The Madrasa pt 1

Posted by Hamza

Jun 21

Al Hamdulillah, I have just returned from Spain with my family after visiting the Madrasa in the town of Puebla de Don Fadrique in the Province of Granada, Andalusia. It was a fantastic visit and I would certainly visit again…and indeed I plan to do so. The Madrasa was the star of the hit TV series The Retreat where a number of young Muslims and non Muslims sought to find spirituality through dhikr, contemplation and meditation in this outpost of calmness and relaxation in the Andalusian countryside.

The Madrasa itself is beautiful and surrounded by amazing scenery and the time spent there in the mosque and in the wider area has benefited my greatly. I would certainly recommend people to visit but it must be accompanied with a small word of advice.

The Muslims here are great people and very hospitable but you should not expect a perfect Islamic community that adheres to all the tenants of Islam as they have developed there own Andalusian brand of Islam that at times is quite frustrating.

I have always been an opponent of Islamic modernists and was left with my chin of the ground at many of their ideals and mentalities of supposed learnered Muslims.

If anyone wishes to go to the Madrasa it should be known that there will be mixed eating areas and mixed lessons where sisters and brothers will be sat side by side. Hijabs are not worn at all or not worn properly by many sisters.

But alas, there was not much I could do about the whole thing so keeping myself to myself was what I did. I have been informed, however, that when true alims arrive at the madrasa, segregation and hijab is very strict – strange!

There are more issues, but I do not want to dwell on them because the importance of this small Muslim community in Andalusian Spain is immense and the work they do is fantastic.

Despite the lack of adherence of the shariya, it is still a place definately worth visiting.

Whilst we were there they were engaging in dawah. A party of 15 men and women came to learn about Islam and the amazing thing about these people were that they were all former Catholic nuns and monks who had left the church and their former lives because they came to the realisation that many Catholic doctrines were all man made, incorrect and immoral.

tag: islam, the madrasa, spain, the retreat