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Economics
Muslims in Indian Economy
Book: Muslims in Indian Economy
Author: Omar Khalidi
Publisher: Three Essays Collective, P.B.No 6, B-957, Palam Vihar, Gurgaon, Haryana-122017. Price:Rs. 575.
Contents:
1. Introduction
2. National Level: Medieval and Colonial India
3. National Level: Independent India
State Level:
4. Delhi
5. Uttar Pradesh
6. Bihar
7. Deccan and Andhra Pradesh
8. Karnataka
9. Maharashtra
10. Summary and Conclusions
About the Book:
The 130 million Muslims in India form the second largest Muslim population in the world. Scholarship on them has however focused on a limited range of issues. There is little by way of macro studies on the economic condition of Muslims in various parts of India.
What is the condition of the Indian Muslims at the dawn of the twenty first century? What is the demographic profile of the community? What is the percentage of its population in agriculture, industry and the tertiary sector? How do Muslims fare at the national level? Does the Muslim economic condition differ from state to state, given the regional imbalances in the country resulting from unequal develop-ment? How does Muslim economic condition in the early twenty first century compare with the recent and distant past? To what extent can the political changes account for these varia-tions? How does the economic profile of the Muslims compare with the majority Hindus, Dalits, and minorities like Christians, Sikhs and Parsis? Historians, politicians, journalists and others agree that Muslims in general lag behind other communities. Does Islam, or Islam as interpreted and lived, have anything to do with it? What is the role of the State in this matter? What is the record of the post-independence central and state governments? The author tries to answer some of these questions. He argues that understanding these issues is not only a matter of academic enquiry, but also necessary for taking appropriate corrective measures by the community leader-ship as well as by the state.
The various chapters focus on the pre-Independence legacy, the impact on Muslims of Partition and politics on ownership of assets, employment, access to education, public services or their role in labour, commerce and industry. It is a report on the current status of the Muslim minority in India, particularly the Urdu-speaking Muslims.
Densely documented, with hard to find statistical data, written with an economy of words, no one remotely interested in Indian economy, society or politics can afford to ignore this immensely readable book.
"Omar Khalidi's book fills a very large gap." AbuSalef Sharif
About the Author:
*Omar Khalidi* is an independent scholar and a staff member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He is author of the widely-acclaimed book 'Khaki and Ethnic Violence in India', 2003. His other publications include 'Indian Muslims Since Independence', 1996, and the edited volume 'Hyderabad: After the Fall', 1988.
x + 242 pages, includes appendix, Demy 8vo
2006
ISBN 81-88789-23-2 Hardcover Rs575 (India) Elsewhere $25
Reviewer: Mujibur Rahman
When India's Hindu far right unleashed a concerted campaign of pseudo-secularism during the post-Shah Bano era, it put the otherwise erudite, articulate secular intellectuals on the defensive. It almost cornered them. Its appeasement accusation generated a popular perception as if Indian Muslims were born with silver spoons.
It made people believe that the community's contribution to art, culture, literature, Bollywood or even cricket was completely fabricated and was a product of the Indian state's blind patronage as if merit or talent played no part in their success stories. This campaign also catalysed Hindutva's hostile political passion and made it overshadow a very well rooted public reason of Indian secularism completely.
Glaring contrast
On the fertile ground of these imaginary theories and constructed grievances grew the demon of political Hindutva whose ever-growing capacity to destroy the diverse, modern India is still defying any accurate assessment. The portrait of the Muslim community, it can be argued, presents a glaring contrast of extraordinary accomplishments in some areas and sustained backwardness in others.
Why does a community that can legitimately boast of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, M.F. Hussain, Azim Premji, Irfan Pathan, Shah Rukh Khan and Sania Mirza still have such a large number of its members leading lives of an underclass? It would be indeed outright racist to argue that the community is genetically designed for inferior abilities or has some sort of divine tryst with raw misfortune of all sorts. It is ironical to see the presence of such massive suffering in a community that has historically ruled the region for centuries. How did it happen? Who is to be blamed? Is it British colonialism or India's flawed development strategy or internal factors of the community life or Indian Islam or some indecipherable factor?
This book sheds insight into these questions that have been neglected for years by historians, economists and scholars of other disciplines.
It details facts about the socio-economic conditions of the community prior to the Partition and afterwards. Indian Muslims, it claims, have branched out to new professions from the conventional ones like the army, civil service and traditional education.
Homogeneity
In addition to the general narratives on the conditions of the community during medieval, colonial and independent India, it has chapters on specific States like Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. It articulates a subtle argument for a well-crafted affirmative action policy for Muslims, for it could cause expansion of its middle class presuming that the latter can anchor a positive change in their socio-economic conditions.
One wonders why this research completed only a few months ago is without a chapter on Gujarat or even on Jammu and Kashmir. Since frequent riots have been attributed as a dominant factor for worsening economic conditions of the community, research on riot-free States like West Bengal or Kerala could help understand how they fare in the economic project for Muslims.
What the reviewer found indeed deeply problematic is the notion of `homogeneity' of Indian Muslim identity on the basis of purely Urdu language employed in the research design here because the challenges of non-Urdu-speaking Muslims are not substantially different from their Urdu-speaking counterparts in India. In addition, it would be self-defeating to offer a generalised formulation on the finding on such a narrow idea of homogeneity.
Untouched areas
There are, without doubt, several aspects calling for further inquiry for an enhanced understanding of this puzzle. A need for a sequel to this well written book is warranted and the dimensions that are untouched here but need further interrogation are: the role of tiny Muslim elites who profited enormously professionally during the heydays of India's symbolic secularism or pre-Hindutva era of modern India if there was one; the role of Muslim fundamentalism; and most importantly, specific research on key States like Gujarat, Assam, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, and others.
Notwithstanding these shortcomings, the book definitely merits the attention of general readers and scholars because it offers refreshing insight into the understanding of the economic condition of India's Muslims, and also because of its attempt to challenge the `herd mindset' of scholars who have been only tangentially dealing with such an important theme.
Reference: The Hindu
Education
Bastion of the Believers : Madrasas and Islamic Education in India : Yoginder Sikand
Bastion of the Believers : Madrasas and Islamic Education in India
By Yoginder Sikand
Penguin India
PP: Rs 395
Pages: 358
Published: 2005
Reiewed by: Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied, Department of History, School of Oriental and African Studies, London , UK . Email: mlsasmk@nus.edu.sg
There is no denying that the devastating attacks on the Twin Towers on 11 September
2001 have accentuated the demonisation of Islamic beliefs, adherents, and most importantly, institutions. Madrasahs, as renowned pundits, journalists, scholars, and terrorist experts continuously allege, are the sites where militant and fanatical ideologies are imbibed.
It is such a rapidly evolving and tumultuous context that prompted Yoginder Sikand to embark on the writing of a data-laden, well-argued, and yet readable book; a book that is situated at the intersections of history, sociology, political science, and Islamic studies. As Yoginder has duly professed in his preface, "the polemics of the enemies of Islam have gone beyond the orientalist mould and pretensions of detachment and objectivity" (p. xvii). Bastions of the Believers is thus a noble attempt by an Indian scholar-activist to dispel the negative images of madrasahs as "dens of terror". By utilising sources gathered from in-depth archival and field research, Yoginder presents us with a nuanced and non-homogenising portrayal of the madrasahs.
The book begins with a discussion on the importance of knowledge (ilm) in Islam and the sacred role of the scholars (ulama) as the preservers of knowledge. Yoginder convincingly argues that the idea of a differentiation between secular and sacred knowledge was nonexistent in the early years of Islam. Rather, to Prophet Muhammad and his companions, knowledge of the religious (dini) and secular(duniavi) were of equal importance towards the achievement of success in the world and the Hereafter. Established several centuries after the Prophet's demise, madrasahs manifested the prophetic approach to knowledge, retaining a high degree of dynamism by training students in both religious and rational sciences. Consequently, career options were fairly wide and graduates of madrasahs took on important roles in state-based institutions.
It was different for the case of madrasahs in India. In Chapter 2, Yoginder delves into
the genesis and evolution of a shift from the original model of madrasahs in the Arabian
Peninsula to that of educational dualism. This had led to a dini–duniavi divide in the
minds of Muslims in India as the Mughal Empire entered the modern phase of world history. Such a condition was made worse by the onslaught of British colonialism which saw the suppression of Muslim revolts and rebellions. Suspicions towards secular knowledge amongst the ulamas heightened and, in consequence, diminished the unending attempts by Muslim reformers to harmonise modernity and Islam.
Chapters 3, 4, and 5 of the book narrate the challenges faced, resistances to change, and further attempts at reforming the madrasahs in post-partitioned India. It is pertinent to note that a considerable amount of established information and arguments in these three chapters is often repeated, which is revealing of Yoginder's endeavour to bring home the point that madrasahs are essentially heterogeneous. Indeed, these institutions had been and are still differentiated along ideological lines between different Sunni schools of thought (maslaks) such as the Barelwis, Deobandis, Jama'ati Islami, and Ahlul Hadith and sects, as seen from examples of the Shiites and Ahmadiyyas. The madrasahs are also sharply divided on the issue of receiving aid from the state and on the establishment of networks with non-Muslim organisations. Whilst the author documents the dismal state of infrastructure, salary scales, syllabuses, and pedagogical methods of many madrasahs in post-independent India , he seeks to provide a balanced depiction by highlighting successful examples of reform and adaptation. Cases in point are madrasahs in Kerala, the Jama'atul Falah in eastern Uttar Pradesh, and Dar ul-'Umoor in Karnataka. Graduates of these educational institutions are said to be contributing to various sectors of the Indian economy and society. To be sure, these three chapters vividly demonstrate that widespread transformations are indeed occurring within the madrasahs. Such efforts to reform are, nonetheless, dampened by a concerted campaign to discredit Islam and its institutions.
This brings us to the last and perhaps most important chapter of the Bastions of Believers. Yoginder is at his best as he deconstructs the spurious correlation between madrasahs, radical politics, and militancy. On the claim that madrasahs are centres of political radicalisation, Yoginder argues that the curriculum is "overwhelmingly conservative, literalist and legalist, but definitely not politically radical"(p. 225). In point of fact, promoters of radical ideologies such as Osama bin Laden are known to have received education in regular universities in the West rather than madrasahs. Contrary to the notion that the ulama were unpatriotic to India, Yoginder cites numerous examples of known personalities who insisted that India, rather than Pakistan , is the place where their loyalty lies. The ulama, Yoginder maintains, has devised various ways to come to terms with the idea of a nation-state by arguing that they are residing in a "land of peace"(dar ul-aman) or a "land of agreement"(dar ul-ahad) rather than "the abode of war"(dar ul-harb)(p. 238). Although there are remnants of Pan-Islamic tendencies within the madrasahs,Yoginder contends that that "does not necessarily lead to militancy, although it does make for certain rigid insularity and cultural separatism" (p. 242). Going further, Yoginder illuminates on how the madrasahs had in fact incorporated studies of other religions in their curriculum so as to promote inter-faith dialogue and provide training of skills for their students for missionary work. Militant madrasahs, as the author forcefully posits,are not to be found in India but in war-ravaged parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan,and Kashmir . With the ever-increasing incidences of clashes between these radical groupings and state authorities, coupled by virulent propaganda of Hindu right-wing movements,the stage was set for madrasahs in India to be reductively labelled as "militant".
