By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
Hyderabad : The Indian Muslims' stiff opposition to the establishment of Central Madrasa Board envisaged by Justice M.S.A. Siddiqui-led National Commission for Minority Education Institutions to streamline madrasa education came to a sharp focus when the State Deeni Madaris Board (DMB) took a firm stand here Thursday to oppose the government move, threatening the madrasas that would accept the government proposal to impose community boycott.
Noted Islamic scholar Maulana Muhammad Hameeduddin Aaquil Hussami warned the madrasas, which accept the government proposal that they would be boycotted by the Muslim community.
Speaking at the day-long convention organised by DMB, Maulana Aquil said without mincing any words, "If a madrasa agrees to receive government assistance, it will forfeit Muslim support that comes in the form of zakat and sadaqua (charity).
 "We, the ulama, would tell the community that it should not lend any kind of help to such institutions," he declared.
The eight-year-old DMB with a membership of over 200 madrasas organised the convention to rally support against the Centre's plan to set up educational boards at the central and state levels. The DMB has on board representatives of various schools of thought such as Deobandis and Ahle Hadees.
Muslim Ulema and community leaders fear the establishment of Central Madrasa Board would spoil the very purpose of running madrasas, which aim at producing experts on Islamic education, fiqh and tafseer, who render invaluable services to the community.
Eminent Islamic scholar and DMB general secretary Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani made it clear that following the centuries old tradition, the madrasas should work with unquestioned faith in God for their survival and love for inculcating good values in people. That is the reason why most of the madrasas do not have any permanent sources of income and depend on pubic donations, he explained.
In his address to the convention, State president of Jamiat Ulama Hafiz Peer Shabbir Ahmed said the government was trying to extend assistance to madrasas where the intake is actually a minimal portion of the total number of Muslim school-going children.
"Why don't they improve infrastructure in the government Urdu medium schools?" he wondered.
The convention decided that while opposing the formation of education boards, it would encourage madrasas to form their own umbrella organisations for better functioning.