surat the aljameatussaifiyahislamic arabic academy the principal educational institute of the dawoodi bohra community in surat has spread its wings with opening of its biggest ever overseas campus at nairobi in kenyaa second sister campus after pakistan the arabic academy was inaugurated by the president of republic of kenya uhuru kenyatta in the presence of his holiness dr sayedna mufaddal saifuddin head of the dawoodi bohra community recently the aljamea academy was founded as a theological university for the dawoodi bohras in 1814 by the 43rd dai syedna abdeali saifuddin in surat the bedrock of aljameas educational focus is in its teachings based on the philosophies of the holy quran this holistic view of teaching infuse a spiritual dimension into contemporaneous subjects and all knowledge from arts and architecture to engineering social science and medicinethe academic programs based on fatimi philosophy at the aljamea lasts for eleven years and is divided into three stages the final degree is considered equivalent to the masters of arts from aligarh muslim university amu and recognized by al azhar and cairo universities of egypt the academy is also recognized by oxford university and many other educational institutesthe academy has been functioning from its campus in surat india for over two centuries a sister campus was inaugurated in karachi pakistan in 1983 two subsequent campuses were initiated in nairobi in 2011 and in mumbai in 2013 respectivelythe campuss location in east africa has a historical continuity it was in north africa in the early 10th century the fatimi imams established the fatimi caliphate to which the bohras trace their spiritual and cultural heritage presently the bohra community in africa numbers over 12000 who mostly reside in the nairobi and coastal regionsthe architecture of aljamea campus in nairobi was decided through a competition for its design which was won by a consortium of four architecture firms based in the usa spread over 14 acres the total area of all the buildings on the campus equals nearly 1000000 square feet and includes a mosque quranic institute large ceremonial hall dining hall and kitchen library auditorium classroom buildings administrative and maintenance facilities and separate male and female residences with a capacity of over 1000 studentsthe academy will admit students from east african countries egypt usa england germany and egypt among othersat the inaugural speech president of kenya uhuru kenyatta commended the dawoodi bohra community for promoting tolerance and peace and stated you are a true representation of what islam stands for adding we must work together to show that islam is not a religion of violence but a religion of peace the values in this institution which i have had the privilege of touring attest to your rich and diverse culture added the presidentaddressing the inauguration ceremony his holiness syedna mufaddal saifuddin said our culture and education are founded upon certain principles among which are love for all people service of humanity and kindness towards all creation the first stipulation of our philosophy is to embrace all types