Chapter 16B - Life in Madeenah Munawwarah

Chapter 16B

Purchase of our own land

Observing the difficulties, our father decided that it was important that we build our own house. He began his search for land, as without it we could not settle. It was expensive to build a house in Madeenah Munawwarah and we did not have any funds, yet he did not allow anything to hinder his extraordinary courage. He found of a plot of land for sale, which was once a date orchard. This land was endowed at one time to the special servants of the hujra-e mutaharah Nabwiyyah within Haram’s vicinity. When such land was abandoned and fell into disuse, it would be sold on by the order of a Qadhi (judge); its content would be sold and the land itself would remain as an endowment. The buyer would have to pay yearly rent for the land according to an amount agreed with the administrator of the endowment. The rent for this type of land was a small amount. The land was sold according to the measurement of makhazin; each makhzan was eleven yards in length and five yards in width. A price was decided per makhzan and the land was very cheap in that time. The buildings here were not spread out and single storey like the ones in India, rather they had three to four storeys like in Bombay and Calcutta, therefore, whoever wished to build a single storey building had to spend much more money. Secondly, purdah was difficult because of the higher storey buildings surrounding and overlooking the property. It became necessary for my father marhoom to purchase a very large plot to build six buildings for five sons and daughter. He drew up a plan and purchased an expansive plot of land containing the orchard’s original well and a large mound of soil containing the rubble of the previously demolished building walls of the old orchard. My father had no money, so he purchased the land by taking a loan from my sister Riyadh Fatimas’s share of money that was set aside for her marriage (we had all received our share of money when we had moved to Madeenah Munawwarah which was used towards the daily needs). Five hundred rupees were taken as a loan from her money and the payment for the land was made.

Another we difficulty we encountered was that according to the Turkish laws, non-citizens were not permitted to purchase property in their name, and it would take some time to be granted citizenship. Therefore, as an immediate strategy, the land was purchased under the name of Doctor Rafaqat Ali Sahib (the father of Molana Abdul Haq Sahib Madni, Muhtamim of Madrasah Shahi Masjid Moradabad; he was from Deoband but had lived for a long time in Madeenah Munawwarah and held the position as a doctor for the army and the status of a Major in the Turkish government. The sale deed was also registered under his name and  at the same time my father made a written request for citizenship. As a procedure, a citizenship request made by a British citizen or a citizen of any other country would only be granted if their natural country’s authorities gave permission and raised no objection. Therefore, a citizenship request was regularly sent to the British Vice Council in Jeddah and following their communication with the Indian authorities, we received a written confirmation of citizenship. After six months or more, my father was granted citizenship, and thereafter Doctor Rafaqat Ali Sahib transferred the sale deed to my father’s name.

During this time period, our father received the money that his peerbhais  and close acquaintances had given to us while we were visiting India. He was able to pay off the loan taken from my sister marhooma and the building work commenced and they laid out unbaked bricks made with the soil heaps. Within these soil heaps, they found many bricks of the old building which were very useful for our building and additional  bricks were purchased. Initially, it was a necessary task to build the outer wall of the entire premises. Before we had returned from India, the outer wall was already built surrounding all four sides. Firstly, bricks were laid down as part of the foundation and then unbaked bricks were used to build high walls which reached the height of twelve or thirteen feet or more, allowing for the protection and privacy of the entire premises.

When my brother and myself returned to Madeenah Munawwarah from Gangoh Shareef in 1320 Hijri ( 1902 ) after we had completed Hajje badal and Umrah, the outer walls had already been built .We did not have many provisions or money for our return journey, so we undertook Hajje Badal on our return from India; Hadhrat Gangohi Quddus sirruhul Aziz instructed us to complete two Hajje badal on behalf of his relatives which included our expenditure to journey to  Madeenah Munawwarah aswell. At the time, our family was still residing in the house belonging to a Hyderabadi businessman.

My teaching challenges

After reaching Madeenah Munawarah, I found employment at the Shamsiyyah Baag Madrasah otherwise known as the Tawtiyya Madrasah (this was a new madrasah that was founded at this time) and was given a monthly salary of twenty-five Rupees. My brother also found a teaching post at the house of a Surti Businessman to teach his children. I gave up scribing kitabs as there was a growth in the number of students, so out of my madrasah teaching hours I would teach kitabs in the respected Harame Nabwi sallallahu alayhi wasallam. I began to teach different uloom of the different disciplines (funoon) after fajr, asr, maghrib salah and even after esha salah. My vast student numbers caught the attention of many people and gave rise to objections. I had become fluent in my spoken Arabic, mastered all the foundational kitaabs and used the methodology of the Ulema of Khayrabaad to strengthen my capability of memorisation. I would teach without the kitab, sharah or hashiya in front of me; rather, I would give commentary and explain in depth the masail following the students’ own reading of the ibarat (original text). At home, I would make sure I read the kitab, shuruh (written commentaries) and  hawashi (footnotes) thoroughly so that I had a strong understanding of the masail (discussions and rulings) before  my lessons: It was the common tradition amongst the ulema of Madeenah and others to have the kitab and the sharah in front of them to teach, and most of the ibarat of its sharah and hashiya would be read out. There was also some specific Ulema from other parts that would teach without kitabs, however, they did not have access to all the kitaabs of the different uloom or disciplines and spent limited time on them. Therefore, in general, the students and Ulema came to acknowledge that not only did I have mastery in all the darsi disciplines but had also memorised them and as a result I had a vast following of intellectual and diligent students.  However, it caused jealousy and competitiveness within many teachers at the respected Haram.

