DENIZENS OF ALIEN WORLDS

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91 Government of India that the term Wahabi should not be used for them. The government ‗ordered in 1886 that the term Wahabi should not be used in official correspondence‘ (Ahmed 1994: 203) but it is still used by many people in Pakistan. The Ahl-i-Hadith madrassas also teach the Dars-i-Nazami but they emphasize the Quran and Hadith and oppose folk Islam and common practices like the anniversaries of saints, the distribution of food on religious occasions and popular mysticism. Jamat-i-Islami The Jamat-i-Islami is a revivalist political party created by Abul ala Maudoodi (also spelled Mawdudi) (1903-1979) whose life and achievements have been ably described by Syyed Vali Reza Nasr (1996). Maudoodi believed in borrowing technology and other concepts from the West in order to empower the Islamic community. As such he favoured more modernist education than any of the orthodox organizers of the traditional madrassas. He did, however, also emphasize upon the refutation of Western culture and intellectual domination and, therefore, his anti-Western critique is more thorough, trenchant and appealing than that of the traditionalist seminarians (Maudoodi 1974). In the Jamat‘s madrassas the traditional texts are taught but politics, economics and history is also emphasized with a view to preparing the young ulema for confronting the ideas of the West. Besides the Sunni madrassas, there are Shia madrassas too as we have seen. The Shias believe that the successor of the Prophet (PBUH) was Ali Ibn-e-Abi Talib and not the first three caliphs whom Sunnis take to be his successors. They mourn the battle of Karbala, fought between the Prophet‘s grandson Hussain and the Omayyad caliph Yazid bin Muawiya in 680 A.D. This led to the birth of the supporters of Ali and the rise of Shia Islam which has been described very competently by S.H.M Jafri (1979). All the madrassas, including the Shia ones, teach the Dars-i-Nizami though they do not use the same texts. They also teach their particular point of view (madhab or maslak) which clarifies and rationalizes the beliefs of the sect (Sunni or Shia) and subsect (Deobandi, Barelvi and Ahl-i-Hadith). Moreover they train their students to refute what in their views are heretical beliefs and some Western ideas. All madrassas teach
92 modern subjects in some measure and with varying degrees of competence. Let us examine the teaching in the madrassas in some detail. The Dars-i-Nizami Before Mulla Nizam Uddin standardized the curriculum known as the Dars-i- Nazami different teachers taught different books to students. Shah Abdul Rahim (d. 1718) had made an attempt to create a fixed curriculum. It was taught at the Madrassa-i- Rahimiya and it emphasized the manqulat ( such as hadith). The Dars-i-Nazami on the other hand, emphasized the maqulat. Thus there were more books on grammar, logic and philosophy than before (Sufi 1941: 68-75). According to Francis Robinson. The significance of the enhanced emphasis on ma‘ qulat in the Dars-i-Nizamiyya lies in part in the superior training it offered prospective lawyers, judges and administrators. The study of advanced books of logic, Philosophy and dialectics sharpened the rational faculties and, ideally, brought to the business of government men with better-trained minds and better-formed judgement (Robinson 2002: 53). While this may have been the intention of Farangi Mahall‘s ulema, it is also true that the Arabic madrassas were much fewer (150) than the Persian schools (903) in 1850 (Edn. NWP: 1850), presumably because they offered a more thorough grinding in Persian which facilitated entry into administrative jobs for their pupils. However, Farangi Mahall was established before the British created the category of ‗Persian schools‘ and it does appear that the Dars-i-Nizami educated men were sought for employment outside the domain of religion at that time. In Pakistan, however, the Dars-i-Nizami has been modified though the canonical texts are still there. In my view these texts are used as a symbol of continuity and identity. The madrassas saw themselves as preservers of Islamic identity and heritage during the colonial era when secular studies displaced the Islamic texts as well as the classical languages of the Indian Muslims---Arabic and Persian---from their privileged pedestal. Thus the madrassas, despite the desire to reform their courses, do not give up
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DENIZENS OF ALIEN WORLDS: A Study o
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2 List of Abbreviations Glossary Pr
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4 Jihad Madrassa Maktab Maulvi Muns
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6 being unsupported by any institut
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8 CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION There are
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10 Another book, by Naseem Jaffer Q
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12 Let us keep in mind that Pakista
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14 ones. There is much new data in
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16 quarters with the sole object of
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18 capable of being employed in sub
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20 (GOP 2003: 159). Examples of the
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22 It was in this document that the
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24 Because of such laws, academics
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26 strengthening unity of the ou
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28 Thus, their role in universaliza
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30 whereas provincial government sc
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32 Dr. Qurat began this work in 199
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34 Thus the most representative of
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36 Most of the 25,995,068 (GOP 2002
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38 Class-6 Class-7 Class-8 Class-9
Page 41 and 42: 40 Conclusion: the Muslims from the
Page 43 and 44: 42 B.A (B. Ed) 16 14,099 Headmaster
Page 45 and 46: 44 abroad. Their families are conse
Page 47 and 48: 46 possible that Pakistan and India
Page 49 and 50: 48 Gender-wise Tabulation of Attitu
Page 51 and 52: 50 the madrassas and those whose pa
Page 53 and 54: 52 charge tuition ranging between R
Page 55 and 56: 54 schools, whether the administrat
Page 57 and 58: 56 Box 4.5 Average tuition fees per
Page 59 and 60: 58 non-elitist schools, as we have
Page 61 and 62: 60 parents of the Badin PAF Model S
Page 63 and 64: 62 national language is given at be
Page 65 and 66: 64 Aitchison 196 Kohat 144 Larkana
Page 67 and 68: 66 Militancy Among Cadet College/Pu
Page 69 and 70: 68 These figures should be taken wi
Page 71 and 72: 70 Box 4.14 Tolerance Among Elitist
Page 73 and 74: 72 1997 21 34 1998 20 31 Source: An
Page 75 and 76: 74 children mostly speaking in Khan
Page 77 and 78: 76 world. This war is represented a
Page 79 and 80: 78 This fluency and spontaneity in
Page 81 and 82: 80 believed—that the best ideas w
Page 83 and 84: 82 English novels filling us up on
Page 85 and 86: 84 The Peripatetic Tutor Arif Khan
Page 87 and 88: 86 CHAPTER-5 MADRASSAS The madrassa
Page 89 and 90: 88 Box 5.2 Sect-Wise Increase in th
Page 91: 90 (Sharia) was the path to mystica
Page 95 and 96: 94 taught there, even now---and the
Page 97 and 98: 96 controversial issues‘ (Ibid, p
Page 99 and 100: 98 appalling poverty of rural, peri
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