Past in Perspective

“The aim of the college, for the individual student, is to eliminate the need in his life for the college; the task is to help him become a self-educating man.”

-George Horace Lorimer

With a mention of Peshawar, the first few things that come to one’s mind include Islamia College Peshawar as well. The foundation of Islamia College Peshawar is a story of Sir Sahibzada Abdul Qayum’s inspiration from Sir Sayyed Ahmed Khan and his Aligarh movement. He paid a visit to Aligarh, and on the return, Sahibzada started collecting donations for the establishment of Islamia College Peshawar. He laid the foundations of the college in 1913.

Just like the students of Aligarh movement were in the vanguard of the independence movement in India so were the students of Islamia College. Jinnah, the founding father of the nation, was well aware of the potential role that students play in politics. He visited the college in 1936, 45 and 48. The three visits that Jinnah made to the college were enough to establish an unbreakable bond of love between the college and Quaid-e-Azam. Jinnah making the college one of the heirs of his property shows the love that Jinnah had for the college.Apart from serving the purpose of launching pad of political agitation against British rule, the college also produced some of the finest minds of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). They are making rich contributions to the nation’s prosperity in different walks of life. The college became a university in 2008; however, the word college has been retained not to forget the past.