Hamdard Islamicus (Mar 2022)
TACKLING THE LANGUAGE BARRIERS IN ISLAMIC STUDIES -AN ANALYTICAL STUDY OF THE PREVAILING CURRICULUM FOR DINI MADARIS IN PAKISTAN
Abstract
It is argued generally that education plays a vital role in the development and sustainability of a country. The curriculum of any education system expresses its purposes and objectives on the similar axis. Learning process is facilitated through medium of instruction which is a direct agent enabling the better communication between the teachers and students. Dini madaris (religious institutions) are contributing to provide the learned human resource in the field of Islamic education since hundreds of years in the Subcontinent. These institutes are providing Islamic education by following the curriculum of “Dars-e-Nizami” which is communicated through various languages as medium of instructions. This difference of multi-lingual syllabus and medium of instructions for teaching Islamic education may create several barriers to understand the fundamental concepts. This issue leads a critical analysis to find out solutions; to cope up with such problems and clarify the minds of students in line of the original concepts of religion for the betterment of humanity at large. The purpose of this paper is to articulate about the language barriers in the religious institutes especially in the perspective of wifaqat (Islamic educational boards) of Pakistan. The research explores the problem and difficulties faced by the students regarding the use of multi-lingual media in the learning process. For this preliminary work, the qualitative approach is adopted to collect data through informal round table talks with the students of almost fifteen MadÉris located in the vicinity of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The findings of the study highlight the advantages and disadvantages of prevailing multi-lingual system of education in madÉris of the country. In finding multilingual nature and medium of instruction in madÉris have been explored. The multilingual nature of the curricula of “Dars-e-NiÐÉmi” and of medium of instruction remained a great challenge which causes comprehension problems along with many advantages. The work suggests replacing the multi-lingual medium of instruction with native language (Urdu or any other) on the initial stages; and second language (Arabic and English) on the advanced level of Islamic education.
