Insider Take on the Karachi Kids Fiasco
A few months ago a trailer for a “documentary” called ‘Karachi Kids' surfaced on YouTube.
The documentary was single-handedly made by Imran Raza – a young, opportunistic, and inexperienced film-maker trying desperately to make a name for himself. His thoughts on Islam are pretty clear, his graduation project from USC was a film about a young Muslim who is in a rock band and lives with his model girlfriend. When the tragedy of September 11 occurs he is conflicted about his religion and just wants things to go back to normal. His bio also states that he is a singer in some “sufi super rock group.”
The “documentary” is about 2 brothers from Atlanta who went to study at Jamia Binoria. Jamia Binoria is a madrasah, an Islamic Seminary in Karachi, Pakistan. I studied and graduated from Jamia Binoria. It is the main destination for foreign students wanting to study Islam in Pakistan.
Imran Raza visited the Jamia under the guise of being an unbiased film maker and then concocted a slanderous story and depiction of the Institution.
The documentary makes many erroneous claims, the craziest is that Osama bin Laden visited and spoke at the Jamia before 9-11. I was there studying at the time Mr. Raza claims OBL was there, and believe me I would've heard if he dropped by. I'll point out a few more lies and inaccuracies from the trailer itself.
Students have cell phones and some talk to their parents on a daily basis. Students are provided internet connections to their rooms and can bring laptop computers. The dorms are air-conditioned, carpeted, and have refrigerators. Students are free to walk out the door during free-time, so the whole captivity thing was a farce. In fact, my personal opinion is that the students have too much freedom to come and go as they please, when you consider the volatile state of Karachi and Pakistan overall. When I mentioned this to the principal he said he can not turn his school into a prison. The restroom shown in the trailer is nowhere to be found on campus. My friends and I struggled to remember a restroom in the whole campus that looked like that and could not. The meat being cut was taken at some random 'qasai ki dukan' (butcher's shop). The food being served is also a complete lie. The Jamia serves very good food to the students. In fact there is a very, very nice restaurant on campus (anyone who's been there will tell you).
Now I had intended to write about this earlier, but in Ramadan I was visited by one of my teachers and the principal of Jamia Binoria, Mufti Muhammed Naeem (he's shown in the trailer above). He was able to give me the full inside story.
When the documentary was made they were disturbed, but not too concerned. The situation became serious once FOX News ran the story. Texas Congressman Mike McCaul jumped on the opportunity for some face-time and proposed a bill requiring Americans in overseas religious schools to return home. Mufti Naeem said calls started pouring in from everywhere; parents, colleagues, local and national government, and the US Consulate. Now let me explain the relationship the Jamia has with the US Consulate. American students have been studying at the Jamia since 1988, with about 60 American students there currently. Mufti Naeem established formal relations with the Consulate and State Department early on to avoid any misunderstandings. The Consul General has visited the Jamia every year from then on. They tour the campus, interview the students, and have lunch at the madrasah. This has continued after 9-11 as well. As I was saying, the US Consulate called, acknowledged the falsity of the documentary, and scheduled a visit. During the visit they did the regular bit, gave letters from the Consulate to all the American students clearing them in case of travel, and offered some interesting advice to Mufti Naeem. Call CNN. He said he was skeptical at first, but called CNN upon their insistence. The CNN team of 6 people stayed at the Jamia for a whole week. They spoke to all the students, interviewed staff, observed classes, and looked in every crack in the walls. In the end, they didn't find any terrorists, weapons of mass destruction, or OBL. CNN then sat down with Raza and discussed their findings with him. How did he respond? Why don't you see for yourself:
A couple of final thoughts: CNN's statement that the Binori Town madrasah was visited by OBL has not been proven and it is also not located across the street but on the other side of town. I will admit that maybe this whole mess could have been avoided by screening and checking Imran Raza before granting him access to the Jamia and its students, and I discussed this with the principal. He said due to the intense scrutiny they deal with, he has to run a very open and transparent operation and allow access to anyone requesting it. Madaris and Darul-Ulooms in Pakistan have dealt with a lot of difficulty. Admittedly, some Madaris have an element of militancy, but that is not the case with the vast majority. Most of the Madaris are traditional institutions of learning where Islam is studied from the classical sources. The government of Pakistan has always treated Madarais as orphan children (ironic, considering that the Madaris many times serve as orphanages due to the government not doing its job.) So foreign countries have now also found the Madaris to be good scapegoats and boogeymen. When the government of Pakistan was calling for the “reform” of Madaris, they didn't bother to inform anyone of all the contributions and government funding they provide: zero, zilch, nada. In fact, many Madaris have incorporated secular education, and provide secular studies and computer literacy classes to graduates.
I also thought this was a good example of how sometimes we jump at the opportunity for Dawah or good PR due to the constant beating we take in the media, but sometimes it back-fires. Recently a brother from my community scheduled a visit to the masjid for a radio station, not knowing that they were evangelicals who wanted to “save us”. When an opportunity presents itself, its better to slow down for a second and do some research. Allah knows best.
Mr. Raza's not selling his “documentary” anymore. May Allah guide him to the truth.
AbdulNasir Jangda
Abdul Nasir Jangda is the founder and director of Qalam Institute. He was born and raised in the Dallas area. At the age of 10 he went to Karachi, Pakistan to memorize the Quran. He excelled in his memorization and committed the entire Quran to memory in less than 1 year. He then returned home and continued his school education. After graduating from High School, he went back to Karachi to study the Alim Course at Jamia Binoria. He graduated from the rigorous 7 year program in 2002 at the top of his class and with numerous Ijaazaat (Licenses) in various Islamic Sciences. Along with the Alim Course he concurrently completed a B.A. and M.A. in Arabic from Karachi University. He also obtained a Masters in Islamic Studies from the University of Sindh. He taught Arabic at the University of Texas at Arlington from 2005 to 2007. He has served as an instructor and curriculum advisor to various Islamic schools and Islamic studies programs. He served as the Imam at the Colleyville Masjid in the Dallas area for 3 years. He is a founding member and chairman of Mansfield Islamic Center. Abdul Nasir is an instructor with Bayyinah Institute, where his class “Meaningful Prayer” has traveled the country. His latest projects include Quran Intensive (a summer program focusing on Arabic grammar and Tafsir), Quranic analysis lectures, Khateeb Training, chronicling of the Prophetic Biography at www.qalaminstitute.org, and personally mentoring and teaching his students.
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