The Institution called “Madrassah”

By Shabbir Ahmed

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The Institution called “Madrassah” has drawn attention worldwide in recent days. Specifically, after the capture of power in Afghanistan by the Madrassah graduates and teachers, the western media focused more on “Madrassahs” throughout the world. Some of the programs I watched in television on the Madrassah education in Pakistan and Afghanistan appeared to me very credible. The teachings were fully based on the primitive scriptures originated in Mecca and Medina about fourteen hundred years ago. In those programs, a few of the Madrassah teachers and students were interviewed. They were asked about their academic subjects and views about the non-Muslims based on their learning from the primitive books. The answers to the questions were mostly hateful. For example, they think that the non-Muslims must be converted to Muslims by applying force, if necessary. They also  think that the whole world should be under Sharia law. The implication of Sharia Laws in a society is barbaric to say the least. The abhorring rules of stoning to death, forcing women to wear burqah/veil (mobile prison), killing opponents (calling them by such name as Murtads), etc., are but a few of the barbaric rules of Sharia. All these Sharia Laws based on Quran and Hadiths are the areas of focus in Madrassah education. They read, memorize, and believe in the myths of Quran. Arabic language is taught for them to understand the essence of both Quran and Hadiths.

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Some defenders of Madrassahs may raise question about the authenticity of the reporting of the western media about Madrassah education. For them, I would like to express my own experience about the products of Madrassah education. Whenever I found time, I wrote a few essays supporting the freethinkers (mainly in “News from Bangladesh”). In particular, I see the courage and intellectual strength in some of our brave Bangalee writers. They are well focused and they understand the root causes of ills of Muslim societies in many countries. I cautiously try to maintain the impersonal nature in all of my writings. So, I don’t want to bring up my own identity or the identity of any of my near ones. After all, the subject of discussion is more important than the persons who are writing on the subject. Here, only for the sake of writing on Madrassah education, I’m just mentioning about one of my near relatives who unfortunately had studied in a Madrassah.

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My grandfather was a Maulana. He worked as a “Head Maulana” in our local High School before he retired from there and established a Madrassah in our village. He studied in Calcutta Government Alia Madrassah during the period of British Raj in India. While he was alive, he used to tell me all kinds of stories about his education and stay in hostel in Calcutta.  Whenever we visited our ancestral home in the village, he used to teach me on the strict rules of Islam that he learned from the institution called “Madrassah.”  He narrated glorifying stories of Prophet Muhammad, his wars, his wives, etc. Once he even told me how much the Prophet of Islam loved his youngest wife, Ayesha, whom the prophet called Ummul Mumeneen (the mother of all believers). I learned from him that she was one of the major sources of Hadiths because she lived a long time after the death of the Prophet. All that my grandfather tried is to teach and tell me only on Islamic history, rules-regulations, etc. I never learned or heard a sentence from him on science, Bangalee’s culture, world history, music, arts, etc.  He didn’t have any clue about how scientists in the world were discovering mystery of nature or exploring the evolution of lives in the natural environment. I doubt he even knew anything about Einstein, Newton or any other scientists. To him, everything including electricity, flying jet, automobile, etc. came down by the grace of Almighty Allah and through the teachings of his Rasul (prophet). He thought all the things of the whole world were compiled in Quran and Hadith. That is what they were taught in Madrassahs. He was highly antagonistic to music, songs, arts, etc.  Initially, he even didn’t allow his son (my father) to hear music/songs in radio. However, later, he needed to hear the news in radio about Indo-Pak war that took place in 1965. Like many other Maulanas of his time, he probably believed that Pakistan would occupy the whole of India in 1965. To hear news of Radio Pakistan, he liked radio. But, he didn’t like the songs broadcasted in radio. He was so antagonistic to music and songs that he issued fatwa against those who would arrange music programs in our village. He had overwhelming support from the common villagers to humiliate those who defied and arranged any cultural program in the village.

