Is Madrasa Reform Possible?

By Arshad Alam, New Age Islam 10 May 2023 How Do Reformists Plan To Reconcile Contradictory Worldviews? Main Points: 1. It is common place to argue that madrasas must be reformed, but Muslim reformists fail to tell us how to go about it 2. Rather than playing for the gallery, it will be better if they come out with some kind of blueprint for reforming this institution 3. Reform should not just entail addition of piecemeal subjects but should be a synthesis between two very different worldviews ----- Representative Photo ----- When it comes to talking about madrasas, Muslim articulation generally takes two positions. The first comes from the conservative section of the Ulama who argue that there is no problem with the system and hence there is no need to change it. They posit that the same system of religious instruction has continued since the time of the Prophet and hence changing it would amount to going against the way of the Sunna. The second position is that of the reformists within Muslims who argue that the present system of Islamic instruction has become outmoded and hence it should be changed to meet current demands. They point out that the conservative position is ahistorical as Muslims and Islam have always evolved with changing times. While the latter position is correct, it is important to point out that the reformist position itself is not well thought out. The reformist position is a modernist one in the sense that they want the inclusion of modern subjects into the curriculum of madrasas, a majority of whom are content to teach purely religious subjects. However, beyond this, the reformist position does not spell out how this reform can be effectively implemented. This is because there is no delving deep into the problems of the system. These are basically feel-good reformists, who think that simply by saying that science and history should be taught at madrasas, they have solved one of the biggest problems of Muslim society. But the minute you ask them, how should this be done, they fall silent. In short, they have nothing worthwhile to add to the debate except for wishful thinking regarding madrasa reform. Let us first interrogate the oft-repeated assertion that one should reform the madrasa curriculum by adding modern subjects like science, history, etc. The extant syllabus within madrasas is purely a religious one, after the then Dars e Nizami was modified in this fashion by Deoband. There are books on Quran, hadis, fiqh, etc, which takes up all the time of students. How then, one might ask, will it be possible to add new subjects without overburdening the students? Do these reformists want students to study all the time? Have they thought about the psychological and emotional effect it is going to have on these students? We must also understand that the basic postulates of madrasa education and modern education are fundamentally different. Within a Barelwi madrasa, for example, children are still made to learn that the sun revolves round the earth and not vice versa. After all, their ideologue, Ahmad Riza, spent a considerable time ‘proving’ that the heliocentric theory of the known universe was patently false as it contradicted the Quran. What is being argued here is that the worldview and assumption about most things are fundamentally different when we talk of science and religion. Most of our pundits repeat ad nauseam that science should be taught at madrasas but they have no clue regarding how to integrate the teaching of science with that of Islam. In a recent documentary produced by a portal, one learned pundit even claimed that many madrasas were already teaching science. But of course, if you ask this expert to name some of these madrasas, he wouldn’t be able to name even one of them. The simple reason is that there has been no study which can tell us that madrasas are undergoing this transformation. These self-appointed spokespersons of the Muslim community have no idea what they are talking about. Representative Photo ----- But let us for a moment assume that madrasas really want to teach these modern subjects. The most logical question then should be whether they have the capacity to do it? Who are the teachers in these institutions? They are recruited on the basis of their traditional education which they have received in madrasas. How can they be expected to teach subjects in which they have no competency? Moreover, most of them are recruited not through any competitive exam but through caste and familial networks. Educationists the world over have argued that if one really wishes to change the educational system, then one should first look at the preparedness of teachers. Without any insult to madrasa teachers, can we really ask them to do something for which they are not trained in the first place? But of course, for our reformist Muslims, this seems to be no problem at all. What about government programs like modernization of madrasas which allow madrasas to hire teachers specifically for the teaching of subjects like science and mathematics? Certainly, such programs exist. But anyone who has worked on its implementation will tell you that the program is badly targeted. Broadly, there are two kinds of madrasas in the country: those run by the state and those run by the community. The problems that we have so far been discussing does not relate to government funded madrasas. These state funded madrasas already teach modern subjects. The problem is that of the community funded madrasas, which only teach religious subjects. The focus of the madrasa modernization program should have been these community madrasas but given the lack of Muslim representation in higher bureaucracy, it looks like no one told them about this difference between state and community funded madrasas. The result is that most of the funds have been cornered by state funded madrasas. But what is more worrisome is this: even the community funded madrasas have utilized these funds to engage untrained undergraduate teachers to teach science and math. And if one digs deeper, one will find webs of nepotism, based on family and caste. Ultimately, it is the poor and overwhelmingly Shudra Muslim students of such madrasas who suffer the most. So, the question of reform is not just philosophical but also practical. Is the madrasa capable of transforming itself into a place of modern learning? I think it is not. If Muslims are really interested in their educational advancement, then it is better that they should start looking beyond this redundant institution. The only way forward should be reliance on secular private or state institutions rather than madrasas. But then both the reformists and the conservatives will argue that Islamic learning will be eclipsed in India. This is pure nonsense. Traditional scholars should and will not disappear but even such scholars should compete minimum years of secular schooling. What can be done is to institute departments of Islamic theology in colleges and universities. Islamic scholars should graduate from such institutions but not before completing 12 years of state schooling. In this way, they would be able to straddle both the sacred and profane worlds. And who knows; they might even be able to find a creative solution to combine these divergent worldviews! ---- A regular contributor to NewAgeIslam.com, Arshad Alam is a writer and researcher on Islam and Muslims in South Asia. URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-society/madrasa-reform-ulema/d/129747 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism