By Dr. Mohammad Akram Nadwi and translated by Syed Huzaifah Ali Nadwi There was a long period in human history when the writings of scholars were popular in every class because they were the best examples of knowledge and research and the highest example of eloquence. If we look at these writings even today, we can see great qualities and wisdom. Books such as Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, al-Sībwiyah’s al-kitāb, Ibn Sinā’s al-Shifā and al-Qānūn, Imam Shāfiʿī’s al-Risālah, Ibn Ḥazm’s al-Muḥalla, Zamakhsharī’s al-Kashshāf, Ibn Khaldūn’s Muqaddimah, Shātibī’s al-Mawāfaqāt, Shāh Walīullah’s Dehlawī’s Ḥujjatullāh al-Bālighah are among the top scholarly works. Later,…
View More Why are the writings of the scholars unread? Address to the students of Madrasas (Islamic institutions)Category: Education
Questioning your studentship – an address to the students of Al-Salam Institute
By Dr. Mohammad Akram Nadwi and translated by Hala Akram and Aisha Akram Today (5th July, 2020) is the last day of this academic year at Al-Salam Institute. God willing, we will meet again in October. Just like every year, I have something to say to you today. Farewell speeches are cherished, everyone values them and tries to act upon them. Today I will not talk to you about Al-Salam Institute, nor will I remind you of the responsibilities of your teachers, or complain about the circumstances or anything else.Today I must criticise you. This is a question of your…
View More Questioning your studentship – an address to the students of Al-Salam InstituteInculcate good etiquettes, O students of Hadith!
By Dr. Mohammad Akram Nadwiand translated by Syed Huzaifah Ali Nadwi To access the original arabic, follow this link There are many types of students of Ḥadith, the best of them are those who study the books of Ḥadith from both aspects of the usūl and the furūʾ with a complete grasp of the asānīd, mutūn, rijāl and the ʿilal of the aḥādīth, comprehending their meanings and contents, and are able to apply them to their lives. Indeed these are the true heirs of the prophets, the instructors of goodness and the callers to the right path. By acquiring the…
View More Inculcate good etiquettes, O students of Hadith!How to motivate yourself for study?
By Dr. Mohammad Akram Nadwi Eating is possible but difficult and unpleasant when you have no appetite. Similarly, study is difficult and unpleasant when you have no curiosity and no puzzlement in respect of what you intend to study. Curiosity and being puzzled constitute the appetite for knowledge and understanding. Where curiosity exists, any knowledge obtained will prove to be digestible and beneficial, and therefore likely to be more easily remembered and integrated to other elements of knowledge. Without curiosity, new knowledge and information are simply a distraction or entertainment and therefore soon forgotten. Similarly, where there is no puzzlement,…
View More How to motivate yourself for study?The True Meaning of Study
By Dr. Mohammad Akram Nadwi and translated by Tariq Pandor To access the original arabic, follow this link They said: Something has confounded us and as you are our teacher, can you please remove for us the confusion and clarify for us the correct way to look at it? I said: I have never spared any effort in clarifying what is right and explaining, in revealing the truth and lifting the veil. So what is it that you find difficult and whose reins escape you? They said: We live in a developed age and an advanced time, in which everything…
View More The True Meaning of StudyThe crisis facing madrasas
By Dr. Mohammad Akram Nadwi Madrasas, like Nadwa, Deoband, Islah and others, which have been active in service of the Muslim community for the best part of 150 years, now face a hard choice. They are under pressure to shift away from the objectives for which they were originally founded towards curricula primarily oriented to preparing students for the current job market. It is said that, if they do not move in this direction, they will not attract students in sufficient numbers to remain viable, meaning that they will eventually become irrelevant and close. As an alumnus and former teacher…
View More The crisis facing madrasasReflection on Education
By Dr. Mohammad Akram Nadwi In this book, a Muslim scholar who has dedicated a lifetime to teaching in an Islamic madrasa reflects on the different, contending styles of education prevalent in India as a consequence of the legacy of colonial rule. He explains the need to find a way between, on the one hand, the orientation of education as traditionally understood by Muslims (which colonial rule had systematEically undermined and rendered practically irrelevant, but which some Muslims were resolved to cling to, despite the costs in terms of being socially and politically marginalized), and on the other, the modern…
View More Reflection on Education