Malegaon, despite an
appalling history of negligence by successive governments at the
centre and state, still has the tag of being a town of literate,
erudite and cultured masses firmly intact. True to this identity,
the first thing that greets the people entering the town from the
western side on the Mumbai-Agra National Highway and touching the
banks of Girna River is the grand educational complex. Mansoora, as
this complex is named by its founders, is not only an
education hub but also a
symbol depicting state-of-the art combination of Islamic and modern
Indian culture.
Lush green lawns, buildings of class architecture, classrooms with modern amenities, model computer rooms
– one each for boys and girls, well-equipped laboratories, library
with valuable collection of rare books,
hostel with suitable lodging, playground enough not only
for cricket but also for games like basketball and football, giant mosque with separate arrangement for women having a
capacity exceeding 5000 people and what not. The
campus stretched on 56 acres of land has everything that parents
would love to have for the education of their children.
Moreover, Mansoora is
perhaps the only place in India having a dedicated mosque for
girl-students where they not only offer prayers five times a day but
also it is they who lead the prayers every day. Above all, they have
a unique syllabus for study that not only masters them in Islamic as
well as Modern subjects but also train them in meeting the emerging
challenges.
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The Plush campus
of Jamia Mohammadia Mansoora. In the centre is Sultan Manzil -
Kulliyah Aisha Siddiqua for girls. The buildings on the right
are for boys.
(Photo:
ummid.com) |
The brainchild of
Maulana Mukhtar Ahmad Nadvi, who with the help of his friend Saith
Mohammad Khaleel of Malegaon initially and single-handedly later on,
turned the Mansoora into a model not only for those
working eagerly on Madrasa modernization but also for many schools
and educational institutions in India where quality education and
desired results have become scarce.
The
Beginning
King Abdul Aziz
University of Saudi Arabia had organised an International Conference
in 1975. The theme of this conference was to deliberate on the possibilities
to amend the existing Madrasa syllabus followed by most of the
Islamic institutions and bring them in line with the modern
requirements. Besides Muslim scholars and Ulema from all across
the world, Maulana Mukhtar Ahmad Nadvi and noted Muslim scholar
Maulana Abul Hasan Ali Miya Nadvi were also present in the
conference. The deliberations on the all-important issue in the
conference kept Maulana Mukhtar Ahmad Nadvi impatient throughout the
way back to India. He consulted on the matter with Maulana Ali Miya
Nadvi and then tirelessly began searching for options to establish
a model Madrasa in India.
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Sultan Manzil -
Kulliyah Aisha Siddiqua for girls. On its left is the
dedicated mosque for girl-students where they offer prayers
five time a day.
(Photo:
ummid.com) |
At this juncture, Maulana Mukhtar Nadvi met his friend Saith Mohammad Khaleel of
Malegaon in Mumbai. The two men, though living miles away from each
other, had many things in common. While Maulana Mukhtar
Ahmad Nadvi had the vision and plan to convert his dream into a
reality, Saith Mohammad Khaleel had the required resources in
plenty. Simultaneously, he proved a powerful backer and a great motivator for Maulana Nadvi. The combination worked and what Muslim leaders and
Islamic scholars dreamt at King Abdul Aziz University, Saudi Arabia
in 1975, became a reality thousands of miles away in Malegaon in
1979.
Mansoora
A man with a vision,
Maulana Mukhtar Ahmad Nadvi was also a master in doing things in
novel ways. Hence for his dream Education Institute - running on a
unique syllabus based on Islamic as well as Modern Education pattern
and stretched on 56 acres of land touching the banks of Girna River along the
Mumbai-Agra road in Malegaon – chose Mansoora as its name.
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Masjid Aisha Ad
Daeej: It has the capacity of 5000 people with separate
and up-to-date
facility for women and children
(Photo:
ummid.com) |
Mansoora, as Maulana
Mukhtar Nadvi used to recall, in ninth century was a
historic locality in Baghdad. Iraq’s capital Baghdad during that
time was the source of wisdom, knowledge and erudition, and
preferred destination for scholars and academicians. People from all
across the globe seeking knowledge and wisdom used to converge at Baghdad.
In the heart of the city and centre of all academic activities in
Baghdad was Mansoora. Thousand years later, Mansoora took a rebirth in Malegaon – a small town in North
Maharashtra predominated by Muslim population.
A
Model Curriculum
For the Curriculum and
syllabus to be followed at Jamia Mohammadia for boys and Kulliyah
Aisha Siddiqua for girls – as he named the first two institutions
founded by him in Malegaon - Maulana Mukhtar Ahmad Nadvi worked on
two levels.
Realising that the existing Dars-e-Nizami
-
normally followed by the Mada’ris (plural of Madrasa) in India - is
not sufficient to meet the emerging challenges and requirements of
even the Islamic studies, he after consulting renowned academicians
and scholars of the time introduced suitable and needful amendments
in it.
At the same time, he
introduced the modern subjects like Science and Mathematics, and also
the languages like English, Hindi and Marathi for students that
included boys and girls both. Finally, the curriculum that came into
being out of his efforts was a perfect
combination of Islamic and Modern Education pattern.
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New building of
Kulliyah Aisha Siddiqua. It gets inaugurated on
January 25, 2010
(Photo:
ummid.com) |
Simultaneously, he
meticulously worked for obtaining the all-important affiliation and
recognition from the state education board, and also from the Indian and foreign universities. Thanks to the determination,
commitment and speed with which he worked, both of his institutes
were very soon recognised by the Mahrashtra State Secondary Board
and also by Jamiah Islamia, Madinah Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia and Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
Mansoora: A force to reckon with
Due to the hard-work
it needed on the part of the students as well as the teachers, the
curriculum was really tough when introduced in the beginning.
However once it was on a roll, results started pouring in
consistently and with surprising rewards. The Jamia students – both
boys and girls, soon found them not only scoring excellently in Islamic
studies but also coming with flying colors in state board exams.
However, the brightest moment
for Mansoora came in 2008-09 when one of its students Abdur Rehman along with sixteen others created history at Jamia
Islamia Madinah Munawwara, Saudi Arabia. While Abdur Rehman topped
his faculty and bagged student of the year award, sixteen others
from Mansoora cleared the University exams with distinction. The
results were so impressive that Jamiah Islamia sent its Head of the
Education Department to Mansoora. He specially traveled from Saudi Arabia to
Malegaon to have a personal and first-hand account of the way
students are taught.
JMES
goes National
After he succeeded in
his mission, Maulana Mukhtar
Ahmad Nadvi invited people from various
places – specially those who were part of the deliberations with him
at King Abdul Aziz University in 1975 – to have the first hand
experience of what was dreamt in that conference. At the same time, while extending all supports,
he urged them to replicate the model
in their localities. However, when he found some of them wary and
some others hesitant, he took it upon himself to do the job. Soon JMES
spread its wings to other parts of the country and established
branches at Maunath Bhanjan, Aakot, Dhule, Bangalore,
Mahesla and Mewaat – all running on the Mansoora pattern and affiliated
to the respective state boards.
Future ambitions
The Mission was
partly accomplished. Maulana Mukhtar Ah Nadvi died September 9, 2007. Behind him he
left, besides Mansoora in Malegaon and a chain of education
institutes spread all across the country, an able and equally
ambitious son Arshad Mukhtar. At the helm of the affairs now, Arshad
is smartly following his father's footsteps. His dream is to convert
Mansoora into a big University - capable of offering every subject
that exists on the earth.
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