The cause behind difficulty in understanding the Seminary System

The Islamic Seminary has its own specific system which is unidentified for outsiders and they are not acquainted with it. The reason why the ordinary people are acquainted with the education system of their countries is because they study and get educated under this system and this is the best way of understanding any education system. But everyone is not concerned with the education in Seminary and hence they remain unacquainted with it.

One another reason due to which difficulties have come up in understanding the education system is that the sciences have been separated into worldly and religious sciences and as a result people concerned with both the systems remain unaware with each other. There are few who are successful in getting education from both and this is the reason they have the understanding of both the type of education systems.

A painful tragedy of Muslim Societies

The religious schools and seminaries do not teach those subjects which are taught in schools, colleges and universities whereas in the past it was not like this but instead all the subjects were taught in religious schools. The scholars were acquainted with all the subjects and sciences of current era. This is the reason that in history all Muslim intellectuals, philosophers, physicians, scientists, etc were amongst scholars. One painful tragedy which happened with the Muslim society was that as a result of various causes a separation and gap was introduced between Religion and world, religion and politics, religion and knowledge, religion and intelligence. And gradually this gap kept on increasing; the outcome of which proved damaging for religion as well as world, politics, science and intelligence; and both the segments are suffering due to absence and isolation of each other.

From a comprehensive Seminary to a Jurisprudence Institute

Martyr Mutttaheri says in the ancient era there was comprehensiveness in religious and academic seminaries and all the latest sciences were taught in these seminaries. As a result of being subdued by the effects of certain causes the Islamic Seminary started to see confinements and today the Islamic Seminary has transformed into merely an Institute of Jurisprudence; and only those sciences related to Islamic Jurisprudence (Fiqh) are the centre of attention. All other subjects and sciences have either become completely obsolete or their significance as compared to Jurisprudence (Fiqh) is nothing. In this regards we can divide the religious and education seminaries into three era's.

1. Era of Comprehensiveness

2. Era of Confinement

3. Era after Islamic Revolution

The Era of Comprehensiveness

The era of comprehensiveness implies to that period during which all sciences, subjects were taught in religious schools and seminaries. As an example literature, beliefs, the science of "Kalaam", science of Jurisprudence, Traditions, physics, mathematics, philosophy, logic, ethics, astrology, etc thus those scholars who completed their education from these schools were counted amongst the most highly comprehensive educated persons of their era.

The Era of Confinement

The Era of confinement is that era in which several subjects and sciences became obsolete in religious schools and seminaries and the entire focus was on Islamic Jurisprudence and its associated sciences. According to Martyr Mutttaheri in Jurisprudence the methodology was just to follow the past.

In this era the science of physics, astrology, mathematics, physics and philosophy vanished from the seminaries and even the sciences of traditions and Quranic exegesis also did not remain as part of formal seminary syllabus.

The Seminary of Najaf became a victim of this confinement in the last era and since it was the central seminary it had an impact on all other Shia educational centres due to which the Islamic Seminary of Qom also became a victim. In fact wherever the educated scholars from the Najaf Seminary went they carried this confinement with them and even today they are firm on this. Though there have been such elderly personalities in Holy Najaf who have made attempts to get the Seminary out from this confinement and have suffered a lot of pains to bring it back to comprehensiveness.

In this era of confinement studying certain subjects were considered as forbidden (Haraam) like philosophy and logic were counted amongst illegitimate sciences. Similarly life sciences, astrology and planetary studies were amongst prohibited sciences.

The Era after Islamic Revolution

The way other segments have seen changes after the revolution; clearly visible changes have been seen in the education system of the Qom seminary also though these changes are not satisfactory but despite of this a clear difference is seen in the Seminary of Qom. Since this process of changes is ongoing and has not reached its final limits; and since it is traversing experimental stages these experiments have not reached the stage of firmness. Thus a complete comprehensive and firm system has not been able to replace the traditional system.

A special centre has been established under the Supreme Leader to change the system of Seminary and this centre is continuously studying and doing research work on this. In this context there are many complexities and difficulties present which would be discussed in a separate article.

