Madrasah

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not to be confused with Madras.

"Madrasa" and "Medrese" redirect here. For the village in Azerbaijan, see Mədrəsə.

Sher-Dor Madrasa, Samarkand, Uzbekistan 2007

Ulugh Beg Madrasa, Samarkand, Uzbekistan circa 1912

Madrasah (Arabic: ‫ةسردم‬, madrasa pl. ‫سرادم‬, madāris) is the Arabic word for anytype of educational institution, whether secular or religious (of any

religion). It is variously transliterated as madrasah, madarasaa, medresa, madrassa,madraza, madarsa,medrese etc.

Madrasah aamah (Arabic: ‫ )ةماع ةسردم‬translates as "public school".

Madrasah khāṣah (Arabic: ‫ )ةصاخ ةسردم‬translates as "private school".

Madrasah dīniyyah (Arabic: ‫ )ةينيد ةسردم‬translates as "religious school".

Madrasah Islamiyyah (Arabic: ‫ )ةيمالسإ ةسردم‬translates as "Islamic school".


Madrasah Jami'ah translates as "university".

Contents

[hide]

1 Definition

2 Early History of Madrasahs

o 2.1 Elementary education

2.1.1 Primary education

2.1.2 Secondary education

o 2.2 Higher education

2.2.1 College

2.2.2 University

2.2.3 Law school

2.2.4 Medical school

o 2.3 Female education

3 Madrasahs by region

o 3.1 Madrasahs under the Ottoman Turks

3.1.1 Curriculums

3.1.2 Social life and the Medrese

o 3.2 Madrasahs in Iran

o 3.3 Madrasahs in South Asia

3.3.1 India

3.3.2 Pakistan

o 3.4 Madrasahs in Indonesia

4 Misuse of the word

5 See also

6 Notes

7 Further reading

8 External links

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

The word madrasah is derived from the triconsonantal root ‫د‬-‫ر‬-‫( س‬d-r-s), which relates to learning or teaching, through the wazn (form/stem)

(‫ ة(لعفم‬mafʻal(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,Bengali, Hindi, Persian, Turkish, Kurdish, Indonesian, Malay and Bosnian.[1] In the Arabic language, the word ‫( ةسردم‬madrasah) simply means

the same asschool does in the English language, whether that is 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 as well. For example, in theOttoman Empire during the Early Modern

Period, Madrasahs had lower schools and specialized schools where the students became known as danismends.[2]The correct Arabic word for a university,

however, is ‫( ةعماج‬jāmaʻah). The Hebrew cognate midrasha also connotes the meaning of a place of learning.

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. In the Ottoman Empire, during the Early Modern Period, the learning of the Hadith was introduced by Suleyman I.[2] 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. Ottoman madrasahs along with religious teachings also taught "styles of writing, grammary, syntax, poetry, composition, natural sciences, political

sciences, and etiquette."[2]

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.

In South Africa, the madrasahs also play a 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 privateIslamic 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.

[edit]Early History of Madrasahs

Second ruler Delhi Sultanate, Alauddin Khilji's Madrasa, Qutb complex, Delhi, India, built ca 1316 CE

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

Madrasahs did not exist in the early beginnings 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 knowledgeable Muslims. These

informal teachers later became known as shaykhs; and these shaykhs began to hold regular religious education sessions called majalis(Sessions).

Established in 859, Jami'at al-Qarawiyyin (located in Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque) in the city ofFas, Morocco, is considered the oldest madrasah in the Muslim

world. It was founded byFatima al-Fihri, the daughter of a wealthy merchant named Mohammed Al-Fihri. This was later followed by what is now Al-Azhar

University, established in 959 in Cairo, Egypt.

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 theAssassins (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[3] and Mamluk[4] 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.

The following excerpt provides a brief synopsis of the historical origins and starting points for the teachings that took place in the Ottoman madrasahs in

theEarly Modern Period:

"Taşköprülüzâde's concept of knowledge and his division of the sciences provides a starting point for a study of learning and medrese education in the Ottoman Empire.

