Dubai: Al Ahmadiya School, which celebrated its 100 years in existence this year, was home to diverse Islamic teaching, an Emirati author has said.
Abdul Ghaffar Hussain, Emirati author and one of the school’s ex-students, also said that the school was in fact been built about 7 years prior to the 1912 date, in around 1905.
Hussain said that historians documenting education in the UAE have made this mistake because 1912, is the date written on the school’s main entrance.
He explained that the dates are close to one another, but the correct date is important to be known for the sake of accuracy.
Hussain spoke about the different subjects and schools of Islamic thought that were taught in the school, at a lecture held in celebration of the school’s 100 years at the Cultural and Scientific Association, Sunday evening.
“The school’s curriculum was an extension of the ones in Al Hejjaz and Al Azhar.” Hussain said.
“Each Shaikh could just take a corner at the school and teach the Islamic school of thought he followed to his students,” he said. There are four schools of Islamic jurisprudence, the Hanafi, the Shafei, the Maleki and the Hanbali.
“Most of the Shaikhs at the school followed the Maleki school of Islamic thought… most of Dubai’s old population- those from the Bani Yas family- followed the Maleki school.” He said that school taught the Hanbali, the Shafei and Maleki schools of thought, but not the Hanafi, because there were not many people who followed that school of thought.
“This diversity caused the various Shaikhs to know the differences between the different schools of thought and they used examples to illustrate the differences between the schools of thought,” Hussain added.
Younger students who were too young to understand Islamic jurisprudence, were taught calligraphy and the Quran, Hussain revealed. Older students would study Arabic and mathematics in the morning and jurisprudence at noon.
Many of the students that graduated from Al Ahmadiya went on to work in the judiciary in the UAE.
Hussain also noted that the diversity in Al Ahmadiya was a reflection of the diversity and open mindedness of Dubai.
