There is a one-to-one correspondence between the educational system and the archetypes that a civilization produces. These archetypes capture the functional aspirations of a society much as architecture captures its spiritual longings. The archetype in modern-day America is Bill Gates. In nineteenth century England it was the merchant. In classical Japan it was the Samurai. Each archetype personifies what a civilization is and what it wants to become.
One of the difficulties in formulating a consistent educational reformation of the madrassah is that there is no single archetype that captures the essence of Islamic civilization today. Modern-day Muslims live in different ages. Some live in the seventh century, some in the age of the Crusades, some in the age of the Taj Mahal, and some in dreamland. The resulting confusion is all too apparent.
In Islamic history, we may identify at least seven different archetypes in the fourteen hundred years since the Hijra. Each archetype corresponds to a specific educational structure. The first century after the Prophet belonged to the visionaries (632-765). The instructional structure was a halqa and the teachers were the Suhaba, the Tabiyeen and Tab-e-Tabiyeen. The teacher and the pupil were both animated by the love of the Prophet and the archetypes were a product of this love. The archetypes produced by this age included Omar ibn al Khattab (r), Ali ibn Abu Talib (r), Salman Farsi (r) and Omar bin Abdel Aziz (r). What these stalwarts did - and did not do - set the course for Islamic history in the centuries to come.
The Mu’tazilites (rationalists, men and women of logic, also called the philosophers) took over when Khalifa al-Mansur founded the Baitul Hikmah (765) in Baghdad. Muslim scholars studied classical Greek philosophy, developed it, and took it to new heights. Foremost among them were Wasil ibn Ata (748), Amr ibn Ubayd (762), an-Nazzam (840) and Abu Hudhayl (849). They applied reason to the solution of philosophical problems and were the founders of the kalam sciences in the madrassahs. They upheld the preeminence of human free will over predestination and deduced from it man’s responsibility for his own actions. The Mu’tazilites guided the intellectual ship of Islam for almost a hundred years (765-846). The educational system reflected the rational bent of the age, and the syllabus included philosophy and logic in addition to the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet.
As rationalists, the Mu’tazilites applied speculative logic to the transcendence of God and revelation, and in the process overextended their reach. Opposition to the rationalist school set in. To preserve their privileged position, the Mu’tazilites instituted the Mihnah (inquisition) and a great many scholars were brutally punished. Faced with this opposition, Khalifa al Mutawakkil abandoned the Mu’tazilites and embraced the orthodox Asharites. In turn, when the Asharites came to power (846), they whipped the Mu’tazilites and some were tortured.
It must be emphasized that the Mu’tazilites were not the inventors of modern science. A great many writers - both Muslim and Western - look back at the age of reason (the Mu’tazilite period) with nostalgia and assert that the decay of science in Islam came about because the rational approach was suppressed, and was finally dealt the death-blow by Al Ghazzali (1111). This betrays a lack of understanding of science and civilization in Islam and the philosophical limitations inherent in the rational approach.
The modern scientific method, which is based on observation, collection of data, interpretation, extrapolation and generalization was developed by the Muslims only after the Mu’tazilites were vanquished and in spite of them. The basis for this empirical approach is the Qur’an. Islamic empiricism, not Greek rationalism, was the father of modern science. In the twelfth century, it was this empirical method that found its way to Christian Europe through Muslim Spain. In formulating a strategy for the reconstruction of the madrassah, this observation is so important that we shall revisit it in a later article.
The al-Hakims (integrators) emerged when the rationalists lost out. These were the stalwarts who produced the intellectual eruption that is sometimes referred to as the “golden age” of science in Islam. Al-Kindi, Al-Razi, Al Baruni, Al Masudi, Omar Khayyam, Ibn Sina, and Al Idrisi all belonged to this class of archetypes. The al-Hakims dominated the historical landscape until the devastations of the Mongols and the Maghribi Crusades (1212-1258). It was in this period that the Islamic approach to man and nature found its fullest expression. The syllabus in the madrassah embraced the sciences of man, nature and the soul.
The Awliya emerged out of the ashes of Mongol and Crusader destructions. Focusing more on the esoteric than the exoteric, they developed the sciences of the soul and achieved a cosmopolitan Islamic culture that not even the most liberal Hakim could have dreamed of. Representing the archetypes of the age were Abdel Qader al Jeelani of Baghdad, Khwaja Moeenuddin Chisti of Ajmer, Shaykh Shadhuli of Cairo, the Maulana Rumi of Konya, Shah Naqshband of Samarqand and Shaykh Maqdum of the Archipelago. This period is known for its ecstatic poetry, architectural brilliance and development of the sciences of Tasawwuf. The madrassah reflected the spiritual quest of the age and the science of tazkiyatun nafs (purification of the soul) found an honorable place alongside the Qur’anic sciences, Hadith, mathematics, astronomy, technical trades, chivalry and good manners.
The age of tazkiyatun nafs culminated in a culture of akhlaq (good character) personified by the Great Moghuls Akbar, Jehangir and Shah Jehan. Some of the “gems” of the Moghul courts, such as Abul Fazal (the writer), Tansen (the composer) and Tulsi Das (the administrator) were its typical products. The curriculum of the age, and the composite characters produced by it, reflected the akhlaqi color. The Moghuls were not inventors of the Akhlaqi School. It was proposed as early as the tenth century by Al Farabi (950) and developed by that great man of science, Nasir uddin al Tusi (1276). Imported into India and Pakistan by Emperor Muhammed bin Tughlaq (1351), it found its fullest expression in the composite, cosmopolitan culture of the Great Moghuls (1526-1707).
As corruption ran amuck in the body politic, the traditionalists, always lurking in the background, asserted themselves (1600-1650). This was the beginning of the age of fatwa. Personifying this archetype were the Great Moghul Aurangzeb, Shaykh Abdul Wahhab of Arabia and Shehu Dan Fuduye of Africa. In their zeal to purge the society of religious excesses, the traditionalists injected rigidity into the educational process. So powerful was the downdraft from the traditionalist movement that even an intellectual giant like Shah Waliullah of Delhi (1762) had to guard his rear against an attack from this quarter.
It wasn’t until the nineteenth century, with India firmly under the heels of the British and the Indian Ocean trade under European control, that Muslims woke up to the challenge of the West. In the Ottoman Empire, this awakening resulted in a series of reforms, called the Tanzeemat. In South Asia, it produced Syed Ahmed Khan and Jamaluddin Afghani. The university at Aligarh is a product of this reformist thrust.
In the post-colonial era, one sees the emergence of the secular reformer. It is the secular reformer who has dominated the social and political landscape in the twentieth century. Trained in the western tradition and neglectful of his own past, the secular reformer sees the salvation of the Muslim body politic in emulating the western paradigm. Mohammed Abduh of Egypt was perhaps the first in this category. Kemal Ataturk, Gamal Abdul Nasser, Habib Bourgiba all fall into this category.
Sometimes there are clear demarcation lines between the disappearance of one archetype and the appearance of another such as happened with the repudiation of the Mu’tazilites and the appearance of the al-Hakims. At other times there is a slow evolution from one archetype to the other, such as between the Sufi and the Salafi. And on other occasions, old archetypes make their appearance, like unexpected meteors in the sky, past their historical times. Some discontinuities stand out; others are fuzzy. In the modern times all of these archetypes exist side by side and are a primary source of tension in Muslim societies.
Summarily, the seven archetypes that characterize different periods in Islamic history include: the visionaries, the men of reason, the men of science, the Sufis, the Akhlaqis, the Salafis (the traditionalists) and the westernized reformers. In the emergence of these archetypes the madrassah, its structure and its curriculum, played a decisive role. When the syllabus and instruction were comprehensive and balanced including the natural sciences, the sciences of man and the sciences of the soul (we may call it the stable Nature-History-Nafs tripod), Islamic civilization thrived and contributed to world civilization. When education was marginalized to one discipline or the other, it withered. Where it once produced intellectual giants it now crafted statues without spirit, bodies without soul. Extremism followed and stares us straight in the face today.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
The Seven Lives of a Madrassah (part 1
“…Inner experience is only one source of human knowledge. According to the Qur’an there are two other sources of knowledge – Nature and History; and it is in tapping these sources of knowledge that the spirit of Islam is seen at its best…” (Mohammed Iqbal, Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, p. 127)
The madrassah is very much in the news following 9/11. It is portrayed in the media as a nursery for extremists. The very word “madrassah” has acquired a politically loaded connotation much like the word “jihad”. Given the fact that there are tens of thousands of madrassahs in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia, it is important to understand its evolution so that as we seek to transform it, we have the benefit of historical insight.
Education is related to culture. It is an expression of the existential self of a people. It captures who we are, tells us where we have been, and projects where we wish to go. As such, powerful historical and spiritual forces mold it. Education influences and is influenced by other equally powerful currents.
Education is like the crust of a layered cake. The underlying layers include the social milieu, instructional structure, the syllabus, political environment, and the archetypes that the society values and produces.
As we scan the fourteen centuries since the passing away of Prophet Muhammed (pbuh), we can decipher at least seven periods when the process of education in Islamic societies went through a transformation. Each epoch was a product of the prevalent educational culture of the times. In turn, the educational processes were deeply influenced by the underlying spiritual and political currents.
