By Alia
Ahmed
“Dedicate
your life to Knowledge and Humanity”, these were words of advice from my father
when I had asked for his autograph – it was precisely what his life was all
about. But this was way back in my teenage and I wonder if I had grabbed the
true wisdom behind these momentous words then. Sixteen years down the road, I
still wonder if I do now.
Knowledge
may be a single word but it has so much depth in it that we are seldom able to
do justice to it’s meaning. Synonymous to wisdom, knowledge is an
awareness, an understanding; the information that one has acquired
through learning or experience. Knowledge is the end product or the resultant
of being educated. Whereas, education is the process of
achieving knowledge, of learning and training oneself. A proper
form of education should develop a person mentally as well as morally. But somehow over the ages,
education has been widely and falsely associated with the sole purpose of
attaining certificates or degrees from various academic institutions.
Education cannot be restricted to a mere procurement of a degree. In fact it
must broaden one’s mind and heighten thinking and reasoning capabilities. Education enhances the power of
knowing and understanding by which man can obtain knowledge. The truth
is that we can never lay ample stress on the importance of education. One needs
to be appropriately educated in order to rightly understand the world around
us, to deal with its problems and to be able to solve them accordingly. Now the
bottom-line is to comprehend what appropriate and useful knowledge is all
about. Does it only begin and end at an educational institute or is it meant to
go beyond that? Does our obligation as a parent end the moment our child begins
to go to school? There is a hadith, which we so often
hear that the best thing that a father can give to his children is a good
education. Unfortunately, providing proper education has been conveniently
translated into getting the kids settled into renowned academic institutions.
Two
months back, a friend of mine was narrating how a member of her family had to
queue up, a night in advance, in front of a school building in order to obtain
an admission form of one of the prestigious schools of her city. She wished to
get her three-year-old toddler admitted there. The admission forms were to be
made available the following morning but since so many parents were anxious to
have their children taken in, a queue had begun to form a day earlier. Though
it may sound unbelievable, it is true to the core. I too would not have
believed the lady’s story had I not heard a similar version of it from a
different quarter earlier on. It left me bewildered. One marvels at the fact
that a vast majority of the human race would readily take all sorts of pains in
order to give their kids the best education they can afford but would not be
prepared to put in half as much efforts for their spiritual uplift. We seldom
spend value time with our children to transmit knowledge that will turn them into
responsible human beings. On the contrary, we would willingly pool in all types
of resources in the form of money, time, tutions… etc.in order to impart worldly education to our kids - you
name it and we would not wish to compromise on anything if it is in our hands
to give our child what we call a good education and it’s squeal, a degree.
Fine! There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and if the family can afford
it, then why not? But the actual question is, “Is that sufficient?” Definitely not. If it was, then only those persons would
have succeeded in life that graduated from prestigious erudite institutions. And mind you, success in life
cannot be measured in term of money earned or a high social rank attained, in fact it is much much
more – beyond the threshold of understanding of a majority of us. For most of
us degree-oriented-education is all that is required to acquire a good job, a
high status and recognition in the society. And we seldom think beyond these
self-generated goals.
If any of
you had the privilege of viewing the movie “Patch Adams”, you would recall how the medical internee
convinced the senior doctors at his university that bookish knowledge is not
enough to revive a patient. Love and attention, care and patience and above all
a cheerful and conducive environment add to the quality of life, something,
which cannot be catered with medicines alone. So from the above argument we may
infer that degree-oriented-education, though consequential, is still not
sufficient to grasp the true meaning of life and it’s
philosophies. The truth is that enlightenment of the soul is just as much
important (if not more) as that of the mind.
Permit me
to quote a few excerpts here, from the letter written by one of the world’s
greatest statesmen, Abraham Lincoln, to his son’s principal.
“He will
have to learn. I know, that all men are not just, all
men are not true. But teach him also that for every scoundrel there is a hero;
that for every selfish politician, there is a dedicated leader…”
“Teach him that for every enemy there
is a friend. It will take time, I know; but teach him if you can, that a dollar
earned is of far more value than five found… “
“In school teach him that it is far
more honorable to fail than to cheat… teach him to
have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone tells him they are wrong… teach
him to be gentle with gentle people and tough with the tough. Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when
everyone is getting on the band wagon.”
“Treat him gently; but do not cuddle
him because only the test of fire makes fine steel. Let him have the
courage to be impatient…, let him have the patience to be brace. Teach him
always to have sublime faith in himself because then he will always have
sublime faith in mankind.”
It seems
there is a lot more to be learnt then we had ever imagined.
