Tag Archives: Mirza Abdul Qayyum Nadvi

A Maulana’s noble initiative of water distribution in summer to the roadside vendors and beggars

Aurangabad, MAHARASHTRA:

Maulana Abdul Qayyum Nadvi on his mission.

Maulana Abdul Qayyum Nadvi, who has been successfully running his book store ‘Mirza Book world’ in Aurangabad has hit upon another novel plan to quench the thirst of the poor and needy on the roadside.

Every day he buys some cartoons of 300 ml water bottles, refrigerates them overnight and in the morning around 10 am on his way to his book store, when the sun is already hot and shining bright, distributes the water bottles to the road side vendors, beggars and whoever asks for it.

He shared that he began this water distribution activity around 5-6 years back on the occasion of World Water Day. “ At that time, I used to collect empty water bottles from functions, events and gatherings, take them home, sterilise them with hot water, then fill them up, keep them in the fridge and distribute them in the morning to people who were thirsty and could not afford to buy a water bottle”.

“Now, I no longer collect water bottles, I buy them. When my friends saw what I was doing they too joined in and together we pool the money and buy the water bottles. It is much easier,” he explained.

Maulana Abdul Qayyum is not new to social work. He also supports the Mohalla libraries with his daughter Maryam Mirza who is running more than 30 small libraries in the slums of Aurangabad. Many of the books in these mohalla libraries have been donated by the Maulana from his book store.

He runs a foundation called Read and Lead Foundation (RLF) which is mostly about promoting the culture of reading, preserving Urdu language and other social-charity activities with some of his like-minded friends.

“Books have always been my passion”, he said. “ And I chose the career of running a book store so I get to spend my time amidst books. I started the book store in 2002 but before that I used to sell the books on my bicycle cycling around the whole city. It was quite a struggle but it paid off when there were patron demanding books to be supplied in the libraries of schools and colleges,” he added sharing his journey.

Apart from that he has also donated almost 50000 kiddy banks to children in schools in 30 English and Urdu medium schools for the children to save money and buy a book of their choice. His sole aim is to revive the dying culture of reading books.

“ I want children to inculcate the habit of reading a book instead of spending their time playing games on mobile phones. Reading is such a rich hobby, it ignites imagination, helps the children to improve their vocabulary and grasping abilities. But today we see children are no longer interested in reading but after this kiddy bank campaign, I have received positive feedback from the school teachers that students are now reading books in their free time.” he explained with a note of satisfaction in his voice.

His initiative of gifting kiddy banks was picked up by other schools who began gifting the same to their children to get them into the habit of saving money to buy books.

The Maulana then takes time in the afternoon when the sun is at its peak to ride around the vicinity with his bags of water bottles and distribute the cold water to the thirsty people irrespective of their caste, religion, gender, he sees on the roadside. His daughter ordered customised bags with the caption: ‘ Choti si neiki, Pyase ku pani’ which can hold at least 50 bottles.

“ Many passersby give coins to these beggars but when I give them a water bottle, they are happy and utter blessings, their happiness clearly visible on their faces. It gives me satisfaction when I see them drinking the cold water”, he shared beaming with happiness.

He also explains that he is not after recognition or awards. He does these activities because he wants his 5 children to look up to him and learn good values. Good morals and principles to lead a righteous life as per Islamic Values is the legacy I want to leave behind.

But awards have also come his way when he has been covered by the media for his earlier work of mohalla libraries, distribution of kiddy banks, promoting Urdu, water distribution program.

Nadvi’s efforts for preserving Urdu through the foundation have not gone unnoticed. He received the ‘Shaan- e- Aurangabad’ award in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 2023 by the Aurangabad Jeddah Association. The Maharashtra Urdu Academy and the Telangana Urdu Academy have both awarded him. Many other organisations have felicitated him for his efforts to promote Urdu and reading culture.

source: http://www.muslimmirror.com / Muslim Mirror / Home> Positive Story / by Nikhat Fatima / by Muslim Mirror / April 01st, 2024

Aurangabad Children Mohilla libraries celebrate World Book Day in style

Aurangabad, MAHARASHTRA :

Aurangabad:  

On World Book Day, the Maryam Mirza Mohilla (neighbourhood) library movement commemorated the occasion with zeal. Several book reading and distribution activities were held in city mosques and Urdu schools under the auspices of the Read & Lead Foundation.

