Aligarh’s Sir Syed House which was declared ‘enemy property’ after independence

The Sir Syed House of Aligarh Muslim University in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is now a museum, but after independence in 1947 it was declared “enemy property” and taken into government custody.

Sir Syed House now houses a museum and the Sir Syed Academy, whose deputy director Dr Muhammad Shahid told Independent Urdu: ‘When India was partitioned, Sir Syed House was given the status of enemy property because Sir Syed Ahmed There was no heir of Khan in India.’

Spread over 13.7 acres, this sprawling building used to be the mess of the British army, which was bought and gifted to Syed Mahmood, son of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, in 1876.

Dr Shahid said that ‘Sir Syed Ahmed Khan retired from his government job in Benares and after that he decided to come and live in Aligarh as his college movement was going to start soon.

His son Syed Mahmood bought this Sir Syed House to him. Earlier it used to be a British Army mess. This building was on a vast area of ​​more than 13 acres. He bought it and gifted it to his father. After that, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan started living here and the inauguration ceremony of the college was held here.’

Dr. Shahid says that after the death of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, many Vice Chancellors especially Sir Ras Masood, Sir Ziauddin used his lounge as Vice Chancellors.

‘Besides this, for a long time, English House was also located here, which used to be a hostel for training college boys.’

Regarding the building being declared ‘enemy property’, Dr. Shahid said that Ras Masood’s sons Anwar Masood and Akbar Masood had acquired Pakistani citizenship, so the building had gone into government custody.

‘Then in the vice-chancellorship of Colonel Bashir Hussain Zaidi, he tried and bought it again from the Government of India. It was then rebuilt but the foundations remained the same as Sir Syed’s House.’

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan stayed in this building for 22 years.

Sir Syed House was used for different functions at different times but since 1969 it has been permanently named as Sir Syed House which houses the offices of Sir Syed Academy and Museum.

The archive department of this museum is of utmost importance as this archive stores the museum and all the documents related to it.

A historic photo of Sir Syed Ahmed with his companions at Sir Syed House Aligarh (Photo/Screengrab: Aamir Rashid)

When you enter this museum, on the left hand side there are some items related to Sir Syed that he used, such as Sir Syed Ahmed Khan’s cane, clock, handkerchief, table and chair besides sofas etc. A stanza of the poem, ‘Hai dileri dast-i arbab-i siyat ka isa’ is related to these goods.

In the second room of the museum there is a library which contains books written by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan besides books related to Sir Syed Movement and Aligarh Movement.

When Sir Syed Ahmad Khan founded this institution, pictures of that time are displayed on the wall and there is also a sherwani of that period as a sign.