Sheikh Abdullah (educationalist)

The recipient of numerous accolades, including a Padma Bhushan, he also served a member of United Province Legislative Council, a legislature of United Provinces of British India. During his time at AMU, he was associated with the Aligarh Movement. He worked at several posts at AMU such as Honorary Treasurer and University's court member from 1920 until he died in 1965.

Biography

He was born as Thakur Das to Mehta Gurmukh Singh on June 21, 1874, in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir. He originally belonged to Brahmin community of Kashmir. Das converted to Islam in 1891 after he went to Lahore for higher education. He married Waheed Jahan Begum (also known as Ala Bi), daughter of Mirza Mohammad Ibrahim in 1902, with whom he had six children, including five daughters and a son. One of his daughters, Mumtaz Jahan, served as Principal of the Women's College at Aligarh Muslim University for 30 years. Mehta Mastram, a lambardar of Bhantani village was his paternal grandfather. He was trained in Unani medicine by Hakeem Maulvi Nooruddin, a court physician to Maharaja of Kashmir. The physician was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, which Thakur Das also joined. Later when he went to United Province, he met with Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and adopted Sunni Islam, leaving the Ahmadiyya.

Education

He originally started his basic education with Persian and Sanskrit language from a Maktab in Poonch. He did his early schooling from an uncertain school in his village, and later he went to Jammu where he received further education. In 1891, Abdullah did matriculation in Lahore and then obtained Bachelor's of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from the Aligarh university.