By A Mirsab and Imran Inamdar, TwoCircles.net
Generally, people confine their religious activities to worship of the almighty. Some spend most of their time at Masjids offering prayers, teaching religious texts to students at Madrassa and giving charities.
Fifty-nine year old retired teacher Usman Jamadar is not a person who is content with this fashion of activities: he does something significant that he views as religious as well as a social activity. He offers training to aspiring Hajis free of cost before they board their flights. He also plays mediator in resolving domestic disputes.
Usman Jamadar
“In the 80s, I used to work in Saudi and saw Indians struggling when they come to perform Hajj. I had a feeling to train these Hajis before they come to Saudi so that they can perform Hajj with ease,” Jamadar says why he thought of taking this work of training aspiring Hajis every year.
He is into this work ever since he returned to India in 1989. He was working with a Mecca-based hospital before he came back to India. After his return, he joined one high school at Solapur district in Maharashtra and would spend most of his time increasing awareness about mandatory Hajj rituals that the Hajis would have to perform and how they can cope up with the weather in Saudi Arabia, which would be very different from the local weather.
Explaining about the hardship that Hajis usually face, Jamadar says, “People read in books about the mandatory arkaans (rituals) and places to be visited while performing Hajj. But when they finally come to Saudi, they face difficulties and cannot properly perform all arkaans. Therefore it was very important that these aspiring Hajis are given training with visual demonstrations before they land in Saudi”.
In the past 27 years, he has trained thousands of Hajis from Solpaur District and neighboring cities without charging any money from them. He considers this work as duty to mankind as well as to almighty.
“I get inner satisfaction after giving trainings to these Hajis. It gives me pleasure that my experience helps people in decreasing their hardships during Hajj. In return I only expect reward from almighty; if my training helped His servants in properly performing obligatory rituals in Mecca and Madina,” says Jamadar.
According to Altaf Siddiqui, a close aid of Jamadar, training is a must for every Haji before landing in Saudi and therefore one must have some idea about what and where to perform rituals.
“I am assisting Usman sir for the past 10 years. His way of training Hajis is really impressive. He always uses simple language and demonstrates everything nicely, which helps in understanding Hajj duties very easily. This training helps Hajis to perform Hajj hassle free,” says Siddique.
He further says that after coming back from Hajj they always receive very positive feedback from all the Hajis.
As Jamadar is attached with Tablighi Jamaat, he holds good respect amongst the community and is a known personality, especially in Solapur district. Due to his high stature and acceptability in the society, people often bring their domestic disputes to him and ask him to mediate in resolving those issues.
“Yes, this is also one of the works that I do to please almighty. I arrange meetings of elders from both the parties (groom and bride) at my home and try my best in resolving their dispute so that the marriage can be maintained and either party should not go to court”, Jamadar explains how he carries mediation between disputing parties.
Irfan SM, a retired government employee from the city, has nothing but praise for Jamadar for his devotion towards social causes. He says, “I have known him for many years. He is a devoted person who has changed hundreds of lives. Apart from conducting Hajj guidance programs, he is also a good domestic counselor; he has resolved hundreds of domestic disputes”.
In addition to this, Jamadar leads Muslim prisoners in prayers during Eid at Central prison in Solapur and gives them sermons.
“I don’t remember if I had offered Eid prayer at mosque or Eidgah (place where special Eid prayers is offered) in last two decades anywhere but at jail. It gives me pleasure that I could spend some time with prisoners on Eid when they cannot meet their family,” Jamadar expresses his happiness for offering yearly Eid prayer at jail.
He also adds, “I not only lead them in prayers but counsel them too. I make them feel that they have wronged themselves and they should mend their ways. After their release many came to meet me and asked for guidance in learning Islam. Many came along with me in three or ten days jamaat and became devoted”.
One of his students Asif Iqbal, a headmaster, accompanies Jamadar during jail visit. Expressing his thought over this distinguished service of his teacher, he says, “He speaks eloquently with the prisoners. Prisoners listen to sir very carefully and feel much attached to him. I saw many prisoners of promising him that they would become responsible Muslim after coming out of jail”.
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