[Reader-list] Second posting >>Journalism in Madrasas and Madrasas in Journalsim

[mohd arshad]

Hi all,
I'm sorry for being late. This is my second posting on the theme of
"Journalism in Madrasas and Madrasas in Journalism". I have analyzed in it
the content of the two of the Ahle Hadees magazines and how they came in
touch with the Salafia of Saudi Arabia. Differences in the approach, reach
and content of the two magazines belonging to the same sect have also been
studied.




"If one section of the majority community insists that it's they who are the
nation and the national culture and heritage is nothing else but their
culture, ethos and rituals; unless the goal of the assimilation of the
minorities into the fold of the majority is achieved, the national security
of the country will be at stake, that section, in reality, is not concerned
about the national security and the development of the whole nation and is
just aiming at fuelling the majority communalism."

This is an excerpt from an editorial of Mohaddis, an 'Islamic cultural and
literary monthly magazine'. Published in September.2001(p4-5), a time when
the BJP led-NDA coalition was at the helm of affairs, the editorial mirrors
the concerns of the madrasa people regarding  a  detailed report tabled by a
committee of a couple of the central ministers. As the report pronounces
that madrasas are the threat to the national security, it sent tremors to
the madrasas across the country. The editor further writes: "The madrasas
have played very crucial role in the freedom struggle, their graduates
fought tooth and nails against the British colonial regime.But the above
mentioned section of the majority community is of the opinion that they are
the real culprits and are threat to the national security. In reality, they
are neither the dens of terrorism nor the 'shakhas' for training the youth
to use arms and ammunitions, but are the centers of the learning where
education of the muslim theology as well as the necessary secular subjects
is imparted to the students. In the period stretched over half a century
after the Independence, the muslim community lagged far behind in the race
of the development and education. Governments are elected and voted out off
the office but nobody ever bothered to take any concrete step for the
economic and educational upliftment of the backward muslims. In this state
of despair, madrasas are the last resort for a number of students of the
minority community whose followers are numbered at more than 20 crore."

The editorial "Madrasas and the National Security" argues that this report
laid bare the hidden agenda of the BJP government to foster the majoritarian
communalism among the non-muslim brethren of the country. As the madrasas
are the centers for Islamic learning and are established by the Muslims to
preserve their culture and religion, a Constitutional right, they cannot be
categorized as the threat to the national security, without any substantial
proof. It should be seen as a concerted effort by one section of the
majority community to wither away the diverse traditions and cultures of
various minority groups by assimilating them into the north Indian
Brahmanical way of life, and, this can definitely pose threat to the
national security. Further, A.W.Hijazi, the editor, maintains that madrasas
are spreading literacy to those who don't afford to bear the expenses of the
public schools and where the government fails to open a school. Having done
so, the madrasas are helping the state out in maintaining its 'welfare
character'.

Mohaddis is brought out by Darul Taalif Wa Tarjuma which is the department
of research of Jamia Salafia, Varanasi. The latter is the apex madrasa of
the Ahl-e-Hadees sect of Indian muslims. The Ahl-e-Hadees are known for
their non-adherence to any of the conventional schools of the muslim
jurisprudence and are considered to be rigid in rendering a more puritanical
interpretation of Islam and monotheism. They are the smallest minority among
the Indian Sunni Muslims. An estimate put their population somewhere near 2
to 2.5 crore. Though they are scattered across the country, West Bengal has
the largest share of them. Jamia Salafia is their intellectual centre while
Markazi Jami'at Ahl-e-Hadees, Hind (Ahl-e-Hadees Manzil, 4116, Urdu Bazar,
Jamia Masjid, Delhi-6) is the administrative head office of the sect.

It is evident from the content of Mohaddis that the ulema are not concerned
with what is going on in the political arena of the country, unless it has
some muslim angle attached to it. Rezaullah Madani who edits Jarida
Tarjuman, the fortnightly organ of Markazi Jami'at Ahl-e-Hadees, Hind, says
"Jarida Tarjuman aims at keeping the readers aware of the services of the
Markazi Jami'at as well as helping it in translating its vision into reality
So, as ours is not a political organization, we are more concerned about the
social and religious issues of the community, rather than political ones.
There are outfits which concentrate on the political issues in their
publications". However, while browsing through the pages of the magazine I
came across pieces on Kanpur riots, the terrorist attack on the World Trade
Centre, the Gujarat genocide, the American attack on .Afghanistan and Iraq
and ,of course, the Palestine question.

