Pakistani religious outfit rues absence of `jihadi verses’ in school syllabi

The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), a religious outfit in Pakistan, has raised serious concerns that the government has not taken any interest in including jihadi chants in the proposed syllabi for public educational institutions.

According to CII, jihad is the religious duty of Muslims to maintain their religion. The word `jihad' in Arabic pertains to the act of striving, struggling, and persevering to serve God and his will on earth.

As an example of jihadi verse, answering-islam.org cites excerpt K 2:193-194 of the Quran, which reads: ''..fight with them...whoever then acts aggressively against you, inflict injury on him according to the injury he has inflicted on you...''.

Maulana Muhammad Khan Sheerani, chairman of the CII, has called upon the federal ministry of education and professional training to include the jihadi verses in school syllibi in order to inculcate its importance among children.

The council also asked the four provincial administrations to make the teaching of the Holy Quran compulsory from grade 1 to 12.

CII is a constitutional body in Pakistan and the issue of verses about jihad and the teaching of Quran was raised when the government presented a draft of proposed curriculum before the CII for suggestions.

While the draft proposals make recitation of the Holy Quran compulsory from classes one to five Quranic education with translation would be taught to students of classes six to ten, in all public schools.

Teaching of Quran in schools would make them capable of reciting the Holy text within five years, which will ensure that parents no longer have to engage teachers or send their children to seminaries to learn Quran.

CII sources say its members were not happy to leave an important topic like jihad out of teaching course being set for students.

They say, 484 verses of jihad are mentioned in the Quran but they were deliberately excluded from the syllabus.