Madrassas and Muslim Militancy in Bangladesh

Professor Dr. Golam Hossain

Department of Government and Politics
Jahangirnagar University
Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh
E-mail: golamhossain@yahoo.com
Introduction

The most important issue that has governed the political discourse of Bangladesh in
the recent years is the Madrassa education and its alleged connection with the militant
activities. Madrassas (1) occupy a dominant position in socio-religious and political
life of Bangladesh as well as in the Islamic world. Indeed, Madrassas have been
central to Islamic educationand religious imagination of the Ulemas (2) and Islamic
political activism in the region of South Asia. The origin of Madrassas go back as
early as to the emergence of Islam and continued to grow for centuries to teach and
spread Islam in the Arab and non-Arab lands, and throughout middle ages offered
enormous contribution to the preservation of ancient thoughts as well as to the
promotion of philosophy and sciences. Madrassas were, therefore, not just centers of
religious teachings, but also a happy blending of different branches of knowledge. In
the history of Islamic education, Madrassa based traveling scholars have played a
vital role in preserving Ancient thoughts, training generation of Islamic scholars,
reawakening the consciousness of Islamic solidarity during the colonial and post
colonial period as well . Madrassas, therefore, have emerged as the most powerful
instrument for teaching Islam as well as influencing the political direction of
Bangladesh, neighboring Pakistan, and Afghanistan and in the Muslim world. In this
order, Bangladesh is a case in point to be researched. Indeed, Bangladesh is the third
largest Muslim country after Indonesia and Pakistan and ninety percent of her Muslim
population is religious, God fearing, peace loving and begin early schooling in the
Masque based Maktabs or Madrassas. It is, therefore, remarkable to see a Madrassa
attached to a Mosque (3) everywhere although the country has a long record of
secular social trait.

In the recent years, the powerful democratic wave that swept almost every corner of
the globe also accompanied an Islamic resurgent movement, the Iranian revolution
being considered as the first case of success. While the Iranian revolution gave a new
impetus to the resurgent Islam, it was an `image-loss for the United States. However,
the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan opened the opportunity for the United States to
find a new front of political Inter-play in the region. Meantime in Pakistan, General
Zia-ul-Haque`s military regime also needed the full support of the United States for
power consolidation, internal legitimacy and a respectable image at home and abroad.
Therefore, a marriage of connivance between the US and Pakistan encouraged and
supported the growth of Taliban resistance movement against the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan. Since Islam was convincingly found as the most effective instrument
against the non-Muslim Soviets, the US-Pakistan backed Taliban choose the
Madrassas as the main ground for support base, recruitment, training and orientation.
The US support to the Taliban Mujahedin could be

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nicely understood in the words of the then US President Ronald Reagan that he
praised Mujahedins Madrassa students as “the moral equivalent of the founding
fathers of America.”(4) The Islamicists also took the full advantage of the political
play of the “super powers” and that for all practical purposes encouraged the
unlimited growth of Madrassas in Afghanistan, and in Pakistan too. This US support
opened all avenues for the birth of Madrassa based militant. Hundreds and thousands
of Muslim youths from different parts of the world including Bangladesh participated
in what they called the “holy war against the infidels”. (5)

The Soviet defeat led the Taliban’s to take control of the state power in Afghanistan.
The Taliban’s relied on the Madrassas for their political strength and support base.
Taliban governance was, however, disliked by the US for fear of the spread of Islamic
fundamentalism in the region. Madrassa education since then became the center of
political focus, and a serious concern to the US foreign policy makers toward the
Islamic world. Uzma Anzar, an eminent scholar on Islam, wrote: “---as most of the
operatives of the Taliban government in Afghanistan were educated in the religious
school system, the education in Madrassas in Muslim countries has gained special
attention---.”(6) The rise of militant Islam in Afganistan and the simultaneous
collapse of the Soviet Union that led to the end of cold- war, added new dimensions
in global political discourse. ‘Socialism‘, the ideological base of cold-war was
replaced by a new ideology – “Islam”. The involvement of Islamic militants from
different countries in the Afghanistan resistance movement and the rise of Madrassa
based Talibanism was considered by the US as threat to its interests in the Islamic
world. The US policy makers also found the Madrassas as the potential breeding
ground for “soldiers in the global Jihad”. Moreover, the terrorist attacks here and
there, loss of lives, assets and properties, and further threat of attacks created serious
problem for free mobility of human resources, goods and commodities, transfer of
knowledge, democratic governance and an overall insecurity that the global society
can not ignore. Indeed, the increased involvement of human societies in debates on
this problem deserve special academic attention and an in depth survey. Much efforts
have been paid to the study of Madrassas in Pakistan and Afghanistan although the
silent birth of militant Islam in the Madrassas in Bangladesh remained unnoticed until
attack started in the recent years. What is a Madrassa? What is its origin? What do
they teach? What is the role of state in the growth of Madrassas? How do they
connect to the rise of Islamic militancy?

