[wp_ad_camp_1] A Seminary for Transgenders
By Chronicler
Rawalpindi
The transgenders generally earn their livelihood either dancing in different sort of parties or through begging on the streets.
However, now efforts are being made to transform them into useful members of the society by encouraging them to adopt other ways of earning which are considered respectable in the society. They are being urged to learn teaching of Islam.
Shakeel, a transgender himself has setup a Madrassa for the members of his community at Transformer Chowk, Sadiqabad, Rawalpindi and he is also encouraging his fellow community members to do something else for earning their livelihood.
This Madrassa is perhaps first of its nature in the country which has been setup solely for transgenders. Currently only three students have enrolled themselves in it to learn Quran and other teachings of Islam.
When contacted by Pak Chronicle Shakeel who is founder of this seminary said that as before of advent of Ramazan a lot of ceremonies of marriages take place in the city so the number of students in the Madrassa is not very promising.
However, he was optimistic that a lot other transgender students would enroll them in it in the holy month of Ramazan.
“A large number of other members of my community have promised me to get themselves enrolled in the Madrassa to get religious education after the advent to Ramazan,” he said.
Shakeel himself is the first student of this Madrassa besides two other fellows who get religious education over here.
Besides taking this landmark initiative Shakeel also provides help to other members to switch to other professions for earning their bread and butter. As most of them don’t have shelter, he also provides them a place to live in. He encourages them to learn the art of tailoring and selling different items on pushcarts. He himself sells lemon-soda on pushcart for his livelihood.
Prior to this transformation, he has been participating in wedding ceremonies as dancer for around 15 years. However, luckily in 2016 he attended some sessions of Tableeghi Jamaat for four months and this happening entirely changed his life.
Afterwards he decided to dedicate his life for Islam and he also started preaching the teachings of the religion to other fellow transgenders and some of them also got inspiration from him. Some of them practically joined him in his noble cause.
According to Shakeel intention matters a lot and achievement is the secondary sort of thing. He has spent every penny which had earned over this project and he believes that he would be duly rewarded for it by Allah.
Ends
