www.ssoar.info The Madrasa in Asia: political activism and transnational linkages Noor, Farish A. (Ed.); Sikand, Yoginder (Ed.); Bruinessen, Martin van (Ed.) Veröffentlichungsversion / Published Version Sammelwerk / collection Zur Verfügung gestellt in Kooperation mit / provided in cooperation with: OAPEN (Open Access Publishing in European Networks) Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Noor, F. A., Sikand, Y., & Bruinessen, M. v. (Eds.). (2008). The Madrasa in Asia: political activism and transnational linkages (ISIM Series on Contemporary Muslim Societies, 2). Amsterdam: Amsterdam Univ. Press. https://nbn- resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-271847 Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer CC BY-NC-ND Lizenz This document is made available under a CC BY-NC-ND Licence (Namensnennung-Nicht-kommerziell-Keine Bearbeitung) zur (Attribution-Non Comercial-NoDerivatives). For more Information Verfügung gestellt. Nähere Auskünfte zu den CC-Lizenzen finden see: Sie hier: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.de Since the rise of the Taliban and Al Qaeda, the traditional Islamic The Madrasa THE MADRASA IN ASIA schools known as madrasas have frequently been portrayed as hotbeds of terrorism. For much longer, modernisers have denounced POLITICAL ACTIVISM AND madrasas as impediments to social progress, although others have praised them for their self-sufficiency and for providing ‘authentic’ TRANSNATIONAL LINKAGES grassroots education. For numerous poor Muslims in Asia, the madrasa in a still constitutes the only accessible form of education. Madrasa reform sia has been high on the political and social agendas of governments Farish A. Noor, Yoginder Sikand across Asia, but the madrasa itself remains a little understood FARISH FARISH & Martin van Bruinessen (eds.) institution. The Madrasa in Asia: Political Activism and Transnational Linkages fills A a major gap in understanding the dynamics of Muslim education and . N activism at the grassroots. The contributors, who all have extensive YOGINDER OOR, first-hand knowledge of the world of the madrasa, provide a balanced overview of the social, educational and political roles of madrasas across Asia, from China and Indonesia to Iran. S IKAND & & IKAND M ARTIN VAN BRUINESSEN (eds.) BRUINESSEN VAN ARTIN Farish A. Noor is senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Yoginder Sikand is a freelance writer based in Bangalore, India. ISBN 978 90 5356 710 4 Martin van Bruinessen is the ISIM Chair for the Comparative Study of Contemporary Muslim Societies at Utrecht University. AUP-ISIM-IS-BW-Madrasa-DEF2:BW 24-09-2008 16:53 Pagina 1 The Madrasa in Asia AUP-ISIM-IS-BW-Madrasa-DEF2:BW 24-09-2008 16:53 Pagina 2 isim series on contemporary muslim societies The ISIM Series on Contemporary Muslim Societies is a joint initiative of Amsterdam University Press (AUP) and the International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM). The Series seeks to present innovative scholarship on Islam and Muslim societies in different parts of the globe. ISIM was established in 1998 by the University of Amsterdam, Leiden University, Radboud University Nijmegen, and Utrecht University. The institute conducts and promotes interdisciplinary research on social, political, cultural, and intellectual trends and movements in contemporary Muslim societies and communities. Editors Annelies Moors, ISIM / University of Amsterdam Mathijs Pelkmans, ISIM / University College Utrecht Abdulkader Tayob, University of Cape Town Editorial Board Nadje al-Ali, University of Exeter Kamran Asdar Ali, University of Texas at Austin John Bowen, Washington University in St. Louis Léon Buskens, Leiden University Shamil Jeppie, University of Cape Town Deniz Kandiyoti, SOAS, University of London Muhammad Khalid Masud, Council of Islamic Ideology, Pakistan Werner Schiffauer, Europa-Universität Viadriana Frankfurt (Oder) Seteney Shami, Social Science Research Council Previously published Lynn Welchman, Women and Muslim Family Laws in Arab States. A Comparative Overview of Textual Development and Advocacy, 2007 (isbn 978 90 5356 974 0) AUP-ISIM-IS-BW-Madrasa-DEF2:BW 24-09-2008 16:53 Pagina 3 The Madrasa in Asia Political Activism andTransnational Linkages Farish A. Noor, Yoginder Sikand & Martin van Bruinessen (eds.) ISIMSERIESONCONTEMPORARYMUSLIMSOCIETIES amsterdam university press AUP-ISIM-IS-BW-Madrasa-DEF2:BW 24-09-2008 16:53 Pagina 4 Cover photograph: Madrasa student in Deoband (courtesy Farish A. Noor) Cover design and lay-out: De Kreeft, Amsterdam isbn 978 90 5356 710 4 e-isbn 978 90 4850 138 0 nur 741 / 717 © isim / Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam 