War preparations (Letter to Editor)

Author: DK Mittal, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: June 20, 2003

Sir-In his letter, 'Study in contrasts' (June 9), Mr G Hasnain Kaif makes a baseless accusation: "The Hindu brigade is bent upon saffronising ... minority educational institutions." He adds that madarsas educate people about the Quran and the Hadith, and are thus not "seminaries of jihad". In India, the number of madarsas was reported to have been 88 in 1950 (Mushirul Haq's Islam and Secular India, page 25), going up to 30,000 in 1992 (Maqbool Ahmed, Islamic Education, page 32). The exact figure at present is not known, but various media reports suggest it could be over 50,000. In Pakistan, there were 245 madarsas in 1947, and 6,870 in 2001. With a reported 1.5 million students, 65 per cent of these seminaries are run by Deobandis, 25 per cent by Barelvis and the rest by other groups. There has been a sudden spurt in the number of madarsas following Independence, in both countries. Islamic theology has three sharp divisions. One, it splits human history into two periods: An "age of ignorance" preceding the Prophet's appearance, and an "age of illumination" afterwards. Two, it bifurcates the human family-one part constituted by the "believers" who accept the Prophet as the only 'mediator' between God and human beings; the other made up of "unbelievers". Three, it breaks up the inhabited world into two camps- lands ruled by the believers (Dar-ul Islam), and those where the unbelievers live (Dar-ul Harb). Jeffrey Goldberg in an article, 'Pakistan's Jihad Machines', gives us an "insider's report from one of Pakistan's madarsas where boys are taught how to hate and kill" (Reader's Digest, February 2002). He says: "When the Taliban was faring badly ... against the Northern Alliance ... Maulana Samiul Haq closed down the school and sent students to the front." Prof Vali Nasar, a US-based expert on Islamic extremism, characterises many seminaries as Islamic military academies. Many Al Qaeda members are graduates of these schools. Harun Fazaul, for instance, was a scholar at the Wahhabi Koranic School in the Comoros Islands and afterwards in Pakistan, before he allegedly assisted the terrorist strike on the US Embassy at Nairobi in 1998. In India, more than a million Muslim children enter madarsas every year. The point is that scriptural teaching does not insulate them against hatred. The Quran itself directs Muslims to wage holy war against idolators, and promises just rewards: "Think not of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead. Nay, ... they rejoice in the bounty provided by Allah" (3:169-70). It also declares eternal hostility between believers and kafirs: "There has arisen between us and you hostility and hate forever until you believe in Allah only" (60:4).
 

Back                          Top