Filling the ideological vacuum

I just read the news here about China’s doomsday phobia about 21st December, 2012. It clearly illustrates the hollowness of character, aim and goal of these people towards life. First let us talk about this so called phobia. To me it all seems the modern superstition that has no logical or spiritual basis. Strengthened by the failures of Nostradamus, these are mere tales to which some, who have nothing to believe in, ascribe their faith.
The news in Asia times has narrated some incidents surrounding this ‘phobia’. China a place where more than one fifths of the world’s population resides, constitutes a fair sample of what the world is going through. It clearly suggests the following things:

1. The people are mostly becoming materialistic divorcing the spiritual side of humans
2. They are unclear of why they are here for?
3. Superstitions are still there in their hearts
4. Atheism, although is increasing very rapidly, still doesn’t provide the ideal of satisfaction and happiness
5. This voluptuous and promiscuous attitudes inculcate frustration in people all around the world (another indicator is the rate of suicides in the East Asian countries)
6. There are no foundations on which to build up the moralities and values of system (sometimes this has given people faith in their old traditions and cultures and they have been able to give economic boost to their countries like Japan and China. But still they cannot provide the true foundations of aspirations for a society)
In this scenario I feel that we Muslims have greatly forgotten our obligation of providing the world with answers to these questions of ideal, purpose and justice. Many have been persevering but like one professor (Tarrun Khanna) said “it is not enough”. [He said it in the perspective of revolution in entrepreneurial spirit of Pakistan. In response on being told of the efforts of ‘akhuwat foundation’ and some other Pakistani entrepreneurs]

What is the ideology of Islam? How does it answer these questions? How can it transform the present turmoil of societies? Is it something doable?
According to my opinion these are some questions that need immediate answers. The works of following authors can provide the answers in detail:

1. The Holy Quran & Sunnah of Prophet (Sallallahu alayehe wasalam)
2. The alchemy of happiness (Imam Ghazali)
3. The reconstruction of religious thought in Islam (Lectures of Allama Iqbal)
4. Quran and Modern Knowledge (Dr. Muhammad Rafi-ud-din)
5. Mahazarat e Shariat (Dr. Mehmud Ahmad Ghazai)
These are the writers as far as I know. But I wanted to write here what my own thoughts and reflections say about these questions and this “vacuum” that needs to be filled. So, here it goes:
1. We are created by one creator Allah (Subhanawatalla) [Nothing surpasses Him in any of the ma’roof qualities]
2. The highest intellect and understanding of this universe was revealed to the prophet (Sallallahu alayehe wasalam) and no one can better judge and do justice except for Muhammad (Sallallahu alayehe wasalam)
3. The purpose of this very small life given to us is to spend it in trying to persevere in the cause of Allah (that explicitly means that the decision of right and wrong, virtue and wickedness lies with the decision of Quran and nothing surpasses it)
4. It also means that people are not slaves of any ideal, concept or action apart from what Allah has revealed
5. This ideal of Allah divorces meaning of worldly endeavors of materialistic desires
6. The true satisfaction lies in the following of natural law, the law of Allah
7. The moralities and values that humans are to follow are not mere dogmas but are the foundations of the spiritual well being of people, they cannot be associated with human wishes and they cannot be evil or wicked in any form for other humans (This well being of soul, values and moralities cannot be attained by any other source)
8. The true happiness is when people realize the purpose that Allah has bestowed upon them and this ‘happiness’ is attained by following Allah’s commandments
9. The commandments are distributed in four elements two of Zahir (Outerself) and two of Batin (Innerself). (‘Ibadat (worship), Mu’amalaat (dealings) , Muhlikat (), Munajjiyat) [The details can be read in ‘Alchemy of Happiness by Imam Ghazali]
10. All the miseries that have befallen humans today can be solved by following the commandments of Allah and this ‘vacuum’ can only be filled with His love and affection that surpasses every other joy and bliss.

“The day that neither wealth nor sons will be of any benefit except for he who comes to Allah with a pure heart.” (Al-Quran, 26:89)

The above were my mere scribbles. I would love to hear your thoughts about this and to know more resources that can help in “filling the vacuum”. And please share about what you feel about “happiness” and “contentment” with regards to modern zeitgeist.

Learning how to learn

Out of curiosity and my attitude of criticizing i have tried and summed up my reflections and thoughts about the modern educational system. This reminisces of mine have been shaped by some of the most renowned scholars like Allama Iqbal, Dr. Mehmud Ahmad Ghazi, Dr. Rafiuddin and others whom i have forgotten. This post below contains nearly half of what i have written and i will be posting the remaining article shortly InshaAllah.


This article is written as a critique on modern education, its implications and to understand where it has lacked and how we Muslims have to transform education in order to preserve the human moralities and Islamic ideology. This is the first article which encompasses the influences on modern education and its origins. In further articles, it will be tried 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. There has to be a balance between what we take from the prevailing system in which we Muslims are dominated by another civilization and have to decide what is useful for us and what it is that divides and rules us. Just two hundred years back we were united but now grand walls of utilitarianism stands between us which has in fact nothing to do with us or our civilization.
Contemporary education or modern literacy I believe 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 I 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, and nationalism. It has divested the superior human values from us and has evolved human society which is individualistic in nature. Where men are all involved in performing feats of personal gratification in which there is no room for love and care with shear selflessness. It has so far given two major wars or world wars in the human history. This cannot be said the age of enlightenment nor is it the Dark Age. It is a delusion of evolution without any direction. No doubt that science and education of people has given us some wondrous inventions and has laid the foundations of various subjects but these were supposed to make human life easier and were to make them civilized. But repercussions have been disastrous. As humans we are on the brink of making some decisions which will in fact architect our future.
Now let us delve into the influences that modern curricula’s have in common.

Industrialization:

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 can also be linked to increase in population but more or less it can be related to greed or avarice. With this radical change there came a rush of inventions and products that changed the face of human society for ever. Previously wars were fought for land, ownership and money; this is not changed even now, groups or clans for their own sake of safety, protection and survival wage wars on other similar groups(by groups today, I mean Nations and corporations). Today, the businesses are running on the Machiavellian thought and totalitarianism without any bounds and without any ethics. This has created the domination of a system based on money and power. 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 beauty, which when stripped off from ethics, results in the bigotry of unequal distribution of wealth.
This system is the sentiment of today’s educational system. The degrees which are now offered are only to sustain this system, to make it robust, and are only for its embellishment. 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. (We are aware of bombings in Japan, massacre of Hitler, Bloodshed by Communists, Economic Depressions).
Capitalistic ideas must be taken critically and should be renounced as the final word for the economic system of humans. This indicates the revitalization of the sentiments on which the subjects are taught in schools and colleges.