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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Pakistani madrassas still mourning the fall of the Taliban |
| 2004-02-18 |
| Small boys wearing white caps and flowing robes played in the shadow of jagged snow-capped peaks lining the frontier with Afghanistan. Thoughts of turmoil on the far side of the mountains still trouble staff and pupils in the spartan, bare classrooms of the Dar ul-Uloom Islamia Madrassah in Pakistan. "We are in mourning for the collapse of the Taliban," said Maulana Gouhar Shah, the leader of the madrassah. "We are still weeping for them. As soldiers and rulers, the Taliban served the people well." Mr Shah’s bearded teachers nodded in agreement when he described Afghanistan under the Taliban as the "only true Muslim state". This nostalgia for a regime that Pakistan’s government helped America and Britain to destroy was supposed to be fading away in the country’s madrassahs, or Islamic colleges. Almost two years ago, President Pervaiz Musharraf announced an ambitious plan to wean the madrassahs away from extremism and force them to teach a broad, modern curriculum. The 10,000 colleges, serving 1.5 million students, were given until the end of 2002 to reform or close. Yet any visitor to Dar ul-Uloom madrassah in the remote town of Charsadda, 20 miles from the Afghan frontier, realises that nothing has changed. Mr Shah, 53, does not pretend to have introduced any reforms. "We have not changed," he said. "The government wants to bring drastic changes in our syllabus. They want to make us like government schools. But we are not ready to accept this." With 1,000 pupils and a 53-year history, Mr Shah’s madrassah is one of Pakistan’s largest and oldest. He passionately rejects any suggestion that madrassahs are hotbeds of Islamic zealotry, turning out recruits for terrorist organisations. "Our main aim is to impart religious education, to teach our pupils to be civilised, to be good human beings and good citizens who respect their parents," he said. "We want there to be peace in society." When the Taliban regime was in its death throes many madrassahs sent volunteers to fight on its behalf. Asked whether he did so, Mr Shah replied: "Yes, but don’t write that." Today, Mr Shah insists that he would not encourage any of his pupils to fight America. "I would tell them that you don’t have the power. I will say we don’t know who was responsible for September 11, but whoever was, we condemn it." Mr Shah’s pupils, aged from nine onwards, are mainly engaged in learning the Koran by heart. Every day they rise at 4am and begin reciting the holy book’s 6,666 verses. With breaks for prayer and meals, they continue until 9.30pm when the madrassah’s lights are switched off. Mr Shah, who sits in Pakistan’s National Assembly for the Jamaat-e-Ulema-Islam party, says this diet of religious devotion is balanced with English lessons. Yet none of his teachers speaks more than broken English. He also claims to offer computer lessons - on five computers between 1,000 pupils. A recent study found some madrassahs teaching medicine using an 11th-century text, while others taught mathematics based solely on the works of Euclid from 300 BC. Afrasiab Khattak, from the Pakistan Human Rights Commission, said the lack of practical education in madrassahs was the central problem. "They are so concerned with preparing people for the next world that they don’t bother with this one." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #3 It doesn't count Raj... the holy kram is written in Base19. I will leave for the students to figure out what 6666 is in the holy base. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-2-18 5:05:57 PM |
| #2 The problem is most Pakistani's can't get educated anywhere else. The Pakistani government should build a real education system and starve the maddrasses of students. If the Paks can't afford it perhaps the US (or India) could chip in a bit. It would pay for itself in the long run by stabalizing the region. Perhaps the Turks could fund and build a few Sufi flavored Mosques and maddrasses to combat the Saudi sponsered Wahhabi psychos. |
| Posted by: ruprecht 2004-2-18 12:30:49 PM |
| #1 and begin reciting the holy book’s 6,666 verses. Wow. kinda says it all, doesn't it? You learn something new every day... |
| Posted by: Raj 2004-2-18 12:26:55 PM |