Anjuman-i-Himayat-i-Islam

Anjuman-i-Himayat-i-Islam ("The Association for the Service of Islam") was founded in Lahore on 24 September 1884 in a mosque known as Masjid Bakan inside Mochi Gate, Lahore, by Khalifa Hameed-ud-Din. It was a result of the Aligarh Movement, founded by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. Its purpose is the educational uplift of Muslims of the Indian subcontinent. One of its major efforts was the foundation of a number of schools for Muslim girls and orphanages in the Punjab, where girls were taught Urdu, the Qur'an, mathematics, needlework, and crafts. It started a publishing house for appropriate textbooks for Muslim girls' and boys' schools, and these textbooks were used all over the Punjab and beyond. In 1939, it founded the Islamia College for Women in Lahore, the only one of its kind in the region, whose curriculum was the standard Bachelor of Arts program, supplemented by Islamic education. It also founded Islamia College Lahore in 1892.^[1]

The Anjuman-i-Himayat-i-Islam was a body that represented a spontaneous desire on the part of middle-class Muslims of Lahore to cooperate with each other for common good. The Anjuman also played a vital role to provide a political platform for Indian Muslims.^[2]

Later, a number of other institutions were initiated in Pakistan under the auspices of or partially supported by the Anjuman. One of such most prominent schools which gained recognition and was later turned into a full-fledged government-run public high school is the Himayat-ul-Islam High School in Hyderabad, Sindh,^[3][4] which has two distinct sections, the Himayat-ul-Islam Boys and Girls High Schools. The school was initiated by a prominent Shaikh Sindhi family in Hyderabad in 60's by granting their property with the sole aim of extending English-medium quality education to the masses. The school soon turned into a prominent English-medium public school competing with the leading public and private schools in the city, especially during the 70's and 80's, with prizes and awards in many literary and sports competitions. It has produced a number of prominent personalities in the city and province, civilian and military officers and eminent businessmen, some even gaining world fame such as the Pakistani-American politician Mr. M.J. Khan.

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