The Foundation’s President, Mirza Abdul Qayyum Nadvi, announced the commencement of a “Book at Home, Book at Every Home” campaign at the event. He stated that the book-reading awareness campaign is only getting started because today’s young generation is losing interest in reading due to the introduction of new electronic gadgets, particularly smart phones

Urdu, Marathi, English books were distributed to the children members of Maulana Syed Abul Hassan Ali Nadvi Mohalla Library situated in  Masjid Faiz Beri Bagh, Harsol area of  Aurangabad.

It should be noted that for the past year in Aurangabad, 28 libraries have been working under the aegis of the Read & Lead Foundation in various sections of the city, slum mosques, Urdu schools, and neighbourhoods. More than 5,000 children are connected to these libraries.

It’s worth noting that eleven (11) of the 28 libraries are dedicated to children are located in mosques. Masjid Shadab Hina Nagar, Ahmadi Masjid, Shatabdi Nagar, Maulana Hasrat Mohani Mohalla Library, Misrarwadi, Qazi Iqbaluddin Mohalla Library, Bismillah Masjid, Madrasa Falah Darin Ghulam Mustafa,  Sher Khan Pathan Mitra Mandal Library, Narey Village Mohalla Library and other places.  In addition to this, Al-Huda Urdu High School Baijipura, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Mohalla Library Baijipura and other libraries celebrated World Book Day.

Maulana Sheikh Yusuf Nadvi, Imam of Masjid Faiz, where the Maulana Syed Abul Hassan Ali Nadvi Mohalla Library is located, stated that he would do everything in his power to ensure that the library benefits the children and women of the area as much as possible. After Friday prayers, he also declared the start of the door-to-door book drive.

Sheikh Nargis Fatima, Headmistress of Al-Huda Urdu High School, stated that her school’s students and instructors would be more active in the campaign and would offer all available assistance. Farhat Jahan, a school teacher, and other teachers took part in the presentation and offered their opinions..

Children’s monthly periodicals such as “Bachu ki Dunia,” “Umang,” “Taleemi inquilab,” “Majhi Marathi,” “Meri English Kitab,”,” “Gulzar Urdu,” and other books, magazines, and journals were distributed to members of the aforementioned libraries.

source: http://www.muslimmirror.com / Muslim Mirror / Home> Positive Story / by Special Correspondent / April 26th, 2022

Urdu activist Qayyum Nadvi’s low-cost library idea stuns delegates of international library conference

Aurangabad, MAHARASHTRA :

Gulbarga ( Karnataka) :

At an international library conference, noted Aurangabad based Urdu activist and President of Read and Lead Foundation, Mirza Abdul Qayyum Nadvi has stunned the library experts by presenting the idea of low-cost library scheme which he  called as “Micro Library, Micro Funding”.

He was speaking at  the two-day International Conference on  “Visualizing Librarianship in the 21th century’, Connecting Minds and Creating Future,”  held at the Gulbarga University here.

 Sharing his experiences, Mirza Nadvi said merely a budget of Rs. 10,000/ is quite enough  to set up a well-equipped  Mohalla library  with useful informative  books for children  which can be opened at housing societies, complexes, schools,  and religious places. From where he got this idea, he said his school going daughter Maryam Mirza’s dreamt of opening a Mohalla Library for children in his locality who were killing their time during the last lockdown.  He realized his daughter’s dream and opened the first library in his own locality in the historic Aurangabad city. Now this experiment has caught the imagination of book-loving people and inspired others to follow the suit. Mirza Nadvi highlighted the efforts of his daughter Maryam Mirza who became a pioneer in the country to launch Mohalla Libraries for children.

She launched the first children’s neighborhood library with her own 300 books and in a short span of just eight months, 19 neighborhood libraries have sprung up in the city, he said. The participants of the conference lauded and praised Maryam for her movement.

Mirza Nadvi was especially invited by the Indian Library Association, Delhi to address the conference. It was 66th annual conference of the Indian Library Association organized in collaboration with Gulbarga University and other organizations. The Conference assured Mirza Nadvi of all help in his daughter’s mission of spreading knowledge through libraries.  

source: http://www. muslimmirror.com / Muslim Mirror / Home> Exclusive Reports> Indian Muslim> Media / by Special Correspondent / October 01st, 2021