Current state of mainstream madressa

[Kalamro]

I occasionally follow the dialogue on this forum and was wondering what people’s opinions are regarding current SMS madressa. I am sure some of you may have children atending or children that have attended madressa. I am merely seeking parents’ experiences with regards to madressa. I come from a family who are very conservative. They were a bit more relaxed and open minded many years ago. However in the last 10 to 15 years all that open mindedness has evaporated leading them to be people with a very narrow mindset where it comes to matters of the community. It is either the bohra way or the highway. They are constantly belittling other religions and sects. Despite the fact that I was brought up in a frequent majlis attending orthodox household I inherently questioned beliefs and practices that I saw as wrong. For example, why do bohras think we are the pristine chosen ones that will go to heaven? What about all the other good people amongst the billion plus populous? Other things transpired over the years that made me see the greed that has engorged the leadership. I do not feel any affinity for SMS and now am merely in it for the sake of family, because spiritually I get nothing from it. The few times I attend, I sit there cringing about some of the things said in waaz.

I have a son who would be of an age to start madressa this Muharram. I am under intense familial pressure to send him to madressa. Though it would be easier for me in one way, I don’t want to send him for various reasons. One of them is that my spouse also does not ascribe to all the bohra and SMS glorification dished out. I also see that there is so much pressure on children to undertake hifzul Quran. While hifz is commendable I don’t agree with the immense pressure applied to all children to do this. For those of you who have children at madressa do you find this is the case with hifz? I also do not want my son to be insidiously indoctrinated.

If I don’t send my son to madressa I am sure he will miss out on some things though on balance I think the pros in our case would be slightly more than the cons. I know that the teaching of reading Quran and writing in Arabic/Lisan ud dawat is quite good in mainstream bohra madressa. I guess my son would miss out on this too. Also the result of us not sending him to madressa would mean harder work for the parents as we would have to take the time to teach him the basics. I myself know only the basics and am not enlightened too much on bohra theology. In my mind though, I would want my son to learn the basics of Islam - so learning namaaz,reading Quran and developing a basic understanding of the faith. The madressa resource on fatemi dawat is quite good for the basics and I am glad they have kept it open for all to access. I am quite quite scared abd saddened about the fall out with my family that will ensue from my decision not to send my son to madressa. To be honest I am wondering how to navigate this with my very conservative family who could not comprehend a child not attending madressa. Your views on madressa and advice would be appreciated.

[bohra_manus]

Br/Sis Kalamro,
If you are anywhere other than the Western countries then you will be forced to send your son to the madressa. We are in the west and even then we were forced to register and send our kids to the madressa (this was 15 years ago). The local Amil during vajebat bethak asked if I send my kids to madressa, when I said no we prefer to teach them at home. He got upset and refused to accept my vajebat unless I teach my kids from the correct source. I registered my kids to the madressa, the Amil was horrible, yelling at the kids. Major brainwashing about current/past dais etc. We decided to pull the kids out and decided to get out of the community.
We are glad to be away from the stupidity that has been going on over the past several years.
If you are not in the Western country and in a small town, you will definitely face the wrath of Amil and possibly social boycott (baraat) if you don't educate your kids in the Madressa.
Just my experience, your mileage may vary.
Good Luck

[Kalamro]

Thanks for your reply bhai. I am in the West but in a city with a strong jamaat with octopus tentacles. So I know that aside from pressure from family I will have to deal with the jamaat too. I’m quite shocked that the aamil refused to accept your wajebaat unless you sent your child to madressa. I would have thought, given the greed I’ve seen, that they would have accepted your wajebaat regardless

Did your kids stay long in madressa and did you think they got much out of it? Was it the fact that you were forced to send your kids to madressa that spurred you to leave the community?once you pulled your kids out did you home educate them? It’s a tricky issue to navigate both with family and community. The prospect of social boycott for failure to send your kids to madressa seems quite harsh. But there we go. This is what the community has come too.

[awakenedsoul]

I would suggest that you let them go to madrassa at least for a few years so that they can learn the basics. However, you should keep a close eye on what they are being taught. Remember, majority of a child's education happens at home and your children will always trust you more than their teachers. Raise them with good values and empower them to choose the right path when they are old enough.

[RedBox]

send your kid, I send too

but keep eye on him and his learnings, if you think it is getting out of control sit with him and correct his aqeeda on regular basis. madressa is good to learn wudu and namaaz and other duas.

I give my kids daily sabaq on Quran with translation and with prophetic stories and knowledge of hadis.

[SBM]

If you live in West (it is very broad area ) you may want your kids to also attend Saturday/ Sunday Schools run by many Muslim Organizations including many Jafferia Organizations. You can enroll your child in Madrassa and make sure your child misses many classes then he or she attends but please do teach them at home or by enrolling them at one of the Islamic Weekend classes where they teach Quranic education only. Many Organizations are flexible and you can request them only Quran teaching without any Hadith classes BTW our way of doing Namaz is similar to Sunni way of doing Namaz except folding your hands

[Kalamro]

Thank you to those who have taken the time to reply to my post. Bhai Redbox and awakened soul, my decision to not sending our son to madressa is already made. Basics like namaaz and wuzu I can teach at home as it’s not hard. You just need the time and effort to do it. The difficult part would be teaching reading of Quran and the writing part. I have not registered my son onto ITS. Madressa would require that and I do not want to do that. I don’t agree with ITS membership and the tracking of people that ensues from that. Plus the madressa where I am is intense. I see the pressure young kids are under to hifz whether the have the aptitude for it or not. Then they have other crazy things such as wajebaat bethaks for madressa kids. Also with kids being tutored to do Imam Hussein AS shahadat zikr. So many new inventions in madressa, not to mention the indoctrination. So sending my son even for a few years would not be something we would consider.