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My grandfather was a person whom I would not hesitate to call a “Sharia Intellect” based on his Madrassah education and in many cases he used to issue mild punishment based on Sharia Laws to those who defied Islamic rules after Jumma Prayer occasionally in the village mosque. A fter seventeen years of his demise, I met one person in New York in 1987 who told me aboutthe threat of fatwa of my Madrassah educated grandfather. The gentleman was from our neighboring village. He came forward to meet with me after knowing that I was the grandson of that great Maulana (“Bara Huzur”) of our village. He told me how they used to gather in one of the homes of our village to hear songs at night in a gramophone and how fearful they were about the Islamic ruling of my grandfather.  I felt sorry for those very cheerful younger guys who just wanted to enjoy their free time at night after daylong hard work in the village. Whenever we visited our village home, I still remember how my grandfather tried to implement strict Islamic rules upon the female members of our family. They weren’t allowed to go out of home without proper veil and not allowed to make any sound while laughing. In fact, he tried always to establish Sharia rule in our village. My mind opened about the backwardness of Islamic rules and Madrassah education as I grew with secular education. But, this is a separate story on which I may write at a later time.

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One of my friends recently asked me a question: “what my grandfather would do to me if he were alive now and if he could be able to know my secular philosophy?” I replied him that my grandfather would probably have issued a fatwa with tough punishment. According to his knowledge on Sharia Laws, I would have been labeled as a Murtad (an apostate). He would havegiven me the toughest punishment to show his unbiased devotion and love for Islam and its barbaric Sharia Laws. I remember reading the killing of a Saudi princess for her affairs with a westerner. She was excused. Inhuman Sharia Laws are so barbaric that the appeal of the love of a loving mind/heart doesn’t matter at all. It teaches against the freedom of speech. It teaches against the choice of an individual. It teaches to crush the opposition. It teaches even to hate the loved ones having any choice not in conformity with Islamic rules. I’m giving my opinion from what I read about the stories of the ones terribly humiliated and crushed for their opposing views against Sharia. The implementers and the interpreters of Sharia Laws are always the Madrassah graduates. As it appears, that’s all they learn to apply their knowledge for the betterment of a society. By implementing the barbaric Sharia Laws, the Madrassah graduates are doing more crimes against humanity everyday in the villages of Bangladesh. We observed how the Madrassah students acted violently on the street against High Court Judges for banning Fatwa.

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I had a few other close relatives who finished their education in Madrassah. One of them was a Professor in government colleges and later retired as a Principal from one of the colleges. He was both a Madrassah graduate and a graduate (M.A. in Arabic) from the Calcutta University. Another member of my near ones retired from a government school as a “Head Maulana.” A few others also got their education in Madrassahs. So far, I understand about them that given the opportunity, all of them would have liked to implement strict I slamic rules. I observed that their worldview was focused on applying Sharia Laws.  Implementing “Fardth” and “Sunnah” of Islam were their main targets. After all, they were taught only the two main books “Quran” and “Hadith.” Many of them expressed their heartfelt desire to bring the whole world under the Sharia rule of Rasul (Prophet) and Allah. I don’t think that the Madrassah educationists are all heartless people. I saw my grandfather how kind he was to a beggar. He used to feed by his own hand to any blind beggar. But, the same Maulana, my grandfather, would definitely have been very harsh/tough to an intellectual who would critique any rule of Islam. The Islamic teachings only want the followers to surrender without question. So far, these are the teachings they get in Madrassahs. The Madrassah graduates are kind to those who unquestionably surrender to their philosophy but they are very tough and violent to those who question the validity of the barbaric Sharia/Islamic rules.One may investigate the Madrassah education now and will find that this education system has not been improved/changed/modified at all. While I went to Bangladesh in 1997, I happened to have some conversation with a Madrassah student. I asked him about the subjects they were taught. As expected and anticipated by me, he said that the subjects were only Quran and Hadiths. These  are taught in different years of their Madrassah education.  Different types of Tafsirs (interpretation) of Quran and different chapters of Hadiths are taught during their stay in Madrassah. They are not taught about subjects such as economics, science, etc. They don’t know about modern economics, cost -benefit analysis, internal rate of return, etc. based on interest. According to their views derived from Sharia, these are haram (forbidden). In fact, the subject “Economics” will be totally considered Haram by some of the fanatic  Madrassah-educationists.

