Education and religion

By Amina Rasul, Surveil at Business World, posted on July 21, 2011

BEIJING -- It is wet here in Beijing and I am glad that I am spending three days indoors, with 20 experts on religion, education, and social development.

We are participating in a small conference focusing on Islam and security, hosted by the Institute for Global Engagement (IGE) of Washington DC and the Chinese government’s think tank, the Institute of Ethnic Minority Groups.

While listening to Chris Seiple of the IGE focus our attention on the role that religion can play in helping communities grow stronger in a rapidly modernizing and globalizing world or its role to create societal instability, I could not help but think of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III’s forthcoming State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday. What will PNoy announce on the peace processes that affect Mindanao? What will he announce as part of the agenda to reform the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, now that he has approved the law postponing the ARMM elections?

Certainly, many groups espousing a variety of issues are expecting the President to mention their advocacies. And typical of post-SONA discourses, some sectors will probably criticize the President’s speech for lack of details and specific plans.

For Muslims in the Philippines, there is an expectation that the SONA will go beyond the obligatory call for peace and development in Mindanao. To my mind, investment in education is clearly required to lay a strong foundation for peace and development in Mindanao, especially Muslim Mindanao. For instance, why isn’t government investing more in literacy for adults? If a mother is illiterate, can you expect her to raise educated children? The Magbassa Kita Foundation Inc. (MKFI) supported by the USAID is implementing the Literacy for Peace and Development (LIPAD) to help our communities find their wings to fly out of an oppressive situation. No-brainers.

Islamic Education and Peace

However, let me devote this column to an aspect of education not as well discussed or supported by government’s policymakers: the role of the madrasah or Islamic schools. First, Muslims thank the Aquino administration and the Department of Education for releasing over P250 million last week to pay for the salaries and strengthening of the madrasah and the Arabic Language and Islamic Values Education (ALIVE) program of the public schools in Muslim communities.

It is estimated that there are between 600 and 1,000 madaris (plural of madrasah) in Mindanao with a total student population of between 60,000 and 100,000. Aside from the madaris, the DepEd has 459 public schools nationwide now offering ALIVE to Muslim students as part of their civic education.

A lot has been written about the conflict in Mindanao and how to bring about peace and development to the millions of Muslims, Christians, and Lumads who continue to suffer from poverty and powerlessness. For conflict-affected communities, the centerpiece of any administration’s strategy has been, and continues to be, the formal peace process. It is an attempt to bring about a politically negotiated settlement to the conflict in Mindanao.

We, at the Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy (PCID), continue to support the peace talks. We are, in fact, one of the local civil society organizations that are involved with the International Contact Group. But based on our experience, we know that there are complementary initiatives that can potentially bring about peace in Mindanao without waiting for the signing of a peace agreement. For instance, the strengthening of madrasah education is one of the ways to ensure that a culture of peace can be established that can support the gains of the peace process.

Education in the traditional madrasah focuses on Islamic values, Islamic religion, and the Arabic language. The madrasah system is a highly valued tradition that is instrumental in the preservation of Islamic religion and culture. The madrasah tradition is considered vital for the Muslim community. It is both an educational and socio-political institution that has, since its founding, kept the Muslim community united in their faith.

Its significance is highlighted by the fact that the 1996 Final Peace Agreement between the government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) guaranteed state support for Islamic education.

There are several types of madaris. Traditional or Weekend Madrasah refers to classes that are held on weekends (Saturdays and Sundays) only or on days agreed upon by the teachers and students. There is no formal curriculum, hence it is non-graded and may have multi-age groupings. The students in this type of madrasah are also likely the students enrolled in public schools.

The formal madrasah offers hierarchically structured education and sequential learning generally attuned with the formal education system and offers kindergarten, primary, and secondary education. As former Education Undersecretary Monaros Boransing noted, most traditional and formal madaris are not recognized by the Department of Education (DepEd) if their curriculum is not compliant with the government’s national educational system. As such they are outside the formal system of national education, and not subject to government supervision and control.

Thankfully, government (national and ARMM) and the madaris administrators have been collaborating on the development of the Integrated Madrasah, which offers the public school curriculum as add-on to Islamic religious subjects and Arabic.

