This book looks at madrasas and educational institutions run by Muslim communities in India focusing on the history, social relevance and importance of these institutions. It provides a sensitive and in-depth analysis of the push and pull of tradition, religiosity and modernity within these establishments. The book studies several institutions in Kozhikode, Surat, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Barak Valley in Assam, Ladakh, Delhi and several cities in Uttar Pradesh and examines new initiatives, curricula, models of education and professional training being offered. It contextualises educational reforms in madrasas in response to changing policies and larger socio-economic realities in contemporary India. It also interrogates stereotypes associated with Islam and madrasa education, paying particular attention to their syllabi and desired outcomes. This book also looks at the roles and positions of women in these institutions. Emphasising the long and complex history of Muslim communities and madrasas, the book showcases the remarkable diversity of approaches and pedagogical practices which combine deeni and duniyadi education across India today. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of the history of education, religious education, comparative education and sociology. It will also be useful to people working with NGOs and policymakers in the field of educational reform and planning.

The prospects for peace in Afghanistan, dialogue between Washington and Tehran, the UN's bid to stabilise nuclear-armed Pakistan, understanding the largest Muslim minority in the world's largest democracy in India, or the largest Muslim population in the world in Indonesia all require some knowledge of the traditional religious sectors in these countries and of what connection traditional religious schooling has (or not) to their geopolitical situations.Moosa delves into the world of madrasa classrooms, scholars and texts, recounting the daily life and discipline of the inhabitants. He shows that madrasa are a living, changing entity, and the site of contestation between groups with varying agendas, goals and notions of modernity.Reading this unique and engaging introduction will provide readers with a clear grasp of the history, place and function of the madrasa in todays Muslim world (religious, cultural and political). It will also investigate the ambiguity underlying the charge that the madrasa is at heart a geopolitical institution.

This in-depth ethnography looks at the everyday lives of Muslim students in a girls’ madrasa in India. Highlighting the ambiguities between the students’ espousal of madrasa norms and everyday practice, Borker illustrates how young Muslim girls tactically invoke the virtues of safety, modesty, and piety learnt in the madrasa to reconfigure normative social expectations around marriage, education, and employment. Amongst the few ethnographies on girls’ madrasas in India, this volume focuses on unfolding of young women’s lives as they journey from their home to madrasa and beyond, and thereby problematizes the idealized and coherent notions of piety presented by anthropological literature on female participation in Islamic piety projects. The author uses ethnographic portraits to introduce us to an array of students, many of whom find their aspirational horizon expanded as a result of the madrasa experience. Such stories challenge the dominant media’s representations of madrasas as outmoded religious institutions. Further, the author illustrates how the processes of learning–unlearning and alternate visions of the future emerge as an unanticipated consequence of young women’s engagement with madrasa education.

The revival of madrasas in the 1980s coincided with the rise of political Islam and soon became associated with the "clash of civilizations" between Islam and the West. This volume examines the rapid expansion of madrasas across Asia and the Middle East and analyses their role in society within their local, national and global context. Based on anthropological investigations in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Iran, and Pakistan, the chapters take a new approach to the issue, examining the recent phenomenon of women in madrasas; Hui Muslims in China; relations between the Iran’s Shia seminary after the 1979-Islamic revolution and Shia in Pakistan and Afghanistan; and South Asian madrasas. Emphasis is placed on the increased presence of women in these institutions, and the reciprocal interactions between secular and religious schools in those countries. Taking into account social, political and demographic changes within the region, the authors show how madrasas have been successful in responding to the educational demand of the people and how they have been modernized their style to cope with a changing environment. A timely contribution to a subject with great international appeal, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of international politics, political Islam, Middle East and Asian studies and anthropology.

This volume inquires into the history of local educational traditions both before and after their encounter with European powers, and their own modernities.

This unique empirical study focuses on the different quality dimensions of the Madrasa education system in Kerala, southwestern India. Madrasa education is one of the largest networks of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the world. Despite originating several centuries ago in a vastly different social and cultural context, it continues to address the educational needs of a large section of the Muslim population in India. Although the Madrasa system has seen many significant developments over time, academia has not paid much attention to its functions, strengths and contributions. This study fills this lacuna, and is grounded in detailed empirical investigation based on ethnographic surveys and interviews with various stakeholders from the field comprising students, teachers, parents, management committees, Madrasa boards and educationists. It critically examines the existing Madrasa education system in terms of different quality dimensions, including curriculum planning and designing, curriculum transaction, assessment and evaluation, institutional management and infra structure. While appreciating the contributions of Madrasas in promoting education among the Muslim minority of India, the book also identifies their problems and suggests creative modalities. A timely contribution to a subject with great international appeal, it will be of great interest to policy planners, researchers, educators, students and scholars of formal and informal education, minority studies, political Islam, Middle East and Asian studies, sociology, history, and contemporary studies.

The essays in Islamic Ecumene address the ways in which Muslims from Morocco to Indonesia and from sub-Saharan Africa to the steppes of Uzbekistan are members of a broad cultural unit. Although the Muslim inhabitants of these lands speak dozens of languages, represent numerous ethnic groups, and practice diverse forms of Islam, they are united by shared practices and worldviews shaped by religious identity. To highlight these commonalities, the co-editors invited a team of scholars from a wide range of disciplines to examine Muslim societies in comparative and interconnected ways. The result is a book that showcases ethics, education, architecture, the arts, modernization, political resistance, marriage, divorce, and death rituals. Using the insights and methods of historians, anthropologists, literary critics, art historians, political scientists, and sociologists, Islamic Ecumene seeks to understand Islamic identity as a dynamic phenomenon that is reflected in the multivalent practices of the more than one billion people across the planet who identify as Muslims.