The origin of the madrassah dates back to Caliph Omar ibn al Khattab (r) who sent teachers to mosques in the far-flung territories and paid them a salary from the bait ul mal. However, the development of formal teaching in Islamic societies is embedded in the historical experience of the community. Immediately after the death of the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh), people who had not known him in person flocked to the Companions in search of knowledge. Those who learned from the Companions were called the Tabeyeen and those who learned from the Tabeyeen were called the Tab-e-Tabeyeen. Foremost among the Tab-e-Tabeyeen was the Umayyad Caliph Omar bin Abdul Azeez (d. 719 CE), who is widely credited with reducing taxes on the Persian and Egyptian peasantry, and whose piety was directly responsible for the rapid growth of Islam in Iran and Egypt.
The structure of instruction was the halqa, meaning, and a study circle. Those who sought knowledge sat around a master and listened to his discourse. Such halqas were usually arranged at the home of the scholar or in a mosque. One of the best known of halqas was that of Imam Jaafar-as- Saadiq, which was frequented among others, by Imam Abu Haneefa and Imam Malik. Paying tribute to the spiritual knowledge he received from Imam Jaafar as Saadiq, Imam Abu Haneefa said, “I would be wandering (in search of knowledge) were it not for the two years I spent with Imam Jaafar”. Thus the light of Prophetic knowledge was passed from one generation to the next, much as a series of candles are lit from a single candle, or as light from a single source is reflected from one mirror to the next until it suffuses the landscape.
The halqa ensured a one to one relationship between the teacher and pupil and was conducive not just to the transmission of knowledge but also the radiance of the Baraka of a learned scholar. What was transmitted was not just instructional information but also the reflected radiance of the inner dimension of Prophetic knowledge and the sciences of the soul.
The character of the madrassah went through its first transformation with the advent of the Abbasids (751 CE). As people from the Eastern Mediterranean (Syria, Lebanon, Egypt) entered the fold of Islam in increasing numbers, they brought with them the rational methods of Greek philosophy. The need to justify their beliefs in rational, logical terms presented a challenge to the Muslims. Islamic scholarship rose to the challenge when Caliph al Mansur established the Darul Hikmah (765 CE) in Baghdad. Books were brought in from Greece and India. Greek logic and Indian mathematics were translated into Arabic. The works of Aristotle, Plato, Galen, Ptolemy and Aryabhatta became available to the Muslims. Baghdad became the intellectual capital of the world, and the Darul Hikmah the center of its intellectual activities.
The Darul Hikmah became the precursor to the universities that were to spring up throughout the Islamic world in later centuries. The madrassah, with a formal curriculum, had made its appearance on the stage of Islamic history. The syllabus in these madrassahs included Qur’anic studies, Prophetic knowledge, logic and mathematics.
In their initial euphoria over the benefits of logic and reason, the Abbasids adopted rationalism as the official dogma of Baghdad court (765-846). This was the age of reason in Islam and it spanned the Caliphate of the famed Harun ar Rashid. Those who applied this discipline to Islamic studies were called the Mu’tazilites. However, the Mu’tazilites fell flat on their face when they overextended their techniques and applied the deductive methods of the Greeks to the Qur’an. As opposition swelled, the Mu’tazilites increasingly applied the whip to coerce those who disagreed with them. Foremost among those who opposed the Mu’tazilites was Imam Ahmed ibn Hanbal who was repeatedly flogged and jailed for his views. Faced with such determined opposition, the Caliph al Mutawakkil abandoned the Mu’tazilites (846) and embraced instead the more orthodox Asharite views.
The momentum for learning created during the Mu’tazalite period exploded in the succeeding centuries and gave birth to the third generation of madrassahs. The curriculum as well as the teaching methods went through further evolution. The emphasis shifted from the speculative, deductive methods of the Greeks to the empirical, inductive method invented by the Muslims (and which forms the basis of modern science). It was during this period (846-1258 CE) that great universities emerged in North Africa (Fez, Qairuoun), Egypt (Al Azhar), Spain (Toledo, Cardova, Seville), Damascus, Baghdad, Tus, Tabriz, Nishapur, Samarqand and Bukhara. In a formal setting, the subjects taught included the Qur’an, Sunnah of the Prophet, Arabic language, Tasawwuf, Mathematics, Medicine, History, Sociology, the Natural Sciences and Astronomy. Like an exploding star, knowledge poured forth from these madrassahs illuminating the landscape from East to West and beckoning students from all corners of the known world. Al Azhar, founded by the Fatimids in Egypt (969) continues to this day, while the syllabus of the extant Nizamiya College, founded by the grand vizier Nizam ul Mulk in Baghdad (1065) served as a model for colleges in Lucknow and Hyderabad until the mid nineteenth century.
The Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century (1219-1258) destroyed this educational infrastructure. Gone were the universities that had graced the intellectual landscape of Islam. More than ninety percent of the population of Central Asia perished. Scholars were killed, madrassahs razed, libraries burned and the old civilization was extinguished. Only the Mamlukes of Egypt and the Sultans of Delhi stood between the Mongol onslaught and the extirpation of Islam.
In Islam’s darkest hour, it was the Awliyah who kept the light of faith burning. The Mongols could destroy the madrassahs and kill the scholars, but they could not touch the heart of the believer. The work of Abdul Qader Jeelani of Baghdad (d. 1186), Khwaja Moeenuddin Chisti of Ajmer (d. 1235), Ibn al Arabi of Damascus (d. 1240), Shaykh Shadhuli of Cairo (d. 1258), Mevlana Rumi of Konya (d, 1273), Shaykh Bahauddin Naqshband of Samarqand (d.1389), not only kept Islam alive but carried it deep into India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Europe and sub-Saharan Africa.
The madrassah underwent a profound transformation during this period. The universities of the classical Islamic period gave way to zawiyahs (also called ribat in Arabic and tekke in Turkish), which were elaborate religious-community centers including a mosque, a madrassah, a rest house and a cultural center. Young men received instruction in these zawiyas under the watchful eye of a Sufi Shaykh. The subjects taught included the Qur’anic sciences, tasawwuf, martial arts, basic technical and trade skills, spiritual discipline, good manners (aadab) and the languages (Arabic, Farsi, Turkish). Ibn Batuta visited many of these zawiyas during his travels through much of the then known world (1330-1352). The Taj Mahal at Agra, the Registan in Samarkand, the mosques of Esfehan and the Sultan Ahmed Jami’ in Istanbul were all products of a zawiya culture.
The zawiya culture was cosmopolitan and embraced non-Muslims as well. Christians under the Ottomans and Hindus under the Great Moghuls had equal access to the zawiya. Under the Great Moguls Akbar, Jehangir and Shah Jehan, it produced the Akhlaqi school of instruction. Deriving its inspiration from Aqkhlaq e Nasiri of Nasiruddin al Tusi (d.1274), the Akhlaqi school blossomed into a complete set of ethics. Abul Fazal in the court of Akbar was a master of this school. In the madrassahs of the Great Moghuls, Akhlaqi e Nasiri was required reading. Other subjects included the Qur’an, Hadith, the languages (Farsi and Hindustani), logic and arithmetic. However, the basic sciences were neglected. The akhlaqi schools existed side by side, often as a part of the zawiyas.
Largely, as a result of the work of Shaykh Ahmed Sirhindi of the Punjab (d. 1624), the madrassah as well as its syllabus changed, starting with the madrassahs in the subcontinent. Shaykh Ahmed’s forceful writings and the enormous influence of his disciplines at the court of Aurangzeb, displaced Akhlaqi e Nasiri and replaced it with the traditional disciplines of fiqh. Fatwa replaced taqwa as the guiding principle of education. As the Moghul Empire disintegrated, the syllabus in the madrassahs of Northern India solidified more and more in the direction of jurisprudence. As political ascendancy disappeared, and the British Raj appeared, even the rudimentary exposure to logic and mathematics was abandoned and the madrassah became a repository of the most basic memorization of the Qur’an and the Hadith. The segmentation of course work between “deeni taalim” and “dunawi taalim” became solidified. The pattern was repeated in much of the Islamic world. The removal of the natural, historical, mathematical and spiritual sciences from the curricula introduced the first discontinuity in Islamic education.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as colonialism spread, the “reformers” made their appearance. In this category belong Uthman Dan Fuduye of West Africa, Shaykh Abd el Wahab of Arabia, Mohammed Ali of Egypt, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan of Aligarh, Jamaluddin Afghani of Afghanistan and Mohammed Abduh of Egypt. Some of the these “reforms” such as those of Shaykh Abdul Wahab of Arabia pulled the syllabus of the madrassah further to the right in the direction exclusively of memorization of the Qur’an and Hadith, while others such as Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and Mohammed Abduh pulled it towards the European model. The courses offered at Deoband and those at Aligarh symbolize this polarization. Even the great university at Al Azhar has felt these tensions both from the right and the left and has sought to accommodate itself to these tensions. Kemalist Turkey went one step further, completely abandoned its Ottoman Islamic legacy, and sought to build its educational system on the European model.
The colonial powers, in their own self-interest, further fossilized Islamic curricula. Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Swahili, Malay and Hausa-Fulani were replaced by English and French. The thrust of colonial education was to train lower tier bureaucrats for the administration of the colonies. The injection of colonialism introduced a second element of discontinuity in Islamic education.
Thus the madrassah today stands at the confluence of seven different streams: the Halqa of the Companions, the Darul Hikmah of the Mu’tazilites, the Jami’ of the al Hakims, the Zawiyas of the Awliya, the Aqhlakhi schools of the Great Moghuls, the fatwas of the Ulema and the Secularism of the West. The turbulence caused by the merging of these streams is much too obvious. In this caldron, the ideas of only two giants offer fresh insights, men who climbed the mountains both of the East and West and presented an existential vision for education in Islam. These two were the poet Zia of Istanbul and Mohammed Iqbal of Lahore. Unfortunately, the educational vision of Iqbal has yet to be fulfilled.
