{"id":2585,"date":"2016-01-05T18:59:58","date_gmt":"2016-01-05T13:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/?p=2585"},"modified":"2016-01-05T19:12:29","modified_gmt":"2016-01-05T13:42:29","slug":"islamic-institutions-in-kashmir-dr-nisars-labour-of-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/editors-take\/islamic-institutions-in-kashmir-dr-nisars-labour-of-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Islamic Institutions in Kashmir Dr. Nisar’s Labour of love"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/fb:like>

\"nisar\"<\/a>Punchline
\nA Labour of Love
\nBy
\nZ. G. Muhammad<\/p>\n

\u201cPassion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.\u201d This quote of Oprah Winfrey, a popular American talk show host resounded in my mind a couple of days back at a book release function.
\nThe two volume book \u201cAaeena Madaris\u201d by Nisar Ahmed Bhat Trali\u2019s a physician by profession convinced me that it is a passion that drives one to do something that otherwise seems unthinkable. The book comprising 1520 pages is an ardours story of fieldwork and research. For documenting the story of the 499 Madrassa across Jammu and Kashmir, some in the remotest corners and mountains of the state the author with a couple of his associates he has travelled twenty thousand kilometres- on occasions on foot.
\nDisturbed by the malicious propaganda against the Islamic seminaries in the western press after the attack on the World Trade on 11 September 2001, the author nursed an urge to project the role played by the Madrassa in the right perspective. In introduction to the book, the author draws a parallel between present days targeting of Islamia seminaries to the tactics followed in Spain \u2018deprive posterity from religious (Islamic) education.\u2019 The author in delineating the role played by seminaries in Kashmir during past seven hundred years focusses on protecting and defending the Madrassas and seminaries in the sub-continent and across the globe.
\nThe institution building in Kashmir started immediately after the advent of Islam. From the times of Sultan Shahab-ud-Din, the Sultans of Kashmir committed themselves to the established of Islamic seminaries all over Kashmir. There was hardly an important village that did not have a Madrassa for the teaching of Quran and Hadith. Shahab-ud-Din established the first Madrassa-tul-Quran on the advice of Mir Syed Ali Hamadani. Many people who had embraced Islam received religious education in this Madrassa. Sheikh Sulaiman, who had converted to Islam, received his education in this Madrassa \u2018and in the course of time had distinguished himself as an exponent of the Quran and titled as Imam-ul-Quran, Imam of Qaris. Sultan Qutb-ud-Din built a college at Qutbddinpora. The institution continued to be the centre of great Islamic learning till 1819 when the soldiers of Maharaja Ranjit Singh invaded Kashmir. \u2018It had a long roll of distinguished professors and scholars.\u2019 Sultan Sikandar, projected as a bigoted king by some jaundiced historians, has been a great patron of men of letters. \u2018He attracted scholars from Khorasan, Iraq, Mesopotamia and distant countries. He built a college outside Jamia Masjid and recruited eminent scholars from different countries as its faculty. Sultan Zain-ul-Abiden to quote the author of all sultans excelled in propagation and extension of knowledge in the valley of Kashmir. The Chak dynasty also contributed its mite to establishing Islamic institution. For almost three hundred years, Madrassas and Islamic seminaries flourished in Kashmir. The establishment of Madrassas did not stop with the end of the period of the Sultans and the Chaks but continued even during the Mogul and Afghan rule. \u201cDarasagah-i-Mulla Haider was established during the reign of Jahangir by Mulla Haider near Gojwara\u201d. It had a large number of students.\"Nisartral\"<\/a>
\nThe book besides giving historical account of the Madrassa movement in Jammu and Kashmir also highlights profiles of some important Islamic scholars of Jammu and Kashmir. The author has also given a brief accountant of the contribution made to Arabic literature on Islam by some eminent Kashmiri scholars like Sheikh Yaqoob Sarafi, Sheikh Habibullah Hubi Nowshari, Abdul Rashid Shopinia and Allama Anwar Shah Kashmiri. The book is first of its kind on Madrassas of Jammu and Kashmir. It is an encyclopaedia that gives every important detail about every Madrassa in the State. The book is glasnost in as much as making working inside the Madrassas a public knowledge and bringing their curriculum, functioning and funding in the public domain. The book has a scholarly preface by Maulana Mohammad Kaleem Sidiqi.
\nThere can be no denying that the institutionalization of Madrassas during the reign of the Sultans and the Chaks played an immense role in making Muslims aware of the tenets of Islam and strengthening their faith. The book, however, has not mentioned the role played by the institution of Khanqah founded by Mir Syed Ali Hamadani and Mir Muhammad Hamadani and his companions in the spread of Islam. These were not hermitages but institutions that played an important role in the holistic transformation of the society. These institutions were centres of teaching Quran and Hadith. These centres played a pivotal role in changing social status of common people and enabling them to grow economically.
\nThe Madrassas established by the Sultans after 1819 collapsed. In our contemporary history, it was the darkest period. The soldiers of Maharaja Ranjit Singh locked doors of all major mosques, banned Azan and denied religious freedom to Muslims. It was most challenging time for the Muslims of Kashmir. Some employees from Kashmir had told Ranjit Singh that the \u201cfounder of Sikhism Guru Nanak had treated \u201cKashmir as a holy place.\u201d There were hideous moves for coercing Muslims to change their faith. The author has not focussed on this period. During this darkest phase of Kashmir, the institution of Mirwaiz has played an important role in subverting the hideous moves of the invaders. The Mirwaiz Manzil had become informal seminary were scores of scholars receive education in Quran and Hadith. First under the tutelage Mirwaiz Lassa Baba and then Mirwaiz Molvi Mohammad Yahya hundred of pupils learned and mastered different disciplines of Islamic studies. Those days there was no formal system of classroom education. Students started visiting Mirwaiz Manzil from nine in the morning and Mirwaiz Yahya attended them one by one. The role of religious leaders from 1819 to 1931, in facing the challenges needs to be documented.\"tral\"<\/a>
\nHowever, the book \u201cAaeena Madaris\u201d is an important addition to the history of Islamic institution in Jammu and Kashmir.<\/p>\n<\/fb:like><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Punchline
\nA Labour of Love
\nBy
\nZ. G. Muhammad
\n\u201cPassion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.\u201d This quote of Oprah Winfrey, a popular American talk show host resounded in my mind a couple of days back at a book release function.
\nThe two volume book \u201cAaeena Madaris\u201d by Nisar Ahmed Bhat Trali\u2019s a physician by profession convinced me that it is a passion that drives one to do something that otherwise seems unthinkable. The book comprising 1520 pages is an ardours story of fieldwork and research. For documenting the story of the 499 Madrassa across Jammu and Kashmir, some in the remotest corners and mountains of the state the author with a couple of his associates he has travelled twenty thousand kilometres- on occasions on foot.
\nDisturbed by the malicious propaganda against the Islamic seminaries in the western press after the attack on the World Trade on 11 September …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-take"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2585"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2585"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2591,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2585\/revisions\/2591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peacewatchkashmir.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}