Arshad Madani, a prominent teacher at the seminary, said: “We have an English department in Darul Uloom Deoband. Those who complete Islamic education get admission in that department. We also have a computer department. Obviously, it is taught in English.”
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — The country’s premier Islamic institution, Darul Uloom Deoband, on Friday clarified that there is no ban on English education and other modern subjects in the seminary.
The clarification has come in the backdrop of misleading reports in mainstream media on a notice issued by the Islamic seminary asking its students not to enroll themselves in any other institution while studying in Darul Uloom Deoband.
“We have not banned English education. In fact, we teach English at our institute too. And students can specialise in English as well. This issue is being misreported. We have merely asked our students to not enroll at any other institute because then, they can’t focus on the curriculum,” Darul Uloom Deoband spokesperson Ashraf Usmani was quoted by Indian Express as saying on Friday.
Media reports erroneously claimed that the Darul Uloom notice says students will not be allowed to get any additional education (English etc).
“The students are being informed that while studying at Darul Uloom Deoband, they will not be allowed to get any additional education (English, etc). And if any student is found engaged in this act or if it is known through credible sources that a student is getting additional education, then that student will be expelled,” reads the notice.
Arshad Madani, a prominent teacher at the seminary, also clarified the issue while talking to the media.
“We have an English department in Darul Uloom Deoband. Those who complete Islamic education get admission in that department. We also have a computer department. Obviously, it is taught in English,” Madani said.
He also pointed out that the Islamic seminary does not allow students to study any other course simultaneously. “When a student starts studying other courses, he does not focus on Darul Uloom’s course. After completing an Islamic course, one is free to get any education whether it is related to medicine and engineering,” he said.
Similarly, Shams Tabrez Qasmi, a journalist who runs his website Millat Times, also clarified on the issue.
Qasmi, a Darul Uloom Deoband alumnus, said: In Deoband, there are several coaching centers for computer knowledge and English education. “These centres lure madrassa students to enroll there while getting an education at Darul Uloom. Many Darul Uloom hostelers enroll themselves in these coaching centers to study English and computer. Therefore, the madrassa authorities have issued a notice to ban such activities. But media has misreported it.”
Even Uttar Pradesh’s minority commission has intervened in the matter and summoned the chairman of the seminary.
The notice was issued by the secretary of the commission, Shakeel Ahmad Siddiqui, on Thursday summoning the Darul Uloom Deoband official at the commission’s office in Lucknow at noon on June 21.
Uttar Pradesh Commission for Minorities President Ashfaq Saifi, a member of the BJP and a former national general secretary of the party’s minority wing, said the Deoband seminary can put forward its perspective before the commission. “If they have not banned English, then that is fine. They can come and give us details and present the facts. But banning English will push the Muslim community back by decades and we will not let that happen,” said Saifi.
