Role of Contemporary Institutions in Intellectual Training of Madrassa Graduates

Abstract

The training of Madrassa graduates is necessary for the intellectual growth of Islamic scholars. In Pakistan different institutions are working to train the fresh graduates of madaris. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of contemporary institutions in intellectual training of madrassa graduates. Two institutions i.e. Al-Sharia Academy, Gujranwala and Iqbal International Institute for Research and Dialogue (IRD, IIUI), Islamabad are selected as a case study. It is widely perceived by some reputed scholars that Ulama’s indifference towards intellectual training is a notable factor leading to the problems of sectarianism and narrow-mindedness faced by the Muslim societies. Keeping this in view, the study aims to explore the nature of training programmes run by the said institutions for the Ulama. Qualitative method of research is adopted during the research. The paper concludes that the madrassa graduates must be provided opportunities to work with contemporary institutions under the patronage of senior religious scholars. Moreover, all the stakeholders of madrassas must also encourage the role of such institutions in eliminating extremism and terrorism from the society. In addition, the paper finds out the contemporary institutions collaborating with madrassas lacking in significant data in the form of reports in order to gauge their constructive impact on the society.

Key Words: Madrassa, IRD, Al Sharia Academy, Extremism and Ulama

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Introduction

There are thousands of religious scholars who become part of the society after graduating from religious institutions in Pakistan every year. These fresh graduates of madaris are unable to find out solutions of current issues being faced by society due to ignorance of modern arts and sciences. Prime reason for this is that the scholars of religious institutions lack in academic and intellectual training. When they are unable to solve the problems of their respective societies, it leads to questioning their usefulness and causes frustration for them both. This ideological perturbation in Muslim societies was intensified after 9/11. It raised many questions against the religious and social role of contemporary religious scholars. The timely response was the responsibility of the religious leadership, but no serious efforts were made by them except political statements. Interrelationship of Islam and democracy, concept of caliphate, nation states, sectarian divide, tolerance, private Jihad, armed organizations, dialogue among religions, curriculum and system of Madrassa, social harmony, maintenance of peace, women rights and issues, misuse of blasphemy laws, ex-communicatory religious decrees and the role of state, spreading of radicalism and extremism, dialogue among different factions of community, and militant rhetoric, such subjects have been the hot topic of debate in Muslim societies and specifically in Pakistan, since 9/11. But we see that other than few exceptional cases religious groups, organizations and institutions neither paid heed in this direction nor discussed these controversial issues.

This heedlessness of religious groups and their conservative social preferences has created a gap between the society and the religious scholars.?A few contemporary institutions, however, have come forward to bridge this gap. Therefore, since last decade and half, the institutions doing some meaningful research on the above mentioned topics are not the religious institutions but the contemporary institutions, which persuade the religious factions to do research on these topics. There is a long list of contemporary institutions which claim to be working on these topics. However, such institutions whose work is conspicuous and has some impact are very few. In this paper analytical study of two such institutions is conducted so that their work and activities can be judged to see whether they are fulfilling this need of the society or not.

A Brief overview Al-Sharia Academy, Gujranwala and Iqbal International Institute for Research and Dialogue

I will start with a brief introduction of the two institutions that are selected for this paper.

Al-Sharia Academy Gujranwala has a claim to advance religious education and practices with in accordance with modern ways and demands while keeping in view the contemporary issues and challenges of the modern age. The institution was established in 1989 to pave the way for the contact and understanding among the various educational and religious groups of Islamic world, to highlight the intensity of modern era intellectual and educational challenges through the ideological awakening of religious seminaries. Al-Sharia Academy is considered an important institution for religious education, research, and training in Pakistan which has maintained its contact with the Madrassa as an institution, graduates of Madrassa and senior Ulama from the day of its inception.?(Rasid, 2003)

Iqbal International Institute for Research and Dialogue Islamabad was originally established as a global center for Islamic studies in 2005 in Lahore. Later on, it was moved to International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) as a constituent unit of the university. The basic aim and objective of the institute is to encourage and promote interdisciplinary Islamic studies with a critical outlook.?(Ismael, 2017)

Human rights, rule of law, pluralism, social and cultural growth, Muslim societies, diversity and democracy, research and dialogue and the crucial issues of relevance to the West and the modern age have been some of the topics of interest for the fellows of this institution. Inter-religious and inter-sectarian dialogue, the promotion of cooperation among religions, eradication of violence and extremism, and possible solutions have always been under discussion in this institutions. IRD has emerged as a famous research forum in Pakistan in the past ten years.

