Madrasa

Ulugh Beg Madrasa, Samarkand, ca. 1912

Madrasah (Arabic: مدرسة, madrasa pl. madāris) is the Arabic word for any type of school, secular or religious (of any religion). It is variously transliterated as madrasah, madarasaa, medresa, madrassa, madraza, etc.

• Madrasa Islamia translates as 'Islamic school'.
• Madrasa deeneya translates as 'religious school'.
• Madrasa khasa translates as 'private school'.

Definition

Young madrasah pupils in Mauritania. They learn parts of the Qur'an from wooden tablets.

The word madrasah is derived regularly from the triconsonantal root د-ر-س (d-r-s), which relates to learning or teaching, through the wazn (form/stem) (مفعل(ة mafʻal(a), meaning "a place where X is done"; therefore, madrasah literally means "a place where learning/teaching is done". The word is also present as a loanword with the same innocuous meaning in many Arabic-influenced languages such as Urdu, Hindi, Persian, Turkish, Kurdish, Indonesian, Malay and Bosnian. In the Arabic language, the word مدرسة implies no sense other than that which the word school represents in the English language, such as private, public or parochial school, as well as for any primary or secondary school whether Muslim, non-Muslim or secular. Unlike the understanding of the word school in British English, the word madrasah is like the term school in American English, in that it can refer to a university-level or post-graduate school. The correct Arabic word for a university, however, is جامعة (jāmaʿat). The Hebrew cognate midrasha also connotes the meaning of a place of learning.

It is important to note here that there have been negative connotations applied to the word by news reports in Europe and the United States, in which madrasahs are often incorrectly inferred to be Islamic religious schools. Madrasahs are simply schools, and as with schools anywhere in the world, they may have different affiliations and curriculum.

A typical Islamic school usually offers two courses of study: a hifz course; that is memorisation of the Qur'an (the person who commits the entire Qur'an to memory is called a hafiz); and an 'alim course leading the candidate to become an accepted scholar in the community. A regular curriculum includes courses in Arabic, Tafsir (Qur'anic interpretation), shari'ah (Islamic law), Hadith (recorded sayings and deeds of Prophet Muhammad), Mantiq (logic), and Muslim History. Depending on the educational demands, some madrasahs also offer additional advanced courses in Arabic literature, English and other foreign languages, as well as science and world history.

People of all ages attend, and many often move on to becoming imams. The certificate of an ‘alim for example, requires approximately twelve years of study. A good number of the huffaz (plural of hafiz) are the product of the madrasahs. The madrasahs also resemble colleges, where people take evening classes and reside in dormitories. An important function of the madrasahs is to admit orphans and poor children in order to provide them with education and training. Madrasahs may enroll female students; however, they study separately from the men. There are examples of all-female madrasahs.

In South Africa, the madrasahs also play an important socio-cultural role in giving after-school religious instruction to Muslim children who attend government or private non-religious schools. However, increasing numbers of more affluent Muslim children attend full-fledged private Islamic Schools which combine secular and religious education. Among Muslims of Indian origin, madrasahs also used to provide instruction in Urdu, although this is far less common today than it used to be.

History

File:MedresaVisoko.jpg

Madrassa Osman ef. Redžović in Visoko, Bosnia was rebuilt shortly after the Bosnian war.

Madrasahs did not exist in the early period of Islam. Their formation can probably be traced to the early Islamic custom of meeting in mosques to discuss religious issues. At this early stage, people seeking religious knowledge tended to gather around certain more knowledgable Muslims; these informal teachers later became known as the shaykhs; and these shaykhs began to hold regular religious education sessions called majalis.

Established in 859, Jami'at al-Qarawiyyin (located in Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque) in the city of Fas (Fez), is considered the oldest madrasah in the Muslim world. It was founded by Fatima Al-Fihri, the daughter of a wealthy merchant named Mohammed Al-Fihri.

During the late Abbasid period, the Seljuk vizier Nizam al-Mulk created the first major official academic institution known in history as the Madrasah Nizamiyyah, based on the informal majalis (sessions of the shaykhs). Al-Mulk, who would later be murdered by the Assassins (Hashshashin), created a system of state madrasahs (in his time they were called, the Nizamiyyahs, named after him) in various Abbasid cities at the end of the 11th century.

During the rule of the Fatimid and Mamluk dynasties and their successor states in the medieval Middle East, many of the ruling elite founded madrasahs through a religious endowment known as the waq'f. Not only was the madrasah a potent symbol of status but it was an effective means of transmitting wealth and status to their descendants. Especially during the Mamluk period, when only former slaves could assume power, the sons of the ruling Mamluk elite were unable to inherit. Guaranteed positions within the new madrasahs thus allowed them to maintain status. Madrasahs built in this period include the Mosque-Madrasah of Sultan Hasan in Cairo.

