Jamia Millia Islamia

Jamia Millia Islamia (Urdu: جامعہ ملیہ اسلامیہ, Hindi: जामिया मिलिया इस्लामिया, translation: National Islamic University ) is an Indian Central University located in Delhi. It was established at Aligarh in United Provinces, India in 1920. It became a Central University by an act of the Indian Parliament in 1988. In Urdu and Arabic, Jamia means University, and Millia means National.

The university was established by nationalist Muslim leaders in 1920 prior to partition. Its campus is located in South Delhi. The university provides undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate courses.

History

Conception

Under the British rule, two trends contributed to the birth of Jamia. One was anti-colonial activism and the other was the pro-independence aspiration of the politically radical section of western educated Indian Muslim intelligentsia. In the political climate of 1920, the two trends gravitated together with Mahatma Gandhi as a catalyst. The idea was to project Indian Muslims as nationalist and anti British. The anti-colonial activism signified by the Khilafat and the pro-independence aspirations symbolized by the Non-Cooperation Movement of the Indian National Congress helped to harness creative energies and the subsequent making of Jamia Millia Islamia.

Responding to Gandhi’s call to boycott all educational institutions supported or run by the colonial regime, a group of nationalist teachers...
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