By Dr. Syed Ahmed for TwoCircles.net,
Imphal: Islamic scholars call for Islamization of modern education and up-gradation of Islamic seminaries at a seminar held at Hatta Jame Masjid in Imphal on 18 May, 2012. The seminar, attended by some of the prominent ulema, Imams, heads of Islamic institutions and Muslim intellectuals of the State, was organized by Islamic Research and Da’wah Centre (IRDC).
Mufti Siraj, Mufti Safiullah, member of Manipur Public Service Commission M.A. Sattar IAS (Retd.), Deputy Secretary Education (U) M.A. Salam, MCS, educationist Abdul Nasir and executive member of Hatta Jame Masjid committee Alhaj Akhtar Hussain graced the seminar.
Director of IRDC, Mufti Salatur Rahman spoke at length on the importance of initiating Islamization of modern education in the State. He explained the meaning of the terms like knowledge, education and science from Islamic point of view. He also traced the history and civilization of Islam highlighting the intellectual and scientific developments in the Middle East. He said that in many of the Islamic countries Islamization of modern education has already started as a movement. It has also started in many parts of India. The history of Islamization of education is, in fact, as old as the Islamic history. It is a continuation of effort made by the early Muslim intellectuals to reconcile the knowledge of their time with the spirit of Islam. The main endeavor is to recast knowledge and education to conform to the Islamic belief system and worldview, he said.
Rahman said that today in spite of the advancement in education and knowledge we are witnessing the increase in the incidence of violence, destruction of environment and abuse of the technologies etc. Educated Muslims are not an exception. They too engage in abusing the environment, indulge in corrupt practices and misuse the modern technologies for their own enjoyment and interest. These developments could be checked by instilling the Islamic values in the present knowledge and education system, he added.
Rahman urged to those Maulanas who are running madrasas in the State to improve the quality of education imparted in their madrasas. He observed that the quality of education given in the madrasas of the State is poor compared to those in other parts of India. Our community has entrusted a great responsibility to those ulema, who are running and managing madrasas. So they must work hard to improve the standard of the madrasas, he added.
A young local Islamic scholar, Maulana Khurshid Alam, who has completed 3 years of research course from Markazul Marif, presented a paper titled, “Islamization of modern schools and upgrading madrasah.” In his paper he calls for reforming the age-old syllabus – Dars-i-Nizami – taught in most of the madrasas in the country.
Giving his speech in English, Alam said that madrasas and maktabs have always been an integral part of education, source of theological knowledge and socio-economic empowerment of Muslims ever since the advent of Islam. In the past the madrasas in India were not limited to Islamic education but other secular subjects such as science, mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, geography, arithmetic and medicine were also taught there. However over the years due to several reasons madrasa system of education failed to keep pace with emerging needs of time. Gradually the madrasas began to confine to Islamic studies only.
Alam said that the ulema must be in touch with the contemporary developments, but it is not possible without bringing changes to the Dars-i-Nizami syllabus. “Mulla Nizamuddin did not certainly intend that the syllabus he formulated should remain unchanged forever…The syllabus is overloaded with books on very old Greek logic and Philosophy much of which is irrelevant today. They should be replaced by modern rational subjects so that the ulema know about the present world. Without this knowledge how can they provide appropriate leadership to the community…? How will they be able to answer the questions that people in the streets are asking? How will they be able to properly deal with new jurisprudential issues (fiqhi masail) if all they learn are issues that the medieval ulema discussed in the books….”
IRDC journal ‘Mangal’
Referring to the Islamization of modern education, Alam said, “Large numbers of modern schools have been established in the Muslim areas (of the State) where only modern subjects are being taught…the Muslim students are usually deprived of Islamic knowledge…the optional period of learning for them remains during the pre and post schooling time when they are either too young or too late to bother again. So we should try to include an Islamic subject in the curriculum, which will impart the fundamental knowledge of Islam. This system has already been implemented in various Muslim-run modern schools and colleges in different parts of the country.”
IRDC, based in Mumbai, has its branch office at Babupara in Imphal, which was opened in 2009. IRDC coveys message of Islam to the people. It also offers Da’wah training on comparative religion and Islamic classes (even in English) and also publishes Islamic literatures. IRDC also regularly organizes Islamic programmes like seminar, quiz and lecture. IRDC also publishes an Islamic journal “Mangal.” The office at Babupara has a library which has journals, books, videos and audio CDs on Islam and its related topics.