Islam and Education: Conflict and Conformity in Pakistan’s Madrassas
Author: Saleem. H Ali, University of Vermont
Price:  £4.99, Pages: 228, ISBN: 9780195476729
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)

The institution of madrasa as an Islamic centre of education in Pakistan has been under intense public scrutiny in the wake of war on terrorism.  Unlike other books on Madrasas which mostly focused on curriculum, Saleem Ali’s work provides “an empirically grounded analysis” of madrassas in Pakistan. It also offers a comprehensive examination of Islamic education as an integrated social movement while providing guidance to policy makers on Madrasa reforms.

After 9/11, the government in Pakistan has been under American pressure to reform madrasas and introduce modern syllabus. To make Islamabad fall in line with the diktat, Washington has loosened its purse strings.   Expectedly there is resistance to reform and to registration with the authorities first during the Musharraf regime, and then PPP rule. The situation is no different now under the Sharif government.

In 1947, when Pakistan was carved out of the Indian sub-continent as home for Muslims, there were only 137 madrassas in the country. Nine years later a survey put the number at around 250.  By 2009, when this book was published, the number increased to anywhere between 12,000 and 15,000 with an enrolment of around 1.5 and 2 million students.

If we go by the observations of noted Pak commentator I A Rehman (Madressah & Education Reform, Dawn, Jan 22, 2015),  Pakistan today has a total of 43, 586 madrasas. As many as 35, 337 of them, accounting for more than 80 percent of the madrasas in the country are still outside any regulatory system. Wifaq-ul-Madaris and Ittehad-e-Tanzeem-ul-Madaris Pakistan (ITM) are the two platforms for seminaries in Pakistan. ITM represents five major schools of thought.

Around 18000 madrasas are affiliated to it and accounts for around 30 million students .

Both education and health are not priority items for Pakistan budget. So both sectors are languishing.

The government runs some 15000 schools with an enrolment of around 16 million.  These schools are ill-equipped and are understaffed.  Privately run schools which offer mostly in the English medium are said to be over 35000 and cater to some six million students.

Mosque schools where the local imam doubles up as teacher number around 25000. These are what may be called neighbourhood schools, and are the preferred option of poor parents. The Mosque schools are different from madrasas in their structure and syllabus.  But they are also centres of hate learning.

The author examines the origin and context of Madrasa phenomenon, and funding of Islamic education in Pakistan. A chapter has been devoted to study connection between Madrasas and violence.

Three chapters are devoted to issues related to “Madrassahs and Modernity: the role of government and other stakeholders in conflict prevention”, “Education, Development and Conflict prevention: The Role of Foreign Powers”, and “Ways to Reconcile Traditional Education with Modernity”.

Empirical case studies were presented from Ahmedpur East and Islamabad (capital territory).

Islamabad’s notorious Lal Masjid, its madrasa and Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi find a mention in the book.

Writes Saleem Ali: “When I interviewed Maulana Abdul Aziz Ghazi in the winter of 2004, he came across as someone who regarded most foreign researchers with suspicion and felt that Islamabad was being indoctrinated by foreign elements. There was little doubt that this was a madrassa with a mission of sanctimonious reform of the urban corridors of power. The governing board of madrassas was well aware of this radicalisation but kept a low profile on the matter until early 2007 when they finally expelled the Red Mosque family of madrassas from their board.” (Page:173).

The garrulous general, Pervez Musharraf, as the military ruler of Pakistan, can be blamed for putting the Agha Khan University on the firing line of Islamist zealots.   In the November of 2002, Musharraf regime asked the Aga Khan University Examination Board (AKUEB) to arrest the decline in educational standards, and hold examinations for private educational institutions.

Agha Khan followers are Ismailis. So much so the religious parties came out against Musharraf and his reform. Leading the chorus was none other than Hafiz Saeed, who heads the Muridke based Jamaat-ud-Dawa, (Organization for Preaching, JuD), a sprawling enterprise of Sunni militant group, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

The zealots found a stick to force Musharraf to beat a hasty retreat.  USAID has been funding the educational programmes of the Aga Khan Foundation. It has given a grant of $4 million for the establishment of the examination board. What more religious parties need to raise their hackles against the Ismailis.

“Musharraf is working on making the Northern Areas an Ismaili state. He has been pressured by Christina Rocca (the then US assistant secretary of state for South Asia) to hand over Kashmir to Prince Karim Aga Khan so that he could annex it with the Northern Areas and make it his fiefdom,” Hafeez Seed wrote provocatively in the internet edition of his weekly Ghazwa (Nov 4, 2004)

The author is critical of Hafeez-Speak.  And compares it with the campaign that resulted during the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto rein in condemning the Ahmedis. (Page -113)

There is no denying that madrassas have served an important social purpose in Pakistan and other Muslim countries. These institutions are inherently capable of providing a safety net to the civil society.  But problem is with the approach to Madrasa reforms.

Touching upon the subject in a Policy Brief, Aug 2009 of Brookings Doha Center, the author himself highlighted the flipside of the reform process. “Neither the Pakistani government nor U.S. policymakers can be complacent about the situation in Pakistan’s madrassas”, he said, and listed five reasons to drive home his case.

These are

1. a) Madrassa graduates have limited employability because their skill-set is relatively small compared to other school graduates because of an outdated curriculum.
2. b) Modernity in madrassas is often equated with access to computers and good infrastructure. However, such attributes without proper curricular changes only make the madrassa graduate potentially more vulnerable to recruiting by internet-based extremist organizations.
3. c) Even though a vast majority of madrassas are not linked to any international terrorist organizations, they tend to perpetuate an exclusionary world view both within Islamic sects and with reference to other Faiths.
4. d) While the absolute number of madrassas is a fraction of the total number of schools in Pakistan, their impact is still large in the most isolated parts of the country that have the highest potential for radicalization.

On Dec 15, 2015, an influential American law maker, Ed Royce, who heads the powerful House Foreign Relations Committee’s Congressman, demanded that Pakistan must close down at least 600 Madrasas saying that “they are fanning terrorism and extremism in Pakistan”.  He charged Pakistan with failing to eliminate the extremist mindset.

This demand was a sequel to a deadly shooting in California on December 2 by a radicalised Pakistani-origin couple that killed 14 people.    The Congressman also asked the White House to stop the $2 billion annual aid to Pakistan. He demanded accountability by Pakistan for $30 billion given as aid 9/11.

If the situation does not show a turnaround, Ed Royce could find his call become a new sticky point in the US-Pak bilateral ties.

– By RAM SINGH KALCHURI