Exposing Islam

From the Madrassa to the Minbar – How Classical Jihad Lives On in Modern Islamic Education

🕌 1. Al-Azhar University (Cairo, Egypt)

Regarded as the Vatican of Sunni Islam, Al-Azhar boasts a millennium of religious authority. Its claims to moderation obscure the continuity of classical fiqh, especially in its formal curriculum.

📚 Jurisprudential Manuals Taught:

Al-Muwatta of Malik – Sanctions slavery, stoning, jihad as state expansion
Shafi‘i’s Risala – Treats apostasy, jizya, and jihad as divine obligations
Umdat al-Salik (Reliance of the Traveller) – Still used in Shafi'i legal courses

🔥 Explicit Teachings:

2009 Fatwa from Al-Azhar’s Dar al-Ifta affirms:

“Waging jihad against non-Muslims to spread Islam is a legitimate part of Islamic law.”
Graduation Requirement (Usul al-Din Faculty): Courses in Siyar (war jurisprudence) still cover the division of the world into Dar al-Islam vs. Dar al-Harb, and legitimize fighting against non-Muslim lands to establish Sharia.

📖 2. Pakistan’s Madrassa Network (Deobandi & Barelvi Sects)

Pakistan’s madrassas produce over 30,000 graduates per year, many of whom receive certification (ijazah) in classical texts.

📘 Core Curriculum: Dars-e-Nizami

Still includes:

Hidayah by Burhan al-Din al-Marghinani (Hanafi manual):

“Jihad is obligatory... at least once every year.”
Nawawi’s Minhaj al-Talibin (Shafi‘i):

“The caliph fights those who refuse Islam or jizya... even if they do not initiate war.”
Al-Ashbah wa al-Nazair (on legal maxims): Reaffirms enslavement and dhimmi hierarchy.

⚠️ Terrorist Links:

Many Taliban and Jaish-e-Mohammed leaders are alumni of these seminaries
Darul Uloom Haqqania: Known as the "University of Jihad"

🕌 3. Saudi Arabia: Wahhabi Endorsement of Classical Jihad

Saudi Arabia’s official curriculum (until 2019 reforms, and still in widespread unofficial circulation) taught:

📕 Tafsir (Qur’anic exegesis) Textbooks:

Qur’an 9:5 (“kill the polytheists wherever you find them”) interpreted as:

“A general order for the Muslims to fight until Islam dominates.”

📘 Fiqh Books Used in Schools:

Ibn Taymiyyah’s Majmu‘ al-Fatawa
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s Kitab al-Tawhid—labels Christians and Jews as kuffar and enemies of Islam unless subdued

🛑 The ideological DNA of Al-Qaeda and ISIS remains embedded in these interpretations.

🎓 4. University of Medina & Islamic University of Umm al-Qura (Saudi Arabia)

Major international institutions exporting Wahhabi-trained clerics to Africa, Europe, and Southeast Asia.

🧠 Legal Philosophy Still Taught:

Ibn Qudamah’s “al-Mughni” (Hanbali fiqh): Explicitly allows for jihad as offensive war and mandates slavery of captives.
Upholds the Hudud punishments, apostasy executions, and legal inferiority of non-Muslims

📡 5. Online Fatwa Portals & Da'wah Sites

Many Muslims bypass local imams and turn to:

Islam Q&A (run by Shaykh Muhammad al-Munajjid)

Teaches that fighting disbelievers is “the greatest type of jihad”
Ask Imam (Mufti Ebrahim Desai, South Africa)

Repeats Hanafi rulings on killing apostates, executing blasphemers, and waging war to expand Dar al-Islam
Al-Islam.org (Shia-oriented)

Also affirms offensive jihad under a legitimate Islamic government

🧨 Conclusion: Modern Institutions Are the Arteries of Medieval Islam

These institutions don’t “radicalize”—they preserve. They are not the fringe. They are the mainstream of traditional Islamic thought, and they continue to form the intellectual backbone of jihadism.

Just as Sayyid Qutb reanimated Shafi’i and Ibn Taymiyyah, today's clerics are pouring classical content into modern platforms—whether it’s in a Cairo lecture hall, a Pakistani madrassa, or a YouTube livestream.