These are some of the questions and many more need to be studied from academic as
well as political point of view. There are, however, studies on Islam, but scant effort
has been made to undertake research on Madrassas and their connection to militancy.
This, therefore, entails and engenders a number of academic and political questions of
practical importance. The present study aims at focusing on the entire Madrassa
system : its meaning, origin and historical growth, curricula, degrees, role of the state,
funding, tuition fees, salaries of teachers, social background of teachers and students,
political activism, militancy and terrorism , international connection and so on.

Meaning of the Madrassa

Generally the Arabic word Madrassa(7) means the centers/institutes or schools for
learning Islam or any other subject. It could be compared as parallel to the Hebrew
‘Midrasha’ which also have similar meaning i.e. a school or place for learning. The
word Madrassa has been transliterated in different spelling-Madrasah, Madrash,
Medresa, Medreseh, Medrusha

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or Madressa – to mean a school at primary and secondary, or even at advanced levels
for both male and female students mainly to learn Islam. It could be secular or
religious, for Muslims or non-Muslims, private or public. It may be noted here that
the Arabic meaning of a university, however, is ‘Jami´ah’, and not madrassa/s.
Nonetheless, the traditional Madrassas used to offer two major courses of learning:
firstly, a ‘Hifz’ course to memorize the Qur‘an and the person who memorizes the
Qur`an and recites it is known as a ‘Hafiz’; secondly an ‘Alim’ means an Islamic
scholar accepted in the community. Since origin, the most important aspect of a
Madrassa is its free education, food and lodging. Therefore, the Madrassa system
received a multifarious student enrollment including orphans and poor, and supported
them with education and training for betterment of life. This is one of the main
reasons as to why the Madrassas became popular from the very beginning and spread
throughout the Magreb and in the non- Arab Muslim lands.

Historical Growth of the Madrassas

As a center of learning, the Madrassa is century old, and its origin goes back as early
as to the emergence of Islam. The early spread of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula was
followed by innumerable growth of Mosques and Madrassas. Even in the later history
of Islam, Madrassas have continued to grow to teach and spread Islam, and at times
offered enormous contribution not only in theology, but also in the development of
thoughts and sciences. Islamic scholars claim that Prophet Mohammad himself
established the first Madrassa, Dar-ul-Akram at the Safa mountain near the City of
Mecca where he taught the revealed messages to his close associates, and sent
Masaab Ibn Umayir to teach Qur‘an and Hadith in Medina . Many Muslims from
different places visited these Madrassas for knowledge on the new faith and at
returning home, taught about Islam to their tribes-men and community people. Some
others argue that those schools or Madrassas were really not Madrassas in literary
sense, but Mosque based discussions on religious issues.
During the early Islam, people also sought knowledge to socially accepted `Alim` or
knowledgeable person’s on Islam as teachers. These teachers later became known as
the Shaykhs who used to hold regular session on religious education called ‘Majalis’.
Majalis were indeed the predecessor of Madrassas. Based on the informal Majalis, the
Madrassas started to grow during the second and third centuries of Islam. Some of the
most famous of those Madrassas were the Baitul Hikma established in Baghdad in
830 by Khaliph Al- Mamun; Jami’at al Qarawiyyin established in 859 in the City of
Fas or Fez in Morocco; the Mosque based Madrassa established in 972 in Cairo by
Commander in Chief Zaohar of the Fatimayed Caliph Al-Moizer that finally
developed itself to present day’s famous al-Azhar University. It was, however, the
Abbasid Khaliph , the Seljuk vizier called Nizam-al-Mulk Hasan Bin Al Tusi founded
in 1067 al-Jamia-al-Nizamyia, the first major official academic institution known in
the history as the Madrassa Nizamiyyah. The unique personality and statesmanship of
Nizam-al-Mulk encouraged the introduction of the system of ‘State Madrassa’ in
different cities during his reign in the eleventh century and flourished later on. The
Madrassas established by Nizam-al-Mulk provided education both on scholastic
theology to produce spiritual leaders as a result of which the Sufi movement spread as
well as earthly knowledge focusing on sciences, philosophy and public administration
that produced government servants to run the empire. Many of the Fatimid and
Mamluk rulers and their successors in the medieval Arab world created Madrassas
through a religious endowment known as the `Waq`f`. Through the Waq’f, Madrassas
became the potent