The Life and Achievements of Marhoom Dr. T.B Jayah by Justice Saleem Marsoof PC

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

 

Al-Haj T. K. Azoor, President of the Conference of Sri Lankan Malays and Principal of Zahira College, our Chief Guest today, Excellency Datuk Rosli Ismail, the High-Commissioner for Malaysia in Sri Lanka, members of the diplomatic community, distinguished invitees, brothers and sisters in Islam and ladies and gentlemen.

Assalamu Alaikum warahmathullahi wabarakathuhu.

 

Let me begin by apologizing for not being able to address this gathering today in the Malay when we are celebrating Hari Bahasa Melayu. I know only a spattering of the language, and can understand phrases like Nama Apa, and Nasi Makang, but that is all. Most of my relatives and friends who spoke the language, refrained from using Malay in my presence out of sheer politeness, and I now feel that if they were not so polite, I may have learnt the language. The speakers who addressed the meeting before me, expressed fears that the language, as used in Sri Lanka, might be extinct very soon, and they also said that the Sri Lankan version of Malay has been listed by UNESCO as an endangered language.However, after listening to young ones like Fathima Nazrena Nizar, we need not have any fears of the language disappearing from the world, as it is catching up with the next generation.

 

At the very outset I would like to thank, the Almighty for all his blessings, and then express my gratitude to my good friend, Al Haj Azoor and the other Members of Conference of Sri Lankan Malays for inviting me to deliver the Dr. T. B. Jayah Oration, which I consider is indeed a great honor and singular privilege bestowed on me. This is because, Marhoom Al Haj Dr. Tuan Branudeen Jayah, as we all know, was a great visionary to whom the Muslims of Sri Lanka, whether they be Moors or Malays, are greatly indebted. In fact, in my humble opinion, he was a blessing (nigkmath) sent to this world by the Almighty to guide the destiny of the Muslims of Ceylon, at a time when they were faced with the great dilemma posed by the advent of English education under British rule, which was considered by our community at that time to be an obstacle to the spiritual life of a good Muslim.

 

Consider the life of young Tuan Branudeen himself. Born on the first day of January exactly 120 years ago, in the year 1890 in Galagedera, in the Central Province, where his father Police Sergeant Cassim Jayah was then serving, Branudeen was the second in a family of 4 children. His elder brother Tuan Arifeen and younger brother Tuan Baris, were his childhood companions as his sister Devi passed away at a very tender age. His parents, who were the descendants of the original Malay settlers in this island home, and were pretty modest in their upbringing, saw to it that the sons were well instructed in a spiritual sense. His father Cassim, who wanted to get the best tutors for his sons, chose Capt. A. T. Morseth, a devout Muslim to teach his sons the Holy Quran. Capt. Morseth was a man of letters and his influence on Branudeen was most beneficial. Later on, two others who were equally proficient, Noordeen Raleen and Omerdeen Lebbe of Kurunegala gave Brahanudeen a sound grounding in the reading of the Holy Quran, an accomplishment he treasured for the whole of his life. But until he was 10 years of age, he did not have the benefit of formal schooling, a handicap which would have made many total failures as far as material education was concerned.

 

Indeed, the predicament of Marhoom Tuan Branudeen Jayah illustrates the psyche of the Muslims of the time, who believed that western education would have an adverse impact on their children, and did not want to send their children to school. It was one year after the birth of Marhoom Jayah, that a historic public speech was made by M. C. Siddhi Lebbe in 1891 at the Maradana Mosque premises, in which he appealed to the Muslims community to unite and promote the educational advancement of the community. He emphasized that unless the children are given instruction in English and other subjects taught in formal schools to supplement their Quranic studies, the community will not be able to emerge out of its abysmal state. It was this historic address by Siddi Lebbe that led to the formation of the Colombo Muslim Educational Society, with Siddhi Lebbe himself as President and I. L. M. Abdul Aziz and A. M. Wappitchi Marikar as Secretary and Treasurer, respectively. They, with the help of Ahamed Orabi Pasha, a freedom fighter and an Egyptian exile in Ceylon, established Al-Madrasathul Zahira, in 1894 which later on was registered as a grant-in-aid school with the name Maradana Mohammedan Boys School, the predecessor of Zahira College, Maradana, of which Marhoom Tuan Branudeen Jayah was destined to be the Principal in 1921.

