Sir Syed Hall (North)

Sir Syed Hall is one of the oldest residential halls of Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. It is named after the founder Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. In 1984, due to administrative reasons and for better management Sir Syed Hall was bifurcated into two halls - Sir Syed Hall (North) and Sir Syed Hall (South).

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan was one of those early pioneers who realized the major role of education for the empowerment of the poor and backward sections of the society. As Muslims at that time were lagging behind in the field of education, they were to be given special attention.  He was one of the greatest social reformers and a great nation builder of modern India. He began to set up the road map for the formation of a Muslim University by starting various schools. For this purpose, Scientific Society was introduced by him in 1863 to inculcate a scientific temperament into the Muslims and to make the Western knowledge accessible to Indians in their own languages.

In 1875, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan laid the foundation of the Madarsatul Uloom in Aligarh that subsequently became Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental (MAO) College. He patterned the college after Oxford and Cambridge Universities. His aim was to institute a college with the British education system but without compromising its Islamic values. The MAO College flourished into full-fledged Central University by an Ac of Parliament in 1920.

Sir Syed has realized the significant role of residential life of the students. His dream was to establish a campus with hostel facilities. In view of the above Kacchi Barack was constructed and later it developed into Pakki Barack that is presently called Sir Syed Hall (North). Sir Syed Hall (North) along with Sir Syed Hall (South) is the heart of the university. Initially these two halls served as the campus of MAO College. The Faculties of Arts, Commerce, Social Sciences, Law etc used to be operated from these two halls.