Taşköprülüzâde recognizes four stages of knowledge—spiritual, intellectual, oral and written. Thus all the sciences fall into one of these seven categories: calligraphic

sciences, oral sciences, intellectual sciences, spiritual sciences, theoretical rational sciences, practical rational sciences. The First Ottoman medrese was created in Iznik

in 1331, when a converted Church building was assigned as a medrese to a famous scholar, Dâvûd of Kayseri.Suleyman made an important change in the hierarchy of

Ottoman medreses. He established four general medreses and two more for specialized studies, one devoted to the hadith and the other to medicine. He gave the highest

ranking to these and thus established the hierarchy of the medreses which was to continue until the end of the empire."[2]

During this time, the Caliphate, or Islamic Empire, experienced a growth in literacy, having the highest literacy rate of the Middle Ages, comparable

to Athens' literacy in Classical Antiquity but on a larger scale.[5]

[edit]Elementary education

Main article: Maktab

In the medieval Islamic world, an elementary school was known as a maktab, which dates back to at least the 10th century. Like madrasahs (which referred

to higher education), a maktab was often attached to a mosque. In the 11th century, the famous PersianIslamic philosopher, Ibn Sina (known as Avicenna in

the West), in one of his books, wrote a chapter dealing with the maktab entitled "The Role of the Teacher in the Training and Upbringing of Children", as a

guide to teachers working at maktab schools. He wrote that children can learn better if taught in classes instead of individual tuition from private tutors, and

he gave a number of reasons for why this is the case, citing the value of competition and emulation among pupils as well as the usefulness of

group discussions and debates. Ibn Sina described the curriculum of a maktab school in some detail, describing the curricula for two stages of education in

a maktab school.[6]

[edit]Primary education

Ibn Sina wrote that children should be sent to a maktab school from the age of 6 and be taught primary education until they reach the age of 14. During

which time, he wrote that they should be taught the Qur'an, Islamic metaphysics, language, literature, Islamic ethics, and manual skills (which could refer to

a variety of practical skills).[6]

[edit]Secondary education

Ibn Sina refers to the secondary education stage of maktab schooling as the period of specialization, when pupils should begin to acquire manual skills,

regardless of their social status. He writes that children after the age of 14 should be given a choice to choose and specialize in subjects they have an interest

in, whether it was reading, manual skills, literature, preaching, medicine, geometry, trade and commerce, craftsmanship, or any other subject or profession

they would be interested in pursuing for a future career. He wrote that this was a transitional stage and that there needs to be flexibility regarding the age in
which pupils graduage, as the student's emotional development and chosen subjects need to be taken into account.[7] in secondary education they believe that

the lion is a symbol of education

[edit]Higher education

See also: Ijazah

During the formative period of the madrasah, used to refer to a higher education institution, philosophy and the secular sciences were often excluded from

its curriculum, which initially only included the "religious sciences". [8] The curriculum slowly began to diversify, with many later madrasahs teaching both

the religious and the "secular sciences",[9] like logic, mathematics and philosophy. Some madrasahs further extended their curriculum

to history, politics, ethics, music, metaphysics, medicine, astronomy and chemistry.[10] Some Islamic schools by the 12th century also taught early ideas

related to evolution.[11] The curriculum of a madrasah was usually set by its founder, but most generally taught both the religious sciences and the physical

sciences. Madrasahs were established throughout the Islamic world, the most famous being the 10th century Al-Azhar University and the 11th

century Nizamiyya, as well as 75 madrasahs in Cairo, 51 in Damascus and up to 44 in Aleppo between 1155 and 1260. Many more were also established in

the Andalusian citites of Córdoba,Seville, Toledo, Granada, Murcia, Almería, Valencia and Cádiz during the Caliphate of Córdoba.[12]

In the Ottoman Empire during the early modern period, "Madrasahs were divided into lower and specialized levels, which reveals that there was a sense of

elevation in school. Students who studied in the specialized schools after completing courses in the lower levels became known as danismends."[2]

[edit]College

The origins of the college lie in the medieval Islamic world. While "madrasah" can now refer to any type of school, the term "madrasah" was originally used

to refer more specifically to a medieval Islamic college, mainly teaching Islamic law and theology, usually affiliated with a mosque, and funded by an

early charitable trust known as Waqf.[10] It has been argued that the internal organization of the first European colleges was borrowed from the earlier

madrasahs, like the system of fellows and scholars, with the Latin term for fellow,socius, being a direct translation of the Arabic term for

fellow, sahib.[10] However, this view is not accepted by all specialists on the topic.

