In the world of advanced technologies, where inventions get obsolete everyday due to rapid innovations, where the modernization is the change which is constantly revolutionizing our lives, we the Pakistanis still spend only 2.21% of GDP on the education. I feel this is like the condition of a human half paralyzed, despite of knowing the cure he does not struggle to obtain it. It has been 64 years to our independence but still half of the nation is unable to read & write even in their local languages. Whereas the remaining nation categorized as literate is the majority who hardly meet the definition of educated. That implies that they actually can read and write but are not aware of their basic rights, duties & responsibilities towards their families, neighbourhoods & especially towards the nation. 

In April 2010, Article 25A, “Right to Education” was inserted into the constitution of Pakistan as a part of 18^thamendment. The article says that the state shall provide free & compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by the law. But if we look at our government funded primary, secondary, and some of the higher educational institutions, we can’t even find “state” & “education” anywhere and if we move towards private education providers, we find it so much expensive that it goes beyond the reach of a common person.

According to a survey, 10 million of children are engaged in child labour. They are not even provided basic education. This is a double figure for the rural areas where children are forced to work in fields. This part of our nation will become a burden for the country in some years causing an increase in the illiteracy rate and also become useless due to a technological change as they would not be competent enough for the future jobs. If we presume that they will adapt the same thinking in future as their fore fathers did in the past then they would most probably do the same with their next generation by constraining them from education. If this happens, then definitely the percentage of illiteracy will be multiplied by two.

Half of our nation is deprived of a very basic need which is the education, solution of the majority of our country’s problem. It looks like now it has become impossible to resolve this issue of illiteracy unless we join our hands and take practical steps for educating the masses.

It is high time we stood for the cause of education. We have to fight the war against the illiteracy before fighting any other war. We have to make it possible, as it is the need of the day. To change the current scenario and to amend the future, we need to give special importance to this task and for that we have to realize that it is our responsibility.

While delivering a speech to the constituent assembly of Pakistan on August 11, 1947 Mr. Jinnah said,

“I am sure that with your support and co-operation, I can look forward to Pakistan becoming one of the greatest nations of the world”.

Let us own his dream and make it our goal.

The post Let’s make it possible appeared first on My Bit for Change.

Being an International student can be very stressful especially if you have to go it alone. Naive Pakistani students leave home in high spirits to acquire the ‘waliyati’ education because it offers bright prospects and opens doors to plenty of dough encompassed with a life changing experience. I do vouch for all that and I cannot deny the fact that the curriculum, instructors and facilities that can be found in most institutions of higher learning in countries like the United States, Canada, UK and Australia are unparallel to the ones found back home but does that imply that the few who do get the opportunity to study in fancy schools are living a life of envy? As much as they would like to say ‘yes’, deep down inside they will only hear a resonating ‘no’.

It is not easy being an international student, living in an alien environment, being a part of a microcosm of multiculturalism and dealing with harrowing situations. Sure, the idea of studying abroad is riveting, until you actually do it. Everything associated with the ‘waliyati’ education comes at a hefty cost and by that I don’t just mean in monetary terms but also in terms of physical and mental wellbeing.  More often than not it takes leaving home to realize that we are truly blessed with a lifestyle that is probably out of reach for the average Joe Smith studying at London School of Economics.

Most students belonging to upper middle class families have at their disposition fine dining, housekeeping, clean laundry amidst other things that they take for granted. It is only when they have to do all that on their own do they begin to appreciate things back home.  Not that I think that there is anything wrong with doing all those chores, it’s just that no level of mental preparedness helps one to keep up with all these cumbersome duties. Self sufficiency is a hard feat to conquer and only the strong willed can make it. Life as an international student means balancing work, studies and house chores contrary to partying, sightseeing and relaxing.  If anything it means your workload is tripled and your nerves are always on edge. Matters are only made worse when the family back home decides to cut down your allowance forcing you to fend for yourself. By the end of the educational sojourn many are exhilarated about going back to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan only to find a dismal and bleak state of affairs.

If only Pakistan had institutes of high caliber devoted to different schools of learning many would comfortably stay home without having to slave all day in an alien country. Of course it’s a different scenario if the entire family is settled but that is just the ideal situation. It is very common for most of the student Diaspora to share small apartments surviving the minimalistic way. Fact of the matter is many individuals sacrifice the good life back home in return for quality acquisition of knowledge. Worse yet, many who come back as graduates from top universities find that there is little opportunity in Pakistan’s job market especially if they want to make it big. As much as they want to stay home they are forced to go back in search for a better living because the government just doesn’t give two tarts about improving the social, economic and educational prospects of the country. Consequently Pakistan has been facing acute brain drain and more so in the recent years  but apparently this grave problem has been conveniently sidelined.

If our country continues to spend less than 3% of its GDP on education and instead chooses to consistently increase its defence budget to RS.495 billion for a threat that may just be more perceived than real then one shouldn’t even bother anticipating change.

It is so unfortunate that a country that has a rich endowment of resources and young people brimming with talent is not doing anything to hone it. Pakistani students are blessed with great intellect and they deserve much better than struggling to get the quality of education that is so easily accessible to their white counterparts. If only the leaders of our country had even a foresight to acknowledge the importance of knowledge based society!

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How different this world would be if leaders, followers and individuals could prioritize on something other than ulterior motives. Somehow or the other I feel we are all to an extent being governed by the ‘what’s in it for me ideology?’. It has become so hard to live selflessly in this dog eat dog existence where long gone are the days of altruism. I don’t consider myself any different from everyone else but lately I have begun to envision things that impinge on my conscience.

This planet is host to 6.8 billion people out of which 925million people are malnourished, in other words 13.6% of the world population is living with hunger. The very notion that it sounds just like a number, and perhaps nothing more than mere statistic is disquieting. Most of us are too besotted with our lives to shed even a momentary thought on how the current state of affairs will affect and is affecting the sordid lives of the many who live under a dollar a day.

It is infuriating that the destitute have to bear the brunt of thriving economies who are actually flourishing at their expense. I don’t think anyone can challenge the fact that most Multi National Companies are akin to colonialists who use, abuse and exploit resources in the poor host countries. Fact is developed countries, the US of A a case in point, are only capable of displaying ‘realpolitik’ and there show of compassion is a downright farce. The past, present and future depicts their blatant human rights breach and yet they claim to idolize humanity and world peace.

Nonetheless I do not consider the role and interference of any foreign element as the sole contributor of the social, economic and political upheaval of our country. The acute shortage of energy, inflation and high unemployment prevails because we as a people have no gumption to take to the streets and envision a revolution that liberated parts of the Middle East. It is unnerving that nobody cares if the taxpayers money is being spent on setting up ostentatious monuments or to bail out inefficient public sectors. It is unnerving that nobody spares a thought on the 32.6% of Pakistani people who are living with poverty day in and day out struggling to make enough for a few morsels of food.It is unnerving that we take pride in the beauty of the capital city of Islamabad and ignore the existence of 35+ slums home to thousands of people who believe it or not are also residents of the capital city. Since Zia’s regime in 1985 the CDA was given the sole responsibility of upgrading and rehabilitating the inhabitants of katchi abadis and how far have they come since 1985 in accomplishing this feat?  In these past 27 years they managed to legalize ten squatter settlements and provided them with electricity, water and gas connections. A survey would reveal how little their lives have change since 1985 because realistically speaking they are still inhabitants of SLUMS. For heaven’s sake Japan rose from ashes after being nuked in less than 27 years and the best we could do is provide basic civic amenities?

