It simply is What do I want?
To some the answer might be very simple. For others it might be difficult. The real difficulty is when you cannot figure out what you truly desire and you get infatuated with every other thing around you. For desire to truly stick with you, must has to solely reside within you and it must not be a mere projection of you identifying yourself with any idea or a personality alone.
Most of us are passing our days of lives in a very superficial way. Not caring about what really matters, spending time in activities that don't add up to anything life and most of all we are not content from inside, because if we were 'happy' we would have been living a completely different life. Why? Because happiness demands authenticity and originality. It is not a mere shadow of someone else's thoughts and ideas. It is free like a bird, like a thought that dazzles your mind, a euphoria that stays for infinity.
This state of contention consumes on one's desires, it is in the way of its fulfillment, it is in the strive of its achievement and it is something that provides the impetus to move forward. The strength and density of this happiness lies within the infatuation itself. It is not ephemeral ecstasy that just passes once and leaves your soul empty and wandering again in search. It becomes part of your soul and it gives you reason to live.
The smile on your loved ones, you comforting your parents, helping someone with sheer altruism and not telling anyone about it, it is in solitude, quietness, in the shadows of self and in the ruins of past, this state is a glowing ball inside you that keeps your spirits high and compels you to push your limits to infinity, to achieve that special place of yours, your purpose. It is this satisfaction, a holy ritual, a satisfaction that is related to the divine that is not physical in any form, that is completely spiritual.
The only unique, expensive and rare thing to find today is such a passion. Conceiving it can make miracles to happen right in front of our bare eyes.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Islam
Below is a draft of somethings that came in to my mind rushing. Read it today after a long time. This is a rough draft that I want to make into several articles that are based on understanding threats that Islam faces today and their possible solutions. It would be of great help if you please share your thoughts, suggestions, critics and any resources here.
I finally found my muse in the article I just read by Robert and an article written by khawaja ahsan-ul-haq and a reheard lecture of Dr. Asad Zaman.
Economics is talked about like there is nothing else matters. What any country country needs to prosper is a healthy growth rate of GDP, a well accumulated pool of foreign reserves and a peaceful environment to sustain this development. Any country that needs to cater the rampant corruption or that needs to take care of governance has to yield to the conclusion that economic growth means everything for mankind and all else stays behind. Some might say this out of their empathy and pity for the poor and they would say ‘roti k bgair insaan khuda ko yaad nhi kr skta’. This is the zeitgeist of modern world that Islam is in contrast with in totality.
To analyze this argument we need to delve into what ideology rules the modern man and what is it that nature actually calls on man to do. Simply put, a duel between the modern ideology and the ideology of Islam. The economy of today rests on consumerism. The idea of eat, drink and enjoy. The idea that there is no higher purpose of humans as they, are, a mere accident and there is nothing other than what they can feel through their five senses. There is no soul and there is no afterlife. There is no morality except of what is offensive to any other human being. The idea that religion is a very personal matter and no one can tell anybody to believe in anything one doesn’t want to believe in. That everyone has the right of freedom of speech and freedom of expression. The idea that everything primitive is bad and everything new is good.
The idea that happiness is something that resides in the material world and there is no spiritual side to it. That man can himself be the master of his own destiny and can conceive universal human values, while science can develop a methodology probabilistic or deterministic that would eventually explain everything and anything there is in the universe. The idea that women are equally obliged to earn and there are no limits to what they can do. There is no room to think of a selfless act in this world as people are essentially selfish. The idea that world is in chaos and that ‘might is always right’ and so is the majority of people.
These ideas represent a specific class of people that is rapidly growing in the world and in fact they are growing at a rate that is faster today, even, from the spread of Islam. These atheistic and secular ideas rule today and Islam addresses these issues in a very balanced and wholesome manner. It takes into account the nature of lust and tells us to not be spendthrift. It takes into account the needs of humans like food but tells us to be modest. It tells us to control ourselves. It is not void of any aim, it gives a higher perception of the creation of humans and directs humans to spread peace by making people believe in oneness of Allah and takes away from humans the burden of making laws that they could never perfect without what has been revealed divinely. The idea that man will ever reach to the conception of these universal laws that could eventually help prevail peace without taking into account the divinely is impossible, because evil is always there and it will always conspire against good, no matter what.