In an editorial on the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre,
A.W.Hijazi, buys the conspiracy theory and holds Israel responsible for the
attack. (Mohaddis: November, 2001, p4-6).But what he writes about the US
attack on Afghanistan makes an interesting reading and is worth reproducing
here:  "We don't say that there are no extremists among muslims. Definitely,
they are very much there. But it has to be accepted that these elements are
found in every country and society. There may be other factors at work but
illiteracy is the main reason behind it. So to educate the masses and equip
them with the applied knowledge is the only way to eradicate terrorism. War
cannot cure the wounds of terrorism. Only terrorists should be punished for
their deeds and that's only after the confirmation of their heinous crime.
Is it the justice to punish the whole nation for the acts of some of them?
Doing so per se is injustice and terrorism."  (p. 5-6).

Along with Mohaddis, Jamia Salafia brings out another monthly magazine Saut
ul Ummah in Arabic. Dr. Muqtada Hasan Azhari edits the magazine since its
inception in the early 80s. A graduate of the Al-Azhar Islamic University,
Cairo, he is known for his liberal leanings in the Ahl-e-Hadees circle. An
author of many books and a celebrated translator from Arabic to Urdu and
vice versa, Dr. Azhari frequently contributes to Mohaddis on a range of
themes.

Reacting to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre on the 11th Sep,
2001, he wrote a piece titled "How the Arab Journalism Reacted to the
Terrorist Attack on the WTC?"(Nov, 2001).This write-up is a commentary on
the coverage of the event in three of the leading newspapers and magazines
of the Arab world: Al-Mujtam'a (a weekly magazine from Kuwait), Akhbar Al
A'alam Al Islami (a weekly tabloid from Mecca) and Akhbar Al Watan
(Oman).The piece opens with the description of the attack on the WTC and the
details of the security measures taken by the US authority to reduce the
possibility of any other attack by the terrorists. Then, he writes,
paraphrasing what has been published in Al-Mujtam'a(22/09/2001), that Muslim
ulema and leaders, all over the world, have termed this fateful event as a
'human tragedy' and  'unislamic' as Islam prohibits from terrorist
activities in all its incarnations. Further, he quotes from Akhbar Al A'alam
Al Islami, Mecca(28/09/2001) statements of bigwigs of the Arab world,
including Dr. Abdullah bin Abdul Mohsin Turki,General Secretary of Muslim
World League, Mecca; Dr. Muhammad Syed Tantawi, Vice Chancellor of the Al
Azhar University, Cairo and Omar Musawi, General Secretary of Arab League,
in condemnation of the attack. With the help of statistics and data, he goes
on to elucidate that "Since the end of the 19 th century, terrorist
activities of different kinds have been carried out in the US against
celebrities and MNCs. Most of these ghastly acts have been masterminded and
put into action by US citizens who belonged to American militia and
extremist outfits while the involvement of the Arab criminals in any crime
committed on the soil of the US is almost negligible. Then he raises the
question: who are the real perpetrators of the attack on the WTC. He goes on
to say that though the US is of the opinion that it's Bin Laden and his Al
Qaeda which is behind this tragedy, the things are yet not clear enough to
make such a claim. Buying the conspiracy theory, he says that speculations
are that those American soldiers who had fought against Vietnam carried out
the attack in collaboration with Mosad, the Israeli intelligence agency.
According to the Arab diplomats, he quotes from Akhbar Al Watan (Oman), the
needle of the suspicion points towards the involvement of Israel in this
tragedy and he enumerates their arguments in support of the claim:

1. None of the four thousand of the Jews who worked in the WTC, turned up
that fateful
    day at their workplace.
2. The Directors of the security personnel of all those airports from which
the planes
     were hijacked, were on leave.
3. Ariel Sharon, the Israeli PM, sent his condolence message to the
President Bush  even
    before   the latter came to know about the incident.

Next part of the piece says that what had happened in Washington, New York
and Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001, is a human tragedy which has no
parallel in the history. Let's hope this will compel the US to change its
policies towards Palestine, Lebanon, Sudan, Iraq, Chechnya, Bosnia and
Rwanda. Are the lives and liberties of the innocent citizens of these
countries not as precious and respectable as those of the US citizens?

Then the article deals with the popular protests, held in almost all
important cities of the world against the announcement of the President Bush
that Military action will be carried out against those who are responsible
for the attack on the WTC. He ends the article with what the Egyptian
President, Hosni Mubarak said: I fear the treatment will worsen the
situation. Any American attack on any country will end up but  killing the
innocent people, like those who have already been killed on September
11.This statement of  the Egyptian President has been quoted from
Al-Mujtam'a, Kuwait,(29/09/2001).

