Anti - Madrasa Propaganda

Anti-Madrasa Propaganda in India and the Response of the Indian ‘UlamaYoginder SikandThe persistent propaganda campaign against madrasas as ‘dens of terror’ is today forcing Indian Muslim leaders, including ‘ulama associated with leading madrasas, to consider measures to defend the madrasas from attack. Interestingly, going by their public statements, many of them are now calling for a greater engagement with non-Muslims, seeking to build bridges of understanding with people of other faiths and with the government in an effort to clear the madrasas of the charges levelled against them. In turn, this envisions new roles for a more socially involved ‘ulama seeking to interact with the wider society that they have hitherto deliberately sought to remain insulated from.
In the face of the attacks on the madrasas, not a single madrasa, it is important to note, is known to have called for retaliatory violence or even for armed jihad. Rather, the trend seems entirely in the other direction, thus suggesting a growing realization on the part of the ‘ulama of the need to reach out to others if madrasas are to be allowed to function freely. Waris Mazhari, a Deobandi ‘alim echoesthe mood of numerous ‘ulama when he appeals that, in the face of the campaign against the madrasas, the ‘ulama must not ‘take any step that will play into the hands of those opposed to the madrasas’. Rather, he argues, madrasas should follow the Qur’anic dictum of repelling evil with good, as a result of which their most inveterate foes might turn into their greatest allies and supporters (‘Madaris Ke Khilaf Muhim: Ek Khamosh ‘Amal Ki Zarurat’, Tarjuman-i Dar ul-‘Ulum, September 2002, pp.4-6).
This is no exceptional voice among the ‘ulama. In January, 1995, shortly after a police raid on the Nadwat ul-‘Ulama, Lucknow, the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, the apex body of the Indian ‘ulama belonging to almost all the various Sunni Muslim sects or maslaks, met at Lucknow to discuss, among other issues, the growing allegations against the madrasas. Among the resolutions passed was one that stressed the need for madrasas to regularly organize meetings to which they should invite non-Muslim intellectuals, social activists, journalists, government officials and political workers to explain to them the curriculum, methods of functioning and aims of the madrasas in order to clear their ‘misunderstandings’. It was further stressed that the madrasas must seek to combat the campaign against them through ‘wisdom’ (hikmat) and eschewing ‘emotionalism’ (jazbatiyat) (‘Tahaffuz-i Madaris Ke Mauzu Par Zimmedaran-i Madaris Ka Ijtima’, Bang-i Dara, January, 1995).
The same sentiment was expressed seven years later, when the campaign against the madrasas had reached new heights in the aftermath of the attacks of September, 2001. At a meeting of various madrasa heads held in October 2002 near Lucknow, Muhammad Rabey Hasni Nadwi, rector of the Nadwat ul-‘Ulama and head of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, argued that in this ‘age of democracy’, when ‘no community could seek to eliminate all others through force’, the only way to combat the concerted campaign against Islam and the madrasas was through the use of the mass media (‘Report: Madaris Convention’, Bang-i Hira, September-November, 2002, p.16). At the same meeting, a carefully-worded resolution was passed appealing to the Muslims of India rebut the propaganda against the madrasas, but only through peaceful means. Madrasas were advised to abide by the principles of ‘seriousness, justice, tolerance and love for humanity’, and Muslims were cautioned against taking to violence and thereby playing into the hands of the ‘anti-Muslim’ forces.