Likewise, the supervisor of Madrasah Shamsiyyah Baag insisted that my students who came to me to study in Haram should attend  Madrasah Shamsiyyah Baag for lessons with me instead. However, the students were not happy with this arrangement. Apart from my students who were from the locality of Madeenah Munawwarah, I had students from Turkey, Bukhara, Kazan (in Russia), Kazakh, Turkistan, Kahil and Misr (Egypt) and so forth. Another condition the supervisor of Madrasah Shamsiyyah Baag placed on me was that I should not teach anywhere outside the Madrasah hours. A few issues like these presented themselves, so I was pressed to hand in my resignation to the management of the Madrasah and I made an intention  to teach kitabs in the respected Haram liwajhillah (for Allah),  without a wage; I left my provision in the hands of its Guardian and Respected Creator, Most honourable is His Name. I was obliged to hand in my resignation and thereafter, expanded in the field of kutube darsiyyah. I wrote to Hadhrat Gangohi Quddus sirruhul Aziz and presented him with details of all my teaching and my mashagil (spiritual practices); I explained how I would become overwhelmed with sleep when I would  carry out the revered practices that he had given me as lessons in Tareeqat.  I explained how ill thoughts (khatraat) and whisperings (wasawis) were becoming overwhelming and distressing. Furthermore, I explained how the students demands were growing  and how I had become obliged to teach them for most part of the day and night. Hadhrat RA replied; ‘teach as much as you can, your confidence will grow with this.’ I would teach fourteen lessons a day- five lessons in the morning, three to four lessons after Zohar , two lessons after asr, one lesson after maghrib and one lesson after esha; Zohar salah would be prayed straight after zawal start time and asr time would be read after mithlayn which meant there was a lot of time to teach between these two salah times.

Our building work within fifteen days

Owing to my resignation and not complying to the conditions resulted in a difference with Doctor Mohammad Khwaja sahib Marhoom, the supervisor of Madrasah Shamsiyyah; he gave us notice to vacate the property stating that they wanted to resume  its building work. We were given a month’s notice and so my father decided to build a few rooms suitable for living in, on the premises we had purchased. We did not have the funds to permanently rent another property or to build a complete building. We did not have the means, and even if we did, it was better that we spent it on our own property than on other buildings. The unbaked bricks had been laid out as flooring, so we would take our women and children there everyday and would build the walls with our own hands; We, three men, would wash the bricks whilst the women would bring the clay/slurry. In conclusion, with our own hand and as a united effort, we built five rooms, a bathing area, a toilet area and a wall for purdah purposes. The walls of the rooms were made from unbaked bricks and the roof and ceiling was built so that if someone was to stand on the bed the head would not touch the ceiling. For the roof, in place of rafters we used thick branches of Acacia that Bedouins would bring into the town to sell. These branches were placed far apart, and date palm stalks were positioned closely next to them and covered over with date palm mats. This was then plastered over with wet clay and then with a layer of dry soil. The roof was not so strong that someone could walk over it and it was not so thick that it would protect from heavy rain. It was like a sloping thatched roof that would protect us from extreme heat, cold and from light showers. However, when it rained heavily (which was rare in Madeenah Munawwarah), all the water seeped into the rooms. In this manner we had the tawfeeq of attaining a similarity to our beloved Prophet sallallahu alahiwasallam’s hujjraat (rooms). Within fifteen days of hard work and sacrifice, the building work was complete and I gave up teaching completely in those days. Most of the hard work was that of our father’s although he was aged and he would never sit idle., his courage and endurance was more than that of the youth.

I cannot begin to express the height of happiness we felt when the building work was ready- it was as though we had been released from an imprisonment. In our home, we could sit where we wanted, sleep where we wanted and spill water where we wanted. Natural light openly shone in from everywhere and wind would blow all around like it would do in houses with courtyards. There was no one to taunt us or say anything to us, and there was no worry of giving rent or fear of other needs. The water of the well was also fairly sweet; we would only need to purchase one mashq of water (costing one sikka) for drinking and cooking. In conclusion, it was a great source of contentment for us and we left our former home before the one-month notice was complete. We lived in these rooms for many years with much freedom, laughter and cheer; thereafter the south and west rooms were also ready to use. Many people saw our building and took interest, and over a short period many other buildings were built in the surrounding area. The number of people increased in our vicinity and the land became more expensive and thereafter, when the rail system was introduced, it became even more populated. Later, however, because of corruption of Shareef Hussain, it was sad to see this whole area become deserted; a deep level of insecurity spread there, so much so that it became difficult to remain there.

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