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INTRODUCTION
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Courses of Study
The Darul Uloom provides education at all stages ranging from the primary to the university stage in the theological branches of learning and Arabic Literature. In all it covers a period of sixteen years. A summary of the curriculum followed at the Nadwatul 'Ulama is given at the end of this brochure. The institution and its branches normally have 4000 students on its rolls every year. No fee is charged from the students and a large number of them are provided free board and lodging. In addition, about 1000, students are awarded stipends valued at Rs. 25 to Rs. 100.
The academic year begins from the 6th of Shawwal and lasts upto 25th of Sha'aban followed by the vacation of Ramadhan. The Darul Uloom has at present 131 well-qualified teachers on its staff. The number of non-teaching staff is 103.
The Primary Stage
It covers a period of six years (including pre-primary classes) and provides elementary instruction in Urdu, Hindi and English as well as Arithmetic, Geography, General Science, etc., which covers the entire field of primary education as prescribed for secular schools besides giving a sound religious bias to it. The primary classes normally have more than 2500 students in an academic year. Arrangements have also been made for holding special classes for the students desirous of committing the holy Quran to their memory. Huffaz have been appointed to impart instruction to such students whose number varies between 200 to 250.
The Secondary Stage
This is a three-year course. Besides English, this stage provides for a thorough grounding in Persian as well as Arabic Grammar, Literature and Composition.
Higher Secondary Stage
The two-year course comprising ninth and tenth year of the curriculum imparts instruction in Arabic, Persian and English besides religious sciences and Islamic history.
Graduation (Alimiyat) Stage
The four-year course, which is equivalent to the graduation course under western system of education offers instruction in the commentary of the Qur'an (Tafsir), Traditions (Hadith), Islamic Jurisprudence (Fiqh) besides Arabic literature and other branches of Islamic learning. Higher efficiency in Arabic literature and the knowledge of English equivalent to the Intermediate standard of the U. P. Board of High School and Intermediate Education, are the special features of this stage. The number of students studying in these classes is between 150 to 200 during an academic year.
Post-Graduate (Fazilat) Stage
This is a two-year course providing instruction in Arabic literature and Islamic branches of learning, The latter comprise Tafsir, Hadith, Fiqah and Shari'ah, of which one subject has to be offered by the students for intensive study. The students have also to submit a thesis in the subject of their choice. Two more courses viz. Comparative Religions and Islamic D'awah have been started shortly.
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The standard of instruction imparted at the Fazilat stage compares with the Master's Degree in these subjects in the Universities of the Arab countries. The number of the students in the Fazilat classes is about 50 in an academic year.
Takmil or Doctorate Stage
Facilities are also provided for undertaking research, known as Takmil, in the subjects taught at Fazilat stage in the Nadwatul 'Ulama. The duration of the research being normally two years, it is con- ducted under the guidance of competent teachers.
Diplomas
The Darul Uloom grants the Diplomas and Degrees of 'Alim' and 'Fazil' at the successful conclusion of the Alimial and Fazilat courses of study.
Special Courses
(1) Darul 'Uloom also provides for a special five-year condensed course in Arabic and Theology to the students who have studied up to B. A. or have at least passed the Intermediate examination in the first or good second division. At the completion of this course a student becomes entitled to the degree of Alim of the Darul Uloom. A special condensed course has also been started recently for students whose mother tongue is English and who do not know either Arabic or Urdu.
(2) A Department of Islamic Thought and Comparative Religions has been started recently for those who desire to devote themselves to the preaching of Islam.
(3) An Institute of teachers training is another recent addition for meeting the requirements of institutions imparting instruction in religious sciences within the country.
All these stages and courses of study are functioning successfully and have yielded admirable results. The academic standard of the students graduating out of the Darul Uloom has earned recognition not only in the Arab countries but also from eminent Orientalists of Europe and America and all those Universities which offer higher courses of study in Arabic and Islamic subjects. While admitting the graduates of Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama' for research in the Edinburg University, its Head of the Department of Islamic Studies, W. Montgomery Watt observed: "I am aware of the educational standard of this University which is not a Government sponsored institution but its educational standard is sufficiently high to be treated on a par with other recognised universities." The fame acquired by the Darul 'Uloom has drawn students from foreign countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, Malagasy Republic, Myanmar, Tibet, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Kenya, Yugoslavia, East Indies, and, sometimes from the Arab lands as well who come to India to pursue their studies at the Darul Uloom.
