Jamia Markaz, South Asia’s largest Islamic center celebrates its 37th anniversary from Dec. 18-21. M. A. Abdul Qadir Musliyar, President, Muslim Educational Board of India, will inaugurate the four-day long celebrations at Markaz campus, Kozhikode. The conference will be attended by Muslim scholars from Europe, Africa and America, apart from Asian countries. Sheikh Mathar Al-Ka’abi, director, Islamic Affairs UAE, will inaugurate the concluding session on Dec.21 evening. It’s expected that one million believers from India and abroad will attend the concluding session.
The conference will feature discussions and workshops on various issues pertaining to Muslim communities in South Asia. This includes Qur’an and Dawa conferences, a debate on minority education and a seminar on Muslim charity. Sheikh Zayed international peace conference and the international Muslim scholars summit are the central attraction of this year’s anniversary celebration. The peace conference will discuss the role of religious institutions in maintaining a peaceful society. Kerala Chief Minister Ommen Chandy will inaugurate the conference. Religious and diplomatic figures from various Arab-Islam countries will present papers. The International Muslim Scholars Summit will be attended by influential Islamic scholars from across the globe. The summit will discuss the role of Ulemas in the contemporary Muslim society and will form new strategies to combat radical trends among Muslim communities.
Ministers, Parliament and Legislative assembly members from different states of India will address the audience in various sessions.
Markaz, is a unique educational experiment initiated in 1978 under the leadership of Sheikh Aboobacker Ahmed, General Secretary, All India Sunni Jam-e-yathul Ulema and one of the most influential Muslim scholars in the Islamic world. It introduced a syllabus, which combines both religious and secular education Muslim students. This experiment was the first one of its kind in India. Various educational institutions under Jamia Markaz provide education for minority students from primary to post graduate level. Muslim society in Kerala is currently the most literate among world Muslim communities and Markaz’s educational initiatives played a great role in achieving this by setting up educational institutions in the most remote and backward areas of the region.
Presently, more than 7,00,000 students pursue their education in 97 institutes functioning under Jamia Markaz in various Indian states including 18,000 students in the main campus. Kashmiri Home in the main campus is an institute set up to rehabilitate students from Jammu Kashmir including border areas. This institute was set up at the request of Jammu Kashmir state government in 2004. Presently 150 Kashmiri students are studying at this institute.