An ambitious project to establish a Muslim University in Jerusalem has created much interest among the population here and especially so, since a delegation from Jerusalem, headed by the Grand Mufti and Mahomed Ali, former Minister to Egypt, is expected here soon to raise funds for the project.
Commenting on the expected visit of the delegation, the Bombay Chronicle, one of India’s leading nationalist dailies, points to the economic and educational plight of the country and warns that any money available should be spent at home.
The paper rather caustically treats the question of making Jerusalem the cultural center of the Muslim world. “We shall be glad to see the Grand Mufti and his coleagues in India,” it declares, “but we hope they will not be given a single pie by any Indian Mussalman to carry out of the country.”
The Eastern Times states that the Nizam of Hyderabad has decided to contribute a million rupees toward the foundation of the proposed Muslim University in Jerusalem, and an additional 5,000,000 rupees for an endowment fund.
Shaukat Ali, a leader in the movement to establish the university, views the establishment of a Muslim university as a necessary step to protect Muslim rights in Palestine which he describes as threatened by British and Jewish “encroachments.” In an interview given at New Delhi recently he pointed out that establishment of the seat of Muslim culture in Jerusalem would enlist the interest and support of Muslims the world over and would weaken the possibility of loss of Muslim rights in Palestine.
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