Muslim Religious Militancy: Causes and Cure

Islamic religious militancy is a matter of great concern for the Muslim and the non-Muslim world today. The analysis of the ideology of the militants reveals that they find the legitimacy of their military activities in the ideal of the establishment of an Islamic state to establish the universal rule of Islām, and in the specific interpretations of some Qur’ānic verses, Aḥādīth of the Prophet (r), and also from the establishment of the Islamic state in Madīnah by the Prophet (r), his the military expeditions and those of his companions against their opponents and from the treatment of our historians of the individual military campaigns against the Muslim regimes of their times. The Muslim militants also fight against their Muslim governments on the grounds that they are not the true Islamic governments. The militants do not bother to kill the common Muslim masses, who vote and support such rulers. They take it as collateral damage. The world naturally reacts to this cult, especially the west, being at the helm of the world politics. Not only do the West tries to crush the Islamic militants, across the world, but also, topple the Muslim democratic governments having any ideal of an Islamic Khilāfah. This frustrates the peaceful political activists and strengthens the military activists, further. To end this ongoing and mounting cult of religious militancy, it is necessary to review the specific and traditional interpretations of the academic sources of Islām: Qur’ān, Ḥadīth and Fiqh, regarding the legitimacy of militancy in Islām. Secondly, to remove their misconceptions, it is necessary to engage the militants in dialogue through a counter narrative, which the author tried to present here.

Role of Community Based Education Committee Ec in the School Management and its Effect on School Performance

Community participation has become an essential part of school reform, particularly in the educational policies and school management. Community participation in the school management has become a taken for granted reform, which is based on the assumptions that it will improve the educational delivery at the school level by harmonizing activities, utilizing resources more effectively and mobilizing the additional human and financial resources. This reform is widely adopted in the developing countries, including Pakistan. The notion seems to be acceptable but in practice it might prove problematic. The structure, functions and mechanism of community management, and its impact on school performance is not well known. I carried out a systematic research on community-based Education Committees' (EC) role, function and the relationship between the role and school performance, in the context of Pakistan. I employed qualitative and quantitative research approaches in order to obtain some generalizable information about the EC's management structure and role in the community schools in Karachi, Pakistan. Findings from the studies revealed that ECs had been involved at the administrative and operational level. The management structure, mechanism, background of the committee members and location of the school, had a great influence on the school performance. The ECs had performed a significant role in improving physical resources, retaining teachers' moral and students performance, through maximum participation of the key stakeholders, particularly the school staff in the school management. On the contrary those community management structures with little understanding of the school processes, exclusion of headteachers from the decision-making, and unnecessary monitoring of the school staff had a negative impact on the school performance. Thus the study findings have an implication for the ECs with regard to the structure of the committee, its composition and the mechanism required and effective involvement in the school management. The study also suggested some recommendation for the ECs, schools and policy makers, based on the findings.