Shut madrasas to check IS influence on Muslim children, UP Shia board chief writes to PM

Lucknow, January 22

Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf Board Chairman Waseem Rizvi has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to shut down primary-level madarsas across the country in order to check militant Islamic State’s influence on Muslim children.

Rizvi, who has supported the demand for Ram temple in Ayodhya and uniform civil code, said Muslim children, if they wanted, could take admission in madarsas after completing high school.

“It can be seen that children are soft targets for running any mission and at this point of time ISIS is a dangerous terror organisation which is gradually getting hold over the Muslim population across the world.

“If madarasas are not shut down, about half of the country’s population will become supporters of the ISIS ideology in 15 years’ time,” Rizvi said in the letter.

He said the support to the Islamic State was clearly visible in Kashmir where children are being alienated from people of other religion in the name of Islamic education.

“In the rural areas of the country also, the primary madarasas in the name of donations are harming the future of our children and promoting fundamentalist thinking. This is damaging both the country and the Muslim children,” he said.

Taking admission in madrasas after schooling will not only help them take normal education till high school with children of different sections of society and religion, but also will deter them from getting easily influenced by fundamentalist thinking, Rizvi said.

He has previously supported the demand of Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya and a mosque, ‘Masjid-e-Aman’, in Lucknow. PTI