It is certain that even if one were to disagree with many of its conclusions, this book will be an important and indispensable text for both students and scholars of Islam in the many years to come.
Exploring Past And Future Of Madrasas In India
By V.B.Rawat
27 November, 2005
Countercurrents.org
Madrasas have become very popular among the non-Muslim world in these terror times when every act of terrorism or violence is somehow linked to Madrasas. While there are very little known facts about Madrasas and how they became important in Muslim world, it would be absolutely incorrect to blame Madrasas for the rise of political Islam or terrorist violence.
Yoginder Sikand's Bastation of Believers: Madrasas and Islamic Education in India published by Penguin Books therefore reveals hitherto unknown facts about Madrasas. Though I have seen the earlier work done on Madrasas yet I would say with conviction that this reveals much. The reason for the same are two. One, Sikand does his work not only meticulously but also passionately. His passion for unfolding history is unparallel and for this purpose he has been traveling nook and corners of the country, scanning Urdu, Persian and Arabic literature and visiting various Madrasas and related institutions. Secondly, he does not suffer from any prejudice as either glamorizing the entire thing as many Muslim scholars might have done in the past or like a Hindu critique who would demolish the entire argument of the Madrasa system as 'communal' breeding 'terrorism'. He has not gone on the issue as a Hindu critique who find fault in everything that the Madrasas do. However, Yoginder Sikand's work reveals many facets of our social system particularly when ones identity decides the quality of the work. This is simply agonizing as he mention in the introduction of the book the suspicious look he got during his research because being a non-Muslim. These things are true also but they also reflect the grave reality how the work gets relegated to back space while an individual's caste and religious identity become big factor.
It is interesting to note that the Madrasa system in India is as diverse as Indian Muslim. There are various sects and sub sects who impart Islamic knowledge to students. Prior to partition, many of the Madrasas were getting help from the state. Partition was double blow for the Muslims as a majority of their secular leadership has in fact migrated to Pakistan. Secondly, the community was still feeling the burden of the cause of partition. The systematic marginalisation of Muslims in the mainstream of India particularly in government offices, schools etc provided fodder for further ghettoisation. Madrasas became a place where even a poor Muslim could get a space to live with and learn religious education. Yoginder Sikand suggests that it is another propaganda about the Muslims that a majority of them go to Madrasas. Muslims also want better education for their children and send them to modern schools.
After the political campaign of the Sangh Parivar in post 1980s, Madrasas became synonymous to Muslim culture and a den of 'terrorism. Word terrorism became another meaning of 'Islam'. Everyday, newspapers would be full of reports regarding the 'terrorist' activities inside the Madrasas. Their number was always speculated. The right wing columnists, the patriots all started writing about the Madrasas, the Muslims and terrorism.
One point that seems missing and would have given more thoughts is not only girls education in Madras which the author has pointed out but also the about non-Muslim who used to get educated in Madrasas. One must not forget that in the past many Hindus were also taught in Madrasas. Even today, many of the Madrasas are educating non-Muslim girls and have introduced computer education also. In major Madrasas of the Avadh region, we can find space for non Muslims also. Madrasas also want to change and those who blame them for doing things in isolation forget that many of the Madrasas in state like Uttar-Pradesh are under direct supervision of the government. In fact, said a Maulvi to me some years back that these days the CID people continue to visit them for a 'break' news. The problem is the stereotyping of the Madrasas a shelter for 'terrorism'. Many Madrasa people in fact asked the government for more resources and funding so that they can start other subjects also. But that has not happened yet.
The September 11 incident in the United States turn things worst for the Madrasas. Now the focus of the international community became not only the life style of Islam but also its education system. Therefore, growth of Madrasas was linked to growth of Muslim fundamentalism. Pakistan clamp down on Madrasas after the US pressure became an example for India to follow. Talk of modernization in the Madrasas started gaining ground again without any hard work done in practice. The grave fact of the matter is that those who are allegedly involved in terrorist activities do not come from the traditional Madrasas but from 'modern' educational institutions. At the same point of time we must be careful not to deny our children modern education for the fear of painting the community in such a way, as it would be bringing back the entire community to Madrasas. It is important to work among the community rather than putting it on tenterhook of either this or that.
I still remember a dialogue with a principal of a Madrasa in Faizabad when he said that Madrasa education impart religious values like Gurukul and the communities do not go commercialized therefore they needed religious education. However, in a country like India, as Yoginder Sikand points out in his conclusion, isolationist tendencies framed by religious institutions like Madrasas could be counter productive for the community. Sikand emphasise on more interfaith dialogues between different communities and not just Muslims and Non-Muslims.
The author has done justice to his work. Not only he has gone deep into the Islamic education system and traditions of the past but also went in detail to find the evolution of the Madrasa system in the country. He has suggested alternative for reform and debunked many myths about the Madrasas. An interesting book for those who want to understand Madrasa system in India.
Name of the Book: Bastions of the Believers--Madrasas
and Islamic Education in India
Publisher: Penguin Books, New Delhi
Year: 2005
Reviewed by: Dominique Sila-Khan
Apart from being a brilliant treatise on Muslim education in its contemporary Indian perspective, Yoginder Sikand's book on the madrasas of India comes at a time when distorted, confused and contradictory ideas about Islam continue to pervade the media. This long expected response to the misgivings and prejudice spread among the general public comes at a time when it becomes urgent to fill the gap.
Based on a wide range of authentic documents and direct inquiries, it has the merit of giving detailed but clear information to a broad readership. Above all, it brings forward a number of distinctions which need to be made between the following elements that are often mixed up: the strengthening of Islamic identity, "orthodox" trends within the madrasas and militant Islam; decline of tolerance and increasing gender discrimination. For example not many are aware of the fact that members of Islamic terrorist organisations have not studied in those madrasas which are have been portrayed in the media as "dens of terror". On the other hand, the establishments affiliated to more conservative schools of thought, such as the Deobandi, are often those who advocate a certain modernisation, such as active participation and education of women.
In order to make us understand the present context the author starts with a brief introduction on the scholarly tradition in India; this is followed by a historical survey of the development of madrasas in South Asia. The historical perspective is meant to remind the reader of an essential fact which is too often overlooked: the basic diversity of Islam and the struggle between conflicting schools of thought that, from the very beginning, has shaped the history of this complex religious tradition. Besides, our attention is attracted on the tremendous impact that the British colonisation had on the madrasas as on religious education in general. It is also noteworthy that most Muslim organisations played a key role in the struggle for Independence.
The second part of the book is devoted to a description and analysis of the madrasa phenomenon in independent India.A survey of the madrasa system in North India, as for instance contrasted with South India, and particularly, Kerala, stresses the diversity of the Islamic education network. Far from being limited to the Deobandi-Barelwi opposition, it is characterized by significant regional differences.
The subject of reforms in the teaching method and in the curriculum is tackled through a number of documents (mainly from contemporary publications) and direct interviews. The conclusion that can be made after having examined the heated debates on modernisation, girls madrasas, state sponsoring and other issues, is that the response to the challenges of contemporary life are many. On the whole it may be said that strong opposition to all form of modernisation and intolerance do not represent the majority of the ulama of the madrasas. Besides, the lack of unity, which characterizes the Islamic education system as well as the personal beliefs and practices of Muslims in India, evidently contradicts the idea that a global "Islamic menace" basically originates from the madrasas.
Finally the much vexed question of the links between madrasas and militancy has been explored by the author with the same deep insight and attempt at maximum objectivity as the above mentioned issues. It appears that even the most conservative and "orthodox" Indian madrasas have little to do with the training of terrorists or invitation to violence. A few individuals working in those educational institutions may occasionally support extremist organisations, but most madrasas leaders have openly condemned terrorism in the name of Islam.
The conclusion proposed by the author brings us back to the stark reality of contemporary India “ but also of the rest of the world “ the widening gap between religious communities, which mixed with complex political, economical and social issues - represent the real threat. Yoginder 's book should be read by all those who wish to have a better and more nuanced understanding of this complex issue.
Empowerment of Muslims Through Education : M. Akhtar Siddiqui
M. Akhtar Siddiqui, “Empowerment of Muslims Through Education�, New Delhi: Institute of Objective Studies,
2004, ISBN: 81-85220-58-21, pp.374.
Reviewed by: Yoginder Sikand
Muslim educational marginalization is an accepted fact, and, according to official figures, Muslims rank among the least educated communities in India today. This owes to a host of social, economic, cultural and political factors, which this admirable book very succinctly points out.
The first part of the book deals with the classical madrasa system of education in India. It provides a broad historical survey of madrasas in India, and then focuses on the contemporary situation. In the aftermath of the Partition, the author says, Muslim education suffered a tremendous set-back, with the dissolution of princely houses and feudal estates on which numerous madrasas had depended for patronage, and discriminatory policies adopted by the state vis-à-vis the Urdu language. Siddiqui shows how Muslims in north India have sought to maintain and promote the tradition of Islamic education in the face of tremendous challenges through novel experiments. For instance, in Uttar Pradesh, as a response to the marked Hinduisation of the government school syllabus and the numerous negative references to Islam and Muslim personages in government-prescribed textbooks, the Dini Talimi Council established a number of maktabs that provide religious and secular education as well as Urdu till the fifth grade and allow their students to join government schools thereafter.
Similarly, the author refers to the government-recognised madrasa education boards in some states that provide teachers’ salaries and prescribe a syllabus for affiliated madrasas that combine both religious as well as secular subjects. In Assam and Maharashtra, he says, some madrasas are now directly affiliated to the State Board of Secondary Education, which has allowed for their students to join the educational ‘mainstream’ because their certificates are recognised by the Boards.
The author stresses the need for modernisation of the madrasa curriculum, and points to the often ignored fact that many ‘ulama themselves are in favour of such changes, provided, however, that the religious core of the madrasas remains intact. He also argues that the ‘ulama, in general, believe that reforms in the madrasas should be initiated by the ‘ulama themselves and not by the state as this might impact on the autonomy of the madrasas. If state assistance is at all to be accepted, the ‘ulama believe, it should be in kind, in the form of books, teaching equipment etc., and not in the form of money. Similarly, Siddiqui says, many ‘ulama do favour state-level madrasa boards but they insist that it should be outside the direct control of the state.
Siddiqui challenges the notion of madrasas being impervious to change, offering examples of several Indian madrasas that are seeking to modernise their curriculum. An interesting model that other madrasas could emulate, Siddiqui suggests, is that provided by the Jamaat-i Islami’s Darsgah-i Islami in Rampur, western Uttar Pradesh, which includes both secular and religious subjects in its primary level eight-year course and then specialises in religious education in its secondary level seven-year course. Several madrasas in India are said to follow the Darsgah’s syllabus, enabling their students to prepare both for the ‘alimiyat degree given by the madrasas and for the senior secondary examination conducted in regular government schools. Another interesting experiment in madrasa reform is the Jamia Hidaya in Jaipur, established by the noted Naqshbandi Sufi and ‘alim, Maulvi Fazlur Rahman Mujaddidi. Students study both secular and religious subjects, and after the initial four-year course, which begins after the sixth grade, they can choose to continue with religious education or else join a regular school. Students intending to become religious specialists are obliged to learn one among a range of numerous trades and crafts.