Universities and colleges

The first universities in the modern sense, namely institutions of higher education and research which issue academic degrees at all levels (bachelor, master and doctorate), were medieval madrasahs founded in the 9th century. The University of Al Karaouine in Fez, Morocco is thus recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest degree-granting university in the world with its founding in 859 by the princess Fatima al-Fihri. Al-Azhar University, founded in Cairo, Egypt in 975, was a Jami'ah ("university" in Arabic) which offered a variety of post-graduate degrees (ijazah), and had individual faculties for a theological seminary, Islamic law and Islamic jurisprudence, Arabic grammar, Islamic astronomy, early Islamic philosophy and logic in Islamic philosophy.

Some of the terms and concepts now used in modern universities which have Islamic origins include "the fact that we still talk of professors holding the 'Chair' of their subject" being based on the "traditional Islamic pattern of teaching where the professor sits on a chair and the students sit around him", the term 'academic circles' being derived from the way in which Islamic students "sat in a circle around their professor", and terms such as "having 'fellows', 'reading' a subject, and obtaining 'degrees', can all be traced back" to the Islamic concepts of Ashab ("companions, as of the prophet Muhammad"), Qara'a ("reading aloud the Qur'an") and Ijazah ("license to teach") respectively. George Makdisi has listed eighteen such parallels in terminology which can be traced back to their roots in Islamic education. Some of the practices now common in modern universities which also have Islamic origins include "practices such as delivering inaugural lectures, wearing academic robes, obtaining doctorates by defending a thesis, and even the idea of academic freedom are also modelled on Islamic custom." Islamic influence was also "certainly discernible in the foundation of the first delibrately-planned university" in Europe, the University of Naples Federico II founded by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor in 1224.

Law schools

See also: Sharia and Fiqh

Madrasahs were the first law schools, and it is likely that the "law schools known as Inns of Court in England" may have been derived from the Madrasahs which taught Islamic law and jurisprudence.

The origins of the doctorate dates back to the ijazat attadris wa 'l-ifttd ("license to teach and issue legal opinions") in the medieval Islamic legal education system, which was equivalent to the Doctor of Laws qualification and was developed during the 9th century after the formation of the Madh'hab legal schools. To obtain a doctorate, a student "had to study in a guild school of law, usually four years for the basic undergraduate course" and ten or more years for a post-graduate course. The "doctorate was obtained after an oral examination to determine the originality of the candidate's theses," and to test the student's "ability to defend them against all objections, in disputations set up for the purpose" which were scholarly exercises practiced throughout the student's "career as a graduate student of law." After students completed their post-graduate education, they were awarded doctorates giving them the status of faqih (meaning "master of law"), mufti (meaning "professor of legal opinions") and mudarris (meaning "teacher"), which were later translated into Latin as magister, professor and doctor respectively.

The term doctorate comes from the Latin docere, meaning "to teach", shortened from the full Latin title licentia docendi meaning "license to teach." This was translated from the Arabic term ijazat attadris, which means the same thing and was awarded to Islamic scholars who were qualified to teach. Similarly, the Latin term doctor, meaning "teacher", was translated from the Arabic term mudarris, which also means the same thing and was awarded to qualified Islamic teachers. The Latin term baccalaureus may have also been transliterated from the equivalent Arabic qualification bi haqq al-riwaya ("the right to teach on the authority of another").

The Islamic scholarly system of fatwa and ijma, meaning opinion and consensus respectively, formed the basis of the "scholarly system the West has practised in university scholarship from the Middle Ages down to the present day." George Makdisi writes:

"This very system found its way to London, in the development of the Inns of Court, four of which have come down to our times: autonomous, professional, and unincorporated guild schools of law, like the guild schools of law of classical Islam. The same system found its way also to the universities of the West, beginning with Italy, France, England and Spain, and later to the United States, when graduate work was introduced from Germany. In other words, the Islamic system of determining orthodoxy in religion was, in its essentials, the medieval Western university system of determining "orthodoxy," so to speak, in scholarship, which has come down to our day."

"This scholarly system of determining orthodoxy began with a question which the Muslim layman, called in that capacity mustafti, presented to a jurisconsult, called mufti, soliciting from him a response, called fatwa, a legal opinion (the religious law of Islam covers civil as well as religious matters). The mufti (professor of legal opinions) took this question, studied it, researched it intensively in the sacred scriptures, in order to find a solution to it. This process of scholarly research vas called ijtihad, literally, the exertion of one's efforts to the utmost limit."

Medical schools

See also: Bimaristan

While most Madrasahs were usually law schools and some were universities (Jami'ah), there were also several madrasah medical schools dedicated to the teaching of Islamic medicine, though this was most often taught at the Bimaristan teaching hospitals. For example, from the 155 madrasah colleges in 15th century Damascus, three of them were medical schools.