The traditional system of Islamic Seminary

The traditional system of Islamic Seminary is a free educational system which had no formal structured syllabus but on its own certain books and subjects gets included within the syllabus. The teachers have freedom to teach and there are no restrictions for any teacher to deliver lessons related to any subject. The teachers are not selected after going through some formal process of teaching but instead several capable individuals based on their individual efforts and struggle get privileged with the status of being teachers.

The lectures are also done in an independent way. There is no system for admission to classes and instead the students based on their taste and style select the teacher and class. In the ancient system of seminary there was no concept of admission in fact any individual who desired could sit in the seminary and study. There was no system of examination also; the respected Marajae used to conduct some exams for the purpose of qualifying stipends or dues to the students. The certification system was also missing from the seminary and no certification or attestation was given to anyone who completed his education. The Marajae and senior teachers used to attest some individuals on personal basis but these attestations had only some honorary significance.

In the ancient Seminary system there were three grades or levels of education. The first level was termed as preliminary level , second was the surface level education and third was the exit level education (Darse Kharij). There was no period or timelines fixed for any of these levels; the students based on their abilities and approach would complete these levels.

After the Islamic Revolution

There has been a lot of changes in the education system of the Seminary after the Islamic revolution and a formal syllabus of the Seminary has been structured. The process of admission of students in different institutes has started, teachers have been appointed and the selection of teachers has also come into practice. Similarly the grading of lectures has been done in a much better way and the system of examination has been made clear.

Today the stage of preliminary and prerequisite education is done under the new system. In this stage the independent education system has almost ended and only those students study independently who don't get formal admission in the Seminary or are counted as informal Seminary students.

The intermediate or surface level education grade is done through both methods which means through independent lectures as well as the seminary system. The exit level (Dars-e-Kharij) education grade still operates in an independent way except for one change that it is mandatory for every student studying in this grade for six years to give examination.

The move towards specialization in Seminary

Apart from these changes in seminary one other significant change is the promotion of move towards specialization in various sciences and segments. It is on this basis that in the Qom Seminary the stage of specialization in all subjects is also being accomplished and a big quantum of students are occupied with this.

The issuance of certification is also being formally done by the Seminary though the certification by Seminary is still dependent on attestation by the Iranian Ministry of Education without which this certification cannot be trusted as we discussed in the previous issue (of the Magazine) that there is a separate management structure for Iranian and Non Iranian students. In the same way the education system for both categories are also different. In this context we will present in sequential form the structure of education system for both categories of students so that the readers can get better acquaintance.

The education system of Central Management Office

The sponsorship and guardianship organization for Iranian students is the Central Management office which has been discussed previously (in second issue of the Magazine). As per the latest structure of the syllabus this organization's education syllabus is in two stages.

1. Ten years Education stage

2. The exit level Education
 

The Ten years Education stage

In this stage an education syllabus has been developed for ten years in which the below listed subjects are included.

The exegesis of Quran, Quranic Sciences, Science of traditions (Hadith), Jurisprudence, Principles of Jurisprudence, Beliefs, History, Logic, Philosophy, Political Science, Ethics, Science of narrators of traditions, etc.

This ten years stage is also divided into three parts. The initial five years period in this is known as the first level or preliminary level, the next three years period is the known as level two and the final two years is level three.

In comparison to the known education system the first level is equivalent to FA , the second to BA and third to MA.

The first level of five years has to be done in any of the approved and agreed upon institute by the Management Office whereas for level two and three independent lectures are also available whereas some institutes also have arrangements for the same.

After taking admission in the institute the students formally study as per the syllabus. The lectures are done daily from dawn to afternoon and sometimes also in evening. The method of independent classes is such that the subjects included in the Seminary syllabus and the related books are taught by several teachers after which the students select their desired lecture and teachers to complete the level. They select the books, teacher and lectures by their own will. The announcement of lectures , time and place is done through adverts. These adverts are posted in the beginning of the education year at specific places. At times one subject or book are taught by ten to twenty teachers at the same time at different places. The beauty of a liberal education system is that the student has the control over selecting the teacher, book and time. Generally a student initially attends lectures of few teachers. He understands their style of lectures, level of research, command over subject and method of delivery then based on his taste and interest formally selects a teacher. Though in between the year whenever he wants he can leave the lecture and teacher to participate in someone else's lecture.

