A prominent Islamic seminary, Darul Uloom Deoband, stated on Sunday that while it has no issues with the Uttar Pradesh government’s survey of private madrassas, the system as a whole shouldn’t be criticised if a few of these institutions don’t follow the rules.
The seminary’s principal, Maulana Arshad Madani, stated that the madrassas are governed by the Constitution of the country, during a session of representatives from several madrassas held in Deoband to discuss the survey issue.
A 12-member steering committee was established during the meeting, and among its duties is assisting the madrassa managements with the survey and bringing any complaints they may have to the attention of the government.
Madani, who is also the vice president of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and the president of the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, had previously criticised the government study of Islamic religious schools.
After the session, Madani spoke with reporters and stated that he had urged all madrassa managements to participate in the survey because they had nothing to hide.
In addition to maintaining cleanliness on their property, he requested that the management give the officials precise information and keep documents like land papers and audit reports on hand.
According to him, if a madrassa was built unlawfully on public property and the court ruled it to be so, Muslims should take it upon themselves to tear it down since Shariyat forbids such behaviour. He also asked the authorities to keep the madrassa system as a whole in mind even if one or two institutions didn’t follow the guidelines.
Madni added that it is impossible to forget the sacrifices made by the madrassas throughout the liberation movement. The conference was heavily secured, and the media was barred from attending.
The survey of all unrecognised private madrassas operating in the state was ordered by the Uttar Pradesh government on August 31. Teams were organised accordingly. The teams are required by the directive to finish the survey by October 15 and present the report to the government ten days later.
Approximately 16,000 private madrassas, including the renowned Nadwatul Ulama and Darul Uloom Deoband, are currently in operation in the state. Following the government’s decision, a number of madrassa administrators voiced concerns about the survey.
Source: NDTV