Development has never been Pakistan’s agenda. It is a country endowed with rich natural resources which unfortunately it cannot even excavate on its own. It has a coastal line of 1050km which if fully utilized by setting up wind mills can make a huge difference in the lives of people living in surrounding villages but the only thing standing in the way of such an investment is priority, good leadership and sheer will power. It is about time some kind of initiative is taken to make everyone’s life better and not just that of a specific segment of society. Like Mark Twain says:

‘ The secret of making progress is to get started. The secret to starting is to divide your complex, overwhelming task into small, manageable tasks, and then start the first.’

Nothing you do today to change things for a better tomorrow will have any kind of detrimental or drastic consequence on your life. What stands between the development of Pakistan is not just the inept leadership but also the complacent Pakistanis.

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I don’t think anyone would deny the fact that we live in a cut throat world where time is money and skill is paramount. The practical life knows just one thing and that is how to live the ‘dog-eat-dog-way’, all the while trying to make one-self indispensable. We all know that it comes down to selling yourself, your personality, your traits and of course your skill. The dilemma is that schools, colleges and universities are not equipping students to face the competitive arena where the dynamics of the job market is constantly evolving and raising the bar for new entrants.  Truth of the matter is bookish knowledge and emphasis on grades is not only useless but also pointless considering the current time.

What we should be focusing now is on changing the way we perceive education. The typical classroom environment is no longer viable if a meaningful education is what we are aiming for, primarily because it has become obsolete. This is the age of information technology where individuals are being bombarded with varying perspectives from a myriad of media and communication outlets. Come to think of it, the privileged lot in our country holds the entire world in their smart phone. They don’t need to cram information from books and lectures that can easily be found over the internet. Instead they need practical hands on knowledge that will prepare them for work life.  I am not suggesting that theoretical knowledge should be neglected altogether, but practical education should be given precedence. One way of doing that is by getting students to attend seminars, arranging field visits, incorporating internships as part of the course and encouraging group activities.

Most educational institutes in Pakistan focus on theoretical rather than practical knowledge and in my opinion this just kills creativity. Memorizing mundane books which have little relevance to the real world are an integral part of the curriculum. Schools function like factories that produce batches and batches of the same product that just do not sell. There is not an inkling of zeal in the Pakistani schooling system. However before we can even talk about changing the curriculum nationwide, we need to realize that no good is going to come if the government continues to spend less than 2% on such a fundamental sector. Perhaps the only good that can come from this dismal situation is that when our dear government does decide to prioritize education they can revamp the entire system and implement it across the country. Simply put, starting from scratch and adopting a model that has worked for other developing countries, Malaysia being a case in point. Truth be told, we don’t need private schools that offer Ordinary and Advanced (O and A ) levels if our own standard of education is up to mark like that of our nemesis India.  Another point I would like to emphasize is the relevance and significance of grades, standardized testing systems and overall academic performance. I believe that a piece of paper depicting class performance proves nothing about an individual’s true potential. Instead having hands on experience, an ability to envision novel ideas and a noteworthy intellect is what education should be honing.

Now more than ever Pakistan must focus on vocational training institutes and help people polish their indigenous skills. We have a huge workforce that has the potential to uplift the country’s economy if it is TRAINED. Our abundant population can become a blessing if every able body is trained and given basic level education.

Not every person is cut out to be a doctor or an engineer some are not even bright enough to finish school but that does not mean that they are worthless and can contribute absolutely nothing to society. Every profession from plumbing to engineering is important and we can’t expect people to acquire these skills on their own. Hence, I believe specialized schools or training centers are a must. Getting women on this bandwagon is also fundamental because believe it or not they can offer so much more than child bearing. Hence the important question to ask is this: we have a workforce so why don’t we make it work?

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Daughter  killed her father …..

Shocked when I heard the news that a teenage girl killed her father; reason, he was stopping her from having an illegitimate affair. It was a breaking news on electronic media and reported widely, shocking for the entire country that how she confessed her crime and was actually not feeling any guilt about it.

One thought that continuously struck my mind was what made a daughter so angry that she went to the extent of shooting her father. What was the real cause? Was her ‘teenage love’ for a boy so strong that she didn’t care about her blood relations? Perhaps she was thinking that something magical  would happen as often witnessed in famous Indian movies and she would succeed in getting rid of all obstacles  that hindered her path & she & her lover would live happily ever after.

Similarly, a shocking news came about an elite school managing a debate on gay rights in Islamabad and I was thinking that where are we heading towards? Do these elite schools give a damn about religious and ethical values or they just believe in blindly following the ultra-liberal ideologies. They are having fun with fundamental religious and ethical values while we are sitting as mere spectators.

Few years ago, during my college days, once a friend was sitting on  the stairs, deep in thought. I asked what happened and he said, ‘ Looking at the current trends, I am thinking that If after 20 years my daughter is having an affair, how will I stop her’. It sent shockwaves down my spine at that time, but now we are seeing things actually we never thought about. Lifestyle has entirely changed in our country in past ten years. Just look at the language of our kids these days and it will shock you.

Lets play the blame game. Lets blame media for polluting the mind of the girl who killed her father. Lets blame our educational system for these shallow moral values. Lets blame parents for not teaching the kids properly. Lets blame society for promoting unethical values. Lets blame the government …  Lets simply blame!!

This blame game won’t result in anything positive. We certainly need to identify the ‘root-cause’ of the problem and take corrective measures. In my opinion, the root cause is that we have not defined our own role models. We need to define the real role models. And for that purpose, we need to put a lot of question marks on our real ideology. Who are our heroes? Who are we aspiring to become?

Kids idealize the heroes, and whoever heroes they think, they would try to follow them. We need our own real life heroes.  Or should I say, we need to project our own real life heroes, because we already have them, but our kids don’t know as many of us have also forgotten.  Is our hero Hazrat Khalid Bin Walid, Hazrat Mus’ab Bin Umair or any Bollywood/Hollywood hero. Everyone in Pakistan would certainly respond that Companions of Prophet (SAWW) are our heroes. But then how much we and our kids know about them. How much do we talk about them. How much do we try to follow them?

