Following the faithful

The common view, considering the indiscriminate nature of the acts, borders on outpouring of revulsion. This is understandable since contempt against killing of the innocent has little time for discourse with a rational reflection. It is not therefore uncommon to come across views that regard the suicide bombers rising up from poverty in embracing death as living bombs for the reward of divine pleasure in the heaven. The view is simplistic and sweeping expressing contempt for the perpetrators. As a matter of fact ill tutoring could breed bad and fallible faith in any religion.

The findings of London bombings speak of the suicide bombers receiving training in Madrassas or institutions of Islamic education. As things are, the Madrassas are regarded as the nursery of Muslim terrorists. Sadly, the findings are not altogether without substance. It is scary that the number of Madrassas producing militants is growing as a backlash against persecution of Muslims.

There is however nothing wrong in the word 'Madrassa', which is Arabic for school. In this region, the Madrassa Education Board was constituted by the British Raj to impart education to the Muslims compatible with their religious teachings. It had a theocratic preponderance that left the Muslims behind in modern education. Madrassa education continues to offer predominantly theocratic education producing Islamic scholars, teachers and ill-taught zealots as well.

The Muslim scholars and teachers are apparently better equipped to speak on Islam, although the basic tenets of Islam do not speak of a separate breed of clergy. It would be natural for Muslim students to study in a Madrassa had these been schools offering education of the time for proper enlightenment. There has been progress in this direction with the present day Madrassa curriculum of Bangladesh having subjects of modern and applied education.

This cannot however pass off for a general picture of the country if one believes what one sees. It applies to an extent for the metropolitan centres and the major district towns. For the rest of the country the Madrassas are in a woeful state dependent on doles and charity. They cultivate charity as 'Qarze Hasana’ (offerings to Almighty).

The rural poor and the impoverished find it a suitable alternative to local schools in terms of the strictness of the teachers, free tuition, boarding, food (in Ibtedai or in the path of Allah Madrassa) and the piety involved with it. Because of the limiting circumstances of Madrassas in rural areas the 'Talibe Ilm' or the students seeking knowledge end up with limited and ritualistic knowledge. And their teachers more precisely the 'Huzoors’ (the respected) are no less handicapped in the matter. It is observed that the ill taught or the under-taught languish in a shallowness that lacks in substance and remains a ritualistic and simplistic version of Islam.

In spite of all these limitations the rural Madrassas as subsidiaries of the local mosques play a useful role in upholding the egalitarian aspect of Islam and in keeping it a practicing religion in those areas. On a broader level the rural Huzoors also strive to build a band of followers. The fortunate of them becomes the high priest. If not they serve as foot soldiers of the high priest. The modus operandi is clannish in nature. From among them those with eyes on countrywide influence dabble in politics.

Many of them destabilise governance by fomenting rage on issues that amount to the incursion of theocracy in executive and legislative function. The Ahmadiyya issue is one such act of brinkmanship that has put the moderate Muslim image of Bangladesh to question. It amounts to asking the executive to assume theocratic responsibilities. This is fraught with the danger of an unnecessary sectarian turmoil affecting the social harmony of a homogenous country like Bangladesh.

Executive indecision or incapacity on this issue will only invite more such issues raring to force showdowns. It is still a fact that rural populace of many districts on the western side of the rivers Padma and Jamuna continue to live under the threat of the Sarbaharas’ (the dispossessed), the pseudo-communists and bands of robbers. The helplessness of these people in the absence of the effectiveness of the law enforcing agencies creates a ground for a messianic Robin Hood.

A 'Bangla Bhai’ (Brother of Bengal) appears as a redeemer, a saviour offering deliverance from the marauders. Apparently it looks like an innocuous folk tale, but in reality it means the abdication of civil authority in attending and ensuring the inviolability of life and property. Such folksy heroes however virtuous they may be have the making of a direct threat to civil governance. They bring temporary relief and a permanent peril. A hero of this kind is a law unto himself. Tolerance of such Robin Hood is an invitation to the usurpation of law by individuals without any legal authority emboldening them to hold courts and dispense judgement at their sweet will. Mushrooming growth of such Robin Hoods will only irredeemably discredit civil governance imperilling its effectiveness. Democratic polity of Bangladesh is not compatible with the connivance or patronage of such folksy heroes.

