Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

On madrasas

In "All is not right about madrasas" (Open Page, Sept. 24), the author argues that madrasas are doing a disservice by teaching students that Muslim women should stay at home, observe purdah, and serve their husbands. What is wrong in the teaching? Are not the husband and children a woman's foremost responsibility? Is it not the duty of mothers to look after their children? The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. Women can go to work if they want to. But yes, Islam insists that the duty of women is to raise a good family.

Is wearing purdah an issue? The advocates of women's freedom must begin by lifting the veil from their minds that identify the purdah with oppression. The author's contention that well-to-do Muslims avoid sending their children to madrasas is wrong. I have seen rich parents sending their children there. Little boys and girls returning from madrasas in the morning and going to school later are a common sight in south India. People like Arshad Alam should be more careful while writing things that may lead others to think that Islam is outdated and that it requires correction.

Maymoona M.,
Thrissur, Kerala

The contention of progressivism versus conservatism is based on a false premise. That everything old is bad and everything new is good. So is the assumption that materially developed West is also morally elevated.

Chowdhry Nisar Ahmed,
Ambur, T.N.

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