The next part of the book deals with the conditions of Muslim schools in India. Siddiqui sees the state’s discriminatory policies vis-à-vis the Urdu language as one of the major reasons for Muslim educational backwardness, particularly in north India. However, he argues, while Urdu is ‘an important element’ of Muslim identity, it is wrong to identify the language as ‘Muslim’ as such, even though today, for all practical purposes, non-Muslims have abandoned it, as a result of which Urdu is today restricted largely to madrasas. This is one reason why many Muslim families prefer to send their children to madrasas instead of schools, he says. In the Urdu ‘heartland’ of Uttar Pradesh, Urdu today languishes, dying a slow death, there being hardly any Urdu medium schools in the state, this being a gross violation of the Constitutional right of Muslims to be taught in their own mother tongue. The situation is considerably better, however, Siddiqui points out, in states beyond the Hindi-Urdu belt, such as Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, where state governments have funded several Urdu schools, although their standard is said to leave much to be desired.
In the face of state indifference, if not hostility, to Muslim education, numerous Muslim organisations are today playing an important role in the field of education. This is particularly marked in Maharashtra and southern India. Siddiqui provides interesting details about the schools, colleges and vocational training centres run by a number of Muslim NGOs in these states, contrasting this with the grim situation in north India, where, he says, Muslims run relatively few educational institutions other than madrasas. While Siddiqui welcomes this investment of community resources in education, he points out that much of this investment has been in institutions of higher learning, such as engineering, medical and technical colleges, while basic education, especially for the poor, has been ignored. Further, many of these
institutions have more non-Muslim than Muslim students on their rolls because of the high capitation and other fees that they charge. Many of them are actually commercial ventures and do little for the community, especially for the poor among the Muslims.
The third section of the book deals with the state’s policies on minority education. Given the magnitude of the problem of Muslim educational marginalization, Siddiqui stresses that Muslims cannot address the issue alone. Rather, they have to work in tandem with the state. Siddiqui quotes with approval the Programme of Action for Minorities laid down in the National Education Policy of 1986, in which, for the first time, the state recognized Muslims as an educationally ‘backward’ community. Yet, he laments, little has been actually done by the state to ameliorate the situation. One reason for this is that the suggestions put forward in the Programme document were left to the state governments to be implemented, and many of these are indifferent to Muslim education.
In fact, Siddiqui argues, many state governments deliberately create hurdles for Muslim organizations that wish to set up educational institutions. Hence, Siddiqui suggests, there is need for statutory action at the Central level to fully implement various minority-related programmes funded by the state and to streamline the procedure for recognition, affiliation and funding of minority educational institutions. This could possibly be done by providing additional statutory powers to the National Minorities Commission and the various State Minorities Commissions, each of which should have a separate unit to deal with educationally marginalised minorities, or by establishing a Minorities Education Board at the Central as well as state level to help the governments implement various programmes meant for educationally deprived minorities.
Another major difficulty in developing effective educational programmes for Muslims and other educationally marginalized minorities, Siddiqui says, is the acute paucity of publicly available statistical information on Muslim education and employment. Although the government has these statistics, it refuses to make them public, on the specious grounds that this would promote ‘communalism’. Siddiqui rightly argues that suppressing such vital information leads to ‘worse results, untested hypothesis, and unfounded claims and complaints’, and insists that these figures be made available so that the extent of Muslim marginalization as well as the role of state policies in addressing it can be gauged.
Yet, gathering and highlighting statistics are not enough, and, in the absence of political will, surely this cannot work wonders. Siddiqui refers to the High Powered Panel headed by Gopal Singh in the 1980s to look into the conditions of the Muslims, and which found that Muslims were one of the most marginalized communities in the country, hardly better off than the Dalits, providing detailed statistics to back this claim. It also suggested various measures for the state to undertake to help address the problem of Muslim educational and economic marginalization and to prevent communal riots.
The then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, had issued a 15-Point Directive after the submission of the interim Report of the Gopal Singh Committee, laying down elaborate rules and guidelines for promoting Muslim education, which was later reiterated by her son and successor Rajiv Gandhi. Yet, no action was taken. Recognising its failure to do anything substantial in addressing the issue of Muslim educational ‘backwardness’, in 1992 the Union Government came out with what it called a Revised Programme of Action, whose pious proclamations on Muslim education later met with entirely the same fate, with both the Union and several state governments showing clear lack of interest in doing anything about Muslim education at all. In this light it appears that the present Congress government-appointed ‘High Powered’ Committee set up by Manmohan Singh and headed by Rajinder Sachar to look into the socio-economic conditions of the Muslims might meet the same dismal end.
Elaborating on his argument of state neglect of Muslim education, Siddiqui provides detailed information on the failure of various government-funded schemes ostensibly meant for minority education as well as the routine harassment that Muslim educational institutions seeking recognition and grants-in-aid are subjected to in many states. Even schemes that were officially declared to be ‘successful’ were often a mere hog-wash, Thus, for instance, the Programme of Action 1992 claimed that all 41 districts in India with a high minority concentration had been covered under the community polytechnic scheme but in many districts it was found that Muslim representation among the students of such polytechnics was between 3 and 12 per cent, much less than the Muslim proportion in the total population of the district. In several places it was also found that the polytechnics were located at a considerable distance from Muslim localities.
Another scheme that was advertised as a ‘success story’, the setting up of resource centres in selected universities with a high Muslim presence, soon turned defunct. Other schemes proved to be major flops. The scheme of providing Urdu teachers, Urdu textbooks and Urdu teachers’ training facilities, envisaged in the Revised Programme of Action, proved to be a non-starter. A good indication of the indifference with which the government greeted the scheme is the fact that in Uttar Pradesh, home to the largest Urdu-speaking population in the country, there is today only one Junior Basic Training Institute for Urdu-medium primary school teachers. Likewise, despite the Programme of Action’s show of firm commitment to the official three-language formula, it still far from adequately being followed in many states, with
Urdu-speaking Muslim children denied their right to learn the language in state schools.
Yet another much-touted government-funded programme�the Madrasa Modernisation Scheme, launched in 2000�failed, being hardly taken seriously, by the government, the bureaucracy and the madrasas themselves. The scheme provided for small grants to madrasas to employ part-time teachers for mathematics, science, English and Hindi, plus a one-time small grant of Rs.7000 to each madrasa to purchase science and mathematics kits and set up libraries. The scheme failed due to several reasons, not least because in many madrasas who joined the scheme the teachers did not get their salaries and also because of suspicion on the part of the madrasas about the intentions of the government, given the fact that the coalition ruling the Centre at that time was headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party, notorious for being anti-Muslim. On the other hand, as Siddiqui points out, some other schemes, such as the Area Intensive Programme, are said to have benefited at least some Muslim families in various states.
Overall, Siddiqui argues, despite its ambitious programmes for minority education the Union government has been able to do little in this regard due to a combination of various factors: apathy and indifference; political compulsions; lack of funds; and inability to force state governments, who are responsible for implementing the schemes, to comply. Such is the state’s indifference to the plight of the minorities that, Siddiqui laments, that for several years now the annual reports of the Minorities Commission have not been tabled in Parliament although the Commission is actually obliged to do so, thus making the Commission, in the author’s own words, ‘an exercise in futility’.
While recognizing the culpability of the state in perpetuating Muslim educational marginalization, Siddiqui also recognises the role of the Muslim leadership in this regard. He says Muslim leaders’ apathy towards education of the community might have further encouraged many state governments to ignore the schemes conceived by the Union government. This apathy might well be due to the vested interests of sections of the leadership that sees mass education as a challenge to its own claims to authority, but, Siddiqui opines, is could also reflect the fact that many Muslims have completely lost all faith in the state and its promises. This situation cries out for urgent remedy and Siddiqui argues that addressing Muslim educational backwardness requires joint efforts on the part of the state and Muslim community organizations. It also requires a climate of peace and tolerably good inter-community relations which can allow Muslims to focus their attention on community development, rather than, as at present, on defending their lives and identity in the face of a hostile or indifferent state and Hindutva chauvinists thirsty for Muslim blood.
Siddiqui concludes by providing an impressive list of suggestions for promoting Muslim education: establishing adult education and vocational training centres, involving Muslim youth in state developmental programmes, modernization of madrasa curricula, using madrasas as adult education centres, encouraging the ‘ulama to participate in educational awareness drives, forcing the Muslim leadership, both political and religious, to make education a top priority, and encouraging Muslim NGOs to work with the state to promote awareness of and to implement various development projects. He calls for the Union government to set up stricter regulatory mechanisms to ensure that state governments actually implement various schemes meant for minority education. He suggests that the Minorities Commission be armed with
statutory powers, which it presently lacks, to address the educational and other problems of the minorities, which generally go ignored by state and Union governments. He proposes the setting up of a Minorities Educational Financing Corporation or Bank in each state, with initial capital from the Union government, to provide soft loans to minority educational institutions and NGOs working for minority education. Along with this, he asks that the government substantially raise the meager corpus fund and annual grant of the Maulana Azad Education Foundation to help improve infrastructural facilities and quality of teaching in minority educational institutions.
For their part, Siddiqui suggests, Muslim community organizations should seek to mobilize zakat, sadqa and other such funds for educational purposes, including for scholarship schemes, girls’ hostels, research on Muslim education-related issues and curricular and teacher development programmes in Muslim-run institutions. Siddiqui also points to the need for Muslim NGOs to be run more efficiently and in a more professional manner, arguing that they should work with non-Muslim organizations and the state in order to improve their own standards and be more effective.
Glimpses of Muslim Education in India : Shan Mohammad
Book: Glimpses of Muslim Education in India : Peeping Through the Convocation Addresses of The Aligarh Muslim University
Edited: Shan Mohammad.
Publisher: Anmol, New Delhi
Year: 2006
Volumes: 2 vols.
Pages: 776 p.
Price: $125 (set).
ISBN: 81-261-2671-X.
Contents:
Vol. I:
Prologue.
Introduction.
