Beef was never on Aligarh University hostel menu, claims Urdu writer

Rahat Abrar says Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was in favour of banning cow slaughter

Rahat Abrar, a prominent Urdu writer, claimed on Wednesday that Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, founder of Aligarh Muslim University, was against cow slaughter by Muslims. He was speaking at the release of his latest Urdu work on Sir Syed titled Sir Syed Aur Unke Maasreen (Sir Syed and His Contemporaries).

Abrar quoted Sir Syed's views from an article he had penned, "If prohibition of cow sacrifice can bring peace and friendship among the Hindus and the Muslims, it would be wrong on the part of the Muslims not to relinquish this right," reported WION.

Sir Syed felt that Muslims should give up cow meat to maintain peace with Hindus, said Abrar, who is director of the Urdu Academy at AMU, while addressing a gathering at the ongoing bicentenary birth celebrations of the AMU founder.



Abrar said there is a recorded incident where Sir Syed came to know that some students had purchased a cow to sacrifice on the occasion of Eid-ul-Adha. This was during the early days of AMU when it was known as MAO College. Cow sacrifice was then prevalent all over the country.

Sir Syed, who was very upset by this, rushed to the hostel where the cow was kept and prevented the animal from being sacrificed, Abrar said.

Beef was never served in any of the AMU hostels under Sir Syed's watch and non-vegetarian students were served buffalo meat.

Abrar went on to saying that  Sir Syed published an article in Aligarh Institute Gazette in 1897 lauding the efforts of the Muslims of Bareilly who voluntarily gave up cow slaughter on the occasion of Eid-ul-Adha in deference to the sentiments of the Hindus.

Abrar said that contrary to some of the critics of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, the founder of the AMU never lost any opportunity to his last days in promoting India's pluralistic ethos.

Most historians have not touched upon Sir Syed's close association with Hindu social reformers like Arya Samaj founder Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Raja Ram Mohan Roy who was behind the ban on Sati, Sir Surendranath Banerjee, Lala Lajpat Rai, Raja Shiv Prasad of Banaras, Bhartendu Harishchandra and Raja Shambhu Narayan.

Abrar quoted a letter from Lala Lajpat Rai, who informed Sir Syed that "his father considered Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as a saint".