by Qasim Rauf (Graduate ICIS)

On the 2nd of June 2004 the award ceremony was held for the students of the Institute of Classical Islamic Sciences (ICIS). The ceremony was presided over by Professor Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri who is the Pro-Chancellor of the Minhaj University. There were many senior guests from the Minhaj University and central secretariat of Minhaj-ul-Quran International (MQI)

The seating arrangements were such that the male teachers were seated on the right side of Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri and the female teachers along with the main female guests seated on the left side. The students of ICIS were seated on the floor directly in front of Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri, partitioning the male from the female was a row of Egyptian cushions. Behind the students were seated the family members, guests and relatives of the students.

The male students were wearing the traditional Rumi hats and long white Arabian robes called the 'Jubbah'. The female students were wearing white scarves and long white Arabian robes for women called the 'Jilbaab'.

The ceremony began with the recitation of the Holy Qur'an by Qari Naveed, teacher ICIS. Following that was the singing of the famous Qasida Burdah of Imam Busiri by Zain Shabir from UK and Assad Siddique from France.

Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri then began by reciting the Hadiths in Arabic and the students repeating after him, this was the beginning of the 'Ijazah's' giving by Dr.Tahir-ul-Qadri to the students of ICIS. In Total there were seven Ijazah's given, they are as follows;

1. Al-Ijazah al-Ilmiyyah al-Aamah Fee asaaneed, Al-Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri.
   - Permission for general knowledge with chain of narrators of Dr.Tahir-ul-Qadri
2. Asnadi Fee Uloom Al-Tassawuf Al-Tareeqah ilaa Sayyidnaa al-Ghowsal Azam Abi Muhammad Muhiyudeen al-Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilaani.
   - Narrations in the science of Islamic Spiritualism, the Tareeqah or way of Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilaani.
3. Al-Ijazah bil isnaad al-Muttasil ilaa al imam al-Azam Abi Hanifah al-Nauman bin Thabit.
   - The permission with the continuous chain of narrators up to Imam Abu Hanifah
4. Al-Ijaza bil isnaad al-Mutasil lil Jamiah al-sahih ila al-imam al-Bukhari
   - The Permission with the continuous chain of narrators from Sahih Bukhari by Imam Bukhari
5. Al-Ijazah bil isnaad al-Mutasil lil jamiah ilaa al-imam Muslim al-Qusheri
   - The Permission with the continuous chain of narrators from Sahih Muslim by Imam Muslim.
6. Al-Ijazah bil Isnaad al-Mutasil lish-Shifa bi tasreef Haqooq al-Mustafaa ilaa al-imam Abi al-Fazal al-Qadi Ayaad
   - The permission with the continuous chain of narrators from Ash-Shifa on the rights of Holy Prophet (saw) by Imam Qadi Ayaad.
7. Ash-Shahadah Fee al-Daraasaat al-Islamiyyah.
   - Certificate in Islamic knowledge.

Point to note is that Dr.Tahir-ul-Qadri narrated a hadith which has the shortest number of chains of narrators and Dr.Tahir-ul-Qadri is the only person in the world today to have this shortest link to the Holy Prophet (saw). This Hadith from Sahih Bukhari consists only of 13 narrators between Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri and the Holy Prophet (saw) and now it is narrated by Dr.Tahir-ul-Qadri to the students of ICIS making their link to the Holy Prophet(saw) very close through the narration of this Hadith.

After the recitation and repetition of the hadiths and Chain of narrators Dr.Tahir-ul-Qadri explained in detail about the Ijaza's given and also regarding one of the Hadith narrated by Imam Abu Hanifa down to Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri with every single narrator in the chain amazingly belonging to the Hanafi school of thought.

The certificates were then presented to each student by Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri himself. There were two different certificates given, one was the Intermediate level and the other being advance level. The intermediate level certificate was given to the section A students of ICIS and the advance level certificate was given to the section B students of the ICIS. Medals were also presented for the highest marks achieved amongst the section A students.

A Shield was presented to Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri on behalf of ICIS for the appreciation of hard work and valuable time taken out from his extremely tight schedule. A shield was also given to Mian Mumtaz Ahmed on behalf of ICIS for his day and night endless hard work in the coordination and arrangements of ICIS. Finally to end the ceremony, farewell wishes and prayers for success in the future were given to the students of ICIS by Dr.Tahir-ul-Qadri.