Author: Dina Nath Mishra
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: August 6, 2006
Home Minister Shivraj Patil has recently certified
that "we believe that Islamic madarsas are seats of social service. They
are not centres of terrorism". The Minster said, "madarsas, where
knowledge of humanism is being imparted and human values are taught, could
only be termed as servants of humanity...we are not ready to accept that they
are breeding ground of terrorists". These certificates were given for
obvious reasons. He is in competition with HRD Minister Arjun Singh in an
abject vote-bank politics, to corner as much Muslim support as possible, for
the Congress party.
After the terrorist attack on American Centre
at Kolkata, even the CPM Chief Minister had said madarsas were being used
for terrorist activity. As far as I recollect, he has not withdrawn his remarks
despite pressure from Islamists and even his own party. The West Bengal police
continued keeping a vigil on madarsas in the border districts, including other
pre-dominantly Muslim districts. The whole world knows the Taliban recruited
guerillas from the madarsas of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, Baluchistan
and other Pakhtoon areas to defeat Soviet Union, with the help of liberal
assistance from the US and jehadi expertise from the ISI. Even President Musharraf,
under pressure from the US, came down heavily on madarsas. In fact madarsas
have been breeding terrorism in India for centuries. It started with Muslim
invaders.
madarsas were established in cities of Onch,
Multan, Lahore, Jaunpur, Khairabad, Karimabad (Patna), Surat, Delhi and many
others where they were teaching Quran and Hadith in a graded manner. After
Aibak, Iltumish, Alla-Uddin-Khilliji, Mohd Tughlak and Sikander Lodhi provided
impetus to this education system in view of the increasing number of forced
converts from poor Hindus.
During Mughal period in Delhi, one madarsa
Ghazi-Uddin was established. The same is today known as Delhi College in its
new incarnation. The then HRD Minister belonging to Congress party, late Madhav
Rao Scindia, conceded there are 12,000 madarsas in the country.
According to a study of Khusro Institute of
Social Sciences, Delhi, there are about 40,000 madarsas in our country and
most of them are being run in mosques at villages or semi-urban areas. The
message of hatred and doctrine of jehad propounded in many verses of Quran
against non-believers is spread through half-literate muddaris of Islam. madarsas
produce unemployable human resource. The resourceful Muslim parents, however,
opt for modern education and use madarsa products as their minions. The most
influential and the biggest Islamic University today is Jammia-Azhar in Egypt.
The madarsa of Deoband in India enjoys the status of second most influential
Islamic Seminary in the world. Maulana Mohammed Qasin Nano-Tavi of the same
tradition and his associate started Deoband Institute of Islamic Studies,
which is now known as Darul-Ulum. The separatist ideologies of Deobandis is
a historically known fact. Pakistani journalist Khalid Ahmed wrote in February
4-10-2000, Friday Times under the caption The Great Deobandi Consensus, that
the Afghan war and jehad in Kashmir are the result of Deobandi consensus.
The madarsa education in Srinagar spread during Sheikh Abdullah's regime.
Writer and Journalist Shahid Rahim has conclusively
proven that hatred orientation of madarsa education bred terrorism for centuries
in various parts of the globe. Both Muslim sects, the Deobandi and the Firangi
Mahal, are opposed to Hindu majority. According to them reading Hindi is a
sin.
In this background terming it as a "service
to humanity" and patting them is nothing less than active encouragement
to separatism and terrorism. The Home Minister's statement can influence opinions.
Ultimately, it goes against the enlightened interests of Muslims themselves
who are rendered unemployable due to this system of education.
Nineteen hundred madarsas are mushrooming
around the Indian side of the Nepal border. There are umpteen number of proofs
and publications that SIMI activists have been distributing Osama-bin-Laden's
books and pictures in Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and other States. Poor human
resources of madarsa system have been used as catchment area to provide logistics
to trained terrorists for pittance.
History tells us madarsas breed hatred, separatism
and forced conversion. Many incidents of violence in the recent past originated
from madarsas. It is most unfortunate that the Union Home Minster is unaware
of these facts. But his intelligence agencies have dependable information
relating to funding and connectivity of madarsas with jehadi mindset.