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Section 1: Islamisation in Society

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Section 1: Islamisation in Society Section 1: Islamisation in Society The Islamic forces at play in Bangladeshi politics have a strength that goes beyond mere electoral achievement. They are deeply rooted in parts of society and slowly increasing their influence. To gauge this spread, this section examines four main issues: education, attitudes to women, attacks on non-Muslims and the charity sector. The process of Islamisation is pronounced in the education sector, especially in the recent mushrooming of vari- ous types of madrasa. No reliable statistics exist on how many children attend madrasa in total, but we have collected a range of numbers and estimates from official sources and present what we think is the best collation to date. This suggests up to 4 million children are being educated in 19,000 madrasa in Bangladesh at present, most of them at a primary level. The surprising aspect is that there are almost as many girls as boys in Bangladesh's madrasa. This section notes Bangladesh's substantial progress in women's development and mentions the obstacles to greater female political participation, before examining attitudes towards women's empowerment as articulated by Islamists. It is significant that new Election Commission rules require all political parties to have 30% female repre- sentation in their National Executive Committees by 2020. This poses a potential problem for the Islamic parties. Unfortunately attacks on religious minorities - Hindus, Ahmadiyya and Buddhists - are a litmus test of the spread of a particular brand of religious intolerance and lawlessness. In 2013 we have charted a dramatic increase in attacks on Hindus, after the verdicts in the war crimes trial, collating press reports from the Bengali and English press. It's worth noting that most Muslims in Bangladesh are Sunni, so the country does not suffer from the sort of sectarian violence that has plagued Pakistan and Iraq. Tracing ideological bent in the vast NGO sector in Bangladesh is extremely difficult. We list some of the charities reported to be pushing an Islamist agenda with their development work. To be fair, the Islamists would say the secu- lar NGOs are also inherently political in their agenda. It is not easy to pinpoint foreign involvement in the gradual Islamisation of society. Some Islamic NGOs and madrasa have received funds from the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The influence of the Afghan war was clearly seen as Bangladeshi fighters returned home from jihad in the late eighties and some went on to form militant groups. Today the spread of Internet and mobile phone technology in Bangladesh is playing a greater role in connecting some individuals to radical Islamic ideology abroad. POLITICAL ISLAM & THE ELECTIONS IN BANGLADESH 15 Education It is important to examine the link between religious education and support for Islamic parties or militancy. The assumption amongst many Bangladeshis is that Islamisation of the education system - both mainstream and infor- mal - is part of a creeping cultural revolution gradually undermining secularism. Bangladesh has a mainstream edu- cation system where Islamic subjects have increased over recent years in the curriculum. It also has a parallel madrasa education system that's been growing. One Awami League sympathiser complained democracy had failed in Bangladesh and the country's education system was pushing Islam forward as the solution. The role of madrasa is especially relevant after the street protests by Hefajate Islam (literally "The Defence of Islam"). These protests relied on madrasa students to come out on to the streets of the capital in vast numbers to defend Islam. To more secular middle-class Bengalis, especially women, these devout angry young men in skull caps seemed like an alien invasion. Madrasa in Bangladesh fall into two categories - those that are regulated by the state, known as alia madrasa and those that are unregulated, known as quomi madrasa. There is some crossover between the mainstream and madrasa educational systems, with madrasa-educated children now appearing in greater numbers at state universities. Pivotal to this is the official recognition given to the certificates awarded by the alia madrasa, which have been made equivalent to HSC school-leaving certificates. This has resulted in increasing numbers of madrasa-educated children being admitted to the top universities. Indeed, several university professors said it was much easier to score high grades from the alia madrasa and as a result easier to be admitted to university, even though many had a poor command of English,13 which is the medium of instruc- tion. This influx of madrasa students into universities primarily affects the social sciences and humanities because the alia madrasa do not prioritise science. Academics complained that as a result of a growing Islamisation, universities were becoming places where it was difficult in class to discuss sensitive topics concerning