(This essay is based on the author’s forthcoming work, Islam in Modern History, Volume 3, and was a part of Professor Ahmed’s correspondence with Professor Parvez Hoodbhoy of Qaed e Azam University in Islamabad on the issue of Science and Technology in Islamic Civilization.)
The madrassah is very much in the news following 9/11. It is portrayed in the media as a nursery for extremists. The very word “madrassah” has acquired a politically loaded connotation much like the word “jihad”. Given the fact that there are tens of thousands of madrassahs in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia, it is important to understand its evolution so that as we seek to transform it, we have the benefit of historical insight.
Education is related to culture. It is an expression of the existential self of a people. It captures who we are, tells us where we have been, and projects where we wish to go. As such, powerful historical and spiritual forces mold it. Education influences and is influenced by other equally powerful currents.
Education is like the crust of a layered cake. The underlying layers include the social milieu, instructional structure, the syllabus, political environment, and the archetypes that the society values and produces.
As we scan the fourteen centuries since the passing away of Prophet Muhammed (pbuh), we can decipher at least seven periods when the process of education in Islamic societies went through a transformation. Each epoch was a product of the prevalent educational culture of the times. In turn, the educational processes were deeply influenced by the underlying spiritual and political currents.
The origin of the madrassah dates back to Caliph Omar ibn al Khattab (r) who sent teachers to mosques in the far-flung territories and paid them a salary from the bait ul mal. However, the development of formal teaching in Islamic societies is embedded in the historical experience of the community. Immediately after the death of the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh), people who had not known him in person flocked to the Companions in search of knowledge. Those who learned from the Companions were called the Tabeyeen and those who learned from the Tabeyeen were called the Tab-e-Tabeyeen. Foremost among the Tab-e-Tabeyeen was the Umayyad Caliph Omar bin Abdul Azeez (d. 719 CE), who is widely credited with reducing taxes on the Persian and Egyptian peasantry, and whose piety was directly responsible for the rapid growth of Islam in Iran and Egypt.
The structure of instruction was the halqa, meaning, and a study circle. Those who sought knowledge sat around a master and listened to his discourse. Such halqas were usually arranged at the home of the scholar or in a mosque. One of the best known of halqas was that of Imam Jaafar-as- Saadiq, which was frequented among others, by Imam Abu Haneefa and Imam Malik. Paying tribute to the spiritual knowledge he received from Imam Jaafar as Saadiq, Imam Abu Haneefa said, “I would be wandering (in search of knowledge) were it not for the two years I spent with Imam Jaafar”. Thus the light of Prophetic knowledge was passed from one generation to the next, much as a series of candles are lit from a single candle, or as light from a single source is reflected from one mirror to the next until it suffuses the landscape.
The halqa ensured a one to one relationship between the teacher and pupil and was conducive not just to the transmission of knowledge but also the radiance of the Baraka of a learned scholar. What was transmitted was not just instructional information but also the reflected radiance of the inner dimension of Prophetic knowledge and the sciences of the soul.
The character of the madrassah went through its first transformation with the advent of the Abbasids (751 CE). As people from the Eastern Mediterranean (Syria, Lebanon, Egypt) entered the fold of Islam in increasing numbers, they brought with them the rational methods of Greek philosophy. The need to justify their beliefs in rational, logical terms presented a challenge to the Muslims. Islamic scholarship rose to the challenge when Caliph al Mansur established the Darul Hikmah (765 CE) in Baghdad. Books were brought in from Greece and India. Greek logic and Indian mathematics were translated into Arabic. The works of Aristotle, Plato, Galen, Ptolemy and Aryabhatta became available to the Muslims. Baghdad became the intellectual capital of the world, and the Darul Hikmah the center of its intellectual activities.
The Darul Hikmah became the precursor to the universities that were to spring up throughout the Islamic world in later centuries. The madrassah, with a formal curriculum, had made its appearance on the stage of Islamic history. The syllabus in these madrassahs included Qur’anic studies, Prophetic knowledge, logic and mathematics.
In their initial euphoria over the benefits of logic and reason, the Abbasids adopted rationalism as the official dogma of Baghdad court (765-846). This was the age of reason in Islam and it spanned the Caliphate of the famed Harun ar Rashid. Those who applied this discipline to Islamic studies were called the Mu’tazilites. However, the Mu’tazilites fell flat on their face when they overextended their techniques and applied the deductive methods of the Greeks to the Qur’an. As opposition swelled, the Mu’tazilites increasingly applied the whip to coerce those who disagreed with them. Foremost among those who opposed the Mu’tazilites was Imam Ahmed ibn Hanbal who was repeatedly flogged and jailed for his views. Faced with such determined opposition, the Caliph al Mutawakkil abandoned the Mu’tazilites (846) and embraced instead the more orthodox Asharite views.
The momentum for learning created during the Mu’tazalite period exploded in the succeeding centuries and gave birth to the third generation of madrassahs. The curriculum as well as the teaching methods went through further evolution. The emphasis shifted from the speculative, deductive methods of the Greeks to the empirical, inductive method invented by the Muslims (and which forms the basis of modern science). It was during this period (846-1258 CE) that great universities emerged in North Africa (Fez, Qairuoun), Egypt (Al Azhar), Spain (Toledo, Cardova, Seville), Damascus, Baghdad, Tus, Tabriz, Nishapur, Samarqand and Bukhara. In a formal setting, the subjects taught included the Qur’an, Sunnah of the Prophet, Arabic language, Tasawwuf, Mathematics, Medicine, History, Sociology, the Natural Sciences and Astronomy. Like an exploding star, knowledge poured forth from these madrassahs illuminating the landscape from East to West and beckoning students from all corners of the known world. Al Azhar, founded by the Fatimids in Egypt (969) continues to this day, while the syllabus of the extant Nizamiya College, founded by the grand vizier Nizam ul Mulk in Baghdad (1065) served as a model for colleges in Lucknow and Hyderabad until the mid nineteenth century.
The Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century (1219-1258) destroyed this educational infrastructure. Gone were the universities that had graced the intellectual landscape of Islam. More than ninety percent of the population of Central Asia perished. Scholars were killed, madrassahs razed, libraries burned and the old civilization was extinguished. Only the Mamlukes of Egypt and the Sultans of Delhi stood between the Mongol onslaught and the extirpation of Islam.
In Islam’s darkest hour, it was the Awliyah who kept the light of faith burning. The Mongols could destroy the madrassahs and kill the scholars, but they could not touch the heart of the believer. The work of Abdul Qader Jeelani of Baghdad (d. 1186), Khwaja Moeenuddin Chisti of Ajmer (d. 1235), Ibn al Arabi of Damascus (d. 1240), Shaykh Shadhuli of Cairo (d. 1258), Mevlana Rumi of Konya (d, 1273), Shaykh Bahauddin Naqshband of Samarqand (d.1389), not only kept Islam alive but carried it deep into India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Europe and sub-Saharan Africa.
The madrassah underwent a profound transformation during this period. The universities of the classical Islamic period gave way to zawiyahs (also called ribat in Arabic and tekke in Turkish), which were elaborate religious-community centers including a mosque, a madrassah, a rest house and a cultural center. Young men received instruction in these zawiyas under the watchful eye of a Sufi Shaykh. The subjects taught included the Qur’anic sciences, tasawwuf, martial arts, basic technical and trade skills, spiritual discipline, good manners (aadab) and the languages (Arabic, Farsi, Turkish). Ibn Batuta visited many of these zawiyas during his travels through much of the then known world (1330-1352). The Taj Mahal at Agra, the Registan in Samarkand, the mosques of Esfehan and the Sultan Ahmed Jami’ in Istanbul were all products of a zawiya culture.
The zawiya culture was cosmopolitan and embraced non-Muslims as well. Christians under the Ottomans and Hindus under the Great Moghuls had equal access to the zawiya. Under the Great Moguls Akbar, Jehangir and Shah Jehan, it produced the Akhlaqi school of instruction. Deriving its inspiration from Aqkhlaq e Nasiri of Nasiruddin al Tusi (d.1274), the Akhlaqi school blossomed into a complete set of ethics. Abul Fazal in the court of Akbar was a master of this school. In the madrassahs of the Great Moghuls, Akhlaqi e Nasiri was required reading. Other subjects included the Qur’an, Hadith, the languages (Farsi and Hindustani), logic and arithmetic. However, the basic sciences were neglected. The akhlaqi schools existed side by side, often as a part of the zawiyas.
Largely, as a result of the work of Shaykh Ahmed Sirhindi of the Punjab (d. 1624), the madrassah as well as its syllabus changed, starting with the madrassahs in the subcontinent. Shaykh Ahmed’s forceful writings and the enormous influence of his disciplines at the court of Aurangzeb, displaced Akhlaqi e Nasiri and replaced it with the traditional disciplines of fiqh. Fatwa replaced taqwa as the guiding principle of education. As the Moghul Empire disintegrated, the syllabus in the madrassahs of Northern India solidified more and more in the direction of jurisprudence. As political ascendancy disappeared, and the British Raj appeared, even the rudimentary exposure to logic and mathematics was abandoned and the madrassah became a repository of the most basic memorization of the Qur’an and the Hadith. The segmentation of course work between “deeni taalim” and “dunawi taalim” became solidified. The pattern was repeated in much of the Islamic world. The removal of the natural, historical, mathematical and spiritual sciences from the curricula introduced the first discontinuity in Islamic education.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as colonialism spread, the “reformers” made their appearance. In this category belong Uthman Dan Fuduye of West Africa, Shaykh Abd el Wahab of Arabia, Mohammed Ali of Egypt, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan of Aligarh, Jamaluddin Afghani of Afghanistan and Mohammed Abduh of Egypt. Some of the these “reforms” such as those of Shaykh Abdul Wahab of Arabia pulled the syllabus of the madrassah further to the right in the direction exclusively of memorization of the Qur’an and Hadith, while others such as Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and Mohammed Abduh pulled it towards the European model. The courses offered at Deoband and those at Aligarh symbolize this polarization. Even the great university at Al Azhar has felt these tensions both from the right and the left and has sought to accommodate itself to these tensions. Kemalist Turkey went one step further, completely abandoned its Ottoman Islamic legacy, and sought to build its educational system on the European model.