Our problem is much deeper. We live in a hypocritical society. We have double or triple standards in everything. We have different standards for ourselves and our future generation. We  have confused concepts of right and wrong. We want our kids to be modest, polite, religious, and yet they should be westernized, liberal, and exclusively English-speaking.  We are exactly as Ghalib said

رند کے رند رھے ، ھاتھ سے جنت نہ گئ

To sum it up in a sentence, we are confused on our ideology of ‘successes’. We need to define what does success means for us. Is having a successful love affair a success? In movies it might be true, but in real life what is the end result. A girl killed her father to succeed in her love affair. Did she get what she wanted? Can she be called successful?

Let’s turn to Quran to get the meaning of success and Quran says

And whoever is removed away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise, he indeed is successful. (Ch 2 :v 185)

Unless we redefine the success in our minds and reteach our kids the problems will only increase. Bollywood style affairs would be more important in the lives of our teenagers and issues like LGBT will be talk of the town in ultramodern Pakistan with no values to uphold and be proud of.

The post The Moral Demise appeared first on My Bit for Change.

What’s latest in fashion recently? Cobalt jewels, pixie cuts, suede wedges or Lady Gaga’s new recipe of dressing up? I am not talking about the fashion that recharges your wardrobe or lubricates your facial details. In fact I mean to mention another fashion stream that has swirled over our society like a cyclone and has made every woman go crazy. It’s a fever that we got from the West. Alas! Let’s end the curiosity here and lay open the main point of this article. Lately the hottest and the trendiest thing out in town is to be a ‘career oriented’ woman. Instead of a race to prove someone’s skill, potential and devotion, it’s more like carrying a fashion statement. 

‘Why do you work?’’, ‘‘Umm It’s to kill time’’, ‘‘we get to party more often’’, ‘‘we stay updated with whatever’s going on’’. ‘‘Umm…. I think I like being social ‘’. Seriously? Time, Party and Socialization? Are these your big goals? Weren’t our aim supposed to be higher?

Let’s now look at the worthy rewards we’ll get by being career-oriented. ‘‘A dream house’’, ‘‘Favourite car’’, ‘‘foreign residency’’, ‘‘ ‘That’ Brand’’. Here I do realize the content of slight materialism in human nature, but is our mission really this materialistic? Another class of society represents women who would choose to stay out of their homes because of a desire to prove themselves equal to men and attain a level same as that of a western woman.

Here i don’t tend to cover the domain of those women who are somehow forced to work or who are compelled by nature to sacrifice their house assembly to earn basic living and survival. In recent days, the only concept girls pick from the term ‘career- oriented’ is to rush into a male dominated field and prove masculine powers and intellect along with blindly competing in a career race without knowing its purpose, for which they knowingly or unknowingly compromise on those responsibilities and traits of their femininity which are put into her by the Creator. In short, we try to be a man in struggle of which we forget that leaving the house and family in darkness in pursuit of enlightening the outer world is the worst act a woman can commit. Is this goal worthy enough to sweep your house making and child raising responsibilities under the carpet? Maybe this is the reason of unending lust and an alarming high divorce rate now. With this desire to prove masculinity; women have sacrificed the family in their pursuit which is exponentially disastrous if it goes unchecked.

Wasn’t seeking knowledge and practicing it meant to explore one’s vast potential, ensure a balanced life, search for truth and serve mankind. Being a woman brings all those valuable pearls of knowledge and experience in house making, establishing worthwhile understanding with the partner and child’s grooming? Whatsoever the goal and reason is, the woman of today is surely confused about the definition of seeking knowledge and in consequence of which home and children pay a heavy price and may win her regret for her later life. Sadly, by the time she realizes, the damage done is collateral. ”What !!!?? Cooking? and a baby? and his old parents? Are you kidding me?? ‘NO’ its really not my thing!” .  All this is nothing but an assemblage of confused thoughts one page after another into an enslaved mind. Napoleon said,

‘Give me good mothers and I will give you a good nation’.

The post Passion, Fashion and Prioritization – I appeared first on My Bit for Change.

‘HOMEMAKING’ is our ultimate responsibility and no matter how much we run away from it or refuse to accept it, we can’t really change it. Do you think a bowl of cereal served to your child by a babysitter or a maid contains enough nutrition of education, refinement and civilization? Also, home making is not about cleaning the house and making sleek hot phulkas. It’s about shaping up the whole generation with utter proficiency. We’ve got to believe that this proficiency will enrich our conduct turning it into a nobler one and no doubt the “house cleaning and phulkas” coming from an educated, capable woman would be very different from the ones coming from an uneducated woman. Also be calm, as the career and Academic bounties aren’t going anywhere. They belong to us. They are and will always be our greatest ever existing rights. We just need to realign our definition because someone has to raise the next generation right?Islam has given a woman, the highest status in society on grounds of respect, dignity and grace. Imagine what an honour it is to raise a family, lay the base of finest etiquette, intellect and knowledge enveloped with immeasurable honesty. We have to realize that we hold a key position in shaping up the next generation. What a joy it is to witness the miracle of emerging of a whole new life through us, struggle to transform those mere pieces of bricks  together into a warm shelter of truthfully precious relationships, and then pour all our sincerity, love, devotion and commitment in bonding every fibre of relation residing in our heaven that we call ‘home’. Now imagine all this coming from an educated, well aware and updated woman. Don’t we visualize an ideal role model, a perfect wife and a mother of a globally proficient child? What a concrete and noble responsibility our Lord has given to us. For a woman, this is a matchless capital. 

Education and career approach for men might just be a passion and a requirement. But for women it is passion, requirement and an ‘asset’ which can be a staircase to prosperous and satisfied life if carried out with a balance. We also come across several viewpoints coming from different religious people in the society that a woman is forbidden to work outside her house walls. Had this been the case then we wouldn’t have come across marvellous examples of bravery and accomplishments coming from some of the most pious and prominent women of Islam and that too, 1400 years ago. At the time in pagan Arabia when a woman was treated as slave or a mere property, it was Islam that made her worthy of high respect and gave her equal spiritual, economic, social, educational, legal and political rights. The valuable services of development rendered by these women are recounted throughout history. I would quote a few examples.

