Pakistan: “The main focus of the education in the madrassahs is on Jihad”
The author, a reformist Muslim, writes: “The main focus of the education in the madrassahs is on Jihad, but the students are not told about the most significant type which is ‘struggle with oneself’, Jihad bin Nafs, rather the simple meaning of Jihad explained to the students is that of battles and wars.”
There is a reason for that: Jihad bin Nafs has much less of a presence in Islamic texts and teachings than jihad as warfare, whatever Linda Sarsour and apologists for Islam in the West may claim to the contrary. In any case, with Pakistani youth being primarily trained in jihad, and children in the West being primarily trained in tolerance, multiculturalism, relativism, and hatred of their own history and culture, what do you think the outcome will be?
“The old madrassa needs to be revived to free religious education from the clutches of extremists,” by Sajid Kamal, Dunya News, July 16, 2017:
In the contemporary world, the word ‘Madrassah’, undoubtedly, has been associated with terrorism, extremism, sectarianism and religious fundamentalism. The religious clerics, in Pakistan, received huge sums of funds from the United States and Saudi Arabia to build Madrassahs in the FATA region and across Pakistan, after the soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The tactical and strategic support to these Madrassahs and their students was provided by the ISI and CIA. Since 2001, the Madrassahs have been playing a huge role in the terrorist activities across Pakistan, and the ‘monster’ unleashed to have strategic gains, has been difficult to control. According to the Ministry of Education report of 2015, a large number of Madrassahs, roughly estimated 11,000, are either unregistered or unreported across the country. The students in these Madrassahs, mostly, are from a weak financial background. According to Zubeda Jalal, “Madrassas often crop up where there is little government and few private schools, and the poor can only afford madrassas in order to educate their children.”
The Madrassahs only impart education of pure theology and are unaware about the subjects of social and natural sciences. Even the teachers, on whom these students are depending, have no idea of the realities and complexities of the contemporary world. The main focus of the education in the madrassahs is on Jihad, but the students are not told about the most significant type which is ‘struggle with oneself’, Jihad bin Nafs, rather the simple meaning of Jihad explained to the students is that of battles and wars. The west or the United States are depicted as the cause of all the problems which the Muslim countries are facing in the current era, and the anti-West feelings are sown in the young and fertile hearts of the young students. In short, in the Madrassahs in Pakistan the students are not taught the subjects needed to not only to have good living but also to play a key role in the development of the society.
It is extremely important to know the instances where it all went wrong. The first instance can be traced back to the year 1866, when Darul Uloom Deoband was established on the ideology of Anti-Imperialist and Islamic revivalist. The solution of the problems of the Muslims of the Indo-Pak subcontinent was sought in the theological teachings of Islam and the modern education was called a trap by the British Raj to deviate the Muslims from their culture and religion. So, the focus was on the theological education rather than the modern education of the students. The seeds of contemporary Madrassah system were sown during that time, as the modern education of science was forbidden. The second instance is significantly the Afghan War, 1979, when a large number of Madrassahs were established with a special focus on the education of Jihad (Holy War). The policies of Pakistan during that time phase have been haunting the state and the society till date….
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