Founding of Jamia Millia Islamia

Jamia Millia Islamia was founded at Aligarh in 1920 as an educational institution committed to India’s struggle for freedom. Its establishment grew out of the convergence of the Non-Cooperation and Khilafat movements, which encouraged Indians to reject colonial dependence and build institutions of their own.

The nationalist setting

The founding of Jamia belonged to a wider effort to turn opposition to British rule into organised national action.

• Under Mahatma Gandhi, the Non-Cooperation Movement called for withdrawal from colonial institutions, including government-controlled and government-aided educational institutions.
• The Khilafat movement, concerned with the position of the Ottoman Caliph after the First World War, brought sections of Muslim political leadership into a common struggle with the broader nationalist movement.
• Cooperation between these movements created an opportunity to strengthen Hindu-Muslim unity through shared political action and institution-building.

Why a new educational institution was needed

The boycott of colonial education raised a practical question: where would students study after leaving existing institutions? National education offered an answer by linking learning with self-reliance and service to the country.

• Jamia emerged from nationalist efforts at Aligarh, where teachers and students debated participation in non-cooperation and the relationship between education and British patronage.
• Its establishment provided an alternative for those who wanted education to continue without accepting the political dependence associated with colonial support.
• The institution demonstrated that non-cooperation was not merely a programme of withdrawal: it also required Indians to create and sustain their own organisations.

Leadership and educational purpose

Leaders associated with Jamia’s founding included Hakim Ajmal Khan, Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari and Mohammad Ali Jauhar. Gandhi supported the experiment as part of the nationalist effort.

• Jamia sought to reconcile Muslim cultural and educational aspirations with participation in a common Indian national struggle.
• Its founding outlook connected education with national service, self-reliance and cooperation across religious communities.
• The nationalist significance of Jamia therefore lay not simply in opening another institution, but in asserting that Indians could shape education according to their own social and political purposes.