EXTREMISM AND MADRASSAS
Imran Khan
August 19, 2006
Many experts believe that Madrassas are playing vital role in promoting extremism and Madrassa students only get hate lessens from there. These thoughts are not related to few persons only but many governments in the West also believe in it. But is it true or has it been wrongly assumed? We need to look things in bit detail. Focus would be on Pakistan as it is in highlights all the time.
Madrassa is an Arabic word which simply means “School”. The history of establishing Madrassas is about 1000 years old. Learning is a basic part of Islam and it is not associated with religious education only. So when Madrassas were initially started they had all the components of educational system prevailing at time. Including religious Islamic education and different other subjects like astronomy, architecture, philosophy, math etc. That continued for centuries and Madrassas produced some great scholars, researchers of that age. Muslim part of the world was a hub of knowledge. The work of Muslim scholars, scientists laid down the foundation of many new areas of learning.
After the defeat of the Muslims in many parts of the world and with the introduction of new education system by Europeans, the Muslim education system started to weaken. Before that religious education and other education was taught together but it was changed and religious education was given less importance. Especially in Subcontinent where after the war of 1857 British tried to rule strictly over Muslims. That created a tit for tat situation and new approach of education was not welcomed by Muslims. Ulamas (Muslim Scholars) were particularly against it. So a new kind of Madrassa system was introduced sticking with the religious education only. From then onward the same Madrassa system is still in place. Now modern education is far ahead of that time but in Madrassas the old curriculum still prevails and literally there is no change. If someone had tried to understand the situation at that time the situation would have not been like this. Even after the creation of Pakistan in 1947 no one ever tried to analyze things that why Madrassas were established? Are they only meant for religious studies? Same situation exists in other Muslim countries.
In 1970s and 80s hundreds of new Madrassas were established in Pakistan especially near the Afghanistan border. The main aim was to produce a force which could fight against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. USA at that time supported them fully and finally Russia was defeated and had to leave Afghanistan. Now USA believes that Madrassas are producing fundamentalists.
The real problem is not the type of education pupils getting in Madrassas. It is a fact that in major terrorist attacks in the world, the people who carried out those acts were not students of Madrassas but studied properly in modern education institutes. Many of them got education in Western countries. It is virtually not possible for any Madrassa student to be aware of any kind of modern technology as he studies old Urdu, Arabic and Persian books only.
Yes extremism is there but there are other factors behind it. A Madrassa student has no chance to perform any kind of work because of no knowledge of modern techniques. They can read books but they have no professional or any kind of education which could enable them to do a job so they have no other choice but to sit in the mosque. Certainly frustration would be there as they see the people living in good conditions but they have no option what so ever.
One can say that Taliban (a common name for Madrassa student) ruled Afghanistan with force for few years. But one should also look the factors behind it. After Russian left Afghanistan there should have been peace and government should have worked for the betterment for common Afghani citizens. Infect it was not the case and for many years warlords fought against each other only to rule and no one thought about the people. Since there was no justice, resultantly it created a Taliban movement which eventually took the whole country. 5 years ago Taliban rule was over and a democratic government is ruling Afghanistan. But is there any improvement in the lives of commoners there? The answer would be No. Afghan government receives millions of dollars as aid. Where they are spending it? Though there is a central government but in many areas still warlords have their own rules. This kind of situation can create real extremism in masses and who takes advantage it is another thing. It is not necessary that only Taliban could go to extreme but anyone in this situation could be.
The other problem is the political use of Madrassa. In Russian – Afghan war USA and Pakistan government tired to take advantage of Madrassas and now Pakistani religious parties are trying to do the same. Madrassas are educational institutes and no one should be allowed to use them for their political purposes.
Any attempt to closedown Madrassas will not be a solution to prevent extremism. Even it will trigger more hate and reaction. The best solution would be to bring Madrassas back into mainstream, where students may get religious education as well as modern education. So when students complete Madrassa education they should have a chance to get jobs, do professional work and make positive contribution in the society.
