WHAT DO BANGLADESH'S DEOBANDI QAWMI MADRASAS WANT?

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 DHAKA 000419

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/INSB, S/CT, INR, DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/31/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR PTER KDEM KISL SOCI BG
SUBJECT: WHAT DO BANGLADESH'S DEOBANDI QAWMI MADRASAS WANT?
(1 OF 3)

REF: DHAKA 239 AND PREVIOUS

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Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty, reasons 1.4 (b&d)

SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) Addressing problems related to the country's
privately-funded unregulated Islamic education system (qawmi
madrasas - QMs) has emerged as one of the Awami League
government's top priorities. The government seeks more
control over qawmi madrasas and fears failure to equip
students with skills needed to enter today's job market may
be making the QMs breeding grounds for future violent
extremists. Much of the qawmi madrasa community, in turn,
strongly objects to being linked to militant activity. The
country's Deobandi QMs are intensely protective of their
historical independence from government oversight and of
their social responsibility to produce qualified religious
scholars to meet the religious needs of Bangladesh's
Muslim-majority society. While open to the concept of
including non-religious subjects in their curricula, the
qawmi madrasa community also seeks government recognition of
its highest certificate to permit graduates access to
government-controlled clerical and teaching jobs. End summary.


2. (U) This is Part 1 of a 3-part cable series on
Bangladesh's Deobandi qawmi madrasa (DQM) system. Part 1
provides background on the Deobandi qawmi madrasas ) their
origin, curriculum and organizational structure in
Bangladesh, their own perception of their social role and
their demands of the Government of Bangladesh (GOB).

SCOPE OF THIS REPORT
--------------


3. (U) This report discusses mainstream Deoband-tradition
qawmi madrasas in Bangladesh. These represent the vast
majority of Bangladeshi QMs and are managed by a complex and
active 'old boy' network of Islamic scholars, generally
Deobandi QM graduates themselves. Prominent members of the
network are likely to be QM principals/founders themselves
and members of either a regional DQM board or of one of two
national-level DQM board conglomerations. This report does
not discuss a significantly smaller number of QMs, primarily
in northwestern Bangladesh, that are influenced by the
anti-Sufi Ahle Hadith movement and are reportedly attempting
to establish their own education boards. Nor does this report
discuss a reportedly even smaller number of individual
madrasas that are not affiliated with either the Deoband
tradition or the Ahle Hadith movement.

ORIGINS, CURRICULUM AND FUNDING
--------------


4. (U) Distinct from government-sponsored "alia" madrasas,
Deobandi qawmi madrasas - originally established in India in
the 19th century as centers of Muslim resistance to British
rule - have traditionally jealously guarded their
independence from government oversight. In Bangladesh they
are privately-funded and unregulated. No official figures are
available, but some estimates indicate that up to 8 percent
of Bangladesh's student population ) mainly children of the
very poor -- attend QMs.


5. (U) The vast majority of Bangladesh's QMs fall within the
Deoband tradition and follow a religious studies curriculum
based on the 17th-century Indo-Islamic syllabus known as
"Dars-e-Nizami," still widely used in madrasas throughout
South Asia.


6. (U) The Dars-e-Nizami curriculum teaches Islamic law
(shariah),Tafseer (Quranic commentary),Hadeeth (sayings and
practices of the Prophet Mohammed) and Fiqh (Islamic
jurisprudence) and includes the concurrent study of Arabic,
Urdu and in some cases, FARSI. The syllabus consists of four
stages which generally take about twelve years to complete.
The final "post-graduate" stage culminates in a qualification
known as "Dawra-e-Hadith," which QM representatives equate to
a Master's degree.


7. (SBU) In addition to the religious curriculum, most DQMs
have for the past several years made at least some attempt to

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incorporate modern subjects such as mathematics, computer
studies, science, English and Bangla language into their
curriculum, usually until Class 8 (about age 14). One of the
largest QM education boards actually prints its own series of
math, science, English and Bangla language books for
distribution to the schools within its purview. In practice,
however, the poor teaching quality and minimal resources
available within the QM system mean students graduating from
QM schools are dramatically less qualified to seek modern
employment opportunities than their peers from
government-regulated and English-medium private schools.
(Note: Post's QM interlocutors frankly acknowledge these
resource deficiencies and many say they would welcome
government or other support in remedying them.)


8. (SBU) Funding for DQMs comes from private donations,
usually from the local community in the surrounding area,
according to post's DQM interlocutors. Each DQM has a Working
Committee and a Management Committee, responsible for
managing donations and providing accountability to donors,
including a large annual community gathering at which the
accounting is made public, according to one DQM board member.
(Note: The Awami League government asserts that significant
funding for QMs comes from abroad and is attempting to
implement improved oversight and control measures in this
regard. End note.)

