Mind, Body, Soul

As an addendum I wanted to enter further into the topic of education.

It is said that my earlier words:

ignores the stewardship of humanity (and Muslims) on the Earth.

I say, stewardship in the hands of people who cannot see a world with different roles and responsibilities is one of confusion and lack of foresight and consequences.

It is often said that the ummah is in need of education, but the immediate response from my point of view has to be “what type of education?” Education is a loaded word, its been the holy grail for many for some time now, so let us qualify it.

Some possibilities of what type of education we could be discussing, keep in mind we are speaking now not of knowledge, but of a broad term of ‘education’ that requires literacy:

1) Secular (Science, Mathematics, etc)
2) Religious – Legal
3) Religious – Doctrine

The criticism of traditionalism was first focused on attacking my qualifications to speak on the issue. Secondly, the criticism was speaking about the need to obtain ubiquitous literacy in the Muslim world and apply at least 1, 2, and 3 into all Muslims life. This is what I will examine.

So let us say we gave you the power to impact some change right now, and immediately educate people. What would you educate them in first, second, last? What and who would you exclude and what and who would you include?

I would remind the reader about the realm of the discussion here. This is on the global scale, for the entire ummah.

Really, now, tell me what is the universal goal of mass literacy and education in its larger context? The truth is, as I said previously, the West has promoted this concept because it has been able to shift those working in jobs which need less education from the public eye. When they do enter the public eye, i.e. Katrina, they shake their head and say “They are just not making enough money because they are not educated!”.

Does everybody, and I mean globally, does every single person on the earth need a secular education right now? I personally don’t think so. Who will be the school janitor when everyone has written a thesis on the contemporary string theory of physics? Who will milk the sheep when everyone can be a professor of fine arts? Who will make the shoes when everyone can build computers? Who will be the waiter when everyone has their MBA to run the restaurant?

It might be said, I am discussing high levels of education and when we are speaking about basic education. Alhamdulillah, ‘basics’ are good, but again then, what are the basics to you and to me? What is the benefit of everyone having that basic secular education if it is not to lead us onward to higher and higher levels within the academic and professional system? People now say, casually that all that math they learned in class didn’t really help them at their professions, yet we don’t really consider the profoundness of that when we are force feeding that same education on families of children who don’t have the luxury of such use of time.

In the traditional days the Awliya would look at a community and help decide who was best suited to be a high scholar and who was best suited to be a porter.

It was wisdom, interpersonal relationships, knowing what people wanted for themselves and for others, knowing levels of ambition, and also necessity which brought whole communities together that made secular education *a useful tool* for the right people.

Today, without their guidance, the world has turned into a rat race of getting on the top of an educational ladder, those who fall by the wayside are only looked upon as having failed and essentially tossed aside for the wolves. In today’s day those ‘failures’ are punished by being priced out of food, not earning enough to cover the costs of an unseen education tax on the growing of their scientifically engineered bread. But in the past those people were content, generally those people lived and sought simple lives, with satisfaction.

In an Islamic context, you might actually know the name of the janitor who cleans your office, and he might have actually been respected.

The promise of modernity has all but erased the desire for a simple life from our lives. The Prophet (Sallalahu’alaiheewassalam) taught us contentment with what we have, contentment with destiny, contentment with our Lord, and what was taught was simplicity in practice, simplicity in lifestyle. This is what the modern ‘scholar’ has forgotten and rejected.

If they have understood the above about secular education they have become confused and applied the same rat race to the religion itself, and that is not only dangerous for the world but to the soul.

Let us continue with the different types of education and their roles.

Does everyone need #2, a legal education in Shariat? Let us realize the number of people who don’t even believe even in its application today personally. Will a mandatory class in understanding of Mukhtasar al-Quduri help save the souls of the world? Will studying the fiqh exposed through Sahih Bukhari in high school lead to a situation where more and more people feel they have the authority to argue on matters of legal permissibility? Most likely. That is what we are seeing today, and it is only creating more confusion.

Nearly all of the world doesn’t practice the Shariat in terms of public policies, and in the traditional understanding it took years before we considered someone satisfactorily studied in the aspects of Shariat in order to utter one word about it. Is a light ‘dose’ of information what we need? I think it would be better to focus and create respect for the scholarship which did exist, to keep alive the practical aspects of learning how to pray, how to fast, which are easily understood by consulting ones knowledgeable local imam. Furthermore, the basic respect for the madhabs and a very high level understanding of the methodologies could be summarized and conveyed in a simple 15 minute talk.

Does absolutely everyone need #3, doctrine? I think few people could read the works on aqeeda and say that every man, woman, son and daughter, needs to understand the principals and differences within the Ashari, Maturidi and Athari aqeedas. Like Shariat, there is questionable worldly and spiritual benefit to knowing exactly the necessary consequences on physics from understanding that Allah is the source of all causality. At the same time, understanding the basic creedal aspects of our religion is something very simple, again, understood in its necessity in a 15 minute talk.

Now let us begin to discuss the power of knowledge and ‘education’ that does not need mass literacy.

4) Religious – Spiritual (Tassawuf)
5) Religious – General, Basics, Dawah
6) Practical ‘On the Job’/Experienced-based Knowledge

Now we can begin to discuss what the Prophet (Sallalahu’alaiheewassalam) spoke about when he commended knowledge and its seeking.

Regarding spiritual knowledge: It is said our Grandshaykh Abdullah Daghestani was Ummi, he could not read nor write outside of the Quran. Yet, when he spoke he was able to speak of spiritual realities which ended moving thousands and thousands of people. Is everyone in need of such spiritual lessons? Yes, because this is what the Prophet (Salallahu’alaiheewassalam) poured into the hearts of people. Shariat was learned largely through his practice and example, and a few orders. But spiritual teachings and awareness of God was the content of our beloved Prophet’s (Sallalahu’alaiheewwassalams) words.

So everyone is in need of it, but yet we don’t see an absolute need of ‘literacy’ to learn it nor to speak about it.

The general aspects of Islam, #5, need to be retaught to many, many, many people who call themselves Muslims indeed. But again, is the reliance on texts or on the people to spread that knowledge?
The Muslim community may be in need of a light dose of Shariat, Aqeedah, etc. I say, those that want it can get a ‘light dose’ through numerous means. There never was a prerequisite of ‘literacy’ when it comes to the basics of the deen. When Sa�ad bin Abi Waqqas (R) went to China, did he bring with him books or knowledge within his heart?

I think the time for dismissing and insulting the Muslims of villages as irrelevant and ignorant fools is long gone. Frankly, I think those are the places where one can still practice Islam and escape from this world with a clean heart. It is in Russia, where texts were eliminated, where people carried Islam within their hearts, through the knowledge of the heart. This was a time when even proclamation of your faith would land you in jail. Turkey, which experienced an elimination the actual Arabic script, escaped with a faith that has lead Islamists into democratic government. In Bosnia, few could name you six books of Hadith, but their faith carried most of them through a genocide.

I think emphasizing knowledge has to now to be prefaced with what type of knowledge exists, I think demeaning those who happen to be born in different conditions as being unable to achieve high levels with Allah is the real Bidaa.

Yes, we need education in this society to survive. The world demands it, as it is not being run by people with faith. But while we participate in this system, we can also keep alive in our hearts the reality and the goal of a simple life. Looking to spread the confusion within the very sciences of Islam is not the answer.

There is more to say, the Ottoman’s decision regarding the printing press, Imam Ghazali’s (R) encounter with those who were ready to eliminate all his books, etc. But I will leave it at this for now.