Lessons from Samarkand for madrasas

[Sam Dhanraj]

Lessons from Samarkand for madrasas​

18 Nov 2007, 0000 hrs IST,Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar

I am just back from Uzbekistan, after seeing the architectural wonders of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva. The greatest of these is Samarkand’s Registan Square, flanked by three massive buildings decorated with brilliant tiles, flashing hues from turquoise to orange. Millions come to admire the monuments. But how many are astonished, as i was, to find that all three buildings are ancient madrasas?

Today, we often associate madrasas with Islamic fundamentalism and the indoctrination of terrorists. Saudi Arabia is accused of funding madrasas throughout Asia that preach an especially fundamentalist brand of Wahabist Islam. Other madrasas are also viewed with suspicion.

But, the ancient madrasas of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva were centres of learning, not of terrorism. They were not schools. They were simultaneously religious seminaries and great universities, teaching and studying mathematics, medicine, astronomy and all sciences.

Ulugh Beg, ruler of Central Asia and grandson of Tamerlane, built three madrasas. He was the greatest astronomer of his time, famous for his star charts and astronomical calculations. He nurtured an entire cadre of scientists and astronomers at his observatory in Samarkand, the world’s finest at the time.

Omar Khayyam is best known in India as a poet who wrote the famous Rubaiyat. But he was also one of the scientist-philosophers of Samarkand.

Central Asia was a world centre of learning for centuries. Khiva was the birthplace of Muhammad al-Khorezmi (780-850 AD), the father of algebra. The word algebra is derived from al-jabr, one of al-Khorezmi’s techniques to solve quadratic equations. He also pioneered the use of the decimal point. Ibn Sina, known in the West as Avicenna, was among the foremost medical authorities of his time, apart from being a philosopher and historian. He studied and taught at the madrasas at Bukhara and Khiva.

The great madrasas of Central Asia were built on a monumental scale and decorated as lavishly as palaces. That emphasised the honour bestowed on science and learning at the time.

This holds lessons for India. We have, maybe 30,000 madrasas, most of which teach Muslim children the Koran, sometimes Urdu, and little else. Such children often skip regular school, leading to low Muslim literacy.

The government would like madrasas to modernise, and teach regular subjects found in school curricula. But many Muslims fear this is unwarranted government-secular intrusion into their religious institutions. Some see madrasa reform in neighbouring Pakistan and Afghanistan as intimately related to government attempts to control all views and quash political opposition, while pleasing their American masters. Such fears may have less basis in India, but cannot be called baseless. The BJP touted madrasa reform after a report on national security. Muslims ask, schools run by the RSS are not asked to reform, so why only the madrasas?

Islamic educational reformers include Maulana Khalid Rahmani of Hyderabad, member of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, and general secretary of the Islamic Fiqh Academy. He wants madrasas to teach socially useful sciences, and notes that the Koran refers to disciplines such as astronomy, physics, biology, history and languages.

Deoband is viewed as a fundamentalist seminary, yet its founder introduced Sanskrit in the curriculum, to communicate better with the broader community of his time. Using the same logic, Maulana Rahmani thinks English should be taught in madrasas today. Madrasas in Kerala teach in Malayalam, and are integrated with general schooling. The Jamia Milia Islamia in Delhi is a good example of a university with the highest standards of modern learning.

Yet, these are isolated examples of Islamic modernism. Most madrasas still teach little more than the Koran, and there is little Muslim enthusiasm for their reform and modernisation.

The Sachar Committee concluded that the solution to low Muslim literacy and high dropout rates was to open high-quality government schools in Muslim areas rather than focus on madrasa reform. The committee found that only 3-4% of Muslim children have full-time madrasa education; that Muslims view madrasa education as a religious supplement and not a substitute for ordinary schooling.

Muslims are keen to reap the benefits of education, yet Muslim literacy remains low because of the lack of decent state schools, high Muslim poverty that makes private schools unaffordable, the lack of toilets for girls in schools, and real or perceived anti-Muslim discrimination.