For a long time Dr.Azhari has been the rector of Jamia Salafia which was
established in 1963 with great financial help from the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia. In this capacity, he has frequently been to the gulf countries,
especially Saudi Arabia, to represent the institution in several academic
events and, also, to garner the economic support for Jamia. During one of
such trips he addressed a gathering of the Ahle Hadees madrasa graduates
from India who were then enrolled in the King Sa'ud University, Riyadh. The
whole text of his speech titled "Knowledge is not a commodity, it's a sacred
heritage to be passed on" was reproduced in Mohaddis (June, 2002.p.20-30).In
the speech he goes in detail to elaborate the nature and kinds of
knowledge;the need of the hour; how to fulfill those needs?; what ails ulema
and the madrasa graduates?; and the opportunity of the higher education
available in Saudi Arabia.

A number of Ahle Hadees madrasa graduates fly every year to Saudi Arabia for
the higher education. How and when had it started? 'It's difficult to
specify the period when the Salafia of the sub-continent came into contact
with that of Najd (Sa'udi Arabia).However, what we remember is that it
started when Nawab Siddique Hasan Khan of Bhopal sent a copy of Fat'h Al
Bayan Fi Maqasid al Qur'an, one of his commentaries on the Qur'an to Sheikh
Hamd Bin Ateeque,a noted Saudi alim. As Siddique Hasan Khan had adopted the
Ash'rites approach towards explaining God's ways, Sheikh Hamd Bin Ateeque
elucidated the Saudi Salafia's stand towards the same in a letter to the
former', in an interview to the weekly Al Da'wah, Riyadh, said
Dr.RezaullahMubarakpuri (1954 – 2003), the former Principal of Jamia
Salafia (Mohaddis,
Special Issue on Dr.Rezaullah Mubarakpuri, June to December,2003).This
incident  clearly suggests that the Salafia of the sub-continent was
different from that of Saudi Arabia. Another event which highlights how the
indigenous Salafia varies from the Saudi Salafia is related to Allama
Sanaullah of Amritsar (1868 - 1948), another veteran Ahl-e-Hadees 'alim. He
followed the Ash'arite's method in one of his commentaries on the Qur'an.
Maulana Faqirullah Punjabi, a member of the Ghaznavi family of the
Ahl-e-Hadees ulema who received his education from the ulema of Najd, Saudi
Arabia and was adamant in their adherence to the interpretation of Islam
provided by Mohammad Bin Abdul Wahab, did not like what Sanaullah wrote. In
1936-37.it triggered a series of writings in which Ghaznavids accused
Sanaullah of deviating from the path of the Salafia while the latter was of
the view that as the socio-political milieu of the country was diametrically
different from that of Saudi Arabia, and that's why our interpretation of
Islam should be different from that of the Saudis. Those were the days when
the Christian missionaries had launched their campaign of propagation and
proselytization. Likewise, the Shuddhi Movement was also at its peak.
Qadianism (Ahmedism) recently came into the picture and caused a lot of hue
and cry among the Sunni muslims. As an 'alim living in this age, Sanaullah
had to develope a new idiom of the contestations to blunt what was being
said and written  about Islam by the above mentioned forces, and, of course,
also, to keep the fold of his followers intact. Later on, both were invited
to the court of King Saud who saw the point in Sanaullah's arguments and
sorted out the problem in his favour.

In fact, the salafis of the sub-continent preferred to use the term
Ahl-e-Hadees for themselves. It's only in 60s that their contact with the
salafis of Saudi Arabia gained momentum.Ahle Hadees madrasa graduates
started getting admission in Saudi Universities, especially in Al Jamia Al
Islamia, Medina (a university where students from all over the world come
for absolutely free higher education in the Islamic sciences and go back to
their country to disseminate and propagate what they have learnt).Likewise,
a number of Saudi ulema came to teach in Jamia Salafia, Varanasi when it
came into existence. Thus, scores of Ahle Hadees madrasa graduates came back
to India to preach the Saudi edition of Salafia. As most of them get a
handsome salary from the Ministry of Propagation and Guidance of the Saudi
Government, they maintain a life standard which was unprecedented to the
Indian ulema. Earlier the ulema were known for their preference for poverty
and humbleness in their interaction with the masses A sort of snobbery and
intellectual arrogance crept into these Saudi-returned ulema. Thus, the
Petro-Dollar has created classes among the Ahle Hadees ulema and they got
divided into two camps: Madani (a suffix used by those in their names who
got the opportunity to get educated in Al Jamia Al Islamia, Medina, Saudi
Arabia) and non-Madani ulema. Madrasa students aspire to be a Madani as it
secures a handsome salary, social status and an opportunity to acquire the
skill to speak Arabic with adequate fluency. As non-Madani ulema lack all
these attributes, they are being looked down upon by their Madani
counterparts as well as by a common Ahle Hadees.

