Madrasatul Waizeen

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Madrasatul Waizeen
General Information
FounderMaharaja Mohammad Ali Mohammad Khan
Established1919
TypeSeminary
LocationLucknow, India
Coordinates26°51′52.6″N 80°54′45.4″E / 26.864611°N 80.912611°E / 26.864611; 80.912611
Specifications
StatusActive
FacilitiesLibrary


Dome of Madrasatul Waizeen

Madrasatul Wāizeen or Madrasat al-Wā'izin (College of Preachers), founded in 1919, is an old centre of Twelver Shia education in the city of Lucknow, India and it is well-known for the valuable manuscripts in its library. [1] Many of the clerics attend this school after they finish their graduate educations in other Shia seminaries to strengthen their oratory and preaching skills.[2]

History

The seminary was originally founded May 19, 1919[3] by Maharaja Mohammad Ali Mohammad Khan of Mahmudabad in memory of his younger brother Sahibzada Mohammad Ali Ahmad Khan Sahib.[4]

The goal of foundation of this seminary has been to train the clerics who finished their educations in other seminaries, to know more about rhetoric, debate and preaching.

Field of operations of this Madrasa has not been confined to India, but its missionaries have worked in Zanzibar, Uganda, Mombasa, Darussalam, Singapore, Shanghai.[5]

The Madrasa has this annual event on the last week of every December, when everyone who is in any way related to this seminary participate in a 3-day conference and reports about what they do around the world, and they are also informed about the activities of the seminary during the last year. The place of the conference is different time to time.[6]

Educational Program

Library of Madrasatul Waizeen

Madrasatul Waizeen is considered a higher Shia religious education, where the students learn high levels of Shia studies, specially jurisprudence and principle of jurisprudence, but also take some courses in preaching. The student of this seminary should pass a 3-year program of studying after which they should go for a journey of preaching for people in India or another country for two years, after which they would get the title of "wa'iz" (preacher).[7]

Learning foreign languages such as Arabic, English, Farsi, etc, are obligatory for the students of Madrasatul Waizeen. The students also take some courses about other religions and denominations so they would become able to engage in interfaith dialogue and preaching for people of other faiths.

Library

The collections of the library of Madrasatul Waizeen include more than 20,000 books in print, and at least 1500 manuscripts.[8]

Notes

  1. Madrasatul Waizeen, International Conference on ‘Allamah Mir Hamid Husayn Lakhnawi, Retrieved October 21, 2015
  2. Nasr, Sayyid Husayn, Ma'arif-i Islami dar jahan-i mu'asir, as cited in Tahoor Encylopedia, Retrieved October 21, 2015
  3. Sadra'i Khoei, 'Ali, Manuscripts of Madrasatul Waizeen of Lucknow, Muhaqqiq Tabata'i Foundation, Retrieved October 21, 2015
  4. Amir Hasan, Vanishing culture of Lucknow, B.R. Pub. Corp., 01-Dec-1990
  5. Muslim Review: An English Monthly Magazine Of Madrasatul Waizeen, volume XI, number 3 (September 1932)
  6. Al-Shahristani, al-Sayyid Salih, Madrasatul Waizeen fi Lucknow bi l-Hind; akbar markaz li l-da'aya al-Islamiyya fi l-Hind, al-'Irfan, 24, 1352 AH, part 9. Retrieved on Noormags in October 21, 2015
  7. Sadra'i Khoei, Ali, Manuscripts of Madrasatul Wa'izeen of Lucknow, Muhaqqiq Tabataba'i Foundation, Retrieved October 21, 2015
  8. Sadra'i Khoei, 'Ali, Manuscripts of Madrasatul Waizeen of Lucknow, Muhaqqiq Tabata'i Foundation, Retrieved October 21, 2015

References