Hathazari Madrasah

Hathazari Madrasah is the second largest Islamic university in the Indian subcontinent. It was created in 1896 and in 1901 was moved to its current location in the city of Hathazari ^[6] . At the end of the 19th century, the British education system was contrary to the Islamic culture of this region. To preserve religious education at the center of traditional Islamic education of the Indian subcontinent, Dar ul-Ulum Deoband was created in 1866 ^[7] .

For the same purpose, several well-known ulema of the port city of Chittagong decided to create their own madrasah, teaching in the same system as Darul Ulum Deoband. Maulana Ashraf Ali Sanvi ordered his pupil Maulana Habibullah, Maulann Abdul-Wahid, Azizur Rahman and Maulana Abdul-Hamid to build a madrasah ^[8] .

Currently, Hathazari Madrasah is concentrating around itself thousands of small madrassas, mosques, maktabs and houses of worship ^[4] . Since 2004, the attention of the media has become riveted on the Hathazari Madrasah in connection with the allegations that “terrorists” are trained in this madrasah ^[6] . In February 2010, after a clash with the police, 40 students of the madrasah were arrested but soon released ^[9] .