2008 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copy- right reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photo- copying, recording or otherwise) without the written permis- sion of both the copyright owner and the author of the book. AUP-ISIM-IS-BW-Madrasa-DEF2:BW 24-09-2008 16:53 Pagina 5 Contents Acknowledgement 7 Introduction: Behind the Walls: Re-Appraising the Role and Importance of Madrasas in the World Today 9 Farish A. Noor, Yoginder Sikand and Martin van Bruinessen 1. Voices for Reform in the Indian Madrasas 31 Yoginder Sikand 2. Change and Stagnation in Islamic Education: The Dar al-ªUlum of Deoband after the Split in 1982 71 Dietrich Reetz 3. ‘Inside and Outside’ in a Girls’ Madrasa in New Delhi 105 Mareike Winkelmann 4. Between Pakistan and Qom: Shiªi Women’s Madrasas and New Transnational Networks 123 Mariam Abou Zahab 5. The Uncertain Fate of Southeast Asian Students in the Madrasas of Pakistan 141 Farish A. Noor 6. Muslim Education in China: Chinese Madrasas and Linkages to Islamic Schools Abroad 169 Jackie Armijo 7. From Pondok to Parliament: The Role Played by the Religious Schools of Malaysia in the Development of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) 191 Farish A. Noor AUP-ISIM-IS-BW-Madrasa-DEF2:BW 24-09-2008 16:53 Pagina 6 8. Traditionalist and Islamist Pesantrens in Contemporary Indonesia 217 Martin van Bruinessen 9. The Salafi Madrasas of Indonesia 247 Noorhaidi Hasan Contributors 275 Glossary 279 Acronyms and Names of Organisations, Movements and Institutions 285 Maps 291 Index 297 AUP-ISIM-IS-BW-Madrasa-DEF2:BW 24-09-2008 16:53 Pagina 7 Acknowledgement Most of these essays are updated versions of papers that were first pre- sented at the international conference ‘The Madrasa in Asia: Transnational Linkages and Real or Alleged Political Roles’, in May 2004 in Leiden and jointly organised by the International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) and the Zentrum Moderner Orient (Centre for Modern Oriental Studies) of Berlin. Chapters 4 and 7 were commissioned especially for this volume. 7 AUP-ISIM-IS-BW-Madrasa-DEF2:BW 24-09-2008 16:53 Pagina 8 AUP-ISIM-IS-BW-Madrasa-DEF2:BW 24-09-2008 16:53 Pagina 9 Introduction Behind the Walls: Re-Appraising the Role and Importance of Madrasas in the World Today Farish A. Noor, Yoginder Sikand and Martin van Bruinessen The term madrasa derives from the Arabic root darasa, which means ‘to study,’ and is related to the term for lesson, dars. Technically, a madrasa is an institution where lessons are imparted or, in other words, a school. In the Arabic-speaking world, the term applies to all sorts of schools, including both those that teach only the traditional Islamic subjects as well as those that are completely secularised and have no provision for religious educa- tion. In much of the non-Arabic speaking parts of Asia, however, the word is generally understood in a more restricted sense – as a school geared essen- tially to providing students with what is understood as Islamic education, although the ways in which this is conceived and its scope are widely diver- gent. Madrasas, as understood in this sense – as schools for the imparting of Islamic knowledge – have for centuries served the crucial function of train- ing Muslim religious specialists or ulama, besides imparting basic Islamic education to Muslim children who need not necessarily continue their training to become professional religious experts. They are instrumental in sustaining, preserving, promoting and transmitting the Islamic tradition over the generations. They are not a homogenous phenomenon, however, contrary to what the media generally presents them as. They differ widely in terms of curricula, teaching methods and approaches to the challenges of 9 AUP-ISIM-IS-BW-Madrasa-DEF2:BW 24-09-2008 16:53 Pagina 10 FARISHA.NOOR,YOGINDERSIKANDANDMARTINVANBRUINESSEN modernity, which makes any generalisations about them hazardous and un- tenable. They also differ in terms of the levels of religious education that they provide their students, from the small maktab or kuttab attached to a mosque and catering to small children, providing them with skills to read and recite the Quran and perform basic Islamic rituals, to university-size jamiªas and Dar al-ªulums. Despite the central importance that madrasas play in the lives of Muslim communities around the world, relatively little academic attention has been paid to them. Advocates of the ‘modernisation’ thesis had assumed that along with the economic and social ‘development’ of Muslim societies, which they saw as following the path adopted by Western countries, the in- fluence of