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Thirty years ago, Russia invaded Afghanistan and millions of refugess fled to Pakistan and Iran, resulting in a cycle of poverty and war that fosters the growth of madrasas.  |Photo from Cia World Factbook
Thirty years ago, Russia invaded Afghanistan and millions of refugess fled to Pakistan and Iran, resulting in a cycle of poverty and war that fosters the growth of madrasas. |Photo from Cia World Factbook

Haris Durrani ’11
Opinions Editor

Thirty years ago, Russia invaded Afghanistan and millions of refugess fled to Pakistan and Iran, resulting in a cycle of poverty and war that fosters the growth of madrasas.  |Photo from Cia World Factbook
Thirty years ago, Russia invaded Afghanistan and millions of refugess fled to Pakistan and Iran, resulting in a cycle of poverty and war that fosters the growth of madrasas. |Photo from Cia World Factbook

In places like Afghanistan and Pakistan, many children – particularly those living in poverty – attend madrasas, which provide food, shelter, and often the only educational options available. In Arabic, “madrasa” simply means school, but in the context of the extremist views fostered today by the madrasas near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, the word has developed an entirely different political meaning.

The Project—

Madrasa Reform

Azhar Hussain, Vice President for Preventive Diplomacy at the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy (ICRD) and head of the ICRD’s Pakistan Madrasa Project, enters madrasas, some of which are occupied by the Taliban or other extremist groups, and reform curricula from the inside out by encouraging moderate and broad-based education which teaches tolerance and coexistence to students. Hussain was recently featured in the “Generation Islam” CNN special hosted by Christiane Amanpour.

On Oct. 25, the Interfaith Council of Westport hosted Hussain, who moved to America at 15, at Westport’s Church of the Assumption to deliver a lecture on madrasas and religious extremism, titled “Responding to Religious Extremism in Pakistan: A Successful Model.”

“Rather than worrying about the death threats, he goes into the line of fire and changes the Madrasas,” said Dr. Saud Anwar, Founder and Co-Chair of the Muslim Peace Initiative, while introducing Hussain. “There are so many beautiful stories I can tell you about him. I do not know anyone in the country who is doing this level of work. The cost of doing this work is so little compared to the military [cost]. You are winning the hearts and minds of the people.”

Anwar added that extremists murdered Hussain’s relatives, but instead of retaliating, Hussain is trying to change the mindsets of the madrasas.

According to Hussain, madrasas poorly equip students for modern-day jobs because they do not teach adequate academic skills. Students often have nowhere to turn to but toward extremist organizations ready to exploit them. His passion, he said, is to save these students.

“It’s easier,” Hussain said, “to take the guns away and give them the jobs.”

The Politics—

The Price of the

Cold War

Afghanistan has been in a state of constant war for the past 30 years, providing a nesting ground for the extremism fostered by today’s madrasas.

The Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, imposing communism in the country, and groups of locals, mujahidin (“Freedom Fighters”), resisted occupation. The U.S., Pakistan, China, Egypt, Iran, and Saudi Arabia provided money and arms for the mujahidin to fight off the Russians, and they succeeded by 1989. That decade of warfare displaced five million of Afghans into Iran and, mostly, Pakistan.

In the aftermath of the Soviet withdrawal from the country, civil war ensued as different groups fought for control of the country. America invaded Afghanistan following 9/11, and American and allied troops are still attempting to bring stability to that region.

During the past 30 years, refugees fled to Iran and Pakistan, peaking at 6.2 million refugees by 1990, according to National Geographic. Cathy Schager, a Middle East teacher, noted the cycle of war, poverty, and lack of resources and education which set the stage for the extremism promoted in some madrasas, and for the consequent violence the continues the cycle.

“The U.S. needs to send more troops, but they [troops] need to focus on peace-building,” Anwar said. “No one has ever won a war in that area, whether it was the Mongols, Alexander the Great, or the British or Russia. No one has ever won a war and no one will win a war over there.”

Hussain and Anwar believed curriculum reform is the best way to address this dilemma, since madrasas are where extremism can engrain itself in each new generation.

In the past madrasas were esteemed institutions of higher learning, Hussain said. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the University of Al-Karaouine, the first organized madrasa (started by a woman in the ninth century) is the oldest continuously operating institution of higher learning in the world.

Hussein mentioned that Cold War tactics to defeat communism even led to funding the University of Nebraska to write a book for Pakistani madrasa students.

“If you read this book, you’ll cry because we really did a good job of teaching hate to fourth graders,” Hussain said.

However, as in much of history, the causes are much more complex.

“It’s basically many events in a chain with varying degrees of idiocy,” Schager said.

Indeed, Hussain mentioned that the Taliban, like “idiots,” republished the Nebraska textbook in Afghanistan.

Hussain said people initially thought his project was too dangerous, even impossible. But after the first teacher retraining workshop, he received requests for additional cultural tolerance, interfaith, and peace-building training.

His goal, he said, is “to talk to them [madrasa leaders], turn them around, with a very peace-making potential.”

Schager mentioned Greg Mortenson, author of “Three Cups of Tea,” who works on educational reform in Afghanistan. Both Hussain and Mortenson hold similar non-military, educational methods of achieving peace around the war-torn Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

“It has to happen on a more organic model,” Schager said. “Local people should be involved from the ground up, in school and curricular design.”

Teaching Madrasas

Schager said having a speaker like Hussain, an expert in his field, can have a significant impact on students.

“I think kids are so curious and, like many adults, feel quite ignorant regarding the Middle East,” Schager said. “I feel like the more people I can get to come in to help understand, the better.” She added that news coverage does not necessarily offer true insight into society, culture, history, or daily life in the region.

Schager and Dana Gilland, another Middle East teacher, both said their students are often surprised when they learn about madrasas.

“It’s always hard to get around the idea that there is no divide between religion and school,” Gilland said.

According to Schager, students are often unaffected when talking about the issue, but when they watch films showing what is happening in madrasas, they can actually see the often extremist nature of the school.

“Kids have a hard time understanding society not their own,” Schager said. “Things are a lot less scary in theory,” she added later.

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