Students' Associations
The students of the Darul Uloom have two Associations. One is Jamiat-al-Islah which strives for the promotion of intellectual, literary and cultural interests among the pupils. The Association runs separate libraries, reading rooms and lecture-halls for junior and senior students. The other Association called, al-Nadi-al-Arabi' is a literary society which provides a forum to the students to practise speaking and writing in Arabic. Its meetings are held generally every week under the supervision of the teachers. The Association, further, encourages the students to develop the taste for Arabic journalism.
Library
The Nadwatul Ulama took energetic steps for the realization of its other ideals as well. A central library was set up by it which can boast today of about a hundred thousand books on various subjects in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, English and other languages. The Library of Nadwatul Ulama has been very fortunate in getting, by way of donation, the personal libraries of several outstanding men of learning and repute and this has added greatly to its richness. It has come to acquire a distinctive place among the libraries in this part of the country because of the many important and rare books and manuscripts it possesses. Scholars from all over the country, as well as abroad, freely make use of it. Lately, a large stock of recent publications from Egypt and Syria has been added to it.
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Academies
The Nadwatul 'Ulama has also set up a number of academies and institutions devoted to study and research in Islamic subjects. These bodies have been producing and publishing works of outstanding worth and merit on Islamic faith, history and philosophy and other related subjects. One such institution is known by the name of Darul Musannifin which is functioning in the neighbouring town of Azamgarh as an independent organization.
Mallis-i-Sahafat-o-Nashriyat-i-islam
Majlis Sahafat-o-Nashriyat brings out a monthly and a fortnightly journal in Arabic. The monthly journal is called Al-B'aas-al-Islami in which articles by well-known writers of religious and spiritual integrity from India and the Arab world are published. Apart from the Indian sub-continent, the journal commands readership in the Arab countries also where it has acquired a respectable status. Al-B'aas-al-Islami now ranks among the first-rate religio-cultural magazines of the Middle East countries.
The fortnightly journal Al-Raid is being published regularly for a long time on behalf of the Majlis Sahafat-o-Nashriyat. News regarding Muslims in India and abroad, reports of the activities of Islamic institutions and associations, particularly Nadwatul Ulama, and other useful and instructive articles on the current situation are published in it. It is the first and the only Arabic newspaper to be published in India. A fortnightly journal in Urdu has also been started in 1963. It is called Tameer-e-Hayat which in addition to the news regarding various activities of Nadwatul Ulama, publishes valuable articles on religious and cultural topics. TOP
Majils-i-Tahqiqat-o-Nashriyat-i-islam
The Majlis also known as the Academy of Islamic Research and Publications was established in May 1959, under the presidentship of Maulana Syed Abul Hasan 'Ali Nadwi. The aim and purpose of the Academy is the propagation of Islam in the modern context of things through the written word. Being an institution of study, research and publications its activities are confined to the furtherance of the interests of Islamic faith. The Academy which began its career with producing Islamic literature in English. Arabic, Urdu and Hindi has so far brought out 227 works of which more than a hundred have seen several reprints.
Received favourably all over the Muslim world, a number of Academy's publications have also been rendered into Persian, Turkish, Indonesian and other languages.
The Academy is at present housed in the Nadwatul 'Ulama campus and its office-bearers too are mostly drawn from the staff of the Darul Uloom, but it is an independent organization.
The expansion project of the Academy, not taken up so far owing to paucity of funds, envisages construction of a building for the Academy, setting up a well-equipped library and establishment of a Press.
Rabita al-Adab al-islami
Although not an organisation formally affiliated to the Nadwatul Ulama, the Rabita has been established by the alumini of the Nadwa under the chairmanship of Maulana Syed Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi.
The Association aims at organising litterateurs and penmen to produce healthy and purposeful literature consistent with Islamic perceptions, ideals and traditions. The Organisation came into existence at Makkah Mukarrama in 1405 A. H. and since then it has held several meetings, symposia and seminars etc., at different parts of India, Arab countries and Turkey. It has also been successful in eliciting cooperation from a large number of writers and has had a favourable response among the intellectuals in almost all the Muslim countries.
