Education beyond the religious text

Ed by J.S. Rajput.

Shipra.

Pages 411.

Rs 550/-

The Qur’anic Approach to Education

Jayanti Roy

It has to be acknowledged that for all our discourses on secularism, communal harmony and national integration, we as citizens, academicians and community members have just scant knowledge and understanding of Islam, the holy Quran or Muslims. The reasons may be many, but one of these surely is the non-availability of lucid reading material, which could explain the topics. The book in hand fills that gap and through its collection of 15 papers tries to provide an Islamic perspective of knowledge and education.

The editor Prof. Rajput, who has headed the National Council for Education Research and Teaching from 1999-2000, in his editorial note puts this lack of awareness about the positive aspects of Islam and its consequences in the foreground of the subsequent discussions. Through a detailed essay, he contextualises the educational concerns of the Muslim community in India and suggests valuable opinions about what can be done in this direction. The authors of most of the papers are learned men, experts and renowned academicians. The focus of the articles is to explain in simple words the preaching of the holy Quran in the context of teacher-learner characteristics, cultivation of knowledge and learning, dissemination of knowledge, etc.

Though the sub-title of the book declares — ‘In the Indian Context’ yet we do not find enough evidence of it in the featured papers. Barring two or three write-ups, which explore the contemporary scenario of Madrasas or education of Muslim children in India, all of these discuss the interpretations of the holy Quran. It leaves a lot of scope for more books on the topics exploring the current scenario of Muslim education in our country.

The editor has not made efforts to bring uniformity to the style of drawing references. All the contributors of the book are Muslims. It made me think, aren’t there enough researchers across the academic community who have worked and researched on Islam and Muslim education. Since this area is not only significant for followers of Islam, it is important for all of us, who want our nation to progress cohesively and not in bits and pieces.