Bhai SBM, yes there are indeed other Muslim madressas where you can send your child for Quranic instruction. We would possibly consider getting a moallim for this purpose. Are jafferia a Shia organisation?

[WYP]

Please don't send your kid to madrasa. No benefit to anyone if your aqeeda is muddy.

[Sheikh_Sajjad_Husain]

Taher Fakhruddin has setup an online Website Fatemimadrasa.com
it has good content.

Check that out.

Anti-Establishment movements have failed to focus on this aspect. They have done commendable job when it comes to setting up schools, hospitals and other welfare things but they completely neglected setting up madrasas for deeni talim that could have preserved the Fatimid heritage as well as stood as a challenge to Jamea Saifiya.

[SBM]

Yes Jafferia is a Shia Organization. If you need help in finding location in your city if you reside in US or UK, PM me and I will help find one. Also Sunni Madrasas are also very good in teaching Quranic lessons on weekend classes and usually they are free or very minimal. I would strongly recommend you consider that choice.

[Kalamro]

Please don't send your kid to madrasa. No benefit to anyone if your aqeeda is muddy.

Are you judging to my aqeeda merely on my decision not to send my child to mainstrream bohra madressa? How very broad minded of you.

[Kalamro]

Taher Fakhruddin has setup an online Website Fatemimadrasa.com
it has good content.

Check that out.

Anti-Establishment movements have failed to focus on this aspect. They have done commendable job when it comes to setting up schools, hospitals and other welfare things but they completely neglected setting up madrasas for deeni talim that could have preserved the Fatimid heritage as well as stood as a challenge to Jamea Saifiya.

I have looked at their content as mentioned in my initial post and yes it’s good with all the translations and so on.

[Kalamro]

Yes Jafferia is a Shia Organization. If you need help in finding location in your city if you reside in US or UK, PM me and I will help find one. Also Sunni Madrasas are also very good in teaching Quranic lessons on weekend classes and usually they are free or very minimal. I would strongly recommend you consider that choice.

I will PM you bhai SBM when I get the chance. Thank you

[Mkenya]

When my son and daughter were growing up in Kenya I had a 'Muallim', a locally-trained ethnic teacher who taught them the Arabic alphabet, meanings of words, grammar, structure and recitation. I am not saying this in a 'bragging' way but to convey that it was an all encompassed teaching. They have carried this into their adult lives. They are able to read Arabic text and understand its meaning. Their pronunciation is Arabic like 'qaaf' not 'kaaf'; 'sallallah' not 'salala'', 'swaad' not 'swad', etc; something that an Amil might not be able to enunciate. With this foundation they read Arabic literature and understand the meaning. Like SBM suggests Sunni Mosques have year-round weekend Madrassas where Quran is taught.

[Kalamro]

Ahsante sana Mkenya bhai. I know of a couple of people who learnt reading Quran via a moallim and it turned out okay for them. To be honest it is one of the avenues we would be looking into going forward. To give credit to current bohra madressa, they teach reading of Arabic, pronunciation and so on pretty well. It’s just that a heavy dose of other things are added on.

[bohra_manus]

Thanks for your reply bhai. I am in the West but in a city with a strong jamaat with octopus tentacles. So I know that aside from pressure from family I will have to deal with the jamaat too. I’m quite shocked that the aamil refused to accept your wajebaat unless you sent your child to madressa. I would have thought, given the greed I’ve seen, that they would have accepted your wajebaat regardless

Did your kids stay long in madressa and did you think they got much out of it? Was it the fact that you were forced to send your kids to madressa that spurred you to leave the community?once you pulled your kids out did you home educate them? It’s a tricky issue to navigate both with family and community. The prospect of social boycott for failure to send your kids to madressa seems quite harsh. But there we go. This is what the community has come too.

We sent the kids only a few Satrudays and stopped. Meanwhile we had a shouting match with a very rude, dominating and greedy Amil where we walked out on him. We stopped going since then. We had our kids sent to weekly Quran lessons with an Ithna Ashari lady. Also we got together with other like minded friends and had one very knowledgeable person (almost like mulla but not interested in Dai) taught kids namaz etc every Sunday. It was done very well, way better than the madressa. Anyway, it is all over now, kids grown up.
If you are in West, then there is no compulsion on you to be part of the Jamat, there are many other better sources to meet spiritual needs, just my $0.02.
All the Best.

[Kalamro]

Thank you for you reply bhai. I’m glad you had other like minded friends that you could pursue independent madressa education with. Everyone where I am sends their kids to madressa, even the ones who are on the fringe, the ones you expect that wouldn’t send their children to madressa. I guess it’s just the convenience of it too for them.