Maulana Arshad Madani said it was a matter of concern for the northern part of the country that it lacks proper avenues to impart modern education as is available in the south. “We spend lakhs of rupees on marriage and other celebrations but do not think about establishing schools and colleges,” he said.
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, the country’s premier Muslim organisation, has reiterated its call for the establishment of separate educational institutions for Muslim boys and girls. It asserted that it was in favour of modern education along with imparting of religious knowledge.
Addressing a daylong programme for the district presidents, organisers and central members of the organisation’s Delhi unit, Jamiat president Maulana Arshad Madani said the country needs doctors, engineers and scientists in the same way it needs scholars, a press release issued here said on Thursday.
However, he said, religious education is mandatory. “Our forefathers were not against contemporary sciences, although they were all scholars and experts in Islamic sciences. For the freedom of the country, they fought a long struggle against the British, and sacrificed their lives and wealth, but the fact remains they were not against English education,” Maulana Madani said.
As the country achieved independence, the “Jamiat leaders officially launched a nationwide movement for the establishment of madrassas and schools, because they understood that the nation must be educated,” he said.
“Our stand is that modern education is also important for us too. But at the same time, religious education is necessary because if our child becomes a doctor and an engineer, he should have enough religious education to be able to recite the Shahadah (declaration of faith in one Allah and Prophet Muhammad – peace be upon him) at the time of his last breath,” he said.
Maulana Madani said it was a matter of concern for the northern part of the country that it lacks proper avenues to impart modern education as is available in the south. “We spend lakhs of rupees on marriage and other celebrations but do not think about establishing schools and colleges,” he said.
The Jamiat chief also expressed concern over the alleged targeting of Muslims in fictitious ‘Love Jihad’ cases. He called for establishing separate educational institutions for Muslim boys and girls, asserting that it would help them study in a ‘safe and religious environment’.
He said that after independence, Muslims were excluded from educational and economic fields under a ‘decided policy of the rulers’.
Therefore, it is time for Muslims to educate their children at any cost, he added.
The Muslim community, he said, should never hope that the government would do something for it. “Since 1947, the unanimous policy of sectarian people in all political parties is not to let the Muslims stand on their feet. That is why even after 75 years of independence, Muslims are the most backward nation in the country,” he said.
Talking about the Israeli attacks on Gaza, Madani slammed Israel and described it as a tyrant and a usurper. “The people of Palestine are fighting a war to free their country from the tyrants just like the war fought by our elders, Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh to free India from the slavery of the British,” he said.