These institution with their rigorous research identity have turned out to be think tanks where a continuing process of research dialogues, discussions, ideological, and educational research, on changes in Islamic societies, and different educational and ideological trends is bringing about a change in the outlook and thinking strategies of Ulama in Pakistan. These institutions are struggling to promote peace, tolerance, patience and harmony in Pakistan. As Maulana Zahidur Rashidi lamented in 2005:

It is an established fact that modern methods and reasoning as well as access to modern means of communication is vital for religious groups and Ulama. Now the access of religious scholars to modern means of communication i.e. computer, internet, video etc. is beyond their approach. Not only is this but their speaking style also obsolete. The language of the people of madrassa is hard and polemical. This all outdated now. Today’s language is simple, and its nature is that of advocacy. But scholars of madrasa are unaware of these two. Due to their ignorance of today’s language, they often become stranger to their own societies and cannot fulfill the responsibility of conveying their message. Under the onslaught of Western ideology, philosophy and civilization, it is the dire need of the hour that Islamic teachings and practices are communicated in modern style.?(Rashidi Z. , Religious Seminaries and Contemporary, 2005)

?Above mentioned institutions are performing the following tasks very efficiently.

Keeping in view the above-mentioned intellectual background of Al-Sharia Academy and IRD within their scope are involved in activities such as education and research, learning and training, and telecasting and publication. We can divide their services into various domains.

The most important task that both the institutions perform is to conduct trainings, workshops, conferences and seminars. Under the auspices of the Al-Sharia Academy, since 1989, a number of conferences, seminars, trainings and workshops have been organized on educational, research and teaching methodologies for the guidance and training of teachers and students of madaris, and Imams. The important topics of these conferences are mentioned below:

·????????Promotion of Literacy, Education and Promotion of Religious Values, 1996

·????????The Madrassa System of Education and Training (a training workshop for the religious scholars 2003)

·????????The Importance of Social Sciences in Madrassa 2005

·????????The Need for Training System for the Teachers of Madrassa (2006)

Al-Sharia Academy Gujranwala has been organizing special training courses for the scholars of madrassa since 2003. In this course, the scholars are trained for study and research and writings in the following modules:

·????????Selective chapters of Hujjatulah-il-Baligha

·?????????Comparison of?Man-made Laws with Islamic Laws

·????????Major Issues in the History of Islam

·????????Ancient and Modern Muslim Thoughts and Movements

·????????Comparative Religions

·????????Introduction to Politics, Economics and Psychology

·????????Modern Western Ideology and Philosophy

·????????Current Affairs

·????????Every Day Science

·????????English and Arabic languages

·????????Computer science

·????????Modern Issues related to Fiqh

In this course the teaching of translation and exegesis (interpretation of Quran) is also organized wherein along with translation and short explanation, Fiqh and ideological challenges presented by the West and modern ideological thoughts are included.

?Under the rubric of IRD, seminars and training workshops on different topics for scholars of Madrassa are particularly organized. Among the topics of seminars, few important are as follows:

·????????An Analysis of Modernity and Islam

·????????Analyses of Quranic Studies in Pakistan

·????????Islam and way of administration

·????????Moderation and religious institutions

·????????Islam and politics

·????????Modern trends and biography

·????????Challenges of globalization

·????????Role of Muslims in the world

·????????Role of community leaders for the religious tolerance and peace building

·????????Islam and West- Need for mutual understanding, needs and demands. (HusnulAmin, 7 Years of IRD, 2014)

All the above programs are certainly important, however, the most important and unique program is named as University Certification Program (UCP) which was started by IRD in 2016 for madrassa graduates and particularly for training of teachers of madrassa. The basic purpose of the program is to enlighten the graduates of madrassa with modern techniques of pedagogy and to overview the education system implemented during the era of Islamic Golden Age in order to discuss the current system and curriculum of madaris. ?Secondly, the aim of the course is to determine the personality trends of teachers and their techniques of teaching. Thirdly, the aim of this program is to become aware of the various teaching techniques and various factors having an impact on teaching process. Our current Madrassas are hugely different from the golden era of Islamic institutions. That is why it is necessary to impart the passion of pro-active instead of defensive approach.?(Rashid, https://www.iiird.org/category/certification-programs/, 2017)

Currently, under the patronage of IRD, this program is being offered at International Islamic University Islamabad, Government College University of Faisalabad (GCUF), University of Haripur and University of Malakand. The important topics such as self-awareness as a teacher, learning and development, different stages of thoughts, interrogation, problem solving skills, organization of classroom, peace and conflict resolution, human rights, diversity and plurality are taught under this program.