Despite the initial steps taken to encourage development of the madrasah system in the country, many challenges remain. The madaris continue to grapple with poor curriculum and quality of instruction, inadequate facilities and inadequate funding. Financial support for the madaris has been largely non-existent and there is also minimal coordination and networking among the different groups involved in madrasah projects. Better linking between and among the different groups would avoid duplication of projects and allow organizations to build on the success of others. This has the potential of maximizing the impact of the various programs and focusing efforts, not to mention resources, on areas that require greater support.

Apart from upgrading its capabilities so that it can become part of the national education system, the madrasah can also become the heart of the community and be the center for community outreach. PCID has been working since 2004 with Muslim religious leaders to this end. We are working on capacity building for the aleemat of the Noorus Salam (Light of Peace) who teach in the madrasah to provide services to the community: health, literacy, livelihood training, peace education, civic education and interfaith dialogue.

We have worked with our aleemat to utilize the Islamic peace education module we had developed, which draws on the Qur’an and the hadith to teach about peace and rights, and responsibilities. (If a religious school does not teach about peace and responsibilities and rights, who can?)

The initiative of the PCID to engage the Muslim religious leaders allows us to build their capacity and the madrasah to help our Muslim communities find the will and the ability to deal with the many problems that confront us, to include poverty, marginalization, armed conflict, and the lure of lawlessness.

And so as President Aquino III enters the second year of his presidency, we hope that his administration can support the development and institutionalization of Madrasah education. (Under the previous administration, there was a DepEd Road Map for Upgrading Muslim Basic Education: A Comprehensive Program for the Educational Development of Filipino Muslims.)

We believe that this is an important part of any efforts to bring peace in Mindanao. It is a program that respects the cultural and religious identity of the Muslims and provides a platform for the development of a culture of peace in the region.

Source: http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Opinion&title=Education-and-religion&id=35150

DepEd to strengthen Madrasah education

By INA HERNANDO-MALIPOT
July 16, 2011

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) is strengthening Madrasah education to put Muslim students on equal footing with students from regular schools in finding employment after graduation.

According to Education Secretary Armin Luistro, strengthening the education of Muslim students will give them “an equal chance of being employed as their counterparts in sectarian and non-sectarian schools because they have been properly prepared.”

Luistro said Madrasah education is one of President Benigno S. Aquino III’s priorities in his 10-point education agenda. “For 2011, he approved the allocation of P300 million—from P200 million in 2010—to fund various initiatives to ensure that the education the Muslims get is culturally-sensitive, Islam-friendly and able to respond to their learning needs,” he said.

When Luistro assumed office last year, one of the first things he did was create the Office of Madrasah Education under the Undersecretary for Programs and Projects, Dr. Yolanda Quijano. It replaced the Office of Muslim Affairs which used to be headed by an undersecretary. “Since DepEd is allowed only four undersecretaries, the former undersecretary was retained as consultant,” Luistro said.

He acknowledged the need to have an undersecretary and a separate office when Madrasah education was on its development stage. “But now that it is on its seventh year and the foundations have been laid, its operations have been integrated under the undersecretary for programs and project,” he said.

Early this year, the DepEd chief also signed a memorandum of agreement with Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Ansarrudin Alonto-Adiong for the implementation of Arabic Language and Islamic Values Education (ALIVE) curricula in the region.

“Because of concerns in the past, no education secretary in previous administrations was able to implement ALIVE in the ARMM where it is critically needed,” Luistro said. And, to get things started, he ordered the release of R75 million for preparatory activities such as the orientation and training of Muslim teachers or “asatidz.”

“This is the first time it is going to be implemented in ARMM even as ALIVE is already taught in public schools and private Muslim schools (madaris) nationwide,” Luistro said.

ALIVE’s curriculum for the elementary level, which was first implemented in school year 2005-2006, was reviewed and refined last year with SEAMEO-INNOTECH as service provider.

The outcome was the Refined Elementary Curriculum (REMC) which was jointly revisited by curriculum experts from DepEd’s Bureau of Elementary Education and Ulama (Muslim educators).

Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/327086/deped-strengthen-madrasah-education

Indonesia: Police arrest head of Islamic school

From:AAP, July 16, 2011 12:01AM

POLICE say they have arrested the headmaster of an Islamic boarding school where a man died earlier this week, reportedly while trying to teach students how to make homemade bombs.

National Police spokesman Brig Gen Ketut Untung Yoga said yesterday that authorities believe the school - set up nearly a decade ago in Sumba island town of Bima - was actually a militant training camp.

He says explosives, dozens of machetes, air riffles, molotov cocktails and jihadi books and videos were found in the building.

Yoga said Abrori Ali, the headmaster, fled the scene after the explosion but was arrested on Friday in his parents' house about 30km away.

Seven other people are in police custody for questioning.

June or September? The issue on school opening sked is on

From Manila Bulletin online, August 2, 2011, 4:35am

The Philippines use the solar Gregorian calendar. So this issue of class opening in June and September. Muslims in the Philippines follow this for daily non-religious matters and that of the lunar Hijrah calendar for religious functions.

The question about school opening is deeper than just moving from one month to another. The same is true with class opening for Madaris.
_______________________________________________

MANILA, Philippines — Responding to the call of some sectors to move the June school opening to September, the Department of Education reiterates that it is open to any proposal that will help improve the learning conditions of students and that it continues to look thoroughly into the advantages and disadvantages should school opening be moved to September.

“The very aim of the department is to provide quality education to all our students. As much as possible, we do not want any disruption that will affect our students’ learning. Thus, we are open to any proposal that will help us achieve our goal. But whether or not to move the opening of classes to September, one of the major considerations should be the comfort of our schoolchildren while they are in school,” said Education Secretary Armin Luistro.

Luistro shared that the proposal to move the opening of classes to September has been studied in 2009.

In a survey conducted by the department between August to September 2009, 13 of 16 regions are not in favor of moving classes to September. Only Region III (Central Luzon) with 54 percent, Region VI (Western Visayas) with 68 percent, and Region IX (Western Mindanao) with 51 percent were in favor.

Of the respondents, 66 percent were against the move while 34% were in favor.

The study revealed that those who opposed said that the high temperature during summer months (April to May) will not be conducive to students’ learning during these months, classrooms will need additional ventilation which in turn will increase the schools’ electricity bills.

Not saying no

“We are not saying no to the proposal but we recommend that the current weather conditions and the effects of climate change as well as the frequency of typhoons hitting specific parts of the country be considered when we talk of moving the school opening to September,” Luistro expressed.

DepEd cited that during typhoons, floods, and other calamities, only some parts of the country are affected and only involve a number of schools and a small part of the entire student population nationwide.

On the contrary, during summer season, the entire country experiences the discomfort hot temperature brings. And this is what the students in the public schools will have to endure for more than two months.

Other reasons cited for not favoring the proposal include the usual practice where summer months are spent for family bonding and other activities such as traditional celebrations like Holy Week, town fiestas, and Flores de Mayo. These celebrations held during summer would affect the attendance of children in school.

Also, students usually work during summer for extra income for their school expenses.

Of 197 school divisions, 145 or 74 percent participated in the survey. The respondents came from schools in divisions nationwide and included teachers, parents, local government officials and other stakeholders.

Luistro said that DepEd has been exploring various means to still allow affected students catch up with their lessons.“Right now, we have alternative delivery modes that allow us to continue holding classes even if classrooms are used as evacuation centers. Our school heads and field officials also employ several strategies such as holding of make-up classes to ensure continuity of learning.”

Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/329216/june-or-september

DepEd RO 2 hires Madrasah teachers

By Oliver T. Baccay and Floyd Hontiveros

TUGUEGARAO CITY, August 4 (PIA) -- To respond to the education needs of the Muslim students in the region, the Department of Education (DepEd) region 2 has hired and trained two (2) Madrasah assigned in schools near the Muslim communities in the cities of Tuguegarao and Cauayan.

Romel Costales, education program supervisor, said the hundreds of Muslim students are enrolled in different schools in the region that is why they need to hire teachers who are also Muslim to fit the education needed by the students.

