According to a report in the India Today publication an Islamic school or maddrassa has been raided by Indian police and a .32 calibre handgun was found along with ammunition all hidden in medicine boxes. India Today (h/t ROP) said that the police got a tip off that there were illegal weapons being stored at the maddrassa in the town of Bijnor in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
The police carried out their raid and arrested six people including a man who was said to be a teacher at the Islamic school. The investigation is ongoing into the weapons find but this is not the first time that Islamic schools have been involved in illegal or terrorist activity. There are concerns, also reported by India Today, that maddrassas in another Indian state, Bengal, are hotbeds of Islamic religious extremism. The Indian Home Minister Amit Shah has told the Indian parliament that both Bangladeshi and Pakistani terror groups are using maddrassas to radicalise young Muslims in the Bengal state.
I must admit that the finding of weapons that have been obviously hidden in an Islamic school is not good. It may well indicate that radicalisation is going on in Indian Islamic educational institutions and that in some cases weapons are being stored or stockpiled in Islamic religious institutions ready for some atrocity or other.
Although this weapons find in Uttar Pradesh is primarily a problem for the Indian government, the fact that Muslim extremists are ready and willing to store weapons in a religious school could end up as a problem for the rest of the world. There are hundreds of Islamic religious schools in places like the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. Some of these schools are official and are monitored by education ministries. However there are many others which operate below the radar and, like their Indian counterparts, may also be radicalising Muslims for jihad or providing a safe place to store weapons? The mosques and maddrassa of the West may also be places where jihad is encouraged and weapons kept.
We may find that some of the Islam related problems, and especially the violent Islam problems of the future may well have their roots in what is taught in mosques and maddrassas. It is vital therefore that governments in the West get a grip on these institutions and institute strict licensing and monitoring policies specifically aimed at Islamic institutions. When I see stories like this one from Uttar Pradesh I can’t help but wonder if this situation is being replicated elsewhere? If we, or rather our governments, don’t wake up to the possibility that mosques and maddrassas could be centres of violent sedition and deal harshly with the problem, then the prospects of avoiding future conflict will be very bleak indeed.