Similar suggestions have come from ‘ulama from different parts of the country. Since one of the major charges levelled against the madrasas is their alleged involvement in ‘anti-national’ activities, many ‘ulama have now begun to argue for the urgent need for madrasas to highlight before the non-Muslim public the role of the madrasas and the ‘ulama in India’s freedom struggle in order to stress their patriotic credentials. Influential sections of the Indian ‘ulama today feel the necessity of addressing multiple constituencies, Hindus as well as Muslims, if the madrasas are to be left untouched. This entails actively reaching out to the wider non-Muslim public in order to convince them of the services that madrasas are said to render not just to the Muslims alone but to the country as a whole, and to provide them with a more objective understanding of Islam and the madrasas. Thus, for instance, Waris Mazhari suggests that madrasas must actively seek to counter the widespread conviction among non-Muslims that Islam sanctions indiscriminate killing of others and is vehemently opposed to secularism and democracy (Mazhari, op.cit.,p.5). Another Deobandi ‘alim, Nasim Ahmad Qasmi, argues that in the face of the allegations against the madrasas the ‘ulama must seek to convince the Hindu public that, far from preaching rebellion against India and hatred against other communities, the madrasas instil in their students such noble values as ‘love for the country’, ‘unity and oneness’ and ‘good morals’ (Madaris-i Islamiya Ke Hifz-o-Baqa Ke Liye Imarat-i Shari‘ah Ki Jad-o-Jehed, Patna: Imarat-i Shari‘ah, 2002, p.4). Non-Muslims need to be also informed, so many ‘ulama now stress, of the significant benefits that madrasas are said to have provided the country, such as attracting large numbers of foreign students and thereby ‘glorifying’ the name of India abroad, and also enabling their students to acquire jobs in the Arab world and send back to India valuable foreign exchange. Further, they need to be enlightened about the free services that the madrasas are providing to poor Muslims, thereby saving the government an enormous amount of money that it would have otherwise had to spend on their education.
In order to communicate with their non-Muslim fellow countrymen and disabuse them of ‘misconceptions’ that they might have them of concerning the madrasas, senior ‘ulama are now advocating that madrasas should open their doors to welcome non-Muslims, and allow them to freely meet and interact with the students and teachers in order to discover what madrasas are really all about. As part of this effort to reach out to others, some madrasas have begun organizing functions, on special days such as Independence Day, Republic Day and on festive occasions, inviting local non-Muslims to participate. Often, these provide occasions for the ‘ulama to stress the patriotic credentials of the madrasas and their commitment to inter-communal harmony. Some madrasas have already begun limited efforts at promoting inter-faith dialogue with religious heads of other communities. In mid-2002 a newspaper reported that some 800 madrasas in and around the city of Hyderabad were planning to introduce a separate subject on patriotism in their syllabus, in order to highlight the role of the madrasas in India’s freedom struggle and the ‘Islamic concept of love for the country’ (Shaik Ahmad ‘Ali, ‘Madrasas to Introduce Patriotism As A Subject’, The Times of India, Bangalore, 11 June, 2002). In early March 2003 a film commissioned by the Special Service Bureau, a hitherto ‘secret organisation’ under the Home Ministry, discovered numerous madrasas along the Indo-Nepal border whose ‘ulama were preaching the values of patriotism to their students, thus contradicting reports by the Intelligence Bureau that spoke of these madrasas as being actively engaged in ‘anti-national’ activities (‘SSB Film Contradicts IB Reports On Madrasas’, The Times of India, Lucknow, 31 March, 2003).
As part of this broader effort to reach out to the non-Muslim public in order to combat the propaganda against the madrasas, numerous madrasas have brought out booklets, mainly in Urdu, but also in Hindi, English and various regional languages, stressing the constructive role of the madrasas and denying any association with terrorism. Some larger madrasas have organized press conferences and issued press statements dissociating themselves from terrorism. Muslim-owned newspapers generally enthusiastically publish such statements of the ‘ulama, but the ‘ulama complain that, in general, non-Muslim papers show little interest in highlighting their views. The Nadwat ul-‘Ulama, Lucknow now brings out regular journals in Hindi and English, copies of which are sent free of cost to selected non-Muslim journalists, social activists and government officials. These journals are concerned with presenting a balanced, moderate image of Islam and rebutting allegations of Indian madrasas being involved in terrorism. Both the Nadwat ul-‘Ulama and the Dar ul-‘Ulum, Deoband, have now started media centres and training courses for journalists, one of whose main aims is to get senior madrasa students to write for the popular press in order to combat the propaganda against the madrasas and against Islam and Muslims in general.
As these developments suggest, allegations of madrasas being ‘dens of terror’ are seen as a particularly serious challenge by the Indian ‘ulama. As a response to this, the ‘ulama are now calling for madrasas to engage in peaceful and constructive engagement with the wider society. In this sense, the anti-madrasa propaganda seems to be working as a catalyst for madrasa reform, although as for how successful these efforts will be remains to be seen.