The funding for madrasahs came primarily from Waqf instititions, which were similar to the charitable trusts which later funded the first European colleges.

Syed Farid Alatas writes:[10]

"The madrasah was established as a charitable trust (waqf) founded by individual Muslims, which legally bounded the founder to run it as amadrasah. 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."

[edit]University

If a university is defined as an institution of higher education and research which issues academic degrees at all levels

(bachelor, masterand doctorate),[13] then the first Islamic "universities" were the Jami'ah founded in the 9th century. However, it should be noted that many

medievalist specialists eschew the term "university" for the Islamic madrasas and jami'ah because the medieval European institution of higher learning

called a "university" (from Latin universitas) was structurally very different, being a legally autonomous corporation rather than a waqf institution like the

madrasah and jami'ah.[14] Medieval specialists have coined the term "Islamic college" for madrasah andjami'ah to avoid confusion with the legally

autonomous corporations that the medieval European universities were.

While the madrasah college could also issue degrees at all levels, the Jami`ah differed in the sense that it was a larger institution that was more universal in

terms of its complete source of studies, had individual faculties for different subjects, and could house a number of mosques, madrasahs and other

institutions within it.[10] The University of Al Karaouine in Fez, Morocco is thus recognized by theGuinness Book of World Records as the oldest degree-

granting university in the world with its founding in 859 by Fatima al-Fihri.[15]

What is now Al-Azhar University, founded in Cairo, Egypt in 975 by Ismaili Shi`ah Fatimid dynasty, was a Jami'ah which offered a variety of post-

graduate degrees (ijazah),[10] and had individual faculties[16] for a theological seminary, Islamic law and jurisprudence, Arabic grammar, Islamic

astronomy, early Islamic philosophy and logic in Islamic philosophy.[10] Abd-el-latif also delivered lectures on Islamic medicine at Al-Azhar,

while Maimonides delivered lectures on medicine and astronomy there during the time of Saladin.[17] Another earlyjami'ah was the Al-Nizamiyya of

Baghdad (founded 1091), which has been called the "largest university of the Medieval world".[18]Mustansiriya University, established by

the Abbasid caliph al-Mustansir in 1233, in addition to teaching the religious subjects, offered courses dealing with philosophy, mathematics and the natural

sciences.

[edit]Law school

See also: Sharia and Fiqh

Madrasahs were largely centered on the study of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). The ijazat attadris wa 'l-ifta' ("license to teach and issue legal opinions") in

the medieval Islamic legal education system had its origins in the 9th century after the formation of the Madh'hab legal schools. For conventional purposes

the term "doctorate" is used in some academic literature for the ijazah, even though there were some difference between the ijaza and the European

doctorate. (For example, the former was awarded by an invidual teacher-scholar, and the latter by the collective faculty).

To obtain an ijazah , 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." These 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 ijazas giving them the status

of faqih (meaning "one who does law"), mufti (meaning "professor ofFatwā") and mudarris (meaning "teacher").

The Arabic term ijazat attadris, was awarded to Islamic scholars who were qualified to teach. It has been argued that the Latin title licentia docendi (

"license to teach") in the European university may have been a translation of the Arabic. [13] However, a significant difference between the ijazat

attadris and the licentia docendi was that the former was awarded by the individual scholar-teacher, while the latter was awarded by the chief official of the

university, who represented the collective faculty, rather than the individual scholar-teacher.[19]

Much of the study in the madrasa college centered on examining whether certain opinions of law were orthodox. This scholarly process 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."[13]