London bombings have placed the 'militant' Madrassas of Pakistan on the dock because of the evidence of the suicide bombers receiving long religious training there. President Musharraf's crackdown on the suspected Madrassas and equally intense chiding of British government's inaction on dealing with its home grown militant Islamic organisations have opened up an important aspect about the long reach of the terrorists. The Saudi ambassador to UK Prince Turki Al Faisal has been more specific in pointing out the growth of Islamic militant network in England.

The Madrassas in Pakistan suit their tribal and feudal foundations. In spite of the federal character of Pakistan, North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Baluchistan continue to be dominated by tribal ties. It is the Sardars (Chieftain) that remain at the top of the system and Madrassa education is more deferential of the continuity of the system. Madrassas therefore have a powerful presence in these provinces. There is however a strong network of Madrassas in parts of Punjab and in densely populated and poverty ridden areas of Karachi. These Madrassas are well funded and have learned Islamic clerics imparting religious education to local students as well as to angry expatriate youths and converts to Islam. The distinguishing views of the expatriate and neo-Moslem students including the disenchanted boys of middle class families are fuming indignation against the injustice of the western powers and contempt for the decadence of the western way of life. Obviously the Madrassas have large devout following. The most effective of the suicide bombers come from the educated middle class families having knowledge of the western injustices. The Madrassas also often foment sectarian violence.

In the overwhelmingly tribal character of Afghanistan racked by internecine conflicts the recruits pursue tribal agenda and are driven by frenzied backlash against the American intruders. On the other hand Iraqi suicide bombers are driven by desperate disaffection of an ethnic resolve to drive out the Americans and combustible anger against the local administration of the major ethnic groups taking part in the constitutional process. They are taking more civilian lives as a collateral damage of the hit missions against the well fortified American and allied troops.

Iran, because of its overwhelming ethnic homogeneity, its apparently insular character in the region and the need of a closely guarded stand against American threat, does not indulge in the indiscretion of letting loose suicide bombers. The recruits from the Arab world are enraged with the perceived slavish passivity of their rulers against American injustices in Palestine and in Iraq. They are among the most determined to take the war to America and its allies by badly mauling them in their own territories. Egypt has a large educated middle class alienated by its government's impassive tolerance of Israeli atrocities and apparently weak-kneed alliance with America. They are resourceful recruits in terms of education, technical knowledge and having access to western world and its institutions. Similar nature of summation applies to the Saudis except that it is the well to do Saudis with no place in the governance of the country that have produced Osama and his followers.

The Islamic militants are a band of the faithful gaining in organisational strength and network, their experience and effectiveness proving to be lethal, resolve steeled by every mission, rank growing with ever increasing new recruits and above all endowed with a reach spreading like a global unit. And they have a cause growing stronger with America and its western allies showing no credible sign of addressing it with justice and goodwill. American and allied presence in Iraq and Afghanistan has not rooted out terrorism.

The Islamic terrorists continue to be a reality in spite of the unrelenting pugnacity of America and its allies. Rather a combative western world is settling into a state that sees the Muslims as a people apart. The Muslim world on the other hand is caught in a constricting situation. That of curbing its people from acts of terrorism and at the same time being compromised by the inaccessibility of an effective participation in contributing to the resolution of the issues simmering among its people. The issues are national rights for the Palestinians and the vacation of Iraq and Afghanistan of American and allied forces. It is a matter of shared undertaking to be carried out with fairness, trust and mutual goodwill. The initiative has to come from the leader of the world -- America. Otherwise the world is fated to condemn and lament the loss of innocent lives in unending succession.

Syed Maqsud Jamil is a freeland writer.