Mustafa Qadri

In recent years. there have been increasing attempts to reform Pakistan’s much-maligned religious schools, known as madrassas. At a conference in Islamabad, WPR contributor Mustafa Qadri spoke to religious scholars and teachers about their attempts to broaden the pedagogical scope of Pakistan’s seminaries. The program, funded by the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy, based [...]

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Updated August 6, 2009 11:42:34

To many foreign observers, Pakistan is the global centre of extremist Islam, and its madrassas – or religious seminaries – are where the violence starts. However, this kind of scaremongering hides a more complex reality.

Presenter: Mustafa Qadri in Pakistan
Speaker: Professor Qibla Ayaz, Peshawar University; Abdul Ghani, organiser of education conference in Islamabad; Azi Hussain, International Centre for Religion and Diplomacy in Washington DC

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QADRI: There are believed to be 2 million madrassa students in several thousand seminaries throughout Pakistan. But exact figures are hard to verify because most operate independent of government supervision. Although madrassas have ominous connotations in the West…

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Many of the world’s most dangerous Islamic extremists have learnt their approach in Madrassas, or religious schools, that offer a restricted curriculum that fails to reflect the modern world. In Pakistan madrassas also have a reputation for breeding extremists: but a plan to reform them is in motion, writes Mustafa Qadri.

“One cannot deny the very real role played by madrassas in fomenting extremism in Pakistan. I have met several members of the Taliban and a Lashkar-e-Tayaba operative. All had either been recruited or taught at madrasssas.”

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