President General Pervez Musharraf and NWFP Governor Khalilur Rehman issued identical ordinances on Wednesday, following a similar move by the governments of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan, to regulate the affairs of Madressahs. As indicated by the title of the new law, Societies Registration (Amendment) Ordinance, 2005, the government has decided to treat the religious schools like the various welfare societies that are engaged in education, health care and social work activities.
Hence, those running these schools cannot really complain of having been singled out for discriminatory treatment. Besides, the government has brought in the ordinance after consultations with the Wifaqul Madaris (federation of seminaries).
Indeed, it is a matter of satisfaction that the government has finally taken an important step towards Madressah reform about which it has been long on the rhetoric - since even before 9/11 - but short on action for fear of backlash from elements that have a vested interest in the Madressah business.
Under pressure from outside, especially after reports that one or two of the suicide bombers involved in the July 7 London attacks may have spent time at a seminary in Pakistan, the government seems to have acquired a strong resolve to do the needful.
In fact, it was soon after the tragic incidents in London that the President had declared that all such institutions must get themselves registered by the end of the current year. With or without outside pressure, Pakistan in any case needs to regulate the Madressah affairs for the sake of its own peace since many of them are linked to sectarian terrorism, which has claimed hundreds of innocent lives during the last two decades.
It is good to note, therefore, that the new ordinance says that no seminary will be allowed to print material or impart education that fans sectarianism, militancy or religious hatred. And also all religious schools will submit a report of their yearly performance and activities to the registrars concerned. Even more importantly, it will be mandatory for them to have their accounts audited and to submit audit reports to the concerned registrars.
This provision should take care of the issue of foreign funds that many of the seminaries are believed to receive from other countries in exchange for influence pedalling on their behalf, and which, in large measure, is to blame for the spread of sectarian hatreds and violence in this society.
While the government is at it, it must also translate into action its oft-repeated resolve to bring Madressah education closer to that offered by the mainstream schools. Of course, seminaries, being mainly concerned with imparting of theological knowledge, have to lay a special emphasis on the study of religion, but their students must also be prepared to deal with the basic issues of life so as to be able to earn a decent livelihood.
Thus irrespective of the current political climate, the Madressah curriculum must be revised in such a way that it offers modern education side by side with religious learning, so that the students are duly qualified to find gainful employment in the job market.
Those, like certain MMA leaders, who are threatening to resist any attempt at changing the Madressah curriculum, need to pay some attention to the fact that in Islam there is no room for a hierarchical clergy that has a special responsibility to interpret and protect religion. And Islam encourages the acquisition of secular knowledge.
More than 1400 years ago, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) advised his followers to pursue knowledge even if that meant travelling [all the way from Arabia] as far as China. It is such respect for learning that the curriculums of all schools, whether religious or mainstream, must reflect.