Yunus’s Explanation of The Concluding Remark Of His Recent Review With Chat.Gpt On The Dire Need For Upgrading The Madrassa Education

By Muhammad Yunus, New Age Islam (Co-author (Jointly with Ashfaque Ullah Syed), Essential Message of Islam, Amana Publications, USA, 2009) 25 March 2025 The chat appearing as his article dated March 18 concluded with the following remark: “In sum, it is indeed possible to broaden the scope and curriculum of madrassa education by outstanding for many centuries broadening the horizons of Hadith to embrace all positive universal fields of knowledge as was the case in early Islam unless the custodians of madrassa education wore blinkers on their eyes or there was a conspiracy from any quarter to keep the Muslims backward on the turf of civilization.” This outburst is triggered by the continued resistance of the custodians of madrassa curriculum to modernize – that is, bring secular or universal subjects including English language in its ambit. This is a long-standing issue that has persisted for centuries and has become the bane of Islamic civilization at least in the subcontinent. Since the beginning of his engagement with NAI as a writer/commentator end 2011, Yunus has voiced his serious concern on the marginalization of secular subjects and English language in the madrassas which focus primarily on theological subjects and treat the secular subjects and English as taught in all civil schools in the sidelines. As this deprives their students from acquiring the same level of universal knowledge and functional literacy in English as their counterparts in civil schools all across India - which either omit theology as a full time subject or teach it as an optional or secondary subject. This severely handicaps the students of the madrassas in competing for job in the employment market, corporate business world and civil service that demand a basic level of secular knowledge and functional literacy in English as imparted in civil schools. Recognizing that transformation from a theological centric curriculum to secular or modern curriculum is far from easy to accomplish, Yunus penned a number of articles tabling compelling grounds for the proposed change, the crux of which is captured in the following extracts from his articles referenced in each case: Extract-1: “As Europe was witnessing an explosive growth in science and technology and other fields of knowledge in the wake of Renaissance (15th century CE onwards), the orthodox Islam forbade the emerging knowledge to Muslims. They espoused a doctrine of taqlid (conformity with the views of past scholars) that held that all that was to be learnt had already been learnt during the Prophet’s era and therefore all new knowledge was biddat – undesirable innovation. Accordingly, Muslim scholars -barring exceptions stood on the sidelines watching the advancements in Europe with silent skepticism. This resulted in stagnancy of knowledge, abhorrence against any scientific advancement, and division of universal knowledge into Islamic and European categories. In fact, as reviewed by Murad Hofmann, an eminent German scholar convert to Islam, “the hostility of the orthodox theologians (Ulama) against the so called European knowledge, led them to, among others, burn down an observatory in Turkey in 1580 - just a year after its erection, and close down the first printing press in the Islamic world, in the same city in 1745….. “Today, the participation of Muslims in academic and professional fields, cultural arenas, and prestigious and lawful avenues of livelihood in practically all Muslim minority countries is abysmally low as their educational, professional and cultural attainments are handicapped by their own or their parents’/ancestors’ madrassa based education. In historical perspective, if any single agency has to bear the blame it is probably the Ulama and the orthodox Islam - their throwback influence and reductive madrassa curriculum as this discourse amply demonstrates – however bitter this may sound.“ Ref: An Open Reminder to the Ulamas: Rejecting universal knowledge as un-Islamic is brazenly un-Islamic and kufr (denial of truth) – dated Nov. 20, 2011. http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamIslamicShariaLaws_1.aspx?ArticleID=5961 Extract-2: “Given the social, cultural and economic decline of Muslims in India that hardly needs any elaboration and the fragmentation, divergence and academic stagnancy of Islamic theologically oriented institutions including the madrassas and their self-imposed and ungodly restriction on the promotion of universal education, all these institutions must be brought under the ambit of RTI as far as school level curriculum is concerned. There can be one subject on religion focusing on the inter-faith and universal dimensions of Islamic message, given that each Muslim household teaches the basics of religion to its children. At this critical juncture in Indian