1. The first convocation, December 28, 1922.
2. The second convocation, February 16, 1924.
3. The third convocation, January 26, 1925.
4. The fourth convocation, December 29, 1925.
5. The fifth convocation, November 15, 1926.
6. The sixth convocation, February 11, 1928.
7. The seventh convocation, January 21, 1929.
8. The eighth convocation, January 25, 1930.
9. The ninth convocation, December 3, 1930.
10. The tenth convocation, December 21, 1931.
11. The eleventh convocation, December 22, 1932.
12. The twelfth convocation, November 14, 1933.
13. The thirteenth convocation, December 22, 1934.
14. The fourteenth convocation, November 18, 1935.
15. The fifteenth convocation, March 7, 1937.
16. The sixteenth convocation, January 23, 1938.
17. The seventeenth convocation, December 3, 1938.
18. The eighteenth convocation, December 16, 1939.
19. The nineteenth convocation, December 21, 1940.
20. The twentieth convocation, February 7, 1942.
21. The twenty-one convocation, February 13, 1943
22. The twenty-two convocation, December 22, 1943.
23. The twenty-three convocation, November 25, 1944.
24. The twenty-fourth convocation, December 1, 1945.
25. The twenty-fifth convocation, February 16, 1947.
26. The twenty-sixth convocation, January 24, 1948.
27. The twenty-seventh convocation, February 20, 1949.
28. The twenty-eighth convocation, February 27, 1950.
29. The twenty-ninth convocation, February 4, 1951.
Vol. II:
30. The thirtieth convocation, December 8, 1951.
31. The thirty-one convocation, January 24, 1953.
32. The thirty-two convocation, February 28, 1954.
33. Thirty-three convocation, February 22, 1955.
34. The thirty-fourth convocation, December 13, 1955.
35. The thirty-fifth convocation, February 27, 1957.
36. The thirty-sixth convocation, December 13, 1957.
37. The thirty-seventh convocation, December 30, 1958.
38. The thirty-eighth convocation, December 23, 1959.
39. The thirty-ninth convocation, November 21, 1960.
40. The fortieth convocation, January 28, 1962.
41. The forty-one convocation, January 14, 1963.
42. The forty-two convocation, January 12, 1964.
43. The forty-three convocation, December 19, 1964.
44. The forty-fourth convocation, February 27, 1966.
45. The forty-fifth convocation, March 29, 1967.
46. The forty-sixth convocation, February 10, 1968.
47. The forty-seventh convocation, January 25, 1969.
48. The forty-eighth convocation, February 14, 1970.
49. The forty ninth convocation, February 29, 1971.
50. The fiftieth convocation, March 2, 1972.
51. The fifty one convocation, March 13, 1976.
52. The fifty two convocation, April 29, 1986.
53. The fifty three convocation, February 26, 2002.
54. The fifty fourth convocation, March 27, 2003.
55. The fifty fifth convocation, April 9, 2004.
56. The fifty sixth convocation, March 2, 2005.
Index.
"Glimpses of Muslim Education in India traces the growth and development of modern education among the Muslim community of the sub-continent. In moulding ideas of his conservative community from medievalism to modernism Sri Syed had played a vital role. Had he not been there, Muslims would have stayed in the medieval age even today. The MAO college founded by him was the nucleus for disseminating western education among the Muslims. The college was raised to the status of the university in 1920. Its convocation, address are revealing and one can study plans of their education since the time of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan who may right, be called a pioneer in a difficult age." (jacket)
Hyderabad Ke Dini Madaris Mai Sunni Ladkiyon Ki Talim-o-Tarbiyat: Asma Arif Ali
"Hyderabad Ke Dini Madaris Mai Sunni Ladkiyon Ki Talim-o-Tarbiyat"
(‘The Education and Training of Sunni Muslim Girls in Hyderabad’s Religious Schools’)
Author: Asma Arif Ali.
unpublished manuscript
Henry Martyn Institute, Hyderabad, 2002.
Reviewed by: Yoginder Sikand
This study documents the history of girls’ madrasas in Hyderabad city. It begins with a brief overview of girls’ religious education in Hyderabad city under the Nizams, showing how the Muslim nobility patronized religious schools located in mosques, Sufi lodges and madrasas. It points out that the institution of girls’ religious schools in Hyderabad is a novel one, the first such school, the Madrasa Aisha ul-Niswan, having been established as recently as 1986. In the pre-1947 period, religious education for girls, generally from economically better-off families, was provided in Sufi lodges and the homes of the nobles, generally by female teachers or ustanis. This sort of education was informal and was largely restricted to basic religious instruction, and did not aim, as is the case today, to train ‘alimas and fazilas, women with an expertise in religious disciplines. Although from the early twentieth century onwards the Nizam and members of Hyderabad’s nobility began establishing some girls’ schools wherein secular as well as religious subjects were taught, they were not, strictly speaking, religious madrasas. Rather, they focused particularly on secular subjects, although Islam was taught as a subject as well.
In Hyderabad today, Ali writes, there are almost 50 girls’ madrasas, some of them being residential. Most of them have been established in the last 20-25 years and are, broadly, of three types. Firstly, those that conform to the traditional dars-i nizami curriculum without any changes. Secondly, those that follow the dars-i nizami but with minor modifications. Thirdly, madrasas that have developed a new curriculum, incorporating English, computers and arts and crafts, in addition to standard religious subjects. A common feature of all these madrasas is the stress on moral training, character building and appropriate Islamic etiquette. Strict pardah is enjoined for all students. Students are also encouraged to participate in some extra-curricular activities, including debates, writing for their madrasa’s magazines, reciting the Qur’an and poems in praise of the Prophet and delivering lectures on religious and social issues. In contrast to other schools, these madrasas, Ali says, do not ‘encourage aggressive competition among the students’. Rather, she contends, they train them to ‘cooperate with and help each other’. As Ali sees it, they madrasas serve a crucial role in protecting and strengthening Muslim identity from the threats of Westernisation, materialism and consumerism.
Ali writes that today in Hyderabad there is a rapidly growing demand for such girls’ madrasas, especially those that also teach some ‘modern’ subjects. Some of these madrasas have adjusted their syllabus in such a way as to enable their students to join regular schools after the tenth grade. Several girls who have graduated from these madrasas have gone on to take admission in regular schools and perform well. Because religious instruction is their primary focus, many Muslims see them as providing an appropriate sort of education for their girls. Yet, Ali says, there is considerable room for improvement. The level of English in madrasas that teach the subject is quite low. None of the madrasas that Ali surveyed teaches Hindi or the state language, Telugu. Ali suggests that the teaching of English be improved, that basic Hindi and Telugu be introduced in the curriculum and that madrasas explore the possibility of working together with open universities to enable their students and teachers to take various other courses as well.
Islamic Education, Diversity and National Identity : Helmut Reifeld & Jan-Peter Hartung
Name of Book: Islamic Education, Diversity and National Identity: Dini Madaris in India Post-9/11
Editor: Helmut Reifeld & Jan-Peter Hartung
Publisher: Sage Publications, New Delhi
Year: 2006
Pages: 331
Price: Rs.650
ISBN: 0-7619-3432-4
Reviewed by: Yoginder Sikand
Recent writings on madrasas in South Asia have tended to view them from the point of view either of security or of ‘reform’. Various other crucial aspects of madrasas, including their social, economic, cultural and political roles, have received little attention from both writers who tend to see them in stereotypically negative terms. Yet, as the various contributors to this volume argue, madrasas need to be seen in a broader perspective and the debate about them needs to move beyond security-driven concerns and the agenda of ‘reform’ that is sought to be imposed from without.
Jan-Peter Hartung’s piece on the discourse of madrasa reforms examines various arguments put forward by a range of actors, including many ulama, for suitable modifications in the madrasa curriculum. The central point Hartung makes is that Muslim social activists regard madrasa reform as crucial but yet insist that it must not lead to a complete secularisation of madrasas because they see their principal purpose as being to train ulama or religious specialists. Reform, Hartung says, is not easy, because there is no central church-like authority in Islam that can lay down official doctrine or policy for all Muslims. Reform is made even more difficult by sectarian divisions, because of which a common reform programme is rendered almost impossible.
In another piece included in the book, Hartung looks at the reformist efforts of the Nadwat ul-‘Ulama in Lucknow, dwelling particularly on the influence of the Nadwa in the Arab world, principally as a result of the work of its former rector, the late Sayyed Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi. Hartung links the contacts between Nadwa and institutions in the Arab world and elsewhere to accusations about Indian madrasas as being allegedly linked to ‘terrorosm’ levelled by Hindu fascist groups and elements within the state apparatus, and stresses the point that these charges are baseless. He argues that it must be acknowledged that Muslim scholarship has always had a crucial transnational dimension and that this is not a modern phenomenon geared to promoting ‘terrorism’. In fact, he points out, the ulama of the Nadwa and other noted Indian madrasas have always stressed their support of the Indian Constitution as the best presently-available dispensation for Muslims living as a minority in India. Hartung ends his essay with an appeal for the state to adopt a truly integrative policy that acknowledges the rights of every cultural and religious group to protect and preserve its traditions and run its own institutions. In particular, he insists, the ongoing campaign to stigmatise Muslims and the madrasas must cease for there to be any dialogue at all.
Saiyid Naqi Husain Jafri’s article provides a brief overview of madrasa education in late Mughal India and then examines discourses of madrasa reform in colonial India. It shows that an important section of the ulama were indeed open to changes in the madrasa curriculum to meet the challenges posed by British rule, Orientalist, Hindu and Christian critiques of Islam, and the growing tendency towards irreligiousness. This was best exemplified in the case of Lucknow’s Nadwat-ul-Ulama, which, although it was intended to be an alternative to both the Aligarh Muslim University and the Dar ul-Ulum, Deoband, did not prove to live up to the dreams of its founders. Somewhat the same arguments are presented in Farhat Hasan’s paper, which deals particularly with perceptions about madrasas in colonial India. It shows the impact of colonialism on the views of numerous Muslim ‘modernists’ regarding madrasas, challenging the notion of a rigid separation between ‘religious’ and ‘secular’ knowledge in Islam. At the same time, Hasan says, it would be incorrect to regard the ulama as wholly opposed to ‘modern’ knowledge, as is often imagined. What they resented was the tendency to conflate modernity with Western culture, which they saw as inevitably leading to irreligiousness. Thus, for instance, some of the leading elders of the Deoband madrasa allowed for their students to learn ‘modern’ subjects after completing their basic religious degree, and even argued for the need for ulama to learn English, particularly for missionary purposes. The chain of madrasas that began being set up in the period of British rule, Hasan writes, was also intended to counter religious ‘fuzziness’, religious spaces and traditions that Muslims and people of other communities shared with each other, these being seen as ‘un-Islamic’. However, while these madrasas stressed a notion of a unified, essentialised Muslim community, they were, for the most part, associated with one or the other maslak or school of thought, and one of their principal purposes was to combat other, or what were seen as rival, forms of Islam. This inevitably led to increasing sectarianism, and a further fracturing of the wider Muslim community.
Another interesting aspect of the colonial impact on Muslim education, which Saiyid Zaheer Husain Jafri discusses, was the gradual replacement of Sufi hospices or khanqahs by madrasas as major centres of Islamic instruction in colonial India. This he traces to a variety of factors, including to Islamic reformist and colonial critiques of popular Sufism and to the expropriation of landed estates attached to Sufi shrines by the colonial state which undercut their economic viability. The transfer of the management of many of these shrines to government Waqf Boards further undermined the autonomy of the shrines and their traditional role as centres of learning.
Sayyed Najmul Raza Rizvi‘s article examines the history of Ithna Ashari Shia religious education in Awadh, tracing it to the establishment of Shia rule in the area. He shows how royal patronage was crucial in sustaining a number of Shia madrasas in Lucknow and in other towns of the region, many of whose graduates then went on to take up various jobs in the royal court and in the administrative services. This tradition of learning was, however, seriously undermined when the British annexed Awadh and forcibly closed down numerous madrasas. Today, some Shia madrasas survive in Lucknow, and, unlike in the past, are attended mainly by students from poor or lower-middle class families. Some of them restrict themselves to the traditional curriculum, while others have included certain ‘modern’ subjects or else have adjusted their timings to allow their students to attend private or state schools as well. Yet others have adopted the curriculum prescribed by the state-affiliated Arabic and Persian Board that makes provision for some ‘modern’ subjects as well. Another way in which Shia organisations in Lucknow have sought to respond to the growing demand for ‘modern’ education is by setting up or running madrasas and ‘modern’ schools and colleges under the same management body, thereby facilitating the entry of madrasa graduates into the ‘modern’ education system.