Costales explained that they are supposed to hire a Madrasah (teachers in the Islamic schools) in each school that has Muslim students; however, only 2 have passed the qualifying examination conducted by DepEd as of this moment.

The two have also undergone trainings on language enhancing program and education ethics which is one of the requirements to qualify for the said position.

Costales said the Madrasah are mandated to teach arabic language and values education for Muslim students. Because the education department is now implementing religious and culture sensitive teaching, Muslims can now attend the arabic language and values education subjects taught by the Madrasah instead of English and the Good Moral and Right Conduct (GMRC) subjects.

He also cleared that, though the Madrasah are still supervised by the DepEd, the sources of their compensation are Local Government Unit (LGUs) to where they are assigned and the office of the Muslim Affairs.

As of now, DepEd is encouraging Muslims who are graduates of education courses to take the qualifying examination to be able to be employed as Madrasah teacher in other schools in the region that have hundreds of Muslim pupils. (TCB/OTB/FO/PIA-2)

Source: http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=1&t=1&id=47112

Tajikistan: Madrasah closed in northern region

August 08, 2011, KHUJAND, Tajikistan -- Tajik authorities have suspended teaching at four higher education Islamic schools in the northern part of the country, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports.

On August 8, an official from the Directorate of Religious Affairs in Sughd Province told RFE/RL on condition of anonymity that the management at the madrasahs failed to reregister their schools as required by a new law on religion.

He added that the teachers at the madrasahs in the Asht, Jabbor Rasulov, Maschoh, and Maschohi Kuhi districts do not provide the requisite religious education and the madrasah buildings also do not conform to state standards.

Students at the four schools were admitted after studying for nine or 11 years at state schools. After a three-year course of study they obtain a bachelor's degree in Islamic theology.

Sadullo Mirahmadov, the chairman of the Asht madrasah, said on August 8 that he was ordered to close the school because the building is too old.

He said he hopes to find new premises soon so his 75 students can continue their studies.

Some experts, however, said closing madrasahs is a further step in the government's policy to curtail religious activities.

They recall that last year authorities brought home hundreds of Tajik students studying at Islamic universities and madrasahs in various countries.

In addition, the law on parental responsibilities signed last week by President Emomali Rahmon bans most people under the age of 18 from praying in mosques.

Muhammadrahim Abdumannonov, a Khujand-based expert on Tajik social issues, said he does not think that policy will yield positive results because Islam teaches young people ethical and moral norms.

He said if young people do not receive such a basic education in morality, they may end up joining extremist or terrorist groups.

Authorities in Sughd Province closed down three illegal madrasahs earlier this year and launched an administrative investigation into personnel at the schools.

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/madrasahs_closed_in_northern_tajikistan/24290795.html

India: Crisis of duality at higher education gives Muslims a schizoid mind

By TCN New

New Delhi: A thought-provoking presentation on “Towards Muslim Educational Excellence: Epistemological and Quality Dimensions” was made here by Prof. Omar Hasan Kasule, professor of epidemolgy and bioethics, faculty of medicine, King Fahad Medical City; university of Malaya; University of Brunei; chairman of the Institutional Review Board KFMC, and head of Knowledge Exchange and International Collaboration, faculty of medicine, KFMC.

Dr. Kasule said that for Muslims all over the world there was a “crisis of duality” at the heart of higher education that gives Muslim a schizoid mind as this education frequently contradicts what they have learnt at the mosques and madarsas.

This duality has to be reconciled before the issue of quality is taken up. He wanted a single epistemological framework covering all knowledge – “secular and religious” – to overcome the problem. He called for “an integrated curriculum that fits in with the tawhidic paradigm”.

By tawhidic he meant a unified perspective that took in both secular and religious knowledge. He said good minds in different natural and social sciences that are well-versed in Islamic tradition should work on the idea.

The second aspect, he said, would be improving the quality of our knowledge. The search for knowledge should also be a search for excellence, which he translated as ihsan, a highly regarded value in Islam.

Ihsan, he elaborated, is the highest point of perfection of iman (faith). Excellence must be the hallmark of everything that a Muslim does, including the pursuit of knowledge.

Premier universities already have quality assurance departments, but new institutions also need to have them. His paper contained the details of a quality assurance system prepared on the basis of his 15-year experience in a South-East Asian university.