Sahl ibn Sa’d, a companion of the Prophet (SAW) mentioned a woman who had her own farm. She used to cultivate beets and barley to feed the companions of the Prophet with it after Friday prayer.Quite a few women companions of the Prophet were engaged in trading. Khadija, the Prophet’s first wife, is the most famous example. Other women such as Khaula, Lakhmia, Thaqafia, and Bint Makhramah traded perfumes. Saudah, the Prophet’s wife, was an expert in tanning skins. She sold her tanned goods to trading caravans and local men throughout Medina. Rufaidah Aslamiyyah was an expert in Medicine and Surgery. She used to attend the sick and wounded in the battlefields. Other women experts were Umm Muta’, Umm Kabashah, Hamnah bint Jahsh, Mu’adhah, Laila, Umaimah, Umm Zaid, Umm ‘Atiyyah, and Umm Sulaim. Fatima bin Qais was a very able and intelligent scholar. When ‘Umar RA died, the nomination committee consulted Qais on the selection of the next Caliph. ‘Amra bint ‘Abdu’r-Rahman was one of most prominent women of second generation. She was one of those who gave legal opinions in Madina after the companions. Her opinion overrode the views of other authorities. She was the first authority for three legal issues dealing with the prohibition against digging up graves, the ban on selling unripe fruit, and the effect of crop damage on the sale of agricultural produce. In one case, she reversed the decision of her nephew to cut off the hand of a man who stole some iron rings. Her authority was accepted on matters such as business transactions and punishments (Hudud). Imam Malik takes her as a legal precedent for details on the Hajj.Many examples of women actively participating in war could be found at the time of the Prophet. Umm ‘Umarah demonstrated courage and fearlessness in the battle of Uhud. Umm Hakim, wife of Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl participated in the war against the Romans. There were many female jurists in early Islamic history. In jurisprudence, ‘Aisha RA had few equals and Umm Salam also gave many legal rulings. Others are Safiyyah, Hafsa, Umm Habiba, Juwayriyyah, Maymuna, Fatima, Zahra, Umm Sharik, Umm ‘Atya, Asma’ bint Abu Bakr, Haila bint Qanif, Khaula bint Tuwait, Umm al-Darda, Atika bint Zaid, Sahalah bint Suhail, Fatima bint Qais, Zaynabah bint Abu Salamah, Umm Ayman, and Umm Yusuf. Asma’ bint Yazid fought and killed nine enemy soldiers in the battle of Uhud. Umm Salaim, mother of Anas, went to battle with a dagger.Umm Sa’d Jamilah bint As’ad Ansariyyah, daughter of As’ad ibn Rabi fought in the Battle of Badr and achieved martyrdom in the Battle of Uhud. Khansa bint ‘Amr was a woman of great stature and a poetess of great fame. According to Ibn Athir, all poets of fame unanimously agree that no poetess ever equaled Khansa, and the Prophet appreciated her verses.

Who were these women? The realm of words is too small and ordinary to be presented in their exalted and extra ordinarily superior names. The point here is that these warriors and torch bearers of Islam not just raised role models in the family but also in the entire Islamic regime. Comparing ourselves to them that what we have done to our generation and society, our heads and gaze should bow down in embarrassment.

..Continued

Passion, Fashion and Prioritization – III

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“Sticks and drones may break our bones, but fitna would eventually be more lethal”

Few months back, a private channel aired different kinds of ads of success stories in education. We had very heated discussions with our friends on Facebook about those one-sided educational promos, in which only worldly education was being glorified: materialism that helped people gain jobs i.e. ‘success’.  Then, nothing was too startling or alarming about it.  With a very smooth transition, the message has been stepped up to a whole new level.  Now they have come up with a very bold and provocative message:  Taleem k siwa Pakistan ka matlab kaya? (‘Except education, what can be the meaning of Pakistan?’ The message is known to at least 44% of Pakistanis in a survey conducted by Gallup Pakistan.

Pakistan, we believe, was forged in the liberating fire of Tawheed, and any attempt to replace this meta-historical basis is to bring a new idol back into the Kaaba of Muslim consciousness. Pakistan was gained in the name of Allah, apart from other factors, such as economic freedom, etc. Saleena Karim in her thoroughly researched and seminal book, Secular Jinnah & Pakistan: What the Nation Doesn’t Know (2005), has exposed multiple myths of secular academia. Some of these textbook myths paraded as facts are: “Jinnah never used the word ‘Ideology of Pakistan’,” or, “Jinnah vetoed the proposals for an Islamic state’,” or, “Jinnah wanted a homeland for Muslims, not an Islamic state’,” or, “Islam was just a propaganda tool.” Suffice to say that Pakistan’s soul is Islam and its supra-identity is Islamic identity, as formulated by Quaid in following words: “The Pakistan Movement started when the first Muslim put his foot on the soil of Sindh, the Gateway of Islam in India.” Of course our history goes beyond this period, and we do not seek to disown or forget our national heritage; but, we do not believe in the modernist, nationalist notions of nationality/identity based solely on geography or race. Rather, our nationalism is based on a direct link with Heaven and the Final Revelation of Islam.

What has to be understood is that formal education cannot be a complete world-view for a nation. It is just a part of the world-view. Unfortunately, we are obsessed with ‘means and money’ due to ignoring sacred, unifying principles of revelations of Islam. The threat of destroying our values by emulating Western culture is a real one, when in fact, we should be working towards integrating modern forms of knowledge within Islamic framework, stresses.

According Dr. Seyyed H. Nasr:

“There is always a relationship between every form of knowledge and a worldview within which that knowledge is accepted as knowledge. There is no doubt about that. The worldview in all civilizations before modern times came from religion. This is true for every civilization. Hindu universities, Chinese universities, Islamic universities — but as Western influence spreads all over the world, we will begin to emulate Western forms of knowledge, which claim to now be independent of religion. But it was not independent of the Christian worldview. The secularist paradigm which was created in the 17th century is itself a pseudo-religion in that it is a view of the nature of reality. There is no abstract knowledge; knowledge is always within the framework of a worldview, of a way of looking at the nature of reality.”

All education is useless until it teaches you the splendours of yourself. The present education system of our country is exactly the opposite to this phenomenon. We rejoice over the Golden Period of Muslims yet don’t acknowledge the reasons behind that epitome. List all the Muslim scientists, scholars of that time and you will notice a common thread running through all of them. They studied history and nature, in addition to inner experience. Their basis for education was Quran. They took the spirit and matter hand in hand. Fresh avenues of research and studies kept coming forth, unlike our rote-learning culture. What is the basis of our current education system?

What does it tell us about our world, our history as humanity, our role, and our future?  What does it teach us except slavery, materialism, inferiority complex, blind-following, selfishness and hording a lot of money! And that’s just one platform.

Dr Muhammad Iqbal raised serious doubts about the colonial educational system prevalent in his time; and, we have many reasons to believe that the ghosts of that period are still living realities. Ironically, credentials of Iqbal are used to convince us about the benefit s of an alien system of education, whereas his severe critiques are not incorporated. In his paper ‘Islam as a Moral and Political Ideal’ (1909), he argues:

“Education, we are told, will work the required transformation. I may say at once that I do not put much faith in education as a means of ethical training—I mean education as understood in this country … I venture to say that the present system of education in this country is not at all suited to us as a people. It is not true to our genius as a nation, it tends to produce an un-Muslim type of character, and it is not determined by our national requirements, it breaks entirely with our past and appears to proceed on the false assumption that the idea of education is the training of human intellect rather than human will. ”

We venture to say that not much has changed, at least at higher levels of education. Secular western world-view continues to dominate Muslim thought, especially in social sciences and even in the philosophy of science; from psychology to economics to, from pure philosophy to governance systems; although many positive developments  have been  taking place in modern fields of knowledge for past fifty years.

