page_title: Zahira College, Colombo
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Zahira College, Colombo / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Zahira College Mosque
context_page_description: Zahira College is an Islamic school at Colombo in Maradana, Sri Lanka and was founded in 1892 as Al Madrasathul Zahira by notable Islamic lawyer and educationalist, Muhammad Cassim Siddi Lebbe, with the active patronage of Ahmed Orabi Pasha of Egypt. The college also has one of the oldest mosques in the country in its premises.
  The word Zahira means "excellence" in Arabic.
context_section_description: The idea of school mainly for Muslims was conceived by prominent individuals at the time, such as Proctor M. C. Siddi Lebbe, when circumstances were positively hostile to English education due to the reasons where English education was very much associated with proselytism. At this juncture in history of Sri Lanka almost all the schools in the country were run by Christian missionaries. Because Sri Lanka had not won its independence from the British Empire an almost state aided conversion submerged other communities. Nevertheless, Muslim pioneers in education were more than satisfied that Islam would weather assaults at conversion but that education was essential for the Muslim community’s progress if not its very survival. Thus, due to this and many other pertaining factors, Zahira was established on Monday, 22 August 1892.
caption: Zahira College Mosque, also known as the Maradana Mosque.  The mosque was established long before the college was started and was patronized by A.M. Wapchie Marikar.
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