Abstract
Radicalization has become an insurmountable problem for the comity of nations across the globe. Resultantly, every society has become infested with extremist and radicalized elements. These radicalized segments of the society create confrontational environment by motivating the masses through speeches, distribution of controversial religious and other literature and by controlling the minds of the people by using many other psychological tools. The main factor behind every incident; whether it is a terrorist activity or an act of radicalism is the lack of appropriate knowledge. Created on religio-ideological grounds, the menace of radicalization continues to haunt Pakistan since decades. A plethora of factors have been identified having caused fragmentation in our society and skewed the education system. Whereas, Madrasah system of education is blamed as the nursery of radicalization in our society, the total monopoly over decision making process of the country of the graduates of the elite schooling system is causing disfranchisement of the vast majority of the youth from the governance structure. A complete revamping of the education system of the country by adoption of uniform education system with fusion of Islamic and contemporary knowledge can bring a positive change. The adoption of Turkish Islamic scholar, Badiuzzaman Said Nursi’s (1877-1960) educational model offers a solution to the existing imbalances in our educational system which will not only mainstream the vast majority of Madrasah graduates, but also enlighten the graduates of elite schooling system with the Islamic tenants of governance and thus ensure the direly needed national integration. Being a descriptive research, the paper makes an endeavor to answer the questions about whether the existing education system is the root cause of radicalization and a fragmented society.
Keyword(s)
Radicalization, De-Radicalization, Education system, Nursi model, Madrasah Education, Reforms.