 |
Definition: Madrasa |
 |
Linguists have an idea that when a word that used to have multiple meanings acquires a specific and taboo meaning, that meaning drives out all the others. For example, "gay" is now rarely used for any purpose other than referring to homosexuals.
A similar process is going on with the word "madrasa" in the American media. Madrasa, which derives from the Arabic root d-r-s, is part of a whole family of words that mean study, teach, learn, etc. "Madrasa," in its original context, means a school below the university level. Grammar schools in the Arab world are sometimes called madrasas regardless of whether they include religious instruction or not.
When the media (or anyone else) use the word madrasa to refer specifically to the radically ideological madrasas in Afghanistan and Pakistan, they are driving out the word's more general and non-ideological connotations. This threatens to short-circuit the viewer's/reader's understanding by suggesting that all Islamic education - or all education in the Muslim world generally - is radical, anti-western, and produces terrorists.
Don't be hoodwinked.