The colonial powers, in their own self-interest, further fossilized Islamic curricula. Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Swahili, Malay and Hausa-Fulani were replaced by English and French. The thrust of colonial education was to train lower tier bureaucrats for the administration of the colonies. The injection of colonialism introduced a second element of discontinuity in Islamic education.
Thus the madrassah today stands at the confluence of seven different streams: the Halqa of the Companions, the Darul Hikmah of the Mu’tazilites, the Jami’ of the al Hakims, the Zawiyas of the Awliya, the Aqhlakhi schools of the Great Moghuls, the fatwas of the Ulema and the Secularism of the West. The turbulence caused by the merging of these streams is much too obvious. In this caldron, the ideas of only two giants offer fresh insights, men who climbed the mountains both of the East and West and presented an existential vision for education in Islam. These two were the poet Zia of Istanbul and Mohammed Iqbal of Lahore. Unfortunately, the educational vision of Iqbal has yet to be fulfilled.
(This essay is based on the author’s forthcoming work, Islam in Modern History, Volume 3, and was a part of Professor Ahmed’s correspondence with Professor Parvez Hoodbhoy of Qaed e Azam University in Islamabad on the issue of Science and Technology in Islamic Civilization.)
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Alphabets of Success fro the Quran
Allah will exalt those who believe among you, and those who have knowledge to high ranks. 58: 11(Surah No. and Verse No.)
Bring the truth and believe therein — such are the dutiful. 39: 13
Conspire together for righteousness and piety and keep your duty toward Allah. 58: 9
Do not conceal truth knowingly. 2: 42
Eat of the good things and do right. 23: 51
Follow not the way of mischief-makers. 7: 142
Grieve not for the sake of that which has escaped you nor yet exult because of that which hath been given. 57: 23
Hypocrisy is the most hateful in the sight of Allah. 61: 3
Ingrate and a liar is not guided by Allah. 39: 3
Just dealers are loved by Allah. 60: 8
Keep to forgiveness, and enjoin kindness and turn away from the ignorant. 7: 199
Lieth, and ye faileth miserably. 20: 61
Man has only that for which he maketh effort. 53: 39
Naught is the life of the world save a pastime and sport. 6: 32
0 Children of Adam. Look to your adornment at every place of worship and eat and drink, but be not prodigal. 7: 31
Prodigals and liars are not guided by Allah. 40: 28
Qur'an is recited whenever, Give ear to it and pay heed, that you may obtain Mercy. 7: 20
Repel the evil deed with one, which is better. 40: 34
Seek help in patience and prayer. 2: 45
Those who believe and do good works, and theirs is a reward unfailing. 95: 6
Unto piety ye will not attain until ye spend of that which you love. 3: 92
Verily in the messenger of Allah ye have a good example. 33: 21
Whosoever is saved from his own greed, such are the successful. 64: 16
Xtend kindness to parents. 17: 23 and 29: 8
Your wealth and your children are only a temptation. 64: 15
Zakah payers, the diligent in prayer, the believers in Allah and the Last Day: Upon these Allah shall bestow immense reward. 4: 162
Bring the truth and believe therein — such are the dutiful. 39: 13
Conspire together for righteousness and piety and keep your duty toward Allah. 58: 9
Do not conceal truth knowingly. 2: 42
Eat of the good things and do right. 23: 51
Follow not the way of mischief-makers. 7: 142
Grieve not for the sake of that which has escaped you nor yet exult because of that which hath been given. 57: 23
Hypocrisy is the most hateful in the sight of Allah. 61: 3
Ingrate and a liar is not guided by Allah. 39: 3
Just dealers are loved by Allah. 60: 8
Keep to forgiveness, and enjoin kindness and turn away from the ignorant. 7: 199
Lieth, and ye faileth miserably. 20: 61
Man has only that for which he maketh effort. 53: 39
Naught is the life of the world save a pastime and sport. 6: 32
0 Children of Adam. Look to your adornment at every place of worship and eat and drink, but be not prodigal. 7: 31
Prodigals and liars are not guided by Allah. 40: 28
Qur'an is recited whenever, Give ear to it and pay heed, that you may obtain Mercy. 7: 20
Repel the evil deed with one, which is better. 40: 34
Seek help in patience and prayer. 2: 45
Those who believe and do good works, and theirs is a reward unfailing. 95: 6
Unto piety ye will not attain until ye spend of that which you love. 3: 92
Verily in the messenger of Allah ye have a good example. 33: 21
Whosoever is saved from his own greed, such are the successful. 64: 16
Xtend kindness to parents. 17: 23 and 29: 8
Your wealth and your children are only a temptation. 64: 15
Zakah payers, the diligent in prayer, the believers in Allah and the Last Day: Upon these Allah shall bestow immense reward. 4: 162
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The Pleasures of Learning
The rise of Muslims to the zenith of civilization in a period of four decades was based on Al-lslam's emphasis on learning. This is obvious when one takes a look at the Qur'an and the traditions of Prophet Muhammad (s) which are filled with references to learning, education, observation, and the use of reason. The very first verse of the Qur'an revealed to the Prophet of Al Islam on the night of 27th of Ramadan in 611 AD reads:
"Read: In the name of thy Lord who created man from a clot. Read: And thy Lord is the Most Generous Who taught by the pen, taught man that which he knew not."
(Quran, 96:1-5)
"And they shall say had we but listened or used reason, we would not be among the inmates of the burning fire."
(Quran, 67:10)
"Are those who have knowledge and those who have no knowledge alike? Only the men of understanding are mindful. "
(Quran, 39:9)
And the Qur'an exhorts the Muslims to do scientific research:.
"And whoso bringeth the truth and believeth therein such are the dutiful."
(Quran, 39:33)
Every Muslim man's and every Muslim woman's prayer should be:
"My Lord! Enrich me with knowledge.."
(Quran, 20:114)
The pursuit of knowledge and the use of reason, based on sense observation is made obligatory on every Muslim, man and woman.
The following traditions of the Prophet (s) supplement the foregoing teachings of the Qur'an in the following way:
Seek knowledge "even though it be in China."
"The acquisition of knowledge is compulsory for every Muslim, whether male or female."
"The ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr."
"Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave."
"God has revealed to me, 'Whoever walks in the pursuit of knowledge I facilitate for him the way to heaven.'
"The best form of worship is the pursuit of knowledge."
"Scholars should endeavor to spread knowledge and provide education to people who have been deprived of it. For, where knowledge is hidden it disappears."
Some one asked the Prophet (SAS): "Who is the biggest scholar?" He replied: "He who is constantly trying to learn from others, for a scholar is ever hungry for more knowledge."
"Seek for knowledge and. wisdom, or whatever the 'vessel from which it flows, you will never be the loser."
"Thinking deep for one hour (with sincerity) is better than 70 years of (mechanical) worship."
"Worship, without knowledge, has no goodness in it and knowledge without understanding has no goodness in it. And the recitation of the Qur'an, which is riot thoughtful has no goodness in it."
"To listen to the words of the learned and to instill unto others the lessons of science is better than religious exercises."
"Acquire knowledge: it enables its possessor to distinguish right from the wrong, it lights the way to heaven; it is Our friend in the desert, our society in solitude, our companion when friendless- it guides us to happiness; it sustains us in misery; it is an Ornament among friends and an armor against enemies."
The Islamic Empire for more than 1,000 years remained the most advanced and civilized nation in the world. .This is because Al-Islam stressed the importance and respect of learning, forbade destruction, developed in Muslims the respect for authority, discipline, and tolerance for other religions. The teachings of Qur'an and Sunnah drove many Muslims to their accomplishments in science and medicine.
By the tenth century their zeal and enthusiasms for learning resulted in all essential Greek medical and scientific writings being translated into Arabic in Damascus, Cairo, and Baghdad. Arabic became the international language of learning and diplomacy. The center of scientific knowledge and activity shifted eastward, and Baghdad emerged as the capitol of the scientific world. The Muslims became scientific innovators with originality and productivity.
For example Islamic medicine is one of the most famous and best known facets of Islamic civilization, and in which the Muslims most excelled. The Muslims were the great torchbearers of international scientific research. Some of the best and most eloquent praises of science ever written came from the pens of Muslim scientists who considered their work to be acts of worship. The same motives led to the establishment of Al-Azhar (800 AD) the first university in the world. They hit the "source ball of knowledge" over the fence to Europe. In the words of Campbell, "The European medical system is Arabian not only in origin but also in its structure. The Arabs are the intellectual forebearers of the Europeans."
