Madrasas, Caste and Islam
By
Arshad Alam, New Age Islam
2 August
2021
They
Were Meant For Ashraf Muslims, But Today, Madrasas Are Populated By Ajlafs
Main
Points:
• Muslims
have a tendency to deny the presence of caste system amongst them.
• Deobandis
and Barelwis both started with the idea that education should be restricted to
the four upper castes.
• Given
the fact that today madrasas are inhabited by Ajlaf teachers and students; will
we see a critique of caste emerging from these institutions?
-----
The
persistence denial of Muslims notwithstanding, caste is as ubiquitous within
the Muslim society as it is in the Hindu society. Sociologically, this makes
sense because caste (not religion) is the most important fault-line in this
country. Its denial Muslims is largely a result of their desire to make
themselves different from other religious communities. Moreover, this denial
largely comes from upper caste or Ashraf Muslims and serves two related purposes. Firstly, it
reproduces the hegemony of the Ashraf Muslims as caste does not become the axis
around which a politics of redistribution can be envisaged. Not talking about
caste within Muslims leads to an exclusive focus on the religious or
communitarian identity which largely benefits upper caste Muslims to maintain
their dominance. Secondly, this denial, often indulged in by the religious
elite, marks Islam as different from all other religious communities, thus
promoting exclusivity and supremacy.
Muslim
historical practice on the question of caste, has hardly been different from
other religious communities. Historians like Nizami have informed us that
despite the claims of Islamic egalitarianism, madrasas in medieval India were
only accessed by upper caste Muslims. The education of low caste Muslims stopped soon after he had done an
elementary recitation of the Quran. To be fair, during those times, denial of
educational access to lower castes was not the preserve of Muslim society
alone. What is unique, however, is the tendency amongst Muslims to argue that
such practices were not part of their society.
Scholars
like Imtiaz Ahmad and more recently Masood Alam Falahi have sensitized us that
caste was not just a matter of practice but was also legitimized at the level
of ideas. Falahi has shown how even the most revered of Ulama had blatantly
casteist views. Coming to those Ulama who were active in teaching and
establishing madrasas, we see a similar pattern. Barbara Metcalf, the historian
of Deoband informs us that the founder of the madrasa, Qasim Nanotvi, was
firmly wedded to the idea that God had entrusted education to the four upper
castes and that it was their duty to become the flag bearers of Islamic
knowledge. The disparaging views on low caste Muslims of the Barelwi ideologue,
Ahmad Raza, is well known. His reverence for the Syed caste was such that once
when he came to know that one of his pall bearers was a Syed, he got out of the
palanquin and insisted on exchanging places with this person. His collection of
fatwas, the Fatawa Rizviyya, as well as his Malfuzat, at many
places justifies not just caste endogamy but also upper caste superiority. In
this book considered as authoritative by many Barelwis, he has argued that even
if a low caste Muslims becomes an Alim, he cannot be considered equal to
Ashrafs.
For a
different audience, the same Ulama would also argue that the only basis of
distinction in Islam was piety. But in their writings and conduct they would
give precedence to distinctions based on birth rather than religious merit.
Despite their understanding that education (including religious education) should be kept within the four
upper castes, the social reality around was changing. For the first time, the
British colonial state had made education open to all castes. Many low castes,
including the Ajlafs, would benefit from it. Moreover, the lure of government
jobs meant that the upper caste Muslims had started to access modern English
education through spaces like the MAO College at Aligarh. The space vacated by
the Ashrafs was increasingly filled up by Ajlaf Muslims. This presence of low
caste Muslims within upper caste institutions would lead to much heart burn. It
was in such a context that the famous (or infamous?) Deobandi Alim, Ashraf Ali
Thanvi would complain that ever since the lower caste have starting getting
educated, madrasas are no longer producing scholars like al Ghazali.
It will not
be an overstatement to say that cotemporary madrasas are primarily a low caste
phenomenon in India. The majority of teachers as well as students come
pre-dominantly from the Ajlaf category. That being the case, it is important to
ask as to what they gain from this kind of education? For many such Muslims, madrasas are only avenue to accumulate cultural and
social capital. For some, it provides a backdoor entry into university
education via government credentialing exams. For others, Islamic learning and Arabic skills open the doors to
geographic mobility to other countries. Because English medium and convent
schools are simply out of reach for the majority of these students, madrasa
education is seen as having real economic utility in imparting some degree of
white-collar career skills and stable employment- at little or no cost to
students’ families.
But more
important perhaps is the role of this education in terms of caste empowerment.
The son of an Ajlaf becoming an imam in a local mosque is an incredible moment.
His leading of the Islamic prayer ruptures many social solidarities of the old
order, most importantly of caste. Historically made fun of because of their
caste, today it is the low caste Muslim who is bearing the mantle of Islam.
However, it remains to be seen if this change in the social composition of Islamic education would bring about some rethinking
on the caste of in these seminaries. After all, it must be difficult to live
with the fact that their most important ideologues had offensively casteist
ideas. One strategy adopted by various organization is that they remove these
offensive passages from the newer editions of books. But will that be enough
remains to be seen. Will madrasas become the loci of a counter hegemonic
narrative on caste mounted by Ajlaf Muslims?
----
Arshad
Alam is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-sectarianism/madrasa-caste-ashraf-ajlaf/d/125165
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