Reading Session on What Is A Madrasa

Date: Friday, 5^th January 2018
Time: 7 – 10PM
Venue: Graha Pemuda, Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur

Abstract
In What is a Madrasa? the author Ebrahim Moosa, born and raised in South Africa and now teaching in the USA, tells of his journey as a student in India’s orthodox or traditional schools. While doing so he also entertains the reader with many interesting details about life within madrasas as well as what is taught and how it is taught. Readers will come to know some of the many classical authors whose books are studied and what the value is of a traditional education. At the same time Moosa is also a friendly critic of the madrasa pointing out some of the deficits in that education. He remains indebted to the solid training of the madrasa but also advocates that there should be healthy synergies and engagement with contemporary knowledge if the Islamic intellectual tradition related to especially matters of religion is to play a meaningful role in the twenty-first century.