Education in Pakistan should be subservient to the genius of Pakistanis and their aspirations; it should be subordinate to the operating Principle of Tawheed. He further inquiries:

“But what sort of education? …  A form of education which has no direct bearing on the particular type of character which you want to develop is absolutely worthless.  I grant that the present system of education in India gives us bread and butter.  Well, if we succeed in securing a few appointments in the higher branches of service, what then? It is the masses who constitute the backbone of the nation; they ought to be better fed, better housed and properly educated. Life is not bread and butter alone; it is something more; it is a healthy character reflecting the national ideal in all its aspects.” [Emphasis added]

Coming back to Iqbal’s scepticism regarding the presumed “magic” of education: how can we put so much trust in (a more or less) materialistic, job-oriented educational system, and announce it as the purpose of Pakistan, as the solution for all of our ills? We believe that present educational system has many, many resemblances with the  colonial setup  of Iqbal’s era. Even the authors find themselves guilty of giving more thought to bread and butter than pursuit of pure knowledge, which was the hallmark of madrassah system before the colonial invasion, according  to educationist Dr Tariq Rehman. Summing up, Iqbal takes a very brief quiz in basic intellectual, moral and practical life of Islamic history – I miserably failed:

“… How many of us know that Muhammad II conquered Constantinople at the age of twenty-two? How many of us have even the faintest notion of the influence of our Muslim civilization over the civilization of modern Europe? How many of us are familiar with the wonderful historical productions of Ibn Khaldun or the extraordinarily noble character of the great Amir Abdul Qadir of Algeria [20^th century hero]?”

Our media, like its global mentors, is expert at propaganda psychology: repeat a lie 1000 times, and it will transform itself into a truth. Perhaps this is what they hope to achieve with this campaign of ignorance, devoid of illumination.  We thank the channel for creating this controversy which has led many into serious introspection about the purpose of Pakistan, basis for education, and our comprehensive world-view, including the authors of this article. It seems to be a blessing in disguise!   This introspection is more needed than ever, given that we are far from achieving various educational goals:  high literacy rate while at the same time integrating modern education within Islamic framework, and creating alternative to discourses based on a-religious and secular worldview.

This article is written jointly by Muhammad Umer Toor and Hira Shamim

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Know thy enemy.

“Allah is the Protecting Friend of those who believe. He bringeth them out of darkness into light. As for those who disbelieve, their patrons are false deities. They bring them out of light into darkness. Such are rightful owners of the Fire. They will abide therein. 2:257

Are we conscious of what we take from the modern-secular thought and its educational system, and what we reject? In fact, are we rejecting anything harmful? Are we deciding hard what is useful for us and what is unacceptable from Islamic point of view? Do we fully know what we’re up against? Not so much.

Our universities and intelligentsia model itself on the contents of western educational system, and are heavily influenced by it. What then are the major components of western, modern educational system which contrast with Islamic worldview? What are its philosophical and practical bases? This is the first article which encompasses the influences on modern education and its origins. In further articles, we’ll try to come up with some rationale on which to build the structure of modern education which keeps human nature intact with its ethics and preserves the teachings and injunctions of Allah Almighty. We invite you to participate in that and broaden our mutual understanding from Islamic point of view.

Setting the Context: Roots of Modern Education

The loss of God is death, is desolation, hunger, separation. All the tragedy of man is in one word, ‘godlessness’ – (Metropolitan Anthony of Sourzah)

Contemporary education, or modern literacy, has harmed, as well as benefited human race. To understand the long lasting effects of modern education we have to go back in history towards its inception. From there we believe we can conceive the idea of what contemporary endeavor of modern education is. For now it is enough to say that it has given us war, bloodshed, imperialism, disbelief in unseen higher order realities, exploitation, slavery to created things, nationalism and list goes on. It has divested the superior human values from us and has turned human society into an individualistic and hedonistic one; where men are involved in performing feats of personal gratification in which there is no room for love and care due to their shear selflessness. Selfishness is at the heart of economics, for instance. It has so far given two major wars or world wars in the human history. This cannot be said the age of enlightenment, rather a dark age to many. It is a delusion of evolution without any direction. No doubt that science and education of people have given us some wondrous inventions and have laid the foundations of various subjects, but these were supposed to make human life easier and were to make them civilized. Ironically, repercussions have been disastrous.

Understanding the context (or the times) is imperative here. We have our differences with Hinduism, but we ought to call to ‘a common word’. Similarities can be startling, like the following predictions of The Vishnu Purana, “a Hindu text dating back nearly two millennia,” which describe the Dark Age or Kali Yuga:

“Riches and piety will diminish daily, until the world will be completely corrupted. In those days it will be wealth that confers distinction, passion will be the sole reason for union between the sexes, lies will be the only method of success in business, and women will be the objects merely of sensual gratification. The earth will be valued only for its mineral treasures, dishonesty will be the universal means of subsistence, a simple ablution will be regarded as sufficient purification…The observances of castes, laws, and institutions will no longer be in force in the Dark Age, and the ceremonies prescribed by the Vedas will be neglected. Women will obey only their whims and will be infatuated with pleasure…men of all kinds will presumptuously regard themselves as equals of Brahmins…The Vaishyas will abandon agriculture and commerce and will earn their living by servitude or by the exercise of mechanical professions…The dominant caste will be that of the Shudras…” (The last point may raise eyebrows. Interestingly, Prophet also indicated that lowly people will be happy people in final days, like these modern singers and movie stars, as per Hamza Yusuf.)

Let us delve into the influences and foundations that modern curricula’s globally have in common, in East and West.

Industrialization & Progressivism

The modern age of industrialization initiated by the Great Britain was founded on the sentiments of increasing productivity. On these grounds it can be said that it was related to greed present in human nature. It cannot also be simply linked to increase in population, but more or less it can be related to greed or avarice, and subjugation of extremely poor people who were used as ‘grist in the mill’ of industrialism. (Also because at that time Malthus’ theory argued that “poverty is caused by excessive breeding of the poor,” a factually wrong and disproven dogma still held by anti-poor elites. Hence poor had to be left at the mercy of wolves or corporate elites.) With this radical change there came a rush of inventions and products that changed the face of human society forever.

Previously wars were fought between groups for land, ownership and money. This has not changed yet, only the form has changed (in these supposedly extremely ‘civilized’ times). Groups now are nations & corporations led by war mongering political establishments and Opera going executives. They wage wars on other groups (weaker the better) for their own sake of safety, protection and survival. Their excuse: “we’re here to civilize savages and bring the Light of Democracy.” (Ironically, Donald Rumsfeld categorically said that ‘an Islamic state is not an option for Iraq’ even if people want it!)

Today, the businesses are running on Machiavellian thought, Adam Smith’s principle of pursuit of self-interest and totalitarianism without any bounds and without any absolute set of ethics. Very recently around 20 banks in UK and Europe joined hands to loot and fool the world by fixing certain trading rates (or Libor) that affect all financial transactions, for instance.

