Now let us come back to
the topic of discussion. Some of the keywords which have come up after this
much discussion are
#Muslims #Backwardness
#Education #EconomicCondition #Religion #Islam #CasteSystem #Class #Politics
#Governance #Constitution #SocialPoliticalEconomicReligiousReforms #TwoNationTheory #Pakistan #Language #Culture
#Identity #UniformCivilCode #Madarsa #Modernisation #Backwardness #Western
#Values #Laws
Now there are some
issues which need a separate discussion and if they are initiated I will be
happy to contribute on any of the above mentioned tags or their correlation. As
basic rules of the discussion, I choose not to comment on the Political Parties
and their ideology as well as the great personalities and even they as individuals
can be a topic of discussion in separate threads.
Now let us see the
basic question here. What is the reason of backwardness of Muslim Community in
India? Timeframe is Post Independence although references have been drawn from
history to see the present context.
·
The issue of language in the Civil
Services was just an example and whatever the rules of the game are, the
students from all the communities have to pass with flying colours to be a part
of the services which is fair enough. To help some classes, reservation has
been provided which is again a debatable issue but let’s leave it there. Raunaq
has given the explanation and I don’t think I would like to add anything on
that except the history lesson. So the history starts in the eighteenth century
when first formal education hub was started by Warren Hastings known as
Calcutta Madrasa in 1781. At that time everyone used to get their primary
education in Madarsas only till the 20th century if you can
recollect information from history books. At that time they were the Primary
Education Centres of learning where hindus, muslims, Sikhs, all studied
together the Persian, Urdu, Mathematics also known as Hisaab and other stuff.
Then started the renaissance (Both Religious, Linguistic, Social, Intellectual,
Political, and so on). This where the birth of divide started. THE TWO NATION
THEORY. The reason was more cultural and less religious initially as Culture
and Religion go together. Dayanand Sarwasti started the Arya Samaj in 1875.
Wrote Satyarth Parkash. Started the revivalization of modern Hinduism with
focus on puritanism. Started the DAV
schools where there was both modern education and religious intertwined
training was imparted. The students who used to go to Madarsas started going
into DAVs and other such Sarswati Shishu Mandir. First step of division
started. Madrasatul Uloom
Musalmanan-e-Hind or AMO now AMU (Aligarh Muslim University) was established in
1875–78 by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. Modern as well as conservative learning
centre for Muslims in north India. We must mark the year here which is 1875 and
we are talking about schools here. Later on the BHU (Banars Hindu University)
was established in 1916 by Pt. Madan Mohan Malviya. The AMO was
converted into AMU in 1920. Now, we are talking about, higher education which
is important for service. The madarsas have now gone into backdrop due to rise
of DAVs, Other Missionary Schools, and class division has started. So, those
who can afford will send their kids to Missionary Schools, those who want
Muslim modern elite education will send them to AMU, and there is BHU as well
for those who need it. Now started Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan and rest is history
in the books. I just wanted to put language in right context and primary
education and shift of kids from madrasa and start of their decline in the
daily lives.
·
Now let us take the correlation of
education and Madrasas and Muslims. Madrasas are for higher education and
Maqtabs are for primary education though in India we mostly call the both of
them as madrasa. In India now less than 5% muslims go to Madrasas for primary
education and higher education is even less and is basically limited to
theological education. When we talk of modernisation, I see Madrasas going back
to the period in the 17th century where children from all the
religions studied together. That is a distant dream in 21st century
India. So, if we see Christian missionary schools, there is a huge queue of
admission of all the students across the religions and none for madrasas. So,
if there is any kind of modernisation, the Madrasas has to be at par with the
top schools in the country, and I would like to see if we can create such a
specimen. This requires the support both
from the government and the community. Untill and unless we have such Madrasas
where the muslims parents can send their kids and don’t have to worry about
choosing between a Madrasa and a modern school, the divide will persist. Only
poor muslims now are sending their kids to madrasas or the other muslims send
their kids to madrasa for theology and to school for modern education
simultaneously for obvious reasons of saving the cultural identity and not
lagging behind the modern world. Article 30 (1) provides for the right to establish education
institutions of choice “All minorities, whether based on religion or language,
shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of
their choice”. This has not really materialised for practical difficulties
at the ground level and the apathy of the Muslim community as well. The basic
problem with most of the Madrasas in India is that they are afraid to take aid
from government and are being run mostly on donations. There is a fear among
the Madrasa management that govt. aid will invite govt. interference in curriculum
as well as most Madrasas are run by Maulanas who are basically theologians and
not educationists. So the need is to establish modern primary education centres
for Muslims either by themselves or through state support which are really
modern and these institutions should not be exclusive for Muslims but become a
centre of excellence for all. I don’t see the Maulanas taking a lead to
modernise the madrasa although some efforts are taking place but again then the
focus will be more on theocratic education and less on outside employability. I
am leaving apart the sincerity part from various governments as that will take
a political angle. My basic point is alternative primary education and
secondary education.
·
Now let us come to the legal part of
backwardness. When we talk of Muslim Women empowerment the need for a Uniform
Civil Code on humanitarian grounds is the need of the hour. Let’s mark here
that the code should be uniform across all the religions and not a Common Civil
Code. (Uniform / Common, see the difference). Some of the major issues are
related to marriage, divorce, and guardianship. These are an issue of
discussions in itself but I will give a few examples. For example, the Muslim
guardianship rules do not recognise the mother as the natural guardian post the
father’s death, which is a serious flaw in the present nuclear family driven
society. The maintenance issue post-Divorce is another debatable issue (read
Shah Bano judgement). If women are not
empowered, that society cannot be empowered. So, we can attribute some
weightage to this fact. Uniform Civil Code should include all the good things
from all the religions and that is when it will be successful. Hindu Marriage
Act 1955, Hindu Succession Act 1956, Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956
were some of the brainchild’s of Dr. Ambedkar and he resigned from the Nehru’s
cabinet on these issues only but later on Nehru was able to get these acts
passed in the parliament. These acts simplified many things and helped in
solving the economic and social problems related to inheritance, guardianship,
and stable marriage. But sadly that has not been the case with Parsis, Muslims
and Christians laws as they are still under their separate personal laws which
are good and bad both in different cases. Personal law is an interesting topic
to discuss and later on some more discussion we can have.
·
