Quran recitations never stop at Dhanbari Mosque

Quran recitation has been going on for 92 years in Dhanbari Nawab Shahi Jame Mosque.  Natural disasters, wars, political instability have happened a lot in these nine decades.  But the recitation of this Qur'an did not stop.  One fell down and the other was sitting with the Qur'an.  The recitation of the Qur'an goes on all the time except during prayers.

That melodious melody of the Qur'anic verses has always resounded around that grave.  That grave belongs to Nawab Nawab Ali Chowdhury of Dhanbari in Tangail.  He died on 17 April 1929 at the age of 85 and was buried in the mosque premises of his home.  This recitation has been going on since that time sitting next to his grave.

Nawab Ali Chowdhury is one of the founders of Dhaka University.  He was the first Muslim minister of undivided Bengal.It is learned that Nawab Salimullah and Nawab Ali Chowdhury demanded the establishment of a university in Dhaka on two separate occasions on the occasion of the departure of Lancelot Hare and the joining of Charles Bailey at the Curzon Hall in Dhaka on 29 August 1911.  At the meeting of the Imperial Council on 6 March 1917, he presented a demand for the establishment of a university in Dhaka.

Later, when there was a shortage of money during the establishment of Dhaka University, he mortgaged a part of his zamindari and paid a one-time payment of Tk 35,000. After the establishment of the university, Nawab Ali Chowdhury gave a fund of 18 thousand rupees to the university for the scholarship of the students.  Later, the Dhaka University authorities renamed the Senate building as 'Syed Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Building'.  Nawab Ali Chowdhury died on 17 April 1929 at the age of 85.

Presenting the Dhanbari Nawab Jame Mosque, Imam Maulana Mufti Idris Hossain said that before his death, Nawab Ali Chowdhury had determined the place of his grave near the mosque.  Every day 5 Hafez are in charge of reciting the Qur'an.  They take turns reciting.  6:30 am to 8:30 am, 8:30 am to 11:00 pm, 11:00 am to 1:30 pm, 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm and 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. 

Thus the night shift started again.  One person is responsible for reciting the Qur'an in each shift. In addition to the current Hafez Abdus Samad,  Kamruzzaman, Abu Hanif and Hedayet Hossain and Md.  Warez Ali is regularly engaged in reciting the Qur'an.  If one of them falls ill or goes home on holiday, the vacancies are filled with students from the safe next to the mosque. 

The reciters here recite the Qur'an as well as teach in the Hifzkhana.  Imam and Khatib of Nawab Shahi Jame Mosque Hafeez Maulana Mufti Md. Idris Hossain said that they were honored from there.It is seen that a person is reciting the Qur'an near the grave of Nawab Ali.  People are coming from different places to see this beautiful mosque.  Endless recitation of the Qur'an is going on in his graveyard next to the mosque.

Dhanbari Muktadir said.  A.  Samad and Hared Ali said that many people came from far and wide to see the endless recitation of the Qur'an near the grave of Nawab Ali Chowdhury in Dhanbari.  A worshiper of the mosque said, I am now 56 years old.  I have been reading the Qur'an since I came to know.  My father also told me that he had seen this.

Former Dhanbari Upazila Parishad chairman Mir Farooq Ahmad, a professor at Dhanbari College, said he had been watching the Qur'an since he was a child.  It never stopped.  In 1903, Nawab Nawab Ali waqfed all his property as 'Nawab Ali Khoda Box Dhanbari Waqf Estate'.Akbar Ali Ahmed, grandson of Nawab Ali Chowdhury, said that Nawab Nawab Ali Chowdhury had designated a place for his grave before his death.  He was buried there and this Qur'an is being recited according to his wishes.  This will continue in the future.

---Hafizur Rahman, Tangail