Since I was selected for Darul Uloom, I evolved into what I had already intended to do here, i.e., English language learning. Because it was an essential and fundamental thing for me, commensurate with my goal. It's said, "When Allah intends mercy on someone, he makes him meet a good teacher." Accordingly, I found Mufti Sajjad Sahab to be a highly-skilled, multi-talented and keenly-sighted teacher. So I just made a strong plea to him to spare some time from his hectic schedule to teach English. It was my first ever meeting with him after coming to Deoband. He accepted my sincere request.
From next Saturday, a batch with a bunch of 11 colleagues sets off, although some of them dropped out in the early days. Initially, we had two notebooks; one of them was for translation, whereas in the second one we jotted down grammar. After one stage, we started formally reading an NCRT-published text book named "Marigold for Class ll." Thus, it is the first ever book that I've read in English as a textbook, followed by "Gulmohar" and "First Flight". There was no book, neither for grammar nor for translation. And it's the thing that makes our teacher widely different from others. His self-made meaningful sentences and shortcut methods for grammar were enough to meet the needs of any other particular book.
In the initial days, my mind was abuzz with the new language, the madrasa's syllabus, and the difficult time of the morning in which I had an aversion to getting up further to join the class. Management was arduous and grueling, but it was the perfection of madness and the consummation of intensity toward language learning that facilitated everything by the virtue of Allah. Further, a peculiarity of his teaching was that he inculcated the real taste of English into my mind. Regardless of the weather, whether it was a mild winter or dry summer, torrential rain or dense fog, I kept on joining the class. I remember that class wherein there were only two colleagues: I and Kaifi. The teacher couldn't stop himself from saying, "This dash and dart is the testimony of life, It’ll bring an unexceptional result." Installed
It was always quite interesting to enjoy the humorous pleasantries and critical comments of the teacher during the class lecture. Getting scolded for mistakes and hearing threatful words on laziness are some unforgettable moments of the course.
It's so miserable that I took him for granted in negligence and couldn't take advantage of much that should be done in these golden hours, but he's given me in this short time what I, perhaps, couldn't get anywhere else.
Now, this course has been closed considering the annual examination, but the fresh avenues enlightened by his encouraging and lesson-conveying words will stay with me all the time. Inshallah
In closing, I express my sincere and heartfelt gratitude to my affectionate mentor and teacher, whose peculiarity of teaching and perpetuity in time made us able enough to express, to an extent, our thoughts in this language. You're the spark of life, the pillar of success and the minaret of light.
Muavia Ummi
student at Darul Uloom Deoband
Masha Allah