Radiance has spared its pages for Jamia Millia Islamia since the day it was incepted. One can collect, from the Radiance archive, a minute-to-minute detail of each event taken place in the institution especially of the golden jubilee celebration of the university. The journal has not only given a detailed analytical report of every development taken place within the four walls of the campus but also compelled the Jamia fraternity to compare its present with the past for betterment in the future.
It was Radiance that expounded the goals, the mission and the future plans that were in the minds of its founders and elders and urged them to portray all these in the present scenario. The magazine not only discussed the matter in depth but also contributed to moulding the minds of readers to come forward for the sake of their own institution. When the country got divided in 1947, Jamia Millia Islamia was very badly influenced with this phenomenon as two of its guiding stars, who could have led the institution in a better way in this crucial period, left Jamia. One among them was Dr. Zakir Hussain, who went to Aligarh, and the other was Mahatma Gandhi, who had been silenced forever (Radiance, 20 October 1970).
It was 27 October 1970 when Jamia was celebrating its golden jubilee. Radiance gave a special place for the JMI, a self-explanatory shedding ample light on the past, present and future of the institution. Highlighting the contribution of Jamia in bringing unity in the nation just before division, Radiance points out, in its issue on 20 October 1970, that during the silver jubilee celebration of Jamia Dr. Zakir Hussain wrought the miracle of bringing together on the same platform the stalwarts of Muslim League and the Congress. On the right side of the platform were sitting Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Khan Liyaqat Ali Khan, Abdul Rab Nishtar, Ghazanfar Ali and to the left were Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Shri Raj Gopalcharya and Indira Ghandhi.
Expressing concerns over the threat to Jamia’s Islamic future, Radiance recalls the time when the Jamia got the status of ‘Deemed to Be a University’ in 1962 and surprisingly how the number of non-Muslim students increased about four times in higher classes (about 75 per cent of total students), how the number of non-Muslim teachers snowballed, how these factors contributed to slow and gradual changing of the very face of Jamia during the period till the day came when under pressure of non-Muslim students, several age old features of Jamia such as the Friday Holiday had to be cancelled. Radiance, at this juncture, reminded all of the Islamic mission behind formation of the university as said by Dr. Zakir Hussain, “In my opinion Jamia is an Islamic institution which objective is the education of the Indian Muslims. The basis of this education is to be the religion and culture of Islam.” (Radiance, 1 November 1970). It further quoted Maulana Mahmoodul Hasan in its issue on 18-24 May 1997 highlighting the main objectives of the university, “To keep Muslim education in Muslims’ hand, entirely free from all external control, so that we may be perfectly immune from pernicious alien influence in our ideas and beliefs, our morals and actions, our conduct and characters.”
Radiance appraised the move of the Jamia when it gathered courage, for the first time after the Independence, to discuss the problems related to Muslims during its golden jubilee celebrations.
Smelling conspiracy in making the Jamia a central university from a deemed one in a planned and strange way i.e. to eliminate its minority character, an article in Radiance (18-24 May 1997) reads, “To add insult to injury the central government in the garb of making the Jamia Millia Islamia a national and central university and conferring a “higher status” than that of a deemed university strips it completely off its unique and minority character. A Jamia (university) of the Millia (Muslim community) meant to be Islamia (to preserve the distinct Islamic culture) just retains the nomenclature and is deprived of its very soul and spirit. This is the height of injustice ever conceived of in the largest secular democracy of the world.”
Since the Jamia Act, 1988, takes away the autonomy of the institution in absolute terms, a very comprehensive write-up “Jamia Millia Islamia’s Minority Character – Not Negotiable” by Asrar Ahmad, an advocate of the Supreme Court of India, was published in Radiance (22-28 June 1997) which threw light on every perspective especially the legal periphery. As per the reports of the journal, both Jamia administration and the Jamia Students’ Union made tireless endeavours to safeguard the unique nature of the university urging the Union Government to amend the Jamia Act 1988. Radiance covered every minute of the campaigning analytically and called upon Muslim leaders to come forward for the cause (Radiance, 25-31 May 1997).