Reforming Religious Education
English Essay on "Reforming Religious Education"
Madaris have been the hallmark of Islamic teachings since the establishment of the Muslim rule in India. By and large these educational institutions were privately owned and administered by Ulema themselves. The Muslim rulers of India were never particularly interested is establishing great institutions of Islamic learning like those in Egypt and Spain. They gave a free hand to Ulema of various sects to set up their own institutions and impart knowledge about Islam according to their interpretation of the Quraan and Sunnah. Thriving on private donations and government grants, these madaris produced religious scholars, who managed mosques and other places of religious significance and also served in high administrative and judicial positions in governments.
When the British came to power in the subcontinent, they set up their own schools and colleges to introduce modern education. Persian and Arabic, which ,were religious as well as official languages, were gradually replaced by Urdu and English languages as new medium of learning. Deeni madaris, however, continued to impart religious education, but their need and importance declined as Muslims turned to English education, which gave them access to modern knowledge and jobs in the government and business and commercial houses. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan played a major role in this regard under the patronage of the British government. He firmly believed that Muslims would lag far behind the Hindus in the race of modernisation and development if they remained confined to religious education at madaris.
At the time of partition, there were thousands of madaris in the length and breadth of India, but the most prominent and well known were Darul Uloom of Deoband, Nadwatul Ulema of Lucknow and Madrassa Irshadul Uloom of Rampur. There was also a significant number of Madaris of Barelvi school of thought established by Hazrat Ahmed Raza Khan of Bareilly. In Pakistan, a large number of madaris at present belong to the Sunni sect of the Barelvi school of thought, but the madaris of Deobandi and Ahle Hadith schools of thought, though less in number, are better organized with greater financial resources. When President Ziaul Haq came to power with the slogan to introduce “Nizam-i-Islam” in the country, he naturally needed the support of Ulema, particularly those run-fling big madaris. He, therefore, patronised and encouraged them to propagate the Nizam-i-Islam theme from the pulpit and electronic media. As this slogan gained momentum, the sleeping giant of religious differences amongst various sects suddenly woke up and madaris became the breeding ground of sectarian hatred that led to a spate of merciless killings in mosques and Imambargahs.educationsight.blogspot.com In the meantime, the war against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan only aggrandised the role of madaris, which provided armed and trained fighters, who were later called Taliban, to take part in Jihad alongside their Afghan brethren Some of the big madaris played a significant role in motivating, training and arming their fanatic students to join the Jihad in Afghanistan.
In the final analysis, the Afghan Jihad proved very costly. Over three million Afghan refugees thronged to Pakistan, turning the entire tribal belt into a market for all kinds of weapons where pistols, rifles, automatic weapons, grenades, mines and explosives were freely available. These weapons ultimately fell into the hands of political and religious activists and anti-social elements. As a consequence, Pakistan is still reaping the bitter harvest of violent crime and senseless ethnic and sectarian killings in an environment of widespread lawlessness. Another fallout of the Afghan war was the introduction of the drug culture in Pakistan. With its borders with the Soviet Union and Iran sealed, Afghanistan’s global heroin trade was routed through Pakistan. Heroin factories mushroomed in the tribal areas outside the jurisdiction of Pakistani law enforcement agencies. Drugs spread like wildfire as the lust for easy money and astronomical profits encouraged smugglers and profit hunters to indulge in the narcotics trade. Millions of people in the country got addicted to lethal drugs, which not only proved hazardous for people’s health but also gave an enormous boost to crime and violence.
The government-controlled media, on the other hand, played almost the same erroneous role that it had played during the East Pakistan war. It kept on highlighting the false heroic exploits of the Afghan freedom fighters who were projected as waging a holy war against the infidel Soviet occupation forces.
Backed by the US, Ziaul Haq succeeded in mounting a worldwide propaganda campaign to highlight the Afghan war as a sacred mission for the glory of Islam and the Muslim world. The rest is history.
After prolonged deliberations and consultation with a cross section of Ulema, President Musharraf has taken a decisive step to regulate the activities of madaris, making their registration with Pakistan Madrassa Education Board and provincial boards within a period of six months mandatory. The federal cabinet has approved promulgation of the ordinance to register and regulate the madaris. The contravention of this law will lead to the closure of institutions or fine or both. Registered madaris would not receive any grant, donation or aid from any foreign source or allow admission to foreign students or make appointment of teachers without valid visa and NoC from the Interior Ministry. No inadrassa will be eligible to receive Zakat or any financial assistance, grant, donation or other benefits from the federal or provincial governments unless registered under the law. The government will spend Rs13.69 billion during the next three years to improve and upgrade madaris and to facilitate the teaching of science, mathematics, English and Urdu. This will be done with a view to providing an opportunity to madaris students to enrol in professional educational institutions after they finish their religious education.
The government will not intervene in the current syllabus of religious institutions which have assured the officials that they would introduce general science, maths, Pakistan studies and English immediately.