Paul Jackson’s paper looks at the past and present of madrasas in Bihar, India’s most poverty-stricken state and home to a sizeable Muslim population. He notes that a number of madrasas in Bihar are affiliated to the state-constituted Bihar Madrasa Board, which provides them with grants-in-aid for teachers for selected subjects. Yet, this model of state assistance to madrasas has not worked satisfactorily, and should serve as a warning to those who argue for more state intervention in order to ‘reform’ the madrasa system. In most cases of aided madrasas, funds from the state come late, if at all, sometimes taking more than two years for the money to be disbursed. The entire process is also racked with corruption and red-tape, for which Bihar is so notorious. Consequently, many madrasa teachers go for long periods without salaries, which, in any case, are pitiably low. Most madrasas have no funds for infrastructural development, appointing good teachers or introducing ‘modern’ subjects, even if they wanted to, as indeed many of them would ideally like to. In these madrasas as well as madrasas not affiliated to the Board, there is no evidence to suggest, Jackson says, any evidence of militant indoctrination or ‘terrorist’ training being imparted to students, who come mainly from very poor families and for whom madrasa education is often the only available avenue of education because it is provided free. It also assures them some sort of employment as religious specialists. In fact, Jackson says, madrasa teachers often stress the importance of harmony between Muslims and people of other faiths, general moral values, the role of the ulama in India’s freedom struggle as well as the need for students to work for the welfare of the country.
In a similar vein, Patricia, Roger and Craig Jeffery discuss madrasas in rural Bijnore, a district with a large Muslim population in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Contesting the argument that Muslims are themselves wholly to blame for their educational marginalisation or that they are averse to ‘modern’ education, the authors point out that significant numbers of Muslim families choose to send their children to madrasas because of poverty, the Hinduistic ethos of government schools and the relative neglect by state educational authorities of Muslim localities. This problem has been particularly exacerbated as a consequence of privitisation, because of which state investement in Muslim education, already negligible, has been further reduced.
The authors write that there is no evidence to suggest that madrasas are engaged in promoting ‘terrorism’ or hostility between Muslims and others, as is often alleged. ‘Indeed’, they say, ‘madrasa staff often comment on the need for religious tolerance and on the variety of legitimate paths to spiritual understanding and morality’. Far from promoting ‘anti-national’ views, many madrasas organise events to commemorate India’s Republic Day and Independence Day, where the duties and rights of citizens of India, Muslims and others, are stressed. A crucial point that the authors make is that the madrasas should not be seen as a radically different form of education, with absolutely no parallels with other systems of education that exist side-by-side in the same region. ‘Far from being hermetically sealed streams of formal education’, they point out, ‘schools and madrasas display numerous inter-linkages and similarities. Teachers in these and other schools�government as well as government-aided and private schools managed by Hindus�and madrasa teachers display overlapping and parallel educational philosophies’, as for instance in their stress on discipline and the importance paid to moral education and obedience. In fact, the authors go on, ‘Schools often display a more militaristic tone in their disciplinary regimes than madrasas, through the physical routines in the daily school assemblies, with children lined up in the school and performing exercises to a senior child’s shouted instructions and the relentless beat of a huge drum’.
Another point that the authors are at pains to stress is that the notion of madrasas and their ulama being relentlessly opposed to girls’ education is erroneous. In fact, they write, in many places girls outnumber boys in maktabs or mosque-schools, and recent years have witnessed the emergence of the number of girls’ higher-level madrasas. These institutions are geared towards what the authors term as ‘domesticated femininity’, training girls to be good mothers and wives in future, their future place being seen as within the home. Yet, even here there are fine nuances that should be recognised. Thus, the authors write of the urban ulama that while they display a variety of views on the quantum and level of education that girls should receive, ‘most are keen to see girls receiving formal schooling even after adolescence’. Related to this is the point that the ulama’s views on girls’ education is not that very different from that of many Hindu community leaders. Thus, they stress, “[S]nipping away the explicitly Islamic aspects of the maulawis’ [ulama’s] views on girls’ education exposes parallels with the rationales of local Hindu and Muslim school teachers, who likewise emphasise the importance of educated mothers in extending the teachers’ ‘civilising’ role into the home�. This role is related to the notion that the ulama, being experts in certain texts and disciplines, are in a position of authority over other Muslims, who, therefore, are seen as being in need of the ulama’s guidance. This ‘civilising’ mission is not, of course, unique to the madrasa teachers, and is, in fact, something that they share with middle class urban dwellers’ views of the poor.
Madrasas have, in recent years, had a bad press, and are routinely described in lurid terms in the non-Muslim media. Marieke Winkelmann’s paper examines Muslim reactions to recent media discourses in India regarding madrasas. She refers to fake intelligence reports designed specifically to malign madrasas as ‘dens of terror’ as feeding into Western and Hindu fascist discourses about Islam, and looks at Muslim defences of the madrasa system from charges of being associated with ‘terrorism’. Partly as a response to ongoing media discourses, many madrasas have recognised the need for ‘reform’ and the author presents examples of certain noted Indian madrasas that have made important efforts to introduce ‘modern’ subjects in their curricula. At the same time, Winkelmann notes that most Indian madrasas are opposed to state offers of assistance for ‘modernisation’, seeing these as insincere and motivated to dilute their autonomy and their Islamic identity. In any case, she says, government-run madrasas are known for their low standards because their teachers, being assured of a regular salary, do not generally take their duties seriously. Hence, the best hope for reform is from within, rather than by being imposed by the state or any other external agency.
Appealing for a shift in the way in which madrasas are often discussed today, in terms of whether or not they have any association with ‘terrorism’, Arshad Alam argues the case for understanding madrasas in the particular social contexts in which they are located. After making the point that the madrasas that he has visited have no association whatsoever with militancy, he argues that the largely ‘low’ caste/class student profile of the madrasas is related to the fact that they provide free education and access to the Islamic scriptural tradition for these groups, which is a powerful symbolic asset in their quest for upward social mobility. At the same time, Alam argues, madrasas must be seen as ‘hegemonic institutions’, with one of their ideological functions being to maintain class relations within Muslim society, being largely silent on issues of class and caste dominance within the community, thereby reproducing the ‘Muslim elite agenda of identity’. Alam argues for the need to interrogate this silence on internal divisions within the community for, as he puts it, “Islam in India cannot be carried on the tired shoulders of poor lower-caste Muslims, while the ‘benefits of Islam’ continue to be cornered by privileged sections of the Muslim communities in India�.
Yoginder Sikand’s article examines the diverse ways in which madrasa reform is imagined by a range of actors, including ulama, Muslim ‘modernists’ and Islamists. These views are related to the different ways in which the notion of Islamic knowledge is constructed, being presented as static and fixed but, in actual practice, being internally contested. The author notes that some ulama see no need for reform in the madrasa curriculum and argue that since the madrasas produced great scholars in the past they can continue to do so today and in the future by using the same curriculum. They regard the traditional curriculum as perfect and hence see no need to change or to learn from others. In a sense, this is related to their claim of being authoritative spokesmen of the faith, this resting on their mastery of certain texts. If these texts are altered or if the curriculum is expanded to include ‘modern’ disciplines their claims to authority might well be undermined. Others argue that if ‘modern’ subjects are included it might lead their students astray, being trapped by the snares of the world.
However, Sikand suggests that the notion that the madrasas are wholly opposed to reform is erroneous. He highlights numerous cases of madrasas that have incorporated ‘modern’ subjects into their curriculum. Of particular concern in this regard is the controlled ‘modernisation’ that the ulama argue for, and their point that it should not lead to the complete secularisation of the madrasas or turn them into general schools or dilute their specifically ‘religious’ character, because their particular function is the training of religious specialists. Hence, they insist, ‘reform’ should be such that would enable the ulama to perform their task as religious specialists in the contemporary context. There is no need, they stress, for specialised training in ‘modern’ subjects as then the burden on the students would be simply too great and they would be ‘neither good for this world nor for the next’. At the same time, they stress that Muslim parents who want to educate their children in ‘modern’ subjects are free to send them to ‘modern’ schools. Arguments for reform are also linked to the recognition of the need for the widening of career options of madrasa graduates, to counter anti-Islamic propaganda, to the need to develop a religious leadership that can help empower the community and to awareness of the fact that unless the ulama are aware of contemporary debates they may not be able to reach out to non-Muslims as well as to ‘modern’ educated Muslims. The actual pace of this reform is, however, slow, and, besides inertia, it is also related to the poor financial conditions of most madrasas.
This book, bringing together diverse perspectives on India’s madrasas, is a major contribution to present debates on the subject. It strongly suggests the need to examine madrasas in terms different from which they are often seen, as simply in terms of their political roles. It marks an important shift in they way in which madrasas are often described, as simply religious institutions, by seeking to locate them in the social contexts in which they are located. The ‘Post 9/11’ tag attached to the subtitle of the book is, of course, unfortunate, and reflects the tendency of Western ‘scholars’ [this book is the outcome of a conference organised by a conservative German foundation] to see the world through Western lenses, and to impose an event occurring in the West as a defining moment for the rest of the world. That, the unnecessary historical details that abound in certain articles and the considerable overlaps between several of the contributions detract from the merit of the book, but that is no reason why the book itself should not be recognised as a valuable effort to bring an element of seriousness into ongoing discussions about madrasas, which is still dominated by those who actually know little about them.
Table of Contents
Preface
Helmut Reifeld
Towards a Reform of the Indian Madrasa? An Introduction
Jan-Peter Hartung
Part I: Historical Perspectives
1. A Modernist View of Madrasa Education in Late Mughal India
Saiyid Naqi Husain Jafri
2. Madaris and the Challenges of Modernity in Colonial India
Farhat Hasan
3. Madrasa and Khanaqah, or Madrasa in Khanaqah? Education and Sufi
Establishments in Northern India
Saiyid Zaheer Husain Jafri
4. Shi'a Madaris of Awadh: Historical Development and Present Situation
Syed Najmul Raza Rizvi
Part II: Regional Perspectives
5. The Nadwat al-'ulama': A Chief Patron of Madrasa Education
in India and a Turntable to the Arab World
Jan-Peter Hartung
6. Madrasa Education in Bihar
Paul Jackson, S. J.
