Muhammad Burhanuddin Qasmi
(Maulana) Mohammad Burhanuddin Qasmi (MB Qasmi) is the Director of Markazul Ma'arif Education and Research Centre (MMERC), Mumbai. He is also the Editor of Eastern Crescent, English monthly since 2006. He got Fazilat (Master in Islamic Theology) from Darul Uloom Deoband, UP and Master in English from Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad. He is in social and educational activities since 1997 with Markazul Ma’arif, the largest (NGO) in northeast India. Maulana MB Qasmi is a freelance writer on Indian and Islamic issues and a columnist for national and international newspapers in English, Urdu, Hindi and Bengali. He is also an English poet and composed 50 plus poems.
Supervisors:
Phone: 0091-22-26798538
Address: Patliputra Nagar (Masjid)
Oshiwara, New Link Road
Jogeshwari (W), Mumbai 400102 (India)
Supervisors:
Phone: 0091-22-26798538
Address: Patliputra Nagar (Masjid)
Oshiwara, New Link Road
Jogeshwari (W), Mumbai 400102 (India)
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'A religion is a set of organized beliefs, practices and systems that governs an individual human's personal as well as public life which is expressed by confession, worship or moral practices, with the belief that there exists a God, gods or 'super natural being' who would cause benefit or harm here in this life and grant salvation or impose punishment in the life after death.' Religion often involves scriptural doctrines, theological beliefs, cultural practices, worldviews, sacred texts, prophecies, revelations, and morals that have spiritual meaning to members of that particular faith, and it can encompass a range of different practices, including prayers, sermons, rituals, meditation, visiting holy places, wearing symbols, attending feasts and joining particular celebrations.
During the 18th century comparative religion scholars increasingly recognized Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism as the most significant, major and "popular world religions." Even today, these are considered the "Big Five" and are the religions most likely to be covered in world religion studies almost in all universities of the world.
Five smaller or more localized religions/philosophies brought the list of ‘world major religions’ to ten. Thus, Confucianism, Taoism, Jainism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism are also listed among the world’s major religions.
Precisely, the present geographical West (Europe, America and Australia etc.) has not originated any major world religion ever. All the major religions are from Asia only.
The book in your hand is a Souvenir – collection of papers presented in the 3-Day International Seminar held on the occasion of MMERC Silver Jubilee in New Delhi. In this Souvenir, along with the seminar details, you will find research papers shedding light on Markazul Ma’arif and its achievements, DELL (Diploma in English Language and Literature) course, as well as on the main theme of the Seminar: ‘Ulama, Muslim Youth and Contemporary Challenges’. It is interesting to note that most of the paper contributors are alumni of MMERC and products of the DELL course. A few of the authors are inspiring graduates; we did not alter much in the language of their papers to keep complete originality in letter and spirit. Nevertheless, I should confess that there may be typos and proofreading errors in the book because of shortage of time to the Souvenir Committee.
I thank the MMERC patron, the Seminar Conveners, my colleagues in the Souvenir Committee and all contributors for their part in producing this wonderful work in a very short span of time.
May Allah enable us to serve the community and the nation more and better – Aameen!
I had to go through various history books, to quote from reliable and authentic sources, in order to answer emails with questions pertaining to a book entitled ’World of Fatwas’, written by an Indian journalist, casting aspersions on patriotic spirits of Darul Uloom Deoband. Here on, the article is given the shape of a booklet, hoping this would benefit the serious students of history.
(M. Burhanuddin Qasmi)
Date : June 20, 2001
Papers
The latest NFHS – 5 data from 2019-2021 which was carried and thoroughly analyzed by all major print and digital media platforms shows that the prevalence of polygyny was 2.1% among Christians, 1.9% among Muslims, 1.3% among Hindus, 1.3% among Buddhists, 0.5 among Sikhs and 2.5% among other religious groups. Here again if we put together these handy figures of polygamy of the constitutionally defined Hindus (1.3 + 1.3 + .0.5 =) it stands to be 3.1%, the highest among all, even as per the latest NFHS 2019-2021. Legally this 3.1 and 2.1 (total 5.2) percent people are committing a crime, for they all come under the HMA 1955 and under Sections 494 and 495 of the Indian Penal Code (1860) which criminalized polygamy, but 1.9 percent Muslims are not, instead, they are legal under the Muslims Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act 1937!