He said the issues of epistemology and unification of perspective on knowledge must be addressed for the ummah to revive. “Revival of Islam is already visible but it will take generations to carry it to the highest point of perfection”. A single lifetime would not be enough, and the reconstruction of the ummah requires immense patience and fortitude, he concluded.

The program titled "Crisis of Quality of Knowledge Systems" was organized on 6th August by Institute of Objective Studies.

Source: http://twocircles.net/2011aug09/%E2%80%9Ccrisis_duality_higher_education_gives_muslims_schizoid_mind.html

India: Joining the Missing Links - Towards Shaping a Better Indian Muslim Community

By Shahidur Rashid Talukdar

Over 700 years of Muslim rule in India developed a sense of superiority among the Indian Muslims as the ruler class, only to be washed away later by the British imperialism. The independence of India came along with a whole episode of bloody memory of communal disharmony and the ultimate partition. This added salt to the sores of Indian Muslims. The loss of family members, relatives, friends and neighbors added to the loss of sultanate. And worst of all, the partition left a void in the intellectual circle of Indian Muslims. As most of the academicians, scientists and intellectuals left the country for the newly formed Pakistan, the Muslims became an orphaned community in India with only a few to provide direction, a representation and advocate for them.

The remaining Muslims, thus, developed around them a fortress of protection by psychologically, socially, educationally, and to some extent, linguistically alienating themselves from the rest of India. The weak and isolated community faced many problems, and one problem induced another. For instance, illiteracy and mediocrity affected job prospects. That turn of events induced poverty, resulting in another cycle of lack of proper education, and, hence, more poverty. Lack of proper and deliberate initiatives to alter the situation facilitated the process of deterioration and helped create an everlasting pessimism in the community. This, again, contributed to the alienation.

Consequently, the community started to regress constantly towards mediocrity, only to realize it later" much later. This realization of laggardness has come at a time when the Indian Muslim community is already far behind nearly all other communities, and, across the boundaries of classes, in nearly all spheres of progress. Immersed in frustration and hopelessness, the community soothes itself by resorting to the memories of the past.

But for a reality check: Does the past glory conform to the present situation? Can the Muslim community see itself anywhere close to the mainstream India? The Sachar Committee Report clearly shows that the vast majority of the community stands nowhere close to the other communities -- not even the backward and scheduled castes! It doesn't even need a Sachar Committee Report to know this. Just a glance at a typical Muslim neighborhood, at any government or private office, or even a typical community college or university will tell the story. Muslims everywhere in the public domain have a scarce presence, except the courts, where they often go seeking justice.

What are the reasons for our under-representation nearly everywhere from a community college to the parliament? The reasons are partly because of the Muslim community's incapability to participate in and isolation from the pursuit of worldly progress, and partly because of the inadequacy and indifference of the government initiatives which failed to drag the community to the mainstream.

This vicious circle of alienation and poverty has embittered the situation to its worst, and has pulled the community to the nadir from where an immediate recovery seems not only a mere dream, but also an illusion. However, the question is this: How long can the Muslim community afford to live by the glory of the long past? How long can the community keep crying over what has been lost? How long can the community keep itself aloof from the developments around? How long can the Muslims of India suffer from poverty and indignity and continue to deteriorate? The answer is: Too long has been the nap of complacency. We need to cut it short. Everyone has been running fast. We need to rush to catch up to others.

Muslims must accept the fact that we, the Indian Muslims, are responsible for a large part of our plight and need to make active efforts to ameliorate the situation. Else, there can be no way out. We have to take the initiative to break the vicious circle and come out of the constant state of decline and deprivation. Once we take the onus of responsibility on our shoulders to improve our lot, we have to figure out how we can bridge the huge gap between the Muslim community and others.

First of all, in my opinion, the community needs to cross the psychological barrier of aloofness and reaffirm the fact that we belong to India, not because of any accident or as a result of some historical process, but because of a conscious choice. We need to remind ourselves that we belong to this land, that we were born here and we want to live here and enjoy and share its bounties with all others who have the same feelings, and enrich this land with our efforts by making valuable contributions towards its progress. At the same time, we need to build the confidence that we can make a difference in our lives as well as in the lives of others by way of our contributions.

