1.4.7: Contemporary Madrasa Reform from Within
Dr. Masooda Bano is Professor of Development Studies and Senior Researcher at the Oxford Department of International Development. In this English- and Urdu-language video, Dr. Bano synthesizes findings from her research on how both old and new centers of Islamic authority are responding to changed expectations of Muslim youth in Muslim-majority countries as well as those living in the West. For more on her research, as well as the many books that emerged from her project on Islamic education and authority, please see her biography.
In this 2023 lecture for the Madrasa Discourses project, Dr. Bano asks: how can we integrate critical and scientific and rational thought with traditional Islamic sciences? Dr. Bano finds that there is significant ideological variation in how centers of learning bring these topics into conversation with one another. She invites participants to consider: “How do we bring Islamic teachings and philosophical depth to the fore with confidence and ingenuity?”
Questions:
- Why is it important to engage critically with texts from within the Islamic tradition, according to Dr. Bano?
- What does Dr. Bano think of a separation between “Islamic sciences” and “modern sciences”?
- How are centers of Islamic authority shifting their educational models to respond to changed expectations?
Image credit: Zaytuna Mosque by Larry Koester, CC BY 2.0 Deed.