One of the secrets of success in any profession is to be the most learned or best-informed person in his/her own profession. Learning is a pleasure. It is not, then one should cultivate the enjoyment associated with learning. Although the pleasure of learning is universal, there are many dull incurious people in the world. There are several reasons for this. Some people are made dull by bad teaching, isolation and following a routine life-style. For some people it is the pressure of hard work and poverty. For those who are rich, their ephemeral and trivial delights come in the way of the pleasures of learning. The human mind can survive not only poverty but also even wealth with luck, determination and guidance. For example I come from a poor family and due to poor teaching I lost interest in learning mathematics. As a result I scored only 39% in mathematics (35% required for a pass) in S. S. L. C. (Secondary School Leaving Certificate, India) in the Intermediate Science examination I scored 50% in mathematics. When I entered the Bachelor of Science degree class, I realized there is no way I can escape from mathematics and I resolved to conquer mathematics. With determination I found pleasure in learning mathematics by myself. The pleasure was akin to one derives in falling love with his/her beloved girl/boy friend or would be wife/husband. This pleasure changed my whole life. I started to score 100% in mathematics in all the class tests and mid-term examinations. In the final B.Sc. examination I scored more than 70% in mathematics.
Take the example of Archimedes. When he discovered the principle of specific gravity by observing his own displacement of water in a bath tub, he leaped out with great joy, and shouted, "Eureka, Eureka!" ("I have found it. I have found it!"). He was overwhelmed with joy and ran naked. All children possess the same instinct which prompted his outburst, and the rapture of its Gratification.
Learning is a natural pleasure. This pleasure is inborn and instinctive. The pleasure of learning is one of the essential pleasures of the human race. Without learning, survival itself is threatened. It is said that the propagation of the human race might be endangered if the knowledge of sex through seeing, reading or hearing is withheld from everyone.
The process of learning starts right after birth. It is true that babies who can barely talk investigate problems with all the zeal and excitement of explorers, make discoveries with the passion and absorption of dedicated scientists. At the end of each successful investigation, one can see on the tiny face an expression of innocent and pure heartfelt pleasure. The process of physical growth stops when a boy or girl reaches puberty, that is with the on set of menarche in the girls and with the change in the voice and growth of moustache and beard in boys. After puberty it is impossible to increase the height both in boys and girls. It is only possible to increase their widths by fattening. On the other hand the mental faculties grow from birth until death. At some point in our lifetime, the physical body becomes sick or ill and gradually dies; even the emotions become duller. But the mind continues to live, and even grows more lively and active, enjoys itself more, works and plays with more expansion and delight. I have seen grand parents obtaining B. A., M. A and Ph. D. degrees at the ages of 70, 80 or 90. There are many examples in the history of Art, Music and Science, of both men and women who significantly contributed and lead mentally productive lives at their ripe old ages. My own grandmother at 90 has vivid memories and narrates events, which occurred 70 or 80 years ago in her young age, very clearly. Learning extends our lives into new dimensions. It is cumulative. Instead of diminishing in time, like health and strength, its dividends go on increasing, provided one continues to learn throughout life and integrate the thoughts and make learning harmonious. One should make it a point to learn at least one new information each day. Now one can learn even during sleep. This is accomplished with headphones attached to the ears and repeats playing of phonographs or taped cassettes. This method of sleep-learning is found most useful in linguistics- to learn new languages.
The pleasure of learning is not confined to learning from textbooks, which are too often tedious. But it does include learning from book magazines (periodicals), newspapers, and movies. T. V., radio and traveler when you stand in a big library infront of thousands of books do not think they are lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves. Each has its own voice, which is as inaudible as the radiobroadcast waves falling directly on t ears. Just as one switches on the radio to hear. So does one just need to open a book to hear the voice far distant in time and space? One can hear the voice speaking, mind to mind, and heart to heart. Reading of books gives you two different delights. One is the pleasure of understanding the unknown and the unexpected. The other pleasure is of deepening one's knowledge of a specified field.
Apart from books, learning means keeping the mind open and active to receive all kinds of experience. The Mahabharatha says " Learn from the Environment and absorb the good things." As pointed out earlier there is great emphasis on learning and seeking knowledge in Islam. The Prophet Mohammed ordered Muslims to be active in their search for learning, crossing oceans and continents if necessary. " Seek knowledge even in China" he said. Learning also means learning to practice one' s own professional skills-that of a surgeon, musician or craftsman. Otherwise one can at least develop the ability l appreciate an art. Crafts and hobbies lead you into fresh fields of enjoyment and give you relaxation and activity without tension. You should know that tension is the prime cause of heart attacks, ulcers, hypertension, and most of the human diseases. Travel is an important part of the pleasures of learning. There are many examples of best-informed people who never read books and newspapers, but acquired excellent knowledge through travelling. One should travel with an open mind, all alert eye and a wish to understand other people and other places.
Everybody knows ''Knowledge is Power" but now I can say "Knowledge is Wealth". For the more learned you are, the more money you can earn. It is fitting here to tell you the story of Diogenes, the great Greek philosopher who lived during the time of Alexander the Great. Diogenes was a very learned man and he shunned both power and wealth. Hence he was called a cynic. He was known to have wandered searching for an honest man carrying a lantern during day and night. He gave up everything he possessed, except a coconut shell for drinking water. One day he saw a man drinking water forming a cup with his hand. After seeing this Diogenes threw away his last possession the coconut shell. The name of Diogenes spread throughout Greece. Alexander the Great heard about Diogenes and one day decided to see him. Mounted on horseback, Alexander the Great went to Diogenes who was sitting on the ground. Alexander said ' Oh Diogenes, I have heard a great deal about you and your life. I am very much impressed by your life and it is my earnest desire to help you in whatever way I can. Please let me know your desires so that I can fulfil them". To which Diogenes replied "Your Excellency my only request is that you get aside and allow the sun's rays to fall on my body." Alexander the Great was deeply moved by Diogenes's reply and said "If I were not Alexander the Great. I would be Diogenes." Now the point I want to make here is that Diogenes never went to Alexander the Great, but that Alexander the Great came to Diogenes for he was such a learned philosopher.
There are many people in this world who have played themselves to death, or eaten and drunk themselves to death. Nobody ever died because of thinking or learning. People who avoid learning, or abandon it, find no joy in life, find that life is drained dry. No learner has ever run short of subjects to explore. The pleasures of learning lead to happiness. One can live longest and best and most rewardingly by attaining and preserving the happiness of learning. Learning is everyone's birthright. Everyone - young or old, rich or poor, male or female, has access to learning. Exercise your birthright. Remember what you have learned cannot be stolen by others.
"Read: In the name of thy Lord who created man from a clot. Read: And thy Lord is the Most Generous Who taught by the pen, taught man that which he knew not."
(Quran, 96:1-5)
"And they shall say had we but listened or used reason, we would not be among the inmates of the burning fire."
(Quran, 67:10)
"Are those who have knowledge and those who have no knowledge alike? Only the men of understanding are mindful. "
(Quran, 39:9)
And the Qur'an exhorts the Muslims to do scientific research:.
"And whoso bringeth the truth and believeth therein such are the dutiful."
(Quran, 39:33)
Every Muslim man's and every Muslim woman's prayer should be:
"My Lord! Enrich me with knowledge.."
(Quran, 20:114)
The pursuit of knowledge and the use of reason, based on sense observation is made obligatory on every Muslim, man and woman.
The following traditions of the Prophet (s) supplement the foregoing teachings of the Qur'an in the following way:
Seek knowledge "even though it be in China."
"The acquisition of knowledge is compulsory for every Muslim, whether male or female."
"The ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr."
"Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave."
"God has revealed to me, 'Whoever walks in the pursuit of knowledge I facilitate for him the way to heaven.'
"The best form of worship is the pursuit of knowledge."
"Scholars should endeavor to spread knowledge and provide education to people who have been deprived of it. For, where knowledge is hidden it disappears."
Some one asked the Prophet (SAS): "Who is the biggest scholar?" He replied: "He who is constantly trying to learn from others, for a scholar is ever hungry for more knowledge."
"Seek for knowledge and. wisdom, or whatever the 'vessel from which it flows, you will never be the loser."
"Thinking deep for one hour (with sincerity) is better than 70 years of (mechanical) worship."
"Worship, without knowledge, has no goodness in it and knowledge without understanding has no goodness in it. And the recitation of the Qur'an, which is riot thoughtful has no goodness in it."
"To listen to the words of the learned and to instill unto others the lessons of science is better than religious exercises."
"Acquire knowledge: it enables its possessor to distinguish right from the wrong, it lights the way to heaven; it is Our friend in the desert, our society in solitude, our companion when friendless- it guides us to happiness; it sustains us in misery; it is an Ornament among friends and an armor against enemies."
The Islamic Empire for more than 1,000 years remained the most advanced and civilized nation in the world. .This is because Al-Islam stressed the importance and respect of learning, forbade destruction, developed in Muslims the respect for authority, discipline, and tolerance for other religions. The teachings of Qur'an and Sunnah drove many Muslims to their accomplishments in science and medicine.
By the tenth century their zeal and enthusiasms for learning resulted in all essential Greek medical and scientific writings being translated into Arabic in Damascus, Cairo, and Baghdad. Arabic became the international language of learning and diplomacy. The center of scientific knowledge and activity shifted eastward, and Baghdad emerged as the capitol of the scientific world. The Muslims became scientific innovators with originality and productivity.
For example Islamic medicine is one of the most famous and best known facets of Islamic civilization, and in which the Muslims most excelled. The Muslims were the great torchbearers of international scientific research. Some of the best and most eloquent praises of science ever written came from the pens of Muslim scientists who considered their work to be acts of worship. The same motives led to the establishment of Al-Azhar (800 AD) the first university in the world. They hit the "source ball of knowledge" over the fence to Europe. In the words of Campbell, "The European medical system is Arabian not only in origin but also in its structure. The Arabs are the intellectual forebearers of the Europeans."
