Socio Economic and Educational Issues of Muslims

The madrasa and extremism interrelationship is a twenty-first-century discourse. It grabbed international limelight after terrorists struck United States on September 11, 2001, in one of the most audacious attacks ever leaving around 3000 people dead. The resultant outrage brought international attention to the Muslim lands with Muslim lives being scrutinized and categorized as the “other.” The Islamic educational institutions like madrasas came under intense international scrutiny being variously accused as perpetuating and nurturing “antiwestern” attitudes among the peoples leading to radicalism in Muslim lands. It was the Taliban fighter holding a Kalashnikov in Afghanistan as United States invaded that country subsequently in October 2001 that became a defining portrait of a Muslim “other” in the western mainstream media. The media trail of the madrasas conveniently overlooked the multiple socio-economic functions that these schools play in a Muslim public sphere by providing impoverished peoples’ basic education and instead created a false imagery of all the madrasas being dens of terrorists, factories of terror along with a host of other accusations. Since the discourse of putative links between madrasas and extremism started from South Asia towards the end of cold war, this chapter, therefore, makes an attempt to provide a holistic account of these schools by locating them in the socio-religious spaces of Muslims, dissecting what these teach in their curriculum and then deliberate on the interrelationship, if any, between madrasas and extremism.

While summarizing the central thesis of my presentation, I would prefer to ask the following questions. Do the Muslims of India bear responsibility for their present condition? Has it come about because they have gone wrong somewhere, somehow? Can it be attributed solely or even principally to the Muslim inability or incapacity? Where precisely would this line of argument take us? Can complex socio-cultural situations in a plural society like India, which has consciously provided space for linguistic and religious minorities, be explained in terms of assigning blame for perceived acts of omission and commission? My observation though in BOLD words is that Muslims cannot detach themselves from being responsible for this pathetic state of affairs of the community and low rate of literacy and poverty. As it is said that ‘to be oppressed is a sin’ therefore, they are equally responsible for the national loss due to their inadequate responses to the problems which are otherwise of great concerned for our national interest. Yet their inadequacy or negligence does not account the only principal reason of their backwardness in education and economy.

Education is the single most important instrument for social and economic changes in any community. India has a spectrum of religions, castes, classes and communities. The educational outcomes of each religion and communities are not the same, and thus, it raises the issues of the challenges of the education for such minority communities. This paper is concerned with the status of the Muslim minority in education. Muslims constitute the second largest religious group in India and the largest minority community. Despite having several schemes and initiatives for their educational development, Muslims in India are deprived, marginalised and educationally backward. Based on the secondary sources, the paper tries to understand the status, issues and challenges of Muslim education in India. It identifies the causes and factors affecting the low higher education of Muslims in India. It also studies the role of minority institutions for the higher education of Muslims. It further analyses the initiatives taken by the Government of India for their educational development.

Women in Muslim society of traditional Bengal used to live in a much closed social environment under many socio-cultural restrictions. They observed strict seclusion or the system of purda suffering from several social disabilities. It seems that the cause of their social seclusion is also inspired by many traditional Persian texts and prejudices apart from religions restrictions. Educational empowerment of Muslim women in Bengal has a long background of struggle and strife which continues even today. It has been considered that the Muslim women are the most deprived segment of the country’s population. Unfortunately for various reasons, the gender disparity is very much conspicuous in Muslim society. The marginalized status of Muslim women is not well documented. Moreover, the problems faced by the Muslim girls in Bengali Muslim society is of complex nature as the causes are deeply rooted into historical, cultural, situational and an amalgamation of all these three contributing factors because of which there is no specific reason behind their problems, discrimination, unequal status and treatment in the given society. This paper is an attempt to reflect some issues related to the educational status of Muslim women in present scenario exploring their traditional, cultural and religious aspects. 

Key Words: Aspirations of Muslim girls, Educational Status, Women and Islam, Madrasa Institutions, Enrollment in Schools

Women in Muslim society of traditional Bengal used to live in a much closed social environment under many socio-cultural restrictions. They observed strict seclusion or the system of purda suffering from several social disabilities. It seems that the cause of their social seclusion is also inspired by many traditional Persian texts and prejudices apart from religions restrictions. Educational empowerment of Muslim women in Bengal has a long background of struggle and strife which continues even today. It has been considered that the Muslim women are the most deprived segment of the country’s population. Unfortunately for various reasons, the gender disparity is very much conspicuous in Muslim society. The marginalized status of Muslim women is not well documented. Moreover, the problems faced by the Muslim girls in Bengali Muslim society is of complex nature as the causes are deeply rooted into historical, cultural, situational and an amalgamation of all these three contributing factors because of which there is no specific reason behind their problems, discrimination, unequal status and treatment in the given society. This paper is an attempt to reflect some issues related to the educational status of Muslim women in present scenario exploring their traditional, cultural and religious aspects. 