“Madrasah, the word itself” does not subscribe to any particular type of education. It is utterly a narrow and post independent India biased understanding of anti-Muslim groups and Islamophobics that madrasah provides education only about theology or more precisely about Islamic theology. A bright and upwards person, a former education minister and the Chief Minister of a state is not at all expected to be that naive about the common terms of education!
However, Assamese people want NRC update work be done properly and professionally. They want to move ahead of this Hindu - Muslim, Assamese - Bengali and; indigenous and non-indigenous politicking now and focus on real development issues. Assam witnessed enough bloodshed in the past; it may need peace and unity as priority, nonetheless, an accurate NRC is everyone’s dream. This half-done work by Prateek Hajela’s team created additional issues with some hope and some dismay.
Apart from the leadership and administrative crises in the jamaat there have been talks among scholars and ulama on Maulana Saad’s unchecked or out of the way statements in his bayans (sermons) for past several years. Mainstream scholars and elders within jamaat, including its sympathizers, were finding it hard to cope with some of the irreligious statements and ideals of Maulana Saad. They started sending documented letters to Darul Uloom Deoband, the fountainhead of the Tablighi Jamaat, seeking fatwas and its religious guidance on some of the infamous statements of Maulana Saad Kandhelvi for past years.
The renowned Islamic seminary of the world, Darul Uloom Deoband took cognizance of these vitiating statements and on urging by the jamaat’s followers and sympathizers has issued a lengthy directive for Maulana Mohammad Saad to correct his wrong ideas being disseminated publicly and repent to Allah immediately, else he and his followers may derail from the original path of Islam. Darul Uloom sought a clear oral and written retraction from Maulana Mohammad Saad on his documented objectionable statements in the past and advised him to shun such unIslamic statements in future. It also warns him to do the required retraction within a limited time period both in public and private else Darul Uloom will release its public statement about him.
5.63 Muslims and 7.3 Hindus, per 1,000 women, are divorced/separated
Malegaon, a city with 5 lakh Muslims, only 0.10 % Muslim polygamists
Today on his 148th birth university and in this International Day of Nonviolence we the Indians need to ask ourselves as what might have gone wrong with us? Why our country is gradually reducing into a boiling volcano?
Coexistence is a two-way effect. The parties sharing same interest should come ahead to understand each other. Need of the time is to utilize modern recourses while bridging gapes and making stronger relationship than ever before among all major religions being practiced in India like Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism and Christianity.
Our strength is unity and our idea is ‘unity in diversity’. The more we enjoy this idea of India the more respectable and stronger we will be at home as well as in abroad. The modern fathers of this nation – Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. BR Ambedkar, Maulana AK Azad and their likes have chosen it to be – a cosmo, a nation with innumerable differences but one and a proud India. We need to abolish hatred from the roots – from school level. It is the political history of India which is seeding enmity. It is our political rhetoric which is problematic.
Let us diagnose the actual problems sooner than later and fix them there only. No religion or religious text preaches hatred, it is we the upholder of religions who make it our way to befit our interests.
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reported in 1998 that the growth rate of crimes against women would be higher than the population growth rate by 2010. Earlier, many cases were not registered with the police due to the social stigma attached to rape and molestation cases. But recent official statistics show that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of reported crimes against women.
According to the latest data by NCRB, with 24,206 cases in 2011, rape cases jumped to incredible increase of 873 % from 1971 when the oldest case of rape was first recorded by NCRB. Even in 1971, there were 2043 cases of rape according to the NCRB.
According to NCRB a total of 2,28,650 incidents of crime against women, both under Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Special & Local Laws (SLL), were reported in the country in 2011 as compared to 2,13,585 incidents in 2010, thus recording an alarming increase of 7.1% during the year 2011 alone.
The most shocking revelation is that of the total rape victims, 10.6% (2,582) were girls under 14 years of age, 19.0% (4,646) were teen-aged girls (14-18 years), 54.7% (13,264) were women in the age-group 18-30 years, 15% (3,637) victims were in the age-group of 30-50 years and 0.6% (141) were over 50 years of age. These figures indicate that our country is becoming one of the most dangerous places for women in the world.