Apart from this, IRD plays a vital role for harmony and tolerance among different Muslim schools of thought i.e. Barelvi, Deobandi, Shia and Ahl-e- Hadith by bringing Ulama of all schools of thought together at one platform. The common people were not involved in inter-sect issues in the past. For sectarian issues, the discussion and dialogue were held only among the Ulama. Provocative debates used to take place among Ulama of different schools of thought yet they never came to the point of conflict and bloodshed. Since last few decades, some unfortunate sectarian conflicts have been unfolding in this wake and negative impacts of sectarianism and religious violence are permeating throughout the Pakistani society. The present situation of Pakistan demands from the vanguards of thoughtful educational groups, religious leaders and representatives of different sects that they should join hands together, and review the causes of religious hatred, sectarian violence and sectarian provocation. IRD has organized different conferences, seminars and study visits in this regard. A two-day conference on “Inter-sect Harmony: Strategies and Policies” on January 20-21, 2015 was organized in Islamabad.

Religious Leaders representing both Shia and Sunni (Barelvi, Deobandi, Ahl-e-hadith) schools of thought presided different sessions of the conference and delivered their keynote speeches. ?The thoughtful dialogue that took place during the conference can play a vital role in the future policy making of inter sect harmony in Pakistan.

At the end of the conference, a 17 point unanimous declaration was issued duly signed by the representatives of all the sects. It has been clearly stated in this declaration that

All schools of thoughts are in full agreement over the supremacy of state and demand implementation of Sharia in the light of 22 points of 31 eminent scholars issued in 1952. They consider that declaring an individual belonging to any sect as infidel and liable to murder is an un-Islamic and an abominable act. Pious caliphate, dignity of Prophet and his family, Imam Mehdi, dignity of pious wives and dignity of companions of prophet are elements of faith. The one who refuses to believe in the above ideas is not a Muslim. Their ridicule and denigration is contemptible and a punishable crime.?(Masoom Yasinzai, 2016)

The publication of books and research journals is another area where Al-Sharia Academy Gujranwala and IRD have done a lot of work. These two institutions have published books of famous researchers from Pakistan and abroad on different topics. Many editions of these books have been published and their circulation is quite wide. For the training of the scholars of the religious institutions by keeping in view the system and curriculum, Al-Sharia Academy has published some books. The most prominent among them are following:

·????????Curriculum of Religious Institutions. (Rashidi Z. , 2007)

·????????Religious Institution and Contemporary Age.?(Mewati, 2007)

·????????Our Religious Institutions: An Analysis of Few Important Questions.?(Rashidi Z. , Our Religious Institutions: an Analysis of few Importent Questions, 2008)

·????????System and Curriculum of Religious Institutions – A Critique?(Rashidi Z. , System and Currculum of Religious Institution, 2007)

·????????Muslims Religious and Mainstream Educational System. (Ghazi, 2010)

Likewise IRD has published following books on the above mentioned topics:

·????????Madrassa - Traditionalism and reforms- In the sight of Ulama. (Mumtaz, 2012)

·????????Religious Madaris: Temporal Significance and Modern Needs (Moosa, 2017)

·????????Madrasah Extremism-Nexus: Text, Context and Contemporary Debates (Rashid, Madrasah Extremism-Nexus: Text, Context and Contemporary Debates, 2017)

·????????Politics of Madrassa Reforms in Pakistan?(Lodhi, 2016)

Among the books published by IRD, two are very prominent: one of them “Madrassa - Traditionalism and Reforms- in the Sight of Ulama” is written by Mumtaz Ahmed[1], whereas the second book “Religious Madaris: Temporal Significance and Modern Needs” is written by American scholar Ebrahim Moosa.[2]

The book compiled by Mumtaz Ahmed consists of interviews of different Ulama of Madrassas.

Mumtaz Ahmed worked on such topic when such topics were not in vogue. In this book, he has narrated the circumstances of meetings with the leaders of Madrassa of Deobandi, Ahle-Hadeeth, Brelvi and Jamat e Islami. Meetings with Ulama who followed the norm of Nadwa are also the part of this book. While reading this book the collective impression that emerges is that the Ulama and the administrator of the madrassa acknowledge that there is a wide chasm between the system and curriculum of madrassa and the contemporary needs but they will not introduce amendments in their system on external pressure and this view still holds true as far as Pakistani religious seminaries are concerned.

Ebrahim Moosa wrote his book after 9/11 at the time when Muslims and madaris had been declared as responsible for terrorism. He wrote this book to explain the current situation of madrassa to inform the Western world that the madrassas are not what they think. This book with its English title “What is a Madrassa?” was published in 2015 from the University of North Carolina. Later on it was published by IRD with Urdu translation by an Indian scholar Waris Mazhari[3] in Pakistan.

On the one hand, this book introduces madrassas to western world and on the other, it makes the authorities of madrassa to think about madrassa with a different perspective.