[edit]Medical school

See also: Bimaristan

Though Islamic medicine was most often taught at the Bimaristan teaching hospitals, there were also several madrasah medical schoolsdedicated to the

teaching of medicine. For example, from the 155 madrasah colleges in 15th century Damascus, three of them were medical schools.[20]

In the Early Modern Period in the Ottoman Empire, "Suleyman I added new curriculums to the Ottoman medreses of which one was medicine, which

alongside studying of the Hadith was given highest rank."[2]

[edit]Female education

See also: Women in Islam and Women in Iraq

From around 750, during the Abbasid Caliphate, women “became renowned for their brains as well as their beauty”.[21] In particular, many well known

women of the time were trained from childhood in music, dancing and poetry. Mahbuba was one of these. Another feminine figure to be remembered for

her achievements was Tawaddud “a slave girl who was said to have been bought at great cost by Harun al-Rashid because she had passed her examinations

by the most eminent scholars in astronomy, medicine, law, philosophy, music, history,Arabic grammar, literature, theology and chess”.[22] Moreover, among

the most prominent feminine figures was Shuhda who was known as “the Scholar” or “the Pride of Women” during the twelfth century in Baghdad. Despite

the recognition of women’s aptitudes during the Abbasid dynasty, all these came to an end in Iraq with the sack of Baghdad in 1258.[23]

Women played an important role in the foundations of many Islamic educational institutions, such as Fatima al-Fihri's founding of theUniversity of Al

Karaouine in 859. This continued through to the Ayyubid dynasty in the 12th and 13th centuries, when 160 mosques and madrasahs were established

in Damascus, 26 of which were funded by women through the Waqf (charitable trust) system. Half of all the royal patrons for these institutions were also

women.[24]

According to the Sunni scholar Ibn Asakir in the 12th century, there were opportunities for female education in the medieval Islamic world, writing that

women could study, earn ijazahs (academic degrees), and qualify as scholars and teachers. This was especially the case for learned and scholarly families,

who wanted to ensure the highest possible education for both their sons and daughters.[25] Ibn Asakir had himself studied under 80 different female teachers

in his time. Female education in the Islamic world was inspired by Muhammad's wives:Khadijah, a successful businesswoman. According to

a hadith attributed to Muhammad, he praised the women of Medina because of their desire for religious knowledge:[26]

"How splendid were the women of the ansar; shame did not prevent them from becoming learned in the faith."

While it was not common for women to enroll as students in formal classes, it was common for women to attend informal lectures and study sessions at

mosques, madrasahs and other public places. While there were no legal restrictions on female education, some men did not approve of this practice, such as

Muhammad ibn al-Hajj (d. 1336) who was appalled at the behaviour of some women who informally audited lectures in his time:[27]

"[Consider] what some women do when people gather with a shaykh to hear [the recitation of] books. At that point women come, too, to hear the readings; the men sit in

one place, the women facing them. It even happens at such times that some of the women are carried away by the situation; one will stand up, and sit down, and shout in

a loud voice. [Moreover,] her 'awra will appear; in her house, their exposure would be forbidden — how can it be allowed in a mosque, in the presence of men?"

The term 'awra is often translated as "that which is indecent", which usually meant the exposure of anything other than a woman's face and hands, although

scholarly interpretations of the 'awra and hijab have always tended to vary, with some more or less strict than others.[27]

While women accounted for no more than one percent of Islamic scholars prior to the 12th century, there was a large increase of female scholars after this.

In the 15th century, Al-Sakhawi devotes an entire volume of his 12-volume biographical dictionary Daw al-lami to female scholars, giving information on
1,075 of them.[28] More recently, the scholar Mohammad Akram Nadwi, currently a researcher from theOxford Centre for Islamic Studies, has written 40

volumes on the 'muhaddithat' (the women scholars of hadith), and found at least 8000 of them.[29]

[edit]Madrasahs by region

that muslim stufff

This section requires expansion.

