Zakir Husain Delhi College

{{Further|Madrasa Ghaziuddin Khan}}File:1863 Dispatch Atlas Map of Delhi, India - Geographicus - Delhi-dispatch-1867.jpg (Shahjahanabad), in 1863, showing it as Oriental College]]

File:The courtyard of Ghazi al-Din Khan's Madrassah at Delhi 1814-15.jpg

It was initially founded by Ghaziuddin Khan in 1696, a general of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, a leading Deccan commander and the father of Qamar-ud-din Khan, Asaf Jah I, the founder of the Asaf Jahi dynasty of Hyderabad, also known as the first Nizam of Hyderabad, in 1690s, and was originally termed Madrasa Ghaziuddin Khan after him. However, with a weakening Mughal Empire, the Madrasa closed between 1790 and 1791, but with the support of local nobility, an oriental college for literature, science and art, was established at the site in 1792.{{cite web|url=http://www.milligazette.com/Archives/2003/16-31Dec03-Print-Edition/1612200305.htm |title=Anglo Arabic School: an academic legacy of the Mughals|author=Firoz Bakht Ahmad|publisher=The Milli Gazette (newspaper)|date=31 December 2003|access-date=12 January 2018}}

It stood just outside the walled city of Delhi outside the Ajmeri Gate, near Paharganj close to the New Delhi railway station. It was originally surrounded by a wall and connected to the walled city fortifications and was referred to as the College Bastion.[http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00maplinks/colonial/wellermaps/delhi1857/delhi1857.html "Plan of Delhi and its environs,"] by Edward Weller, for the "Weekly Dispatch," published in 1857, Retrieved 12 January 2018

It was reorganized as the 'Anglo Arabic College' by the British East India Company in 1828 to provide, in addition to its original objectives, an education in English language and literature. The Delhi College Traditional Elites, the Colonial State, and Education before 1857, The Madrasa of Ghaziu'd-Din Khan at Delhi, Ebba KochPlease provide a proper attribution for the quote.

Rev. Jennings started secret Bible classes in the officially secular Delhi College. In July 1852, two prominent Delhi Hindus, Dr. Chaman Lal, one of Zafar's personal physicians, and his friend Master Ramchandra,{{cite web|url=http://minds.wisconsin.edu/handle/1793/18323 |author=Gail Minault|title= Master Ramchandra of Delhi College: Teacher, Journalist, and Cultural Intermediary (Annual of Urdu Studies vol. 18, 2003)|access-date=7 March 2020}} a mathematics lecturer at the Delhi College, baptised a public ceremony at St. James' Church, Delhi.

Dr. Sprenger, then principal, presided over the founding of the college press, the Matba‘u ’l-‘Ulum and founded the first college periodical, the weekly Qiranu ’s-Sa‘dain, in 1845.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

Another cultural intermediatory was Mohan Lal Kashmiri, diplomat, and author, who worked for the East India Company and was educated at the college.{{Cite journal|last=Newell|first=Richard S.|date=1980|title=Book Review: Life of Amir Dost Mohammed Khan of Kabul. By Mohan Lal. With a new introduction by Nancy Hatch Dupre.|journal=The Journal of Asian Studies|volume=39|pages=421|doi=10.2307/2054345|jstor=2054345}}

It was renamed Zakir Husain College in 1975 by Indira Gandhi government after Dr. Zakir Husain, a distinguished educator and a President of India. The college was later shifted to its present building outside Turkman Gate in 1986, the old structure in the Madrasa Ghaziuddin complex, still houses a hostel for the college. It was declared a heritage monument by the ASI in 2002. Then in 2008, a separate archive on its history was set up within the college library, with centuries-old books and documents on display, chronicling its 300-year-old history.

Zakir Husain Delhi College is run by the Zakir Husain Memorial Trust since 1975.{{cite web|url=http://twocircles.net/2011dec21/zakir_husain_college_delhi_will_change_its_name.html|title= Zakir Husain College of Delhi will change its name|date=21 December 2011|website=TwoCircles.net website|access-date=7 March 2020}}

Zakir Husain Delhi College offers science, humanities and commerce as well as language courses.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

The college has a library possessing about 1,18,462 books.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}} It runs on open shelf system but some important text books are also kept in reserve section. It not only caters to the academic requirements but also houses leisure books and books to increase general awareness. The library is named after the college principal Mirza Mehmood Begg.

The college has an auditorium with a seating capacity of 417 persons. Various cultural programmes, lectures and college annual function are also organised in this auditorium. This auditorium is named after the former college principal Salman Gani Hashmi.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

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The Delhi College Archives, situated in a section of the M. M. Begg Library, was inaugurated by Professor Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, chairman, Indian Council of Historical Research, on 18 February 2008.

