By Pervez Bari
Bhopal: “There is no short cut to success. Students who persevere in the field of education and competitive world sincerely can break all barriers impeding their progress to finish at the top notch.
There is a general perception that Muslim students do not study and labour hard to be amongst top achievers in any field. This may be true to some extent but Muslim students have talent. This has been proved by the fact that thrice Muslim students have finished at the top of the IAS examination, which is said to be the toughest”. The students who have finished at the podium were Javed Usmani(UP), Amir Subhani (Bihar), Shah Faisal (Kashmir) and Anis Ansari. Not only this in CPMT out of 1350 seats 350 Muslim students were among those selected, he added.
The above thoughts were expressed by Prof. Shakeel Samdani, Dean in the faculty of Law in Aligarh Muslim University, AMU), while addressing students, their parents, guardians and others in the Annual function 2020 of a Bhopal-based NGO Muslim Education & Career Promotion Society, (MECAPS), here on Sunday. He was Guest of Honour of the function.
Prof. Samdani & Dr. Rao felicitated
Meanwhile, Prof. Samdani was felicitated with an award for his contribution in the field of Law and Social Work on the occasion. Similarly, Dr. R. J. Rao, Vice Chancellor University of Barkatullah University, Bhopal, was honoured with an award for his contribution in the field of education.
Dr. Zafar Hasan, Honorary general secretary of MECAPS, welcomed the guests and presented annual report of the society.
Continuing Prof. Samdani said that for 600 years Muslims were intellectually, academically and scientifically superpower as far as knowledge and education was concerned. Then the Muslims excelled in the field of science, medicine, engineering, mathematics, astrology, oceanography, astronomy etc. For these reasons Muslims, thereafter, became superpower politically too and reigned for 900-1000 years on large parts of the world.
Biggest revolution in Education
He said Prophet of Islam Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) brought about the biggest revolution in the field of education which the world ever saw. He believed such type of revolution will not come again till the Doomsday as about 1500 years ago there were no gadgets or tools of communication as we have today in the present era.
He pointed out that Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) in his 23 years of his prophet-hood focussed on education which he compared with life. He released the prisoners-of-war when they taught his disciples to read and write. There were only 17-23 literate people in Makkah, the religious capital of the World, when Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) was anointed as a prophet after the first “Wahi” (Heavenly revelation) which said “Read………………” Thereafter, at the time of his farewell sermon in Hajjat-ul-Wida there wereabout1.4 lakh people who wereall literates in Makkah.
Students exhorted
As such Prof. Samdani while exhorting Muslim students spiritedly to engage themselves in serious studies said “Ilm is Zindagi and Jahalat is mout” (Education is life while ignorance is death). He insisted upon students: “Padho, Padho, Padho. Jadojahad karni hai; mahnat karni hai” (Study, study and study. Work hard and put in great effort) so that the golden era of the Ummah can be achieved once again.
He urged the elders to contribute with open heart to fund the NGOs such as MECAPS and others which are engaged in educating children of poor families and their overall development of the Muslim Ummah. He said wealth possessed by well-to-do people given by the Almighty Allah (S) is not entirely theirs but they are only trustees of such fortune. They have to spend on the have-nots and orphans according to the wishes of Allah (S) as ordained in the Holy Qur’an and the sayings of the Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH). If they do not do so they shall be punished by Him. He argued if these people save even one percent of their income from their extravagant expenditure then one and all needy students can get scholarships, he added.
Muslims poor in Social Work
He lamented that Muslims are very poor in social service task and only less than one percent NGOs are present internationally from 22 percent population of Muslims in the world. Same is the position at the national level. Quoting a Hadees, he said, compassion even towards animals will be rewarded by the Almighty Allah (S). So, serving the have-nots and fulfilling their needs and helping them to come out from the quagmire of illiteracy and poverty is much more important.
However, in south India, he pointed out, the scenario is quite different as Muslims there have a penchant for social service. They have built a network of educational institutions all over the states which have uplifted the Muslim community out from illiteracy and poverty. The common man in the community in south India is far well placed, both materialistically and spiritually, as compared to their counterpart in the north of the country.
He praised the founders of MECAPS who established an organisation for the betterment of Muslim community along with those who are running it presently.
Meanwhile, Barkatullah University Vice Chancellor Dr. Rao, who was chief guest of the function said he is overwhelmed seeing MECAPS’ such a big active role in the field of education and social service. He revealed that he comes from Andhra Pradesh and e grew in an environment surrounded by Muslims. He never felt that Muslims and Hindus were two different communities but are complimentary to each other.
Prizes were given to winners of Sagheer Baidaar Talent Search Test. Meritorious students received Mufti Mohammad Ismail Memorial Golden Medal and Mohammad Ilyas Khan Golden Medal. Beside this students were honoured with Afaq Ahmad Memorial Award, Abdul Lateef Memorial Award, Abdul Haleem Qidwai Memorial Award, Mazhar Mehndi Memorial Award, Badar-un-Nisa Memorial Award, Maulana Inam-ur-Rahman Memorial Award, Zahoor-ul-Hasan Memorial Award, Syed Masood Ali Memorial Award.
The vote of thanks was proposed by Syed Arshad Ali, vice president of MECAPS. The programme was compered by Dr. Ahsan Aazmi with aplomb.
Meanwhile, it may be mentioned here that MECAPS was established in 1985 as a non-profit organization by a group of civic-minded individuals who felt the moral obligation of reaching the underprivileged Muslim community and mobilize them towards education and encourage them on their educational achievements and feats.