 

But, before getting to all that, let us first welcome the twentieth century, which dawned when young Branudeen was only 10 years old, and well versed in the Holy Quran, Masha Allah, and very little more. His first school was the Anglo Vernacular School Kurunegala which he attended only for a few months, as fortunately his father was transfer to Colombo. He was admitted in 1901 to SPG School, Kotahena, which I believe was the name given to St. Paul’s College in Kotahena. He was then eleven years old, and he entered what was called “the baby class” which preceded the lower kindergarten and upper kindergarten after which came the first standard. A boy too old for his class becomes a target for the mischievous. He was fortunate in having understanding school authorities who realized his predicament. They were impressed by his intelligence. At the end of the year his father was gratified to learn that he had been given multiple promotions to enter the third standard in 1902. This was not the end of his triple jumping, as the very next year, due to his sheer brilliance, he was given a treble promotion from third standard to sixth standard, the equivalent of Year 7. In 1903 he won a scholarship to enter St. Thomas’ College, where Jayah passed the Cambridge Junior Examination in 1906 winning the J.A.C. Mendis Junior Mathematical Prize, a highly commendable performance indeed. He soon became one of the most brilliant classics pupils of Warden Stone, himself a first-rate classicist who, in his pre-Ceylon period of school-mastering at Bristol Grammar School, had produced a very scholarly edition of Sallust’s Catiline, and under Warden Stone’s watchful eyes, in 1907 he passed the Cambridge Senior Examination winning the Dr. Ebell’s Latin prize, showing the shift of his studies towards specialization in the Classics, which was crowned with the annexation of the Christoffer Obeysekera’s first Classical prize. It was a remarkable record for a boy who began his formal studies in the Infants’ class in 1901 to pass the London Matriculation in 1908, completing a course of studies spanning eleven years of the general education course, with distinction in just seven years – a performance that rightly belongs to the realms of the near impossible all through grit, industry and brains.

 

Unfortunately, mere grit, industry and brains are not enough for someone to graduate. He needs money or educational support, which young Jayah did not have. He was compelled by circumstances to seek employment before completing his education, and joined Dharmaraja College, Kandy, as an Assistant Teacher in 1910. In the same year, however, he was able to assume duties as Classics master at Prince of Wales College, Moratuwa. It was while he was serving at Prince of Wales College that he passed the Intermediate Examination in Arts of the University of London in 1913 reading English, Greek, Latin, History and curiously enough, Mathematics. This combination proved what an intellectual giant Jayah was turning out to be, as much as the combination with which he obtained his degree of Bachelor of Arts from the University of London in 1917, which included Latin, Greek, History and Economics, demonstrating his extraordinary versatility of mind, and infinite capacity for acquisition of knowledge of all disciplines.

 

Brahanudeen’s specialization in the Classics brought its own reward. In May 1917, he was accepted as a Teacher at Ananda College, the heart and core of the Sinhala Buddhist revival in Ceylon. He was chosen for his extensive knowledge of the Classics in the teaching of which he had few rivals. In due course he achieved fame as a classics Scholar and teacher equaled by few, surpassed by none. At Ananda he taught Greek, Latin and History in the Upper School. Although these were his specific subjects, he led his pupils effortlessly into other fields of knowledge in which he was equally at home. This demonstrates the universality of his outlook and the role he cast for himself as a teacher to help in the development of the mind, not fill it with pre-conceived notions, as while being by nature very conservative in political ideology, he produced fiery radical leaders like Philip Gunwardena, father of the left revolution, and Dr. N. M.Perera, who was called the “golden brain”. Both attained cabinet rank and notwithstanding ideological differences they never failed to express their high regard for Mr. Jayah as a teacher.