It is hoped that this ordinance will prove to be a historic step in confining the activities of madaris to religious and mode on education alone and divert them from their militant and sectarian role. There is no doubt about the great need to improve the quality of religious education which presently revolves around Dars-i-Nizami, an outdated course which has lost its relevance in modern times. Ulema, with deep understanding of Quraan and Sunnah, should enter into a dialogue with social scientists, economists, information technology experts, etc to synthesise religious and modern education into unified courses at graduate and post-graduate levels. This would ensure that the students, who pass these courses, have attractive job markets where they could apply Islamic principles to the day-to-day problems of modern life.
When the British came to power in the subcontinent, they set up their own schools and colleges to introduce modern education. Persian and Arabic, which ,were religious as well as official languages, were gradually replaced by Urdu and English languages as new medium of learning. Deeni madaris, however, continued to impart religious education, but their need and importance declined as Muslims turned to English education, which gave them access to modern knowledge and jobs in the government and business and commercial houses. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan played a major role in this regard under the patronage of the British government. He firmly believed that Muslims would lag far behind the Hindus in the race of modernisation and development if they remained confined to religious education at madaris.
At the time of partition, there were thousands of madaris in the length and breadth of India, but the most prominent and well known were Darul Uloom of Deoband, Nadwatul Ulema of Lucknow and Madrassa Irshadul Uloom of Rampur. There was also a significant number of Madaris of Barelvi school of thought established by Hazrat Ahmed Raza Khan of Bareilly. In Pakistan, a large number of madaris at present belong to the Sunni sect of the Barelvi school of thought, but the madaris of Deobandi and Ahle Hadith schools of thought, though less in number, are better organized with greater financial resources. When President Ziaul Haq came to power with the slogan to introduce “Nizam-i-Islam” in the country, he naturally needed the support of Ulema, particularly those run-fling big madaris. He, therefore, patronised and encouraged them to propagate the Nizam-i-Islam theme from the pulpit and electronic media. As this slogan gained momentum, the sleeping giant of religious differences amongst various sects suddenly woke up and madaris became the breeding ground of sectarian hatred that led to a spate of merciless killings in mosques and Imambargahs.educationsight.blogspot.com In the meantime, the war against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan only aggrandised the role of madaris, which provided armed and trained fighters, who were later called Taliban, to take part in Jihad alongside their Afghan brethren Some of the big madaris played a significant role in motivating, training and arming their fanatic students to join the Jihad in Afghanistan.
In the final analysis, the Afghan Jihad proved very costly. Over three million Afghan refugees thronged to Pakistan, turning the entire tribal belt into a market for all kinds of weapons where pistols, rifles, automatic weapons, grenades, mines and explosives were freely available. These weapons ultimately fell into the hands of political and religious activists and anti-social elements. As a consequence, Pakistan is still reaping the bitter harvest of violent crime and senseless ethnic and sectarian killings in an environment of widespread lawlessness. Another fallout of the Afghan war was the introduction of the drug culture in Pakistan. With its borders with the Soviet Union and Iran sealed, Afghanistan’s global heroin trade was routed through Pakistan. Heroin factories mushroomed in the tribal areas outside the jurisdiction of Pakistani law enforcement agencies. Drugs spread like wildfire as the lust for easy money and astronomical profits encouraged smugglers and profit hunters to indulge in the narcotics trade. Millions of people in the country got addicted to lethal drugs, which not only proved hazardous for people’s health but also gave an enormous boost to crime and violence.
The government-controlled media, on the other hand, played almost the same erroneous role that it had played during the East Pakistan war. It kept on highlighting the false heroic exploits of the Afghan freedom fighters who were projected as waging a holy war against the infidel Soviet occupation forces.
Backed by the US, Ziaul Haq succeeded in mounting a worldwide propaganda campaign to highlight the Afghan war as a sacred mission for the glory of Islam and the Muslim world. The rest is history.
After prolonged deliberations and consultation with a cross section of Ulema, President Musharraf has taken a decisive step to regulate the activities of madaris, making their registration with Pakistan Madrassa Education Board and provincial boards within a period of six months mandatory. The federal cabinet has approved promulgation of the ordinance to register and regulate the madaris. The contravention of this law will lead to the closure of institutions or fine or both. Registered madaris would not receive any grant, donation or aid from any foreign source or allow admission to foreign students or make appointment of teachers without valid visa and NoC from the Interior Ministry. No inadrassa will be eligible to receive Zakat or any financial assistance, grant, donation or other benefits from the federal or provincial governments unless registered under the law. The government will spend Rs13.69 billion during the next three years to improve and upgrade madaris and to facilitate the teaching of science, mathematics, English and Urdu. This will be done with a view to providing an opportunity to madaris students to enrol in professional educational institutions after they finish their religious education.
The government will not intervene in the current syllabus of religious institutions which have assured the officials that they would introduce general science, maths, Pakistan studies and English immediately.
It is hoped that this ordinance will prove to be a historic step in confining the activities of madaris to religious and mode on education alone and divert them from their militant and sectarian role. There is no doubt about the great need to improve the quality of religious education which presently revolves around Dars-i-Nizami, an outdated course which has lost its relevance in modern times. Ulema, with deep understanding of Quraan and Sunnah, should enter into a dialogue with social scientists, economists, information technology experts, etc to synthesise religious and modern education into unified courses at graduate and post-graduate levels. This would ensure that the students, who pass these courses, have attractive job markets where they could apply Islamic principles to the day-to-day problems of modern life.
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