Knowledge
should help one recognize right from wrong, friend from foe, truth
from falsity. It should not be superficial instead it must go deep into the
wisdom of things. Knowledge is not an end in itself but a means of seeking much
nobler aims that can only be attained if it is put to proper use. There is an oft-repeated hadith from Sahih Al-Bukhari, narrated by Abdullah bin Masood
(razi allah
anhu), that the Prophet (sal
allahu alaihi wasalam) said,” Do not wish to be like anyone except in two
cases. The first is a person, to whom Allah has given wealth and he spends it
righteously (according to what Allah has ordained in a just and right way);
(the second is) the one whom Allah has given Al-Hikmah
[wisdom i.e. the knowledge of the Quran and the Sunnah
(legal ways) of the Prophet (sal allahu
alaihi wasalam)] and he
acts according to it and teaches it to others.” When we look back at the
Islamic history we find that the companions of the Prophet (sal
allahu alaihi wasalam) had two major aims in their lives. One was
attaining the knowledge of the Quran and Sunnah; and
second was their practice in accordance with that knowledge. This brings us to
the corollary that without an authentic and reliable knowledge of the divinely
approved way of living we cannot hope of success in this life and, of much more
significance, the hereafter. Recently, while leafing-through (Al-Raheeq Al-Makhtoom) a biography
of our beloved Prophet Mohammed (sal allahu alaihi wasalam)
I came upon the following passage which I am reproducing underneath:
“The
Prophet (sal allahu alaihi wasalam) on his part,
would always maintain and sustain his followers’ souls with the light of
belief, sanctify them through inculcating the Quranic
wisdom in their hearts and cultivate their minds deeply with the spirit of
Islam that would elevate them to a state of noble spirituality, pure
heartedness and an absolute degree of freedom from the yoke of materialism, a
high morale powerful enough to resist worldly lusts and consequently lead them
from darkness to light.”
And this
is the form of enlightenment, the knowledge, the light of life that we have
been trying to discover all along.
With my
limited knowledge, I have come to the understanding that a learned person is
not just a soul that has a lot of degrees to boast about but someone who has
recognized his creator and in turn discovered himself. The Quran says: “Only
those of his servants who possess knowledge fear Allah.” (35:29). Wisdom is to know your
creator and to know the purpose behind your creation. Just like a
diligent student who shall never waste time by indulging in futile activities,
in order to attain favorable grades in the exams, a person who has acquired the
wisdom behind his existence shall never sit idle and would make the most of his
time to gather the best he can for the Day of Judgement. A knowledgeable person
would never feel content on little but would thrive on achieving higher aims.
He would rush to grab as many pious deeds as possible. Erudition would help him
identify Satan and his evil tactics and ways to overcome such hurdles. Such a
person would be more in control of himself instead of cursing his fate each
time. Though a cliché, one cannot overstress the fact that knowledge is light,
whereas ignorance is darkness. Allah has given man the blessing of
intellect, which raises him to the level of taking on responsibilities given by
our Lord. A wise person knows
that it is not enough for him to read the Quran but even more important is to
practice its doctrine; only that may lead him towards a peaceful end. When an
infliction falls on such a person he handles it with patience and remains
grateful to his Creator for having saved him from a greater trial that might
have befallen instead. Our Prophet (sal allahu alaihi wasalam)
said that a person who has tidings of the heavens cannot stay asleep the whole
night through, since he would be anxious to attain that place; hence he would
waste no time and would spend part of the night praying and repenting and
asking for God’s forgiveness and blessings. Similarly, a person having
information regarding hell shall not sleep peacefully at night, since the fear
of hell would not permit him to overlook his responsibilities as a true Muslim.
We may say that knowledge allows a person to recognize his mistakes and in turn
rectify them. We have learnt from the Quran that when we shall look back at our
worldly lives in the Hereafter, it would seem that we
had only spent a day or just a fraction of a day in the world. Our whole life,
spread over so many years, would merely seem like a passing moment in the Afterworld. Isn’t this knowledge enough to correct out
ways? Why are we so convinced to risk our everlasting abode for something that
will seem so meaningless, so short and temporary once we would look back at it?
On the
outlook it seems that the world has progressed a lot on the basis of its
discoveries but inspite of all this evolvement we are
perplexed people. Buffaloed and bound to the chains of this world. The
hereafter is lost and forgotten. Islamic teachings furnish a complete code of
life, which must be absorbed and implemented. And an individual who has acquired the true wisdom of the
Islamic doctrines shall never be lost or misled. I end with a portion of
our Prophet’s (sal allahu alaihi wasalam) supplication,
reported by Ahmed and Muslim:
“Oh
Allah, I seek your refuge from a knowledge that does not benefit, from a heart
that does not fear (You), from a soul that is not satisfied, and from a prayer
that is not granted.”