 

It was this erudite scholar of classics and wonderful teacher who was doing so well at Ananda, who was invited in 1921 by N. M. Abdul Cader, on behalf of the Maradana Mosque Committee, to accept the principalship of Zahira College, Colombo. Marhoom Tuan Branudeen Jayah, had by then realized that despite the great debt the Muslim Community owed to its ulemas, the Alims and Moulvis who defended Islam from inroads from the west by moulding the youthful minds of the community, it was necessary to strengthen general educational standards of the community. Jayah persisted in arguing that English education was essential for progress and had urged the Muslims in a memorable public speech he made two years before at the Maradana Mosque to cast aside their prejudices and send children for English education. Though opportunity had thus come to Jayah to serve the community, the prospect was bleak and dismal, as Zahira College was not doing too well as a viable educational institution after its management was handed over by its Manager Wappitchi Marikar to the Maradana Mosque in 1917, despite being lead by two Englishmen, O.E. Martinus and J. C. McHeyzer as Principals. In 1921, it had only 59 students and 6 teachers, and the number of student and staff had been diminishing. P. de S. Kularatne, the Principal of Ananda College used every argument in pressing Jayah to reject the offer, not for the selfish reason of keeping a great teacher with Ananda College, but out of his fear for losing a close friend in what he believed was the wilderness of Zahira, which was at that time suffering from inadequate funding and due to lack of popular support its prospects were bleak. S. L. Naina Marikar Hadjiar himself had said in 1917 that Zahira College “is only in name a college and it will not attract our boys as long as it remains what it is today”. But, to the great astonishments of all who knew Jayah closely, and the great benefit of the Muslim community, Jayah decided to accept the challenge.

 

Jayah had the best interests of the community in accepting the Principalship of Zahira College, which position he held for 27 long years of great toil and success, only to relinquish the position in 1947 to accept the post of Minister of Labour and Social Services in the first Cabinet of Ceylon, which gained independence from the British in the very next year. It is a well-known fact that he was drawn into politics while engaged as an educationist – Principal of Zahira College, and that from 1924 to 1931 he was a member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon, and from 1936 to 1947 he was a member of the State Council, and was elected in 1947 as a member of the first Parliament of Ceylon under the Soulbury Consititution. Dr. Jayah’s selection to the Legislative Council in 1924 was a result of the agitation for increased representation of Muslims to that body. The Ceylon Moor Union formed in 1900 and replaced by the Ceylon Muslim Association founded in 1920, spearheaded these agitations. Consequently, Muslim representation was increased to three members, Jayah being elected third Mohammedan Member (and later referred to as Muslim Member on the initiative made by him). It was in these years, that the Islamic zeal implanted on Jayah by Captain Morseth and other tutors in his childhood was to bear fruit.

 

It can be said without any reservation that Marhoom Jayah was during his lifetime, a champion of every cause of the Muslim community of Sri Lanka. His dedication was infectious. Even as a member of the Legislative Council he advocated increased spending on education, the establishment of schools and increased teacher salaries. In 1925, he supported the motion for granting of leave to government servants to attend Jummah prayers.

 

Apart from serving at Zahira, he gave a helping hand to many educational institutions such as Khairiya Muslim Girls’ School, Hameedia School and Denham English School, Colombo. He began to fashion the destiny of our Muslim community while at the same time moulding the minds of Zahirians from what was to become under his leadership, the radiating centre of Muslim learning.

 

His greatest contribution was in the realm of education and it was mainly as the Principal of Zahira College, Maradana, which he loved and cherished and nurtured for 27 years.

 

 

His vision for Zahira was a combination of material and spiritual education which equip the student to face the challenges of the modern world.

 

In this endeavour, he was extremely successful, ALHAMDULILLLAH. As he always used to emphasize, education is fundamental to Islam, for without it one cannot understand or practice the precepts of Islam laid down in the Holy Qur’an. That is why the first word of the Holy Qur’an revealed to our Prophet (SAL) was ‘Iqra’ meaning ‘read’.

