39-year old Maulana Tariq Rasheed Firanghi Mahali is a
ninth generation direct descendant of Mulla Nizamuddin
Firanghi Mahali, who framed what is known after him as
the dars-e nizami, the basic syllabus that continues
to be followed by the vast majority of Islamic
madrasas in South Asia even today. He is one of the
few remaining members of the renowned Firanghi Mahali
family of Lucknow who carry on with their family's
centuries'-old tradition of Islamic scholarship. A
graduate of the Nadwat ul-Ulema madrasa in Lucknow, he
is presently Director of the Islamic Society of
Greater Orlando, Florida, in the United States. In
this interview with Yoginder Sikand, he talks about
his family's scholarly tradition and its decline and
reflects on the dars-e nizami and madrasa education in
South Asia today.
Q: Could you briefly describe your family's tradition
of Islamic scholarship?
A: We trace our descent from a companion of the
Prophet Muhammad, Hazrat Abu Ayub Ansari , in whose
house in Medina the Prophet stayed following his
migration from Mecca. Our family has, over the
centuries, produced leading Islamic scholars. In the
early eighteenth century, the Mughal Emperor granted
Mulla Qutubuddin, one of our ancestors, a mansion in
Lucknow, the Firanghi Mahal, which was earlier used by
a European or firanghi merchant, and hence its name.
Mulla Nizamuddin, son of Mulla Qutubuddin, prepared an
outline for studies, which came to be known after him
as the dars-e nizami or the 'Syllabus of Nizamuddin'.
This was, for its time, a very relevant syllabus, and
soon became so popular all across India that almost
all the madrasas that were later established adopted
its pattern. And even today most madrasas in South
Asia claim to follow the dars-e nizami and so are
called Nizami madrasas.
Q: What was so special about the dars-e nizami?
A: For its times, the dars-e nizami provided a
well-rounded education. It included subjects such as
Mathematics, Astronomy, Medicine, Philosophy, Logic,
Geography, Literature, Chemistry and so on, as well as
the Quran, the Prophetic Traditions or Hadith, Islamic
Jurisprudence or Fiqh and Sufism. Those who passed
through this course of study went on to assume a
variety of careers, not just as imams and qazis, but
also as bureaucrats in the courts of various princely
states. And this is why even Shia and Hindu students
studied with the ulema of the Firanghi Mahal family.
It was not like today, when, in a climate of
increasing sectarianism and narrow-mindedness,
madrasas are associated with one sect or the other,
and often play a key role in fanning inter-sectarian
conflicts. They are now unwilling to tolerate each
other. What a contrast this is to the ecumenism that
characteristic of the early ulema of Firanghi Mahal!
The dars-e nizami, as Mulla Nizamuddin developed it,
was not intended to be a hide-bound, fixed and
unchanging syllabus, as it is sometimes made out to be
today by some maulvis. This is evident from the fact
that although Mulla Nizamuddin authored several books,
he did not include even one of these in the syllabus
that he framed. The syllabus was flexible enough to
allow for the inclusion of new or better books. In
place of bookish learning, which is characteristic of
many madrasas today, Mulla Nizamuddin did not teach
entire books to his students. Rather, he taught them
only some chapters of each book, and encouraged them
to study the rest of these books on their own, so that
they could thereby enhance their critical capacities.
This was unlike in most madrasas today, where
questioning is strongly discouraged.
Q: How did the tradition of learning based in
Firanghi Mahal develop after Mulla Nizamuddin?
A: Mulla Nizamuddin did not establish a madrasa in
Firanghi Mahal. Rather, students would come to him
from different parts of India to learn from him in his
house in the Firanghi Mahal. There was no regular,
fixed course of study or examinations, as in the case
of madrasas today. Students would stay in mosques in
the neighbourhood or else rent a place close-by and
regularly meet with and study various books from Mulla
Nizamuddin or other members of his family. He was also
a spiritual instructor for many of them, because he
was a Sufi, and a disciple of the noted Qadri saint
Shah Abdur Razak Bansavi.