7. Understanding Deoband Locally: Interrogating Madrasat diya' al-'ulum
Arshad Alam
8. Islamic Education in a Tamil Town: The Case of Kilakkarai
Torsten Tschacher
Part III: Current Developments
9. The First Madrasa: Learned Mawlawis and the Educated Mother
Patricia Jeffery, Roger Jeffery and Craig Jeffrey
10. Muslim Reactions to the Post 9/11 Media Discourse on the Indian Madaris
Mareike Jule Winkelmann
11. The Indian Madaris and the Agenda of Reforms
Yoginder Sikand
Part IV: A View from Within
12. The Introduction of Natural Sciences in Madrasa Education in India
Syed Abul Hashim Rizvi
Afterword: Dialogue and Cooperation with the Islamic World
Gunter Mulack
About the Editors and Contributors
Index
Madrasa Education in India : S.M.Azizuddin Husain
Name of the Book: Madrasa Education in India: Eleventh to Twenty First Century
Edited by: S.M.Azizuddin Husain
Publisher: Kanishka, New Delhi
Year: 2005
Pages: 185
ISBN: 81-7391-741-8
Reviewed by: Yoginder Sikand
South Asia’s madrasas, or Islamic schools, have come in for considerable discussion and debate in recent years. Much has been written on the madrasas, often by people who have little or no understanding of the subject. This book, a collection of essays, examines various aspects of madrasa education in India in a historical perspective.
In his introduction, Azizuddin Husain deals with the concept of knowledge in Islam, arguing that the notion of a rigid distinction between ‘sacred’ and ‘worldly’ knowledge is foreign to the Islamic scriptural tradition. All forms of beneficial knowledge are considered to be ‘Islamically’ legitimate, he says. This explains how early Muslim scholars studied both ‘religious’ subjects as well as those that would now generally be considered as ‘secular’ and made remarkable strides in both. He then turns to Islamic education in medieval India, pointing out how while many Muslim rulers generously patronised scholarship, others sought to restrict it to the elites, mainly of foreign extraction. While Islam mandates learning for all, irrespective of caste, class and gender, these rulers sought to make it a close preserve of the ruling class. In turn, Azizuddin tells us, this was actively critiqued by numerous Sufis, including among them leading ulama. Azizuddin notes the development and flourishing of ‘worldly’ knowledge under the patronage of various Muslim rulers but also remarks on the fact that a significant section of the ulama sought to put a curb on new developments by arguing that there was no longer any scope for ijtihad or personal effort to develop new perspectives on a range of issues on which the previous ulama were believed to have arrived at some sort of consensus.
Broadly the same points are covered in Iqtidar Husain Siddiqui’s paper. Siddiqui also discusses the content of madrasa education in medieval India, showing that it was not restricted only to what are commonly seen today as ‘religious’ subjects. As the principal institution of education in medieval times, madrasa students were able to take to a wide range of careers, not just as religious specialists. Mansura Haider takes the argument further by discussing the impact on Indian madrasas of their counterparts in Central Asia, with which some of them had strong ties. In particular, she deals with the impact of the noted seventeenth century Iranian alim, Mir Fatehullah Shirazi, whose stress on the ‘rational’ sciences exercised a particular influence on many Indian Muslim scholars. Partly as a reaction to the growing importance of the ‘rational sciences’, Mujeeb Ashraf argues in his paper, late medieval India witnessed the emergence of ulama who stressed the ‘revealed’ sciences, particularly the Hadith, traditions attributed to the Prophet Muhammad. Ashraf discusses this in the context of the seventeenth century alim, Shah Abdur Rahim and the Madrasa-i Rahimiyah that he set up in Delhi, which went on, under his son Shah Waliullah and his descendants, to play a key role in moulding the shape of Islamic studies throughout much of the Indian subcontinent and even beyond.
The remaining articles in the book deal with madrasas in colonial and contemporary India. Nasim Akhtar’s paper focuses on women’s madrasas. Stressing that Islam mandates education for both men and women, the paper discusses the role of numerous women, particularly those associated with the Mughal ruling elite, in scholarship and patronage of learning. It then turns to the emergence of a number of girls’ madrasas in contemporary India, examining their curriculum and pointing to their crucial role in promoting girls’ education and carving out new roles for women as religious authorities in their own right. Quite the same points are made in Talat Aziz’s paper.
Perhaps the most interesting article in the book is Mohammad Sajjad’s piece titled ‘Resisting Colonialism and Communalism: Madrasas in Bihar’. Arguing against the view of madrasas as ‘anti-national’, so central to right-wing Hindu discourse, he shows that numerous madrasas in Bihar were actively involved in India’s freedom struggle and, opposing both Hindu and Muslim communalism, demanded a united India with equal rights for all religious communities. In this regard he discusses the role of a charismatic alim from Bihar, Abul Mohasin Muhammad Sajjad (1880-1940), founder of the Imarat-i Shariah and one of the key actors in the formation of the Jamiat ul-‘Ulama-i Hind. Abul Mohasin played a leading role in mobilising the ulama as well as ‘ordinary’ Muslims in the Khilafat and Non-Cooperation movements against the British. In 1937 he established the Muslim Independent Party, which was resolutely anti-imperialist and also took up the demands of Bihar’s oppressed peasantry. The Party advocated a united India, supporrted the Congress and opposed the Muslim League, while also insisting on adequate safeguards for Muslims. In the 1937 elections, the party won 15 of the 40 seats reserved for Muslims in Bihar, carving out a particularly strong base among the ‘low’ caste Muslims of the province. Abul Muhasin also set up a number of madrasas among the ‘low’ castes and through the Hizbullah, an organisation that he founded, he sought to promote communal harmony between Muslims and Hindus in Bihar. Immediately after the Muslim League’s 1940 declaration, which paved the way for the launching of the Pakistan movement, Abul Muhasin came out with a carefully-worded statement denouning the ‘two nation’ theory of the League, according to which the Hindus and Muslims of India were two completely different ‘nations’. Abul Muhasin insisted that India’s Muslims, Hindus and others were members of the same nation and he appealed to Muslims to shun the Muslim League and to work for a united India based on a loose federation.
Masroor Hashim’s piece looks at methods of teaching employed in many madrasas and advocates suitable reforms, a subject that has been written about extensively before. The essay by Qamaruddin, published elsewhere previously, sheds light on the little noticed reforms already underway in many madrasas in India. The essay argues that the vast majority of Indian madrasa teachers do indeed want that their students learn at least a modicum of ‘modern’ subjects, without this diluting the essentially religious character of the madrasas. This effectively challenges the stereotypical notion of madrasas as wholly impervious to change.
At a time when misunderstanding about madrasas abounds, almost any book written by well-meaning scholars is to be welcomed, and hence this book deserves a careful reading if only for that reason. Several of the essays are marred by clumsy use of language. Numerous essays simply repeat what other essays also included in the book argue. Much of what many of the contributors have to say has been said before by other scholars, and, in that sense, the book does not add substantially new to the subject. Important issues related to the madrasas in contemporary India, such as allegations about madrasas and efforts of the ulama to counter the propaganda against the madrasas as ‘dens of terrorism’, new experiments underway to combine ‘Islamic’ and ‘seclar’ education within and without the madrasas, policies of the state vis-à-vis the madrasas, the role of madrasas in preserving and promoting Islamic identity as well as in sustaining inter-sectarian rivalries and so on, have been left out, making the book, overall, much more concerned about the past than the present. This calls for more empirically grounded studies of madrasas in contemporary India in order to shift the debate from the historical legacy of the madrasas to the question of their multiple roles today.
Modernisation of Muslim Education in India : Fahimuddin
“Modernisation of Muslim Education in India�
Author: Fahimuddin,
Publisher: Adhyayan Publishers, New Delhi
Year: 2004
ISBN:81-89161-31-8
Pages:266
Reviewed by: Yoginder Sikand
‘Modernisation’ of madrasas is a much-debated topic today. State authorities, the ‘ulama as well as Muslim activists and intellectuals have different understandings of ‘modernised’ madrasas. This book is a major contribution to the ongoing debate on the subject, based on a study of selected madrasas in Uttar Pradesh that are currently receiving some sort of financial support from the Government of India under the Madrasa Modernisation Scheme. In Uttar Pradesh there are 119 such madrasas, and the study is based on a sample of 30 of these.
The book begins with a general overview of madrasas in India, looking at such features as their history, recent growth, types and levels, background of students and teachers, curricula, sources of income and heads of expenditure and perceptions of reforms needed in the system. The author shows that many madrasas do, indeed, wish to reform, while preserving their religious core intact, but notes that some ‘ulama are opposed to this. He regards this opposition as dangerous and counter-productive, and as ‘leading to a kind of self-imposed isolation’ and social exclusion.
While appreciating the madrasas’ role in preserving and promoting Muslim identity and the education of poor Muslims in the face of hostile Hindutva forces, Fahimuddin sees that the insistence of some ‘ulama that Muslims stay away from modern education is dangerous for the Muslims themselves. ‘The majority of Muslims, being poor’, he says, ‘were swayed by the propaganda of the hardline ‘ulama of danger to Islam and thought to [sic.] protect the faith by advocating the irrelevance of mainstream education and the need of [sic.] madrasa education for Muslims to protect Islam’. Fahimuddin regards the opposition of some ‘ulama to madrasa modernization as reflecting what he says is lack of ‘serious thought’ given by them to the issue. He argues that such ‘ulama have ‘misunderstood the meaning, scope and purpose of such modernisation’, and have failed to learn from the example of past Indian and foreign Muslim reformists. They need to be convinced, he says, that ‘modernisation’ does not mean the complete replacement of the present syllabus with ‘modern’ or ‘secular’ subjects. At the same time, Fahimuddin calls for madrasas to be more open and receptive to people of other faiths, and in this regard speaks of some madrass in Bihar that also have Hindu students. Arguing against the stern exclusivity many madrasas seek to reinforce, he argues that madrasas ‘should abandon the fixed notion that nothing is to be taken from non-believers and that even the good of non-Muslims is to be avoided. Muslims need to adopt, modify and temper with pragmatism their own ideas as well as their knowledge of others’.
Another worrisome development that the author notes is that from the 1970s onwards money from Gulf sources has been used to set up madrasas in India that propagate an extremely literalist understanding of Islam and that some ulama have set up such madrasas simply to attract foreign money. He sees what he regards as the rapid growth of lower-level madrasas in many parts of the country as worrisome because, as he puts it, ‘they are assuming the place of mainstream education among Muslims’. Further, he says, Muslims do not require the vast number of religious functionaries that these madrasas churn out every year. It is these smaller madrasas that are in particular need of reform, he argues, because, in contrast to the big specialised madrasas like Deoband and Nadwa, they cater to the educational needs of hundreds of thousands of Muslim children. At the same time, Fahimuddin vehemently denounces the charge of Indian madrasas being training centres for ‘terrorists’, and points to the fact that the state authorities have, till date, not been able to identify a single madrasa (in contrast, one must add, to scores of schools and shakhas run by Hindutva fascist groups) providing armed training to their students or openly preaching violence against other communities.
The book then profiles 30 madrasas that the author has surveyed, and enumerates their numerous problems. Most of the students come from poor families and, owing particularly to poverty, they are characterized by a high drop-out rate. Many of the surveyed madrasas have poor infrastructural facilities. Most have at least a small library, but few have any books on any non-religious subjects. Teachers, in general, are very poorly paid. Only 23% of the teachers have an annual salary of Rs.40,000 and above. Most teachers have received no teachers’ training whatsoever. Interestingly, many younger teachers and most students are in favour of modernization of the curriculum, including the introduction of vocational training. Some of them want modern subjects to be introduced in such a way in the syllabus that after a few years of study children in madrasas can choose to join a regular school or else carry on in the madrasa to acquire higher religious knowledge.