HOW MANY QMS ARE THERE?
--------------


9. (SBU) There are no reliable estimates of the number of QMs
in Bangladesh. Even senior representatives of DQM education
boards profess ignorance on this point. Different DQM
representatives have given post estimates that vary from as
high as 25,000 schools nationwide (with as many as 2.5
million students),to as low as 10,000 schools. (Note: Media
reported April 14 that as a first step towards bringing the
QM schools within the government's purview, the Ministry of
Education issued a directive to the Deputy Commissioner in
each of Bangladesh's 64 districts, instructing them to
research and provide information to the Ministry as to
funding sources, size, location, syllabus and number of QMs
in their areas of responsibility. The Ministry reportedly
imposed a deadline of April 23 in the instruction. The
Embassy's Information Support Team has also commissioned a
study that will include an estimate of the number of QMs in
Bangladesh. End note.)

SEVERAL DQM EDUCATION BOARDS OVERSEE CURRICULUM AND EXAMS
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10. (SBU) Privately-constituted education boards have
overseen curricula and major examinations in Bangladesh DQMs
since the pre-independence era, according to Mohammed Abdul
Jabbar, the Secretary General of Befaqul Madaris al-Arabia
(BMA),one of Bangladesh's two main QM education board
conglomerations. In a recent meeting with PolOff, Abdul
Jabbar said BMA was formed in 1978 in the aftermath of
Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan, after a majority
congress of regional DQM education boards agreed to form and
join BMA as members of its executive committee. Subsequent
splits within the DQM community (usually along personality
lines) had resulted in today's landscape, he said ) a total
of 10 DQM regional education boards. Three of those boards
are organized under BMA. Three smaller ones are independent,
and the four remaining boards together comprise the
Federation of Qawmi Madrasa Education Boards (FQMB, or
Shommilitio Qawmi Madrasa Shikkha, in Bangla). There
appears to be DQM community consensus that BMA and FQMB are
the two main DQM players in Bangladesh - and that where they
lead, others will follow.

TWO MAIN QM PLAYERS: BEFAQUL MADARIS AL ARABIA (BMA)...
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11. (SBU) Headquartered in Dhaka, BMA oversees curriculum and
examinations for DQM schools in the Dhaka area as well as in
the provinces, according to Abdul Jabbar. He estimated there
were about 10,000 DQM schools in Bangladesh and claimed BMA
oversaw and spoke for some 4,000 of them. BMA also publishes
and distributes textbooks on non-religious topics such as
math, science, English and Bangla, according to Abdul Jabbar.
He estimated only 1,000 or so DQM schools were supervised by

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the rival FQMB.

... AND THE FEDERATION OF QAWMI MADRASA BOARDS (FQMB)
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12. (SBU) Conversely, at a March 11 meeting, FQMB chairman
Mufti Abdur Rahman told PolOff FQMB oversees at least 5,000
DQM schools. A highly-respected Islamic scholar and graduate
of the famed Darul Uloom Deoband in India (the philosophical
mother-ship of most QMs in South Asia),Abdur Rahman is the
founder of Jamiatul Abrar, a large QM in Dhaka. He is also
the Chairman of the Central Shariah Board for Islamic Banks
of Bangladesh. Originally a member of BMA, he broke away from
BMA in 2006 to form FQMB.


13. (SBU) FQMB comprises four regional DQM boards )
"Ittihadul Madaris" in Chittagong (est. 1959);
"Idarat-e-Din-e-Ta'aleem" in Sylhet (est. 1924); "Tantheem
Madarisul Qawmia" in Bogra (est. 1986) and the Gouhardanga
Qawmi Education Board in Faridpur. According to one of Abdur
Rahman's deputies, Abdur Rahman left BMA to form FQMB because
he objected to some members of BMA engaging in "high-profile
politics" with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party government
(the BNP is allied politically with Jamaat-e-Islami,
Bangladesh's largest Islamic party),in power at the time.
Abdur Rahman insisted the DQM system should remain
independent of individual administrations and feared its
politicization in the way Bangladesh's university system has
been politicized (to its detriment),said the deputy.


14. During a recent madrasa visit, Emboffs met with FQMB
secretary general Abdul Haleem Bukharee, also the principal
of Al Jameah Al Islamia Patiya (a 5,000-student DQM in the
Chittagong area) and a senior member of Ittihadul Madaris,
(the Chittagong regional DQM board); and Muhammad Sultan
Zauq, principal of Jamiah Darul Ma,arif Madrasa and FQMB
board member. Abdur Rahman, Bukharee and Zauq energetically
criticized mainstream attempts to link the DQM system to
violent extremism and spent some time describing ongoing
outreach efforts by Bangladeshi Islamic scholars and DQM
representatives to condemn and heighten awareness of the
dangers of extremism.

QAWMI MADRASAS AND LINKS TO VIOLENT EXTREMISM
--------------


15. (C) Note: Mainstream media and conventional thought
consistently assert direct links between QMs and violent
extremism in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi statistical analyses of
the background of known extremists, however, do not appear to
indicate a QM background is necessarily any more or less of a
factor leading to violent extremist behavior than secular or
other religious backgrounds. At the mainstream DQM policy
level, DQM leaders are closely linked to and known by each
other and have consistently over the years publicly condemned
violent extremism and participated in anti-violence awareness
campaigns, both internally- and externally-directed.
Nevertheless, there is little doubt the overall QM system can
and does provide "cover" for clandestine violent extremist
activity. Although there is currently insufficient evidence
to determine the actual scope and nature of the problem, this
remains an area of concern. A related concern is that the QM
system is producing a pool of youth without the skills needed
to function in a modern economy. While some do go on to
become QM teachers or religious leaders, there is still a
significant risk that they and their peers who don't find
gainful employment could become targets for extremist
recruitment in the future. End note.

