Ajiria Alia Madrasa (, ) is an ''alia'' madrasa, situated in Fulbari,

Golapganj Upazila Golapganj Upazila (), previously known as Gulabganj, is an upazila of Sylhet District in Sylhet Division, Bangladesh. Geography Golapganj Upazila (Sylhet District) area 278.33 km2, located in between 24°41' and 24°55' north latitud ...

Sylhet District Sylhet District (), located in north-east Bangladesh, is one of the four districts in Sylhet Division, which contains Sylhet, the regional capital. History Sylhet District was established on 3 January 1782, and until 1878 it was part of Benga ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

History

The descendants of Mughal statesman and

zamindar A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous feudal lord of a ''zamindari'' (feudal estate). The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian was the official language; ''zamindar'' is the ...

Mir Hazara established a madrasa in the village of Fulbari. Among his descendants was the 19th-century mystic Shah Abdul Wahhab Choudhury, who headed up the madrasa immediately before it was transformed into its present form. His

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

background turned the madrasa into a notable centre for the production of literary works in the

Sylhet Nagri Sylheti Nagri or Sylheti Nāgarī (, , ), known in classical manuscripts as Sylhet Nagri () as well as by many other names, is an Indic script. The script was historically used in the regions of Bengal and Assam, that were east of the Padma. I ...

script, and among the erstwhile students were Sufi poets Shitalong Shah and

Ibrahim Ali Tashna Shāh Muḥammad Ibrāhīm ʿAlī (; 1872 – 11 September 1931) was a Bengalis, Bengali Islamic scholar, poet and activist of the Khilafat Movement. He wrote poetry in the Bengali language, Bengali, Urdu and Farsi, Persian languages under the pe ...

. In 1860, Allama Muhammad Ajiruddin Ahmad Choudhury, a student of Abdul Wahhab Choudhury, used his family wealth to re-endow it and transform it into an Alia Madrasa, related to the style of the Alia Madrasa of Calcutta. From then on it came to be known as Ajiria Alia Madrasa. Ahmad was a renowned Persian-language author, and among his books are ''Guldasta-i-Aqaid'' and ''Aqaid-i-Ajiria'' (Creed of Ajiria). He also wrote books in

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

. In the 20th century, Sufi Habibur Rahman Chowdhury became the headmaster. His son, Majd Uddin Chowdhury, was a prominent tea pioneer and former principal of

Murari Chand College Murari Chand College () (usually referred to as MC College) was the first college in the Sylhet Division. It was established in 1892, making it the seventh oldest college in Bangladesh. Since then it has played an important role in the education ...

. He was also the father of Mohius Sunnah Chowdhury, who played a great role in the development of the madrasa. The madrasa became an important centre for the

Pakistan Movement The Pakistan Movement was a religiopolitical and social movement that emerged in the early 20th century as part of a campaign that advocated the creation of an Islamic state in parts of what was then British Raj. It was rooted in the two-nation the ...

, with key activities from its alumni Abdul Musabbir of Gohorpur, who founded the Sylhet District Muslim Student Association, and Sayad Naziruddin Ahmad of Balikandi. Other notable alumni include

Ibrahim Chatuli Ibrahim Ali Chatuli ( Arabic: إبراهيم على (جتولي); ; 1894–1984) was a Bangladeshis, Bangladeshi Islamic scholar, politician and social reformer. He was the Education Minister of Assam Legislative Council, and an elected Member o ...

and

Ismail Alam Abū al-ʿAzīz Muḥammad Ismāʿīl ʿAlī (; 1868–1937) was a Bengali politician, teacher and activist of the Khilafat Movement. He wrote poetry in Urdu under the pen name of Ālam (Urdu: ). His Diwan-i-Alam poem led to the Calcutta Alia Mad ...

. Notable teachers at the institute include the Deobandi cleric Maulana

Abdul Jalil Choudhury ʿAbdul Jalil Choudhury Badarpuri (19 December 1989) was an Indian Deobandi Islamic scholar, teacher and politician. Born in what is now Bangladesh, Choudhury became one of the senior disciples of Hussain Ahmad Madani from Sylhet District. He r ...

, a leading opponent of Partition in the area who would eventually migrate to India in protest at the creation of Pakistan.

History

See also

References

Further reading