There is no obligation on attendance in independent lectures hence day offs can be taken anytime. The teacher does not selects the student in fact he is not even aware whether the student attending his lecture is worthy of it or not. These kind of issues are big deficiencies of this system.

Preaching is part of education in the Seminary. This means in order to reach a high level or degree every student in the seminary has to teach everything what he has learnt. The students who possess the abilities to teach reach high levels.

The beauties of independent education system

One beauty in the independent education system is that teachers do not get any compensation; they deliver their duties for several years just for the sake of acquiring divine pleasure and for their own intellectual growth. Similarly the students attending independent lectures also do not get any stipends and they attend these lectures just for the sake of gaining educational benefits. But this beauty of the Seminary is slowing fading and since last few years the attraction towards compensation is dominating the other motivators. Some teachers also give preference to compensation and they try to teach in those institutes where they get more compensation.

Delivering lectures without fees

One good thing about the independent education system is that the teachers are not imposed over students instead the student has the rights to select a suitable teacher from amongst twenty options. In this mentioned system every individual cannot the reach the level of a teacher but only those who are capable, hardworking, acquainted with the teaching methodologies and sovereignty over oration can reach this prosperous stage. But some bad omen has struck this beauty of the seminary as well because one innovation has happened in the exemplary and divine system of the Seminary that certain teachers are paying money to students attending their lectures so that there is more rush in their lectures or there are such individuals present who do not possess the earlier mentioned traits of teaching and no one is prepared to study under them. They then get counted amongst big teachers and acquire fame with the help of money. In students as well there is a big quantum of greedy and abased ones. Such kind of students only attend such lectures and also become promoters of such teachers. These type of students in the beginning itself identify the teachers who pay money and then sit in front of these teachers for the entire day to show their face. This method has become a source of income for certain individuals. In such type of lectures one practical joke is seen sometimes whereby a very capable and virtuous student is attending the lecture of a useless and non virtuous teacher just for the sake of money. There are certain who just for the sake of financial support sit in lectures which are much below their level. This point is seen even in the matters of promoting teachers and personalities.

The managers of seminary should pay attention towards this deficiency and before it gets out of control it should be resolved. Though in an independent education system where thousands of teachers and students are present development of such kind of issues is not something unique but this is also an established fact that if this  practice becomes a culture and gets more promotion then it can become the basis of non repairable losses for the seminary in future.

It is necessary to remind this point that in this kind of independent education environment only the lectures are liberal whereas there is an examination for all these lectures; the details of which will come in the examination discussion later.

There is no supervision also on the independent lectures though since last few years a separate department for teachers has been established under the Management office but practically there is no system in place for supervising the independent lectures. In the previous era's there was no need for the system because there was no justification for supervising the teachers since the teachers of seminary in those periods were models and ideals in all regards. They were pure beings both in knowledge and practice and in fact they had the responsibilities to supervise. But today the situation is somewhat different, whereby in regards to individuals there is a vastness of non ordinary beings in the seminary due to which the control is essential.

Inappropriate benefits from the Lectures environment

There are certain persons who take inappropriate benefits from the independent education system. There are practical forms of these inappropriate benefits amongst which one is that those individuals who possess hatred towards the Islamic revolution in their hearts use their lectures as means of expression of this hatred. The students unintentionally can become victims of distortion in thoughts by attending such gatherings. Though this danger is the same for all but for non Iranian students this danger is intensively present. We will give more details about this while discussing about the non Iranian education system in the next issue.

Thus the independent education system has countless benefits and goodness if preserved from calamities. If the issues experienced every other day are kept under control than no doubt this is an exemplary system across the world. It is an appeal to all the people of the Seminary to be attentive in preserving this system. The biggest threat to this system is from the system in universities. The system in universities is respected and appreciable at its place but it is suitable for that environment. But for religious education seminaries an independent system is a bounty and even in certain academies and universities as well an attraction towards independent education system has developed.

............. To be continued