Jamia Nizamia more properly, Jami'ah Nizamiyyah, is one of the oldest Islamic seminaries of higher learning for

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

located in

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

History

It was founded by Anwarullah Farooqui, honorifically known as Fadilat Jung (the title was bestowed upon him by the

Nizam Nizam of Hyderabad was the title of the ruler of Hyderabad State ( part of the Indian state of Telangana, and the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka). ''Nizam'' is a shortened form of (; ), and was the title bestowed upon Asaf Jah I ...

), in

in 1876. It flourished under the patronage of the

Nizam of Hyderabad Nizam of Hyderabad was the title of the ruler of Hyderabad State ( part of the Indian state of Telangana, and the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka). ''Nizam'' is a shortened form of (; ), and was the title bestowed upon Asaf Jah I wh ...

Mir Osman Ali Khan Mir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII (5 or 6 April 1886 – 24 February 1967) was the last Nizam (ruler) of Hyderabad State, the largest state in the erstwhile Indian Empire. He ascended the throne on 29 August 1911, at the age of 25 and rule ...

. It is located in the Hussaini alam area of today's old city, Hyderabad. Over the last 146 years the Jamia has preserved the understanding of Islam and its sciences by the means of unbroken chains of Islamic authorization, viz, the

Ijazah An ''ijazah'' (, "permission", "authorization", "license"; plural: ''ijazahs'' or ''ijazat'') is a license authorizing its holder to transmit a certain text or subject, which is issued by someone already possessing such authority. It is particul ...

and the

Isnad In the Islamic study of hadith, an isnād (chain of transmitters, or literally "supporting"; ) refers to a list of people who passed on a tradition, from the original authority to whom the tradition is attributed to, to the present person reciting ...

, which go back fourteen centuries to tie the institution and its scholars to

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

. It was mainly known due to the scholarly works accomplished by the faculty of the Jamia Nizamia in the late 19th and 20th centuries that the

served as a major hub of academic activities for the sub-continent. The Jamia constitutes a major part of Islamic history in the sub-continent, particularly, the

Deccan The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound by the mount ...

Organisation

Jamia Nizamia has not the status of a university or deemed to be university according to the Indian University Grants Commission Act of 1956 and, therefore, can not confer or grant degrees. According to the Jamia Nizamia website, their " Moulvi", " Alim", "Fazil" and "

Kamil Kamil is a name used in a number of languages. Kamil () is a Polish, Czech, and Slovak given name, equivalent to the Italian Camillo, Spanish/Portuguese Camilo and French Camille. It is derived from Camillus,stablishment and dissolution ...

" are recognized by

Osmania University Osmania University is a collegiate university, collegiate Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Mir Osman Ali Khan, the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad, issued a ''firman'' calling f ...

as equivalent to degrees in oriental languages such as B.A.L. and M.A.L. After passing exams in English language prescribed for B.A., Fazil-passed students can be given admission to M.A. at Osmania University. Although previously the students would only be given admission into the Faculty of Oriental Languages at Osmania University, in 2022, Fazil certified graduates can directly gain admission into the MA Arabic, Faculty of Arts at Osmania University. Further recognizing universities would be

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University is a Collegiate university, collegiate, Central university (India), central, and Research university, research university located in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Kh ...

Al-Azhar Al-Azhar Mosque (), known in Egypt simply as al-Azhar, is a mosque in Cairo, Egypt in the historic Islamic core of the city. Commissioned as the new capital of the Fatimid Caliphate in 970, it was the first mosque established in a city that ...

of Egypt, Jamia Umm al-Qura of Mecca, the

Islamic University of Madinah The Islamic University of Madinah () is a public Islamic university in Medina, Saudi Arabia. Established by King Saud bin Abdulaziz in 1961, Sayy’id Abul Ala Maududi had played a significant role of establishing and running of Islamic Univers ...

and the University of

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

The Jamia set up the Girls College in 1995.