Islam gives a purpose to the creation of humans that they are created for nothing except to please Allah through actions that are higher in ranks in eyes of Allah. Islam guides humans to a unity that nothing else could ever create between humans. It opens the bounties of Allah through which everybody could quench their thirst on earth. It guides of fairness in dealings. It tells to be honest and to be truthful. It tells to leave no stone unturned to help your neighbors and fellow humans. It tells all this not to have more customer satisfaction but to succeed in the hereafter. It creates inside humans the fear of biblical pursuits.
It takes off fear from people of everything except their creator. It frees them of worries of building their lifestyle and of building homes, and owning clothes that they might never wear. It dresses women in modesty of being the ones who could standby in their homes as the protectors of the future generations and to instill character in them for a brighter and a more harmonious future.
Revivalists of Islam always point to the fact that we have forgotten what we have and are blindly following West in everything that they have including education, development and science. There are many things that we could consider to better our society that does not involve ideologies of the West. It is very simple to say but hard to implement but I want to say it and will not hold back. We need to see the threats first that are today being faced by Muslims and Islam all over the world and then to come up with the solutions that are completely indigenous to Islam and Muslims.
After we have seen the threats we could move on to find their solutions. According to me the biggest threat to Muslims is ignorance. The second threat is their massacre that is happening in different parts of the world. The third is the absence of will to act. The fourth is the absence of unity. The fifth is the incapacity of there being able to support themselves economically.
The ignorance has multiple levels and is the most dangerous threat for Muslims. We don’t know our religion, our history, our purpose, our role in today’s world, the complete ignorance of the hidden motives that west has, the ignorance of understanding what is happening in the world and who is who really.
The solution is to think of a society where Islamic principles are implemented in their purest form. Then we have to see what kind of needs would come about and how would we have to cater these needs. In this way we could glimpse of what is necessary and what needs to be done.
I finally found my muse in the article I just read by Robert and an article written by khawaja ahsan-ul-haq and a reheard lecture of Dr. Asad Zaman.
Economics is talked about like there is nothing else matters. What any country country needs to prosper is a healthy growth rate of GDP, a well accumulated pool of foreign reserves and a peaceful environment to sustain this development. Any country that needs to cater the rampant corruption or that needs to take care of governance has to yield to the conclusion that economic growth means everything for mankind and all else stays behind. Some might say this out of their empathy and pity for the poor and they would say ‘roti k bgair insaan khuda ko yaad nhi kr skta’. This is the zeitgeist of modern world that Islam is in contrast with in totality.
To analyze this argument we need to delve into what ideology rules the modern man and what is it that nature actually calls on man to do. Simply put, a duel between the modern ideology and the ideology of Islam. The economy of today rests on consumerism. The idea of eat, drink and enjoy. The idea that there is no higher purpose of humans as they, are, a mere accident and there is nothing other than what they can feel through their five senses. There is no soul and there is no afterlife. There is no morality except of what is offensive to any other human being. The idea that religion is a very personal matter and no one can tell anybody to believe in anything one doesn’t want to believe in. That everyone has the right of freedom of speech and freedom of expression. The idea that everything primitive is bad and everything new is good.
The idea that happiness is something that resides in the material world and there is no spiritual side to it. That man can himself be the master of his own destiny and can conceive universal human values, while science can develop a methodology probabilistic or deterministic that would eventually explain everything and anything there is in the universe. The idea that women are equally obliged to earn and there are no limits to what they can do. There is no room to think of a selfless act in this world as people are essentially selfish. The idea that world is in chaos and that ‘might is always right’ and so is the majority of people.
These ideas represent a specific class of people that is rapidly growing in the world and in fact they are growing at a rate that is faster today, even, from the spread of Islam. These atheistic and secular ideas rule today and Islam addresses these issues in a very balanced and wholesome manner. It takes into account the nature of lust and tells us to not be spendthrift. It takes into account the needs of humans like food but tells us to be modest. It tells us to control ourselves. It is not void of any aim, it gives a higher perception of the creation of humans and directs humans to spread peace by making people believe in oneness of Allah and takes away from humans the burden of making laws that they could never perfect without what has been revealed divinely. The idea that man will ever reach to the conception of these universal laws that could eventually help prevail peace without taking into account the divinely is impossible, because evil is always there and it will always conspire against good, no matter what.
Islam gives a purpose to the creation of humans that they are created for nothing except to please Allah through actions that are higher in ranks in eyes of Allah. Islam guides humans to a unity that nothing else could ever create between humans. It opens the bounties of Allah through which everybody could quench their thirst on earth. It guides of fairness in dealings. It tells to be honest and to be truthful. It tells to leave no stone unturned to help your neighbors and fellow humans. It tells all this not to have more customer satisfaction but to succeed in the hereafter. It creates inside humans the fear of biblical pursuits.