[edit]Madrasahs under the Ottoman Turks

"The first Ottoman Medrese was created in Iznik in 1331 and most Ottoman medreses followed the traditions of sunni Islam."[2] "When an Ottoman sultan

established a new medrese, he would invite scholars from the Islamic world—for example, Murad II brought scholars from Persia, such as Ala al-Din and

Fakhr al-Din who helped enhance the reputation of the Ottoman medrese".[2] This reveals that the Islamic world was interconnected in the early modern

period as they traveled around to other Islamic states exchanging knowledge. This sense that the Ottoman Empire was becoming modernized

through globalization is also recognized by Hamadeh who says: "Change in the eighteenth century as the beginning of a long and unilinear march toward

westernization reflects the two centuries of reformation in sovereign identity."[30] Inalcik also mentions that while scholars from for example Persia, traveled

to the Ottomans in order to share their knowledge, Ottomans traveled as well to receive education from scholars of these Islamic lands, such as Egypt, Persia

and Turkestan.[2]Hence, this reveals that similar to today's modern world, individuals from the early modern society traveled abroad to receive education and

share knowledge and that the world was more interconnected than it seems. Also, it reveals how the system of "schooling" was also similar to today's

modern world where students travel abroad to different countries for studies. Examples of Ottoman madrasahs are the ones built by Mehmed the Conqueror.

He built eight madrasahs that were built "on either side of the mosque where there were eight higher madrasahs for specialized studies and eight lower

medreses, which prepared students for these."[2] The fact that they were built around, or near mosques reveals the religious impulses behind Madrasah

building and it reveals the interconnectedness between institutions of learning and religion. The students who completed their education in the lower

medreses became known as danismends[2] This reveals that similar to the education system today, the Ottomans had a similar kind of educational system in

which there were different kinds of schools attached to different kinds of levels. For example, there were the lower madrasahs and then the specialized ones

and for one to get into the specialized area meant that they had to complete the classes in the lower one in order to adequately prepare themselves for higher

learning.[2]

This is the rank of Madrasahs in the Ottoman Empire from the highest ranking to the lowest: (From Inalcik, 167).[2] 1) Semniye 2) Darulhadis 3) Madrasahs

built by earlier sultans in Bursa. 4) Madrasahs endowed by great men of state.

Although Ottoman Madrasahs had a number of different branches of study, such as calligraphic sciences, oral sciences, and intellectual sciences they

primarily served the function of an Islamic center for spiritual learning. "The goal of all knowledge and in particular, of the spiritual sciences is knowledge

of God."[2] Religion, for the most part, determines the significance and importance of each science. As Inalcik mentions: " Those which aid religion are good

and sciences like astrology are bad."[2] However, even though mathematics, or studies in logic were part of the madrasah's curriculum, they were all centered

around religion. Even mathematics had a religious impulse behind its teachings. "The Ulema of the Ottoman medreses held the view that hostility to logic

and mathematics was futile since these accustomed the mind to correct thinking and thus helped to reveal divine truths"[2] – keyword being divine. Inalcik

also mentions that even philosophy was only allowed to be studied so that it helped to confirm the doctrines of Islam."[2] Hence, madrasahs – schools were

basically religious centers for religious teachings and learning in the Ottoman world. Although scholars such as Goffman have argued that the Ottomans
were highly tolerant and lived in a pluralistic society, it seems that schools that were the main centers for learning were in fact heftily religious and were not

religiously pluralistic, but centered around Islam. Similarly, in Europe "Jewish children learned the Hebrew letters and texts of basic prayers at home, and

then attended a school organized by the synagogue to study the Torah."[31]Wiesner-Hanks also goes on to mention that Protestants also wanted to teach

"proper religious values."[31] This goes on to show that in the early modern period, Ottomans and Europeans were similar in their ideas about how schools

should be managed and what they should be primarily focused on. Thus, Ottoman madrasahs were very similar to present day schools in the sense that they

offered a wide range of studies; however, the difference being that these studies, in its ultimate objective, aimed to further solidify and consolidate Islamic

practices, and theories.

[edit]Curriculums

As is previously mentioned, religion dominated much of the knowledge and teachings that were endowed upon students. "Religious learning as the only true

science, whose sole aim was the understanding of God's word."[2] Thus, it is important to keep this impulse in mind when going over the curriculum that was

taught.

The following is taken from Inalcik.[2]

A) Calligraphic sciences—such as styles of writing.

B) Oral sciences—such as Arabic language, grammar and syntax.

C) Intellectual sciences—logic in Islamic philosophy.

D) Spiritual sciences—theoretical, such as Islamic theology and mathematics; and practical, such as Islamic ethics and politics.

[edit]Social life and the Medrese

As with any other country during the Early Modern Period, such as Italy and Spain in Europe, the Ottoman social life was also interconnected with the

medrese. Medreses were built in as part of a Mosque Complex where many programs, such as aid to the poor through soup kitchens were held under the

infrastructure of a mosque, which reveals the interconnectedness of religion and social life during this period. "The mosques to which medreses were

attached, dominated the social life in Ottoman cities."[32] Social life was not dominated by religion only in the Muslim world of the Ottoman Empire;

however, was also quite similar to the social life of Europe during this period. As Goffman says: "Just as mosques dominated social life for the Ottomans,

churches and synagogues dominated life for the Christians and Jews as well."[32] Hence, social life and the medrese were closely linked, since medreses as is

previously mentioned taught many curriculums, such as religion, which highly governed social life in terms of establishing orthodoxy. "They tried moving

their developing state toward Islamic orthodoxy."[32] Overall, the fact that mosques contained medreses comes to show the relevance of education to religion

in the sense that education took place within the framework of religion and religion established social life by trying to create a common religious orthodoxy.

Hence, medreses were simply part of the social life of society as students came to learn the fundamentals of their societal values and beliefs.

[edit]Madrasahs in Iran

This section requires expansion.

[edit]Madrasahs in South Asia

[edit]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.[33] The majority of these schools follow the Hanafi school of thought. The religious establishment

forms part of the mainly two large divisions within the country, namely the Deobandis, who dominate in numbers (of whom the Darul Uloom

Deoband constitutes one of the biggest madrasas in the world) and the barelvis, who also make up a sizeable portion (sufi orientated). Some notable

establishments include: Jamia Ashrafia, Mubarakpur which is one the largest learning centres for the Barelvis. Darul Uloom Deoband which is the largest,

and is considered by many to be the most renowned madrasah in Asia, is located at Saharanpur district, Uttar Pradesh. The HR ministry of Government of

India, has recently declared that a Central Madrasa Board would be setup. This will enhance the education system of Madrasas in India. Though the

madrasas impart Quranic education mainly, efforts are on to include Mathematics, Computers and Science in the curriculum.

[edit]Pakistan

Main article: Madrassas in Pakistan

There are more than 50,000 madrasahs currently (as of 1998) operating in Pakistan. It is estimated that one to two million children are enrolled in

madrasahs. [34] 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.[35] The project also included a web video on such schools titled Children of Faith.[36]

[edit]Madrasahs in Indonesia

This section requires expansion.

[edit]Misuse of the word

Post-9/11, the Madrasas are perceived as a place of radical revivalism among Western countries with a negative connotation of anti-

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

otherwise. They have a varied curriculum, and are not all religious. Although early Madrasahs were founded primarily to gain "knowledge of God" they also

taught other subjects including mathematics and poetry. For example, in the Ottoman Empire, "Madrasahs had seven categories of sciences that were taught,

such as: styles of writing, oral sciences like the Arabic language, grammar, rhetoric, and history and intellectual sciences, such as logic."[2] This is similar to

the Western world, in which universities began as institutions of the Catholic church.
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:[37]

"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."

Various American public figures have, in recent times, used the word in a negative context, including Newt Gingrich,[37] Donald Rumsfeld,[38] and Colin

Powell.[39]

The New York Times published a correction for misusing the word "madrassa" in a way that assumed it meant a radical Islamic school. The correction

stated, "An article... said Senator Barack Obama had attended an Islamic school or madrassa in Indonesia as a child referred imprecisely to madrassas.

While some (madrassas) teach a radical version of Islam, most historically have not."[40]