السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ
It’s Saturday 23rd July/24 Ẓūl Ḥijjah 1443H.
3 hours at my beloved Dārul Uloom Bury
Many people will remember Tuesday 19th July as the hottest day in the UK since records began. Temperatures touched the 40 degrees mark at Heathrow airport. With the sun shining on our 7-seater taxi, driven by the world famous Tiger Patel of Blackburn, we headed out for a visit to our Dārul Uloom Bury.
We were taking our 90 year old Geography & English teacher Ḥāji Muḥammad Ibrāhīm back to the seminary, where he had taught for over 15 years. We had also invited our Maths teacher Ḥāji Sabir Ṣāḥib to come to Dārul Uloom as well to meet Ḥāji Muḥammad Ibrāhīm.
The 3 hours at Dārul Uloom are amongst the most memorable moments of my life. I had spent 8 years of my youth here in the 1980s and, 30 years on, all the fond memories came flashing back.
Ḥāji Sabir Ṣāḥib informed us that our Ḥaḍrat Mawlānā Yūsuf Motālā Ṣāḥib, نور الله مرقده, visited him at his house in 1979 and requested him to prepare a prospectus for the Dārul Uloom school. Ḥāji Sabir prepared a 12-page document and offered his services to Ḥaḍrat.
He was the first school teacher to be employed by the Dārul Uloom school in 1979, who retired 41 years later in 2020 at the start of the Covid pandemic. What a wonderful service to Dārul Uloom.
We took the opportunity to visit a few classrooms and then went for a walk in the boarding section and the dining halls. On the menu today was chicken tikka biryani with ice cold milk shake. For those who studied at Dārul Uloom, the cook today is Ḥāji ‘Umar bhai.
He started in the Dārul Uloom kitchen in 1991. 31 years later, he is still feeding the Dārul Uloom students. It was a memorable 3 hours that we spent in Dārul Uloom. Our eyes were longing to see the radiant smiling face of our Ḥaḍrat Mawlānā Yūsuf Motālā Ṣāḥib, نور الله مرقده, who together with Mawlānā Hāshim Jogwāri Ṣāḥib, مدظله العالی, and Qāri Ismā’īl Samniwālā, نور الله مرقده, planted the seeds of this amazing institute back in 1975.
Alas! Ḥaḍrat, نور الله مرقده, and Qāri Ismā’īl, نور الله مرقده, have both departed this temporary world. They have both left behind a beautiful legacy.
May The Almighty reward them both and Mawlānā ‘Abdul Ḥaq Ṣāḥib, نور الله مرقده, with Jannat ul-Firdaus in the Hereafter, Āmeen. May He grant the best of health to Mawlānā Hāshim Jogwāri Ṣāḥib and lengthen his shadow upon us and Dārul Uloom, Āmeen.
May Almighty Allāh keep our Ḥāji Muḥammad Ibrāhīm steadfast on Īmān and Islām until his last breath, Āmeen. May He also grant the best of health to our Ḥāji Sabir Ṣāḥib, Āmeen.
It truly was a very hot day. Our Īmān was very much warmed up by the visit.
جَزَاكَ اللَّهُ خَيْرًا
Request for Du’ās
وَالسَّلَامُ Hanif Dudhwala