It is also notable that these are the cases that are registered in police stations while a vast majority of the cases till date go unreported.
Thus, the aftermath of the 1857 brought about dramatic changes in colonial rule as stated earlier. In addition to change of governance from proxy to direct British Rule, the British embarked on a furious policy of "Divide and Rule", fomenting religious hatred as never before. Resorting to rumors and falsehoods, they deliberately recast Indian history in highly communal colors and practised malicious communal politics to divide the Indian masses. Hateful history books portraying successful and pious Mughal rulers like Babar and Aurangzeb were compiled in that period of time.
All practicing Muslim rulers were shown as anti-Hindu and repressive against their citizens whereas those fond of Darbaris and lavish were given importance in the pages of Indian history, thus creating communalism and hate among Hindus and Muslims. Shuddhi Karan Movement by Arya Samaj, which later shaped into Bhartiya Hindu Shuddhi Mahasabha' (Indian Hindu Purification Council) in 1923 to work as what today the Sang Privar is doing in the name of Gharwapsi was also among the plots of ‘divide and rule’ conspiracy of British Raj in India.
That legacy continues to plague the sub-continent till today. However, if more people become aware of the colonial roots of this divisive communal gulf - it is possible that some of the damage done to Hindu-Muslim unity could be reversed. If Hindus and Muslims could rejoin and collaborate in the spirit of 1857, the sub-continent may yet be able to unshackle itself from it's colonial past – say British and American hegemony this day.
Let's have a real recounting of our strength in India— the unity in diversity— and make meaningful salutations to all our heroes alike. Year 1857 was a time for united war against British tyrants and 2016, after 159 years, should bring real smiles to all the brave souls – ulama, Muslims, Hindu and Sikhs who gifted us the 'FREEDOM'.
Hence, good Volunteer Management policies, practices and procedures need to be formulated and adapted for the purpose of professional management of volunteers.
In at least nine districts – Cachar, Karimganj, Hailakandi, Dhubri, Bongaigaon, Goalpara, Barpeta, Morigaon and Nagaon Bengalis form the majority. Four more – Karbi Anglong, N.C. Hills, Kokrajhar and Baksa have different tribal cultures and languages of their own. The remaining eight districts – Nalbari, Kamrup city, Kamrup rural, Darrang, Sonitpur, Dhemaji, Udalguri and Chirang have a mixed population of Assamese, Bengalese, tribals and tea labourers.
With the aforementioned details, the obvious conclusion of this linguistic and cultural debate in Assam should be that the Bengalis in Assam are losing their age-old and rich linguistic and cultural grip in the state to newly evolved Assamese language and culture with the voluntary conversion of some Bengalis living in lower and central parts of the state, and not vice-versa at all.
Nonetheless, because of the undue stress on the ‘identity crisis’ of Assamese by some politically astray and chauvinistic youth, the voluntary and natural process of different tribals and Bengalis assimilation into Assamese language and culture in post-independent India has got a big jolt. It rather became counter productive.
To remove the backwardness of the region, tackling the flood menace is a must. Otherwise, all efforts to bring northeast at par with other mainland states will come to a naught.
The question is when Assamese will see a permanent solution to the problem they have come to live with as long as they can remember. "I do not know", replies chief minister Tarun Gogoi. The key to the solution is with the Centre, according to him. Assam government cannot tackle the flood menace on its own. Its resources are meager. It doesn’t have enough money to pay the salaries to its staff. And the debt burden is Rs. 10,000 crore plus. Flood problem is gigantic.
'A religion is a set of organized beliefs, practices and systems that governs an individual human's personal as well as public life which is expressed by confession, worship or moral practices, with the belief that there exists a God, gods or 'super natural being' who would cause benefit or harm here in this life and grant salvation or impose punishment in the life after death.' Religion often involves scriptural doctrines, theological beliefs, cultural practices, worldviews, sacred texts, prophecies, revelations, and morals that have spiritual meaning to members of that particular faith, and it can encompass a range of different practices, including prayers, sermons, rituals, meditation, visiting holy places, wearing symbols, attending feasts and joining particular celebrations.
