A day in Jamiat Al-Rashid By Javed Chaudhry

Jamiat al-Rashid is the most reliable Islamic Darul Uloom of the country. This seminary was built by the rich religious figure of Sindh, Mufti Rashid Ahmad Ludhianvi, in 1977. Mufti Sahib was an influential religious figure of his time. I was looked at with respect, even hundreds of Afghan leaders were students of Mufti Sahib.

He was a fanatic about cleanliness, he would clean his university bathroom under his supervision, he would lean against the wall by himself and not let anyone else do it, he said it would leave sweat marks on the wall. And this is an insult to the aesthetic sense.

If any of his students or servants would put a dirty hand or whole hand on the switch or switchboard while turning on the power button, you would get angry. What is the need? Mufti kept a separate towel for the upper part of the body and another for the lower part of the body. He also advised his students to use two towels.

He was soft-spoken and listened to others with full attention. Mufti Rasheed Ahmad passed away in 2002, but he left behind a wonderful seminary in Karachi. I was first introduced to Mufti Abdul Rahim and Jamiat al-Rashid in 2000.

I accepted his invitation and I came to Jamia for the first time and the truth is that I was very surprised by their management, the cleanliness of the campus and the discipline of the students. The children and the teacher were also swimming regularly. The kitchen of the university was clean. were kept from

The worshipers used to take off their shoes in front of the mosque or at the threshold of the rooms and go in, then the students would come and straighten them regularly and put them in order so that the guest or the worshiper does not have to turn the shoes when they go out. I was also running a blood bank, collecting blood from all over Karachi and giving it to the needy for free. I was impressed to see everyone, but I felt unnecessarily harsh in the attitude of these people.

For example, these people did not consider the photo as "halal" so they did not take a photo except for ID card and passport. Camera was prohibited in the campus. Photos of animals and humans were not published in newspapers and magazines. It was compulsory to print the photo. If there was, they would give a "circuit" of the picture or edit the facial features. They were very against television.

I didn't like the English dress either. I went to the university wearing pants. A relationship was developed with them and this relationship is still in place till 2023.

During this time, I also met Mufti Abdul Rahim Sahib twenty times and also his friends, Mufti Sahib, commonly known as Ustad Sahib, they also visited my house and offered endless prayers to my family and I performed Umrah with them. He was also blessed.

I participated in the convocation of the Jamia in 2010 and I got the opportunity to attend the 14th convocation of the Jamia on March 5, 2023. In this event Governor Sindh Kamran Tesori, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah, former Corps Commanders and retired and present. The service generals were also involved and my friend and journalist Saleem Safi with very positive tendencies.

The first change was seen in their attitude. 'Until 20 years ago, there was no room for photography and cameras in the Jamia, but now the Jamia has a regular media and digital cell, and students and teachers also take selfies.' Interviews have been given. One interview was done by Salim Safi and I was lucky enough to have the second one, while it has appeared countless times on YouTube and digital media.

The rest of the teachers and students of Jamia don't think the camera is bad anymore and this change is positive and also worthy of imitation. Man is a living being that moves with time. After 9/11, the United States and the United Nations had blacklisted Al-Rashid Trust, but when various ambassadors and important people of the establishment started visiting the Jamia, they were surprised to see their work. were left and thus these restrictions ended.

Mufti Abdul Rahim was highly respected by both the Taliban and the American-born government officials in Afghanistan. Mufti always played a key role in Pakistan-Afghan relations. These people are also experts on the Afghan issue, so the state and the world always come to them to understand the situation and traditions of Afghanistan. These people are running hundreds of welfare projects in both countries but also in Turkey.

I am also happy to know that on March, the Sindh government has also given a university charter to Jamiat al-Rashid under the name of Al-Ghazali University and these people will provide education in both the fields of religion and world together.

I am sure that this university will be the most important educational institution in the world of Islam in the coming days. are also under education' these youths have entered here for ancient and Islamic education after modern education' students include doctors, engineers, software engineers, PhDs and hundreds of students of social and pure sciences.

These people have returned to the ancient sciences from the modern fields and they are also rains, gentle, polite and prayerful and their level of knowledge is many times higher than the students of ordinary universities. Dozens of modern and ancient books are read. Jamia had entrusted a young man named Abu Bakr to help me.

I was surprised to see the book ``Startup Nation'' in his hand. This book is about the rise of modern Israel and I think it should be translated and taught to the entire Muslim world. He is also a fan and he also reads modern books. He is a student of Kalita al-Sharia in Jamiat al-Rashid. There are hundreds of such young people in Jamiat.

The young men who picked me up from the airport were also degree holders from NIST and a young doctor from Jamia also came to drop me off from the hotel. His name was Dr. Ammar. These are very knowledgeable young people.

I could not help but be impressed by his wide study and thought. I will mention here Mufti Afnan in particular. I met him for the first time in 2003. After that, he studied in America and Switzerland and now he is doing LLB from UK. He speaks three languages fluently, English, Arabic and Urdu and the listeners cannot remain without being impressed by his knowledge and fluency.

Sadiq Khan, the former ambassador of Pakistan to Afghanistan, was sitting with me. He also teaches in NDU. I did not see so much discipline and cleanliness in the convocation. Seven to eight thousand people were sitting in the venue, but somewhere there was commotion and no chaos. Tea to all the people.

Water and food were also provided and space was also provided and no one even shouted slogans in the parking lot. Dr. Mukhtar, Chairman of Higher Education, was also present here. He has also been the Vice Chancellor.

He said that our public and private universities should learn from Jamiat al-Rashid. I am liberal in nature. Every time I saw them, I was forced to say that these people are the real Pakistanis and the real Muslims. We are only Muslims in name and Pakistanis in name.

We are only benefishers of this country, while the real service of the country is being done by these people and they are the real heirs of this country.