Similarly, under the supervision of Al-Sharia Academy Gujranwala, a magazine of erudite and thoughtful nature called “Al-Sharia’’ is published. Since October 1989 monthly magazine “Al-Sharia’’ is being published regularly in which the writings of different scholars are published with reference to the challenges being faced by the Muslim Ummah. “Al-Sharia” has specially contributed towards creating an environment of open debate and discussion among the conservative sections of Pakistani society represented by the Ulama and by highlighting the ideological and civilizational challenges posed by the West.

?Critical Analysis

In previous pages we have tried to present a comparative overview of the contribution of Al-Sharia Academy Gujranwala and IRD, Islamabad. It is possible to say that Al-Sharia Academy Gujranwala, for the last three decades and IRD since 2005, have been working on a broad-based intellectual training of scholars of madrassa in Pakistan. After 9/11 such institutions have rendered valuable services to find out solutions for issues being raised in the wavering circumstances.

Al-Sharia Academy Gujranwala and IRD have played an important role for the betterment and development of Madrassa curriculum and madrasa scholars. However, Al-Sharia Academy must be counted as the pioneers of this trend. The founder of the academy belongs to a lineage of knowledgeable traditional Ulama and this is what makes their contribution unique. Zahid Rashidi started this work when there was no such thinking present in the circle of conservative scholars. He faced a lot of criticism but he continued this work.?(Nasir, https://www.alsharia.org/mujalla/2014/june-special/, 2014) Today the positive impact of this institution is visible on a cross-section of Pakistani madaris.

Al-Sharia Academy Gujranwala, though with limited resources, has enlightened the madrassa and religious circles with the ethics of modern educational techniques and confronted challenges of modernity through dialogue, discussion and debate. The work done by Al-Sharia Academy Gujranwala has transformed particular mindset and ideological framework present among scholars and Ulama of Madrassa. They are tempted towards debate and discussion.

Similarly, as a result of IRD’s efforts, a great number of scholars and students, by rejecting the sectarian differences, are attracted towards the issues faced by the Muslim Ummah. Maintenance of global peace is possible by solution of these issues.

Al-Sharia Academy Gujranwala and monthly Al-Sharia magazine have highlighted the dissent in Deobandi thought and have promoted the tolerance and respect for other opinions, whereas IRD by Organizing training and research conferences on inter-religion harmony and inter-sect tolerance has taught madrassa graduates and other Islamic scholars the ethics to accept difference of opinion between different religions and sects. It has been able to nurture a spirit of among the participants of its workshops, seminars and conferences.

The Al-Sharia Academy Gujranwala has tried to make it clear that the tradition of open debate, discussion and dialogue is imperative and inevitable part of our collective attitude and Islamic ethics of discussion and research. Whereas IRD by promoting this tradition of research has provided a platform to madrassa scholars to publish their research on different topics. The academy founder writes:

Our tragedy is that we have mixed the various levels and circles of differences. When there is a discussion about good and better, we turn it into a battle between belief and disbelief. When there is a discussion of good and evil, we indulge into altercation. If we keep the difference of opinion in its essence by understanding the circles and levels of differences, then a lot of conflicts will automatically be resolved and environment of mutual respect and tolerance will prevail.?(Rashidi Z. , Revival of Religion in Western Society , 2014)

There is a great lesson for the Muslims around the world and is a perfect recipe for the solution of their internal problems and this is what Al-Sharia Academy has been striving for over the last 30 years.

Conclusion

To conclude this, it might be said that it is really essential that the need for reform in Madrassa is felt by the people of Madrassa themselves and should not be imposed from outside. There is a long list of projects since 9/11 at reforming madrassas in Pakistan but the results have not been very fruitful. Private efforts by institutions like Al-Sharia Academy must be hailed as they represent the inner voice of the people of madrassa. Efforts by government-funded institutions, like IRD are also an important part of the drive to equip madrassa graduates with significant life-skills and they can offer an opportunity to students belonging to various sectarian denominations to interact with each other and imbibe a spirit of tolerance through such gatherings. This is lacking in Al-Sharia Academy’s initiatives as their scope only extends to the Deobandi school of thought.

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[1] Late Dr Mumtaz Ahmad (1940-2016), was a social scientist, scholar and academic who led International Islamic University as Present (IIUI) / IRD as an Executive Director.

[2] Ebrahim Moosa is Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Notre dame America in the Department of History and the Kroc Institute for International Studies. He is considered a leading scholar of contemporary Muslim thought. Moosa has been named as one of the top 500 Influential Muslims in the World. Moosa is one of the most prominent intellectual theoreticians behind progressive Muslim thought

[3] Waris Mazhari is a graduate of Dar ul-Uloom Deoband, and Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from the Jamia Millia Islamia. Presently, he teaches Islamic Studies at the Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad, India.

This article was presented in International Conference on Future of Education: Challenges of Traditional versus Modern Approaches (FECTM) in 2019, Malaysia.