The Madinatul Uloom Bagbari Najibia Alia Madrasa ( ar, المدرسة العالية النجيبية مدينة العلوم بباغباري) or Madinatul Uloom Bagbari (also known as the Darul Uloom Bagbari), is a

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

located in

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is the oldest

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

ic educational institution in the South Assam- Greater Sylhet region.

History

It was founded in 1873 by the eminent Islamic scholar Najib Ali Choudhury. Tradition states that while living in

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...

, Choudhury was visited in a dream by the Islamic prophet

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...

, who instructed him to return to his homeland and spread religious education. The madrasa was established in Choudhury's own home, in the village of Bagbari near Karimganj, and was officially named in his honour. It remained in this location for nearly a century, shifting to its present site in 1969 under the tenure of the then ''muhtamim'' (principal), Maulana Ashab Uddin. Modelled after the famous

Darul Uloom Deoband The Darul Uloom Deoband is an Islamic seminary (darul uloom) in India at which the Sunni Deobandi Islamic movement began. It is located in Deoband, a town in Saharanpur district, Uttar Pradesh. The seminary was established by Muhammad Qasim ...

(which had been established only a few years earlier), the Madinatul Uloom Bagbari was the first true madrasa in the region, having offered a standardised education in contrast to the informal institutions which had existed previously. It initially provided courses up to "Shar-e-Jami", with the degree-level "Dawra-e-Hadith" course also being introduced after 1992.

Reputation

Over the course of its history, the Madinatul Uloom Bagbari came to play a very prominent role in producing

Arabic language Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

scholars in the Greater Sylhet region, a reputation it maintains to the present-day. The madrasa currently contains an

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

epigraph from 1509 that denotes the construction of a mosque in Surjyadas village by Sher Malik, an officer of the Sultan of Bengal Alauddin Husain Shah.

Staff

Najib Ali Choudhury's descendant Abdul Bari Choudhury, was appointed as the principal of Madinatul Uloom Bagbari in 1948 after returning from his studies at

. In the same year, his great-grandson

Abdul Munim Choudhury Moulvi Abdul Munim Choudhury ( bn, আব্দুল মুনিম চৌধুরী) was an Indian Bengali politician and Islamic scholar. He was the former two-time member of the Assam Legislative Assembly for the Karimganj South constitue ...

was made the first Shaykhul Hadith (Professor of Hadith). Among Choudhury's other descendants is Jamil Ahmad Choudhury, who is a teacher at the ''madrasa'', as well as Saeed Ahmad Choudhury and Abdul Ahad Choudhury, who are members of the executive committee.

Notes

References

{{reflist Deobandi madrasas Islamic education in India Madrasas in India Educational institutions established in 1873 Islamic universities and colleges in India Karimganj district Islam in India 1873 establishments in India