During the 18th century comparative religion scholars increasingly recognized Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism as the most significant, major and "popular world religions." Even today, these are considered the "Big Five" and are the religions most likely to be covered in world religion studies almost in all universities of the world.
Five smaller or more localized religions/philosophies brought the list of ‘world major religions’ to ten. Thus, Confucianism, Taoism, Jainism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism are also listed among the world’s major religions.
Precisely, the present geographical West (Europe, America and Australia etc.) has not originated any major world religion ever. All the major religions are from Asia only.
The book in your hand is a Souvenir – collection of papers presented in the 3-Day International Seminar held on the occasion of MMERC Silver Jubilee in New Delhi. In this Souvenir, along with the seminar details, you will find research papers shedding light on Markazul Ma’arif and its achievements, DELL (Diploma in English Language and Literature) course, as well as on the main theme of the Seminar: ‘Ulama, Muslim Youth and Contemporary Challenges’. It is interesting to note that most of the paper contributors are alumni of MMERC and products of the DELL course. A few of the authors are inspiring graduates; we did not alter much in the language of their papers to keep complete originality in letter and spirit. Nevertheless, I should confess that there may be typos and proofreading errors in the book because of shortage of time to the Souvenir Committee.
I thank the MMERC patron, the Seminar Conveners, my colleagues in the Souvenir Committee and all contributors for their part in producing this wonderful work in a very short span of time.
May Allah enable us to serve the community and the nation more and better – Aameen!
I had to go through various history books, to quote from reliable and authentic sources, in order to answer emails with questions pertaining to a book entitled ’World of Fatwas’, written by an Indian journalist, casting aspersions on patriotic spirits of Darul Uloom Deoband. Here on, the article is given the shape of a booklet, hoping this would benefit the serious students of history.
(M. Burhanuddin Qasmi)
Date : June 20, 2001
The latest NFHS – 5 data from 2019-2021 which was carried and thoroughly analyzed by all major print and digital media platforms shows that the prevalence of polygyny was 2.1% among Christians, 1.9% among Muslims, 1.3% among Hindus, 1.3% among Buddhists, 0.5 among Sikhs and 2.5% among other religious groups. Here again if we put together these handy figures of polygamy of the constitutionally defined Hindus (1.3 + 1.3 + .0.5 =) it stands to be 3.1%, the highest among all, even as per the latest NFHS 2019-2021. Legally this 3.1 and 2.1 (total 5.2) percent people are committing a crime, for they all come under the HMA 1955 and under Sections 494 and 495 of the Indian Penal Code (1860) which criminalized polygamy, but 1.9 percent Muslims are not, instead, they are legal under the Muslims Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act 1937!
“Madrasah, the word itself” does not subscribe to any particular type of education. It is utterly a narrow and post independent India biased understanding of anti-Muslim groups and Islamophobics that madrasah provides education only about theology or more precisely about Islamic theology. A bright and upwards person, a former education minister and the Chief Minister of a state is not at all expected to be that naive about the common terms of education!
However, Assamese people want NRC update work be done properly and professionally. They want to move ahead of this Hindu - Muslim, Assamese - Bengali and; indigenous and non-indigenous politicking now and focus on real development issues. Assam witnessed enough bloodshed in the past; it may need peace and unity as priority, nonetheless, an accurate NRC is everyone’s dream. This half-done work by Prateek Hajela’s team created additional issues with some hope and some dismay.
Apart from the leadership and administrative crises in the jamaat there have been talks among scholars and ulama on Maulana Saad’s unchecked or out of the way statements in his bayans (sermons) for past several years. Mainstream scholars and elders within jamaat, including its sympathizers, were finding it hard to cope with some of the irreligious statements and ideals of Maulana Saad. They started sending documented letters to Darul Uloom Deoband, the fountainhead of the Tablighi Jamaat, seeking fatwas and its religious guidance on some of the infamous statements of Maulana Saad Kandhelvi for past years.