One of the secrets of success in any profession is to be the most learned or best-informed person in his/her own profession. Learning is a pleasure. It is not, then one should cultivate the enjoyment associated with learning. Although the pleasure of learning is universal, there are many dull incurious people in the world. There are several reasons for this. Some people are made dull by bad teaching, isolation and following a routine life-style. For some people it is the pressure of hard work and poverty. For those who are rich, their ephemeral and trivial delights come in the way of the pleasures of learning. The human mind can survive not only poverty but also even wealth with luck, determination and guidance. For example I come from a poor family and due to poor teaching I lost interest in learning mathematics. As a result I scored only 39% in mathematics (35% required for a pass) in S. S. L. C. (Secondary School Leaving Certificate, India) in the Intermediate Science examination I scored 50% in mathematics. When I entered the Bachelor of Science degree class, I realized there is no way I can escape from mathematics and I resolved to conquer mathematics. With determination I found pleasure in learning mathematics by myself. The pleasure was akin to one derives in falling love with his/her beloved girl/boy friend or would be wife/husband. This pleasure changed my whole life. I started to score 100% in mathematics in all the class tests and mid-term examinations. In the final B.Sc. examination I scored more than 70% in mathematics.
Take the example of Archimedes. When he discovered the principle of specific gravity by observing his own displacement of water in a bath tub, he leaped out with great joy, and shouted, "Eureka, Eureka!" ("I have found it. I have found it!"). He was overwhelmed with joy and ran naked. All children possess the same instinct which prompted his outburst, and the rapture of its Gratification.
Learning is a natural pleasure. This pleasure is inborn and instinctive. The pleasure of learning is one of the essential pleasures of the human race. Without learning, survival itself is threatened. It is said that the propagation of the human race might be endangered if the knowledge of sex through seeing, reading or hearing is withheld from everyone.
The process of learning starts right after birth. It is true that babies who can barely talk investigate problems with all the zeal and excitement of explorers, make discoveries with the passion and absorption of dedicated scientists. At the end of each successful investigation, one can see on the tiny face an expression of innocent and pure heartfelt pleasure. The process of physical growth stops when a boy or girl reaches puberty, that is with the on set of menarche in the girls and with the change in the voice and growth of moustache and beard in boys. After puberty it is impossible to increase the height both in boys and girls. It is only possible to increase their widths by fattening. On the other hand the mental faculties grow from birth until death. At some point in our lifetime, the physical body becomes sick or ill and gradually dies; even the emotions become duller. But the mind continues to live, and even grows more lively and active, enjoys itself more, works and plays with more expansion and delight. I have seen grand parents obtaining B. A., M. A and Ph. D. degrees at the ages of 70, 80 or 90. There are many examples in the history of Art, Music and Science, of both men and women who significantly contributed and lead mentally productive lives at their ripe old ages. My own grandmother at 90 has vivid memories and narrates events, which occurred 70 or 80 years ago in her young age, very clearly. Learning extends our lives into new dimensions. It is cumulative. Instead of diminishing in time, like health and strength, its dividends go on increasing, provided one continues to learn throughout life and integrate the thoughts and make learning harmonious. One should make it a point to learn at least one new information each day. Now one can learn even during sleep. This is accomplished with headphones attached to the ears and repeats playing of phonographs or taped cassettes. This method of sleep-learning is found most useful in linguistics- to learn new languages.
The pleasure of learning is not confined to learning from textbooks, which are too often tedious. But it does include learning from book magazines (periodicals), newspapers, and movies. T. V., radio and traveler when you stand in a big library infront of thousands of books do not think they are lumps of lifeless paper, but minds alive on the shelves. Each has its own voice, which is as inaudible as the radiobroadcast waves falling directly on t ears. Just as one switches on the radio to hear. So does one just need to open a book to hear the voice far distant in time and space? One can hear the voice speaking, mind to mind, and heart to heart. Reading of books gives you two different delights. One is the pleasure of understanding the unknown and the unexpected. The other pleasure is of deepening one's knowledge of a specified field.
Apart from books, learning means keeping the mind open and active to receive all kinds of experience. The Mahabharatha says " Learn from the Environment and absorb the good things." As pointed out earlier there is great emphasis on learning and seeking knowledge in Islam. The Prophet Mohammed ordered Muslims to be active in their search for learning, crossing oceans and continents if necessary. " Seek knowledge even in China" he said. Learning also means learning to practice one' s own professional skills-that of a surgeon, musician or craftsman. Otherwise one can at least develop the ability l appreciate an art. Crafts and hobbies lead you into fresh fields of enjoyment and give you relaxation and activity without tension. You should know that tension is the prime cause of heart attacks, ulcers, hypertension, and most of the human diseases. Travel is an important part of the pleasures of learning. There are many examples of best-informed people who never read books and newspapers, but acquired excellent knowledge through travelling. One should travel with an open mind, all alert eye and a wish to understand other people and other places.
Everybody knows ''Knowledge is Power" but now I can say "Knowledge is Wealth". For the more learned you are, the more money you can earn. It is fitting here to tell you the story of Diogenes, the great Greek philosopher who lived during the time of Alexander the Great. Diogenes was a very learned man and he shunned both power and wealth. Hence he was called a cynic. He was known to have wandered searching for an honest man carrying a lantern during day and night. He gave up everything he possessed, except a coconut shell for drinking water. One day he saw a man drinking water forming a cup with his hand. After seeing this Diogenes threw away his last possession the coconut shell. The name of Diogenes spread throughout Greece. Alexander the Great heard about Diogenes and one day decided to see him. Mounted on horseback, Alexander the Great went to Diogenes who was sitting on the ground. Alexander said ' Oh Diogenes, I have heard a great deal about you and your life. I am very much impressed by your life and it is my earnest desire to help you in whatever way I can. Please let me know your desires so that I can fulfil them". To which Diogenes replied "Your Excellency my only request is that you get aside and allow the sun's rays to fall on my body." Alexander the Great was deeply moved by Diogenes's reply and said "If I were not Alexander the Great. I would be Diogenes." Now the point I want to make here is that Diogenes never went to Alexander the Great, but that Alexander the Great came to Diogenes for he was such a learned philosopher.
There are many people in this world who have played themselves to death, or eaten and drunk themselves to death. Nobody ever died because of thinking or learning. People who avoid learning, or abandon it, find no joy in life, find that life is drained dry. No learner has ever run short of subjects to explore. The pleasures of learning lead to happiness. One can live longest and best and most rewardingly by attaining and preserving the happiness of learning. Learning is everyone's birthright. Everyone - young or old, rich or poor, male or female, has access to learning. Exercise your birthright. Remember what you have learned cannot be stolen by others.
The Woman as Member of the Society
Some biased people who are guided by personal interests propagate that Islam has forced the woman to be imprisoned at home and not to go out except to the grave!
Has that verdict a true basis in the Qur'an or in the Sunna (prophetic traditions) or in the history of Muslim women in the first three centuries, which were the best? Certainly not.
The Qur'an makes the man and woman partners in bearing the heaviest responsibilities in Islamic life, and that is the responsibility of enjoining the right and forbidding the evil. The Almighty says: "The believers, men and women, are "Auliy," (helpers, supporters, friends, protectors) of one another, they enjoin (on the people) Al-Maaruf (i.e. Islamic Monotheism and all that Islam orders one to do), and forbid (people) from Al-Munkar (i.e. polytheism and disbelief of all kinds, and all that Islam has forbidden); they offer their prayers perfectly Iqamat-as-Salat and give the Zakat and obey Allah and His Messenger". [Surah 9:71] As an example of the application of that principle, it happened that there was a woman in the mosque who disagreed with the caliph `Umar Al-Faruq ("The One Who Distinguishes Truth from Falsehood", i.e. `Umar ibn Al-Khattab) while he was addressing the congregation from the pulpit. He accepted her opinion and discarded his, saying openly, "A woman is correct and `Umar is wrong. [ Mentioned by Ibn Kathir in his interpretation, improving its authority, as mentioned earlier] The Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) said, `seeking knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim. [Transmitted by Ibn Majah, part 1, (224), on the authority of Anas, corrected by Al-Seyoti in ancient times, and by Al-Albany in modern times.]
The Muslim scholars agree that a Muslim woman is also included in the meaning of the Hadith, as she is obliged to know what corrects her creed, improves her worship, and controls her manners within the morals of Islam, etc. She is obliged to know Allah's laws about what is allowed, what is forbidden, and her rights and duties. She could reach the highest stage of knowledge to achieve the grade of ijtihad (independent judgement of religious matters).
Her husband has no right to prevent her from seeking knowledge, which she is obliged to do, if he is not able to teach her or if he does not do it properly. The wives of the Prophet's Companions used to go to the Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) to ask him about issues that concerned them. They were not prevented by modesty (shyness) from knowing their religion well.
Congregational prayer is not demanded of a woman, as it is demanded of a man. Her praying ahome could be better for her circumstances and calling. However, her husband cannot forbid her if she wishes to go to congregational prayer in a mosque. The Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) said, "Do not forbid Allah's women to go to Allah's mosques". [Transmitted by Muslim in his Sahih on the authority of Ibn Umar, 1/327, (442).]
A woman can come out of her house to run an errand for herself, her husband, or her children in the field or in the market place, as did Asma'a bint Abu Bakr That Al-Nit, gain ("The One Who Possessed Two Belts"). She said, "I used to carry date pits on my head from Al-Zubeir's land-my husband's-while I lived in Medina, and it was about two thirds of a league from Medina."