Key Words: Aspirations of Muslim girls, Educational Status, Women and Islam, Madrasa Institutions, Enrollment in Schools

In this article discussion is made on the educational problems of Muslim minority in India. The reasons are cited that why the community lagged behind in this field. The study of article may bring to light various difficulties faced by the Muslims in the post-independence era.

The Aligarh Movement was launched by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan along with his associates for the renaissance of Indian Muslims in the second half of the 19th century. Though this movement was multi-dimensional with respect to social, political, economic and educational issues of Muslim community but it was more inclined to the educational aspect. According to Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, it is education which could minimize the sufferings of Indians particularly Muslims. Sir Syed was always
secular in his approach but well aware of the fact that it was his community who had suffered most after the defeat in the Revolt of 1857. In Delhi alone, thousands of Ulama (Islamic religious scholars) were hanged and thousands were abandoned who had a glorious past in the Mughal era. Many of the Muslims educational institutions (maktabs and madrasas) were destroyed by the British on the account of the uprising led by the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. In this paper, an attempt has been made to identify the influences on ideology of Syed Ahmad Khan which had broadened his vision leading to launch the mission for the betterment of his community from backwardness in the changed scenario.

I theorize that the idea of knowledge and education has shifted in Islam from an inclusive and rational search for all knowledge to a narrowed focus on religious knowledge, void of rationality. By synthesizing literature on education and knowledge in Islam, this study identifies three shifts in the cultural history of Islamic education. I argue that those shifts in what was deemed valuable knowledge have played a significant role in the emergence of radicalization today. The study shows that once the social world of Islam destabilized, the sense of belonging and sense making became inward and less reflexive as compared to that of early Muslims. Belief became privileged over the rationality mechanisms that had previously formed Islamic endeavors. I demonstrate that a decline in intellectual and scientific production followed, allowing extremists to skew Islam's narrative by putting forward an idealized version of the Islamic caliphate divorced from rationality.

Women in Muslim society of traditional Bengal used to live in a much closed social environment under many socio-cultural restrictions. They observed strict seclusion or the system of purda suffering from several social disabilities. It seems that the cause of their social seclusion is also inspired by many traditional Persian texts and prejudices apart from religions restrictions. Educational empowerment of Muslim women in Bengal has a long background of struggle and strife which continues even today. It has been considered that the Muslim women are the most deprived segment of the country’s population. Unfortunately for various reasons, the gender disparity is very much conspicuous in Muslim society. The marginalized status of Muslim women is not well documented. Moreover, the problems faced by the Muslim girls in Bengali Muslim society is of complex nature as the causes are deeply rooted into historical, cultural, situational and an amalgamation of all these three contributing factors because of which there is no specific reason behind their problems, discrimination, unequal status and treatment in the given society. This paper is an attempt to reflect some issues related to the educational status of Muslim women in present scenario exploring their traditional, cultural and religious aspects. 

Key Words: Aspirations of Muslim girls, Educational Status, Women and Islam, Madrasa Institutions, Enrollment in Schools

There are interesting examples about the balance of consumption/savings in Quran. The Prophet Solomon was the richest man of the world and the most obedient man of his time and his palace was from crystal. If a Muslim gives the zakat’s of his/her wealth, it is permissible to have great amount of savings, but destroying reason is “to be arrogant”. He (Qarun) said: “I have been given it (this huge wealth) only for my knowledge” (Qasas, 78) That is “I worked and I earned” He had forgotten God’s help. The companions used to buy meat from the villagers (Bukhari, K. Buyu), but Umar’s RA warning “Do not eat (much) meat, because...”(Muwatta’).  Muslims used to spend money for garments and cosmetics in the middle measurements.Textile, cosmetics and pearl industries were the traditional industries for Muslims in long centuries of history. Prohibited foods were/are very few for Muslims. There was an active useful consumption in Islamic community. Transformation of savings to development is important for “end poverty” and underdeveloped countries have to walk on this way.

This paper highlights influence of colonizers on the Muslim educational systems of the Indian subcontinent which has a mixed reaction among Muslim educationists-some of whom consider colonization as an actor of educational development and most of whom found the devastating impact of colonization on Muslim education. This deserves rethinking the role of colonization on Muslim educational systems because without reflecting on it, current Muslim educational development would be impractical even it would be unknown to the Muslims that how the present came into being and what trends will dominate in the near future. The British modernized the education of India and this modernization does not contradict the essence and target of Islamic education if the education integrates Islamic epistemology with learning resources. Perhaps the clash starts when the scope of Muslim education is thought as the madrasah education but in fact madrasah education is only a part of entire Muslim education system.