Yet Ali Mian, as he is popularly known, was accused of being an anti-national who told a gathering of nearly one lakh Muslims on June 13 at Nadwa College not to pray for the Indian soldiers fighting at Kargil.

The fact is: The internationally renowned Arabic scholar has not made a public appearance since March.

Ali Mian did not even know for some time that he was accused of fanning anti-national sentiments and that he was the cause of a battle between students near his college campus.

When this reporter tried to interview him, he was barely audible. The principal of Nadwa College, Mohd Rabey Nadwi, said Ali Mian had no knowledge of the incident till a government official came to meet him.

``We did not want to disturb him. We hid the incident from him until the ADM sahibcame to meet him. We were then forced to tell him. But the administration is really helpful and is investigating the case,'' Nadwi said. Ali Mian, however, is not in position to speak. What he mumbled to Nadwi was: ``Peace must prevail.''

Ali Mian also restrained his colleagues from filing an FIR. Nadwa College official Shahid Hussain quoted Ali Mian as saying that ``this was not the time to fight against our own people.''

Yet on July 4, when the news of Indian soldiers conquering Tiger Hill reached Lucknow, a group of students of Lucknow University decided to ``celebrate'' it. They attacked Nadwa College -- the 103-year-old internationally renowned Islamic study centre.

The reason being cited by the students was that, ``Ali Mian has turned unpatriotic; he exhorted Muslims not to pray for the Indian jawans fighting at Kargil in a newspaper report; that his students disrespect our idols, like Ram, Nachiketa and Sachin Tendulkar.''

The incident is said to have followed a Hindi newspaper report. But thehatred of some students of Lucknow University for the Nadwa college students has a long history. Lucknow University spokesperson S K Dwivedi says such incidents are not new.

The three-storey Acharya Narendra Dev Students Hostel building of Lucknow University shares a common wall with Nadwa College. ``Whenever electricity goes off, the students of this hostel go to the rooftop. They exchange arguments and abuses with their counterparts at Nadwa.

``On July 4, about 100-150 students went to the hostel roof and started shouting slogans. There was mob frenzy and some students then broke the parapet wall and indulged in brick-batting. However, the situation was brought under control, as the police stepped in,'' says Dwivedi.

He says that someone fired in the air but he doesn't know who -- his students or the Nadwa students.

Vinay Singh, a third year LLB student living in Room No. 45 of Narendra Dev Hostel, cannot stand Nadwa College or its students. He says they are trained to become maulvis. Hecannot bear the sight of the Nadwa students, who are normally in their white kurta-pyjama and a cap.

``They (Nadwa students) had provoked us first. They would show us posters of Nachiketa and Sachin Tendulkar from their hostel windows and spit on them. They abuse our gods. How can we take it lying down?'' Vinay says.

But if you look from the Narendra Dev Hostel, you can only see the 12-feet wall separating the hostel and Nadwa College. On the Nadwa side are first the staff quarters and then the students hostels, which do not have windows facing the Acharya Narendra Dev Hostel.

``These windows were sealed years ago to avoid any such incidents,'' Nadwi says.