"WE PRODUCE THE RELIGIOUS SCHOLARS BANGLADESH NEEDS"
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16. (SBU) Abdur Rahman, Bukharee and Zauq asserted a position
consistently voiced by DQM representatives -- that the DQM
system produces qualified scholars to meet the religious
needs of Bangladesh's Muslim-majority population and that, as
such, its curriculum must remain based in and focused on
religious topics. Both accepted that non-religious topics
could be taught up to a certain stage (Grade 8 or age 14,
according to Bukharee),but said that thereafter, the demands
of the religious curriculum required total focus from the
students. Abdul Jabbar of BMA claimed that although graduates
of government-regulated "alia" madrasas dominated

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government-controlled religious positions, DQM graduates
filled "more than 90 percent" of the hundreds of thousands of
non-governmental religious positions in Bangladesh. When it
came down to judging religious qualifications, there was no
question in anyone's mind that QM graduates were more deeply
read and better-qualified than "alia" madrasa graduates, and
this showed in the choices local communities made with regard
to their religious guides and leaders, according to Abdul
Jabbar. (Note: He did not address the fate of QM dropouts who
failed to achieve even such community employment. End note.)


WHAT THE DQM COMMUNITY WANTS: DAWRA-E-HADITH RECOGNITION
-------------- --------------


17. (SBU) As BMA's Abdul Jabbar tells the story, the 2006
split between the MBA and FQMB occurred because FQMB founder
Abdur Rahman objected to proposed DQM concessions during
negotiations between BMA and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party
(BNP) government of the time aimed at gaining official
recognition of the DQM system's highest "dawra-e-hadith"
qualification. DQM representatives continue to argue that
Bangladesh should follow the example of India and Pakistan,
which, they claim, officially recognize the dawra-e-hadith
certificate, thus allowing Indian and Pakistani QM graduates
access to government as well as overseas jobs in the
religious field. (Note: The GOB controls lucrative imam slots
at government-supervised mosques, as well as Arabic and
Islamic studies teaching jobs in government schools and
official marriage registrar ("qazi") positions. Lacking
government-recognized qualifications, QM graduates cannot
compete for these relatively well-paying jobs. End note.)


18. (SBU) During the last few months of the 2001-2006 BNP
government, the DQM community, led by three BMA-affiliated
MPs, began to agitate politically for government recognition
of the dawra-e-hadith certificate, according to Abdul Jabbar.
Then-BNP Minister of Education, Osman Faruk, confirmed to
post separately that the GOB entered into discussions with
the DQM community at that time in response to their demands.
The talks were complex and difficult, but reached a point
where the BNP government issued an official gazette
notification stating the dawra-e-hadith certificate would be
officially recognized in the competition for
government-controlled religious positions, Faruk said.
However, wrangling over certification precedence between the
different DQM constituencies ensued and the government could
not formulate and issue the implementing regulations that
would have brought the notification into effect. In January
2007, the advent of the 2007-2009 Caretaker Government
brought the initiative to a halt, said Faruk.

GOB: FOCUS ON DAWRA-E-HADITH IS CART BEFORE HORSE
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19. (C) The current government is emphatically not interested
in revisiting the question of dawra-e-hadith recognition
until its concerns with the lower grades of the QM system are
met. This is according to Mozammel Hoq, Joint Secretary for
Madrasa & Technical Education at the Ministry of Education
who met with Poloff March 31 (septel reports further meeting
details).

COMMENT
--------------


20. (SBU) By and large, the DQM community already accepts the
concept of providing non-religious education (math, science,
social sciences and English) to their students and even
indicates readiness to accept outside support in this. These
subjects have a recognized theoretical place in the DQM
curriculum and many QMs already make some attempt to teach
them, in addition to some basic vocational skills (computer
skills, driving, electricity repair, etc). However, the
extreme inadequacy of QM teaching staff and materials for
these subjects, the lack of uniform standards and the upper
age limit at which such non-religious education stops (as
early as Class 8 or about age 14) mean in practice these
subjects get short shrift. The GOB and the QM community must
also come to an understanding about the extent and nature of
government oversight over the QM system.


21. (SBU) A deeper and more complex issue may be the question

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of the QM religious curriculum itself, particularly if there
is any truth to DQM representatives' assertions that the
majority of Bangladesh's huge clerical population are indeed
QM graduates. Most of Bangladesh's QMs fall within the
Deoband tradition and follow a religious studies curriculum
based on a 17th-century Indo-Islamic syllabus. Do studies
based on this 400-year-old curriculum produce clergy that
meet the modern religious needs of Bangladeshi society in a
way that is compatible with its development goals? This is a
central question for the country to consider. What appears
certain is that most of the QM community is likely to meet
with resistance and hostility any attempt from the outside to
impose changes on the religious
curriculum per se.
MORIARTY