Frequently Asked Questions (and their answers) on Pakistani Madrassas, their origins, their growth, historical perspectives and their links to terror. Detailed information also on the role Pakistani Madrassas play today, three years after General Musharraf promised to abandon terror and join the War on Terrorism.
What are madrasas?
Madrasas are Islamic religious seminaries, which were originally meant to train young persons, who wanted to take to religion as a profession. They wanted to work as clerics in mosques and as members of the staff in Islamic charitable institutions. In view of the limited career opportunities open to the students of the madrasas, only those who were keen to become religious clerics joined them. Till 1977, the number of madrasas in Pakistan was therefore, very small. There were only 244 madrasas in Pakistan in the 1950s. This number went up to about 500 in the 1960s and about 700 in the early 1970s. The military regime of the late Gen. Zia-ul-Haq (1977-1988) saw a mushrooming growth of the madrasas.
What were the reasons for this mushrooming growth?
Firstly, Zia allowed the Government Departments and the Armed Forces to recruit madrasa graduates to lower posts. This tremendously expanded the career opportunities available to the products of the madrasas. Secondly, Zia, a devout Deobandi, was attracted by Wahabism. He permitted a large flow of money from Saudi Arabia for starting madrasas to spread the Deoband-Wahabi ideology. Thirdly, Zia's military regime saw a decline in public investments in the social sector, particularly in education. As a result, in many rural areas, the only affordable schools available to the poor people were the madrasas. Fourthly, helped by the Saudi money, the madrasas started providing free boarding and lodging to their students. Many poor parents chose to send their children to the madrasas. This spared them the responsibility of finding money for their upbringing. The radicalisation of the madrasas was a post-1980 phenomenon.
What were the reasons for the post-1980 radicalisation of the madrasas?
Firstly, the Afghan jihad against the Soviet troops. The intelligence agencies of the US, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan used the madrasas for radicalising the Muslim youth and motivating them to join the Afghan Mujahideen in their jihad against the Soviet troops. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) got a number of text books prepared with the help of Wahabi clerics of Saudi Arabia projecting Communism as anti-Islam and calling for jihad against the Communist evil in Afghanistan, had them printed in printing presses in the US and distributed to the madrasas. According to Mr.Ishtiaq Ahmed, Associate Professor of political science at the Stockholm University: "The joint CIA-Saudi initiative resulted in a proliferation of madrasas, regardless of the genuine need for maulvis. Thanks to the CIA