[Reader-list] A View From Within: Kashmir’s Largest Madrasa: Dar ul-Uloom Raheemiyyah, Bandipora

[Yogi Sikand]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Yogi Sikand <ysikand at gmail.com>
Date: Jul 27, 2007 5:35 PM
Subject: A View From Within: Kashmir's Largest Madrasa: Dar ul-Uloom
Raheemiyyah, Bandipora
To: Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan <zik at vsnl.com>


*A View From Within*

*Kashmir**'s Largest Madrasa: Dar ul-Uloom Raheemiyyah*



*
By Yoginder Sikand*



Established in 1979, the Dar ul-Uloom Raheemiyyah, located in the town of
Bandipora, is the largest *madrasa* in Jammu and Kashmir. Founded by a
graduate of the Deoband *madrasa*, Maulana Muhammad Rahmatullah, it
currently has more than a thousand students on its rolls. Patterned on the
Deoband model, it is one of the few *madrasas* in the state that provide
Islamic education till the *takhasus *or specialization level.



The Trust that runs the *madrasa* also runs several other institutions,
spread over three separate campuses. These include the Faiz-e Aam school for
girls (till the fifth grade) and a similar school for boys (till the tenth
grade). Both these institutions follow the curriculum prescribed by the
Jammu and Kashmir State Board for Education, besides providing students with
religious education. The *madrasa* is located on a separate plot of land,
donated by a pious elderly woman, the late Aziz un-Nisa, who is said to have
taught the Quran to hundreds of boys and girls in and around Bandipora.
Adjacent to the *madrasa* is a four-storey technical institute which is
scheduled to be opened this year, offering courses in computers, tailoring,
painting and book-binding to students of the *madrasa* and others. Work on a
mosque that can accommodate some six thousand worshippers is almost
complete. A new library is coming up, whose collection includes numerous
handwritten manuscripts in Persian and Arabic, some several centuries old.
In addition, the Dar ul-Uloom runs some sixty part-time *maktab*s in and
around Bandipora, most of whose teachers are senior students of the *madrasa
*.



Mufti Nazeer Ahmed, aged 40, one of the elders at the *madrasa*, is known as
a specialist in Islamic jurisprudence. His principal task is to dispense *
fatwas* and hear disputes in the *dar ul-qaza* or 'house of justice' that is
attached to the *madrasa*. Till date, the *madrasa* has received several
thousand requests for *fatwas*.



When I enter his cell to meet the Mufti, I find him sitting in a corner on a
carpet, surrounded by men and women who have come to him for advice. He asks
an old woman, who cannot speak, to explain her problem. It relates, like
many other cases that he daily hears, to marital and inheritance squabbles.
He then hears out the others who are party to the dispute and eventually
gives an opinion in the woman's favour.



As the crowd shuffles out of the room, he beckons me to sit next to him. I
ask him if his *madrasa*'s acceptance of modern education, as represented in
the two schools that it runs, in addition to the *madrasa* itself, is
unusual for the Kashmiri *ulema* community.



'Not at all', he replies. 'Many of our *ulema* believe that we need to have
both modern as well as Islamic education, including even for girls'.
'Students with knowledge of both', he adds, 'can effectively communicate
Islam, by their words and deeds, in a whole range of spheres, and not simply
as religious specialists. A pious Muslim engineer or doctor is best suited
for preaching Islam to engineers or doctors'.



Mufti Nazir offers added justification for this approach to education. 'If *
ulema* acquire law degrees, they will be in a better position to offer *
fatwas*. Or, if you want to establish an economic institution or system run
on Islamic lines, a degree in economics can be useful. Or, if a
*madrasa*graduate studies journalism, he can use his skills to present
a proper
understanding of Islam to others and to counter anti-Muslim media
propaganda. And for this, *madrasa* graduates must also study English and
other languages, so that they can communicate with people who do not know
Urdu'.



The Mufti also refers to the need for technical training for
*madrasa*students. 'This is important for those students who will not
take up careers
as *ulema'*, he explains.



I ask the mufti about the Kashmir dispute, but he brushes aside my question
politely. 'We have nothing to do with politics', he says. He stresses,
however, that allegations about madrasas in Kashmir being allegedly involved
in promoting 'terrorism' are false. 'We are completely transparent, an open
book, and have nothing to hide. Anyone can come and visit us and sit in our
classrooms', he replies. 'Not a single *madrasa* in Kashmir has been
identified by intelligence sources as engaged in that sort of activity'. To
brand the madrasas as a whole as 'factories of terror' on the basis of the
activities of a few stray students is unfair, he stresses.



We talk about inter-community relations and what Islam has to say about
them. It is wrong, the Mufti tells me, to equate all non-Muslims as 'enemies
of Islam', as some fringe elements believe. 'You cannot generalize like this
about any community. There are good people in other communities, just as
there are bad people among Muslims. Our duty as Muslims is to approach
others with kind words and a good heart and tell them about Islam and
impress them with our good example'. For that, the Mufti says, peace is a
must, so that others would be willing to listen to what Muslims say about
their faith. Moreover, he adds, 'we must learn about each other's religions,
not to condemn and denounce others, but to understand them'.



He tells me about a Hindu whom he met some days ago who had read about Islam
and the stress it lays on ethical values. 'He told me that he appreciated
Islam because of these values that it stands for, and not because of
Muslims' behaviour. So, Islam must not be judged on the basis of the wrong
actions of some Muslims', he says.



The call for the evening prayer comes floating in. As I get up to leave, the
Mufti hands me a bunch of booklets that the *madrasa *has published,
including its monthly magazine, *Al-Noor*, which is published in both Urdu
and English. He asks me to spend the night if I want as it is getting late
and I might miss the last bus to Srinagar. I would certainly have loved
to—his cheerfulness, simplicity and hospitality have been so endearing, but
I really must leave. I promise him that I'll try to return soon and spend a
few days with him, to get a better understanding of *madrasa*s from within,
something that few writers on this much talked-about subject have actually
attempted.





* *

*For more details, contact: The Manager, Dar ul-Uloom Raheemiyyah,
Bandipora, *

*Jammu and Kashmir**, 193502.*



- -- 
Sukhia Sab Sansar Khaye Aur Soye
Dukhia Das Kabir Jagey Aur Roye

The world is 'happy', eating and sleeping
The forlorn Kabir Das is awake and weeping