Those of you who read my last blog got an outline sketch of Madrasah Al-Aaizah and perhaps thought it was awesome (!!!!) or maybe just weren’t that impressed (????). Whichever the case maybe, this outline sketch really wasn’t complete. Madrasa Al-Aaizah has another face too, and that is the School, Hifz and Nazra Section for the Under-Privileged. As the name suggests, it caters to the girl child from the class of working people who are mostly domestic servants like drivers, maids and laborers, who live in tough conditions and can barely make ends meet. We opened this madrasah in 2004, initially in the afternoon, for Nazra Quran only, with one teacher. There is a shanty town nearby and we physically went there to ask mothers, who were mostly maids in nearby bungalows, to send their girls to the madrasah.
Initially, they were very suspicious but gradually, students started coming in. Within a short period of time the number grew to 25, then 30 and soon the students couldn’t fit inside the room. In a span of a few months, we had to put out mats outside on the roof, where it became shady as the afternoon sun started to move on the other side of the house. The number of teachers also increased to two. In the next few years we started a school in the morning, then a hifz program, had canopies built for proper shade outside on roof, added more teachers to our staff and started an hour of Islamic education to groom our students and help mould their lives according to the teachings of Quran and Sunnah. The entire venture, everything from the fees to books and stationary to uniform has been totally free for the students بفضل الله تعالى
Today…
Total girl students in school and madrasah: 86, ages 5+ to 16 years
School…
8am to 12.30pm…Nursery to Class 10…35 students (also study in madrasah in afternoon)…2 teachers
Subjects: English, Urdu, Maths, Science, Social Studies, Islamiat, Computers
Madrasah…..
Hifz: 7am to 5.45pm…20 students…2 teachers
Nazra Quran: 1.30pm to 5pm…66 students…3 teachers
Subjects: Hifz/Nazra; Tarjuma Tafseer Amma para; Seerah; Asan Namaz; Bahishti Zewar and Alaikum bi-Sunnati for older girls/ easier books on deen for younger girls
Achievements: الحمد لله تعالى…
- 5 girls from our earliest batch completed Matric (High School) from our madrasah. One of them is a Hafiza, gave her Bachelor’s in Commerce exam this year and is now a full day teacher and supervisor at our madrasah. She is proficient in using computers. She plans to join an evening MBA program next year. Two of them now in college. One wasn’t allowed to go to college so she is teaching Nursery and Lower Primary in our madrasah. She also gives computer lessons to all levels. Fifth girl is also teaching elsewhere. All five girls from under-privileged backgrounds.
- Two girls have completed and six more hope to complete their hifz and give the Wifaqul Madaris Hifz exam this academic year in’sha’Allah. One of the hafizas is only 8+ years old. All of them are studying school along with hifz.
- Countless girls, approximately 50+, have completed their Nazra Quran over the years.
- Arab Academy, http://www.arabacademy.com, an online Arabic teaching program based in Egypt has granted scholarship to our students since past five years where each student is enrolled in the program and learns written and spoken Arabic along with gaining computer skills through its online program.
- There is a lot of emphasis on discipline and character building which shows in the students’ punctuality, regularity, neatness and behavior. This, in itself, is amazing considering their under privileged, uneducated, backgrounds.
- We go for annual excursions too. Last year, we took our students to the Dolphin Show that was visiting our city. This year we will be going to a museum and have a picnic later.
- There is an annual jalsa at the end of term, in Shaban, where students plan and put up different items in English and Urdu for their mothers and other guests. The whole madrasah is decorated by the students and teachers. Certificates and prizes are given to deserving students as well as general gifts for all.
All this and more that can’t be explained but perceived and felt, make this section of Madrasah Al-Aaizah Allah Ta’ala’s very special blessing for everyone who is directly or indirectly a part of it. إن شاء الله تعالى
I only put this to paper because …و أما بنعمة ربّك فحدّث….93:11
والله أعلم بالصواب
By Ustadha Almas Taufiq