The Enemy Within: Madrasa and Muslim Identity in North India

Abstract

AbstractEven before 9/11,madrasasin India were being vilified for teaching hatred against the majority Hindu community. Such an understanding of madrasas was not restricted to the Hindu Right alone but even among parties of the Left. This paper argues that such a notion, which is fast becoming common sense, is erroneous. Far from teaching hatred against other communities,madrasasare primarily concerned with the ideological reproduction of their ownmaslak.The paper describes processes and strategies within amadrasain North India through which such ideological reproduction takes place. The paper contends that sites of ideological transmission are located outside the formal curriculum of themadrasa.It focuses on some key texts and debating forums that are important sites of ideological transmission and play a key role in constituting a particular identity of students. Through an understanding of such pedagogical processes, the paper has shown that for students of thismadrasa, the ‘other’ is not a Hindu, but a Muslim from anothermaslak.It follows from the paper that Islam itself is a matter of fierce interpretative debate ‘within’madrasas.While it is important to understand howmadrasasrelate to other religions, an analysis ofmadrasasfrom ‘within’ leads us to different results.