INTERVIEW

Maulana Shah Muhammad Fazlur Rahim Mujadiddi Nadwi is the Rector of the Jamiat ul-Hidaya, a unique madrasa in Jaipur, Rajasthan, which combines religious, ‘modern’ and technical education. He also heads the Shah Muhammad Abdur Rahim Educational Trust, which runs several educational institutions in Jaipur and elsewhere.
In this interview with Yoginder Sikand he talks about his work and about madrasa education in India.

Maulana Shah Muhammad Fazlur Rahim Mujadiddi Nadwi is the Rector of the Jamiat ul-Hidaya, a unique madrasa in Jaipur, Rajasthan, which combines religious, ‘modern’ and technical education. He also heads the Shah Muhammad Abdur Rahim Educational Trust, which runs several educational institutions in Jaipur and elsewhere.

In this interview with Yoginder Sikand he talks about his work and about madrasa education in India.

You are considered to be a pioneer in seeking to combine religious and ‘modern’, including technical education in the madrasas. How did this all start?
The story goes back to my great-grandfather, Hazrat Shah Muhammad Hidayat Ali, a noted Naqshbandi Sufi and scholar. He who felt the need for reform in the madrasa system by introducing ‘modern’ subjects as well, for which purpose he set up the Madrasa Talim ul-Islam in Jaipur. This was in the period before India’s independence. However, he died in 1951, and his dream was left unfulfilled. Following this, my father, Shah Muhammad Abdur Rahim, seeking to pursue this dream, contacted various large madrasas across India, exhorting them to open departments of ‘modern’ and technical education so that their graduates could be economically self-sufficient instead of having to depend on others. Yet, his efforts met with almost no response. Some ulema argued that it was impossible to combine religious and other forms of education. Other said that while it might well be possible, it would serve no positive purpose. Yet others admitted that it was possible and a good thing but declined to act on my father’s advice on the grounds that this would mean a departure from the tradition set by their predecessors.

Meeting with no positive response to his appeals, my father decided to himself set up a model madrasa providing religious, ‘modern’ as well as technical education so that others could possibly emulate it. This took the form of the Jamiat ul-Hidaya, which began functioning in 1985. My father managed it till his death in 1994.

What is the course of studies that students at the Jamiat ul-Hidaya undergo?
In contrast to most other madrasas, at the Jamiat ul-Hidaya students study the various Islamic disciplines till the graduation or alimiyat level, but alongside this they also have to study various ‘modern’ subjects, for which we follow the syllabus prescribed by the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT). This year, our students appeared for the tenth grade examinations conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling, and the results were quite impressive.

Our course of study begins at the sixth grade. After students finish the tenth grade examination, they do four years more of religious education while also learning a particular technical trade or craft, such as computers, automobile repairing, accountancy and so on, so that once they finish they won’t have to depend on others for their livelihood. In this way we are trying to bridge the enormous gap between madrasas and the ‘regular’ system of education. Several of our students are now studying at regular universities, such as the Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi and the Aligarh Muslim University. Some of them are working as ulema, but many others have taken up a range of other occupations, including in banks, offices, business concerns and translation bureaus in India and in West Asia. One of our students even went on to become an aircraft engineer.

In terms of teachers’ background, also, we are quite different from most other madrasas. Roughly half of our teachers are madrasa-trained ulema and the rest have studied in ‘modern’ colleges and universities. Likewise, our roughly 700 students come from families with different sectarian affiliations, which, again, is in contrast to most madrasas that select only those students whose parents subscribe to their particular school of thought.

Some ulema insist that technical education must not be introduced in madrasas, arguing that this might overburden the students, or divert their attention from their religious studies. How do you, as one of the pioneers of technical education in madrasas, respond?

We do not say that all madrasa graduates should become professional ulema or madrasa teachers. Everyone needs to pursue some occupation and people should have career options. Why cannot an alim, a graduate of a madrasa, be a good accountant, government official, journalist or businessman? That way they will be also able to tell the people they come into contact with in their professional capacities about Islam and about Muslims. Of course, our main intention is to train good, pious and committed religious scholars, but they must be able to be economically self-sufficient, which they can be if they know a particular trade or craft.

Many leading ulema in the past took up a range of careers, including some that are considered as ‘humble’, but yet made immense contributions to society. For instance, Imam Qudduri worked as a potter, and Imam Abu Hanifa engaged in trade. While thus being economically self-sufficient, they were also able to devote themselves properly to their scholarly pursuits.

Q: What reforms would you suggest in the present system of studies followed in most traditional madrasas?

The syllabus today followed in most South Asian madrasas is some variant or the other of the dars-e nizami, a curriculum developed three hundred years ago by Mulla Nizamuddin of the Firangi Mahal in Lucknow. For its times, the dars-e nizami was very appropriate and relevant. It was also job-oriented, helping train bureaucrats and officials for the royal courts. But today, the dars-e nizami has largely lost its link with employment, and an institution that no longer has that sort of link cannot last long. Hence, I would urge, madrasas need to reform in accordance with modern needs, while still preserving their basic purpose of training would-be ulema.

I think the only way this can happen is to incorporate and give a respectful place to basic ‘modern’ subjects in the madrasa curriculum, as we have done in the Jamiat ul-Hidaya.

How do you see the ongoing propaganda offensive against madrasas in India, targeting them as alleged ‘dens of terror’?

This propaganda is completely wrong and baseless. As I see it, is a sinister ploy to defame madrasas, the ulema and Muslims in general. Now, if some anti-social character secretly takes refuge in a madrasa without revealing his real identity, how can you blame that madrasa or all madrasas, for that matter? The same is true if such a person hides in a college, a church or a temple. Madrasas in our country do not preach hatred of other communities or engage in or encourage any illegal or unconstitutional activity. Anyone is welcome to visit madrasas to see things for himself. From time to time, Indian Muslim leaders have been declaring that if a single madrasa is proved to be engaged in training terrorists we Muslims would be the first to demand that it be shut down. However, despite all sorts of wild allegations against madrasas, no evidence of a single Indian madrasa being engaged in terrorism has been discovered.

Besides those who are willfully engaged in seeking to defame the madrasas, there are others who think of madrasas in stereotypically negative terms primarily because they have had no association with the ulema or even with ‘ordinary’ Muslims. I think this is an issue that the ulema desperately need to address. Most ulema have very little interaction with people of other faiths. I think we must seek to build good relations with them. The lack of communication is responsible, to a large extent, in promoting misunderstandings on both sides. In this regard, I would also suggest that the ulema and the non-Muslim media should increasingly interact, on a positive basis, and not, as is often the case, only in the context of some sensational issue, real or imaginary. The ulema should seek to write in languages other than Urdu, such as English, Hindi and the various regional languages, to communicate their views and concerns to non-Muslims who cannot read Urdu.

Can you briefly describe the other educational projects that you have recently launched?

A decade ago, we started the Imam Rabbani Public School in Jaipur. We began with 5 lady teachers and thirty-five students. Today, it is a Hindi-medium school till the 12th standard, following the Rajasthan state school curriculum. It is now one of the biggest Muslim-run schools in Rajasthan, with some 3000 students. Girls and boys are roughly equal in number. Many of our teachers are Hindus.
Besides this, we are also running three civil service coaching centres, one each in New Delhi, Lucknow and Aligarh, to train Muslim students for various civil service examinations and to assist them to get admission into Muslim-run institutions of higher learning without paying hefty donation fees.

(More details about the Jamiat ul-Hidaya can be had from its website http://www.jameatulhidaya.org)