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Considering all the deficiencies in Madrassah education, it’s really alarming to know that the present Bangladesh government has decided to allow Madrassah graduates to join the civil service.

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One should not mix up American Islamic schools with Madrassahs. In American Islamic schools, the students are taught science, mathematics, social studies, and literature. These students have to go through state and national examinations if they want to go to better colleges and universities. The curriculum in the Islamic schools in USA is not based on Hadith and Qur’an. The criminal nature of the modern-day Madrassah students will be exposed once any government decides to reform. I strongly believe that the graduates of Madrassahs learning only Qur’an and Hadiths should not be included in the Bangladesh Civil Service. This is an ill-conceived idea, which should be opposed by all decent Bangladeshi folks.

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Source: Faith Freedom International

URL: http://www.faithfreedom.org/oped/ShabbirAhmed30605.htm  

15,000 Australians embrace Islam in Qld – Fact or Fiction?

By B. Kisan

September 9, 2005

Recently I came across an article titled “Australians Increasingly Embracing Islam” forwarded in a yahoogroup (1) from islam-online.net a website based in Qatar run by the Muslim brotherhood’s Dr Yusuf Qaradawi. This website is ranked as the 596th most popular in the world by alexa.com which makes it very highly read.

According to this article “Like Boswood more than 15,000 Australians in Queensland have embraced Islam since 9/11, according to the ABC.” 

Living in Queensland and knowing this to be beyond credence I looked into this further. This was also due to the fact that having read just a dozen or so islam-online.net articles I know them to be highly inaccurate and dubious (2). 

The article quotes ABC as the source of this information. I looked up the ABC article which turned out to be a Stateline interview which says:

 “KIRSTIN MURRAY : In recent years, Queensland ’s Islamic community has more than doubled and now boasts more than 15 thousand followers. But it’s not only migrants who are swelling the population much of Imam Uzair Akbar’s work is in conversions. He says ‘September 11′ is responsible for the rise in the religions’ popularity.” 

So in fact according to the ABC the total number of Muslims in Queensland is supposed to be around 15,000 and these are not only migrants (ie. The vast majority are) but includes some conversions (an example of one individual is given in the Stateline article).

Australia has over 100,000 new migrants every year, in fact 127,000 in 2004 and reflecting the fact that these migrants come from all over the world quite a few are Muslims. Thus Queensland ’s Muslim population has grown substantially in line with this immigration mirroring the trend in other Western countries with large numbers of immigrants. So the islam-online.net article is completely inaccurate in making the claim that “15,000 Australians in Queensland have embraced Islam since 9/11”. 

Since publishing this article this “fact” is being forwarded and read around world as a validation of Islam following the normal argumentum ad populum proof of Islam. Ie: So many people believe it and it is the fastest growing religion, ergo it must be true. 

Islam is certainly drawing some converts, the majority of these being people marrying Muslims and being pressured to convert just as anyone marrying a Catholic was compelled to become a Catholic before this was liberalized by the Church. Such liberalization has yet to occur in Islam (3). This is in fact the largest source of conversions as I can attest from having met or known around 10 people who converted for this reason, one of them being my Aunt who converted when she married an Indonesian man and used to get around in hijab around the time of Khomenei and who gave me two cousins with Arabic names (all of them since became Christians). 

     A prominent example is Jemima Goldsmith who when she married former Cricketing hero and international playboy turned born again Muslim Imran Khan she wrote a letter that was posted in hundreds of Islamic websites. In it she claimed “Contrary to current opinion, my decision to convert to Islam was entirely my own choice and in no way hurried.” We can however understand this as merely rhetoric. She also continued “as for the clothes I will be wearing, I find the traditional shalwar kameez (tunic and trousers) worn by most Pakistani women far more elegant and feminine than anything in my wardrobe.” Times have changed and she’s back in far less elegant clothing since. 

Actually, the type of article like this one about the supposed conversion of 15,000 Australians to Islam since 9/11 in one state sustain the blind faith of adherents in Islam. Look so many others are joining Islam, so it must be true. This is of such psychological use that such articles are conjured up based on lies and distortions and credulously consumed by the faithful.     

