Raising Islamist Jihadists

"The ministry will open 10 regional centers in various states where the madrassa registration will be offered and those madrassas which will not meet requirements for registration will be closed."

Pakistan's Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood 

 

"[Successive Pakistani governments – both civilian and military – had attempted to reform madrassas but each time ended up surrendering more authority]."

"Even today, several ministries, such as religious affairs, education, interior, and commerce, and law enforcement and counter-terrorism bodies, have been dealing with the madrassa issue separately, making it more complicated."

Amir Tuaseen, Karachi-based analyst, former head, Pakistan Madrassa Education Board

 

"[More than 30,000 madrassas will soon be brought into the] mainstream [fold and overseen by the ministry of education.] An Islamic education will continue to be provided but there will be no hate speech."

Major-General Asif Ghafoor

There’s no exact number of madrassas in Pakistan but estimates put the number in the tens of thousands. They provide food, housing and a religious education to students from around the country. Many teach both male and female students.   AP

 

Religious seminaries in Pakistan have long been seen as contributing to violence and radicalization; their graduates have supplied recruits for the Taliban and other militant groups. In an earlier era, these same madrassas established all over Saudi Arabia with its strict Wahhabi code, furnished students enrolled within with the very same attributes. Students were taught to memorize the Koran, and this is what the curriculum consisted of. Radicalization was rife; it was from one of these madrassas in Saudi Arabia that a radicalized student by the name of Osama bin Laden went on to make terrorism through al-Qaeda a feared phenomenon.

 

Arabic is not the native language of Pakistan, but in the Pakistan-based madrassas it is Arabic that is taught, so that the students can recite all the passages of the Koran in Arabic. It is held that only Arabic can express the sacred scripture as it is meant to be. Pakistan's Islamic schools have long been a concern of the country's government. True, official Pakistan assured the United States and other NATO countries that it could be relied upon as a partner in the 'war against terrorism', while at the same time giving haven to the Afghan Taliban. Osama bin Laden's compound sat in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

 

Now, however, Pakistan, threatened by its own Taliban and violent jihadist Islamist groups has been attempting to control the content of the madrassas which typically teach only the Koran, and aspects from the Koran that glorify jihad. No other subjects taught in modern schools are part of the curriculum; this is a single and singular-faceted education system. They are not unique to Pakistan. Madrassas of this type have been established with Saudi funding all over the world.

The Pakistani Ministry of Education has enacted a requirement for madrassas to register with them in an effort to increase accountability. Islamist political parties resisted the government moves and the largest of the political parties, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, persuaded the government to end the registration requirement. A colonial-era law governing educational groups provides scant oversight of curricula, activities and funding.

The government cited concerns that the old system could undermine counterterrorism efforts and breach international commitments to fight money laundering and financing of terrorism. In Islamabad, anti-government protests emerged: "If the government deviates,the decision won't be made in Parliament, but on the streets" threatened Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam. In the 1970s there were dozens of madrassas in Pakistan.

 

Pakistani government is juggling with different options to regulate centuries-old madrassa system. One such option is to set up a Imam Hatip schooling system based on the pattern of Turkey, where Islamic schools offer a mix of religious and worldly education.  TRTWORLD

U.S. and Arab funding in the 1980s transformed the madrassas to recruitment centres for Islamic volunteers to fight the Soviet forces in Afghanistan. At present, some 30,000 madrassas operate in Pakistan. Some madrassa teachers endorsed the Al-Qaeda ideology, graduating future Taliban leaders. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, pressure was exerted on Pakistan to regulate the schools. "The post-9/11 war on terror and events like the 2005 London bombings raised global concerns about the lack of effective madrassa monitoring", explained Abdur Rehman Shah, a madrassa affairs expert with Tongji University in Shanghai.

In 2014, Islamist militants attacked a military-operated school in north-western Pakistan and over 145 people were killed, leading to madrassas observation becoming central to counterterrorism efforts. Raids targeting seminaries suspected of militant links by security agencies followed. The government attempted to curb Islamist parties' influence over seminary boards in 2019. Over 17,500 madrassas enrolled 2.2 million students, according to official data. Poor Pakistani children were given free education, meals and housing.

Pakistan boasts the second-highest number of children not attending schools globally, with 22.8 million children from age 5 to 16 not attending school, representing 44% of the country's young. The country's public education system fails to meet the needs of millions of its children. Supported by private donations, madrassas partially fill the public system gaps. Their education consists largely of Islamic theology and Arabic. Many of the madrassas emphasize doctrinal purity and Islam's defense. 

Administrators of madrassas claim they are unfairly blamed for militancy.

"There are many people who go to liberal schools and are radicalized."

"Terrorism must be curbed, but scapegoating madrassas is not the solution."

Qari Shahid Gul, teacher, Karachi madrassa

As there has long been a concern that the madrassas produce unskilled graduates who espouse intolerant misinterpretations of Islam, many organized attempts have already been made to "modernize" them. TRTWORLD