On 25 April 1977, SIMI was founded in Aligarh, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, with Mohammad Ahmadullah Siddiqi as its founding president.[3] (Siddiqi currently serves as a Professor of English and Journalism at Western Illinois University in Macomb, IL.[4]).[3] In 1981, SIMI activists protested against PLO leader Yasser Arafat's visit to India, and greeted him with black flags in New Delhi.[4] Young SIMI activists viewed Arafat as a Western puppet, while the senior Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) leaders saw Arafat as a champion of the Palestinian cause. The JIH also became uncomfortable with SIMI's support of the 1979 Iranian Revolution and its communal orientation. After distancing itself from SIMI, JIH reverted to relying on the older student organization, SIO.[5]