Peaceful vs Militant Islamic Schools - Which is Winning?

For young Muslim boys, often, the only way they may get to learn how to read and write is to attend a local religious school - a madrassa - where they learn how to read and write using the Koran as their basic book.

Over the past 10-15 years many of these schools in Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt and other countries also became sources of militant fundametalist teachings that seemed to overpower the peaceful or submit to God messages of Islam.

If the militancy is now changing, some may be due to efforts such as those noted in the article and much may be due to pressure from those who pay for the schools and its teachers - Saudi Arabia. To make sure that their view of Islam was supported worldwide and to maintain their role as "protectors of the faith," they ramped up spending on these school some 10-15 years ago. The unintended consequences of terrorism that now threatens the Kingdom as well, has, I am sure led them to use their purses trings to reign in the militantcy te

clipped from changinguppakistan.wordpress.com Reforming Madrassas from the Inside Out September 9, 2009 by Kalsoom Nevertheless, efforts to curb militancy and extremism are gaining traction in Pakistan. Below is Amanpour’s interview with Azhar Hussain, who has been working tirelessly with Pakistani madrassa [religious school] leaders to reform the system from the inside out. Often in our effort to address education reform in Pakistan we ignore the thousands of madrassas, acknowledging them only as the problem. Azhar’s work is unique because he engages these schools as a potential part of the solution. The results are insightful, to say the least: