I beleive there already are some very hii good madrassas in Pakistan and elsewhere where they study a wide range of "modern" subjects and where the, for instance, curriculum is in english.
//Purely hypothetical. If you had a choice, how would you construct the curriculum for a true madrassah - i.e., what type of subjects/courses would you offer at what ages. //
My question is why isnt there one already inspite of all the so called islamic countries across the globe.
Is it because
1) There exists no true leaders in the world of Islam today...
Is so WHY
2) It is not possible with all the hate mongering
Peace
ideal madrasa
hi i am new member i would like to participate in the debate. as one of our member said that only poor children go to madrasa. that is correct it reflects our attitude towards islam now a days we think that islam is not necessary modernization is very important. believe me the day we start giving importance to islam we will change our way of thinking about madrasa. despite of many problems it is reality that these madrasas are serving community because in pakistan we dont have any kind of governmental institution which could give shelter and food to poor and orphans in the society.
Ibn Sadique and Lajawab do post indeed well-proven Hadiths, but their argument does make the assumption that knowledge of other beliefs is of no use in this world and the hereafter.
I would argue otherwise - particularly for ulema engaging in dawah, knowledge of other beliefs is crucial so as to engage adherents of other religions and show them the weaknesses of their faiths. Persuading people to come to Islam is indeed of benefit to you in this world and the hereafter, and thus knowledge of other faiths is important.
My own opinion is that what Nadia has posted is overambitious for inclusion into a single syllabus. Rather, you should be viewing religious education as something to be done in stages, as an alternative education path.
In addition, I do not believe that is it feasable to produce by the age of 21 someone who incorporates in-depth knowledge on all the issues that she gave. I am much more in favour of having a madrassah system that puts overwhelming emphasis on Islam, but also provides vocational skills. The fundamental goal of a madrassah education should be to produce Islamic scholars, but who have sufficient transferrable skills to work in other field if needed.
The problem with giving someone as broad an education as Nadia suggest is that they will know little in depth. We need islamic scholars with in depth knowledge of Islam - only remaining curriculum time should be spent on other subjects.
Primary education: 7-11
Focuses on Quran and Hadith, with the primary criteria for graduation being that students must know the Quran and several collections of Hadith off by heart. In additions, students must be fluent in Urdu and Arabic, and have good knowledge of English and mathematics. Some science courses given as well, but lower emphasis.
Secondary education: 11 - 18
Approximately 60% of time should be spent studying Islam in depth (including Islamic rights of individuals in society), and 5% on critical analysis of other religions. Students should be given the option of specialising on either Eastern or Western faiths, not both. Islamic political and economic theory should be obligatory for all. The Islam-specific topics such as racism, rights, Islamic history, etc, should be given around 10% maximum of the 60% of the curriculum that's on Islam.
The remaining 40% should be used to enable students to specialise in a field. For example, science (leading up to 2 science A-levels), or social issues, etc.... The idea should be that students specialise in a field that offers them vocational opportunities in a job market where there are more ulema than posts needing to be filled with ulema.
The best and brightest 33% of students at madrassas should be offered the chance to then, after graduation from secondary education, receive dedicated, specialist in depth university level education in Islam to produce the Islamic leadership of tomorrow.