Madrassas in India, Pakistan Moving in Different Directions
By Deepak Mahaan
CNSNews.com Correspondent
September 25, 2007
New Delhi (CNSNews.com) - While the role of traditional Islamic
schools or madrassas in Pakistan in spreading radical ideology
continues to generate concern, similar types of schools in neighboring
India reportedly oppose a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam.
As
the U.S. State Department earlier this month was releasing its annual
International Religious Freedom Report, in India many Muslims were
joining their Hindu compatriots to celebrate the Hindu festival of
Ganesh Chaturthi.
In contrast to the report's observation that
unregulated madrassas are teaching "extremist doctrine in support of
terrorism" to students in Pakistan, observers say the situation in
India is markedly different.
Social activist Asghar Ali said
India's secularism has impacted the Muslim outlook, compelling Indian
madrassas to modernize their curricula.
Ali, who organizes youth
camps aimed at fostering Hindu-Muslim friendship, said the recent
inter-religious cooperation in the Hindu festival "reiterates [the]
strength of India's pluralistic culture that allows different sects and
religions to learn and co-exist peacefully."
Traditionally,
Muslim societies frown on the emancipation of women, and madrassas
usually teach Islamic theology to boys only. In India, many Madrassas
not only admit girls, but have also integrated English, Math, Sciences
and Information Technology into their programs.
There are an
estimated 35,000 madrassas in India, many that teach comprehensive
skills to students of both sexes, as approved by the country's
education department.
According to Abdul Qayyum Akhtar, founder
of an independent madrassa in the city of Jaipur with a roll of 1,500
students, more than 50 percent of the country's madrassas have adopted
the government syllabus and examination system. J.M. Khan, an Indian
former senior civil servant, agrees with that estimate.
The U.S.
religious freedom report says little about Indian madrassas, but does
praise an incident in March 2006, when "one of India's leading Islamic
seminaries issued a fatwa against terrorists targeting places of
worship and killing innocent people."
"Just as all 'Hindu'
schools do not spew venom against Islam and Christianity, all madrassas
do not necessarily nurture fundamentalist ideas," said Dr. Mushirul
Hasan, a historian and former vice-chancellor of Delhi University.
He
said madrassas tend to flourish where governments don't provide enough
"secular" educational institutions, thus compelling poor children to
flock to religious schools.
While Indian governments have
succeeded in persuading many madrassas to reform and adopt country's
examination system, this hasn't occurred in Pakistan.
Under
reforms instituted by President Pervez Musharraf, the teaching of
sectarian or religious hatred and violence is prohibited in Pakistani
madrassas, but problems persist.
According to the International
Crisis Group (ICG) think tank, extremist groups in Pakistan continue to
operate mosques and madrassas. The ICG said the reforms were "lacking
substance, legal muscle or an intent to institutionalize long-term
change." The group attributed this to a reluctance by Musharraf to
antagonize Islamic clergy.
Pakistan has nearly 13,000
madrassas, although the ICG reckons that many such schools in border
regions particularly susceptible to Taliban and al-Qaeda influence are
not accounted for.
Mohammed Rakesh, a scholar of the ancient
Jain religion, said India's secular framework and tolerant culture has
helped to soften rigid religious attitudes.
Rakesh, who
recently toured Pakistan, said the dynamics of India's multi-racial
society obligate Indian Muslims to pursue modern education, unlike
Pakistan.
"While Indian Muslims have understood and grabbed
incentives of modern education, most Pakistanis are still averse to
change due to an insulated society," he said.
Rakesh said
despite Western leanings, influential Pakistanis dread antagonizing
Islamic clergy who have consistently disapproved of Western dress,
makeup and scientific endeavor, viewing it as un-Islamic and immoral.
Muslim
cricketers, film stars, writers and artists have been more successful
and popular in Hindu-dominated India than their counterparts have been
in Pakistan.
In Jaipur, Muslim clerics recently backed a unique
residential educational camp for Muslims and non Muslim students of
both sexes, who were expected to eat, pray and stay together - an
experiment one cleric said afterwards could only have taken place in
India.
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