Maulana Wahiduddin Khan on Madrasa Education and the Ulema
A Question and Answer Session with Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
September 4, 2013
Q: How do you look at the madrasa system? There is much talk about the need for reforms in the system?
A: Unlike some
others, I am not critical of or opposed to the madrasas as such. Muslims
need both types of education—religious as well as secular. Muslim
children should have knowledge of both their religion as well as secular
subjects. There is, of course, no need for all Muslim children to go to
full-time madrasas to train to become Ulema. However, some children
must do so in order that the tradition of religious learning can be
carried on. We need madrasa-trained Ulema who have knowledge of the
Quran, Hadith, Islamic jurisprudence and Arabic.
As far as the question
of madrasa ‘reforms’ is concerned, I really don’t believe in this talk
of ‘modernisation’. You certainly cannot ‘modernise’ the Quran and the
Hadith. So, I think the word ‘modernisation’ in this context is uncalled
for.
While on this subject
of ‘reforms’, I must say that the ‘modern’ schools and universities are
also in urgent need of reform, a point often neglected by vociferous
advocates of madrasa ‘reform’. In the Psychology departments of many
Indian universities they continue to teach the outdated Conditioning
Theory and the Illusion Theory, for instance. What I mean to say is that
no syllabus can be perfect. What is more important than the formal
syllabus are good teachers, because it is teachers who teach, and not
books.
Some people argue that
madrasas teach some outdated centuries-old texts on Greek philosophy
and logic and hold that against them. But we must also note that
departments of English in universities also teach English classics,
written centuries ago, which have no value in the outside world. For me,
these texts are a minor issue. The basic issue is the need for good,
committed teachers.
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