Islam, such as Muslim family laws, for fear of being branded anti-religion. Secular teachers also felt compelled not to discuss religion because they were ill equipped to hold their own on the subject with their madrasa-educated students. Some argued though that it was not a good idea to rele- gate religion to being a private issue and, on the contrary, it would be better to discuss different interpretations openly in public. Professors said it was only a matter of time before madrasa-educated graduate students qualified as teaching staff because the top scoring students each year are automatically offered university posts.14 POLITICAL ISLAM 16 & THE ELECTIONS IN BANGLADESH Mosques: According to the government-run Islamic Foundation, there are 275,000 mosques spread throughout the country, each with an Imam and muezzin.15 The Foundation tries to educate Imams (and then monitor them afterwards) in science and technology and raise awareness of issues like women's rights, child marriage and domestic violence.16 Under the current Awami League government, the Islamic Foundation has also taken a strong stand in educating Imams against militancy. Interestingly, the Foundation was set up by Sheikh Hasina's father, Sheikh Mujib; before 1971 when Bangladesh was part of Pakistan there was no such state-funded institution to promote religion. During General Ershad's period state support to clerics was increased, with mosques and madrasa receiving free gas, water and electricity supplies. For the first time the Islamic Foundation has just conducted a survey of all madrasa, mosques, Quran schools attached to shrines, Imams and muezzin. It is currently computerising the data.17 Growth in Madrasa Numbers: There's been a recent mushrooming of madrasa in Bangladesh, with some reports estimating as many as 10 million children now attend these institutions. The sources we gathered suggest nearly 4 million children may be enrolled in 19,000 madrasa - the majority of them at a primary level. Interestingly there has been an exponential growth of madrasa for girls. Some of this growth may be attributable to a growing religiosity at a grassroots level in Bangladeshi society, but there are also economic reasons stemming from the failure of the state education system to meet the needs of the rural poor. There are frequent reports of impoverished families opting for madrasa because they cannot afford school uni- forms, stationery and the informal fees. NGOs18 describe a high level of corruption in the state education system, where teachers reportedly demand money as tuition fees to pass students in exams. One Dhaka University study found three quarters of parents chose madrasa education because they couldn't afford mainstream education. By contrast, food and lodging are free in the madrasa, as well as sometimes clothing. Surprisingly, madrasa teachers often send their own children to mainstream schools, probably because they offer better job opportunities.19 This indicates a madrasa education may not always be the first choice – but rather the only choice. Training Course for Bangladeshi Imams run by the Islamic Foundation. There is also a strong religious appeal. Clerics go door to door telling parents their children will receive merit after death if they attend a madrasa. In conservative areas, sending a girl to a female madrasa may be more socially accept- able than sending her to a government or NGO-run school. Madrasa ulema are extremely concerned about the activities of Christian missionaries in Bangladesh; many of them believe foreign NGOs are funded by Christian mis- sions to convert poor Bangladeshi Muslims – something the NGOs of course strenuously deny. Pre-Primary Level Madrasa: the government-run Islamic Foundation says there are 38,000 of these establish- ments. They are very small and localised and do not come under any education board. POLITICAL ISLAM & THE ELECTIONS IN BANGLADESH 17 Maktab: these are village-based centres for reading the Quran, attached to mosques. The director of the Islamic Foundation said a century ago there were 80,000 maktab in East Bengal so today he thought it was possible the num- ber today would reach 400,000. Types of Primary and Secondary Level Madrasa: Alia Madrasa Alia Madrasa were formally established in 1780 by the British colonial government, which set up the Madrasa Education Board of Bengal. After 1971, attempts were made to modernise them, making the study of Bengali, Mathematics, English, Social Sciences, and General Science compulsory.20 Alia Madrasa are state-regulated and funded. They follow a nationally assigned syllabus over 16 years of educa- tion. The different levels are: Ebtedaee: primary level: 5 years Dakhil: secondary level: 5 years, equivalent to SSC. Alim: higher secondary level: 2 years, equivalent to HSC. Fazil: graduate level: 2 years or, with Honours, 3 years, equivalent to BA degreee. Kamil: postgraduate level: 2 years or 3 years for the Honours course, equivalent to MA degree.21 Quomi Madrasa The quomi madrasa system also dates back to British colonial times.
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