It can’t be done overnight and it will take a long time but still making an educational institute performing better will be beneficial for all.
Madrassa is an Arabic word which simply means “School”. The history of establishing Madrassas is about 1000 years old. Learning is a basic part of Islam and it is not associated with religious education only. So when Madrassas were initially started they had all the components of educational system prevailing at time. Including religious Islamic education and different other subjects like astronomy, architecture, philosophy, math etc. That continued for centuries and Madrassas produced some great scholars, researchers of that age. Muslim part of the world was a hub of knowledge. The work of Muslim scholars, scientists laid down the foundation of many new areas of learning.
After the defeat of the Muslims in many parts of the world and with the introduction of new education system by Europeans, the Muslim education system started to weaken. Before that religious education and other education was taught together but it was changed and religious education was given less importance. Especially in Subcontinent where after the war of 1857 British tried to rule strictly over Muslims. That created a tit for tat situation and new approach of education was not welcomed by Muslims. Ulamas (Muslim Scholars) were particularly against it. So a new kind of Madrassa system was introduced sticking with the religious education only. From then onward the same Madrassa system is still in place. Now modern education is far ahead of that time but in Madrassas the old curriculum still prevails and literally there is no change. If someone had tried to understand the situation at that time the situation would have not been like this. Even after the creation of Pakistan in 1947 no one ever tried to analyze things that why Madrassas were established? Are they only meant for religious studies? Same situation exists in other Muslim countries.
In 1970s and 80s hundreds of new Madrassas were established in Pakistan especially near the Afghanistan border. The main aim was to produce a force which could fight against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. USA at that time supported them fully and finally Russia was defeated and had to leave Afghanistan. Now USA believes that Madrassas are producing fundamentalists.
The real problem is not the type of education pupils getting in Madrassas. It is a fact that in major terrorist attacks in the world, the people who carried out those acts were not students of Madrassas but studied properly in modern education institutes. Many of them got education in Western countries. It is virtually not possible for any Madrassa student to be aware of any kind of modern technology as he studies old Urdu, Arabic and Persian books only.
Yes extremism is there but there are other factors behind it. A Madrassa student has no chance to perform any kind of work because of no knowledge of modern techniques. They can read books but they have no professional or any kind of education which could enable them to do a job so they have no other choice but to sit in the mosque. Certainly frustration would be there as they see the people living in good conditions but they have no option what so ever.
One can say that Taliban (a common name for Madrassa student) ruled Afghanistan with force for few years. But one should also look the factors behind it. After Russian left Afghanistan there should have been peace and government should have worked for the betterment for common Afghani citizens. Infect it was not the case and for many years warlords fought against each other only to rule and no one thought about the people. Since there was no justice, resultantly it created a Taliban movement which eventually took the whole country. 5 years ago Taliban rule was over and a democratic government is ruling Afghanistan. But is there any improvement in the lives of commoners there? The answer would be No. Afghan government receives millions of dollars as aid. Where they are spending it? Though there is a central government but in many areas still warlords have their own rules. This kind of situation can create real extremism in masses and who takes advantage it is another thing. It is not necessary that only Taliban could go to extreme but anyone in this situation could be.
The other problem is the political use of Madrassa. In Russian – Afghan war USA and Pakistan government tired to take advantage of Madrassas and now Pakistani religious parties are trying to do the same. Madrassas are educational institutes and no one should be allowed to use them for their political purposes.
Any attempt to closedown Madrassas will not be a solution to prevent extremism. Even it will trigger more hate and reaction. The best solution would be to bring Madrassas back into mainstream, where students may get religious education as well as modern education. So when students complete Madrassa education they should have a chance to get jobs, do professional work and make positive contribution in the society.
It can’t be done overnight and it will take a long time but still making an educational institute performing better will be beneficial for all.
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