Dubai: UAE-based alumni of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), one of India’s most prestigious universities, are celebrating the 200th birth anniversary of its founder Sir Syed Ahmad Khan on Tuesday.
Almost 4,000 AMU graduates are working in the UAE in different sectors such as banking, education, health, construction, and others. Numerous Emiratis and GCC nationals are also studying at AMU.
This year, the AMU alumni, in association with Vertex Events, are organising a get-together dinner on October 20 at Al Boom Village, Dubai. Renowned Indian journalist Vinod Dua will be the chief guest, while Navdeep Singh Suri, Indian ambassador to UAE, will be the guest of honour of the event, along with Lt Gen (Retd) Zameer Uddin Shah, ex-vice chancellor of AMU.
Dua, a Padma Shree awardee, said: “I’m feeling proud and privileged for being a part of the bi-centennial celebrations of Aligarh Muslim University, the leading public university in India.” He lauded the “visionary attitude” of Sir Syed and congratulated AMU on “its success in contemporary times”.
In a letter, Shah wrote: “This was the appropriate year for AMU to regain its former glory and I am certain that in 2020, when the university will be celebrating its centenary, it will, In Sha Allah [God willing] find its place in the list of the top 200 universities of the world”.
He wished the alumni “a joyous and fruitful reunion” in Dubai.
Alumni member Tariq Chauhan, group CEO of EFS Services, also paid tribute to Sir Syed as “the founder of Muslim renaissance in India”.
In 1875, Sir Syed founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College, which later became Aligarh Muslim University, after Sir Syed’s visit to Oxford and Cambridge universities and his trip to London. His objective was to build a college in line with the British education system but without compromising its Islamic values.
Today, AMU is one of the largest central government universities that has all the modern education courses as well as Unani (traditional) medicine, Islamic studies, West Asian studies, mass communication, engineering, medicine, arts, sciences and more.
The late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan visited AMU in 1975 and donated a petroleum institute to AMU. Last year, Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Forces, donated $2 million to the university during his visit to India.
AMU has produced many celebrities like Dr Zakir Husain, former president of India; Hamid Ansari, former vice-president of India; Mohammad Asim Didi, president of Maldives; Mansoor Ali, former prime minister of Bangladesh; Zafar Iqbal, Indian hockey captain; Javed Akhtar, poet and writer; Naseeruddin Shah, Bollywood star, and others.
