MUMBAI: It has been almost a month since the
SSC 2018 results but Jamia Tajweedul Quran, a
madrassa at
Malvani, a quiet corner in
Malad (West), is still celebrating the success of its six students.
This is first madrassa in the city to produce hafizs or clerics who have memorized the Quran as well as cleared their SSC
exam. So the six hafizs this year—Shaikh Mohammed Yusuf Aijaz Ali, Sheikh Mohammed Shahid, Sheikh Mohammed Kalimullah, Sheikh Mohammed Owais, Siddiqui Waqar Ahmed and Sheikh Mohammed Sabir—are now seeking admission into junior colleges.
The mandate of most madrassas in India is to produce clerics. Unfortunately, these maulvis rarely get absorbed in the mainstream job market.
“I think it is unfair to the talent of the kids who memorize the Quran but are not encouraged to join non-religious courses. A hafiz who has also been educated in the secular stream will be more confident to face the world,” says businessman Syed Ali, popularly known as Ali Bhai.
Ali Bhai runs Madrassa Jamia Tajweedul Quran and Noor Meher Urdu School from the Malvani bungalow he donated to the Noor Meher Charitable Trust, named after his mother. The madrassa was established in 2001 and the first batch of hafizs cleared the board exam in 2013. “We got encouraged when in the very first batch, all 13 hafizs cleared the board exam and went on to get trained as professionals.”
Twin brothers Mohammed Sahil Ansari and Mohammed Rahil Ansari were in the 2013 batch. While Sahil has done his BSc (statistics), Rahil has graduated in computer engineering. “Perhaps we could never have joined these courses but for Ali Bhai’s initiative which provided us education both in deen (religion) and duniya (worldly) under the same roof,” says Sahil, as Rahil nods. Their father is a tailor.
Most of the boys who join the madrassa and the school here are first generation learners. Ansari Imtiyaz cleared the board exam in 2016 and is now doing his BCom. His father is physically challenged and doesn’t work while his elder brother is a muezzin. “I aspire to become a chartered accountant,” says Imtiyaz.
Most of the boys who come here are unlettered. The three-storey building functions dually as a school (8am to midday) and a madrassa (2pm to 5.1 pm). The students do some more learning in the evening with homework and by revising the Quranic verses they have memorized during the day. By the time they become hafizs, they are also ready to appear for SSC.
Several community leaders applaud this experiment. “This module should be adopted by every madrassa. After becoming hafizs and maulvis, most of them cannot do anything, except become teachers, preachers and imams. They must be qualified enough to seek a career beyond the world of clergy,” says senior community leader Ghulam Peshimam.
Ali Bhai, who shuttles between India and the US, monitors his “baby’ 24/7, through CCTV cameras.
Most students of the madrassa are 1st-generation learners in their families.