All that boils down into the domination of a system based on money and power. Globally, this is translating into the rise of the American Corporate Imperialism, as exposed in Confessions of an Economic Hitman. Capitalism whose decline has just been started in Wall Street outlines a system in which the whole of economy stands on the greed of humans for power and outward beauty. Economics, when stripped off from ethics, results in the bigotry of unequal distribution of wealth and immorality. One of us vividly remembers his economics professor forbidding use of any moral arguments against narcotic drugs; so he had to argue “rationally” in favor of legalizing drugs according to economic analysis!

Industrialism and capitalism is the soul for today’s educational system. (Remember what’s the bottom-line? Dollars & prestige.) The degrees which are now offered are only to sustain this system and to make it robust. The curricula have failed to give people any higher aim of living. Those who aspire for greater good are themselves restrained to a small local level, and have up till now failed to achieve any milestone in bringing a halt to the devastation borne by a vast majority of people around the globe. But quality will prevail over quantity, Allah willing.

Capitalistic ideas must be taken critically and attacked from various angles. We tend to naively believe that this is the end-result of human effort in economic sphere. Surely anyone familiar with economic research at the forefront knows that dogmas of neo-classical economics or capitalism are being challenged bottom-up.

Philosophical Purge

While nineteenth century materialism closed the mind of man to what is above him, twentieth century psychology opened it to what is below him

(René Guénon)

The ‘eclipse of human soul and intellect’ by secular thought has brought disastrous consequences not just at pure intellectual level, but at societal and practical level as well. The change agents have been ‘false prophets of modernity’ (i.e., modern philosophers and theorists). At intellectual level, they’ve lost the traditional, religious view of nature and knowledge, and created false alternatives – the cause of mass misguidance. Not only that, these handful of men have produced this ‘Dark Age’, a material civilization, in which both human actions and intellectual efforts are profane and cut off from Divine guidance. At practical level, though they have discovered in their way great deal of facts about human mind and body, but still paved way to moral degradation, materialism and suffocation of public morality. (We hope to give historical and evidential bases to these ‘bold claims’ of major religious thinkers in future, Allah willing.)

At political level, we have seen destruction by and self-abdication of great many political minds and men: thanks to Machiavelli’s work, The Prince. In his over-rated book, he suggests that for rulers, ethical norms do not matter. In fact, being truthful and honest is inefficient. His dajjalic policies are just another case of modern man’s declaration of independence from heaven. Similar strains on ideologies and humans actions are attributed to Sigmund Freud. These mistaken ideas have in fact formed the basis of human nature, society, economy and government, with harmful consequences for societies and even for individuals who practice it.

Ideas of Darwin and Karl Marx are the nails in the coffin of education. Karl Marx perpetuating Darwin’s theory of evolution into historical materialism (as he was took Darwin’s book as building block for his own theory) suggests in Marx’s Critique of Political Economy that:

“… in every historical epoch the prevailing economic system by which the necessities of life are produced determines the form of societal organization and the political and intellectual history of the epoch; and that the history of society is a history of struggles between exploiting and exploited, that is, between ruling and oppressed, social classes.”

On his funeral, F. Engel summed up Marx’s grand theory about human life on earth:

“Just as Darwin discovered the law of development of organic nature, so Marx discovered the law of development of human history: the simple fact, hitherto concealed by an overgrowth of ideology, that mankind must first of all eat, drink, have shelter and clothing, before it can pursue politics, science, art, religion, etc; that therefore the production of the immediate material means, and consequently the degree of economic development attained by a given people or during a given epoch, form the foundation upon which the state institutions, the legal conceptions, art, and even the ideas on religion, of the people concerned have been evolved, and in the light of which they must, therefore be explained, instead of vice versa, as had hitherto been the case.”

According to him, the structure of society including politics, religion, arts, and philosophy is founded on the basis of economic conditions of prevailing era alone. Economics explains everything in Marxian worldview. Religion and ethical systems are either products of economic realities, or merely tools used to justify a given economic system. Moreover, if a system is exploitative, religion will be used as opium to cancel out resentments of the masses. (Actually, “opium is the religion of masses.”) People often read and are influenced with these writings without being critical, just as Ilich Lenin was influenced and brought up the revolution in Russia.

The curriculum of today take these adulterations as credible and as “scientific facts,” mal-nourishing young minds philosophically. In reality these ideas have exploited the darker sides of human conscience & mind, bringing forth those attitudes which were once considered taboo. “With the sword of furqan,” says one Islamic thinker, “Muslim minds should destroy the idols of western ideologies.”

Revolutions and Wars

“Wars and revolutions and battles are due simply and solely to the body and its desires. All wars are undertaken for the acquisition of wealth; and the reason why we have to acquire wealth is the body, because we are slaves in its service” – Socrate

The unrests and revolutions that came in past few centuries have also framed the worldview of education and its outcomes. The French revolution attributes a significant place for wiping out feudalism and is credited with giving birth to liberalism. People overthrow the government of King, the oppressor, to free themselves. This idea found in this revolution gained strength later on and reached in its purest form in the Human Rights Charter.

A sceptic might object: how can this be freedom that a mob can overthrow a king and then take control of everything for themselves? Instead of one king, a state is created for few to rule. They maintain the cycle though: they print the currency, impose taxes, compel everybody to work for material gain, start a competition in the society, bring women out just to boost economy, make children learn things that are not going to matter to them except for increasing taxes and wealth of only a bunch of people. All it does is to make the suffering swallowable for sensitive minds.

This revolution preceded by the American Revolution instills a spirit of absolutist liberty in the approach of institutions of teaching and learning. It also contributes the idea of democracy in the western world and it was through this revolution that basis of modern political thought is inspired. Political theorists and students now advance their thought after considering the universality of the ideas of democracy and capitalism, without analyzing critical the implications of these systems and without challenging its naive assertions.

Similarly, the Russian Revolution and Marxism have brought with it a completely different mindset and values. When these values were first implemented after the revolution, ferocious was the attempt to impose these ideas to the whole world. Nazi Nationalism was another despicable event that took place and failed. Now the world is left with a single dominion of Capitalism awaited to be replaced with something more ideal.

These revolutions have then helped fringe these (and other) concepts of liberalism.

20th century World Wars can safely be attributed to Nationalism (and other psychological diseases and delusions). Education served the warfare. Many of the subjects and fields of study were developed owing to the demands of warfare like Operations Management, Supply Chain Management, and Resource Planning etc. Even the invention of internet is accredited to the needs of military communication after World War II (and to some pure mathematical pursuits too, we must mention).

The overall focus of the education in previous two centuries hasn’t been on the moral grounds, because if it was so people would be enjoying a more safer, indiscriminate and peaceful planet. These so-called “management” and “engineering” fields are nothing but the tools to keep the “system” running and to spread the void between rich and the poor, powerful and the oppressed, from one perspective.

A conscious citizen knows that industrial-military-complex is at the heart of American economy. Those who set up wars, sell weapons and then blame others for mischief are equally responsible and real barbarians.

