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"In an environment where madrasas are increasingly being seen as orthodox institutions that spawn terrorism and religious violence, this book argues that such a focus obviates an impassioned understanding of madrasas as social institutions and how they create and sustain a wide variety of possible interpretations of Islam. It contends that if madrasas are about the dissemination of Islamic knowledge, then they also problematise and compete over how best to approach that knowledge. At the same time, they play a significant role within the broader Muslim society where they are located by providing a degree of social mobility, however limited, to the often poor and low-caste Muslims students who study there, especially in the absence of competent government schools providing ‘secular’ education.
Through an in-depth analysis of a madrasa in northern India, the book offers a nuanced, contextual and comprehensive understanding of the diversity of Indian Islam and its various practitioners, arguing how Indian madrasas represent a diverse array of ideological orientations that are mostly opposed to each other’s interpretation of Islam. Readers will benefit from the appendices comprising details of the syllabi and organisation of the madrasas which provide an objective insight into its thought and pedagogy."
ISBN - 9780415678070
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Pages : 220
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