As far as the government’s madrasa modernization scheme is concerned, the author argues that the burden on the government-paid teacher teaching modern subjects (mathematics, science, English and Hindi)under the scheme is simply too much to handle, resulting in poor teaching standards. The teacher’s salary (Rs. 600 per month for part-time teachers and Rs. 2200 per month for full-time teachers) is woefully inadequate. The one-time grant of Rs. 4000 per madrasa for buying books and science and mathematics kits is also insufficient. Although the examinations for the ‘secular’ subjects taught by these government-paid teachers are held internally by the madrasas themselves, the author feels that the progress that the students made has been reasonably good. Hence, he calls for the expansion of the scheme to include more madrasas as well as to increase the funds allotted to each madrasa participating in the scheme, including for teachers’ salaries. He also suggests that all government schemes being implemented in government schools, including the mid-day meal scheme, various scholarship schemes and infrastructural development projects, be extended to madrasas as well. For this purpose he suggests the possibility of the UP Dini Talimi Council, which presently runs hundreds of maktabs in Uttar Pradesh, to be appointed by the state as a nodal agency to channelise state grants to madrasas.
This suggestion, however, ignores the Constitutional ban on state financing of religious educational institutions, a prohibition that Fahimuddin appears unaware of. Similarly, some of his other suggestions are equally utopian and impractical. Thus, for instance, he appeals for madrasa education ‘to be rejuvenated in such a form that it should not remain reserved for Muslims alone but Hindu, Sikh and Christian children may also study in madrasas. The perception that madrasas are religious institutions is to be given a back-stage’. This proposal is unlikely to enthuse the ‘ulama, as, indeed, non-Muslim parents as well, both of whom see madrasas as essentially an Islamic seminaries intended for producing Muslim clerics. Similarly, Fahimuddin’s proposal that state governments ‘bring a legislation to take over all the madrasas offering education to the intermediate level and prescribe the curriculum of the [sic.] mainstream education’ is equally disastrous. It would effectively deny Muslims their Constitutional right to administer educational institutions of their choice and is bound to be vehemently opposed not just by the ‘ulama but by the vast majority of the Muslim community as well for threatening to turn madrasas into an appendage of the state and to secularise them completely.
Fahimuddin’s suggestion that the state play a more pro-active role in modernizing the madrasa curriculum appears somewhat more sensible, although even this is unrealistic and even Constitutionally void. He insists that the state should institute a committee of ‘enlightened’, ‘liberal’ Muslim intellectuals and ‘ulama who should suggest a revised curriculum for higher madrasas and make it binding on them to register with state government-approved madrasa boards and to adopt the new curriculum. In his enthusiasm for madrasa modernization, the fact that the state cannot force any educational institution to accept a particular syllabus or be affiliated with a particular board or body completely escapes the author.
Yet, Fahimuddin’s earnest appeal to madrasas to modernize is well taken and so is his trenchant critique of what he calls ‘vocal Muslim ideologists’ who are ‘burdened with the legacy of Islamic fundamentalism’. Their efforts to ‘confront social realities’, he says, are ‘generally short-sighted’, ‘lack long-term perspective’ and ‘refuse to see the compelling need’ for Muslims to ‘modernise’. Because of this, he says the tens of thousands of students studying in the madrasas are faced with a bleak future, to which the opponents of madrasa modernization appear indifferent. Hence, Fahimuddin rightly concludes, ‘their ideology is as dangerous as Hindu communalism and only contributes to further Muslim marginalisation’.
Muslims in Secular India: Problems and Prospects in Education : Mushirul Hasan
Mushirul Hasan, "Muslims in Secular India: Problems and Prospects in Education", New Delhi: Academy of Third World Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, 2003.
This slim booklet provides a general overview of Muslim education in contemporary India. The author notes the paucity of research on the actual living conditions, including state of education, among the Indian Muslims. State authorities, he says, do not publish data on Muslims, on ostensible ‘political’ grounds, while Muslim institutions, for their part, have hardly done any field-based surveys. In this regard, the author points to both ‘intellectual lethargy’ of sections of the Indian bureaucracy and political class as well as their resistance to accepting ‘religious minorities’ as a distinct category, stemming from the fear that ‘acquiescence in legitimizing the Muslim minority as a separate entity’ would somehow contravene the notion of an ‘exclusive Indian nation’. This fear the author dismisses as untenable since constitutional guarantees already exist for religious minorities as well as for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes and the Other Backward Classes.
Muslim educational backwardness, Hasan says, is largely a product of Muslim poverty and neglect by the state. The vast majority of the Indian Muslims work as landless labourers, small or marginal peasants, artisans, petty shopkeepers and the like. More than half the urban Muslim population lives below the poverty line, and, as compared to Hindus, proportionately a considerably higher number of Muslims are self-employed. Given their structural location in the economy and the perception of discrimination, relatively few Muslims can afford or aspire to higher education. To add to this is the widespread opposition among many Muslims to higher education among Muslim girls, who are among the least educated sections of Indian society. It is widely believed that higher education would diminish girls’ chances of getting good husbands, given the relative paucity of Muslim men with higher education, and the fact that less educated men are generally reluctant to marry women who are better educated than them. Another major cause for Muslim educational backwardness, particularly in north India, where most Muslims live, are the systematic discriminatory policies of the state concerning Urdu. Since Urdu is no longer taught in most state schools and since the language has lost its earlier organic connection with the economy, it remains largely confined to madrasas, which is one reason why many Muslim families prefer to send their children to madrasas than to state schools.
Given the pathetic state of Muslim education in India, the author stresses the need for affirmative action policies on the part of the state aimed at promoting education in the community. Short of reservations for all Muslims, which might prove to be too politically volatile at this particular juncture, the author calls for the state to extend the various development projects and schemes that it has launched for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes to economically deprived sections among the Muslims as well. Hasan notes that the state has, from time to time, announced various schemes for ‘minority development’ but laments that there has been no effective monitoring of their actual implementation. No one seems to know who the beneficiaries of the schemes are. Much of the funds released for these projects have remained unutilized; there is little co-ordination between the Union and state government bodies responsible for implementing them; the schemes are not properly advertised; and there is an absence of interaction with community leaders about them.
The author also calls for new and more contextually relevant understandings of Islam and Islamic education for Muslims to take the question of education more seriously. He approvingly quotes Sir Sayyed Ahmad Khan, founder of the Aligarh movement, who appealed for Muslims to modernize their understanding of Islam, believing that the confirmed facts of science could not be opposed to Islam as he understood it. This urgent task, Hasan believes, is fraught with numerous hurdles, not least being the opposition that it is bound to face from sections of the ulama. In this regard he quotes Muhammad Ibrahim, Chairman of the Minorities’ Commission of Madhya Pradesh, who argues that many ulama have a vested interest in preserving the madrasas as their strongholds. Many ulama, he says, have little or no familiarity with the world around them, excel in sectarian controversies and see ‘everyone else as ignorant, irreligious and atheistic’. In this regard, Hasan sees the suspicion with which many ulama have greeted state proposals for madrasa ‘modernisation’ as stemming, in part, from the fear that this might effectively challenge their monopoly and provide the state with an excuse to interfere in their functioning, in particular in monitoring the funds that they garner from the public.
While this might well be true, it reflects a rather naïve approach to the state’s overall policy towards the madrasas, which reflects an understanding that the madrasas need to be brought in line with the ‘mainstream’, which is defined in essentially‘ upper’ caste Hindu terms. Hasan also ignores the Hindutva propaganda against the madrasas, which is also reflected in official pronouncements emanating from top bureaucrats and government officials with an undisguised sympathy for Hindutva-brand ‘nationalism’.
Yet, Hasan also notes with appreciation that a few ulama do support modern education and, in several states, have affiliated themselves with state-approved madrasa education boards and, accordingly, have introduced some basic modern subjects in their curricula. He is appreciative of the efforts of some ulama to bridge the gap between the traditional and modern systems of education, and insists on the ‘desperate need of a constructive and bold humanism that can restate and reinterpret Islamic educational ideas in the contemporary social and cultural environment’. He pleads for what he calls ‘a fundamental reconstruction of Muslim educational thought’.
Although Hasan appears critical of the refusal on the part of many ulama to brook any reforms in the madrasa system, he insists that the rhetoric about madrasas as training grounds for ‘terrorists’ is misplaced and erroneous. Despite being ‘conservative’, they are, Hasan says, ‘opposed to fundamentalism’. What they offer their students, he says, may be the ‘fulfillment of desires for individual empowerment, transcendent meaning and social morality that do not engage directly with national or global politics at all’. The growth in the numbers of madrasas in recent years, he says, is not because of any conspiracy, as their detractors allege, but, rather, because the state has not done enough to promote modern education as well as economic mobility among Muslims. Consequently, poor Muslims, who cannot afford to send their children to school, choose to send them to madrasas instead, where they receive free education, boarding and lodging. Given the role that madrasas are playing in providing education to large numbers of Muslims, particularly from poor families, Hasan appeals for the state to treat the madrasas with ‘sympathy and understanding, rather than with suspicion and disdain’. In this way, the state could work along with the madrasas to promote mutually agreed reforms in their curriculum and teaching methods.
Hasan concludes this essay by reiterating his appeal for the state to take a more pro-active role in promoting modern education and economic development among Muslims. He also appeals for Muslim community leaders to take the question of education with the seriousness that it deserves. He calls for the setting up of a Muslim Educational Board to help promote both reforms in modern schools and madrasas, and suggests that Sufi shrines and Waqf Boards, with the vast money at their disposal, also set up modern educational institutions catering to the poor among the community.
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Re-Starting Dropout Muslim Girls in Education: Ishtiaque Danish
"Re-Starting Dropout Muslim Girls in Education",
Author: Ishtiaque Danish,
unpublished manuscript
report on project sponsored by UNICEF, Lucknow, 2004, pp.94).
Reviewed by Yoginder Sikand
Madrasas play an important role in providing literacy and basic education to millions of Muslim children in India. Yet, Ishtiaq Danish of the Hamdard University, New Delhi, argues in this report, there is much scope for improvement in this regard.
This report is based on a survey conducted in three districts of Uttar Pradesh that have a fairly high Muslim population, characterized by high rates of illiteracy and widespread poverty: Siddharthnagar, Barabanki and Moradabad. A total of 48 madrasas and 6 government schools were surveyed and 216 madrasa teachers, 15 government primary school teachers, and several students in schools and madrasas and their parents were interviewed for this study.
In the Moradabad district it was found that 42.35% of parents of students in madrasas and government schools were illiterate, 12.94% had acquired secondary education and only 1.76% were madrasa graduates. Their average annual income was Rs. 24,535. Of the 170 parents, only 4 were government employees. 10.58% were unemployed, 15.85% were daily wage earners, 42.35% were engaged in small income generation activities and 27.64% were artisans. In other words, the vast majority of students studying in madrasas and government come from economically deprived backgrounds.
