Hyderabad, Feb 14
Tucked away in the dingy
lanes of the old city of Hyderabad is a hoary institute of Islamic
learning whose prized possessions include a Persian translation of the
Mahabharata and rare Islamic manuscripts.
Located at Shibli Gunj,
some three kilometres west of historic Charminar, the 144-year-old
Islamic university still stands tall. Equated with Al Azhar University
of Cairo for its standard of education, Jamia Nizamia has about 3,000
manuscripts including the over 400-year-old translation of the
Mahabharata and books written by renowned Indian and Arabic Islamic
scholars.
Translated by Abu'l-Fazal, one of the navratnas (nine
jewels) of Mughal emperor Akbar's royal court, the Mahabharta runs into
5,012 pages. It was in the personal collection of Moulana Mohammad
Anwarullah Farooqui, the founder of Jamia, the biggest seminary in
southern India.
"He felt a library should have all types of books
and students should study other religions," Shaikul Jamia or head of
the university Mufti Khalil Ahmed told IANS.
The Mahabharata is
one of the two major Hindu epics. It is the longest known epic with
about 1.8 million words in total. It is roughly 10 times the length of
the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" combined.
Scholars and students of
comparative religion from different parts of India and various countries
visit Jamia Nizami's library to study the Persian translation of the
Mahabharata and other rare manuscripts and books in Persian, Arabic and
Urdu.
As Jamia has digitised several manuscripts, some scholars
take CD versions, said Fasihuddin Nizami, the librarian. He said
scholars from countries like China and Japan visited Jamia recently. The
library also has a recent piece of Islamic calligraphy by a city-based
artist, Anil Kumar Chauhan. He has written 'Yaseen', one of the chapters
of the Holy Quran, and this work adorns a hall in the library.
"The
library is the heart of Jamia and these manuscripts are the heart of
the library," said Fasihuddin, pointing towards the manuscripts
including a 400-year-old copy of the Holy Quran, whose first two pages
are gold-plated.
The oldest manuscript here is a copy of
'Kitab-ul-Tabsera Fil Qiratil Ashara' authored by renowned Islamic
scholar Abu Mohammed Makki bin Talib. This 750-year-old book is about
reading Quran with the art of 'tajweed'.
"There are only two
copies of this masterpiece in the world. The other is preserved at the
Ottoman Library in Turkey," said the librarian.
The Jamia library
has more than 100,000 printed books written by renowned Islamic
scholars covering various subjects related to the Quran and 'Ahadith'
(sayings of Prophet Mohammed).
Moulana Anwarullah Farooqui, who
was minister for religious affairs in Nizam's government, used to spend
part of his salary to collect manuscripts and books from around the
world.
Jamia is celebrating the 100th death anniversary of its
founder this week by organising a series of programmes to highlight his
contributions in developing Hyderabad a global centre for Islamic
studies.
His collection at Jamia Nizamia also includes 'Kanz
al-Ummal' written by Indian Islamic scholar Sheikh Ali Muttaqi
Burhanpuri. The founder of Jamia brought it in manuscript form from
Madina in Saudi Arabia. He edited and published the book in Hyderabad.
A collection of 47,000 'Ahadith' and comprising 22 volumes it is widely quoted by Arabic scholars.
'Kitab
al-Ruh' by Arab scholar Ibn al-Qayyim is another rare manuscript in the
collection. The book deals with Quranic verses and 'Ahadith' about
'ruh' or spirit.
It was first printed in 1900 by Dairatul Maarif, another institution co-founded by Moulana Anwarullah Farooqui in Hyderabad.
This unique institute was set up in 1888 for research and printing Arabic books written before 800 AD, said Mufti Khaleel.
"It
was formed when the Arab world had no such institute. Hyderabad is
still known in the Arab world for the research work done by the
institute on manuscripts and the rare Arabic books printed by it," he
said.
Jamia Nizamia has 30,000 students at its 254 branches in
Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. With an annual
budget of about Rs.4 crore, it provides free education with boarding and
lodging facilities at some branches.
Since its inception, the institute never took any help from the government.
"Muslims
support Jamia in the form of zakat and donations. We also get about
Rs.1 crore from our leased properties in the city," added Mufti Khaleel.
(Mohammed Shafeeq can be contacted at [email protected])