The Madani ulema, ignorant of the socio-cultural and political realities of
India and fascinated by what they learnt in Medina, completely overlooked
the spatio-temporal factors of the Islamic jurisprudence. They  tried to
impose fatwas of the Saudi ulema on the Indian masses. A sort of the
dialogical colonialism was witnessed by the madrasa journals which became
the vehicle for the dissemination of views (fatwas and opinion pieces) of
the Saudi ulema on the one hand while the spaces of these magazines had been
transformed into a battlefield between the Madani and non-Madani ulema.

Translations of the write-ups by the Saudi ulema constitute a sizeable chunk
and regular element of the Ahle Hadees magazines. For instance, translation
of an article of Allama Abdul Mohsin Al 'Ebad, ex Vice Chancellor of Al
Jamia Al Islamia, Medina, appeared in Mohaddis in 16 parts (from Jan 2002 to
May, 2003). In this piece, the essayist has countered the 'allegations' made
by Syed Yousuf Al Refa'i, ex-member of the Parliament of Kuwait, against the
ulema of Saudi Arabia. Some issues of Mohaddis carry 2-3 translations of the
pieces by the Saudi scribes. These translations generally deal with the
themes of metaphysics and prayers.

In the early 90s, a fatwa by the late Abdullah Bin Baaz, the chief   mufti
of Saudi Arabia, was reproduced in Mohaddis. The fatwa was about whether it
is Islamic to raise hands while invoking dua', the concluding part of namaz.
Bin Baaz termed it unislamic while in India the same ritual is considered to
be the intrinsic part of namaz. The fatwa generated intensive debate in
Mohaddis as well as in other Ahle Hadees magazines. It infuriated a number
of veteran non-Madani Ahle Hadees ulema who were against the fatwa while the
Madani ulema were all for it. The writings of the both sides were compiled
in a special issue brought by Mohaddis. The insistence on the implementation
of the fatwa of Bin Baaz caused even violence at some places

Translations from Hindi or English journals are rarely found.. In the period
under study, I've found only 2-3 translations from English and all of them
are about the muslims in the foreign countries and about those who have
embraced Islam. 'An Introduction to the Muslims of Mongolia' (Mohaddis, July
2004) is the title of a piece which is basically a summarized translation
from the English language. The translation chronicles in brief the history
and the present day situations of muslims in the region. Mohd. Sanaullah
Umri, the translator, has not mentioned where and when the source article
appeared.
.
Most of the articles are based on the injunctions of the Qur'an and the
Hadees.As a result, they become very hypothetical and abstract, detached
from the ground realities. This gives way to the repetition and raises
questions about the originality of the intellectual production of the
ulemas. What Mohd Muniruddin Umri has written about "The human rights and
Islam" (Nawa-e- Islam, October, 2000.p29) is not different from what someone
else will jot down on the same theme. The reason is that everybody quotes
the same verses of the Qur'an, sayings of the Prophet and a handful of
events from the history of the Muslim rule. This approach makes their pieces
abstract, anachronous and devoid of empirical studies of the socio-economic
reality of Indian muslims. One rarely comes across a piece which has been
written in the light of the data provided by any socio-economic survey of
the country. In one of such articles titled "What Ails Muslims in India?"
(Mohaddis,December,2000.p.35-40),the essayist quotes statistics from Vibhuti
Narayan Rai's book on communal riots and also from a survey by National
Council of Applied Economic Research to show what the communal riots in the
Independent India has done to the economy of muslims. He has also questioned
the role of the Police in the communal violence. In the concluding part of
the article, he argues that illiteracy among the Muslims, opportunism in
their leadership, the inability of the community to reach out to their
non-muslim brethren and the rise of the Hindu rightist forces are the causes
which are at the root of the problem. Apart from the rhetorical approach,
ignorance of languages other than Urdu also plays a critical role in the
absence of statistics about the contemporary reality of the muslims from the
madrasa journals.

