Dad Was involved in so many religious and social ventures which contributed towards the spiritual and cultural needs of a number of Pakistani families within East Leeds, but it pains me to know that so many of those who he had supported him, taken tutelage from him and gained skills from his instructions, are no longer here to share in these reminiscences”.

A Wise Man Once Said

Adapted from an interview with Shoukat Nazir

If ever you are visiting Roundhay Road, you may come to a shop without a signboard, opposite the Bangladeshi centre. Ask the locals if they know the owner, and most likely they will respond ’Molvi Nazeer da dukan’, (Molvi Nazir’s shop’). From 1985 until 2014, you could go inside to buy clothes or seek the council of the elderly man sat at the counter, deeply immersed in his books, dedicated to his notetaking and reflections. This Jinnah cap wearing elder, smartly dressed in shalwar kameez, wearing his cardigan, was the well-known Kashmiri teacher or ‘Molvi’ Nazir sahib.

The well-known former owner Mohammed Nazir, was born in 1921, faraway in the hills of district Kotli, in pre-partition Kashmir. He hailed from a village called Bratla, the son of Bratla’s main Imam, Moulana Mohammed Matih-Ullah who raised his sons with a thorough and strict Islamic education with an appreciation for the secular sciences.

Molvi Nazir would later recall that there were no bus services between the village and Mirpur city, or anywhere else for that matter. Walking several miles along the hill routes was the most common form of transportation, reliant upon your own strength and pace. To go to school each morning, at the nearest town, meant waking up at the crack of dawn, preparing your satchel and carrying a pile of heavy school books for several miles through a hilly path to the next town, and then repeating this journey at the end of the day.

With all this sacrifice to maximise the opportunity to be literate, Nazir  would go on to undertake further theological learning, known as the Darse Nizami Program under Maulana Mohammad Abdullah at Ladar Sharif. He would undertake further study at several places in northern Pakistan including the completion of a BA in Islamic studies at the prestigious Punjab university.

A lover of learning, reading old manuscripts and learning languages, he would go on to becoming a school teacher in Chakswari, teaching Maths, religious studies and English language for the next 18 years.

Molvi Nazir’s brother, Mohammad Rafique Farooqi had been living in Karachi, working in the transport services. He had applied to work in the U.K, and by 1965 he was settled there, primarily working as a bus conductor before eventually going on to setting up the first Asian owned driving school in the late 60’s.

By 1967, Molvi Nazir was, himself, ready to depart Kashmir and join his brother in Britain. For their father, who already felt like he had lost one son, it was difficult to see his other son leave him. After a great deal of hesitation and reluctance to let his son go, Moulana Matih-ullah gave his blessing for the young scholar to go.

His final words of advice;” If you should find Muslims there, you have a responsibility to serve their needs in matters of faith. Hold on proudly to who you are, and never deny a decent person a helping hand”.

Upon arriving to Britain Molvi Nazir would join his brother in the north of England, working for several months in a factory in Bolton. In under a year they would move to Leeds, where, on Chadwick street, now the site of Ruth Gorse academy, Molvi Nazir would work at a metal factory making parts for tanks and military vehicles.

He would later recall, that prayers were extremely important to him, so when the time of prayer came, he would look for some cardboard and pray alone in the corner. His foreman would often take interest, observing the scholar as he dedicated himself to his motions, regardless of how tired or hot he was. The foreman was so impressed by the scholars’ dedication, that he graciously offered him a space in his office to conduct his prayers and an additional 15 minutes break to ensure he had enough time to pray. The kind understanding of this English Foreman would leave a positive impression upon Molvi Nazir for many years to come.

 Funnily enough, when others would see the maulana going for his prayer break, they would follow him, in the hope of also benefiting from the additional break too. Some men would have been previously nervous to ask for their prayer breaks, as it may have been seen as asking for more than what they were entitled too and workers’ rights were not as they now are. So, the relationship between the Foreman and the Molvi Nazir was extremely beneficial.

Molvi Nazir and his brother would live in Blackman lane where a small, growing Asian community already existed. There was already a corner shop at the corner of Blackman lane and Archery Road. This grocery shop was owned by Choudrey Sohbet Deen from Bagor, who ran a delivery service alongside it. There was a popular, small cinema which sometimes played Asian films and further up the road on Marlborough gardens, an Indian school teacher named Molvi Shuttari, ran a small mosque with Quran classes from a back to back terrace house. By the mid 1970’s, Molvi Nazir would call his wife and children over to live with him.

A mosque on Leopold street, a corner red brick, 3 storey terrace house, had been set up by men from the Bengal region (west Pakistani and from Punjab (East Pakistan) community in Chapeltown. Molvi Nazir would remember going to the mosque on a Friday and some weeks being one of a handful of worshipers, sometimes as few or two three people, in his early regular visits to the mosque. This is particularly as many of the community worked around the city and had limited breaks at work, which meant it was difficult to come and go from the factories during working hours.

In Blackman lane Molvi Nazir would found a madrassah and supplementary school teaching the Urdu language and culture to the children of the Pakistani factory workers, as well as teaching children how to recite the Quran and conduct their prayers. He would have up to 50 children at some points coming to study under him. He would further start a weekend madrassah and a supplementary school on Francis street, which meant he would teach up to 7 days a week for many years. He was content in following his father’s request to serve the spiritual and cultural needs of the children of first-generation migrants to the city.

He would serve as an Imam at Jinnah mosque, alongside his friend Molvi Abdul Rahman, later moving to Leeds Islamic centre when it was established in the mid 70’s and by 1987, he would be involved in the establishment of the Bilal mosque, where he would be a primary Imaam. This was originally running from the church hall of an old Methodist church on Harehills road. Eventually the Muslim cultural society would take over the whole building and then be granted land on the site of an old glass optics factory on Conway road, the site on which the Bilal mosque now stands.

From 1985 Molvi Nazir would retire to run a small shop as his health slowly declined. There he would continue to offer advice and guidance, teach a few students over the counter and be a listening ear for those who came with difficult questions and concerns up until his death in 2014.

Dad Was involved in so many religious and social ventures which contributed towards the spiritual and cultural needs of a number of Pakistani families within East Leeds, but it pains me to know that so many of those who he had supported him, taken tutelage from him and gained skills from his instructions, are no longer here to share in these reminiscences”.