Madrasas don’t need govt aid or board affiliation, says Deoband seminary’s Arshad Madani

Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind's Maulana Arshad Madani has said that they do not need any government help for their mosques and madrasas, and no government board affiliation of madrassas is acceptable."

At a meeting of Kul Hind Raabta-e-Madaris Islamia, at Darul Uloom Deoband in Deoband on Sunday, Madani cleared the air regarding the allegations that madrasas encourage violence and teach that no one else should get the right to live except Muslims.

"You can visit any madrasa at any given point of time and you will not find anything else besides religious books and learners," he said.

He also added that they are not opposed to modern education, and also want their children to excel academically, to become engineers, scientists, lawyers and doctors, to enthusiastically participate in competitive examinations and achieve success, but simultaneously they want them to understand the religion and its beliefs first.

The need for better religious scholars can only be fulfilled by madrasas, he said.

He elaborated on the role of madrassas, especially Darul Uloom, in the freedom struggle and the objectives of its establishment. "The objective of establishing Darul Uloom was not only education but also the freedom of India. After attaining independence, the Ulema completely separated from politics and kept their activities only for the service of the country."

Taking on criticism of madrasas, he said: "The people who studied from colleges and universities and are absconding after stealing the wealth of crores of citizens and are living lavishly abroad while the citizens are burdened with poverty and inflation, are they not anti-nationals?"

"Will there be an attempt to find out the number of Muslims among the absconding?" he asked.

"The truth is that the law still has not reached them," Madani added.