Deoband to host 100 Gurukul students in June

Story by ATV | Posted by Aasha Khosa | Date 15-03-2022

The images of Harmony at Parmarth Niketan Ashram at Haridwar

Ghaus Siwani/New Delhi

Some 100 students of Gurukul, a Hindu religion seminary, are preparing to live in a Madrasa, Islamic seminary, for a week this summer as part of a social experiment launched by the leaders of two major Indian religions. The visit of Rishikumars, as the inmates are called, will be a reciprocal one, two years after an equal number of Muslim theology students had stayed with them in Haridwar’s residential school. Gurukul.

This exchange was started by Maulana dr Umer Ahmad Ilyasi, President, All India Imam Organisation and Swami Chidanand Saraswati, spiritual guru of Parmarth Niketan Ashram, and Founder of Global Interfaith WASH Alliance, for enhancing inter-religious dialogue and interaction.

As part of their effort in May 2018, some 100 students studying in different madrassas of Deoband in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, stayed for three days in a gurukul run by Parmarth Niketan.

Maulana Ilyasi says he hadn’t briefed the students about their destination as they boarded the bus. “We told them that it was an outing and only the Amir (leader) knows the destination,” he said.

Madrasa students being welcomed at Gurukul with a petal shower and hugs

Maulana Ilyasi had arranged this program as a surprise gift for Swami Chidanand's for his birthday. “I wanted to surprise him,” he said. Mulana Ilyasi and Swami Chidanand are part of an interfaith dialogue that has been initiated at the level of religious leaders in India.

The aim was for the students of Gurukul and Madrasas to understand each other and also to understand each other's religions

In an exclusive interview with Awaz-the Voice, Maulana Umar Iliasi says “religion is not meant to break society; it is there to unite and I have done this for the pleasure of Allah.”

Explaining his motive, he said that students of madrasas would become imams of mosques in the future while students of Gurukul would become priests of temples. In such a situation, they must know each other and carry the message of harmony so that in the future they can send a message of peace and reconciliation to their constituencies.

Maulana Umer Ahmed Ilyasi and Swami Chidanand saraswati and others speaking to the theology students

The white kurta-pajama dress and skull cap-wearing students lived in the Ashram on the banks of the Ganga. The saffron kurta dhoti clad-Rishi Kumars were their hosts, friends, playmates, and companions for three days. The guests included Maulana Ilyasi and many Imams of mosques, Islamic scholars.

The scene of Muslim and Hindu students hugging each other was an image of a mini-India of everyone’s dream; a picture of harmony and peace for everyone to cherish.

Maulana Ilyasi says “the meeting was a beautiful message for India. The solution to any problem can be found not through strife but dialogue. Many people do not understand this little thing. That is why riots happen. Fighting among themselves in the name of religion is an attempt to destabilize society and the country.”

He said the Covid-19 pandemic had delayed the proposed visit of the Gurukul students to Deoband where they would stay for three days with Muslim students and interact with them on all levels.

He stayed with the students studying in the ashram. There was a dialogue between them and they tried to understand each other by staying together and interacting. “It was an amazingly beautiful scene,” he says looking back.

Unity is strenghth; A gesture of unity by the Hindu and Muslim leaders

During their stay in Ashram, the Muslim students joined the evening Aarti and the Rishi Kumars would cleanse the Ghats of Ganga for the students of the madrassa to read namaz. The Muslim students savoured the delicious vegetarian meals at the ashram.

The three days of interaction and staying together had created a bond between the students of the two communities. Its impact was seen as the students were hugging and crying as the guests were about to board the buses for their Madrasas after three days.

Maulana said that due to Coronavirus the turn of the Deoband students to host the Rishikumars has got delayed. Since the pandemic is nearly out, the plans for 100 students of Parmarth Niketan Ashram are preparing to stay at Deoband Madrassa for three days in June.

He said that this effort would not stop at the level of students of theology. The next plan is to bring the Hindu priests serving in the temples and the Imams of the mosques together.

He further said that such efforts would be made at the district level and the interactions between students of two major faiths of India would be encouraged at the institutional level.

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He further said that his initiative has been appreciated by all Hindus and Muslims.