Madrasah education and Muslim communities in Hong Kong

Muslims are often inaccurately identified as Arabs and people from the Middle East. But in fact, the largest Muslim populations can be found in Asia. The management of Islam has become a crucial agenda in many Asian governments. The transnational linkages of the madrasah, one of the most important educational, political and transnational institutions in the Islamic world, are becoming more significant in Asia, especially in issues of youth, education, child development, inter-ethnic relations and regional security. The role of the madrasah, therefore, has also become one of the key research topics in academia. Traditionally, the madrasah has been an Islamic institution where Muslims learn the Qur’an and where the ulama (religious scholars) are trained. Increasing global attention paid to the madrasah in the post-9/11 era, however, can be attributed to the fact that many policy makers and security analysts believe that the madrasah plays a major role in recruiting young Muslims for terrorism and brainwashing them with distorted ideas of radicalism. The madrasah is criticised for closing students’ minds by enforcing totalitarianism and for spreading terrorism by inculcating in young people anti-Western ideology. The madrasah is particularly criminalised as a potential site for breeding terrorism. © 2018 selection and editorial matter, Mukhlis Abu Bakar; individual chapters, the contributors.