The Destruction of Madrasa Azizia By Rioters A Huge Blow to the Cultural Heritage of India
More
Than 4000 Rare Books And Manuscripts Were Destroyed
Main
Points:
1. The madrasa
was built by Soghra Bibi in 1896.
2. The 110 year
old madrasa was built on 3 acre land.
3. 300 students
studied in the madrasa.
4. Heritage
practitioners have remained silent on the destruction of the library.
-----
By
New Age Islam Staff Writer
18 April
2023
The
madrasa is one of the very first educational establishments built by Bibi
Soghra’s donations. | Twitter
------
The
destruction of the 110 year old Madrasa Azizia of Bihar Sharif in Nalanda
district of Bihar in India is another blow to the cultural heritage of India.
Madrasa Azizia was built by Soghra Bibi, the widow of Abdul Aziz, a wealthy
Muslim of Bihar Sharif in 1896 with the property and wealth she inherited. The
madrasa was built on 3 acre land with a big hall as library. Soghra Bibi
donated her wealth for the advancement of education among the Muslims. 500
students study in the madrasa at present. There are 10 teachers and 2
non-teaching staff. Uniform, books and stationery are provided to the students
by the madrasa. Teachers get salary from the madrasa. Madrasa Azizia has
produced many prominent Islamic scholars like Syed Sulaiman Nadvi and Manazir
Ahsan Gilani, to name a few. Many prominent bureaucrats of Bihar have studied
in Madrasa Azizia. The madrasa housed a library of thousands of rare books and
manuscripts which were all gutted in fire during the Ram Navami procession on
30 March 2023. The books burnt were on philosophy, medicine, logic and other
sciences. The books were contained in 18 almirahs in the library hall and
important documents relating to the history of the madrasa, certificates and
documents, files of students of the madrasa were kept in eight Almirahs. All
were destroyed in the fire. The construction of the present building was
completed in 1924 and so the madrasa was preparing the centenary celebrations
of the madrasa building. The madrasa authorities have estimated a loss of Rs
sixty lakh due to the fire.
It is not
the first time a library has been destroyed. History has been witness to the
destruction of great libraries by invading rulers. In 1258, the, Mongol ruler
Halaku Khan invaded Baghdad and massacred hundreds of thousands of men, women
and children. He destroyed palaces, mosques and libraries. Halaku's soldiers
destroyed the grand library of Baghdad called Baytal Hikmah apart from other 35
libraries of Baghdad. Baytal Hikmah was a centre of research and learning. It
housed millions of books and manuscripts on poetry, medicine, philosophy,
astronomy, medicine and optics. The library encouraged translation of important
books from Greek, Persian and Indian languages. Writers, scientists and
researchers met every day in the library and discussed important issues carried
out research work. Halaku Khan's invasion wielded a huge blow to the
advancement of sciences and arts made during the previous 500 years.
Around 50
years before the fall of Baghdad, the Turk ruler Bakhtiyar Khilji invaded
Bengal and Bihar and destroyed Nalanda University and its library. The library
housed millions of manuscripts on religion, medicine and other sciences. The
soldiers of Khilji set fire to the entire university which was one of the
greatest seats of learning in the world in the middle ages.
But it is
unfortunate that libraries are being destroyed or set on fire even in this
modern age when the world recognises the importance of libraries. In 2013, the
Islamic insurgents associated with Al Qaida destroyed the famous library of
Timbuktu of Mali, a west African country. The library was built in the 13th
century and had a rich collection of rare books, and manuscripts. This was done
by the Islamic insurgents who claimed to be upholders of Islam. In fact, they
have always opposed learning and education. Boko Haram is one of such extremist
organisations that opposes modern education and knowledge. During Bosnian war
also, libraries were destroyed together with mosques and churches. During the
Iraq war, the Allied Forces destroyed museums and libraries of Iraq. Therefore,
the libraries and centres of culture have been
destroyed
by invaders during the middle ages, and by rioters in the modern age as a tool
of suppression of the targeted community. The madrasa Azizia falls among the
libraries that were destroyed by the successors of Halaku and Khilji. This is
very unfortunate.
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Bihar’s Burnt Madrasa Azizia Was
Built By One Woman’s Charity, Produced Freedom Fighters
By
Sabine Ameer
17 April,
2023
Amid the
upheaval in Bihar Sharif during Ram Navami processions, images of the gutted
110-year-old religious and educational heritage site, Madarsa Azizia shook the
Muslim community across India and beyond. The madrasa was targeted and torched by extremists on 31 March. The
historic library within its precinct housed an estimated 4,500 books of Islamic literature with some rare
manuscripts. The financial damage is upwards of Rs 10 crore, according to an
initial estimate by conservation architect Ruknuddin Mirza. The community might
take years to recover from the emotional and psychological damage that it
caused. However, what has been more
surprising is that the state, political elites and heritage practitioners have
chosen to stay silent about the burning of the madrasa and the loss of cultural
heritage. This has further aggravated the community’s suffering — they’re not
just grappling with the loss of a century-old legacy but also a sense of
alienation in their own homeland.
