ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY

ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY

Aligarh Muslim University grew out of the work of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. Raja Jai Kishan helped Sir Syed in establishing the university. The British decision to replace the use of Persian in 1842 for government employment and as the language of Courts of Law caused deep anxiety among Muslims of the sub-continent. His purpose for the establishment of the Scientific Society in 1864, in Aligarh. Sir Syed's son, Syed Mahmood, who was an alumnus of Cambridge prepared a proposal for an independent university to the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College Fund Committee upon his return from England in 1872. Syed Mahmood continued to work along with his father in founding the college. By 1920 the college was transformed into the Aligarh Muslim University. The green circular emblem of AMU has a palm tree supported by a crescent and an open book. These are circumscribed by the name of the university and place. It has has a circular border which carries the motto in Arabic ‘علام الانسان ما لم يحيى’ meaning ‘Man's Knowledge is What he Did not Live’. One can see that these five words of Arabic are written in such logos of AMU on many pillars from Baba Syed Gate. The original logo of AMU is not used on calendars, books and any such correspondence, which may not be misused, may not accidentally reach someone's feet. For this reason the logo of AMU has been made in different ways. The palm tree denotes rest and hospitality; the crescent denotes the guidance of God on the path through life and book denotes ‘having valid divine significance’.