Anti-Principlism

A brief survey of modern thought and its educational system will show that it’s based on overturning principles, notes Hamza Yusuf, an American convert and preacher. Whereas, he further said, in Islamic educational system, you cannot question those principles. Prof. S. H. Nasr notes that in old days, when Islamic Tradition was fully intact, the intellectual environment was like a sea in which all kinds of fish would swim, with all kinds of colors and shades; but none would question existence of water. No one would doubt unity of God, for instance, but have very sharp differences at the same time. Secular, positivist, modern education attempts murdering this holistic and sacred understanding of knowledge and instruction.

Today, ulema are anathematized for having deep theological differences (when in fact those differences lead to greater synthesis, as per M Iqbal); whereas, the very modernists would dare disagreeing with Quran, and whole of the Orthodoxy developed and perfected by the best generations of Muslims – progressive-academics like Amina Wadud for instance.

Logical Positivism in Social Sciences: Rejection of the Unseen

No understanding of western social sciences (hence its educational system) is complete without delving deep into logical positivism. Western social sciences are based on logical positivism, which rejects belief in and study of the Unseen. An implication of rejection or indifference to the existence of God.

It only studies what can be seen and observed, while rejecting underlying realities like courage, love, goodness, etc. For instance, we cannot see gravity. Hence, we won’t talk about gravity, but we’ll only study its effects. Equations describing its effects will be studied only. (However, physicists don’t bow to positivism much and always talk about such unobservable things as gravity, strings, etc.) Similarly, in psychology, many things are unobservable, unconscious for example. Behaviorists reacted to this invocation of unseen concepts and called for rejecting the study of such areas in psychology. Not many heeds their call anymore.

Unfortunately, despite having failed, logical positivism continues to stick (like a sticky tape) and be taught in many areas. This is evident from its two basic dogmas, which have also taken disbelievers away from light and into darkness:

“S1: Unobservable entities cannot be invoked as explanatory factors. Social science, like the physical sciences, must be built around quantifiable and measurable concepts.

S2. Morals, values, ideals are unobservable and hence unscientific.  Activism, or efforts to create a better society are not part of scientific activity. Social scientists must act as neutral, detached observers seeking to describe laws of motion for human and social activities.” (Source, please read the paper for a detailed description, history and criticism of logical positivism.)

One can appreciate that these misunderstandings are opposite to Islamic understanding of knowledge and method of inquiry. Islam on the contrary is for those who believe in the Unseen, and that invoking unobservables is necessary and only rational to be objective in social sciences.

Media: The Mind Control Machinery

Brainwashing and conditioning doesn’t end with classroom sessions in the afternoon. The very potent one begins afterwards. It can be said that today many are reading, writing, learning, understanding, persevering, and moving forward only for the sake of money and lifestyle. Not for the sake of Allah, which has severe consequences, as evident from pupils’ boredom with the education. Media, advertising and our education reinforces these “ideals.” But the fall is much grave and deeper. The subtleties of men now rest in the hands of some ignorant celebrities and movie stars, or a bunch of business giants who’re controlling and influencing a major portion of the population. These corporations  are centralized and concentrated. A few many firms own large, diverse businesses like magazines, gaming, newspapers, etc. They won’t let research published against them spread so easy.

With its unprecedented influence, media is termed as the fourth pillar of the state and is the most influential tool rampant in the circles of life of contemporary global culture. The “culture” is nothing but the monoculture imported from America (like McDonalds, etc.). It frowns upon facial hairs, turbans, sandy terrains, and everything more natural. At deeper levels, it’s contemptuous towards various manifestations of traditional civilization, especially the latter’s anti-absolute-freedom-to-do stance.

It’s a mind control machine that ‘manufactures consent’, to put it mildly. But it is much more than that, and impacts deeply spiritual state of those who’re exposed to it without caution. Our national identity, and moral growth of individuals is at stake due to this media because it has torn apart the garment of modesty from people’s eyes and it has once again took humanity to those primitive times when there was degradation of feminine gender and immodesty it faced. In Islam, bashfulness is the essence. In modernity, it is a meaningless commodity that doesn’t help.

Conclusion

An education that only makes us honest, efficient, hardworking and loyal to the system can be very deluding. If the system negates the many clear-cut commands of Allah, honesty, efficiency and hard work won’t do any good to the individual and society. This, to us, is the case with education in Pakistan.

Many things must have been left while writing this as this is no short topic it requires deliberate working and understanding of human conscience and zeitgeist of time in order to identify its fallacies. This article is just an effort to compile the thoughts into an organized form to better understand the problem at hand and to convey it to others. We welcome you to amend, add and expand the scope, contents and depth.

The Islamic concept of educational system is based on the spiritual and moral grounds and implies a set of principles which are completely different and in fact in conflict with the contemporary world view of education. The modern education has moved on after renouncing the existence of any other world other than what they perceive and feel, this attitude has casted a curse on society which has sabotaged its moral values. Dignity, courage, austerity, justice, freedom, wisdom, virtuousness, integrity, and absolute sincerity are absent from today’s learned and literate man. Because if it were a part of the education or if education would have taught these moralities; there must have been less suffering by human race.

“To learn is to understand and to understand we need free thought and for free thought we need not to be slaves”

خرد کو غلامی سے آ زاد کر

The above article has been co-authored by Muhammad Umer Toor with Hassan Habib

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I was invited for a talk to Ghazali Premier College  (GPC) and I was very surprised when I visited the place.  Without any doubt, it was one of the best institutions I had seen in years. GPC immediately became an inspiration for me.
Muhammad Tariq, the director of GPC left a lucrative job in Dubai and came back to Pakistan to play a positive role. It was always on the back of his mind to contribute towards the society. Ghazali education trust took him on board and they went on to acquire this new boarding school which was going to house talented students from all across the country.  Students from 354 schools of Ghazali education trust were selected and Ghazali Premier college came into being. One year onward, its something worth visiting.

The facility is located in suburbs of Lahore on Multan road. It is a purpose built campus with attached mosque and hostel in one campus, housing 118 students. These students are selected from all over Pakistan. I was delighted to know that six students from Balochistan are also in this campus. Many of the enrolled kids belong to poor families and quality education is a distant dream for them. GPC provides free education, boarding and lodging to all the students. It is difficult to think about a free boarding school which intakes underprivileged students from all over the country and gives them free education and boarding without any compromise on the quality of education. GPC is certainly a shinning star on the dark horizon of Pakistan.