history, those who oppose the proposed scheme can only be the enemies of the Muslims in India – not their friends or well-wishers.” Re: The Opponents of the Right to Universal Education (RTE) to the Muslims are the enemies of Indian Muslims. Dated Dec. 15, 2011. http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamIjtihadRethinkingIslam_1.aspx?ArticleID=6146 Extract-3: “If the educated Muslims remain a silent witness to the exclusion of RTE to the madrasas as per popular demand, they or their posterity will have to pay a very heavy price. The mainstream Hindu community in India is going through a series of major reforms – many in line with the Qur’anic message – notably eradication of caste system, women’s right to inheritance, a widow’s right to remarry and so on. The Indian Muslims on the other hand are opposing reforms – much in the way their ancestors did in British India that led to their self-imposed exodus from India, created inter-faith hatred and the culture of riots. If the Muslims fail to keep pace with the progressive strides of the mainstream Hindu community, they will end up as the pariahs and the underdogs of Indian society and bear the wrath of those who want India to shine, and the educated Muslims will alone bear the responsibility for this self-imposed doom.” Intellectual Ambivalence of Educated Indian Muslims: the RTE versus the Ridiculous Fatwas http://www.newageislam.com/ijtihad,-rethinking-islam/intellectual-ambivalence-of-educated-indian-muslims--the-rte-versus-the-ridiculous-fatwas/d/6194 - Dec. 2011 Extract-4: “there is an urgent need for a major paradigm shift in Islamic religious thoughts and the scope and curriculum of traditional madrassas: they should be converted to universal houses of learning like the Western missionary schools with the same curricula and education system as in civil schools – with the addition of a Religion class. The Muslim students may be taught the fundamentals of the Qur’anic message and the non-Muslims, the fundamentals of their faith.” Re: The evolution of the Hadith sciences and the Prophet’s Sunna and the need for a Major Paradigm Shift regarding the role of the Hadith Corpus and the scope of Madrassa education – dated Feb. 08, 2012 . http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamIslamicShariaLaws_1.aspx?ArticleID=6581 Extract-5: “Thus, as long as Islam clings to its medieval roots of Hadith driven close-circuit scholarship, the Muslims will remain backwards in all fields of knowledge, readily accept what comes to their ears or what their enemies tell them without any critical analysis, remain divided in myriad issues of life, lack vision and foresight, and be conveniently manipulated by rival civilizations as part of history’s game plan. They will attribute all their shortcomings to conspiracy theory and sink deeper and deeper into an abyss of decline that the renowned Indian poet, Altaf Hussain Hali put in these words: “If anyone wants to see the decline of a community surpassing all limits = he must look at Islam’s incapability to rise after its fall” [in original Urdu: “pasti ka koi hadd se guzarna dekhe = = Islam ka gir kar na ubharna dekhe”, Musaddase Hali] “there is a pressing need to substitute the predominantly theological content of the curriculum of traditional religious schools (madrassas) with a focused study of the universal dimensions of the Qur’anic message and a comprehensive study of the ever expanding fields of universal sciences and diverse faculties of knowledge (and art forms) that are nothing but the manifestations of the Words (kalimat) of God (18:109, 31:27), that cannot be divided between Islamic and non-Islamic domains. Re: The grievous impacts of Hadith sciences in the later centuries of Islam – a soul searching exercise and a final call to the Muslim ulama and intellectual elite. – November 2013 https://www.newageislam.com/viewComments/14361 Extract-6: Infuriated, challenged, daunted or overwhelmed by the achievements of the Western/ modern world and shocked and aggrieved by Islam’s decline, the orthodox Ulema dismiss the West as an abode of Shaytan and aspire to create a separate identity for the global Muslim community in defiance of the Qur’an explicit emphasis on pluralism and humanism. In their Friday (Congregation prayer) sermons, they preach a divide between Islam and all other faith communities and thus block integration of the Muslims with the mainstream societies in Muslim minority countries, underplay the role of universal knowledge, undermine the prodigal advances of modern civilization, restrict the Qur’anic message to Islam’s pillars of faith (spiritual dimension), and underplay the universal dimensions of its message that connects Islam with the modern pluralistic world. Thus they have virtually reduced Islam to a static medieval creed that constantly benchmarks against its achievements of that era, remains oblivion to the over-riding civilizational