Jamia Al-Karam
From a dream to a reality
In 1985, the population of British Muslims had exceeded a million and the number of mosques was increasing. To fulfil the role of imam, scholars came from overseas who were indeed acquainted with the culture, language and educational system of their origin countries, but the majority of them were unaware of the culture, language and educational system of the united kingdom. in view of the difficulties the future may hold, i set about the establishment of Jamia al-karam; an institution where i could educate and nurture the imams and scholars of the future who would be able to fulfil the needs of the mosques, institutions and the British Muslim community.
initially, Jamia al-karam was based in a small dwelling in Milton keynes, but within a span of ten years, it advanced to its large campus in retford. This was made possible by the support and generous contributions of well-wishers from the Muslim community, who have continued to be part of the journey that Jamia al-karam embarked upon.
The primary objective of Jamia al-karam is to educate the young british Muslim to become a relevant scholar in order to serve the religion, the wider community and the coming generations in a meaningful, wise and appropriate manner. over four hundred male and female scholars have graduated from Jamia al-karam since 1985. Today they serve in various positions in towns and cities across this country.
The most important dream of my life was based upon the fact that our elders established centres of learning from which i and many others benefited and gained knowledge. in the same manner, it is the collective obligation of the whole community today to establish and support centres of learning and scholarship, and to nurture and produce scholars who will educate, represent and transmit islam in the modern world. a famous tradition states that an old man was once planting a date palm, and it is known that a date palm bears fruit after many years. a traveller spoke out to the old man: “by the time this date palm bears fruit, you will probably not be alive.” The old man replied: “our elders planted date palms and we ate their fruits. if today we do not plant these date palms, from where will our coming generations eat?”
Shaykh Muhammad Imdad Hussain Pirzada
Founder & Principal