Of the 1049 children of these parents, only 721were studying in madrasas or schools. Of these 721, 55% were boys and 45% girls. 66.71% were studying in maktabs and madrasas and 33.28% in government schools. Of the madrasa/maktab students, 55% were boys and 45% girls.
The survey found that most parents (78.23%) were not averse to having their daughters study in co-educational schools till the fifth grade. The overwhelming majority of the parents (94.1%) are in favour of regular revision of the madrasa syllabus, 97.64% want madrasas to also provide some technical or professional education, 95.30% favour inclusion of ‘modern’ subjects in the syllabus, 95.8% favour state assistance to madrasas, and 91.76% believed that financial incentives would help prevent high drop-out rates among girl students.
59.74% of the madrasa teachers believe that the teaching of ‘modern’ subjects in the madrasas is inadequate and 35% complain that the curriculum is not revised regularly. The overwhelming majority of the teachers are in favour of the inclusion of ‘modern’ subjects, and 79% advocate the setting up of an All-India Madrasa Board. 88% support a common syllabus for all madrasas in order to improve their performance, and all teachers are in favour of teachers’ training in and use of modern teaching methods.
The bulk of the income of the madrasas was found to be spent on staff salaries, and only a few madrasas spent money on infrastructural development and students’ welfare. Only 16.67% claimed to provide scholarships to some students, although they declined to reveal the amount given to the researcher. It appears, the report says, that there is no fixed amount of scholarship, and that these are perhaps given to cover the tuition fee or mess charges of some students.
The madrasas were found to have a high drop-out rate, but it proved to be difficult to get records about this. Madrasas that receive full or partial state-funding do maintain such records but the others do not. It is estimated that only 16.92% of the boys and 18.51% of the girls enrolled in the madrasa completed their education till the fifth grade.
In Barabanki district the survey covered 16 madrasas, both state-aided as well as private. The profile of the parents of the children appears similar to that of the case of Moradabad. Of the 1168 children, 802 are studying in madrasas or government schools. Of these 77.30% study in madrasas and 22.70% in government schools. 53% of the madrasa students are boys and 22.7% girls.
All the madrasa teachers desire regular revision of curriculum, the introduction of professional education in madrasas and the use of new teaching methods. 87% want the inclusion of ‘modern’ subjects in the syllabus and 86% are not opposed to co-education till the fifth grade.
41% of the madrasas claimed to provide scholarships to students, but they did not divulge how many students received such assistance. It is estimated, however, that the amount given to selected students is a meagre Rs.300 per year. The madrasas are characterized by a
high drop-out rate. Only 20.68% boys and 20% girls enrolled in the madrasas carry on with their education till the fifth grade. The high rate of enrolment in the primary classes suggests that parents are enthusiastic about educating their children, but the high drop-out rate shows that poverty and lack of good schooling facilities compel them to withdraw their children from madrasas/schools by the fifth grade. In other words, the report suggests, financial assistance by the state as well as Muslim community organizations can help reduce the drop-out rate.
The family background of students studying in madrasas surveyed in Siddharthnagar district is similar to that in the case of the two other districts. The suggestions they and the madrasa teachers made for improving and modernizing the madrasas are also roughly the same. Only one of the 15 madrasas surveyed provides free books to its students but it did not have details as to the number of students who actually benefit from this. No madrasa was found to provide student scholarships, and none received any state assistance.
The report suggests that, despite their obvious limitations, madrasas are playing a key role in promoting education among Muslims, especially those from poor families, and in areas where state educational provision is either non-existent or in a very bad shape. Several madrasas teach basic Hindi, English and mathematics, in addition to religious studies, and, hence, are obviously not averse to modern subjects. While most teachers desired better teachers’ training facilities, it was found that the managers of the madrasas were not very keen about this. Most teachers were found to be in favour of ‘modernization’ of the madrasas without diluting their religious character. Many of them also wished to acquire a degree from a university, possibly through the open university system, and also supported the idea of madrasa students acquiring such degrees. The report argues that the dedication of the teachers, their commitment to the welfare of the community and their openness to modernization have, however, ‘not been capitalized upon’. It was also found that while the majority of the madrasa teachers claimed that their curriculum has been revised, little has actually been done in this regard.
The survey discovered that although most parents are eager to provide a basic education to their girl children, religious as well as secular, they are unable to educate them further for various reasons: poverty, opposition to co-education and reluctance to send their girls outside the locality for education. In other words, economic conditions, rather than religion per se, are mainly responsible for the low educational status of Muslim girls. Many of them argued that if girls’ schools, staffed by women teachers, were set up in their localities and if they
were provided with scholarships or other such incentives the high drop-out rates of female students would greatly reduce.
The study concludes with a list of suggestions, including recognition of madrasa certificates by the state to enable their students to join regular schools; making the Sarva Shiksha Scheme more pro-active in its involvement with madrasas; including provision of mid-day meals, scholarships, uniforms, para-teachers and schemes for physically challenged students; arranging for vocational training schemes in madrasas; facilitating local literate Muslim women to join anganwadis or infant-care centres and encouraging them to teach at least part-time in girls’ madrasas; encouraging madrasas to appoint more lady teachers; improving infrastructural facilities in madrasas, especially to meet specific needs of girl students, particularly separate toilets; encouraging local community, including religious, leaders to promote girls’ education; and upgrading madrasa teachers’ skills and encouraging them as well as students in higher-level classes to enrol in courses offered by the National Open School and various open universities.
History
Ayodhya: Shared Culture and Traditions : Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Name of the Book: Ayodhya�Sanjhi Sanskriti, Sanjhi Virasat [Hindi]
(‘Ayodhya: Shared Culture and Traditions’)
Author: Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Publisher: Books for Change, New Delhi
(mani@actionaidindia.org)
Pages: 115
Price: Rs.70
Reviewed by: Yoginder Sikand
Ayodhya, which literally means ‘a place free of war’, is today a veritable battle-field. Hindu supremacist forces have used the Ayodhya issue to unleash a trail of terror and bloodshed, resulting in the tragic loss of life of thousands of people, mainly Muslims, and causing a sharp deterioration of inter-communal relations in India. According to Hindutva ideologues, Ayodhya is a Hindu town and must be ‘cleansed’ of all Muslim presence. Yet, as Vidya Bhushan Rawat shows in this remarkable book, Ayodhya is not a holy place only of the Hindus. Rather, for centuries it has been home to a variety of non-Hindu traditions, some of which predate the presence of Brahminical Hinduism in the region.
According to available evidence, Rawat says, Ayodhya was for long a Buddhist centre. The seventh century Chinese traveler Hiuen Tsang noted the presence of several Buddhist temples in the town, but by this time Buddhism, the religion mainly of the oppressed castes, was rapidly declining in the face of Brahminical revivalism. Rawat tells us of how numerous Buddhist temples in Ayodhya were forcibly taken over by the Brahmins and turned into Hindu shrines, some of which, such as the Dant Dhawan Mandir, still stand today. In addition to its Buddhist link, Ayodhya also has a Sikh and Jain connection. A gurudwara in the town commemorates the visit to the town of Guru Nanak, and five Jain tirthankaras are also said to have been born in the town. Likewise, the region of Awadh, of which Ayodhya was a part, was also a great centre of the Kabirpanthis, followers of Muslim weaver-saint Kabir, who was bitterly critical of the Brahminical religion as well as of the legalist approach of the Muslim ulama. In short, Rawat argues, the notion that Ayodhya has always been a principal center of Brahminical Hinduism, so central to contemporary Hindutva discourse, is grossly erroneous. Buddhism, Jaininsm, Sikhism and the Kabirpanth have all been fiercely opposed to Brahminical hegemony and their association with Ayodhya points to the significant presence of anti-Brahminical movements in the region.
Ayodhya has also been a leading centre of Muslim Sufis, Rawat writes. He tells us of the popular belief of Ayodhya being the ‘Khurd Mecca’ or ‘little Mecca’, owing to the number of Sufis who are buried in the town, many of whom arrived there much before the Mughal Emperor Babur, who Hindutva ideologues claim was responsible for constructing a mosque in the town, allegedly on the ruins of a temple. Local lore has it that the prophets Noah and Sheth are buried in the town. In addition are the literally dozens of Sufi saints whose names Rawat provides. Many of their shrines or dargahs were destroyed in 1992 by Hindutva terrorists along with the Babri Masjid and numerous other ancient mosques in Ayodhya. Yet, Rawat says, even today large numbers of Hindus visit these shrines, revering the buried Sufi saints as men of God and as powerful beings capable of providing succour and help. Rawat mentions one such shrine as being looked after by a Hindu, and he quotes a Hindu woman who regularly visits a dargah as saying that the Sufi buried there ‘is no less than any Ram’.
For numerous Dalits, the dargahs provide a sharp contrast to the Brahminical temples, where they face routine discrimination. A Dalit respondent tells Rawat that the current Hindutva wave is the latest phase of Brahminism, a conspiracy to strengthen the caste system and further strengthen Brahminical hegemony. Understandably, then, Rawat says, the free access that the dargahs provide to people of all castes, Dalits included, and the egalitarian message of the Sufis, exercise, as they have historically, a special appeal for the oppressed castes, many of whom continue to visit Ayodhya’s dargahs in large numbers.
Rawat provides other such instances of cross-community interaction to press his point that the Hindutva claim of Ayodhya being a purely Hindu town is erroneous and to counter the Hindutva agenda of pitting Hindus against Muslims. Thus, he says, in Ayodhya Muslim artisans sell flowers to people visiting temples and manufacture wooden sandals that are used by some pilgrims and sadhus. In 1992, when the Babri Masjid was torn down by Hindutva terrorists, and more than 250 houses and shops belonging to local Muslims were burnt down and 13 local Muslims were done to death, some Hindus and Dalits saved Muslim lives. In Ayodhya’s twin town of Faizabad, the Lal Begis, a sweeper community, continue to maintain a liminal identity, not quite Muslim but not quite Hindu either, but somewhat in between. And, as in Ayodhya, large numbers of Hindus flock to the Sufi shrines in Faizabad despite the relentless anti-Muslim rhetoric of the Hindutva brigade.
Rawat links this to Ayodhya’s rich cultural past, which witnessed a remarkable cultural synthesis under the Muslim Nawabs of Awadh. Several temples in the town, he writes, are built on land granted by the Nawabs, under whose reign there is no record of any major Hindu-Muslim conflict. Rawat refers to Tulsidas, author of the Hindi Ramcharitramanas, who wrote his work while living in a mosque in Ayodhya, probably because he was not allowed by the Brahmins to live in a temple because he dared to defy the strict rule of not sharing their religious scriptures with the ‘low’ castes. Closer to our times, Rawat says, other charismatic figures in and around Ayodhya played a key role in the struggle against British imperialism and ‘upper’ caste hegemony, bringing together people of diverse faiths. These included Baba Ramdas, Acharya Narendradev, Ram Manohar Lohia and Ashfaqullah Khan.
In the struggle for social justice and against Hindutva fascism, the little-known aspects of history and the invisibilised voices such as those that Rawat has recorded urgently need to be highlighted. Hindutva’s mythical history must be countered with the histories of these dissenting voices and traditions that defy power and authority and articulate a humanitarian tradition that goes beyond narrowly insc