Abdul Malik Mujahid, founder and president of Sound Vision), former Chairman of Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, long known for his work with the interfaith and peace communities here in Chicago, creator of Radio Islam, and as johnpi mentioned earlier, about to be Chairman of Parliament of the World’s Religions, graduate of a Pakistani madrasah himself…has a cover article in the current Islamic Horizons magazine titled “Mad About Madrasahs” about the differences between the mythic madrasah in the minds of those who read western media and the reality of madrasahs.
Unfortunately I don’t believe it is available online.
abunoor 12:54 pm on December 31, 2009 Permalink |
Here are the pull quotes in the magazine:
“Madrasah literally means “a place of learning” and is a generic name for all types of schools throughout the Muslim world. As a young child in Indonesia, Barack Obama attended a madrasah.”
“I am familiar with the syllabi of all the madrasahs in Pakistan and have read most of the prescribed textbooks of the Sunni madrasahs; there is not a single textbook or course that teaches war, fighting, weapons training, or even foreign policy.”
“A survey conducted by a Brandeis University student revealed that there is not much difference between Pakistani students’ worldviews,whether they are studying in a madrasah or a general (secular) school.”
“Change will come faster if governments do not force change, but rather facilitate opportunities for madrasah graduates.”
Conrad Barwa 1:26 pm on December 31, 2009 Permalink |
I respect that statement it contrasts with some of the documentaries that have been produced and that I have seen which do very much show some of the things being taught that Abdul Malik Muhajid says are not on the syllabus. It is quite possible that these were isolated examples; however there does seem to be link in the NWFP between many madrasas and the Taliban movement pre-2001. We have all heard the story of the madarasas being closed down to ‘encourage’ the students to travel and replace the losses that the Taliban suffered in the late ’90s (don’t think this has been seriously disputed) whether all the students, or even many actually when to fight in Afghanistan or simply went home is unclear.
Certainly some madrasas do have links with the more fundamentalist organisations and have students who have been implicated in sectarian attacks on Shias as well as participated in cross-border militancy; but this has never been satisfactorily quantified. My impression is that only a small minority of madarassas fall under this category.
I would very much like to see that survey, sounds interesting.
There is perhaps an arguement for greater govt oversight, in terms of registration of schools, certification of teachers and inspections to maintain teaching standards. But this would require an investment in education which I doubt will be forthcoming.
Abu Noor Al-Irlandee 1:58 pm on December 31, 2009 Permalink |
From the article:
“those located in Pakistan’s Afghan Refugee camps were used by part-time Afghan students who fought against the Soviet occupation in the 1980s. Such institutions and other Pakistani madrasahs around them may still be recruiting grounds for the Taliban. This participation, however is not just limited to madrasahs, however, for almost all Afghans have been participants in their country’s thirty-year long war either as fighters, refugees, or victims.”
“While Taliban does mean “students,” “school dropouts” would be a more appropriate translation in view of their rudimentary understanding of Islam, clear violation of Islamic laws of war, and brutal methods employed against their adversaries. This behavior has a much greater resemblance with the American school dropout culture reflected in gangs and drug networks than with those of the graduates of any educational system. Even the Taliban themselves were aware of their limitations in adopting the term “students,” since most of them had neither attended nor graduated from any madrasah.”
cbarwa 5:08 pm on December 31, 2009 Permalink |
Thanks for that, that description of the Taliban as ’school dropouts’ rather than ’students’ has some resonance and makes sense to me. I wish this article gets put on the web somewhere so it is accessible to a wider audience, unfortunately, I haven’t heard of the magazine.
Abu Noor Al-Irlandee 6:00 pm on January 2, 2010 Permalink
I hope so too…the magazine is the monthly that goes to all members of ISNA (Islamic Society of North America).
Willow 1:33 pm on December 31, 2009 Permalink |
I find the uproar about the word madrassa very disturbing, not least because it’s creating yet another crisis of confidence into which the monoculture is seeping…more and more you hear people in the arab world referring to high schools as collayya (colleges) or lycee (ditto in French) instead of madrassas. Pointless.