The Ahle Hadees madrasa journals are all praise for the house of Saud and
their kingdom. Time and again, they publish pieces which glorify the
services of Saudi government and its charity works for muslim minorities of
the world. In its issue of September, 2000, Nawa-e-Islam has printed three
items (p20 to 32) related to the kingdom and its religious ideology
"Wahabism or Salafia".The title of the first article is "Saudi Arabia: An
Ideal Islamic State" It narrates the history of the house of Saud since 18th
century explaining how it rose to prominence and seized the throne of the
country. The reasons why it is an "ideal Islamic state" are: it has
constructed more than 2000 mosques in the kingdom; it has introduced a lot
of new facilities for the Hajj pilgrims which has made their marathon very
easy; it has been instrumental through the King Fahad Qur'an Complex, in
distributing copies of the Qur'an across the world; it has established a
factory for manufacturing the curtains of Ka'ba and, of course, it provides
astronomical amount of money for the muslim minorities of the world. The
second article of the series profiles the life and achievements of King
Fahad Bin Abdul Aziz.The third and the last one is the translation of an
address by the King Abdul Aziz to a gathering of the Hajj pilgrims in
1973.In this speech, titled as "They Call Us Wahabis", the king has
presented the crux of the Wahabism and declared it his state ideology.
Recently, on the occasion of the visit of King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz to
India, the fortnightly Jarida Tarjuman came up with a special issue
(1-15February, 2006.vol.26.No.3) in which 16 out of 26 items were devoted to
deal with different aspects of the history and the services of the House of
Saud.

Nawa-e-Islam, a monthly magazine, is brought out by The Islamic Preaching
Council(1164-A,Chah Rehat,Jama Masjid Delhi-6) situated in a mosque which ,
according to its editor Aziz Umar Salafi, 'serves the purpose of the mosque,
the office and the restraunt'. The magazine provides more variety to its
readers than what Mohaddis offers to its subscribers. Although both of them
contain 48 pages, the former publishes around 12 to 15 items in every issue
while Mohaddis keeps this number between11 to 13. Except the editorial
column, both the magazines have only three regular columns. Apart from
Dars-e-Qur'an (Guidance from the Qur'an) and Dars-e-Hadees (Guidance from
the Hadees), Mohaddis has a regular column on fatwas which is missing in the
case of Nawa-e-Islam. This, like Jamia Salafia, does not have any council of
Muftis. So, instead of a column on fatwas, it has a regular column titled
"Al Salam-o-Alaikum". by Dr.Abul Hayat Ashraf. He, not an a'lim by training,
comments in the lighter vein on a range of issues related to muslims.
Majority of the pieces published in Mohaddis are written by the teachers of
Jamia Salafia while the contributors to Nawa-e-Islam are from different
parts of the country. It is interesting to note that except a few, all
contributors to both the magazines are ulema by training. No remuneration is
paid to these writers as the purpose behind bringing out this journal is
tabligh (religious), not commercial. Mohaddis (size: 23x18 inches) is sold
at the rate of Rs.10 per copy while Nawa-e-Islam (size: 21x14 inches) at the
rate of Rs.8.

Mohaddis is held with respect in the circle of Ahle Hadees ulema as it
publishes more erudite and in-depth pieces while Nawa-e-Islam caters to the
common masses. The latter uses simple Urdu while the language of Mohaddis is
more jargon-ridden and full of Arabic words. When an a'lim comes back to
India after staying four-five years  in Saudi Arabia,he  writes in a Urdu
which is Arabic-laden and  reading of which produces an effect very similar
to what is known as Gulabi Urdu invented by Mulla Ramuzi. So, Nawa-e Islam
seems more familiar to a layman than Mohaddis. Another reason for its
popularity among masses is that the length of its articles normally does not
exceed four pages and, unlike Mohaddis, it avoids publishing long articles
in several parts. The latter does not follow any standard format for
write-ups published in it. Rezaullah Madani, editor of the fortnightly
Jarida Tarjuman, Delhi, says: "I, after coming to the office in 2001, have
almost stopped publishing long articles in several parts. This, including
other factors, has helped a lot in increasing the readership of the magazine
by leaps and bounds. In 2001, only2500 copies were published while nowadays
the consumption has reached to 6000 copies".

Mohaddis, Nawa-e-Islam and Jarida Tarjuman, like other madrasa journals, are
not ready to show an iota of flexibility when it comes to the ideology of
the sect. Even in matter of advertisements they strictly follow the sect
line and decline to any advertisement having any photograph or other
material contrary to their ideology. "We refuse to publish those
advertisements which carry photographs of the living objects though the
money offered by the advertisement agencies is amazing.' says Rezaullah
Madani.




The next posting will seek to explore the trends in the madrasa journals
brought out by those ulema who belong to the Deoband school of thought.



arshad amanullah
35,masihgarh,
jamia nagar
new delhi-25.
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