Rich
Legacy
Established
in 1896 and later shifted in 1910 to a sprawling three-acre campus in Bihar
Sharif, a historic city in the Nalanda district of Bihar, Madrasa Azizia was built by the
philanthropist Bibi Soghra in memory of her husband, Abdul Aziz. Soghra
inherited property worth lakhs after her husband’s death and decided to donate
it to the Waqf. A large chunk of this donation was envisaged to be spent on the
health and education of marginalised Muslims in Bihar.
The madrasa
is one of the very first educational establishments built by Bibi
Soghra’s donations. Others include Soghra High School and Soghra College. They
are still managed by Soghra Waqf Estate. Since its inception, Madrasa Azizia
has been a well-known hub of Islamic education having hostel facilities for
students, as well as teachers and a mosque within its precinct. As per the latest reports, 300 students study at the madrasa, ranging
from those in class one to those pursuing postgraduate courses.
Based on
its continued efforts to improve the education of Muslim communities in Bihar,
the Madarsa received recognition from the British government in 1920. Later on
when the efforts for Indian independence were at their zenith, a number of
Muslims who studied at the Madarsa participated in the struggle for freedom from the British. In March 2020, the
madrasa received a special mention from the United Nations Population Fund
(UNFPA). The team was in the state as part of a visit to interact with students
under an educational programme run by the Bihar State Madrasa Education Board.
The madrasa
is a symbol of a sense of belonging, shared identity, memories and peaceful
co-existence for Muslims in Bihar and beyond.
This is not
the first time the madrasa has been targeted,
there have been attempted attacks on it during the 1981 riots and later
in 2017.
Destruction
Of Cultural Heritage
The
intentional targeting of heritage sites is not unique or new. Cultural
heritage, specifically religious and syncretic heritage which are symbols of
peaceful co-existence and social cohesion, has been targeted since time
immemorial. Be it the burning of synagogues in Hitler’s Germany or vandalism of mosques
and churches alike during the Bosnian war in the former Yugoslavia, the alleged torching of Charar-e-Sharief in Kashmir during
the active phase of Kashmir Insurgency in 1995 or the desecration of the ancient library of Timbuktu by Ahmad Al-Mahdi in
2013. These incidents of deliberate destruction and the torching of the Madarsa
Azizia are part of a pattern to incite fear, intimidation and humiliation and
cause psychological harm to the affected communities.
Scholars
have highlighted that the fear, humiliation and intimidation
such acts incite impact the everyday life of affected communities. Polish
lawyer Raphael Lemkin historically labelled the deliberate destruction of
cultural heritage as ‘cultural genocide’, highlighting the relationship between human
security and heritage destruction.
With the
advent of urbanisation, the blurring of civilian and non-civilian boundaries
during contemporary conflicts has rendered cities and built heritage at higher
risk of deliberate destruction. Ostensibly, human security has been inferred as
inseparable from the
protection of built heritage in the events of conflicts.
The state’s
decision to intervene to prevent such attacks on cultural heritage or its
failure to do so influences the trust of affected communities in the state and
therefore its legitimacy. In cases like the Timbuktu Library torching, the Mostar bridge destruction or the
destruction of Palmyra’s arch efforts were made to reconstruct the historic
fabric of these heritage sites in an attempt to restore peace and harmony.
However,
the on-ground response to the intentional targeting of Madarsa Azizia is highly
siloed. It is irresponsible and surprisingly frustrating that the incident has
not been publicly condemned by the state, the political elites or even the
heritage practitioners. While an online initiative launched by the community to
restore the gutted Madarsa is already in place, state intervention to restore
the desecrated heritage is the way forward to restore peace, cohesion and
trust. It is crucial that the state, the political elites and the heritage
practitioners form a coalition to retrofit, reconstruct and restore the damaged
heritage.
-----
Sabine
Ameer is an architect-urban planner whose primary research explores the
interlinkages between urban heritage, human security and legitimacy. Views are
personal.
(Edited by Theres
Sudeep)
Source:
Bihar’s Burnt Madrasa Azizia Was
Built By One Woman’s Charity, Produced Freedom Fighters
URL: https://newageislam.com/interfaith-dialogue/madrasa-azizia-rioters-cultural-heritage/d/129588
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