The renowned Islamic seminary of the world, Darul Uloom Deoband took cognizance of these vitiating statements and on urging by the jamaat’s followers and sympathizers has issued a lengthy directive for Maulana Mohammad Saad to correct his wrong ideas being disseminated publicly and repent to Allah immediately, else he and his followers may derail from the original path of Islam. Darul Uloom sought a clear oral and written retraction from Maulana Mohammad Saad on his documented objectionable statements in the past and advised him to shun such unIslamic statements in future. It also warns him to do the required retraction within a limited time period both in public and private else Darul Uloom will release its public statement about him.
5.63 Muslims and 7.3 Hindus, per 1,000 women, are divorced/separated
Malegaon, a city with 5 lakh Muslims, only 0.10 % Muslim polygamists
Today on his 148th birth university and in this International Day of Nonviolence we the Indians need to ask ourselves as what might have gone wrong with us? Why our country is gradually reducing into a boiling volcano?
Coexistence is a two-way effect. The parties sharing same interest should come ahead to understand each other. Need of the time is to utilize modern recourses while bridging gapes and making stronger relationship than ever before among all major religions being practiced in India like Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism and Christianity.
Our strength is unity and our idea is ‘unity in diversity’. The more we enjoy this idea of India the more respectable and stronger we will be at home as well as in abroad. The modern fathers of this nation – Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. BR Ambedkar, Maulana AK Azad and their likes have chosen it to be – a cosmo, a nation with innumerable differences but one and a proud India. We need to abolish hatred from the roots – from school level. It is the political history of India which is seeding enmity. It is our political rhetoric which is problematic.
Let us diagnose the actual problems sooner than later and fix them there only. No religion or religious text preaches hatred, it is we the upholder of religions who make it our way to befit our interests.
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reported in 1998 that the growth rate of crimes against women would be higher than the population growth rate by 2010. Earlier, many cases were not registered with the police due to the social stigma attached to rape and molestation cases. But recent official statistics show that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of reported crimes against women.
According to the latest data by NCRB, with 24,206 cases in 2011, rape cases jumped to incredible increase of 873 % from 1971 when the oldest case of rape was first recorded by NCRB. Even in 1971, there were 2043 cases of rape according to the NCRB.
According to NCRB a total of 2,28,650 incidents of crime against women, both under Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Special & Local Laws (SLL), were reported in the country in 2011 as compared to 2,13,585 incidents in 2010, thus recording an alarming increase of 7.1% during the year 2011 alone.
The most shocking revelation is that of the total rape victims, 10.6% (2,582) were girls under 14 years of age, 19.0% (4,646) were teen-aged girls (14-18 years), 54.7% (13,264) were women in the age-group 18-30 years, 15% (3,637) victims were in the age-group of 30-50 years and 0.6% (141) were over 50 years of age. These figures indicate that our country is becoming one of the most dangerous places for women in the world.
It is also notable that these are the cases that are registered in police stations while a vast majority of the cases till date go unreported.
Thus, the aftermath of the 1857 brought about dramatic changes in colonial rule as stated earlier. In addition to change of governance from proxy to direct British Rule, the British embarked on a furious policy of "Divide and Rule", fomenting religious hatred as never before. Resorting to rumors and falsehoods, they deliberately recast Indian history in highly communal colors and practised malicious communal politics to divide the Indian masses. Hateful history books portraying successful and pious Mughal rulers like Babar and Aurangzeb were compiled in that period of time.
All practicing Muslim rulers were shown as anti-Hindu and repressive against their citizens whereas those fond of Darbaris and lavish were given importance in the pages of Indian history, thus creating communalism and hate among Hindus and Muslims. Shuddhi Karan Movement by Arya Samaj, which later shaped into Bhartiya Hindu Shuddhi Mahasabha' (Indian Hindu Purification Council) in 1923 to work as what today the Sang Privar is doing in the name of Gharwapsi was also among the plots of ‘divide and rule’ conspiracy of British Raj in India.
That legacy continues to plague the sub-continent till today. However, if more people become aware of the colonial roots of this divisive communal gulf - it is possible that some of the damage done to Hindu-Muslim unity could be reversed. If Hindus and Muslims could rejoin and collaborate in the spirit of 1857, the sub-continent may yet be able to unshackle itself from it's colonial past – say British and American hegemony this day.
