Islamic Education

During the pre-partition era, the controversy surrounding the Two-Nation Theory arose. In response, Maulana Hussain Ahmed Madani stated in 1937, “In modern times, nations are formed by homelands.” At the time, advocate Iqbal Ahmed Suhail, composed a reasoned response in the form of a Persian poem, two verses of which were: Translation: Turn to Deoband if you seek salvation, For the demon of the self, unruly and naive, is your enemy. Follow the path of Hussain Ahmed if you seek God, For he is the heir of the Prophet and from the Prophet’s lineage. It was my cousin, Maulana Iqbal Ahmed Suhail, who gave me my first conscious thought about life. Thus, even in my youth, I was connected with scholars and the madrasa movement, a connection that has never been severed. I have maintained a continuous relationship with the world of madrasas. My education also took place in a madrasa. I have regularly interacted with individuals associated with madrasas and frequently participated in madrasa gatherings and programs. However, I had not yet written formally about madrasas. While some of my miscellaneous writings on this topic had been published, I had not compiled a comprehensive book on the subject. Scholars associated with various madrasas often urged me to write a book or a detailed article about madrasas, but I had not been able to undertake this task. Finally, in May 2000,