IS THERE ANYTHING WRONG WITH THE SINGLE NATIONAL CURRICULUM?

I used to be an ardent supporter of Pervez Hoodbhoy but I strongly detest his opposition to the proposed nationwide curriculum our federal government is endeavoring to introduce in the entire country. The secular portion of our country believes that the government is bringing fascism in the country by pushing a specific religious narrative over all students. They have reviewed this curriculum and have raised some arguments against it, calling it biased, discriminatory and controversial. Though I believe that the recently-postponed Tahaffuz-e-Bunyad-e-Islam (Protection of Islam's Foundation) Bill 2020 was indeed brought by a bunch of takfiri groups to undermine the Shiite identity of millions of Pakistanis. I also strongly oppose how the Punjab government banned 200 books for allegedly containing blasphemous content (i.e. images of pigs in math books or quotes by M. K. Gandhi). But I have read this so-called controversial curriculum and I am satisfied with it (though not completely). This syllabus still needs some modifications (such as the inclusion of Muharram as a Muslim festival of mourning) but, generally speaking, this is a step towards progress and provincial unison.

I have just read a piece of writing authored by the esteemed editorial board of Today's Point Online. They have produced seven arguments on the content they found in the SNC booklet recently uploaded on the internet. I don't know where to download it from again from but I was fortunate enough to get it from a Facebook page's admin. The booklet covered the subject of Islam proposed to be tutored to the first 5 grades at school. The basic problem our secular citizens have with the system is the fact that Pakistan isn't a secular country. They don't want Islam to be a part of the government. They want to make this country as anti-religion as post-Ataturk Turkey had become. The mere sight of tasmiyah ("In the name of beneficent and gracious God") makes them sick to their stomach. They want the government to either teach no religion to little kids or educate them about every single faith community that exists in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. They want either no religion at all or a perfectly-balanced ecclesiastical education. I believe this is mere insanity. I find the secular people a different sort of extremists than the religious fundamentalists. I abhor both extremists regarding religion: (i) forcing your ideas on others and hating people for being different is extremism; (ii) hating religion altogether and trying to make people godless is another form of fundamentalism. I consider SNC to be acceptable. It doesn't do justice to my Shiite faith, I confess. But at least it doesn't obligate Shiite students to become Sunnis like that goddamned Tahaffuz-e-Bunyad-s-Islam Bill expected to do. Yes, SNC doesn't include enough mention of Shiite-exclusive ideas but it doesn't discriminate against us either. For example, it doesn't compel schoolteachers to teach little schoolchildren that Shiites killed Husayn.

So, there's nothing wrong with SNC, in my opinion. But let's here the arguments raised by the article I have just mentioned above. After a lengthy introduction (the sort of which I have repeated in this humble presentation of mine), they discussed the so-called offensive elements in SNC. Most of them aren't even controversial.

(1) It doesn't talk about Fatimah, Hasan and Husayn.

I believe that exclusion of these three personalities doesn't necessarily mean the authorities are trying to alienate students from the Shiite faith. I believe the reason why the Rashidun Caliphs were selected to be a part of the Hidayat kay Sarchashmay (Sources of Guidance) series in the Islamic subject on the proposed curriculum was them being personalities rich with not-so-controversial content. When you talk about Hasan and Husayn, you have to deal with stuff that gives rise to Shiite-Sunni crisis. Therefore, keeping the sensitive nature of Pakistani religious atmosphere in mind, it's better not to talk about these personalities in SNC. But that doesn't mean that Muslims will stop loving Hasan and Husayn if they weren't mentioned in their syllabus. 

(2) The curriculum omits the events of Thaqifah, Fadak and Karbala:

Again, these events are of controversial nature and the authorities shouldn't discuss stuff like that in books meant for children. I mean they're underage kids, for God's sake! But Lady Fatimah is mentioned when the students learn about Caliph Ali. I believe her children would also be mentioned in the syllabus because it does ask teachers to discuss Ali's kids with Fatimah.

But why do you want them to know about how the Companions of Muhammad were quarreling with each other mere seconds after his passing? How can you tell them that the ashab had different opinions regarding the immediate succession of the Prophet without falling into another Shiite-Sunni controversy? How can you tell students that Fatimah was so mad at Abu Bakr regarding the property of Fadak that she severed her relations with him and died without being on speaking terms with the Caliph? Wouldn't that encourage kids to side with either Fatimah or Abu Bakr? Wouldn't that produce the same sort of religious animosity we're so desperately trying to repress? I believe that Fatimah was correct and the Caliph wronged her but I don't want to tell underage kids about these controversies. Let them make up their own minds in adulthood. As for the Battle of Karbala, that is also irrelevant to the course meant for juniors.

Furthermore, the history portion chiefly focuses on the life events of Prophet Muhammad, the single guy who is liked by all Muslims in the world. By the way, this syllabus also includes the services of Abu Talib for Islam. Doesn't it show that the curriculum wishes to do a little justice to the pro-Shiite historical personalities? And a careful examination does reveal that SNC wants teachers to tell students about the Ahlul Bayt. Here's a screenshot:

(3) There is no mention of Shiite hadith sources.

I agree with this point. I remember that in my 1st first in college, I read about Shiite hadith books in my Islamic subject. We had to memorize the names of the sihah-e-sittah and the usul-e-arba'ah for examination. I believe SNC better introduce kids to rival hadith sources too and select agreed-upon hadiths from books like Usul-e-Kafi and Nahj-al-Balaghah.

(4) There is no mention of many local Sufi saints.

I don't think this curriculum was ever meant to be an encyclopedia of all the Sufi saints in human history. We can't put every celebrity you like in books meant for little kids. The SNC mentions a few famous saints and I think we don't need to educate out junior students with information about a dozen saints.

(5) There's no mention of Muharram but the syllabus does talk about tabligh.

This is utterly wrong. The author insists that the syllabus mentions the Tablighi Ijtima of the Deobandi Muslims. In fact, the syllabus talks about the mere concept of tabligh in Islam and the services of early Muslims for the cause of propagation of their faith. I am simply bewildered how on earth the author confused tabligh with the Deobandi Tablighi Movement? But the article, I believe, should talk about the Muharram mourning rituals if it mentions the Mawlid festivities.

Then the author adopts an approach similar to Hoodbhoy's and other secular Muslims who argue that this book - which, mind you, tries to teach Islam to students - must mention non-Muslim celebrations as well. Why do you want students to learn about Christmas and Hanukkah in an Islamic book? Don't we have Pakistan Studies for this purpose?

(6) The government has proposed that non-Muslims students would be excused when the subject of Islam is being taught.

Yes, I think this policy is stupid, discriminatory and inhumane. But I don't think something like that is written in SNC. That's what a federal minister has proposed and we can easily ignore such an indecent suggestion.

(7) We should check the religious background of a teacher who will teach Islam to our kids. Most of these mullahs belong to Deobandi schools so they can teach anti-Shiite stuff to students.

Yes, I agree with this point. Teachers should be invited from religious schools (madaris) belonging to all major Muslim sects present in Pakistan. But I don't think the government will let a Deobandi teacher teach offensive material to our kids.

Here's another article written against SNC that actually compares it with what Indians are doing. The arguments presented by this author are better and I think you all should read it. Though I may not agree with the conclusion but I do respect intellectual representation of one's viewpoint.