Madrasa 'Aliya

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Madrasa ʿAliya (Arabic: مدرسة عالية) was a madrasa founded 1781 in Calcutta by Warren Hastings^[1] although some sources have the founding date as 1780.^[2] Hastings ran the institution out of his pocket for a year and a half until he was later reimbursed by the Bengal Government. It was founded in Baithakkhana near Sealdah, Calcutta but is currently located to the north of Wellesley Square (renamed Haji Md. Mohsin Square) in the Taltala area. Its first head was Mulla Majduddin but Muhammad Ismail took over in 1791.

The school taught Persian, Arabic and Muslim Law (Fiqh) and its graduates were used to help the British Raj interpret.

After facing financial crises Captain Ayron a retired British army officer was appointed in 1819 to be on the Madrasa management committee helping the Board of Revenue. Upon further deterioration European head, Aloys Sprenger, was brought in in 1850.

[edit] Upgrade to university status

In 2006 the Madrasa was promoted to the status of a college by the state government but only partially, since it was not recognized by the University Grants Commission (India) or affiliated to any university.

In 2008, the state government passed a bill in the legislative assembly to confer university status to the Calcutta Madrasah College.^[3] The chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, inaugurated the Aliah University on April 5, 2008 and went on to announce the introduction of new courses like religious studies, linguistics, education, nursing, pharmacy, public health and a few vocational training courses. A proposal to introduce business administration and information technology was also considered, but the glaring absences were the pure sciences, social sciences, and Indian and English literatures.

With six classrooms and four office rooms, it is the smallest functioning university in the world.

[edit] References