Muzaffar Iqbal - Quantum note(Part III)

Muzaffar shuld read his own words. How can a madressah reform he articulates help produce men and women who are well versed in "sciences?" ~~~t

The emergence of madressah as an extension of mosque is historically rooted in the times of the Prophet of Islam -- upon him be peace. Its function has been to teach religious sciences, produce scholars and savants rooted in the vision of Islam, and to generate knowledge based on the two primary sources of Islam: the Quran and the Sunnah. Its auxiliary function has been the cultivation of those branches of knowledge which are deemed necessary for the religious rites and rituals and for the essential needs of society. This has included sciences such as astronomy, and crafts such as the making of books.The contemporary state and governance is out of the realm of the madressah-trained persons. In the Muslim world, we have university graduates, illiterate despotic rulers, military generals, or self-proclaimed monarchs as rulers and decision-makers. Madressah-trained persons currently serve as imams of mosques or occupy the lowest ranks of state administration if they can manage to secure such a position. While there is no alternate to a madressah as far as the religious needs of a Muslim society are concerned, but it seems that in order to survive, it needs to take up new challenges of a world dominated by men and women trained in the secular institutions. In other words, a twenty-first century madressah cannot just remain a place which produces the lowest ranks of society; it needs to excel and produce men and women who can actually takeover the running of the state.