It takes off fear from people of everything except their creator. It frees them of worries of building their lifestyle and of building homes, and owning clothes that they might never wear. It dresses women in modesty of being the ones who could standby in their homes as the protectors of the future generations and to instill character in them for a brighter and a more harmonious future.
Revivalists of Islam always point to the fact that we have forgotten what we have and are blindly following West in everything that they have including education, development and science. There are many things that we could consider to better our society that does not involve ideologies of the West. It is very simple to say but hard to implement but I want to say it and will not hold back. We need to see the threats first that are today being faced by Muslims and Islam all over the world and then to come up with the solutions that are completely indigenous to Islam and Muslims.
After we have seen the threats we could move on to find their solutions. According to me the biggest threat to Muslims is ignorance. The second threat is their massacre that is happening in different parts of the world. The third is the absence of will to act. The fourth is the absence of unity. The fifth is the incapacity of there being able to support themselves economically.
The ignorance has multiple levels and is the most dangerous threat for Muslims. We don’t know our religion, our history, our purpose, our role in today’s world, the complete ignorance of the hidden motives that west has, the ignorance of understanding what is happening in the world and who is who really.
The solution is to think of a society where Islamic principles are implemented in their purest form. Then we have to see what kind of needs would come about and how would we have to cater these needs. In this way we could glimpse of what is necessary and what needs to be done.
Friday, April 19, 2013
On rationale!
Rationale of logic is based on the perception of the sensory world. The rationale of Islam is beyond the world of senses. Logic has yielded chaos, religion promises peace. The questions that are causing confusion in our faith today is because of our inability to appreciate what religion offers and our incapacity to understand the grim realities that rationale of logic has brought to humans. Islam offers conciliation between the visible and the invisible. It does not deny the visible reality of universe but in fact, supports the material wellness of human being. But the difference between sole material development and the rationale of religion is that religion puts supreme authority in Allah, while materialism considers 'itself' the end.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
An irony!
Once there was a village. In that village people lived as long as their memories permitted. They were happy living their traditional life. Children played in the day and learned tradition at the footsteps of their elders from THE book. Men went into the fields and worked all day. The women assisted in teaching the children, doing chores at home and sometimes went to fields to share men’s burden. The men also respected their wives and didn’t burden them with worries. Women also never bothered men with lavish desires. Everybody lived happily.
One day all things turned into a nightmare for these people. Some strange people came from nowhere and looted all their homes. They came with strange devices and things the people of the village had never seen. They used these gadgets and destroyed their homes. They killed their young, raped their women, took away their children and took them into bondage.
These people were then blamed by the invaders that they were not good in defending themselves, that they were backwards and had nothing in comparison of what they had. That was the day when people from the village were robbed of their freedom. They didn’t bother anyone, they didn’t know if there was a world outside their village. They were busy in taking their tradition from one generation to the other. In doing that they had discovered great many things. But the invaders never cared for what they had and branded them slavery forever.
One day all things turned into a nightmare for these people. Some strange people came from nowhere and looted all their homes. They came with strange devices and things the people of the village had never seen. They used these gadgets and destroyed their homes. They killed their young, raped their women, took away their children and took them into bondage.
These people were then blamed by the invaders that they were not good in defending themselves, that they were backwards and had nothing in comparison of what they had. That was the day when people from the village were robbed of their freedom. They didn’t bother anyone, they didn’t know if there was a world outside their village. They were busy in taking their tradition from one generation to the other. In doing that they had discovered great many things. But the invaders never cared for what they had and branded them slavery forever.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Detachment!
I have been feeling very down from past few months. It is like the world has become a very difficult place to live in and to stand by its injustices. It is like people have denounced known morals and I can feel nothing to inspire me to indulge myself in goodness and objectivity. I am at loss of vibe that could get me out of this detachment. I am writing this post after a very long time on my blog and in this time period, there were many things that came into mind to write about but I couldn't muster up enough enthusiasm to write.
This detachment is foremost because of two faced people that I see. While in my sins and my procrastination I cannot just bring the courage in me to face the bare reality of this very short rugged life. I have prayed to Allah and await His response. Wind blows my soul dry and i feel like stranded in my own negativity. It is difficult when you don't have beacon of light to find path. (Beacon being my mother, she always knew what I had to do). The miracle (Quran) lays in my hand and I even can not extract objectivity from it. If you have any solutions please share.
