(From top) Abu Imran and Tafseer Iqbal. Pictures by Gautam Dey

Dhanbad, June 17: The coal capital has set a record of sorts this year by giving two Muslim candidates for public service.

Both the candidates, from middle-class families, never joined coaching classes but passed the UPSC test with flying colours.

Tafseer Iqbal of Topchanchi and Abu Imran of Wasseypur do not have a civil services background. Tafseer, who ranked 181, is the son of a doctor while the father of Abu Imran, 418 in the national ranking, is a retired banker.

The duo have travelled through similar paths before achieving the rankings. Both were born and brought up in Dhanbad and had stints at the Aligarh Muslim University. Tafseer managed to clear civil services exam in his third attempt while this is Abu Imran’s second attempt. Both the candidates were part of the Hamdard study circle — a free study circle for Muslims — in Delhi. The icing on the cake: Tafseer and Abu Imran are keen on the police service.

Tafseer, the son of paediatrician S.N. Iqbal Tafseer and Salma Iqbal, passed Class X (matriculation) from Topchanchi Anchal Prakhand High School and entered Marwari College in Bhagalpur to complete graduation with honours in history.

“I had taken up science after school and had cleared the AIEEE but quit thoughts of becoming an engineer and took up history just for the sake of cracking the civil service exam,” he said.

He never harboured dreams of walking around with a stethoscope, though his father and elder brother were medicos.

Tafseer joined AMU and completed postgraduate course in 2005. He took his first shot at UPSC in 2006. In the meantime, he started teaching at a coaching institute in Delhi. “This stint brushed up my communication skill,” he said.

Abu Imran, on his part, completed Class VII from Al-Islah School in Wasseypur and joined Delhi Public School, Dhanbad. He, too, went to AMU and graduated in communicative English with honours as it would help him while trying for the civil services. Like Tafseer, Abu Imran also did his masters in history after graduating in 2005. But unlike Tafseer, he cracked the examination before completing the masters.

“My first attempt was last year and I could not even clear the preliminary test. I took the failure as a lesson and studied accordingly,” he said.

Incidentally, Abu Imran had also honed his communication skills by teaching students from Oman and Jordan at AMU. He joined the Hamdard study circle for a few days to brush up his interview skills.