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

language students found employment in Arabic

call center A call centre (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) or call center (American English, American spelling; American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, see spelling differences) is a managed capability th ...

s in the last years, and student enrollment at Jamia Nizamia soared from 500 to 1,300 between 2004 and 2007. The Jamia Nizamia budget in 2004–2005 was 97,72,000.00 INR (US$220,000), expenditure in 2004–2005 was 1,41,56,000 INR (US$31,5000 in 2004).

Research

The scholars of Jamia Nizamia researched and published around 1000 books including rare Arabic

Manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

s which are the essential books for Islamic knowledge. The project was mainly accomplished under the auspices of another research institute known as the Dairatul Ma'arif an-Nizamiyyah or Dairat al- Ma'arif al-Uthmaniyyah. The graduates of Jamia Nizamia established the Lajnah Ihya al-Ma'arif an-Nu'maniyyah which enabled them to advance research and publish Arabic manuscripts pertaining to the

Hanafi The Hanafi school or Hanafism is the oldest and largest Madhhab, school of Islamic jurisprudence out of the four schools within Sunni Islam. It developed from the teachings of the Faqīh, jurist and theologian Abu Hanifa (), who systemised the ...

fiqh, in particular, and Islamic legal theories in general.

Fatwa

A fatwa is basically a ruling on a point of Islamic law given by a qualified jurist in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government to him. The jurists also answer questions asked weekly by subscribers to the ''Siasat'' and the ''

Etemaad ''Etemad'' or ''Etemaad'' () is a Persian-language reformist newspaper based in Iran that is published in Tehran. It is managed by Elias Hazrati, who was representative from Rasht and Tehran in the Parliament of Iran. Overview The first edi ...

Daily'' in print, and fatwas are available through email. In 2003–2004, fatwa fees earned 40,000.00 INR. Fatwas covered a wide range of topics: *2000: In 2000, a fatwa banned Muslim actors like (

Shabana Azmi Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. Her career in the Hindi cinema, Hindi film industry has spanned Shabana Azmi filmography, over 160 films, mostly within independent and neorealist paral ...

) from performing "acts of polytheism" (such as '' puja'') on screen and asked them to denounce themselves being Muslims if they can't follow it. *2005: In another fatwa, the Jamia Nizamia had absolved

qazi Qazi may refer to: * Qadi A qadi (; ) is the magistrate or judge of a Sharia court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and minors, and supervision and auditing of public works. History ...

s from responsibility for data such as age, previous marriages that is entered on the nikahnama forms in relation to the bride. *2005: In October 2005, Jamia Nizamia issued a fatwa calling

suicide bombing A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, see below) is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is ofte ...

s Un-Islamic. *2007: A fatwa was issued in 2007 against the state government's move to provide reservations or

quota Quota may refer to: Economics * Import quota, a restriction on the quantity of goods that can be imported into a country * Market Sharing Quota, an economic system used in Canadian agriculture * Milk quota, a quota on milk production in Europe * ...

s to Muslims in education and employment on the basis of

caste A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (en ...

system. *2022: A fatwa was issued by Jamia Nizamia in September 2022, stated that Islamic punishment for blasphemy cannot be administered in a democratic, non-Islamic country like India. Legal avenues must be explored and no individual has right to enforce this Islamic punishment. The fatwa stated that enforcing Sharia penalties is the exclusive domain of

Islamic countries The terms Islamic world and Muslim world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs, politics, and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is p ...

Notable alumni

* Abul Wafa al-Afghani, former Shaykh Ul Fiqh of Jamia Nizamia and Founder of Ihya Al Ma’arif An Nomaniya *

Muhammad Hamidullah Muhammad Hamidullah (19 February 1908 – 17 December 2002) was an Indian Islamic scholar from the princely state of Hyderabad. He wrote dozens of books and hundreds of articles on Islamic science, history and culture. Early life and educatio ...

, Islamic scientist, translator of the Qur'an in French and Muslim jurist * Abdul Halim Chishti Nomani, Pakistani Islamic scholar and librarian

References

External links

* {{authority control Establishments in Hyderabad State Universities and colleges in Hyderabad, India Islamic universities and colleges in India Madrasas in India Educational institutions established in 1876 Education in the princely states of India 1876 establishments in India Sunni Islam in India Barelvi Islamic universities and colleges