Give the Light of Knowledge and Effulgence of Guidance their Natural Way

Fragrance of the blossoming buds and rays of the rising sun, as it is the law of nature, can never be barred to spread. Similarly, light of knowledge and effulgence of guidance are never to be blocked in boundaries of some professionals or of the experts. They are neither a matter of inheritance nor to get monopolized by some groups, families or the classes of society. Wisdom of the Quran and Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, are for all. Unlike Christianity and Judaism, where the instructions of the Bible and Torah were thought comprehensible only to the clergymen and rabbis, so they had the right reserved for them to interpret the Divine Books, there is no rule to keep Guidance of Islam exclusively to the Ulama.

Knowledge is, as made clear in a Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad, be peace and blessings upon him, an obligatory thing equally for all male and female Muslims. Learning the basics of Islam is not an optional matter. Every Muslim, according to the level of his/her access to the sources and has a stimulating minds, has to know about all that is lawful (Halal) in Islam and also what is prohibited (Haram). Task of Dawa (call to Islam) and duty of enjoining all that is right and prohibiting what is wrong and evil, is identically for all.

In the West it was unfortunate that the people were immensely fed up of religiosity because Christianity had been hands in gloves with exploitative forces of the cruel feudalism in defrauding and penalizing the innocent people in the name of religion under the umbrella of monarchism. So, since 17th century onward, after the enlightenment spread as outgrowth of Renaissance, first of all what was done was ridding from the unfair practices of the church. Thus the heavy clutches of religions were thrown away. That was the time when industrial revolution which gave an enormous push to the Capitalistic economic system ahead, was a little away. The designers of the new system had a plot of creating a consumer society for their products. They wanted beguile the consumers to make them on the threshold of temptations. The carnal wishes were kindled. For this all the religious and moral bindings were thought necessary to be purged. Hence secularism got deep roots particularly in education, politics and economy and in personal lives haphazardly.

Modern education did a great service to popularize the secular concept. The imperialists used the education as a tool to change the minds. After most of the Muslims countries were one by one colonized and subdued by the Western powers, the secular dogmas of the western societies got an easy and rapid acceptance there. Even the young Muslims, educated in the modern institutions, being regular in their five time prayers and fasting in the month of Ramadhan against implicit belief and unambiguous tenets of Islam, became convinced of the separation of worldly life from religion.

Among the intellectuals in our ranks there are many who are proud of having mugged up perplexed western theories, gone through history and literature and are found engrossed in complicated philosophies. They read heavy volumes of poetry, thick critiques and analistical works. But learning some major basics of Islam is nuisance for them. And if they have some necessary knowledge about lawful and prohibited things in Islam, they still resolve that communication of knowledge and conveying the message of Islam to the others is only the duty of the Maulvis. This way of thinking is the result of the walls raised to divide the life into religious and non-religious parts. Those who advocate this stand are actually ready to let the Caesar take all leaving a handful for God.

I have a very respectable highly educated man very close to me, about whom I know he is relatively well-versed in Islamic teachings but he always curses the religious elements for not doing their duties of Dawa and Islah. He thinks the religious leaders cause of all the evils in the society. We have a long dialogue in writing about how much the modern educated people in politics, armed services, bureaucracy, business, judiciary, and many other fields tainted with avariciousness, corruption, nepotism, opportunism, blunders and many other moral evils. It is clearly the fault of our secular natured education system, divorced from the religion and moral values. But the gentleman is obstinately of the view that only the Ulama are the responsible for this moral decline.

As it is obligatory for every Muslim who has his wealth beyond his necessities to spend in the way of Allah and help the needy people in the society, it is the duty of every Muslim to convey to the others whatever, a little or more, he knows about Islam. In his last sermons on the occasion of Farewell Hajj, the Messenger of Allah, be peace and blessings upon him, had emphatically advised the audience to convey from him to those who were not present there, no matter if there was only one Ayah of the Quran. Stinginess in case of knowledge is worse than the materialistic miserliness. The Prophet, SAW, is reported to have said that the one who is asked something regarding the teachings of Islam and he conceals it, will be put bridle of fire around his mouth on the day of Judgment.

The Messenger, be peace and blessings upon him, once said:
“What has happened to those who do not give their neighbors an understanding, do not teach them and do not enjoin them to do good and do not prevent them from doing bad. What has happened to those who neither learn from their neighbors, nor make out something from them, and nor get a piece of advice from them. By God! The people have do the task of teaching the neighbors, admonishing, enjoining what is right and prohibiting what is wrong; they have to learn from their neighbors, make perception through them, ask them for some good word; if not then soon they will be made subject to some affliction.” (Targhib-u-Tarheeb & Majma’ Azwaid )

Some are writers in our ranks while the others are good orators. There are some who are good in table talk and the others keep vast social relations. Everyone has a good chance to convey some message to the others using one’s special capability. Lawyers, teachers, doctors and nursing staff in the clinics and hospitals, religious preachers, government and private sector servants on public dealing duties, grocery men, receptionists, drivers, all happen to have an interaction. If each of them deliberately keeps a good thing to say to the others, thousands of messages can be transmitted every day. I remember a drawing teacher in the junior section of a prestigious international school. As a drawing teacher he had the calligraphic art. Out of the office buildings, from where almost two thousand students, office and teaching staff and also some parents of the students went by, a big board was fixed on the wall for ‘Thought of the Day’. The drawing teacher, with no religious appearance but a missionary spirit to expound some good idea , had undertaken to beautifully write something from the Holy Quran, Ahadith of the Holy Prophet, SAW, any thought provoking quotation or a good piece of advice every morning. This was his way to preach. I think he will be generously rewarded for this on the Day of Judgment, inshaALLAH.

It is true that the light of the knowledge and effulgence of the guidance are never to be blocked in the boundaries of some professionals and experts.