By Salman Sultan, TwoCircles.net special correspondent
Mumbai: I have known Janab Reyaz Ahmed Saheb as a member of managing committee of Jamiatul Falah and had the pleasure of being embraced warmly by this cheerful personality whenever we met in Jamiatul Falah, Biliariyaganj, Azamgarh. Incidentally I was surprised to set my eyes on Reyaz Saheb when I was going to offer Asr Salat in the picturesque mosque of Millat Nagar, Bombay/Mumbai.
Janab Reyaz Ahmed Saheb is the Vice-President of Jamat-E-Islami Hind, Maharashtra. He is associated with several Educational and Welfare trusts which runs a number of institutions, namely Ideal High School & Junior College, Al-Falah High School, The Mariyam Public School and The Scholar School. As Director, Pharos Educational Foundation, Mumbai, he is doing the important work of providing moral and religious education to Muslim students studying in secular institutions.
Maulana Abdul Bar Asari, Senior Supervisor, Pharos Educational Foundation, along with Reyaz Ahmed Saheb tell in detail (accompanying video) the efforts they have made in Literature preparation for introducing moral and religious education in Schools, training of teachers, holding workshops for self assessment and improvement of teaching methodology through group discussion. Maulana Asari explains the necessity of fulfilling requirements (four) of Maharashtra government for such an endeavour and thus providing much needed religious education to Muslim children studying in 75 government run educational institutions.
Maulana Asari provided literature which explained the reason for adopting “Pharos” as the name for this Educational Foundation. As per quarterly “Bab-e-Islam” brought forth by the Foundation, there was an island by the name “Pharos” near the famous city of Alexandria in Egypt. A dangerous bay existed in between Alexandria and Pharos and therefore, in order to guide navigators a light house was constructed on whose tower fire burned in night and special technique focussed sun rays to spread light in day time. Later this ancient wonder of the world (Light tower) was known as “Pharos” and in different languages of the world “Pharos” was used in place of “Light Tower”.
Maulana Abdul Bar Asari(left) and Janab Reyaz Ahmed in the office of Pharos Educational Foundation, B-18/603, Al Ridwan, Millat Nagar, Mumbai [TCN photo]
Janab Reyaz Ahmed wished the model adopted in Maharashtra be emulated by other States, in particular, U.P. He very wisely condemned negative thinking on part of Muslim intelligentsia which keep lamenting about difficult circumstances and advised persistence effort to achieve the goal.