I agree that decent government schools can play an important role. Voluntary madrasa curriculum reform can also help. But, after visiting Samarkand i see an additional approach.

Muslims should be encouraged and financed to create modern universities named after Islamic scholars of yore such as Ulugh Beg, al-Khorezmi and Ibn Sina. These modern universities should be called madrasas, as in the Islamic Golden Age. We need to portray madrasas as the legacy of great Islamic scholars, not of Wahabi mullahs.

Let the new madrasas be religious seminaries as well as universities, as in ancient Samarkand and Bukhara (and also in ancient Nalanda, Taxilla, Oxford or Cambridge). Rather than stress only madrasa modernisation, let us take madrasas centuries back in history to their glorious traditions of the Islamic Golden Age. That may be more successful in winning over Muslim hearts and minds.

Lessons from Samarkand for madrasas-Swaminomics-Swaminathan A Aiyar-Columnists-Opinion-The Times of India

 

[EjazR]

Old thread, but just on the same theme, some newstories on madrassas in India today focussing on female madrassa schools.

Ma(i)de in madrassas - Times Of India
HYDERABAD: Amena Firdous, an MBBS student at Deccan Medical College may pass off as just another girl aspiring to become a doctor among a bunch of other young girls in lab coats. But she is different. This doctor-in-the-making has done her schooling in a madrassa.

Amena and others like her are breaking popular perception that girls who study in madrassas end their education after completing their secondary levels. After becoming a Hafiz (one who memorises the Quran) at a young age, Amena followed this with the advanced five-year Alim course and has gone on to pursue a professional degree.

Muftia Rizwana Zareen, principal, Jamiat-ul-Mominaat, a madrassa for girls at Moghalpura, says that around 30 per cent of the 1900 students from her seminary— which also imparts training in computers and tailoring— take up further studies. "The view that girls who are not fit for formal schooling or only poor girls opt for madrassa education is not right. Memorising Quran is not an easy task," she says adding that 55 out of 60 teachers at her madrassa, which is affiliated to Aligarh Muslim University, are also its alumni.

Chanchalguda resident Farhat Sultana, for instance, fulfilled her father's desire that at least one among his three children pursue 'deeni taleem' (religious education). Farhat however, also recently submitted her Ph D thesis after completing an MA and M Phil in Arabic Literature at the English and Foreign Languages University (Eflu). "After putting in so much effort, I don't want to sit at home. I have applied to some universities for the post of a lecturer," says a confident Farhat, 28, who did her schooling from Jamiat-us-Salehat, Azampura.

Principal Muftia Zareen added that one of her former students, Anjum Fatima, who went on to complete her M A in Arabic after a madrassa schooling, is now in Bangalore teaching Arabic at a private college. This could indicate a growing trend that madrassa educated girls do go on to pursue their higher education and have successful careers in the mainstream and are unhindered by their religious education. In fact, 50 per cent of the students doing their PG in Arabic at Eflu have done their education in a madrassa.

Prof Rashid Naseem, head, Department of Arabic Language and Linguistics, EFLU, said that the madrassa educated students are hard-working. "On one hand, there are financially sound parents who want at least one of their children to go for religious education. On the other, since most of the Muslim families still have just one bread winner, which are many, they send boys to English medium schools and girls to madrassas for lack of money," he said.

Some madrassas charge between Rs 50-80 per month and some provide education for free. The difference then observers say, between government schools and madrassas lies in the perception that government schools are badly maintained and provide a poor quality of education.

This has made madrassas a more viable option for parents of girls.

Elders from the community also say that there is a perception that girls who pursue religious education have better marriage prospects and hence, girls are enrolled in madrassas. However, some questioning this 'descrimination'.

Rubina Mazher, who runs an NGO called SAFA, which works on education of the girl child, says that girls are not given a priority when it comes to education, thus fuelling the demand for madrassas. She says that it is the myopic parents because of which majority of girls end up at these madrassas or government schools, but not the private ones their brothers go to.

