Saturday, May 2, 2009

Madrasa Education: Subtle Changes in the Bastions of Tradition



By Yoginder Sikand

Located a hundred-odd miles east of Delhi, Moradabad is known principally as India’s leading centre for brass products. But this squalid industrial town, named after its founder, Prince Murad, son of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, has yet another claim to fame: the Jamia Qasmia Dar ul-Ulum Shahi, more popularly known as the Madrasa Shahi, located in the heart of the town’s busy commercial district. Established around 135 years ago by Maulana Qasim Nanotawi, one of the founders of the Dar ul-Ulum at Deoband, the Madrasa Shahi is one of the largest madrasas affiliated to the Deobandi tradition in Uttar Pradesh.
The madrasa has four branches, all located in Moradabad. Some 400 children, mostly from poor families, are enrolled in its primary section, where they do a five-year initial or ibtidai course, which combines basic religious and modern subjects. Fees are nominal—between ten to fifteen rupees a month. The ibtidai course is followed by a one-year course in Persian, after which students who wish to train as ulema enter the Arabic programme, which is based on the traditional dars-e nizami, that lasts up to eight years. Several hundred students, from various parts of India, are enrolled at this level, most of who live in the madrasa’s sprawling hostel. No fees are charged at this level.
After completing the fazilat level, graduates can enroll for a one-year specialized or takhassus course in Arabic literature or for a six-month tadrib ul-mualim or madrasa teachers’ training programme. Recently, the madrasa launched a short-term course in computer applications. Madrasa Shahi’s Dar ul-Ifta or department for issuing fatwas is one of the largest in the country. Till date, it has issued several thousand fatwas.
Winds of change and the urge for reform have not left the Madrasa Shahi untouched. Explains Maulana Abdul Nasir, the deputy rector of the madrasa, ‘We want Muslim children to get good education. We want them to become doctors, lawyers, engineers, social workers, journalists and so on, so that they can work for the community. We don’t oppose modern education. All that we say is that secular education must go along with religious education.’ Stressing the point that he and his fellow ulema are not at all averse to modern education, contrary to what is often alleged by detractors of the madrasas, he tells me that, following the example of the Dar ul-Ulum at Deoband, the Madrasa Shahi is all set to launch an English department for its senior students. Moreover, he adds, the Madrasa plans to establish a modern school in Moradabad where students would learn both secular and religious subjects. ‘In this we have the support of the ulema of the Deoband madrasa,’ adds Maulana Ashhad Rasheedi, the rector of the Madrasa Shahi. ‘We want it to be a high quality English medium school with a proper Islamic environment. We are not opposed to the English language, unlike what is commonly alleged. What we are opposed to is the blind imitation of Western culture’.
The ulema of Madrasa Shahi are ardent champions of the Deobandi tradition, which is considered to represent a conservative version of Islam. Yet, this does not mean that they are wholly opposed to modernity. Rather, they advocate a distinctly Deobandi Muslim approach to modernity. They are, predictably, not well-disposed to any structural or basic reforms in the madrasas. The very notion of ‘reform’ needs to be defined first, they insist, for the term can mean different things to different people. The basic aim of the madrasas is to spread knowledge of the faith, they tell me, and so no measures in the name of reform that detract from that aim is acceptable to them—a point that I readily accept. What I don’t, however, is their insistence that the present madrasa syllabus, based on the antiquated dars-e nizami, is ‘complete and without any flaws at all’.
‘Instead of madrasas, what should be reformed is the secular, irreligious system of education’, they press on. I murmur a note of dissent, although I concede the merit in their point about the need and ample scope for reforms in the ‘modern’ educational system. But even as they continue to insist that their system and curriculum are above reproach, the changes that are being slowly wrought within, and in which they take evident pride—the English department, the teaching of computer applications and plans for an English-medium ‘Islamic’ school—all point to the fact that this does not necessarily mean that these bastions of tradition are actually wholly averse to reform.

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