Photo Gallery: Visit to a Malaysian Madrasa

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Kim Lawton and the Senior Journalists Seminar fellows visited a madrasa, or Islamic school, in the hills outside of Kuala Lumpur. The school currently has almost 500 students, both male and female, although male students make up the majority of the student body. Students here begin by memorizing the entire Qur’an, which can take years to master. Once they achieve that, they move to other Islamic studies. In many Muslim countries, madrasas are accused of fomenting extremism. Leaders at this clearly-conservative school say they “teach love.”

Watch correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro’s recent story on a madrasa in Pakistan that is trying to broaden the scope of what its students are taught while discouraging Islamic extremism.

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