Madrasa_tul_islah

The founders of the Madrasa:

The foundation of Madrasah Islah ul Muslimin that was to develop as Madrast ul Islah, was laid in the spring of 1226 H. /1908. The moving spirit behind this noble endeavour was Maulana Muhammad Shafi and therefore he is rightly considered as its founder. It was, however, good fortune of this institution that from the very beginning it succeeded in attracting the attention of two great Islamic scholars of the time, Maulana Shibli Nomani and Maulana Hamiduddin Farahi who also happened to belong to the same region. These great thinkers, scholars and reformers were associated with the Madrasah almost from the very beginning. After his disillusionment from Nadwat ul 'Ulama in 1913, Maulana Shibli gave his full attention to this institution and wanted to develop it in accordance with his own ideas and ideals. Simple living, contentment and a deep commitment to the service of religion were to be the hallmarks of this institution. He was actually thinking in terms of a university, which was to be developed in conjunction with the proposed Darul Musannifin. He wanted to make it a centre of excellence for religious and material education of the Muslims. He also impressed upon Maulana Hamiduddin Farahi to take greater interest in the affairs of this Madrasah. Unfortunately he was not destined to live long after that and died in 1914 before he could give concrete shape to his ideas and develop it according to the vision that he had about this institution. It was left to Maulana Hamiduddin Farahi to give it the shape and content that was to become its distinctive feature and constitute it basic character.

Maulana Hamiduddin Farahi was associated with the Madrasah almost from the very beginning. With brief spells of break he acted as its nazim from 1912 till his death in 1930. But his service at Allahabad and later at Hyderabad did not allow him to give it his full attention. In 1919 he resigned his lucrative job at Hyderabad as the Principal of Darul Ulum and returned home to fully concentrate on his own academic pursuits and build and develop the Madrasah according to his vision and ideas. He devoted last ten years of his life to implement his educational policy in this Madrasah. He outlined its aims and objectives, determined its syllabus, trained the teachers to teach various subjects and equip them to pursue his educational policy and help in implementing it in the Madrasah, and above all taught and trained a select and committed group of teachers in the methodology of studying and interpreting the Qur'an that he has been able to develop after life long ponderings over the Qur'an. Madrasa-tul Islah reflects and represents his idea of education in general and his methodology of studying and interpreting the Glorious Qur'an in particular. It was due to him that the Qur'an was given the central position in the curriculum of the Madrasah and it continues to be the most distinctive feature of its educational system. All other sciences are to be taught in the light of the principles derived from the Qur'an.