I stress this point because I feel that there are circumstances in which this confidence seems to wane before disruptive, communal and discriminating forces. But it is very important that we don't lose faith in ourselves and in the capacity of the democratic processes that together we can achieve a better state of not merely existing, but of flourishing. In this sojourn, we might have to face difficulties, we might have to fight with disruptive forces, but we can't afford to lose heart.

Since our very survival and progress is in question, we are at the stake. Expecting too much from outside, at this juncture, does not seem a good enough idea. A community paralyzed between the past glory and present indifference can very well go down towards the abyss. More than a century ago, the great visionary and educationalist Sir Syed Ahmad Khan noted: "Muslims are plunging in, and no one is there to take them out." But to our dismay, the situation does not seem very different even now. We can't wait and repeat the same mistake for centuries. We have to take the responsibility to pull ourselves out. We have to take the initiative to change our plight, improve our lot and carry our mission ahead.

Overcoming the psychological barrier is just one step. The next, and most important, step is to convert ourselves into indispensable assets. Education has to play a pivotal role in this transformation process. Only education can liberate us from the vicious circle of poverty and isolation. We must acquire quality education -- not only to expand the horizon of our knowledge, but also to equip ourselves with the skills required for newer innovations, the changing industry and an ever-evolving market.

We need a momentous drive to spread education among ourselves as well as to each corner of society. We must identify why the Muslim community is behind all others in education. We need to figure out why the literacy rate and the level of higher education among us is below the national average. We have to find out the reason for Muslim children's falling participation in higher education. In order to reduce the gap between our performance and that of the majority of Indians, we need to make the best use of all available infrastructure and resources. We need to demand adequate infrastructure from the government as well as take our own initiative to set up our educational infrastructure. We can't be totally dependent upon the public initiatives; we must make our own efforts to garner funds, gather academicians and develop infrastructure to disseminate education among the poor Muslim masses.

The process, not an easy one indeed, might be very cumbersome. A community which has been dormant for centuries cannot be awakened overnight. It will take its time, but the need of the hour is that simply this: the initiative needs to be taken. We often grudge about a lack of higher education among Muslims, inadequate representation of Muslims in government services and in industry. But in order to reach those arenas, we need to have quality students coming out from schools. We need to ensure access to quality education to the poor Muslim children.

For this, we can adopt at least three measures. First, providing scholarships to the deserving students, based on both merit and financial need. This is likely to have a strong, sustainable long-term impact. Another such initiative would be to set up primary and secondary schools of high standard in underserved Muslim-concentrated areas, particularly addressing children from poor families. Finally, we need to set up special coaching and guidance centers in other areas where a school is not needed.

Such a center can address the deficiency need by providing focused coaching, career-oriented guidance and the motivation to excel. In such cases, the initial level of success might appear low. Regardless, there needs to be a determined and persistent effort.

Success or failure of an endeavor depends on the kind of efforts made. In order for us to succeed, the schools must, first of all, maintain a high academic standard like those of ICSE or CBSE schools. The coaching centers need to maintain the highest professional approach, emulating those of the best in the country. It is quite obvious that initially, in an underserved community, the parents might not be very much enthusiastic about their children's education. For them, helping in the family affairs or contributing to the narrow supply of income might appear more important. We have to create an environment wherein parents, even though they might be illiterate, develop a positive attitude towards education and ultimately own the responsibility to educate their children.

Doing this might be difficult, but it is not impossible. We need to identify interest groups, motivated individuals, clubs, associations or groups of progressive-minded elders from the community itself who can mobilize the community to carry out the work at the local level. Muslim NGOs or any other organization with a track record of transparency and efficiency and an interest in helping the community, can be instrumental in such an effort.

Lack of credible NGOs may be an issue, however, to start with on a pilot basis; identifying a few NGOs won't be a problem. Once a few organizations take the initiative and come up with a viable proposal, the government or non-government funding agencies can evaluate the same and grant a project. For monitoring the implementing agency, the NGO itself will primarily be responsible. In addition, the local interest group will provide necessary inputs, in terms of community relations, cooperation and community mobilization. In the absence of such interested parties, at the grassroots level, we will need to have implementing and monitoring agencies.

