As none have surveyed all the madrasas of the country and collected the information, the exact number of madrasas in India is shrouded in mystery. However, some surveys conducted by renowned organizations like Hamdard Education Foundation, Institute of Objective Studies and National Council for Educational Research Training (1973) differ in their findings. Saba Naqvi Bhaumik, quoting the government sources, puts it at something around 25,000 <1> while according to Yoginder Sikand their number is estimated at some thirty-forty thousand.<2> Another reason of the controversy regarding the number of the madrasas is that there is no standard definition of madrasas in India. They defy any particular pattern in terms of the education, infrastructure, number of intakes and funding but in common all are called madrasa.Muhammuadullah Khalili Qasmi has divided all these Islamic educational institutions into four types:
1. Maktab
2. Madrasa
3. Jamia and
4. Darul Qur’an. <3>
Madrasas in India are, mostly, run by donations from Muslim community and even some receive foreign donations also. The teachers are paid their salary from the donations the madrasas collect. They get a meager amount as remuneration .Madrasas, apart from free education; provide the students with free food, free lodgings and other facilities like clothe, medicine, shoe and so on if they need.<4>
Any generalization regarding the Madrasa curriculum will distort the reality as every madrasa follows its own pattern in the matter of curriculum. There is no uniformity with regard to subjects, books or emphasis. Likewise, the numbers of years for preparing students for the various degrees differ from madrasa to madrasa.All Hanafi madrasas follow modified/distorted Dars-e-Nizami with difference in emphasis as in the Deoband madrasa, the emphasis is on Hanafi jurisprudence while Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama, Lucknow attach importance to Arabic literature. After 1948, a large number of madrasas came up under the aegis of Jamat –e-Islami following their own pattern of curriculum. It prepares students simultaneously for both a modern degree examination and for the madrasa examination for the degrees of Aalimiat, Fazeelat etc.<5> In 1986, came up a new institution at Jaipur called Jamiatul Hidaya,<6> which in fact signified the latest trend in the madrasa curriculum. The accent on the technical education in the curriculum has made it distinct from other madrasas. Owing to its utility and relevance to the present circumstances, the Jamiatul Hidaya curriculum has begun to be followed by other madrasas like Madrasa Falah-e-Darain at Turkesar in Surat and Jamia Sabilus Salam at Barkus in Hyderabad.<7>
The following are the subjects taught in madrasas to enable the students to understand Islam from its original sources:
a. Translation of the Glorious Qur’an
b.Tafseer (Commentary of the Qur’an or Exegesis)
c.Usul-e-Tafseer (principles related to Commentary of the Glorious Qur’an)
d.Tajweed (Art of Qur’anic pronunciation)
e. Qira’at (Art of Recitation of the Qur’an)
f.Hadith, Science of Traditions
g.Usul-e-Hadith (principles related to Science of Traditions)
h.Fiqh (jurisprudence or Islamic Law)
i.Usul-e-Fiqh (Principles related to Islamic jurisprudence)
j.Nahv and Sarf (Arabic Grammar, Syntax)
k.Arabic Language with essay writing and composition to develop the understanding of Arabic
l.Arabic literature
m.Mantiq (Logic)
n.Islamic History, History of Arabic Literature etc.
o.Ma’ani and Balaghat (Articulation of Arabic)
p.Philosophy
q.Kalam (Scholasticism)
r.Aqaid (Beliefs)
s.Tasawwuf (Sufism)
t.Geography
u.Arithmatic
v.Rhetoric
w.Philology
x.Calligraphy
The specialization courses that are called takhassus, provide the students with education in a specific field. Generally there are specialization courses for Arabic Literature, Fiqh, Hadith, Tafseer, Islamic Studies and Tajweed.
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<1> Bhaumik, Saba Naqvi (2001), “Old-School Ties”, Outlook, 31December, New Delhi.
<2> Sikand, Yoginder (2002), Madrasas in a Morass: Between Medievalism and Muslimophobia-1, 19 June, http://www.ercwilcom.net. See also by the same author: Bastions of the Believers: Madrasas and Islamic Education in India, Penguin, New Delhi.2005.
<3> Qasmi, Muhammadullah Khalili (2005), Madrasa Education: Its Strength and Weakness.Manak.Delhi.P.72-73.
<4> Qari Mohammad Usman Qasmi, the pro VC of the Deoband madrasa told: Students are given books. And two pairs of clothes every six months. Apart from this, the madrasa also honors its meritorious students with scholarships”(An interview with Qari Mohammad Usman at Darul Uloom on May 18,2006.).
<5> Syed Salman Husain Nadwi is of the opinion that nowadays only two types of syllabus are in vogue in the madrasas of the subcontinent: Deobandi syllabus which is based on the Dars-e-Nizami and Nadwi syllabus .Madrasas of Jama’at-e-Islami and those of the Ahl-e-Hadees sect also follow the Nadwi syllabus in a way or the other. See: Nadwi, Syed Salman Husaini (2004), Hamara Nisab-e-Ta’lim Kya Ho? Jamia Syed Ahmed Shaheed, Lucknow.p121.
<6>See: http://www.milligazette.com/Archives/15072002/1507200258.htm
<7>. Siddiqui, Mohammad Akhtar (1998)”Developments and Trends in Madrasa Education”, in Education &Muslims in India since Independence, pp83, 84, IOS, New Delhi.
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