“According to a tradition reported by Abdullah Ibn Amr (RAA) and transmitted by Darimi (RA), once Allah´s Messenger (SAW) happened to pass by two groups (of Muslims) in the mosque and he said: Both of them are good, but one is superior to the other. One group is supplicating Allah and praying Him. If He so wills He will confer upon them and if He so wills He will withhold. As for those who are acquiring the understanding of religion and its knowledge and are busy in teaching the ignorant, they are superior. Verily I have been sent as a teacher. He then sat down amongst them.”
There are two important things in the incident quoted above:
- People who learn and impart the knowledge of the religion are superior
- “If He so wills He will confer upon them and if He so wills He will withhold”
Most of you will agree with me when I say that education shapes the destiny and identity of a community and also forms the very basis of all culture and civilization.
Now putting two and two together, shouldn’t we have an education system that has the primary objective of imparting Islam? Especially since we are the ISLAMIC republic of Pakistan.
On the contrary, our education system is busy churning out “elite” who are completely oblivious of the Islamic cultural and moral traditions.
We all know in the back of our minds that the gift our parting ‘lords’, the Euro-Christian educational system, is designed so that it destroys the identity of its adopters and exalts the European/western people and their culture. The west has “secularized” knowledge to an extent that it overthrew religion and truth.
This is why the elite class in our ISLAMIC republic can only play the role of slaves to political and cultural imperialism.
So what do we do? We make it our priority to give our children and ourselves an Islamic Education.
In a situation like ours where there is no Islamic system in place, a Muslim’s primary responsibility is to learn and impart Islam so that it can be a basis for the establishment of an Islamic system. This would imply that one puts in a bare minimum of their time to earn a living just so that their basic necessities are fulfilled and the rest of the time should be dedicated to Islam.
This is of course where the barrage of questions is hurled at the writer:
- Where does Islam ask us to leave everything?? in fact it is “farz” to earn for your family.
- How will our children compete with the world then??
- Etc., etc.
That is why I picked out the second point from the hadith mentioned above. It clearly tells us that it is up to Allah to reward and provide for us. Don’t get me wrong, we do have to make an effort, but sustenance is in Allah’s Hands. There are people who have Masters degrees’ and PHDs and still earn less than people with BCom’s.
Just think about it with an unbiased view. Your son goes to school from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., comes back and sleeps an hour, plays an hour and then starts on his homework. Later on, there is the pressure of university studies and then work. Even after all this he ends up with whatever life “Luck” dishes out.
“The best among you is he who learns the Qur’an and teaches it”.
We need to believe in this and work towards it. This is the only way that we will relive the glory in which the Muslim Ummah once basked. Let us not hold doubts about Allah (SWT) in our minds. Allah (SWT) has told us in the Qur’an:
“If you help Allah (i.e His cause) Allah will help you”.
masaaallah
I read with an open mind but it seems as though what I read was written by closed mind? I ask because if I make a statement it will not be true because truth be told, nothing is true in a sense that if we base what we as man think is true on a religion; well then there is no belief nor true because every religion is a group of common beliefs but not every man of every believes in every part of ANY religion. Miscommunication has led misunderstanding which has let the “evil” of deception take shape in what seems is good but it’s works is bad. Religion uses terrorism as it’s weapon and does man not wish to be free of fear? Well if one let’s go of what they think they know by letting every sense fail the light will shine right through the deception of religion and perception will let see the greater perspective of believing in anything but one mans personal belief. If man believes in only himself and seeks to grow through as himself then WE as man grow together of the same creator same land which was a Gift to us and stop destroying it and reverse the curse and bring back the beauty of earth and then let the guiding lead us. It is possible if we understand that with our ability to learn and perceive that we are much too small to know understand the almighty. If you wish to discuss with an open mind I’m always eager to learn art was universal language look back to Aztecs egyptians mayans caveman all same pictures just terms place between angels and aliens the past is proof are we not all the image of the invisible? Is ANYONE ready to evolve? Let’s work together and share our home for he did not create us to kill ourselves if you disagree im open to information, explain to me
اسلام عليكم
mashallah a very comprehensive and much needed article. I totally agree with u that we should become aulia ( friends ) of Allah the rest will b put into place by Allah subhanaho taala , today the core reason for the fall of Pakistan is that ummah of Mohammed صلي الله عليه وسلم has left Quran and sunnah and has got divided into sects … Where nafsi nafsi has rooted into system, law and order , injustice , corrupt systems are the cause of rizq being taken away .. There are many ahadees related to this subject ..
Anyways I would recommend that in every society comprising of minimum 40 houses there should b a center / home / private place where knowledgable muslum scholars teach men , women and children at different times free of cost and without segregating islam intio divisions / sects ..
If localities comprising of 40 houses will engage in such loving act of ibadah and will learn from Quran how can people not benefit from Quran .. I would emphasise that it should be made compulsory on every Muslim to learn Quran on weekly basis . Specially the areas where people are less educated and extremely educated. Though it was supposed to be the function of masjids in every area to perform such tasks on educating people of true knowledge .. But they are more prone to fall onto low level discussions of partially irrelevent subjects.
Jazak Allaho khairan for posting the thought provoking article ..
SK
i teach wht i learn abt islam…may Allah always guide us,ameen yarobbalalamin ! wasalam