issues and challenges of this era and wittingly or unwittingly, plays in the hands of the terror outfits who entertain common aspirations of a separate global identity for the Muslims. Re: Muslims Must Take A Hard Look At The Popular Islamic Theology Of The Era Focus On The Essentials Of Their Din To Survive In This Progressive, Pluralistic, Humanistic And Politically Volatile Era And Avoid Suicidal Collapse http://www.newageislam.com/islam-and-pluralism/muhammad-yunus,-new-age-islam/muslims-must-take-a-hard-look-at-the-popular-islamic-theology-of-the-era,-focus-on-the-essentials-of-their-deen-to-survive-in-these-progressive,-pluralistic,-humanistic-and-politically-volatile-times/d/104710 Sept 2015 Extract-7 “Chat.gpt said: By recognizing that Hadith played a crucial role in shaping Islamic civilization, you disarm critics who might accuse you of rejecting the Hadith tradition outright. It highlights that the Hadith sciences were not merely theological but also supported the broader intellectual and cultural flourishing of the Islamic Golden Age. …. Hadith once served a vital function, but in today’s world, its rigid application may hinder progress. By contrasting early Islamic achievements with medieval European stagnation, you subtly suggest that it was a dynamic and adaptive approach to knowledge—including Hadith—that propelled Muslims forward.” Re: Upgrading The Scope Of Hadith To Help Recapture Their Role In The Early Centuries Of Islam Through Its Golden Age dated March 18, 2025 https://www.newageislam.com/ijtihad-rethinking-islam/upgrading-scope-of-hadith-in-islam/d/134910 Author’s Clarification of his seemingly radical suggestion: This writer’s suggestion of bring universal/secular subjects in the ambit of hadith was just an effort to convince the highly recalcitrant custodians of madrassa that the modern sciences including English or European languages are not un-Islamic and therefore they must not have any reservation against incorporating them in their curriculum as this writer has been advocating on compelling grounds since his engagement with NAI in 2011 – as extracts from his published article illustrate. His suggestion appears to be a radical thinking but it is not so if viewed through the lens of the Qur’an – the ultimate source of guidance and font of wisdom for those who believe in its divinity. As illustrated in my referenced article of March 18 above, the Qur’an uses the noun hadith to denote the Qur’an itself (52:34), and any discourse however rich in knowledge such as comparable to Qur’an: "Allah has sent down the best ḥadīth: a Book, consistent in its frequent repetitions..." (ḥadīth here clearly refers to the Qur'an as the ultimate divine message.) (39:23) · "Then let them produce a statement (ḥadīthin) like it, if they should be truthful." (Again, ḥadīth refers to divine revelation, challenging skeptics to produce something comparable.) (52:34) Final Question: The question that needs answering ignoring any moot argument about semantics is what is to be done to modernize madrassa curriculum. Those who think it is fine and that the Muslim should have their own exclusive educational curriculum are unfortunately defying the Qur’an repeated bidding on pluralism as unambiguously capture in the following verse addressed to all humanity: “O People! We have created you as male and female, and made you into races and communities* for you to get to know each other. The noblest among you near Allah are the most righteous (atqakum) of you. Indeed, Allah is All-Knowing and Informed” (49:13). Acknowledgement: While I am technically the sole author of all the referenced articles (dating from 2011 onwards), I wholeheartedly acknowledge the invaluable technical support of my friend and brother, co-author Syed Ashfaque Ullah, as well as my brother Mohammed Arif for his constant editing and refinement of my drafts. More recently, I also recognize the assistance of AI—whose reputation for cold logic belies its surprising depth of mercy and compassion, along with an ever-flowing fountain of knowledge. I cannot overlook Sultan Shahin, the founder and editor of New Age Islam, whose unwavering inspiration has encouraged me to continue engaging with his platform, even when I felt I had said enough. … Muhammad Yunus, a Chemical Engineering graduate from Indian Institute of Technology, and a retired corporate executive has been engaged in an in-depth study of the Qur’an since early 90’s, focusing on its core message. He has co-authored the referred exegetic work, which received the approval of al-Azhar al-Sharif, Cairo in 2002, and following restructuring and refinement was endorsed and authenticated by Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl of UCLA, and published by Amana Publications, Maryland, USA, 2009. URL: https://www.newageislam.com/ijtihad-rethinking-islam/chatgpt-upgrading-madrassa-education/d/134973 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