A for Allah, B for Bismillah - The myth of madrassas
14th century ideas in the 21st century ? Surprised ? Don't be. There are schools offering "Islamic" education where the Quran is the only textbook, where girls and boys are not allowed to mix and in the guise of "Islamic education" regressive policies are taught. To be fair, the RSS run schools in tribal areas of MP and Jharkand also teach A for Arjun, B for Brahma. Like the RSS, the founders of Islamic schools worryabout children growing up " unprotected against the onslaught of the wicked west". Try as might "secular" Muslims try to convince the mainstream that the Madrassas provide a way for Muslims to grow up as confident individuals and mingle with the mainstream, it is a given that these Madrassas are the breeding ground forfuture terrorists. Terrorists' backgrounds defy conventional wisdom
In his path breaking book"Understanding Terror Networks", Dr.Marc Sageman has produced a groundbreaking study about Islamic terrorists and their terror networks. Dr.Sageman has compiled biographical information - material from public sources, court documents and drawn on his own experience as a CIA field officer during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The conventional wisdom about Islamic terrorists is that these are poor, uneducated young men. However, some compelling numbers thrown by the book include,
- About two thirds of the profiled terrorists went to college, some in areas where only 10% of young people get a post secondary education
- About 87 percent of Islamic terrorists were Madrassas-trained before being
sent off to colleges. - Around 10 to 15% of the student population of Pakistan (the foremost sponsor of state sponsored terrorism) studies in Saudi funded Madrassas.
Dr.Sageman says "kinship" nurtured in the Madrassas (during the children's formative years) is responsible for young men joining radical groups like the Al Qaeda and has proven that friends, relatives and parents brought more than 90% of the student population into the fold.
Schooled for Jihad
Noor Huda Ismail, a Washington Post reporter who spent six years of his education in an Islamic boarding school, Al Mukmin Ngruki in Indonesia has this to say, "It was hard to avoid being swept up in the spirit of Ngruki. The only music the students heard was nasyid, Arabic religious songs, from loudspeakers in the corners of the school buildings. On the dormitory wall hung Arabic calligraphic which proclaimed, Die as as a martyr by killing the infidels. Mr.Ismail says that for six years he was taught that the only true way for a Muslim was to dakwah --- proselytize -- to bring other people to "true" Islam. Mr.Ismail also has conducted a series of interviews with Ngruki alumnus who are serving various sentences in Indonesian jails for terrorism related crimes. He says most of the Ngruki alums went to military camps where they were part of a broader campaign to prepare as many young people as possible for jihadi operations. It is often said, "The most dangerous people are those who dream with their eyes open". The biggest danger to the free world comes from the Madrassas trained jihadis. We are about to see more attacks like the Bali resort bombings, Madrid train bombings and the London tube bombings. These attacks are not against a particular race or a particular country, they are against our way of life, our way of thinking. It is often said, "To remove a man, remove his voice first". The bombings andterrorist attacks are a way to muzzle the voice of the free world.
Tavleen Singh has an excellent piece in Indian Express on this issue.
Vir Sanghvi has written on this phenomenon in the Hindustan Times. LINK
Schooled for Jihad
Noor Huda Ismail, a Washington Post reporter who spent six years of his education in an Islamic boarding school, Al Mukmin Ngruki in Indonesia has this to say, "It was hard to avoid being swept up in the spirit of Ngruki. The only music the students heard was nasyid, Arabic religious songs, from loudspeakers in the corners of the school buildings. On the dormitory wall hung Arabic calligraphic which proclaimed, Die as as a martyr by killing the infidels. Mr.Ismail says that for six years he was taught that the only true way for a Muslim was to dakwah --- proselytize -- to bring other people to "true" Islam. Mr.Ismail also has conducted a series of interviews with Ngruki alumnus who are serving various sentences in Indonesian jails for terrorism related crimes. He says most of the Ngruki alums went to military camps where they were part of a broader campaign to prepare as many young people as possible for jihadi operations. It is often said, "The most dangerous people are those who dream with their eyes open". The biggest danger to the free world comes from the Madrassas trained jihadis. We are about to see more attacks like the Bali resort bombings, Madrid train bombings and the London tube bombings. These attacks are not against a particular race or a particular country, they are against our way of life, our way of thinking. It is often said, "To remove a man, remove his voice first". The bombings andterrorist attacks are a way to muzzle the voice of the free world.
Tavleen Singh has an excellent piece in Indian Express on this issue.
Vir Sanghvi has written on this phenomenon in the Hindustan Times. LINK
Comments
This article gives a good direction toward that.
Some of our own leaders like Maulana Mulayam are just supporting the Madrassas without knowing that half of those are breeding grounds for terrorists.
[Sachin] - My objection is not to the RSS schools or catholic institutions. They are doing a terrific job providing education in areas where the usual educational institutions dont exist. My objection is to the linkage between religion and education. It is not only Maulana Mulayam, but several people in the "educated" world that think that everything is fine in these Madrassas. Hopefully, my blog piece should serve as a wake up call.