A woman could accompany the army for first aid and nursing tasks and similar services suitable to her nature and her abilities. Ahmad and Al-Bukahri recounted on the authority of Al-Rubayyi' bint Muaawith of the Ansar who said, "We went to the battle with Allah's Messenger (blessings and peace be upon him) offering water to the men and doing them service and returning those killed and wounded to Medina". [Transmitted by Ahmad, 6/358.]
Similarly, Ahmad and Muslim recounted on the authority of Um `Ateyya, who said, "I went to the fighting with Allah's Messenger (blessings and peace be upon him) seven times, following them in their campaigns, preparing food, treating the wounded and helping the sick". [Transmitted by Ahmad, 6/407 and Muslim (1812)]
This is the work for the woman and for the nature of her function; but to carry a weapon and fight or lead a battalion is not one of her affairs, unless there is a special need for that; then she could share with men in their struggle against the enemies as much as she is able. On the Day of Hunain Um Salm took a dagger, and when her husband asked her the reason, she said, "I took to so that if any of the polytheists came near me I would stab him in his abdomen". [Transmitted by Muslim (1809)] Um `Imarah of the Ansar fought so well in the Battle of Uhud that the Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) commended her, and in the apostate wars she witnessed the battles herself until Musaylimah Al-Khattab ("The Liar") was killed. She returned with ten stab wounds.
If in some ages the women are deprived of knowledge, isolated from life at home as if they were pieces of furniture, not taught by the husbands and not given the chance to learn-even going to the mosque is considered forbidden-if such a picture its prevalent, then it is a consequence of ignorance, exaggeration and deviation from the guidance of Islam. It is then an exaggeration in rigidity, not allowed by Allah. Islam is not responsible for such absurd traditions of the past; likewise it is not responsible for other exaggerated conventions created at present. The nature of Islam is the gentle balance in every thing legislated and suggested concerning rules and morals. Islam does not grant one thing to forbid something else, nor does it exaggerate one side at the expense of the other. It does not exaggerate in giving rights, nor in assigning duties.
Thereupon, it was not the intention of Islam to pamper the woman at the expense of the man, nor to be intent on satisfying a woman's whims and diminishing her calling, nor satisfying the man while belittling her dignity. But we find that Islam's stance towards the woman illustrated as follows:
It protects-as we have already said-her nature and her femininity as created by Allah, and it keeps her away from the wolves who like to devour her illicitly and away from the greediness of exploiters who wish to exploit her femininity as a commercial tool and for illicit profit.
It respects her supreme function for which she is intuitively and chosen by her Creator, Who gave her more than man's portion of compassion, affection, sensitivity and excitability to be prepared for the compassionate vocation of motherhood, which supervises the greatest industry in the nation, the industry of the future generations.
Islam considers the home as the great kingdom of the woman. She is its mistress, its head and axis. She is the man's wife, his partner, the solace of his loneliness, and the mother of his children. Islam considers a woman's job of keeping house, looking after her husband's affairs, and raising her children well as a kind of worship (`ibaadah) and struggle in the cause of Allah (jihad). Therefore, it resists every method or system that hampers her from fulfilling her task or that impairs her from performing her duty in the best way or that destroys her home.
Every method or system that attempts to remove the woman from her kingdom, to take her from her husband, or displace her from her children in the name of freedom, work, art, etc., is in fact the woman's foe that wants to rob her of everything and hardly give her anything. Doubtless, it is rejected by Islam.
Islam wants to establish happy homes to be the basis of a happy society. Happy homes are established on confidence and certainty, not on doubts and suspicion. The family whose consistency is based on a couple exchanging suspicions and fears is a family on the edge of an abyss, a family for which life is an unbearable hell.
Islam allows her to work outside the home in an appropriate job which suits her nature, her concern, and her capacity, and which does not crush her femininity. Her work is legitimate within certain limits and certain conditions, especially when she or her family needs the outside work or when the society itself needs her work in particular. The need for work is not merely limited to the financial aspect. It could be a psychological need such as the need of a specialised learned woman who is not married, or the married woman who has no children, or who has a lot of leisure time and to alleviate boredom.
The matter is not as claimed by those who are for the woman 's work without any limitations or controls. We will deal with this topic in some details in the next pages, Allah willing.
Those who exaggerate about woman's work and the misconceptions concerning them
However, as the captives of intellectual invasion call for a mixed relationship between the man and the woman, and the melting of the barriers between the two sexes, we see the call to put the woman in any kind of job, whether she needs the job or not, and whether society needs such work or not. This matter is a completion of the first, as it is fulfilling the goals of mixed relationships, melted differences, and the liberation of the injustice and darkness of the Middle Ages, as claimed.
The cunning and slyness is frequently shown in not declaring outright what is wanted is woman to rebel against her nature, exceed the limits of her femininity and make use of that femininity for illicit pleasure or illicit earning. They appear in the image of pure and loyal people who do not seek anything but the general interest. Opinions concerning the work of the woman are stressed through scattered reasons, collected as follows
The West, which is more advanced than us in civilisation, has preceded us in employing women; so, if we wish to advance like the West, we should follow suit in everything, for civilisation is an integrated whole.
Women represent half the society. If they stay at home without employment, it is a waste, and it has harmful effects on the national economy. It is in the interest of the society for women to work.
It is also in the interest of the family for the woman to work, as the costs of living have increased in our age.The woman's employment increases the family's income and helps the man with expenses of living, especially in an environment where income is limited
It is in the interest of the woman herself for her to work. Coming into contact with people and life, with the society outside the home, polishes her personality and provides her with experiences she would never have obtained inside her home.
In addition, work is a weapon to arm her against the enmity of time. Her father might pass away, her husband might divorce her, or she might be neglected by her children. In that case, she would not be humiliated by poverty and need, especially at a time characterised by selfishness, widespread ingratitude, and cut-off blood relations in which everyone is merely concerned about himself. [ See "Woman's Work and the Call of its Propagators" and the replies to them in "Woman between Jurisprudence and the Law" (Al-Mara'ah baina al-Fiquh wal-Qann) by Dr Mustafa Sib,.]
The reply concerning these misconceptions
As to the claim of the West, it is a false claim for the following reasons:
The West is not a good example for us to follow, and we are not committed to take the West as a worshippers of Allah or as a model to be followed. " To you your religion and to me my religion (Islamic Monotheism)". [Surah 109:6]
In the West the woman has been forced to go to the factory, the store, etc. and does not do so out of her own choice. She is driven by the need of food and is obliged to earn her living after being rejected by man, who refuses to be in charge in a cruel and merciless society which does not have mercy for the young nor for the weak females. Allah has provided us with the maintenance system in our Islamic Law, which makes such action unnecessary for the woman.
Professor Mohammed Youssef Moussa, may Allah have mercy on him, mentioned in his book Islam and Humanity's Need of it, while discussing Islam's care for the family:
It may be relevant to mention here that during my stay in France, I lived with a family whose maid-servant seemed to me to be of a good family and did in fact arduse my curiosity. I, therefore, asked the lady of the house, "Why should this lady debase herself in this way? Has she no relative who can support her and put an end to her degrading job?" The answer was that the lady had an extremely rich uncle, but who still did not look after her. When I told her that the lady could sue him to get support, she was greatly surprised and told me that the law did not provide for this at all.
When she knew that Islam states that such an uncle was legally obliged to support his poor relative, she commented that this blessing of Islam is really needed to put an end to the debasement of the fairer sex in outdoor jobs. [ Islam and Humanity's Need of It by Mohammed Youssef Moussa (trans. by The Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Ministry of Waqfs, Cairo).]
She means that their fear of hunger and loss is what has led such an army of women to work, through necessity.
The West which is followed as a model has been complaining now of woman's work and its consequences. Women themselves are complaining of such misfortune on which they have no choice. The famous writer Anna Rhode, said in the newspaper Eastern Mail:
If our daughters work at home as servants or like servants, it is better and less unfortunate than working in laboratories where girls are infected by disease and dirt which take the gleam from their lives forever. I wish our country were like the Muslim's, arrayed in purity and chastity where the servant and the slave enjoy the best in life and are treated as if they were the children of the home. Their honour is undefiled. Yes, it is shameful for the English to make of our daughters a model of evil by their promiscuous relationships.
Why don"t we seek what agrees with a girl's natural tendency to work at home and leave men's work to men to keep her honour intact? [From Islam and Sex (Al-Islam wal-Jins) by Fathy Yakan.]
It is not in the interest of the society to abandon her first calling at home to work as engineer, or a lawyer, or a representative, or a judge, or a factory worker; but it is in its interest for her work in the field of her specialisation for which she is instinctually prepared, the field of marital life and motherhood, which is not less serious but more so than working in stores, laboratories and establishments. Napoleon was asked, "Which castles of France are more impregnable?" He said, "Good mothers."
Many have undermined the work of the house wife which is one of the greatest services to the community. The responsibilities of a home and children are abundant and challenging. The woman has the task of homemaking, which entails a lot of physical labour, and the job of shaping her children to be productive citizens. If some women have some leisure time, it can be spent doing crafts, serving their communities and their fellow women, or contributing to fighting poverty, ignorance and vice.
In fact, a lot of working women employ other women as baby-sitters for their children or as servants at home. This means that the house needs a woman to look after its affairs, and the priority goes to its mistress and queen instead of to the outsider, who in most cases a stranger to the house with different morals, religion, language, ideas and habits, as is prevalent in the Gulf societies where nannies and servants are imported from the Far East. The danger of that situation cannot be hidden from the sane person.