This system of informal learning at Firanghi Mahal was
then carried on by several generations of our family.
Basically, students came from Muslim elite or ashraf
families. The system was a product of the feudal
period, and our family, like many other scholarly
families of that time, was patronised by the Muslim
feudal elite. It was only in 1906 that Maulana Andul
Bari Firanghi Mahali, who was a noted Islamic scholar
of his times and one of the founders of the Jamiat
ul-Ulema-e Hind, established a madrasa, the Madrasa-e
Nizamia, inside the Firanghi Mahal. The madrasa
continued to function till the Partition, in 1947,
when Maulana Abdul Bari's son and successor, Maulana
Jamal Miyan, migrated to Pakistan.
Q: The once-grand Firanghi Mahal structure is today in
a state of almost complete ruin, despite the fact that
several members of the family are well-off. Why this
neglect?
A: Partition hit our family very badly. Around half of
the Firanghi Mahali family migrated to Pakistan. From
there, many of them settled in Europe and America.
Most of them, like the rest of the family who remained
in India, gave up the tradition of Islamic scholarship
and took to Western learning. The family was bereft of
feudal patrons in the new set-up, and that was also a
major cause for the decline of our scholarly
tradition. And then those who are the legal heirs of
the structure where the Madrasa-e Nizamia once stood
are not interested in refurbishing it, although I
tried to do so some years ago. Consequently, the
structure is now in ruins, in a state of complete
neglect.
The various branches of the Firanghi Mahal family had,
over the centuries, accumulated several thousand books
and manuscripts. Many of them were taken to Pakistan
by those of our family who shifted there. We were
unable to preserve the rest, so we donated them to the
Aligarh Muslim University's library, where they are
safely kept.
Presently, only a few members of our family are
carrying on with our centuries'-old family tradition
of Islamic scholarship. These are Maulana Hasan Miyan,
my cousin, who studied at the Nadwat ul-Ulema,
Lucknow, and is now teaching there, my younger brother
Khalid Rashid, who has established a new Madrasa-e
Nizamia and an Islamic Centre at the Eidgah in
Lucknow, and myself.
Q: Some traditionalist ulema argue that the dars-e
nizami does not need any change. They claim that it
produced good scholars in the past and so can do so
today, too. As a descendant of Mulla Nizamuddin and
one who knows the tradition well, how do you react to
this argument?
A: I strongly disagree with this argument. It reflects
a very strange mentality. So rigid are those who argue
this way that they easily brand anyone who calls for
change as an 'apostate' or an 'agent' of this or other
'un-Islamic' power. Mulla Nizamuddin did not
certainly intend that the syllabus he formulated
should remain unchanged forever. The point is that
the ulema must be kept abreast with contemporary
developments, which is not possible if one argues that
the dars-e nizami should remain unchanged. How can you
be considered to be a real scholar, an alim, if you
study books written eight hundred or five hundred
years ago, which is the case with the dars-e nizami,
and totally leave out modern books? Of course, the
Quran and Hadith texts and so on remain the same. They
cannot be changed. But the dars-e nizami is overloaded
with books on antiquated Greek logic and philosophy,
or what are called ulum-e aqaliya or 'rational
sciences', much of which is quite irrelevant now. They
should be replaced by modern 'rational' subjects, such
as English and social sciences, so that would-be ulema
know about the present world. Without this knowledge
how can they provide appropriate leadership to the
community, as 'heirs of the Prophets'? How will they
be able to answer the questions that people in the
streets are asking? How will they be able to properly
deal with new jurisprudential issues (fiqhi masail) if
all they learn are issues that the medieval ulema
discussed in the books that are still taught in the
madrasas that claim to follow the dars-e nizami?
So, this argument that the dars-i nizami should not be
revised, on the lines that I have suggested, is
completely absurd. I think it should be revised every
thirty to forty years in accordance with changing
conditions if it is to retain its relevance.
