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These madrassa students study the Koran
for more than eight hours a day due to
their passion to learn more about Islam.
Most madrassas place religious study above
any other type of learning. To many secular
and Western minds, the word "madrassa" is
linked with Islamic terrorism and extremism.
In recent years, Pakistan has seen a
mushrooming of radical madrassas. In 1947,
there were only 189 madrassas in the country.
Today, there are more than 40,000 unregistered
madrassas, instructing almost
2 million students.
But this madrassa, located in Lahore's Garri
Shoh area, a low socioeconomic
neighborhood, claims to impart religious
education with a difference.
The English language, mathematics and
general science, and especially Pak studies
are subjects we believe students must learn.
Raghib Naeemi heads this madrassa.
He says a secular madrassa is the basis of
a progressive Pakistan.
Only by imparting both secular and
religious education to young Muslims can
we equip them with the raw materials
needed to become upright citizens of Pakistan.
The 500 male students who study at Jamia
Naeemia recite the Koran by heart, learn
Arabic and gain detailed knowledge of
the prophet's teachings. But one student says
he enjoys studying mainstream subjects
just as much.
We are given education until the master's
level here. Some of my friends have become
civil servants or journalists. Others have
entered the police force and other such professions.
I am also thinking of doing so.
But the madrassa has paid a heavy price for
its modern approach. On June 12, the
madrassa's previous head, Dr. Sarfaraz Ahmed Naeemi,
was killed when a suicide bomber
attacked the madrassa. The bomber entered
the religious scholar's office and blew up
himself, killing four people. Some analysts
believe Naeemi's death was due to his
anti-Taliban stance.
Sarfaraz Naaemi, who was a moderate and
enlightened Muslim scholar, and who preached
pacifism. He stood firmly against the Taliban
and for that reason he was one of those who
has been targeted in Pakistan.
The late scholar's son continues to
preach his father's ideology.
My father's mission against fundamentalism and
Talibanization is being continued by me and
the Jamia Naeemia madrassa.
In a television interview given some weeks
before his death, Dr. Sarfaraz Naeemi
elaborates his point of view about the Taliban.
I am against Sufi Muhammed. I am against
Baitullah Mehsud. I am against Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.
I believe they are all
agents of America.
Naeemi isn't the only anti-Taliban madrassa
leader in Pakistan, but he was definitely the
most prominent. He was one of the few
religious scholars who openly and wholeheartedly
supported the military operation
in Malakand.
Today, the madrassa led by him continues
to produce hundreds of students who
echo his words.
No one here likes the Taliban, because they are torturing the
people of Pakistan.
Besides Jamia Naeemia, the other prominent
secular madrassa in the country is Jamia
Ashrafia. Mufti Ashiq Ali is one of the
prominent teachers at the madrassa.
I believe madrassa students should also
be taught subjects that are taught at universities
all over the world.
But the majority of madrassas in Pakistan
remain solely concentrated on Islamic
teachings. When students here aren't
praying, they are preparing for prayer.
Most madrassa leaders believe these
institutes are meant to impart religious
knowledge only and to support "jihad."
Qari Ghufran is one such leader.
We believe that students should only be
given religious education. For secular subjects,
thousands of schools and colleges and
universities exist. Teaching such subjects
is not the job of madrassas.
As the debate within religious scholars
about the purpose of madrassas continues,
at Jamia Naeemia students remain loyal
to their founder's message.
The Taliban believe that they are the true
practitioners of Islam. If this is so, then
why are they conducting bomb blasts all
over Pakistan? And why are they destroying
government buildings? And why did they kill
Sarfaraz Naeemi? This proves that their aim
is to bring a bad name to Islam.
And in this manner, Jamia Naeemia and other
such institutions continue to carve out a new
definition of madrassas in Pakistan.