ISLAM

THE CHRISTIAN AND MOSLEM ALPHABETS 117
the Churches (
I understand that the word "God"
must not be mentioned in a French elementary
school ) The result in all these cases is the same:
free inquiry is checked and on the most important
matter in the world the child is met
with dogma or with stormy silence."*
In Islamic educational system, however, a complete
absence of state interference or religious control is emphaticully
preserved. This will be clear from the
following- passages from Mr. Khuda Bukhsh's authoritative
works and other relevent documents.
He says
:
"The one thing which stands out in bold relief is
that
the entire Muslim educational system grew
and matured apart from and independently of
state control. It was built upon purely voluntary
efforts. It never had an ornamental figure
head to carry out state orders, to impose state
decrees, to enforce the official will. The next
thing which strikes us in that system is the
beneficent influence of religion therein. Interwoven
pre-eminently with religion was the zeal
for teaching- and learning. The spiritual power
which the Quran exercised over many nations
led them on, without any extreneous pressure, to
a desire to read it for themselves, and the desire
rapidly spread over the Islamic world. And in
response to this fast spreading desire thousands
of elementary schools were established in many
* Principles of Social Re-construction .