I think a certain hostility to change is deeply
ingrained in the mentality of many of our
traditionalist ulema. For instance, when I was a
child, loudspeakers had just been introduced in India
and Mufti Atiq ur-Rahman Firanghi Mahali issued a
fatwa declaring their use to be unlawful. Some other
ulema also reacted the same way, but later the ulema
were forced to change their position. Many
traditionalist ulema somehow automatically assume that
anything new is haram or forbidden, but, actually, in
Islam the right attitude is that everything is
permissible if it is not forbidden.
The hostility of some ulema to any significant change
in the dars-e nizami has also to do with a fixation
with a certain understanding of what Muslim culture
is. So, even in North America, many madrasas that have
come up insist on keeping Urdu, rather than English,
as the medium of instruction, although few young North
American Muslims know Urdu, their language now being
English. As if Urdu has some special sanctity attached
to it! The ulema who run these madrasas might fear
that if they were to use English instead, the students
would lose their Islamic identity or be secularised,
but this attitude is wrong because, needless to say,
all languages, including both Urdu and English, are
ultimately from God.
Some ulema might feel that including English in the
madrasa syllabus will cause their students to be
attracted to the delights of the world and to stray
from the path of the faith, but I do not think so.
English is now the global language of communication,
and if the ulema are to address the younger generation
or people of other faiths they must know the language.
And if they include English and the basics of modern
subjects in their curriculum, they may succeed in
attracting students from economically better-off
families, too. At present, however, madrasas are
largely the refuge of the poor, while middle-class
parents prefer to send their children to 'secular'
schools because there they learn subjects hat would
help them get a good job in the future. If the
madrasas were to include such subjects in their
syllabus, at least to a certain basic level, they
would attract these students too. And then, after
they finish a basic course that includes both
religious as well as 'secular' subjects, their
students can choose which line to specialise in.
Q: Some maulvis dismiss even the most well-meaning
suggestions for reform as a reflection of what they
claim is an 'anti-Islamic' conspiracy, alleging that
these are a means to secularise madrasas and rob them
of their Islamic identity. What are your views on
this?
A: Different people might have different motives when
talking about madrasa reforms, but surely the sort of
reforms that some younger generation ulema like us,
who are genuinely concerned about improving the
madrasas, are calling for cannot or should not be
branded as a 'conspiracy'! We are not calling for the
secularisation of the madrasas or suggesting that they
should teach secular subjects to such an extent that
their Islamic identity is threatened. Far from it. But
surely there should be a revision of some aspects of
the dars-e nizami that are no longer relevant and the
inclusion of basic English, Social Sciences and so on,
while making the Quran and the Hadith the centre of
the curriculum, which they were not in the case of the
traditional dars-e nizami, which gave more stress to
the then current 'rational' sciences. Surely, even
many ulema themselves recognise the need for this sort
of change or else they would not be sending their own
children to English-medium schools or even abroad to
study if they can afford it.
Q: The 'mainstream' media often depicts the ulema in a
very negative light. Ulema such as yourself are
rarely, if ever, mentioned by the media. Why is this
so?
A: Yes, unfortunately, there is this tendency on the
part of large sections of the 'mainstream' media to
portray the ulema as if they were some archaic,
monstrous creatures. Part of the reason lies in
deeply-rooted historical prejudices. And then there
are weird people in every community, and the media
often picks on some weird mullah who issues some
sensational and irrational fatwas and presents him as
speaking for all the ulema, which is, of course, not
the case. So, part of the fault also lies with such
mullahs. I feel that one way to solve this problem is
to encourage what is known as collective ijtihad,
through which ulema and experts in various 'secular'
branches of learning work together to provide proper
responses to people's questions. Only then can the
problem of outlandish fatwas, which have given the
whole class of ulema such a bad name, be put an end
to.
I strongly think that reforms in the curriculum and
methods of teaching are essential to help madrasas
relate better to others, including non-Muslims, the
media and the government, and also to counter
misunderstandings that many people have about them.
