Aftab Hall

Aftab Hall is named after Aftab Ahmad Khan who was the University�s second Vice Chancellor. He was one of the most outstanding figures associated with the University. He joined the MAO College when he was eleven year old and studied there till his intermediate in 1891. He then went to Christ�s College, Cambridge for his higher education and did his B.A. and Barrister-at-Law from Inner Temple in London before returning to India in 1894. Aftab Ahmad Khan made Aligarh his home and started his law practice. But the welfare of the College was always dearest to his heart. Sir Syed recognized Aftab Ahmad Khan�s attachment to the College and his abilities and in 1894 he made him a Trustee of the College. In 1897, he was appointed Professor of Law in the College. After Sir Syed�s death, Aftab Ahmad Khan�s involvement with the College deepened. He organized the Sir Syed Memorial Fund to raise the College into a University.

Earlier, he had established a new student voluntary organization, the Anjuman Al-Farz or Duty Society. Its purpose was to collect funds to enable poor students to come to Aligarh and to promote the interest of the college within the Indian Muslim community and the country as a whole.
Aftab Ahmad Khan was a distinguished Vice Chancellor of the University from 1924 to December 1926. Although he was pressed to stay on for a further term of three years, he declined due to his frail health. The strains of his enormous responsibilities proved too great and on 18 January 1930, he passed away and was buried in the grounds of the Ahmadi School for the Blind, which he had established in memory of his father Nawab Ghulam Ahmad Khan whose pen name was Ahmadi.

After his death, the A.M.U. Old Boys� Association decided to construct a hall of residence in his memory. Mir Wilayat Husain, Maulana Tufail Ahmad Manglori, Deputy Habibullah and Prof. Mohd. Habib were instrumental in collecting large donations for this purpose. Nawab Muzammilullah Khan was the biggest donor. Aftab Hall was established in the year 1932 with an initial intake of 416 students. The present strength is 729. It includes the following hostels.