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Muslim girls face an onslaught of Rose Day and Friendship Day in Muslim managed educational institutions. What is the Islamic stand on such culture?

• Samina 17, receives 6 red roses from a member of the student council on the occasion of ‘Rose day’, on behalf of the boys.

• Farhana, 19, keeps on receiving chocolate and friendship bands from the boys of the college on the occasion of friendship day.

• Prof Umer Baig, choreographed a group of eight boys and girls, preparing them for the annual dance competition.


These students do not study in any non-Muslim college, but are acquiring education in Muslim managed educational institutions. What moral values are our educational institutions imparting to our youth? Students and faculty both, it seems are getting carried away by the glamour of the world, oblivious of the Islamic values and belief.


Because of the suffocating atmosphere in Muslim managed educational institutions, many parents do not allow their daughters to go for higher studies. ‘Rose day’, ‘Chocolate-day’, ‘Friendship-day’, ‘Sari-day’ and ‘Tie-day’ promote vulgarity and encourage students to flirt and enter into illegitimate relationships.


Muslim managed educational institutions must take care not to promote such type of culture as it is non-productive and harmful for the student’s psyche. What happens when only couple of beautiful girls receive flowers from boys and not so beautiful, do not receive any? These girls who do not receive any flowers develop inferiority complex. Also, those girls who receive red roses from boys get carried away and lose their focus from studies. It also gives an opportunity to boys for exploiting the innocent girls. The tragedy is that a large number of Muslim professors promote this culture. In fact, they are active promoters of these so called western culture.


The responsibility lies with the Muslim community who donate huge amounts to maintain these educational institutions. What is the Islamic stand on such culture? According to the Quran, every human soul has three inclinations. One is the inclination towards doing wrong, evil and sinful acts termed as Nafs-i-Ammarah. The other is the inclination towards realisation and repentance i.e. to realise immediately if one does something wrong that what he has done is not right, and repent over it or rather reproach himself for it, termed as Nafs-i-Lowamah. The third is the inclination towards doing good and righteous deeds termed as Nafs-i-Mutmainnah, also called the soul at peace.


These inclinations are in turn influenced mainly by two elements. One of them consists of the frailties or weaknesses common to all human beings. They are: inability to resist lust, leaning towards unfairness and injustice, hastiness, ingratitude, contentiousness i.e. not prone to easily accepting one’s own faults, niggardliness i.e. reluctance to part with what one has and anxiety. The frailties influence the above-mentioned inclinations in the sense that they either activate Nafs-i-Ammarah or suppress one or the other of the two other inclinations of the soul.


For example, inability to resist lust, hastiness and leaning towards unfairness activate Nafs-i-Ammarah and thereby impel one to do wrong and evil deeds. Contentiousness suppresses Nafs-i-Lowamah, because a person having the tendency of not accepting his own faults rarely repents over whatever wrong he does. Likewise, niggardliness suppresses Nafs-i-Mutmainnah because a person who is not prepared to part with what he has, rarely spends anything in the way of Allah.


The other element having direct impact on the inclinations comprises faculties that the human beings have been endowed with. Some of these faculties like wisdom, creativity, vision and mercy have already been mentioned. About the others, the Quran says “He gave you hearing and sight and heart (i.e. intelligence and affection as it implies in the Arabic idiom) that you may be grateful” (16:78). Human beings have also been endowed with the faculty of conscience i.e. the ability to make distinction between right and wrong in regard to one’s own conduct (91:8). And above all they have been provided necessary guidance (76:3).


Of all the faculties common to human beings, the inability to resist desire is the main moving force of Nafs-i-Ammarah and hence the basic cause of evils that the people do. Desire by itself is not a bad thing. It is a part of human nature and is the main source of motivation. It becomes a bad thing when it turns into lust and overpowers the faculties of reasoning and conscience or as the Quran says when it is infected by vanity (22:52 ). The Quran says, “and who goes further astray than he who followed his lust without guidance from Allah” (28:50). It further says, “but those who do wrong follow their lusts without knowledge” (30:29). And it says again “and do not follow lust for it will lead you astray from the way of Allah” (38:26).


The Quran enjoins the purification of soul (91:9) which could obviously be suppression of Nafs-i-Ammarah and activation of Nafs-i-Lowamah and Nafs-i-Mutmainnah to the desired extent. With the aid of faculties and guidance that Allah has bestowed on the human beings, they can control or overcome their frailties, including lust, and thereby suppress Nafs-i-Ammarah to the desired extent.


The story of Hazrat Yusuf narrated in the Quran could be the best example. Hazrat Yusuf controlled his lust when he perceived the Divine argument. (12:24 ). He was helped by three elements in perceiving the Divine argument and thereby avoid what he was invited to do. One was the use of mind coupled with the Divine guidance which helped him to distinguish between right and wrong. The other was the conscience that helped him know that what he was invited to do fell in the category of major sins. And the third was the fear of Allah that impelled him to restrain himself. As the Quran says, “O believers if you fear Allah, He will provide you with a criterion (to judge between right and wrong” ( 8:29).


So our educational institu-tions must promote the fear of Allah that enables a person to suppress Nafs-i-Ammarah. Our teachers must be of great help in activating Nafs-i-Lowamah in students, impelling them to repent over whatever wrong they happen to do and vow not to do any wrong again, as well as Nafs-i-Mutmainnah, impelling them to do good and righteous deeds.


(The writer can be reached at mhl@rediffmail.com)