Funding

See also: Waqf

The funding for madrasahs came primarily from Waqf instititions, which were similar to the charitable trusts which later funded the first European colleges and universities. Syed Farid Alatas writes:

"The madrasah was established as a charitable trust (waqf) founded by individual Muslims, which legally bounded the founder to run it as a madrasah. It had the legal status of an institution but was not a state institution. According to Makdisi, there are two arguments in favour of the idea of the Islamic origins of the college. One is the waqf or charitable trust and the other the internal organization of the college."

Madrasahs in South Asia

Madrasahs in India

This is a madarasaa of the Jamia Masjid mosque in Srirangapatna, India. This mosque dates back to the 1700s and is where Tipu Sultan used to pray.

In India, there are around 30,000 operating madrasahs. The majority of these schools follow the Hanafi school of thought. One of the most famous madrasahs of the Tablighi, Wahabi School of taught in India is Darul Uloom Deoband (Dar al-'Ulum), located in Deoband, a small town located in the Indian state Uttar Pradesh.One of the most famous madrasahs of the Ahle Sunnah wa Jama'at (which is the correct teaching of Prophet Muhammed (peace upon him and his family) in India is Darul Uloom Manzare Islam (Dar al-'Ulum), located in Barreilly Shareef, a small town located in the Indian state Uttar Pradesh, This Great School was founded by the Grat Mujaddid of Islam, Imam Ahmed Raza Khan Al Qaaderi. In 1986, the Indian government expedited a project to modernize madrasahs by introducing other subjects including science, mathematics, English, and Hindi. Madrasah education is always provided for free. As a result, the madrasahs often have a multifarious student enrollment, including some Hindus and Christians.

Madrasahs in Pakistan

Main article: Madrassas in Pakistan

There are more than 10,000 madrasahs currently (as of 1998) operating in Pakistan. It is estimated that one to two million children are enrolled in madrasahs. Some media reports say that only 0.3 percent of Pakistani school age children are enrolled in traditional madrasahs. This is according to Pakistan's 1998 Population Census The World Bank Group. The 1998 Population Census found only 150,000 children. Orphans, migrants, and part-time students may explain the discrepancy. Regardless, percentage wise, the madrasah enrollment is relatively insignificant. There has been considerable intellectual disagreement about the linkages of madrasahs to conflict in Pakistan. A study conducted in 2005 by Saleem Ali for the United States Institute of Peace attempts to clarify some of these concerns by providing a detailed empirical comparison of rural and urban madrasahs (currently this study is being updpated and expanded as a book (expected to be completed in 2007), though an earlier draft is available online. The project also included a web video on such schools titled Children of Faith.

Negative connotations applied to the word

The Yale Center for the Study of Globalization examined bias in United States newspaper coverage of Pakistan since the September 11, 2001 attacks, and found the term has come to contain a loaded political meaning:

"When articles mentioned 'madrassas,' readers were led to infer that all schools so-named are anti-American, anti-Western, pro-terrorist centers having less to do with teaching basic literacy and more to do with political indoctrination."

In recent times, various American public figures have used the word in a negative context, including Newt Gingrich, Donald Rumsfeld, and Colin Powell.

The word madrasah literally means "school" and does not imply a political or religious affiliation.

See also

• Hawza - used in Shi'a Islam
• Darul Uloom - another similar type of Islamic school
• Maktab - Elementary Islamic schools
• Dars-e Nizamiyyah - most common madrasah curriculum
• Fiqh - main subject of madrasah schooling
• Shari'ah - main subject of madrasah schooling
• Islamic architecture
• Alim - Islamic scholar, usually a graduate of a madrasah or darul uloom
• Beth midrash, Midrasha and Yeshiva - Jewish religious schooling.
• Seminary - Christian religious schooling
• Caferağa Medresseh

External links

• Wiktionary definition of the word "madrasah"
• Meaning of the word madrassah: [1]
• Madrassahs in Pakistan (A project of the United States Institute of Peace): [2]
• A traditional Afghan madrassa: Islam Way Online - Your Religion and Spirituality Portal

• About Islamic Religious Schools: Madrasas.info

• A discussion on the Mamluk-era madrasa of Khawand Baraka, from The Women Writers Archive

• Alexander Evans, Understanding Madrasahs, Foreign Affairs, Jan/Feb 2006: [3]
• Holy War 101 (Newsweek)
• Tariq Rahman, Denizens of Alien Worlds (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2004. Reprinted 2006), Chapter on 'Madrassas'.
• Islamic Seminaries (Madrassas) in Pakistan, Wikipedia entry,
• Lessons from God The Common Language Project
• "Madaris in Perspective", Waleed Ziad, The News, Pakistan
• "Revisiting the Madrasa Question - A talk given by Dr. Nomanul Haq (University of Pennsylvania) at LUMS", Bilal Tanweer, The News, Pakistan