Sir Syed Day, an event to pay tribute to Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, the founder of India’s premier educational institution — Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) — was organized by Aligarh Muslim University Alumni Association, Jubail (AMU-AAJ), recently, at Jubail’s Marafiq beach camp.
“From the coffee machine, to musical instruments to algebra to optical science and medical surgery, Muslims of the medieval Islamic world invented almost everything. Muslims of the present world hardly win any Nobel awards. To regain their past glory, Muslims need to give top most priority to education,” chief guest AbdelHadi Al-Suhaimi, Vice President Operations of Saudi Chevron Philips Company, said at the Sir Syed Day celebrations in Jubail.
“Sir Syed was a great visionary, he was well ahead of his time, the one and only way we can pay tribute to him is by opening educational institutions and encouraging our next generation to strive for quality modern education in line with Islamic values,” said Alaa Ghazi Sulahem, Chairman of AGS group of companies, who was the guest of honor at the event.
KFUPM Professor and Senior AMU Alumni, Mukarram Ali Khan spoke about the rich ties between India and Saudi Arabia and entertained the audience with his ‘Arabish,’ the combination of Arabic and English.
Located in the city of Aligarh in northern India, the university, which is currently ranked as the second best in India was originally established by social reformer Khan as the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College. He made it his mission to build a college in India in line with the British education system but which incorporated Islamic values.
The modern-day AMU offers over 300 degrees and has around 12 faculties offering courses in a range of technical and vocational subjects, as well as interdisciplinary subjects. The university has around 28,000 students and a faculty of almost 1,500 teaching staff. One of the distinctive features of the university is its residential community, where students and staff live alongside each other in hostels and halls of residence. The university prides itself on being open to all, irrespective of caste, creed, religion or gender, and claims to be an institution ‘built upon diversity.’

Source: Arab News