Let's have a real recounting of our strength in India— the unity in diversity— and make meaningful salutations to all our heroes alike. Year 1857 was a time for united war against British tyrants and 2016, after 159 years, should bring real smiles to all the brave souls – ulama, Muslims, Hindu and Sikhs who gifted us the 'FREEDOM'.
Hence, good Volunteer Management policies, practices and procedures need to be formulated and adapted for the purpose of professional management of volunteers.
In at least nine districts – Cachar, Karimganj, Hailakandi, Dhubri, Bongaigaon, Goalpara, Barpeta, Morigaon and Nagaon Bengalis form the majority. Four more – Karbi Anglong, N.C. Hills, Kokrajhar and Baksa have different tribal cultures and languages of their own. The remaining eight districts – Nalbari, Kamrup city, Kamrup rural, Darrang, Sonitpur, Dhemaji, Udalguri and Chirang have a mixed population of Assamese, Bengalese, tribals and tea labourers.
With the aforementioned details, the obvious conclusion of this linguistic and cultural debate in Assam should be that the Bengalis in Assam are losing their age-old and rich linguistic and cultural grip in the state to newly evolved Assamese language and culture with the voluntary conversion of some Bengalis living in lower and central parts of the state, and not vice-versa at all.
Nonetheless, because of the undue stress on the ‘identity crisis’ of Assamese by some politically astray and chauvinistic youth, the voluntary and natural process of different tribals and Bengalis assimilation into Assamese language and culture in post-independent India has got a big jolt. It rather became counter productive.
To remove the backwardness of the region, tackling the flood menace is a must. Otherwise, all efforts to bring northeast at par with other mainland states will come to a naught.
The question is when Assamese will see a permanent solution to the problem they have come to live with as long as they can remember. "I do not know", replies chief minister Tarun Gogoi. The key to the solution is with the Centre, according to him. Assam government cannot tackle the flood menace on its own. Its resources are meager. It doesn’t have enough money to pay the salaries to its staff. And the debt burden is Rs. 10,000 crore plus. Flood problem is gigantic.
And in the process Indian politicians spread a new virus in the world—every one has to redo or delete old data. The commercial capital of India Bombay became Mumbai, Madras changed into Chennai, the first British capital of India Calcutta became Kolkata and the hi-tech capital of India Bangalore followed to be Bengaluru.
This author, being a constituent of MMERC movement from the very commencement, till date; as a student, teacher and administrator, carries the memories of both – the rewarding days and the befalling hardships. Here below, in the forthcoming pages, I am supposed to revisit the latter only – the days and events when MMERC has been passing through precarious winds, and entrust the former – the days and occasions at MMERC with amiable nourishment and tangible achievements, to my fellow researchers from MMERC to explore with lights and sounds. Readers may not find citations in this paper because the author itself is a primary source.
The overall journey of MMERC till date is a peculiar one. To my knowledge, there has not been an educational movement with these many rise and falls in a short span of 25 years time and still counting. MMERC has total ten migrations so far starting from Deoband (UP) – Jamiat – Jamia Nagar (two times) – Mehrauli within the city of Delhi and Negdevi Street (two times) – Musafirkhana – Jogeshwari (two times) within the city of Mumbai. The institution is presently functioning at Jogeshwari in Mumbai under a temporary structure made of cement-sheets roof, iron pillars and covered brick-walls within a masjid premises. This plainly indicates that the otherwise illustrious institution among the religious circle in India is still not standing on solid grounds as far as physical infrastructure is concerned.
What we see today, MMERC is an affable brand in-making for post-madrasa education, but the chronicle in the backdrop has always been extraordinarily challenging for it. The challenges were and still are external as well as internal and administrative as well as academic. The institution steps out with a journey towards unknown domains of education without any ready-to-use blueprint or even a sketch in hand. The exploration, however, is still on and the experimentations are still persisting at MMERC, Mumbai.