Prof S A Shukoor, director, Centre for Educational Development of Minorities, Nizam College, says that, he finds five to six students who have done their schooling in a seminary in every batch at the graduation level. However, he adds that the drop out rate increases considerably at the university level. "Of the 5-6 students who do graduation, about half go for post graduation. By the time they are eligible for M Phil and Ph D, the percentage comes down to one per cent or zero," said Prof Shukoor.

Experts suggest that the Alim course, an advanced course in Islamic Studies, be made equivalent to graduation as against the Intermediate level, as it is now. This reasoning mainly derives from the fact that the five-year Alim course is done on completion of the Maulana course which is considered equivalent to Class X. This move would then allow many of the girls to teach in schools and work at a graduate level.

---------- Post added at 07:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:55 AM ----------

Now, Varanasi women run madrassas - Times Of India

VARANASI: Some enterprsing Muslim women have stormed a hitherto male bastion by successfully running several madrassas in Varanasi. While there were only two of them earlier, several of them sprouted last year. All of them being the initative of BA students.

"After completing my studies, I want to become a teacher because it is a noble profession which removes ignorance,'' said Juli Siddiqi, a resident of Mirzamurad who is pursuing her graduation at Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth ( MGKV) with English and History as subjects. Juli's enterprising younger sister, Juhi, is a step ahead. Also a BA final year student, she and another girl Tanbeer Khanam run Madrassa Itehadul Musalmin in Mirzamurad. And their's is not an isolated story. Many other girls are serving the community whose educational standards are its biggest bane.

Like Juhi, Zarina runs Madrassa Gulshan-e-Madina in Bhatpurwa village. "Along with teaching children, I am also doing BA,'' she told TOI. Nisha Bano runs Madrassa Talimate Hind in Pampapur while Sahiba Bano started Madrassa Ahley Sunnat Garib Nawaz in Kundariya. Ashrunnisa and Afsari Bano teach at Madrassa Khwaja Garib Nawaz in Rupapur and Samina Bano and Sabina Bano have started Madrassa Arabiya Garib Nawaz in Chowki Kapsethi.

All these girls get support from organisations like Good Weave, Global Fund for Children and Human Welfare Association (HWA) for educating children.

Around 500 children study in these madrassas in Sewapuri and Araziline blocks of Varanasi district. "We realise that a new era of women's empowerment is coming with education,'' said HWA director Rajni Kant.

Besides, many girls have also been running `Tarakki Centres', which give vocational training to over 750 children in Benipur, Kurauna, Sajoi, Dindaspur and Harsos. They also provide training to young girls in personality development.

Razia Begum and Jamila Begum were the frontrunners in this endeavour. They had been running madrassas for the past many years before the new ones emerged. Razia runs the Madrassa Gausia near Bari Masjid while Jamila runs Madrassa Khwaja Garib Nawaz at Rahimpur in Lohata.

Applauding the girls' initiative, SM Yasin, joint secretary Anjuman Intezamia Masajid, said this kind of awareness is good for the community. Society and the government should give such enterprising girls more support, he added.

 

[EjazR]

English-speaking madrassa girls surprise Richard Stagg - Times Of India

LUCKNOW: Muslims in India are happier than those in most other countries as they can freely practise their religion and indulge in community work without any interference, the Imam of Eidgah Maulana Khalid Rashid told the visiting British high commissioner Richard stagg on Wednesday. Maulana Khalid said the economic condition of the minority community is also getting steadily better though they have yet to claim their due share in in the sector.

Stagg, who came specially to visit the Islamic Centre of India (ICI) was taken around the Madrassa Nizamia and also the Darul Qaza. He was surprised to meet girl students of the madrassa who spoke fluent English and smartly answered all queries and apprised him of their academic and extra-curricular activities like sports.

Later, in conversation with Maulana Khalid, who is also the secretary general of the ICI, the visiting dignitary wanted to know about the success of polio eradication and breastfeeding campaigns which are being run by the centre. He was told that the polio cases among Muslims have come down from 70 per cent to 30 per cent. He also enquired about the political aspirations of youth, their plans for higher education and administrative decision making process.