MORE THAN 300 people were in attendance in the gala affair during which old traditions met modern times not unlike the vision that Sir Syed Ahmad Khan had when he founded the Mohammedan Anglo Oriental (MAO) College in Aligarh, India in 1875. That institution later became Aligarh Muslim University in 1920, one of the premiere places of learning for Indian/south-Asian Muslims till today. 

The annual Sir Syed Day International Mushaira on October 15 began with a Quranic recitation by Hafiz Humayun Suhail. Emcee Afzal Usmani bid everyone welcome and was joined by AMUAA Northern California President Ms. Amtul Suhail in updating everyone on the fundraising aspect of the evening and in presenting a short introduction of the AEEF.

Usmani said that the ongoing projects of the AEEF including scholarships, supporting students at feeder institutions, Aligarh Model School and Hamara School, supporting vocational training for women, a mentorship program for youngsters and support coaching for competitive exams to enter premier institutions of higher learning in India cost around $68,000 per year and that the fundraising goal of the evening was $50,000. 

The keynote speech delivered on the topic of “The State of Education for Muslims in the United States” was delivered by Dr. Farid Senzai. Senzai is also Assistant Professor of Political Science at Santa Clara University and a fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. He has also co-authored a book titled Educating the Muslims of America. He said that he would try to give us a glimpse of the current situation of education for the community, the majority of whom came here as immigrants. He added that for these immigrants, the primary effort was to build Mosques and once that was achieved, Sunday schools attached to these Mosques appeared. Full-time K to 12 Islamic schools have been started. He added that Muslims do emphasize education and remain amongst some of the most educated communities in America.

Dr. Senzai said that the aftermath of 9/11 has seen a resistance towards building Islamic institutions in this country mainly due to a certain few trying to gain political mileage from this for their short term political benefit. Senzai gave the example of the building of a Kahlil Gibran International Academy in New York, a clearly secular effort and its trials and tribulations possibly because the Arabic language was taught there.    

No Aligarh program is complete before the singing of the Tarana-e-Aligarh or Aligarh anthem by its alumni, and this year was no exception as the first segment of the program came to a close for a brief interval to set the stage for the International Mushaira to begin. AMU Alumni worldwide annually host Sir Syed Day and always try to include an Urdu poetry segment or Mushaira in their program where poets of the language from different parts of the world (hence the term International) are invited to share their craft. This year, once again, the lineup of poets did not disappoint the audience in Milpitas, California. Presided over by Dr. Abdul Qayyum and conducted by Saleem Kausar, the poets (in order of appearance and home base were) Ahmar Shehwaar (Bay Area), Tashie Zaheer (Bay Area), Irfan Murtaza (Los Angeles), Nausha Asrar (Houston), Khushbir Singh Shaad (India), Farhat Ehsas (India) and then Saleem Kausar (Pakistan) himself. AMU Alumni Association of Northern California, therefore, was able to hold another fine Sir Syed Day event.