Rukhsana Saleem:

So I missed the program, but suddenly became aware of hundreds of comments about ‘Madrassahs’ and child abuse on Facebook. I wondered what had happened;  surely it was just another program about stupid people preaching their usual stupid rubbish that they’ve plucked from the air and yet again everyone was in uproar. I thought do I want to watch this?

Not really. I am sick of having to watch these documentaries where so much hate is being spread to young children, and feeling ashamed of those who apparently follow the faith I do, regardless to what extent. Eventually it became necessary to watch it and I prepared myself for the shame and embarrassment yet again. Pupils are fighting and being looked after by older children who ‘beat’ freely and use violence to discipline. It was uncomfortable but I powered on through. And then I heard ‘if a man has a beard smaller than your fist, stay away’. Did I hear that right?

Continuing on I hear more nonsense like the only time a Kafir can get into heaven will be when a camel can pass through the eye of a needle, something about unIslamic hair and other laughable rubbish. The first thing that came to my mind was, have these children’s parents been informed? Do they know what their children are being taught? Surely these children go home and their parents ask ‘so what did you do in school today?’  

I wanted to know if they did.  I wanted to see the parents interviewed and shown to be disagreeing with this nonsense, see them being shocked that their children are being taught lies and hate.  I think this was a huge angle of the documentary that was missed, but does it exist?

I am acutely aware that I have asked lots of questions and that is because that’s what I do.  If I see something shocking I ask questions. I ask because if something is uncomfortable for me then, for me, it makes no sense and I feel I surely must have missed something. Some may feel that is naivety, but I feel it means you get a balanced sense about what you’re being shown. Having independent thought is a wonderful thing. 

So I read the response from Darul Uloom (the school featured in the documentary) thinking ‘right this will make me understand that this was just another way to alienate Muslims’, and it was skilled editing that made it sound like nonsense.

However, I found a few things confusing: the young man who spoke about ‘cow piss’ was unsupervised as he imparted his ‘knowledge’ to the young children. This, it seems, was the reason he was not stopped in his speech. Is that ok then? – Of course it isn’t. Why was he unsupervised and how long did it take to exclude him? Furthermore was he a model student? Had he proven that he was a student for the younger children to aspire to? None of this was addressed in the response.

The response also references outside speakers and explains, essentially, that it would be rude to interrupt a visitor to the school.  There was more than one speaker as far as I could tell and did the school not make clear their aims and objectives? Do they just invite someone in and hope for the best? Surely for the reasons of safeguarding their pupils - which I am sure these schools must adhere to - not only do they do their criminal checks in terms of their past but also do checks as to whether these people are appropriately briefed about the ethos of the school, and if they will be able to uphold that ethos in their speeches?

The last point made does hold some water with me.  It explains that they ‘reject any assertion that this [Deobandi teachings] is hard-line or extremist’. Are those that follow the Deobandi teachings ‘extreme Muslims’? A term I am not very comfortable with by the way - to be extreme do you simply have to focus on your faith personally, have a beard and (for men) have your ankles showing? No, of course not. Can we say for sure that the problem here is Deobandi teachings? No I don’t think we can, I know I can’t.  I think to assume that would mean I was not using independent thought. I would need to devote a lot of time researching the teachings and clarify my thoughts with scholars before I could say without a doubt that the teachings were the issue or whether it was the teachers. Do all Muslims think the way children are being taught in these Madrassahs is OK?

No.

Are there some people out there, their minds riddled with hate, lies and misconceptions, that think this Madrassah was doing a good job?

Yes. There will always be stupid people in the world.

Maybe its time to not only highlight this, but also start highlighting those that are doing it right.  I am sure many Muslims know of Madrassahs that are doing amazing jobs and teaching Islam in the right way.  Maybe this doesn’t occur to those without any rational, independent, thought.

All in my humble opinion of course...