Another important aspect of this movement will be to ensure funding. In this age, nothing happens without money. Although sincerity of intention and seriousness of will is absolutely essential to carry on the mission, money is quite instrumental. Money can provide solutions to many of our problems. We need to pay for our infrastructure, for the teachers, and above all, for scholarships given to needy students. So we need a constant stream of money. Raising funds for specific occasions is fine, but in order to plan and implement projects on a large scale, and to ensure their sustainability, we need to have accumulated funds at hand. For this, we need to mobilize the institutional resources like government funding, the Waqf boards, other non-government funding agencies, and individual contributors. Of equal importance is the need to make sure that the money is in safe hands and reaches its destination (i.e. the end user) on time. For this, we need a viable institutional mechanism -- a funding agency.

Along with our integration to the mainstream and ensuring our educational progress, we must also ensure that we are contributing to the economy also -- not merely as consumers and labor force, but also as entrepreneurs. Compared to the booming Indian industry, the contribution of the Muslim industry is nearly insignificant, except for a few. The true development of any community comes from its industry, which is an outcome of strong entrepreneurship. We can't always look towards others to provide opportunities for us. We have to create our own opportunities. Only then can we choose what we like rather than meekly accepting what others leave for us. High educational achievements will make us worthy as individuals, and a strong industrial and entrepreneurial presence will make us worthy as a community.

And last but not the least, contributing to the Indian social fabric is an essential task before Indian Muslims. We need to engage ourselves in meaningful social interactions outside the Muslim community, leaving the ghettos that we have created around us. We need to involve ourselves in the cultural and developmental affairs, not just of our own, but of all, in general. We need to contribute to the social progress and focus on promoting harmony, not divisions. We need to diversify our interests and aspirations. We need to speak for justice, for empowerment, for environmental protection, for cultural, and for ethnic diversity. We need to learn to appreciate the composite culture rather than exclusively advocating for ours. This will help us form better links with others around us.

We need to make a positive contribution to the secular character -- not only for the interest of the Muslims, but for all. We need to speak out for other communities when there is a need for advocacy. We need to work for the underprivileged of any community. We need to develop a better understanding of the role of women in society. We need to promote their education and welfare. We need to learn to respect women. We need to ensure that Muslim women are not subjugated. We need to demonstrate, by our actions, that Muslim women have a better social status, as opposed to quoting religious scriptures to prove it.

If we can succeed in doing all or at least some of the aforesaid, we will establish ourselves as better Muslims, better Indians, and better human beings.

Source: http://www.opednews.com/articles/Joining-the-Missing-Links-by-Shahidur-Rashid-Ta-110804-792.html

Indonesia: Bomb at Islamic school kills one

From:AFP, July 12, 2011 

One killed: Students attend class at an Indonesian Islamic school. Pupils at a boarding school linked to jailed cleric Abu Bakar Bashir blocked police from investigating a deadly explosion. 

A MAN was killed when a bomb exploded in an Indonesian Islamic school which police say has links to Abu Bakar Bashir.

The homemade bomb exploded in an Islamic boarding school in eastern Indonesia.

"An improvised bomb exploded in one of the school rooms on Monday at 1530," local police spokesman Sudjoko province told reporters, adding that the school's treasurer Firdaus was killed in the blast.

After the blast in West Nusa Tenggara province, hundreds of students armed with sharp weapons blocked the school entrance, stopping police and soldiers entering to investigate the blast.

"They don't want our presence there," Sudjoko said.

National police spokesman Anton Bachrul Alam said that 10 people were arrested outside the school premises on Monday.

Local media reported earlier that one of the school's leaders was arrested last year for funding a militant training camp in Aceh province of Sumatra island, backed by the firebrand cleric Bashir.

One of the students late last month slashed the neck of a police officer at the security post with a knife, killing him, according to one report.

Indonesia has been rocked by a series of attacks by the regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah in recent years, including the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people including 88 Australians.

Source: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/bomb-at-islamic-school-kills-one/story-fn6e1m7z-1226093417950