About Us

Duty Society (Anjuman-Al-Farz) was founded by M.A.O. College alumnus Sahabzada Aftab Ahmad Khan during Sir Saiyid’s lifetime in 1889. The primary objective of Duty Society was to have a permanent fund to support the poor and needy students of the Mohammadan Anglo Oriental (MAO) College. Duty society focused on 3 main issues which helped to promote the vision and mission of Sir Saiyad Ahmad Khan and Aligarh Movement. The members of Duty Society visited to different parts of the country to generate funds to help poor and needy students of MAO College and garner support for MAO College and Aligarh Movement. The tour of the members of Duty Society played an important role in clarifying the misconceptions about Sir Saiyad Ahmad Khan and Aligarh Movement and encouraged the masses to send their children to MAO College for higher education. The prospective students and their family got an opportunity to meet the students, staff and supporters of MAO College at their doorsteps to clarify their misconceptions about Sir Saiyad and MAO College Aligarh. The first delegation consists of Sahabzada Aftab, Mr. Abdullah Khan, Maulvi Bahadur Ali and Maulana Tufail Ahmad made a visit to Agra to generate funds on 15th November 1890 and the second delegation comprised of Maulana Mazharul Haq and Maulana Tufail Ahmad visited Saharanpur to raise funds for Duty Society.

Sahabzada Aftab Ahmad Khan, Maulana Tufail Ahmad, Mr. Bahadur Ali, Mr. Abdullah Khan and Mr. Mazharul Haq were the founding members of Duty Society. They elected Prof. Thomas Walker Arnold of M.A.O. College as its Keeper (Ameen). These dedicated members of Duty Society adopted different means to raise funds. On 12-13 December 1890, Maulana Mazharul Haq opened a tea stall on annual sports day of the college and generated Rs.16/- for Duty Society. Sahabzada Aftab and Maulana Mazharul Haq repeated the experiment of similar stalls in annual conference of Muslim Educational Conference in December 1890 at Allahabad and generated Rs.500/-. With the sincere efforts from the members and generous support from the community, very soon Duty Society built a free boarding house (hostel) for poor students. The present University post office and its adjacent buildings are the said hostel built by Duty Society funds. Duty Society helped the struggle for Muslim University and provided funds to support the struggle to make MAO College as Muslim University.