Pakistan: Religious education and institutions

Muslim World

Volumn 96, Issue 2, 2006, Pages 323-339

  Rahman, Khalid ^a   Bukhari, Syed Rasha ^a  

^a Institute of Policy Studies   (Pakistan)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 60949404576     PISSN: 00274909     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1478-1913.2006.00131.x     Document Type: Review

References (15)

1. Tahir Andrabi, Jishnu Das, Asim Ijaz Khawja, Tristan Zajone, "Religious school Enrollment in Pakistan: A Look at the Data," World Bank Report WPS 3521. 3. http://www.worldbank.org.pk
2. See, Gauri Viswanathan, Masks of Conquest: Literary Study and British Rule in India, Combine University Press, New York, 1989; quoted in Muhammad Qasim Zaman, "Religious Education and the Rhetoric of Reform: The Madrasa in British India and Pakistan," 1999, Society for Comparative Study of Society and History
3. Education Report from the Director of Public Institutions, Punjab to the Financial Commissioner, Punjab, June 25, 1858; quoted in Muhammad Qasim Zaman, "Religious Education and the Rhetoric of Reform: The Madrasa in British India and Pakistan," 1999, Society for Comparative Study of Society and History
4. The issue of secularism in Muslim societies is very complex. If the policy makers, on the one hand, do not see the need of religious education and existence of religious institutions, Ulema, on the other hand, too present a picture of madaris as purely 'religious' institutions that have nothing to do with this world and its affairs. This is how Ulema have themselves been responsible for the assumption of separation of religion and state. In the words of Qasim Zaman: Striking here is the sense, which the ulama of the Nadwa had possibly imbibed from colonial analysis of educational and other institutions, tht religion was a distinct sphere of life. They denied that religion was a private matter, divorced from public life, yet had little trouble speaking of a 'purely religious' institution and of the religious sphere as clearly distinguishable from all others. Muhammad Qasim Zaman, "Religious Education and the Rhetoric of Reform: The Madrasa in British India and Pakistan," 1999, Society for Comparative Study of Society and History, 306
5. ICG Asai Report Mo: 36, "Pakistan: Madrasas, Extremism and the Military," July 29, 2002, 1
6. Countering this religious ideology demands, in turn, the identification of an alternative ideology and vision, in the Moroccan's words, "fusing national identity, tradition and modernization, also restoring the legitimate place of God in society." Indeed he believes the Islamic world "has been too silent, too shy and too paralyzed to deal with this because of the issue of religion. But why should God not be on side too?" Greg Mills, "War on terror begin in Pakistan's Schools," The Sunday Independent, July 25, 2004
7. "Madrassas breeding terrorists," says Powell, Daily Times, March 12, 2004
8. USAID Issue paper No: 2, "Strengthening Education in the Muslim World," June 2003
9. Anti-American sentiments are a growing phenomenon whose root cause should be found not only in religious and ideological matters but also in its role in world politics and international relations, power games and international balance of power. Anti-Americanism exists not just in the Muslim countries but also in Europe and among people of many non-Muslim regions of the world. Farid Zakria, editor of the Newsweek, says that majority in all countries, except only in Israel and Britain, does not like America. Farid Zakria, "The world's most dangerous ideas," Foreign Policy, Sept-Oct 2004. Similarly, The Pew Global Project Attitudes says: Anti-Americanism in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, which surged as a result of the U.S. war in Iraq show modest signs of abating. But the United States remains broadly disliked in most countries surveyed, and opinion of the American people is not as positive as it once was. The magnitude of America's image problem is such that even popular U.S. policies have done little to repair it." 23 June 2005
10. ICC Asia Report No: 36
11. Pakistan Religious Education Institutions: An Overview, Institute of Policy Studies, Islamabad, 2002
12. Nazir Ahmed, 1956 Survey quoted by Jamal Malik, Colonization of Islam: Dissolution of Traditional Institutions in Pakistan, Lahore, 1996, 180
13. Mumtaz Ahmad, "Madrasa Education in Pakistan and Bangladesh," in The Religious Radicalism and Society in South Asia, Satu P. Lamiye, Robert G. Wirsing, Mohan Malik, (eds.), Honolulu, Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies, 2004
14. University Grants Commission Notification No: 80918 AC 128, dated 17 November 1982
15. Interview with Robert Pape, "the Logic of Suicide Terrorism," The American Conservative, 18 July 2005. http://www.amconmag.com/2005-07-18/