(1)    This is a message forwarded by a Muslim going by the alias of Solano forwarding an article posted by another Muslim going by the alias “Abu Nabhan” or Brother Nabhan which was posted to a yahoogroup called holohoax2@yahoogroups.com which is a holocaust denial website run by white supremacists specializing in Jew hatred / conspiracy theories and frequented mainly by white supremacists and Muslims both sharing Jew hatred as the binding element. The original message was this 

(2)    After the Godhra train burning incident islam-online reported that the attackers of the Sabarmati Express were Hindu dhobis (washermen) and not Muslims as was being reported universally by other media: click here 

Quote:

NEW DELHI , Feb. 28 (IslamOnline) – New evidence says that Muslims were not involved in yesterday’s train attack. Rather, the attackers were Hindu people from the washermen (dhobi) community whose women were mistreated by the so-called “volunteers”. The media kept claiming that the attackers were “Muslims”.

(3) Islam-online apart from “news” stories also runs a fatwa section which states the following in one fatwa:

A Muslim woman should know that Allah has really honored her and made it easy for her by not allowing her to marry a non-Muslim man.
According to the Qur’an, the husband is the head of the household and his wife should obey him. Allah does not put the Muslim woman in a position that a non-Muslim becomes her head in her own private life. Allah has spared her to suffer from being under the authority of a non-Muslim husband.
Please abandon the idea of marrying a non-Muslim, unless he truly accepts Islam. If you marry a non-Muslim, this will be a major sin. You will be living in sin and your relationship with that non-Muslim will be illegitimate in the eyes of Allah. May Allah protect you from all sins, Amen.”

http://www.islamonline.net/

 

Source: Faith Freedom International

URL: http://www.faithfreedom.org/oped/BKisan50905.htm

France: The World’s Canary?

By Amber Pawlik

Recently, the French government banned Islamic headscarves, Jewish skullcaps and Christian crosses from their classrooms.  As most know, the main purpose of this was to remove the Islamic symbols – banning Jewish and Christian symbols was just done to be fair.  Now a minister in the French government has called for something equally as ridiculous: banning “religious” beards and bandannas in the classroom. 

This is clearly a method to target Muslim religious dress.  Muslim women often wear the bandannas now in replace of the Islamic headscarf. The French, revealing that they are thought police, are in debate over if all beards and bandannas should be banned or just ones that are “religious signs.”  “How will teachers identify religious facial hair? Would they reprimand a ‘religious’ bandanna but allow it as a fashion statement?”   

I want you to breathe in the marvel of this.  It isn’t the United States, who was attacked by Muslim terrorists two years ago, that is banning Muslim religious symbols.  It’s France: the most vocal country opposed to the war.  The question is really begged:  why has the French government become so hostile to the Muslim religion? 

An article entitled, “France: Ripe for a Muslim Coup d’Etat?” describes the situation in France.  

“President Jacques Chirac says the law’s [banning Islamic headscarves] goal is to protect France’s secular underpinnings. However, it also is seen as a way to hold back Islamic fundamentalism in the nation’s Muslim community, at an estimated 5 million the largest in Western Europe.” 

The French aren’t banning Muslim religious signs because they believe “all Muslims are responsible for 9-11.”  France is the least likely place to do this.  They are doing it to restrain violence and harassment committed by Muslims, which is an ever-growing problem in France. 

In the article linked above, it describes some of the things Muslims have been responsible for in France:  Muslim radicals insulting and harassing non-Muslim teachers in classrooms; Muslims vandalizing supermarkets that carry products not approved by the Koran; Muslim males harassing and threatening their fellow Muslim females into wearing the hijab – just to name a few of the things happening there.   

So much for those who say that radical Islam only exists in the Middle East. 

“Islamists have the clear goal of transforming France into the first Islamist regime of the West.” 

Because they are opposed to war, racial profiling, and other effective tools to stop violence and crime, the French have been gutted of any ability to protect their own streets.  Their only option has been to ban headscarves and now beards – all in the name of “secularism.”   

