Opinion

Muslims can now pursue modern education with special emphasis on Information Technology and Bio -Technology because that is where the future lies.

If I have to say in one word what I believe is the reason for backwardness of Muslims in India, I will have no hesitation is saying EDUCATION or the lack of it. Unless there is concentrated focus in this direction, the Muslims will continue to lag behind and will not be able to rise from the morass they find themselves in today. There was a time when the sheer advancement of Muslims in the field of learning and knowledge completely baffled the western analysts and conversely the Muslim analysts today are at a loss to explain as to how or why the Islamic Sciences stopped growing from about the 15th Century A.D. onwards.

Without going into the reasons for the decline of Muslim education in India, let us first of all try to understand what direction Quran and the Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) has given in regard to learning and education.

“Read in the name of the thy Lord who createth, man from a clot. Read : And thy Lord is the most Bounteous. Who teacheth by the pen. Teacheth man that he knew not.” (Sura 96 V).
One of the few things Allah deemed fit to swear by was “pen”. Sura 68 Al Qalam - Verse 1 says, “By the pen and that which they write therewith”.

Exhorting the Muslim to gain knowledge, Sura 9, Al Tauba Verse 122 says: “And the believers should not all go out to fight. Of every troop of them a party only should go forth, that they ( who are left behind ) may gain sound knowledge in religion, and that they may warn their folks when they return to them, so that they may be ware”.

At more than one place, the Quran asserts : “Can the educated and illiterates be equal”. Sura 39 Al Zumur, Verse 9.

When Saul (Taloot in Arabic) was nominated by Allah to be the king of Israelites, the predominant reason given was his superiority of knowledge. Quran says: “their prophet said unto them; Allah hath appointed Talut as king over you, They said : How can he exercise authority over us when we are better fitted than he to exercise authority, and he is not gifted with wealth in abundance. He said : Allah hath chosen him above you, And hath gifted him abundantly with knowledge and bodily prowess; Allah granteth His authority to whom He pleaseth; Allah is all embracing, and He knoweth all things”. Sura 2- Verse 247.

What was the attitude of Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) towards learning and education? The Prophet (Pbuh) would ask the prisoners of war to teach reading, writing and arithmetic to their Muslim captors in exchange for their release. The Prophet (Pbuh) had converted the outside portion of Masjid Nabavi in Madina Munawwara for the purpose of teaching and the Prophet (Pbuh) used to personally supervise this School. The curriculum included learning Quran by heart, art of recitation etc.

This should leave no doubt in the minds of Muslims that education and learning has to be as much a part of any Muslim child’s upbringing as it is in respect to Salaat, fasting and recitation of Quran. The sooner that this is understood, the better equipped will a Muslim parent be to provide modern education to his off spring along with religious education.

Objectives of Education in Islam: It is obvious that education is a means of training, to equip the younger generation to carry on their activities of life effectively and successfully. The objective of life in Islam is to develop a righteous society. That is why the aim of acquisition of knowledge in the Islamic society is not only to satisfy one’s intellectual curiosity but also to develop one self into a righteous person for the overall good of his family and society. In short Muslim education aims at nurturing of a righteous man in a righteous society. Isn’t it ironic that this very objective of an ideal Islamic society stands defeated today when we find modern education directly in conflict with religion or at best running on a distinct separate path from religious education. As Manzoor Ahmed very rightly said in his book “Islamic Education” quote “Unlike the West, there is no religious segregation between the religious and secular or temporal education in the Islamic system. This segregation in the West is a curious product of the Renaissance and the Reformation. Over the six days of the week, people of the West are guided by one set of values and on Sabbath day, by another set of values which is represented by the Church “.

There are numerous instances of persecution in the West when a theory propounded by one was in conflict with the prevalent belief. However it was quite the contrary where Islam is concerned, when religious learning together with education in the fields of History to Physics and Astronomy to Mathematics thrived and was spread far and wide.. Suffice it to say what Encyclopaedia Britannica has to say about the early evolution of medicine in the Christian and Arab World, “After the fall of Rome, learning was no longer held in high esteem, experiment was discouraged, and originality became a dangerous asset. During the early middle ages medicine passed into the widely diverse hands of the Christian Church and Arab Scholars”.

It is sometime stated that the early Christian Church had an adverse impact upon medical progress. Disease was regarded as a punishment for sin and such chastening demanded only prayer and repentance. Moreover, the human body was held sacred and dissection was forbidden. However this should not belittle the infinite care and nursing bestowed upon the sick under Christian auspices. Also the service rendered to medicine by the Church in preservation and transcription of the classical Greek medical manuscripts cannot be under estimated.

The Muslim Empire which extended from Persia to Spain during those times was another great source for medical research and learning. Rhazes, a Persian born in the last half of the 9th century wrote a voluminous treatise on medicine, Kitab al-hawi ( Comprehensive Book)but his most famous book was (A Treatise on the Small pox and Measles) which distinguishes between the two and gives a clear description of both. Of later date was another Persian 980 -1037 by name Avicenna whose principal medical work, al-Qanun fi at-tibb (The Cannon of Medicine) became a classic and was used at many medical schools. Chemist is the word derived from the Arabic alchemist. It was in the field of Chemistry the Arabs had carried out extensive work. In the course of their experiments in pursuit of the Philosopher’s stone, they discovered numerous substances and characterised them with names and found their application in medicine. Many drugs now in use are of Arab origin, as are such processes as distillation and sublimation. The renowned Spanish surgeon Abu al Qasim (Albucasis) did much to raise the status of surgery in Cordoba. He wrote the first illustrated surgical text, which held wide influence in Europe for centuries.

In the backdrop of the above, the urgency should be felt by the Muslims even more acutely for them to set their homes in order and even now pursue modern education with particular emphasis being IT (Information Technology) and BT (Bio Technology) because that is where the future is. Mass-communication and Law too could be very important subjects to pursue in order that we are able to lawfully defend our position and even be able to make ourselves heard.

(To be continued)
(The writer can be reached at adilsar2004 @ yahoo . co . uk)