ABOLISHING MADRASAAS: Need Of The Hour

ABOLISHING MADRASAAS: Need Of The Hour

 

Sounds very strange! But this is the hard reality. This we will have to accept at one point or another. We are already late. The existence of madrasaas is a hindrance to the Muslims’ integration into the mainstream society. It is not fact that fewer Muslim children go to madaris.  Those fewer graduates reinforce the marginalization and propagate of a Deen which is divorced of dunyaa. The system of education in madaris is especially based on repetitibe learning and no independent research which is actively discouraged. In many of the madaris, instead of teaching the Quran, instead a specific book is taught, as an example. The Quran is not the focus in our madaris.

The Muslim community is spending a lot on these madrasaas but doesn’t get much in return in terms of the social and economic improvement of its situation – leave alone fulfilling any civilizational goals. In many cases the graduates of these madaris remain dependent on the community for the rest of their lives. A huge number of them cannot join a private or government sector. Thus, they perpetuate the same vicious cycle from which we will be required to come out someday.

Despite many long years of study they are not able to earn a dignified living. I often wonder that with the same number of years of education the ‘modern educated’ person can earn much better living than the madreasa education. The same number of years of education at a top class University will make one a leader and a critical thinker.  But the madrassa graduate does not play a critical thinking part in wordly, nationally or local affairs. 

This cycle needs to be put to an end – someday. The perpetuation of madrasaas, in my view, is against the spirit of the Quran and contradicts the tasks that the Muslims are supposed to perform on earth as the vicegerents (khulafaa’) on the dunyaa. They have to lead the world. With the existing system and division of knowledge they cannot.

We should have a uniform school system till grade XII and the usual specialization programs after that – based on the interest of the students themselves. We can ultimately do away with the nomenclatures like ‘modern’, ‘traditional’, ‘secular’ and ‘religious’. The names leave an unconscious impact and condition the patterns of thinking and further harden the schema. This is why the division has become deeper. Therefore, let us just name the sciences and disciplines e.g. Chemistry, Biology, Tafseer, Business Administration, Hadeeth, Nanotechnology, Fiqh and Biotechnology etc etc.

I would, however, not advocate any hasty steps or decision in this regard. We need to communicate with the ‘Ulama. We need to put forth our arguments in front of the ‘Ulama and listen to them  patiently. We especially need to argue that Islam does not believe in the division of knowledge into ‘secular’ and ‘religious’. This fact they should know more than anyone else. That the Muslims should master all the sciences of the world and become founders of many more they should know far more than anybody else. That they should know English and Arabic more than anyone else in order to discharge their duties on earth – more than all others.

Also, we need to argue with the ‘Ulama that we should not decide at a very early stage of a child which specialization he/she should take. We should never decide their future studies. We should only facilitate the students as they move forward – utilizing some psychological tools to figure out their aptitude. This is a must if we want excellence. We should – at the same time – have some plans in place to teach Arabic and the fundamentals of Islam to our youngsters in their (regular) school years.

Arguments will be put forth that the madaris are rendering very good ‘service’ to Islam. I do not subscribe to the idea of “serving” Islam. Islam does not need to be served. If we are able to serve ourselves better, this is enough. Otherwise we inherently hearts of hearts that Islam is weak. Hence, it needs to be supported or served. This is a grave mistake. And the existence of madrasaas has reinforced this notion. The “services”, however, which the madrasaas have rendered are not the only ones which they could have rendered. We almost always underestimate ourselves. We almost always see what is happening and do not try to see what more could have happened.

There is a need to build momentum for the above with a lot of patience and persistence. It is a crucial step – as crucial as surgery which becomes essential at some point of time. The existence of madrasaas is like that organ in the body of Muslims which needs to be amputated. But there are processes before the actual surgery is performed. Also, the doctors shouldn’t do so without the consent of the ‘family members’. The job of the doctors, however, in this case is also to convince the ‘family members’ - going the extra mile. This is why we need to take the ‘Ulama along. We have to find ways to engage them in dialogue for the purpose.