What is a Madrasa? By Ebrahim Moosa

What went wrong" is often the question asked by Western intellectuals when they seek to unravel or demystify the Muslim world.When asking this question, many Western intellectuals-not all-seek to contrast their understanding of Islam, Muslim practices, and its cultural milieu with the enlightenment of the West, as well as the growth of democracy and its deficit in Muslim-majority countries.This is also Moosa's starting point for his analysis, however his examination of madrasas goes beyond this simplistic question.Madrasas-monastery-like Muslim seminaries that dot the educational landscape in South Asia, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Thailand, and Iranare the locus of this detailed and personal study.They are not all-male institutions, as he suggests that "Young adult males study in the South Asian institutions but there is a growth in segregated madrassas dedicated to the education of females" (p.2).Although gender segregation is the norm in madrasas in South Asia, this is not necessarily the case in Southeast Asia, where young men and women may study in the same classrooms

Computer Science · Education and Islamic Studies · Religious Education and Schools