To me, the sole force behind this unique institution which is actually causing it to move on against even negative storms, is the sincerity of its originators, especially its pragmatic founder Hazrat Maulana Badruddin Ajmal Al-Qasmi. Their prayers in the pre and post inception of MMERC might have been accorded by Allah (swt). However, MMERC never met, till date, with any financial predicament in its regular business, thanks to Ajmals’ philanthropic courage, which is also a major energy source, ensuring its stride towards the new realms even with fragile external body. Henceforth, the institution would indisputably find a marked place in the modern academic history as a pioneering force in the post-madrasa educational revolution of India.
In the upcoming pages, we will bring home, momentarily, some of the major terminals that MMERC has been relied upon to move ahead with its caravan of young ulama (madrasa graduates) in this span of 25 years of its historic odyssey.
His services and contributions towards the Board was unparalleled and highly remarkable. As per the records with AIMPLB headquarter in New Delhi, he attended almost all important meetings of the Board during that 46 year long time period even with poor health conditions. He was extremely dedicated and exceedingly sincere towards his responsibilities with the Board.
The fourth conference of Jamiat, held in December 1922 under the presidentship of Maulana Habeebur Rahman Usmani, adopted a resolution to ‘Boycott the Assemblies’. The fifth conference was held at Kakinada in January 1924. In his presidential address, Maulana Syed Hussain Ahmad Madni raised the demand for complete independence. (Muslim Ulama Ka Kirdaar 33). At the seventh conference of Jamiat in Calcutta, held on March 11-14, 1926, presided by of Maulana Syed Sulaiman Nadwi, a resolution for complete freedom of India was passed for the first time. (For resolution detail see, What Jamiat Ulama is? 2/119-121) In the eighth general meeting of Jamiat, held in Peshawar, December 2-5, 1926 under the presidency of Allamah Anwar Shah Kashmiri, a resolution to oppose ‘Simon Commission’ was passed by full strength. This very sentence of the resolution: “freedom is not given on platter, you got to snatch it”, sums up the mood of those freedom fighters (What Jamiat Ulama is 2/145).
After Jamiat had passed the resolution against Simon Commission, the Indian National Congress realized its importance. In its ‘Madras’ convention, held December 26, 1927, the Congress adopted a resolution demanding the British government to recall Simon Commission. Simon returned back to Britain unsuccessful in his mission on March 31, 1928 (Maulana Azad, A Political Dairy 213-214)
broadcasted in Turkey. It has completed its full five seasons on air in five years - between 2014 and 2019 and now its follow up TV serial - Kurulus Osman is being put on air by the TRT1 in Turkey. The producer himself claims that it is a drama based on history. It means, it is not complete history and entertaining components might have been scripted into the original stories. Similarly, the director, the actors and the telecasters are not claiming that the drama is completely Islamic. So it would be amateurish to peep into a piece of art and try to pin whether the characters in the drama have offered five daily prayers in congregation or not, and whether the pages of history are in full coherence or not with the story-line in the drama. The piece of art – Dirilis Ertugrul does not invite a verdict of Islamic jurisprudence or a legal order, neither on the contents nor on the ways of presentation.
It is irrational to perceive that only a few among the ulama have studied Islamic theology thoroughly and that group only own proper understanding of religion and rest of the ulama who do not agree with their particular views or explanations, have no sense of Islam or religious understanding at all. Some ulama go to an extreme extent claiming that those of their counter parts who disagree with them did not learn the religion properly, lack in Islamic spirit and are derailed from mainstream teachings of Islam. Such concept does not mean any worth in Islam and it is also not rational to expect from all ulama to follow the guidelines outlined by a certain group or institution without back and forth, and without using own intellect and wisdom. Islamic theology is open for all to understand and introspect, obviously being within the preset perimeters. There is no monopoly of any group or sect over Islam and its teachings. It is quite absurd to consider opposing opinions as irreligious, sinful and astray, on the basis that certain group or individual do not remain stick to a particular self-sketched lines drown by a particular set of ulama or religious scholars. This sort of being hard-liner in views is obviously representative of extremism in thoughts and arguments, and this tendency has always yielded negative outcome for the common masses and also pushed the entire ummah to the edge of great losses in the past. The contemporary changes and challenges, both earnestly demand ulama to address and readdress the issues with all possible vigours, researches and by using modern technologies, if required, in order to guide the community in better and practical ways.