. Nonetheless, the Islamic studies 

curriculum was not confined to Ahmad Khan’s 

idiosyncratic approach. Several faculty members 

at the college, including an Arabic instructor, have 

been Europeans. MAO College became Aligarh 

University in 1920, and in 1925, the women’s 

madrasa

 that had been affiliated with it became 

the Aligarh Women’s College. The university now 

has four areas of study: arts, science, engineering, 

and 

theology

. It became a center for nationalist 

politics during India’s struggle for independence, 

with some of its students and faculty promoting a 

united India, while others actively supported the 

creation of p

akistan

 as a separate Muslim state. 

Many faculty departed with the partition in 1947, 

but Aligarh continues to be a top university to the 

present day.

See also  a

ll

-i

ndia

  m

Uslim

  l

eagUe

;  h

indU

-

ism

 

and

  i

slam

; 

reneWal

 

and

 

reForm

 

movements

; 

secUlarism

.

Anna Bigelow