This detachment is foremost because of two faced people that I see. While in my sins and my procrastination I cannot just bring the courage in me to face the bare reality of this very short rugged life. I have prayed to Allah and await His response. Wind blows my soul dry and i feel like stranded in my own negativity. It is difficult when you don't have beacon of light to find path. (Beacon being my mother, she always knew what I had to do). The miracle (Quran) lays in my hand and I even can not extract objectivity from it. If you have any solutions please share.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Iqbal's very inspiring words!
As in the beginning of April 660 A.D. 23 years after the Battle of Siffin, in the town of Mecca, a Muslim had stood up to tell the pilgrims of that sacred soil how the unity of Islam had been split up into various factions, so in the beginning of April in the town of Lahore, the soil of which claims the bones of some of the greatest personalities of Islam, I, an insignificant member of the community, venture to stand up and place my finger on this dreadful wound in the body-social. In this great assembly of educated Mussalmans, I condemn this accursed religious and social sectarianism; I condemn it in the name of God, in the name of humanity, in the name of Moses, in the name of Jesus Christ, and in the name of him—a thrill of emotion passes through the very fibre of my soul when I think of that exalted name—yes, in the name of him who brought the final message of freedom and equality to mankind. Islam is one and indivisible; it brooks no distinctions in it. There are no Wahabies, Sh’ias, Mirzais or Sunnies in Islam. Fight not for the interpretations of the truth, when the truth itself is in danger. It is foolish to complain of stumbling when you walk in the darkness of night. Let all come forward and contribute their respective shares in the great toll of the nation. Let the idols of class distinctions and sectarianism be smashed for ever; let the Mussalmans of the country be once more united into a great vital whole. How can we, in the presence of violent internal dispute, expect to succeed in persuading others to our way of thinking? The work of freeing humanity from superstition—the ultimate ideal of Islam as a community, for the realization of which we have done so little in this great land of myth and superstition—will ever remain undone if the emancipators themselves are becoming gradually enchained in the very fetters from which it is their mission to set others free.
(Islam as moral and political ideal, Dr. Allama Iqbal)
Virtue is power!
This idea of man as an individuality of infinite power determines, according to the teachings of Islam, the worth of all human action. That which intensifies the sense of individuality in man is good, that which enfeebles it is bad. Virtue is power, force, strength; evil is weakness. Give man a keen sense of respect for his own personality, let him move fearless and free in the immensity of God’s earth, and he will respect the personalities of others and become perfectly virtuous.
(Islam as Moral & Political Ideal by Allama Iqbal)
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Foundations of Secular Educational System!
Know thy enemy.
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
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:
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
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:
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
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-Principalism
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.
As Published on MyBitForChange.org by me and Umer Toor (Expressing him profound gratitude for his very valuable additions.)
"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."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.
2:257
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 himThe ‘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.)
(René Guénon)
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-Principalism
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
As Published on MyBitForChange.org by me and Umer Toor (Expressing him profound gratitude for his very valuable additions.)
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Visible signs of delusion!
Let me try to come with names that we associate ourselves while we are actually no one:
First on the basis of language/area:
Punjabi
Sindhi
Balochi
pathan
Uzbek
Mahajar
Saraiki
Pashton
pakhtun
Lower Punjab
Upper Punjab
Gilgi Baltistan
FATA
Waziristan
And many others that i don't know of. You can add.
Second on basis of religion:
Sunni (Hanfi, Zikri . . . )
Shiite (Naqvi, Kazmi, Jaafry. . .)
Beralwi
Deobandi
Wahbi
Ahl e Hadees
Tableegh e Islami
Jamat ud Dawaa
Jamat e Islami
Naqshbandi
Chishtie
Qadyani
Green paghri walay (With Green Turbans)
Orange pagrhi walay (With Orange Turbans)
Black paghri wwalay (With Black Turbans)
White paghri walay (With White Turbans)
And still many others
This list can go on and on and on if we add political parties and castes that reside in Pakistan. How can we be united then. People from every association of the above list will always try to relate themselves with specific group, clan, area or party. Our identities are no more just Muslims and followers of one religion Islam. So, how can we be united? This is the condition of one country of Muslim Ummat while there are forty nine Muslim countries all over the world.
Please let me know about your reflections that how can these unite into one.
Image provided by "africa" at freedigitalphotos.net
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