 

He knew very well, that Islamic education must necessarily encompass the two traditional categories of knowledge and the hierarchical relationship between them: revealed knowledge; attained through the religious sciences; and acquired knowledge, attained through the rational, intellectual and philosophical sciences.

 

To Jayah, knowledge is holistic and there is no compartmentalization of knowledge into religious and secular spheres. Both types of knowledge contribute to the strengthening of faith, the former through a careful study of the revealed Word of God and the latter through a meticulous, systematic study of the world of man and nature.

 

He firmly believed that Islamic education is concerned not only with the instruction and training of the mind and the transmission of knowledge (ta’lim) but also with the education of the whole human being (tarbiyah). The teacher is therefore not only a muallim, a ‘transmitter of knowledge’ but also a murabbi, a ‘trainer of souls and personalities’.

This principle, he put into practice at Zahira and the end result was a well-balanced citizen able to match anyone in any part of the world, as the number of men produced by Zahira during the Golden Era of Dr T B Jayah would bear testimony.

 

He provided at Zahira a milieu for the total and balanced development of every student in every sphere of learning – spiritual, moral, imaginative, intellectual, cultural, aesthetic, emotional and physical – directing all these aspects towards the attainment of a conscious relationship with God, the ultimate purpose of man’s life on earth.

 

 

That is why every Zahirian who has excelled was not confined to books and carried with him great sportsmanship, be it Soccer, Rugby, Cricket, Hockey, Wrestling, Boxing, Athletics, Cadeting or Scouting in which he had participated during his stay at Zahira. More than anything else, they were men of thakwa, who feared none other than the Almighty.

 

It was the fear of devastation though the threat of Japanese bombing of the city of Colombo during the Second World War that gave Marhoom Jayah the opportunity to spread the recipe followed with much success at Colombo Zahira to the Zahiras he founded in Aluthgama, Gampola, Matale, Wekande and Puttalam, which inspired even more Zahiras in distant places such as Anuradhapura and Hambantota.

 

I am firmly of the opinion that we could beneficially bring all Zahiras in Sri Lanka under one umbrella of holistic learning to provide balanced material and spiritual learning to our young ones throughout the island.

 

An assessment of Marhoom Dr T B Jayah’s success in the field of education was provided by none other than Sir Ivor Jennings, then Vice Chancellor of the University of Ceylon in his message to the Editor of the ‘Crescent’ on the occasion the Jubilee of Zahira College. In this message, Sir Jennings drew attention to the fact that in the University College of Ceylon, Colombo in 1928 there were only three Muslims in a student body of 315, but when it was transformed into the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya in 1942 there were 25 Muslims out of a studentships of 904, which proportion had increased in 1946 to 37 Muslims in a total of 1302 students. According to Sir Jennings,

“From 1928 to 1946 the number of Muslims grew by 800 percent. Proportionately the numbers are small but in education it is easier to multiply a large number than to multiply a small one because each generation has to educate its successor. The figures therefore bear witness to the effort devoted to Muslim education in the last 25 years. Of that effort Zahira College and Jayah have born a noble share.”

 

 

Among his students were two most outstanding personalities, Dr Badiudeen Mahmud and Al Haj Bakeer Markar. Both created history in their respective fields. Dr Muhmud as Health Minister and Education Minister piloted the two most controversial bills through Parliament at the risk of his life. Bakeer Markar became Speaker of Parliament, the highest position in the State a Muslim has ever attained or is likely to attain.

 

Both have displayed an inflexible will in the handling of their responsibilities and both without reserve acknowledge the great debt they owe Jayah as teacher and guide. Al Haj M A Bakeer Markar, Speaker of Parliament 1978-1983 was emphatic in his evaluation of Jayah’s work as teacher and educationist. According to him-

 

“Dr Jayah was not just a teacher, teaching class subjects with a view to success at examinations. His success in preparing students for examinations was extra ordinary because of his absolute mastery of his subjects, his knowledge of teaching techniques to ensure quick and easy comprehension of his lessons and his unfailing ability to achieve instant ‘rapport’ with his students……..What struck me as being the outstanding feature of his teaching was his insistence that the mind must be free to think for itself and not be conditioned by others”.

