Ulema warn against removing Islamic content from textbooks

ISLAMABAD: The Ittehad Tanzeem-i-Madaris Pakistan has rejected removal of Islamic content from textbooks by the Punjab Curriculum Text Board in the light of the one-man commission report.

It has warned the Punjab Curriculum Text Board that removal of Islamic material from the textbooks would spread anarchy in the country. “We warn the Punjab Minorities Affairs Department and PCTB to refrain from removing Hamd, Naat and other Islamic contents from the textbooks,” the leaders of the Ittehad said in a joint statement issued on Friday.

The Ittehad Tanzeem-i-Madaris has expressed concern over reports that the Punjab Human Rights and Minority Affairs Division following a report of the one-man commission constituted by the Supreme Court has directed the PCTB to ban publication of Islamic material like Hamd, Naat and chapters relating to the Seeratun Nabi (SAW) in books other Islamic studies. The joint statement was issued by Naib President of the Karachi’s Jamia Darul Aloom Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani, leaders of Ittehad Tanzeem-i-Madaris, including Mufti Muneebur Rehman, Maulana Abdul Razzaq Sikandar, Maulana Abdul Maalik, Prof Sajid Mir, Maulana Muhammad Hanif Jalandhari, Allama Syed Riaz Hussain Najafi, Sahibzada Abdul Mustafa Hazarvi, Dr. Maulana Attaur Rehman, Maulana Muhamamd Yasin Zafar and Maulana Muhammad Afzal Haideri. They maintained that minorities could be given the choice to include content which they desire in their books of Ethics as an alternative to Islamiyat but two to three per cent segment of population could not be given the right to dictate the education system of a country having 96 to 97 per cent Muslim population.

“The minorities in Pakistan enjoy complete constitutional and religious freedom but they cannot be given the right to play with the sentiments of the Muslims,” the Ulema said, adding that the decision could lead the country to anarchy. They said the commission report would also be considered an attempt to hurt religious sentiments of the majority Muslim population of the country.

Ulema questioned whether any institution or commission reviewed the content of curriculum being imported from Hong Kong, Singapore, the UK and US for educational institutions of the elite and missionaries.

They apprehended that if such policies continued, one day the subjects related to two-nation theory, Pakistan Freedom Movement and history of Pakistan would also be removed from the textbooks.