STRANGE bedfellows but the proliferation of tahfiz schools has former de facto law minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim and political commentator Prof James Chin agreeing that it represents a worrying trend.
In a Facebook post, the opposition-slant UMNO member thanked the inaugural director of the Asia Institute at the University of Tasmania by declaring:
Prof James Chin exposes the bleak future of 80,000 Muslim students in tahfiz schools. I want to thank him for highlighting the issues. It will be difficult for these students to get jobs.”
It takes a Chinaman to raise concerns about the malaise of the Malay community.
Elaborating on the concern factor, the former Kota Bahru MP further argued:
These students would have few skills to keep them economically beneficial for themselves, their families and the community.
“Yet more tahfiz schools are being established, and if (Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad) Zahid Hamidi has his way, the tahfiz curriculum will soon be extended to national schools. Our national schools will be completely transformed.
Muslims beg to differ
Not everyone was in agreement with the founder of Malaysia’s largest law firm (which he no longer owns) with one commenter stating that while Chin was stating the obvious, “not all is bleak”.
“There are efforts to improve things by including in the curriculum TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) courses and SPM subjects,” he justified.
“Some tahfiz are recognised by middle eastern universities and they can enter those universities at a lower cost compared to studying in local universities.”
Added the retiree: “I know doctors, architects, engineers and science graduates who are successful yet not practising their background knowledge. They become businessmen and entrepreneurs.
“The tahfiz students are on the same level of those only with SPM certificates. SPM students have so many choices if they want to work.”
Another commenter underlined that for many Muslim households, the choice is to incorporate strong religious elements in their kids’ education. Nothing wrong with that, is there?
One parent speaking from experience highlighted that her child did just fine with tahfiz education. The child did not have problems assimilating into a national curriculum later nor did he have any issues socialising with non-Malay schoolmates.
One commenter took exception to the suggestion that tahfiz students lacked qualifications or indeed real-life skills.
It was unfortunately laced with precisely the narrow perspective that the poster alluded to with the commenter making outright racist remarks by arguing that tahfiz pupils “will eventually oppose LBGTQ, adultery, gambling, alcohol, pork, graft” and not be reliant on “tawke Cina, tawke babi” for their livelihoods.
Another simply accused the Zaid of making unsubstantiated claims given many tahfiz school pupils are bright sparks capable of competing with their SPM peers and eventually carve out successful professional careers.
Referencing a Gut Shot Podcast on the subject, Chin who is a renowned political commentator was at pains to express the many shortcomings of the tahfiz education system.
He opined: “These schools currently enrol around 80,000 students who receive almost no training in modern life skills or marketable qualifications. When they enter the workforce, many face deep frustration and resentment.
“A significant majority end up rejecting the existing system entirely and instead support the vision of a full Islamic state because this is the only thing taught to them and this is their worldview. They cannot think for themselves.” – Feb 10, 2026
Main image credit: Bernama
