Historical Madrasa Sultan-ul-Madaris of Lucknow

Madrasa Sultan-ul-Madaris was founded here by the Ayatullah Saiyad Muhammad Abul Hasan in 1892. This building was erected under the supervision of the Nawab Mehdi Hasan Khan, philosopher and philanthropist of Avadh. The foundation stone of this new building was laid on 1911 and after completion of the central hall it was inaugurated by Lieutenant Governor of the United Provinces, Sir John Prescott Hewett on 21st March 1913. Apart from the Firangi Mahal , old institutions of Oriental learning languished for want of State patronage. After the annexation of Avadh in 1856, when Canning College was founded, a seperate department of Oriental learning was established in it and in the beginning this was more popular than the department of Arts and Science. After the merger of the Canning College with the University of Lucknow, the University has had a full fledged Oriental department teaching Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian. The university awards diplomas of Shastri and Acharya in the various branches of Sanskrit learning and of Dabir and Fazil in Persian and Arabic. There were two other private institutions of Arabic , working in traditional lines. They were the Nadwat-ul-Ulema, founded in 1894, and the Nizamia Arabic College, founded in 1889. The Sultan-ul-Madaris and Madarasat-ul-Waizin were two other important oriental institutions whose activities, however were confined to imparting advance religious education for Shias only. Presently Mr.Syed Muhammad Jafar Rizvi is the principal of this prestigious institution and is taking great steps to revive its glorious past.
Great Stalwarts like former governor of Bengal Mr. Noorul Hasan, Maulana Syed Hasan Rizvi of Iraq, Dr. Syed Kalbe Sadiq, Professor Syed Shabihul Hasan former chairman of Urdu department of Lucknow University, Maulana Mohammad Hasan Maroofi of London, Khateeb-e-Akbar Mirza Muhammad Athar and many many more are the product of this esteemed institution.