Author: DK Mittal
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: May 21, 2003
In his letter, 'Urdu school of thought'
(March 9), Syed Shahabuddin demands the Urdu teaching and adequate number
of Urdu-medium primary schools as a constitutional and human right. He
says the Government strategy of converting madrasas into schools will not
work. It will only destroy madrasa education which has and still produces
great Islamic scholars. These must stay religious seminaries, in his view.
Madrasas have existed in India for
centuries. Among them, Darul-Uloom at Deoband is world-famous. It has produced
great Islamic scholars. But there have also been cases when riots and massacre
of Hindus were started by mullahs. The killings in Moplah in 1921 and at
Naokhali in 1946 were engineered by those who had studied at seminaries
like Deoband. Recently, the British Government took action against a cleric,
Abu Hamza, Imam at the Finsbury Park mosque.
During the 18th century, Shah Waliullah-and
later his son Shah Abdul Aziz-was the Hakim-UI-lslam in India. Saiyed Ahamad
Shahid was his spiritual disciple and Maulana Abdul Hai Budhanwi and Shah
Ismail Shahid his close relatives. Saiyed Ahamad along with the latter
trekked 2,400 kms over desert, hill and forest to the NWFP (now in Pakistan)
in 1826, to wage jihad against Maharaja Ranjit Singh. They asked volunteers
from different regions to join them.
When the Saiyed was at Panjtar,
15 parties arrived, one of which was led by Saiyid Ahmad Ali, a nephew
of the Saiyed, and the other by Maulvi Inayat Ali, brother of Maulana Vilayat
Alt of Patna. The other 13 parties were headed by Maulvis and Maulanas
from different places (Saviours of Islamic Spirit Series, Mohiuddin Khan,
pages 199 and 201, published by Nadwa Lucknow).
These Maulanas were the Taliban
of the religious seminaries of their time-proof that madrasas besides imparting
Islamic education also mentally prepare students for jihad. Syed Abul Hasan
Ali Nadwi (Ali Mian) in Saviours of Islamic Spirit, (Vol IV, page 270),
says the unprecedented popular enthusiasm generated by the Saiyid for 'original
Islam', conformity with the manners and morals of the Prophet, is unparalleled
in medieval Islam. He was only the first in the subcontinent to rouse the
masses for armed resistance to alien rule. The Quran and Hadis give glowing
accounts of the gains that accrue from jihad-booty in this world, paradise
in the next. Fighting even once in a holy war, says the Prophet, brings
rewards greater than this world and all that is in it. (Sahih Muslim, Vol
III, p 1045).
Sahih relates an incident, which
is self-explanatory: "Jabir (Allah be pleased with him) reported that a
man asked the Messenger of Allah: Tell me where shall I be if I am killed
fighting in the way of Allah? He replied: In Paradise. The man threw away
afar dates which he had in his hand, jumped into the battle" (pgs 1052-54).
Islamic scholars, leaders of organisations
and political parties attack the Government for denigrating madrasas. These
charges are false. There is enough evidence today jihadis are being produced
in madrasas. Reportedly, there are about 50,000 madrasas in the country.
Assuming each has a minimum 20 students, the total number of potential
extremists in a year is 10,00,000.
As for Urdu's role, the distinguished
Pakistani scholar, Abdul Haque, while on the birth of Pakistan, said in
Karachi on February 15, 1961: "Pakistan was not created by Jinnah; nor
... Iqbal. It was Urdu that created it. For, the fundamental ... discord
between Hindus and Muslims was the Urdu language. The entire two-nation
theory ... issued solely from Urdu."