Majlis-i-Tahqiqat-i-Shariah
Quite a large number of educated persons, both Muslims and non-Muslims, incapable of thinking except in terms of the nature and pattern of the western legal system, labour under numerous misgivings about the utility of Islamic legal system. Time and again they raise the question of doing away with the remnants of the Islamic law as are still enforced in the country in the shape of Mohammedan Personal Law. On the other, the changing social, economic and cultural conditions require a re-statement of the juristic issues in the light of Islamic Shari'at for the guidance of Muslims still desirous of keeping their life in closest proximity to the tenets of Islam. Therefore, in order to re-examine and elucidate the principles and injunctions of the Shari'at and their applicability to the ever-changing needs of a progressive society, the Majlis-i-Tahqiqat-i-Shari'at was founded about fifteen years back under the presidentship of Maulana Syed Abul Hasan 'Ali Nadwi. Its members, distinguished as they are, for the place they occupy in the religious and literary circles of the country, have been drawn from all over the country.
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Achievements of Nadwatul Ulama
The scholars of Nadwatul 'Ulama have made their mark by creating a new mould of educational system consistent with the spirit of Islamic teachings as well as the demands of changing times. The Nadwatul Ulama has succeeded in bringing forth a body of Ulama who could feel the pulse of time and adequately carry out the function of Islamic preaching and propagation in the context of the demands made by the modern age. This has also gone a long way in bridging the gulf between the modern educated classes and those who had received theological education.
During its brief history Nadwatul Ulama has accomplished the work of centuries. It has fulfilled the tasks which even the governments would have found difficult to achieve within such a short period of time. And all this has been done in the face of unrelenting financial difficulties, its sole source of income being the donations and contributions made to it from time to time by Muslim philanthropists. Had it been granted greater opportunities and had its financial resources been wider it would certainly have achieved much more and given the World of Islam something which would have really been wonderful.
Still, it is a matter of deep satisfaction that the Nadwatul Ulama has been able to fulfil, with the Grace of God, the tasks it had set before itself. The importance of its objectives was realised by the religious and literary circles. During the period the Nadwatul 'Ulama Association functioned more as a movement than merely as an educational institution, it had succeeded in providing a common platform to the religious scholars of the old school of thought and the modern educated Muslim intelligentsia. The revolutionary call of reform and renovation was given by it at a time when it was most needed. It produced a number of highly distinguished theologians and doctors of religion who made an impress on the educational and cultural life of the Indian Muslims.
A notable achievement of this small band of men has been that they have served as envoys and ambassadors between the two sections of the community, who were intellectually strangers to each other if not mutually hostile, and tried their best to narrow down the gulf between the traditional and the modern educated classes. In fact, there is no place for such a division in Islam; for, practical life and its problem do not fall outside the scope of religion nor can there be a concept of the life and the world repudiating spiritual-moral values. If, apart from the removal of mutual hostility and bridging the gap between the traditional and modern educated sections of the community, there would have been no other achievement to the credit of the Nadwa scholars, even this would have been enough to justify the establishment of Nadwatul 'Ulama. They have proved that the Nadwa people were neither isolated from the world nor were they insensitive to the demands of the time. Together with the writers and research scholars and literati of Arabic and Urdu and the bearers of the torch of culture and civilization, the Nadwatul 'Ulama has also given men who have produced the finest Islamic literature for the modern educated classes of the community and the world in general, set up a high standard of learning and scholarship and laid the foundation of a new style in Arabic literature.
A fairly large number of Nadwa scholars have ceaselessly been rendering highly meritorious religious and literary services to the Millet and the country. It is perhaps not necessary to mention the names and achievements of these well-known savants of religion.
The possibilities of further progress and development of the Nadwatul Ulama are clear enough. With its lofty ideals, glorious traditions and magnificent record of work, it can be developed into a sort of universal lighthouse-intellectual as well as spiritual-for the world of Islam. It is well-equipped to give proper religious and intellectual guidance to the Millet and thereby rescue it from the clutches of ever- increasing Godless materialism and apostasy, It can go a long way in the preservation and promotion of those values and interests of Islam whose defense and encouragement is incumbent on the entire Islamic world and from which Muslims all over the world will be benefitted. But these laudable ends, difficult though they seem to be at present, can be achieved by building up the Nadwatul Ulama, as an educational movement, and enlisting active co-operation and participation of the Muslims not only in this country but also of all those sons of Islam who are engaged in serving its cause in different parts of the world.
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