The focus in GPC  is on inculcation of Islamic ethical values along with contemporary education.  The schedule of students start with Fajar prayers at the mosque and then they are taught lessons from holy Quran. Entire day activities are thoroughly planned which includes studies and co-curricular activities. Weekends are reserved for social activities and guest lectures.  Typically I got impressed with the social activities of students when I was told that currently these students have planted 4000 trees in the nearby locations of the campus. I was told  that students are very keen in social activities which is actually a missing aspect in typical Pakistani education system.
My lecture was on contribution of Muslims towards science and how can we get back on track. I tried to involve the kids and was stunned to see their IQ level. The knowledge level of 7^th and 8^th graders was amazing.  Their knowledge was also certainly above the text books.  They were very energetic and confident. I was amazed by the quality of their questions. Given the scenario that these kids belong to remote areas of the country, their participation in my talk reflected the hard work of their teachers.
During the interaction with the teacher, I came to know that most of them are highly qualified, with some having their Masters from abroad and all of them joined hands to contribute towards the betterment of the society. Ghazali Premier Trust is planning to open many colleges in far flung areas of Pakistan to spread education in remote areas. The beauty of this project is that it is entirely free and the students have to pay nothing. The quality of education is comparable to any best system  just because of the dedication of the team.

Resources are key to such projects. The team of GPC is trying its level best to raise donations so far. They are also thinking about expanding this project and plan to open other such boarding schools in remote areas of the country. I hope that people like these will continue their efforts. It is our job to help them in every sense so that they succeed in their mission of making Pakistan a better society.

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Is it mandatory to be always at the top ?

‘I have been an A grader throughout my life and now a possible B grade is giving me terrible nightmares’, Faiza, a Pakistani medical student in USA was telling me.  She was worried about her grades and told me about her sleepless nights despite immense hard work. She wanted to stand first in her class. For me, she is already an extraordinary girl. Being from a conservative family and studying at a medical school in United States is an incredible dream for many.  She is already a leader and role model for many girls in her family and friends but Faiza is not satisfied with her current situation.

The problem is not only with the students, but parents as well. They would queue outside ‘top schools’ for many hours in order to enrol their children for admissions. Sumera, another good friend from Lahore, worries about the performance of her son, who is a super active ten year old kid. He grabs decent grades despite being a ‘happy-go-lucky’ child and that is what bothers Sumera. She thinks he can outshine the rest if he gives a little more time and attention to his studies. She wants to see her kid at the top of the world and be a ‘star’.

The competition is not limited to education either. In every walk of life, we want to excel and beat the queue by any means possible. Be it the most luxurious car or high-tech cell phones, designer clothes or branded jewellery, we want to have the best of the best available. In career, everyone wants to have the fortunes of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Nothing satisfies us more than overtaking the crowd in trivial things and possessions.

I remember one of my professors once said, ‘Be a leader in your field and if you fail, create a new field and lead’’.  Everyone knows about ‘Neil Armstrong’ who stepped on to the moon, but no one knows about the second one who stepped twenty minutes later. The stories of cut-throat competition in the markets are prevalent, asking to move up the ladder by hook or by crook.

The issue is not only with Pakistanis. In Korea, the issues like which university to choose, which company to join and who to marry, depend quite a lot on your performance in the high school examination. One exam almost shapes the entire life of the person and the repercussions are drastic. Children’s days and nights revolve round exams more than any healthy activities, and the teenage suicidal rate in Korea is the highest in the world.

So is the world all about being at the top? And more importantly, those who have big achievements in their portfolios are they satisfied with their lives? Or do they want more? These questions need to be pondered upon? No one is happy with this fast paced life. Everyone looks for the missing pieces in the puzzle of happiness. So it comes down to the phenomenon of contentment. We need to draw a line where we feel contented. That is when we can enjoy all what we have and stop looking for more. There is no problem with the notion of standing out in the crowd and having a few extra feathers in the cap. The problem comes when it becomes the only motive of life.

The solution was given by Prophet Muhammad (SAWW) centuries ago by saying ‘In matters of deen (righteousness/virtues) look at those who are higher (better) than you and in the matters of the world (material things), look at those who are lower (less fortunate) than you. This simple solution will fill one’s heart with contentment. Thanking God for what you have will give you the option to enjoy it to the full.

Being first is not important at all times. In my opinion, the role of the Michael Collins was most important; he orbited the moon in Apollo 11, and brought back Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin safely to the earth. He went to the moon, not to step onto it, but to bring those back who landed there. Sometimes staying behind the scene and playing role is much more important than coming to the lime light.

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People are in distress across the world. The situations we find ourselves in have solutions; however the process for solving the myriad of problems begins inside of us, as an each unique individual. We must start with ourselves first. The revelation of the Qur’an begin with the word ‘Iqra’, the read /recite/ learn and this is incumbent on any nation that they must develop an educated citizenry. A society steeped in illiteracy must change itself person by person and everyone has a role to play.

We know that a handful of people can change the world, as we learned from the prophet (PBUH) when he talked to people in Mecca under the tree, and one by one people came into Islam. As the strength of each individual contributed to the strength of the deen, the deen changed the world. This lesson must be implemented. How do we work on ourselves first before looking outside and blaming others for the situation our hands have put forth?

Readers may be surprised that when Israel was planning to build an illegitimate state surrounded by all enemies it started with the education sector.  The Israel Institute of Technology was first established in 1912 and the “Hebrew University “was established in 1949. The establishment of the university was the very first step taken by Israel after the war of 1948.

The goal of this article is  not to ask what they are doing to us, but what we are NOT doing. How does each person live his or her life as a gift from the creator and aspire to the attributes of the divine? If we can agree on an answer to this question the path is clear. Any situation we as humans find ourselves in can be resolved with knowledge, patience and prayer, person by person so that hearts become connected.

The  Prophet  of Islam SAW has told us,

“Dissension (fitnah) will surely come. A companion asked him what the way out of it is, to which he replied, “Allah’s Book is the way (out), for it contains information of what has happened before you and news of what will happen after you and a decision regarding matters which occur among you. If anyone seeks guidance elsewhere, Allah will lead him astray. It is Allah’s strong Rope, it is the wise reminder, it is the straight path. He who speaks according to it has spoken the truth, he who acts according to it is rewarded, he who pronounces judgment according to it is just.”(Tirmidhi)

Whenever something happens we are told to raise our voices,  a journalism expression which is taken in a positive way as giving people “voice.”  The people who are creating the dissension want us to cry out loud, and so we do,  we write articles, we protest a lot, we discuss the problem on numerous talk shows and we even make videos and pass them along on Facebook and Twitter.  But what are we  telling the world ‘yes we do have a reaction,  please don’t do this to us’.  But the point to ponder is, WHOM are we crying but in front of?  They are not listening,  they just wanted some reaction from us.  Again, what are we expecting from them?  Are we putting our fate in their hands?  Let’s think of a basic principle of mathematics i.e, we can not work on different units of measurement,  they have to be the same if we want a result.   So, we have to work on a similar medium with similar people to get a result .

The way the Messenger of Allah (SAW)  reacted to trying situations was that he kept everyone focused on self development, education and research.  So this is my impassioned plea for you to is: ‘Recognize yourself as a pearl is hidden with in you’.

As Iqbal said:

Intellect is your shield, Love is your sword

My dervish ! Your viceregency is world-conquering

Your Takbir like fire for Godlessness is

If you are Muslim your prudence your destiny is

If you are loyal to Muhammad we are yours

This universe is nothing the Tablet and the pen are yours.

(Jawab e Shikwa)

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