Jamia Millia Islamia was born during the freedom movement in 1920, in response to Mahatma Gandhi’s call for boycotting educational institutions aided and controlled by the British. The founders of the institution, Maulana Mohammed Ali, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari, participated in the freedom movement and were ardent followers of Gandhiji. All of them had the privilege of leading the Indian National Congress during the freedom struggle. Abdul Majid Khwaja was also among the founders of Jamia. He became its Chancellor after Maulana Mohammed Ali. Three young scholars, Dr Zakir Husain, Prof Mohammed Mujib and Dr Abid Husain, after completing their studies abroad, joined the Jamia movement on return to India. They were among the principal architects of the fledgling institution.

Jamia Millia Islamia had to cope with financial hardship before independence because its founders refused to accept aid from the British government in India. The staff lived on nominal salaries paid out of subscription from the public but the national idealism of that time sustained them. That was also the period when Jamia became known in the country for its new experiments in school education. It implemented Mahatma Gandhi’s programme of Basic Education in its Teachers’ Training College and organised a network of adult education centres in Delhi. Jamia from its inception committed itself to pursuing the ideals of secular education. These ideals are reflected in its staff recruitment and student enrolment polices.