Islamic Culture and the Concept of Madrasa

Madrasa is an Arabic word that is closely related with Islamic culture. It indicates a place meant for teaching such as an educational institute. Such an institute could be secular or religious. In Islamic countries, madrasas also include institutions of higher studies.

The origin of madrasa can be traced back to the time of Prophet of Islam. The first madrasa in the world was established by the Prophet himself in his mosque, where he used to teach the tenets of Islam.

Islamic Culture and Types of Madrasas

Islamic culture and the concept of Madrasas are an integral part of education too. Therefore, madrasas can be divided in the following categories:

• Maktabs: These are preliminary institutions that impart only groundwork religious teachings.
• Middle level madrasas: This is where pupils are taught Arabic language, Qur'an, commentary on Qur'an, hadith etc.
• Higher madrasas: They offer graduate and post-graduate level learning on Arabic literature, Islamic theology, Greek sciences and Kalam philosophy.

How Islamic Culture Led to Establishment of Madrasas in India

When Islam entered India, thousands of Hindus from both North and South India converted to the religion. Adoption of Islamic culture became an inevitable part of this transition. As many converts were very poor and illiterate, there was an urgent need to teach them about religion and essential precepts, which led to the establishment of madrasa institutions. A number of madrasas were set up during the reign of Akbar and Aurangzeb. In fact, Aurangzeb even made a team of scholars for preparing a digest of Islamic law, which was later called Fataw-i-Alamgiri. As of today, estimates say that in villages around 15-30% Muslim children are first sent to maktabs and than to madrasas.

Why Islamic Culture Remains Actively Propagated Through Madrasas

Islamic culture continues to be shared and communicated through Madrasas, which are still preferred by Muslims due to the following reasons:

• Scarcity of modern schools in areas with high Muslim population.
• Shortage of separate schools for girls.
• Shortage of female teachers in co-ed schools.
• Poor quality of education provided in government schools.
• Belief among orthodox Muslims that school text books are Hindu biased .

Today, many people have not understood the relevance of madrasas and criticize them as irrelevant. There is strong consensus that madrasas should be replaced with modern secular educational institutions. Following the WTC, New York terror attacks on 9/11, madrasas have become a centre of controversy across media channels and discussions on curbing centers that breed terrorists. There was assumption that madrasas were the initial breeding grounds for the terrorists who plotted 9/11.