Only then will people come to realise that madrasas
are constructive, not destructive, institutions. For
that we also need to encourage tolerance for other
points of view, for other understandings of Islam and
for other religions and their adherents.
Q: There is also considerable debate about the need
for introducing vocational training in the madrasas.
Some traditionalists are fiercely opposed to this.
What do you feel?
A: I think vocational training is very important.
Ideally, although this is not always the case, one
should choose to become an alim not for the sake of a
job but as a religious calling. In other words,
ideally, imamat in a mosque or delivering sermons
should not be a paid profession. It should be an
honorary, voluntary thing. This is how it was in the
distant past. For instance, Imam Abu Hanifa, whose
school of law most South Asian Sunni Muslims follow,
was not a professional alimâ€"he earned his livelihood
as a businessman. Today, however, the general feeling
is that large sections of the ulema live off the
donations of others. If one is dependent on others how
will one earn the respect due to him? The ulema can
gain proper respect only when they are seen as
providing benefits, in terms of proper leadership and
guidance, to others, rather than, as now, benefitting
from them. And, for that, financial independence of
the ulema is a must, and hence the need for
introducing vocational training in the madrasas.
Q: As the head of an important Islamic Centre in
America, what do you see as the major challenges
before the ulema in thepost-9/11 world?
A: The most pressing need today is for the ulema to
act as a bridge between Muslims and other communities,
rather than to add to on-going conflicts. We have
tried to do this in our own small way in the United
States. After 9/11, in a climate of increasing
hostility towards Muslims and Islam, we began outreach
programmes with Christians and Jews, speaking on and
answering questions about Islam in colleges,
universities and other public places. We also helped
establish a group to promote dialogue between Muslims
and Jews, which is called "Jews, Arabs and Muslims",
or JAMS for short. We plan to have our first big
gathering this coming February, and expect some 10,000
people, Muslims, Jews and others, to attend it. Our
purpose is to state that the American Muslims are
indeed willing to live peacefully with their Jewish
compatriots, despite the differences they have.
I think 9/11 came as a major wake-up call for us in
America. We are much more active now in inter-faith
dialogue and outreach work than we ever were before.
Earlier, we adopted the same approach that the ulema
in India continue to adoptâ€"we were satisfied living
in own little cocoons and not making the effort to
reach out to people of other faiths, to listen to them
and to speak to them. This is what 9/11 forced us to
wake up to. And, based on my own experiences in the
field of dialogue in the last few years, I must say
that the vast majority of Americans are indeed
tolerant and willing to listen to what we say, if
approached properly.
Q: Some Muslims argue that America is an 'enemy of
Islam'. How do you react to this?
A: I think this is pure hypocrisy. Many of those who
make this claim would be the first to migrate to
America if they were provided with an American
passport or visa! There are numerous fiercely
anti-American Muslims, including even some mullahs,
whose own children live comfortably in America! I may
not agree with some aspects of the foreign policy of
the present American government or the attitude of
sections of the American media, but nor do millions of
non-Muslim Americans. You cannot equate the American
government with the American people. The average
American on the street cannot be said to be
anti-Islam. We have over three thousand mosques in
America and enjoy freedom to practise our faith.
I think all of us, Muslims and others, urgently need
to shed our parochialism, and seek to reach out to
each other if the world is to be saved from
catastrophe in the name of religion. Needless to add,
there are well-meaning people in every community and
in every country, America included, and our task is to
work together with them for the sake of our common
humanity.
==========================================
Maulana Tariq Rasheed can be contacted on
imamtariq@gmail com
The website of the Islamic Society of Greater Orlando,
of which he is the Director, is www.isgo.info
Sukhia Sab Sansar Khaye Aur Soye
Dukhia Das Kabir Jagey Aur Roye
The world is 'happy', eating and sleeping
The forlorn Kabir Das is awake and weeping
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