Indeed, one can easily see those in the United States doing such a thing, except in the United States they are only trying to remove Christian religious signs from the classroom – not Islamic.  At least the French are consistent, although at this point they have to be.  

Of course, radical Muslims knew what Western country to hit first in their effort to Islamicize the rest of the world.  France, being France, was the most vulnerable country to go after.  Is France the world’s canary?  Are the rest of us watching, like coal miners as the canary falls over and dies, knowing what will happen to us next? 

France got itself into this mess by being such a “progressive” and “tolerant” country.  Now the rest of us watch while they, like a hippopotamus trying to do ballet, try to get themselves out.  And what do you know.  The United State’s “unilateral” mission in Iraq and the Middle East may very well end up saving them. 

 

Source: Faith Freedom International

URL: http://www.faithfreedom.org/oped/AmberPawlik40124.htm

The Media and Amarnath Shrine Land Imbroglio

Judging from the attention—or lack of it—given by the media to the disturbances in Srinagar over the issue of forest land being given—and now withdrawn—to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, the question arises whether the media has enough adequate staff to go deeper into such issues.

The media’s duty doesn’t end with reporting riots. Why did the riots take place in the first instance? Not many newspapers have taken the trouble to provide the background. But, as expected, The Hindu (July 1) has done the job with an excellent article by Praveen Swami. According to him “for Shri Syed Ali Shah Geelani and his Tehreek-i-Hurriyat, the anti-Shrine Board protests are crucible in which piety and xenophobic paranoia can be forged into a programme of resistance to India”. It is Geelani’s argument that India is trying to turn the Muslims of Kashmir into a minority. The same arguments has even been made by a senior Congress leader Ghulam Rasool Kar in the Urdu-language paper Khidmat. But it is also necessary to remember, as Francois Gautier pointed out in an article in The Indian Express (July 1) that “four lakh Kashmiri Hindus have been forced by death, terror and violence, to flee the Valley of their ancestors in one of the biggest ethnic cleansing in human history.” Syed Geelani obviously does not want to be reminded of it.

Praveen Swami makes two important points: “one, of the arguments against the land use rights granted to the Amarnath Shrine Board stand on firm empirical foundations” and two, “nor is it clear just why putting up pre-fabricated restrooms for pilgrims (in the area allotted) will increase environmental threat”.

Gautier, who, incidentally has been a long-time India expert has his own points to make. One is that “millions of devotees have flocked to Amarnath over the centuries and Muslims from Kashmir should show them generosity because in India, although Muslims have been a minority since the beginning, Hindus have always respected the religion of Islam.” And the other is that “if only Kashmiri Muslims would allow Sufism to make a comeback in the Valley, would permit the spirit of bhakti, of devotion, of tolerance… it could not only save Kashmir, allow the return of their four lakh Hindu brothers and sisters but it might help Islam to regenerate itself”. Some hope! The Indian Express said that the reasons for taking back the land given to the Shrine Board showed “the communal overtones of the issue” and the utter indifference of the government to public welfare.

Deccan Herald (July 1) felt that the political parties in Jammu and Kashmir “have done damage to the cause of communal harmony in the state and helped anti-national elements to fish in troubled waters”. Many news papers have expressed their disapproval of bandhs and the violence unleashed on such occasions.

The Tribune has a solution. In a strong editorial it wrote: (June 27): “Whenever the call for a bandh is made, those who give it should be made accountable for the loss they cause to the economy. This is perhaps the only way in which the menace can be tackled.” What is disturbing is a point raised by Francois Gautier concerning the BBC reportage on Amarnath. Write Gautier: “Reports of the BBC on Amarnath always speak about Indian-administered Kashmir never giving the full picture of Hindus being forced to flee the Valley nor the sacredness of this ancient pilgrimage for all Hindus.” If the BBC correspondent is Delhi-based he must be sharply pulled up. If he is a Pakistan-based correspondent sent to Srinagar to cover the riots, then the Government of India must lodge a strong protest with the BBC in London. In any event the British High Commissioner in Delhi must be told in strong terms that referring to Kashmir as “Indian-administered” is not acceptable. The Government either does not listen to the BBC coverage of the Srinagar riots or is too dumb.

