Secularism Is Pakistan's Way Out to End Sectarian Violence

[Med911]

Re: Secularism Is Pakistan’s Way Out to End Sectarian Violence

@psyah

We don’t need anymore madrassas - just better ones. Ones that will teach character and depth of understanding … ones that are well funded and do not have political motives. Version of Islam here is less important than having a solid philosophy and a robust system of controlling applicants and strong guidelines for teachers and open and probing audit schemes over taught methods with risk analysis. We need institutions that attract better minds and not places that are meant for fallouts. They cannot be cheap places and they cannot have low entry requirements. They cannot have non-academic teaching staff - i.e. they should be scholars with accreditations and ijazas.

Values to be taught - Helping society without a desire to be honoured or rewarded by it. This cannot be taught in a classroom but must be practiced in real life. Protecting people while placing oneself at risk. Charity and Sacrifice and Critical Thinking. Principle to Preserve Life. Being able to challenge, but knowing when to avoid argumentation. These are universals that need no particular orientation of religion let alone any brand of Islam. These are values that religious people should be holding on to.

Well good luck with that than…

The problem with the religious mindset is strict adherence (by any means) to certain conservative ethos. Its the kind of mentality that discourages flexibility. So for example, will this 'proper" religious education allow a more visible presence of women in society ? Will they allow groups like the Ahmadi to practice their religion without interference and with full freedom (meaning being able to give the azaan, to use Islamic text on their masjids etc), will they allow people to live their lives as they wish (Celebrating Valentines day for example). There are a lot of things that the religious Muslim mind will not tolerate. How to get around that problem?