 

Although Marhoom Dr Jayah had also played a major role through his political leadership, constraints of time and limitations on my freedom of expressing as a sitting Judge, prevents me from delving deep into his political life. Suffice it would be to say that he always put his patriotism and love for the country above his loyalty to the community he belonged and for which he had done so much. Dr Jayah was the leader of the Muslim delegation that went to England to make representations regarding the recommendations of the Donoughmore Commissioners which included proposals for universal adult franchise based on domicile and shutting out communal representation to the minority communities particularly the Muslims.

 

 

It is through the implementation of the recommendations of the Donoughmore Commission that the State Council was established and Jayah lost the elections. Fortunately he was nominated to the State Council which enabled him to espouse the cause of expanded representation of Muslims, which was debated in the State Council itself. In the course of the Reforms Debate of 1937, he addressed the Council for three hours, and said-

 

“But I think I have to show you that in this great struggle for political freedom, freedom not only for one community but for all communities, the minorities have been always prepared to contribute their share…………..

We might stand up for our community, but it cannot be said that we have stood against the interests of the country as a whole. I have always said and I repeat it today, that I consider the interests of the country as a whole, to be paramount.”

 

An important point that he made in the course of this debate, has relevance today as much as in 1937. I quote-

“…. If we are going to have a party system of definite political and economic lines, we cannot have a communal majority party under whatever name it may be disguised. We cannot have a communal majority invested with plenary powers. Such a majority would prove to be not only a great tyranny but a curse to the country.”

 

His representations and expressions of opinion paved the way for a more conducive balance being worked out in the Soulbury Constitution that replaced the Donoughmore Constitution in 1947, under which he was elected as the second member of the three member Colombo Central seat.

 

It was his appointment thereafter as a Minister of the first Cabinet of Ceylon that caused his resignation from the post of Principal of Zahira College for which he had done so much heralding a Golden Era which was taken to even greater heights by his worthy successor, Marhoom Senator A M A Azeez.

 

 

What propelled Marhoom Tuan Branudeen Jayah to such great strides? It was his early Quranic education under the tutelage of Captain Morseth and others, as he himself acknowledged later on that made things easy for him in later life, in the same way it did to the greatest achiever of the Islamic era, Ibnu Sina, who had by the age of ten memorized the Qur’an and went on to study medicine while simultaneously learning Greek and Islamic philosophy.

By the age of 21, Ibnu Sina had become accomplished in all branches of formal learning and served first as a jurist in Gurganj and thereafter in Jurjan as a teacher, only to move on to Rayy (near modern day Tehran) where he was an administrator before he finally settled down in Qazvin and practised as a physician.

 

He was one of the greatest achievers in Islamic history and it was the Quranic inspiration that propelled him to such achievements as being the first scientist to graphically describe in minute detail, the different parts of the eye, as much as being the first to describe meningitis and to suggest the treatment for lachrymal fistula, while also probing the skies and deducing for the first time that Venus must be closer to the earth than to the Sun and then going on to write many books on varied topics the most famous among them being the encyclopedia of medicine, Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine) which was used for centuries in European universities to teach medicine.

 

 

What Marhoom Dr Tuan Branudeen Jayah endeavoured to do, through the mechanics of Zahira was to make our own Ibnu Sinas who will be able to face the challenges of the times in the Islamic way, without selling the soul for milk and honey. It is this vision, that I am sure will be taken to greater fruition by my brother T K Azoor, who too is a member of the Malay Community and the President of the Conference of Sri Lankan Malays while holding the prestigious position of Principal of Zahira College.

 

Let me conclude by repeating what I said at the commencement of my address, that Marhoom Jayah was a blessing of Allah to our community. It was perhaps in recognition of this role that he passed away on May 31, 1960 in Madinah Munawwarah where he was provided a resting place in Jannatul Baquii, where also lie at rest members of the family of our Holy Prophet (PBUH) and his beloved sahabas. We shall pray that may his soul attain Jannathul Firdous, Aameen yarabbal alamin!