The archives contain a large number of files relating to the college and significant developments in higher education in Delhi and North India from 1823 onwards. These have been located within the National Archives of India and the Delhi Archives, and analyzed over the last couples of years.

Original writings by teachers and alumni of the college in Urdu, Persian and English are also available in the archives. Text books prepared and/or used during the 19th Century for instruction in mathematics, history, geography, philosophy, literature etc., are on display. The archives also contains secondary sources and books relating to Delhi College and the intellectual ferment in Delhi region during the 18th and 19th centuries.

A major annual event in the college calendar is the Zakir Husain Memorial Lecture to commemorate Dr. Zakir Husain. The speaker is an eminent personality of his field. It is organized in the 1st week of February. Zakir Husain Memorial Lecture is organized since 2006 annually. The lecture has been delivered by the following persons so far:

• Aruna Roy (2006)
• Professor Sukhadeo Thorat (2007)
• Intizar Hussain (2008)
• Hamid Ansari (2009)
• Professor B. B. Bhattacharya (2010)
• Soli Sorabjee (2011)
• Professor C. M. Naim (2012)
• Professor V.S. Chauhan (2013)

This is the only constituent college of the University of Delhi which holds an annual convocation ceremony. Although, due to the ongoing construction of a new building in the college, the college ground remains occupied as a result of which the ceremony wasn't held since 2017.{{when|date=July 2020}}

The notable and alumni and faculty of the college includes.

• Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi, a founder of Darul Uloom Deoband,
• Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, a founder of Darul Uloom Deoband,{{cite book |author1=Asir Adrawi |author-link=Asir Adrawi |title=Mawlāna Muhammad Qāsim Nanautawi: Hayāt awr Kārnāme |trans-title = Mawlāna Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi: Life and Works] |publisher=Shaykhul Hind Academy |location=Deoband |page=52 |edition=2015 |language=ur}}
• Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, the founder of Aligarh Muslim University,
• Deputy Nazir Ahmed, an Urdu essayist and ICS
• Ali Sardar Jafri
• Shamim KarhaniRazzack, A., Siddiqui, A. (2022). The School at Ajmeri Gate: Delhi's Educational Legacy. India: OUP India.{{Cite web|url=https://www.siasat.com/anglo-arabic-school-the-oldest-delhi-school-is-older-than-delhi-2410882/|title=Anglo Arabic School: The oldest Delhi school is older than Delhi|first=Firoz Bakht|last=Ahmed|date=12 September 2022|website=The Siasat Daily}}
• Akhtar ul-Iman
• Ravi Chaturvedi, the first Hindi cricket commentator he was also a faculty member in zoology department
• Masud Husain Khan,
• J N Dixit, defence analyst
• Gopi Chand Narang, Urdu/Persian critic
• Harsh Vardhan, Incumbent Minister of Ministry of Science & Technology, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Earth Sciences
• Jagdish Tytler
• Vikas Divyakirti, educator for UPSC Civil Services Examination and Co-Founder at Dristi IAS classes{{Cite web|url=https://zeenews.india.com/india/upsc-success-story-this-ias-cleared-civil-services-exam-in-1st-attempt-but-had-a-big-plan-the-world-knows-him-today-as-dr-vikas-divyakirti-2674458.html|title=UPSC Success Story: This IAS Cleared Civil Services Exam In 1st Attempt, But Had A BIG PLAN... The World Knows Him Today As Dr Vikas Divyakirti|website=Zee News}}
• Sikandar Bakht.
• Bhisham Sahni professor of the English department who was a noted writer and dramatist
• Mamluk Ali Nanautawi, scholar whose descendants founded Darul Uloom Deoband, served as the head teacher of the college.{{Cite book|title=Tazkirah Mashāhīr-e-Hind: Karwān-e-Rafta|author=Asir Adrawi|author-link=Asir Adrawi|page=246|location=Deoband|publisher= Darul Muallifeen |language=ur |edition = 2nd, April 2016}} He taught Arabic here in 1830s.{{cite web|author=Gail Minault|title=Delhi College and Urdu|url=http://www.urdustudies.com/pdf/14/10minaultg.pdf|access-date=12 January 2018}}

• Mohan Lal Kashmiri
• List of colleges affiliated with the University of Delhi
• Anglo Arabic Senior Secondary School another descendant of the original institution

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• {{official website|http://www.zakirhusaindelhicollege.ac.in/}}

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Category:1792 establishments in India

Category:Universities and colleges in Delhi

Category:Educational institutions established in 1792

Category:Delhi University