Which makes an editorial in The Hindu (July 1) particularly significant. It says: “The party that leads the United Progressive Alliance government is in a state or moral and political confusion… The Congress has absolutely no idea where it is going… It has resorted to political adventurism. The government it heads has no answer to the spectre of double-digit inflation…. The mishandling of the Amarnath Shrine Land affair has set-off a wave of communal hate and tension in Jammu and Kashmir…. We now have the spectacle of a government that promised transparency and enacted a quite radical Right to Information Act making decisions on key policy issues behind closed door in away that lacks straight-forwardness. A party that promised a secular and forward-looking alternative to the Bharatiya Janata Party is now embroiled in manoeuvres that are as short-sighted as they are deficient in political logic. The Congress might be able to keep the UPA government afloat for a while by cutting a deal with ex-adversaries, but the cost of such expediency will be extremely high.”

Coming as are these comments from The Hindu they show in what a deplorable state the Congress has fallen.

Meanwhile the Supreme Court has strongly criticised the Gujarat police for pursuing criminal proceeding against a distinguished sociologist, Ashish Nandy for an article he had written for a national newspaper entitled “Blame the Middle Class”. The Inspector of the Satellite Police Station, Ahmedabad had issued a summons to Shri Nandy. A Vacation Bench consisting of Justices Altamas Kabir and G.S. Singhvi ordered the cancellation of the summons. Justice Kabir told Counsel for Gujarat, Hemantika Wahi: “There is no ground for harassing a journalist. Let him live in peace. You (Gujarat Government) are prosecuting this man for his article. If a journalist cannot write, then who else will? I have read the article and I find nothing objectionable. He (petitioner) is 71 years old and is a soft target for you.” And Justice Singhvi said: “People coming from the land of Mahatma Gandhi have become so intolerant that they can’t even tolerate an article.” And the Bench said: “Any further summons issued against Shri Nandy in future relating to the case in future will stand quashed”. There is such a thing as Freedom of the Press which all administrations will do well to observe. Harassing journalist is not the best way to run a state. If there is no freedom to criticise a state, what is the media for?

And as Justice Kabir rightly pointed out: “If a journalist cannot write, then who else will?” These words must be written in letters of gold and exhibited in all government offices, just as they do pictures of Mahatma Gandhi or that of the Prime Minster.

 

Source: Organiser

URL: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=246&page=34

Amarnath Pilgrims Return with Tales of Terror

DHARAMSHALA: Even as the controversy over the allotment of land to Amarnath Shrine Board by the Jammu and Kashmir Government refuses to die, the pilgrims to the famous shrine have returned with tales of terror with the Jammu & Kashmir Police being a mute spectator.

A mob attacked the pilgrims at Baltal on July 1 and their vehicles damaged, while the Jammu & Kashmir Police stood as a mute spectator to this terror, pilgrims Ravikant Dogra, Sanjay Sharma and Suresh Rana said at a press conference here.

“We had darshan of the ice lingum in the holy cave on June 29 and returned to Baltal on June 30 morning but were not allowed to proceed to Srinagar by the Jammu & Kashmir police,” they alleged.

The following day a huge mob beat up pilgrims and damaged at least 25 vehicles and forced pilgrims to raise “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans, while the state police personnel did nothing, they alleged.

Besides, they alleged, the pilgrims were charged Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 per person for getting shelter in a tent near the cave on June 29.

A bottle of water was sold to them at Rs 46 and 250 ml milk bottle at Rs.40 with no official of the state government present to redress their grievances, they added.

Meanwhile, VHP spokesman Ravi Shankar has demanded the sacking of Ghulam Nabi Azad Government, saying that the security of the entire journey to the cave should be handed over to the Army and para military forces.

Following the tales of terror narrated by the pilgrims the Jammu and Kashmir Police should be removed from both Phalgam and Baltal tracks, he added.

The VHP leader also criticised the Azad Government for succumbing under militant pressure and reverting its earlier decision on the allotment of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board.

—UNI  [July 6, 2008]

 

Source: Organiser

URL: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=246&page=11