The happiness of the family rests not in merely increasing the income-which is mostly spent on buying clothes for going to work, and necessities for a mixed life (e.g. men mixing with women) which is based on affectation, the fashion race and being in vogue. In return, the home is deprived of the quietude and companionship established by the woman in the atmosphere of the family. The working woman is exhausted, quick-tempered, and needs someone to lessen her burden, so she cannot give what she has not got to the home.
It is not in the interest of the woman to force her out of her nature and her responsibility and force her to do a man's work. Allah has created her a female. To do a man's work, then, is cheating her nature and reality. A woman could gradually lose her femininity until she is what some English writers have called the "third sex". That is what many women of moral courage have confessed.
What is claimed as weapon in the hand of the woman, if it works in the West, does not work for us as Muslims. This is because in Islam a woman has her needs satisfied due to the obligatory maintenance decreed by Islamic Law on her father, or her husband, or sons, or brothers, or others of blood relation. If copying the West has started to make us gradually lose our traits so that even the brother has started to deny his sister, the male relative has started to abandon his duty towards his female relative, and many people think merely of themselves, we still must adhere to Allah's Laws until the religious motive supersedes the worldly motives.
The harmful effect when a woman is involved in men's work without restrictions or limits
Therefore we learn that when the woman is involved in men's work without restrictions or limits, it has its harmful effect on various aspects:
It is harmful for the woman herself because she loses her femininity and her distinguishing characteristics and is deprived of her home and children. Some become barren and some are like "the third sex", which is neither a man nor a woman.
It is harmful for the husband because he is deprived of a bounteous source flowing with good company and cheerfulness. Nothing flows any longer except arguments and complaints about the troubles of work, the rivalry of work mates, men and women. This is in addition to the competior jealousy the man may feel, real or imagined, of other men in the workplace who vie for her attention.
It has a harmful effect on children because a mother's compassion, sympathy and supervision cannot be compensated by a servant or a teacher. How can children get benefit from a mother spending her day at work and on her arrival at home being tired and stressed? Neither her physical nor her psychological condition would allow the best she has to give regarding education or direction to her children.
It is harmful for men because every working woman takes the position of an eligible working man. As long as there are unemployed men in the society, the woman's work is harmful to them.
It is harmful for the work itself because women are frequently absent from their work due to natural emergencies which cannot be avoided, as menstruation, giving birth, nursing a baby, and the like. All such things deprive the work of discipline and valuable output.
It is harmful on morals. It is harmful to the woman's morals if she loses her modesty and on the man if he loses his attentiveness. It is harmful on the whole society if earning a living and increasing the income is the main goal sought by people, disregarding higher principles and good models.
It is harmful on social life because going against the grains of nature and dislocating things which are naturally located spoils life itself and causes imbalance, disorder and chaos.
When is a woman allowed to work?
Do we understand that the woman's work is forbidden by Allah in any case? Certainly not. However, here we have to indicate to what extent and in which fields the Islamic Law allows the woman to work. That is what we are going to point out briefly and clearly, so that the right wilt not be mixed with the wrong on this sensitive issue.
The woman's first and greatest work, in which no one can rival her, is to rear new generations. She is prepared for that by Allah, both physically and psychologically, and she should not be occupied by anything else materialistic or moral whatsoever, as nobody can replace her in that great work on which the future of the nation and its wealth, i.e. its human wealth, depend. May Allah have mercy on the poet of the Nile, Hafiz Ibrahim, who said:
Mother is a school, if well-prepared
An entire healthy society is prepared.
That does not signify that the woman's work outside her home is forbidden by Islamic Law. No one has the right to forbid without an authentic text which is clear in meaning. On that basis, we say that the woman's work in itself is allowed. It is even requested if she is in need of it, if she is a widow, divorced, or did not have a chance to marry, and if she has no income to avoid the humility of asking for charity or people's condescension. It could be the family who needs her work, such as to help her husband, or to care for her children, or young brothers and sisters, of her father in his old age, as in the story of the two daughters, of the old man mentioned in Surah Al-Qasas in the Qur'an, who used to look after their father's sheep. The Almighty says: " And when he arrived at the water of Midian (Madyan) he found there a group of men watering (their flocks), and beside them he found two women who were keeping back (their flocks). He said, "What is the matter with you? " They said "We cannot water (our flocks) until the shepherds take (their flocks). And our father is a very old man. [Surah 28:23]
The society itself might be in need of the woman's work, as in giving medical treatment to women and looking after them, teaching girls and such work that concerns women. It is more proper for a woman to deal with another woman like herself, instead of with a man. The acceptance of a man in some cases is a matter of necessity which should be considered accordingly and should not be taken as a rule. The same case applies when the society needs working hands for the sake of development. If we allow some women to work, it should be restricted by a number of conditions:
The work itself should be Islamically lawful in the sense that it should not be Islamically forbidden (haram) or lead to what is forbidden, for instance as a maid working in the house of a bachelor, or as a private secretary for a manager, whose position requires her to stay with him alone, or as a dancer who excites physical instincts and lusts, or as a worker in a restaurant serving alcohol. The Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) condemned those who produce alcohol as well as those who transport or sell it. She should not work as an air hostess, a position which obliges her to wear forbidden clothes and offer what is unlawful (haram) to passengers. Her job would also require her to stay overnight alone in foreign countries, some of which are not safe. She should not work in other types of work forbidden by Islam for women in particular, or forbidden for men or women.
If she goes out of her house, she should adhere to the morals of a Muslim woman in her clothing, her talk and movement. " And tell the believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protect their private parts (from illegal sexual acts) and not to show off their adornment except only that which is apparent and let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what they hide of their adornment. [Surah 24:31] then be not soft in speech, lest he in whose heart is a disease (of hypocrisy or evil desire for adultery, etc.) should be moved with desire, but speak in an honourable manner. [Surah 33:32]
Her work should not affect other duties which cannot be neglected, such as her duty towards her children and husband, which is her foremost and basic duty. [For more information about the woman's position in Islam, see The Liberation of Woman in the Period of the Message (Tahreer al-Mara'ah fe Asr Ar-Resalah) by Abd Al-Haleem Mohammed Abu Shaqqah. It is a six Volume encyclopaedic book documented with texts from the Qur'an and Sunna.]
What is required of the Muslim community is to organise matters and make arrangements so that the Muslim woman can work-if her interest or her family's or her society's requires that-without touching her modesty, or contradicting her commitment towards Allah, herself or her home. The general atmosphere should help her to perform her tasks as well as obtain her rights. There should be some arrangements where she can work part-time for half pay (threes day a week, for example). She should also be granted enough leave for her marriage, delivery and nursing.
Some of the arrangements should include setting schools, colleges and universities especially for girls where they can practise sports and physical exercises suitable for them and where they can have freedom of movement to practise different activities. There should also be women in ministries, establishments and banks, away from places of temptation and where a woman will not be alone with one or more men, in addition to other and new means which cannot be counted.
It is Allah Who says the truth and guides to the right path.
Has that verdict a true basis in the Qur'an or in the Sunna (prophetic traditions) or in the history of Muslim women in the first three centuries, which were the best? Certainly not.
The Qur'an makes the man and woman partners in bearing the heaviest responsibilities in Islamic life, and that is the responsibility of enjoining the right and forbidding the evil. The Almighty says: "The believers, men and women, are "Auliy," (helpers, supporters, friends, protectors) of one another, they enjoin (on the people) Al-Maaruf (i.e. Islamic Monotheism and all that Islam orders one to do), and forbid (people) from Al-Munkar (i.e. polytheism and disbelief of all kinds, and all that Islam has forbidden); they offer their prayers perfectly Iqamat-as-Salat and give the Zakat and obey Allah and His Messenger". [Surah 9:71] As an example of the application of that principle, it happened that there was a woman in the mosque who disagreed with the caliph `Umar Al-Faruq ("The One Who Distinguishes Truth from Falsehood", i.e. `Umar ibn Al-Khattab) while he was addressing the congregation from the pulpit. He accepted her opinion and discarded his, saying openly, "A woman is correct and `Umar is wrong. [ Mentioned by Ibn Kathir in his interpretation, improving its authority, as mentioned earlier] The Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) said, `seeking knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim. [Transmitted by Ibn Majah, part 1, (224), on the authority of Anas, corrected by Al-Seyoti in ancient times, and by Al-Albany in modern times.]
The Muslim scholars agree that a Muslim woman is also included in the meaning of the Hadith, as she is obliged to know what corrects her creed, improves her worship, and controls her manners within the morals of Islam, etc. She is obliged to know Allah's laws about what is allowed, what is forbidden, and her rights and duties. She could reach the highest stage of knowledge to achieve the grade of ijtihad (independent judgement of religious matters).
Her husband has no right to prevent her from seeking knowledge, which she is obliged to do, if he is not able to teach her or if he does not do it properly. The wives of the Prophet's Companions used to go to the Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) to ask him about issues that concerned them. They were not prevented by modesty (shyness) from knowing their religion well.
Congregational prayer is not demanded of a woman, as it is demanded of a man. Her praying ahome could be better for her circumstances and calling. However, her husband cannot forbid her if she wishes to go to congregational prayer in a mosque. The Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) said, "Do not forbid Allah's women to go to Allah's mosques". [Transmitted by Muslim in his Sahih on the authority of Ibn Umar, 1/327, (442).]
A woman can come out of her house to run an errand for herself, her husband, or her children in the field or in the market place, as did Asma'a bint Abu Bakr That Al-Nit, gain ("The One Who Possessed Two Belts"). She said, "I used to carry date pits on my head from Al-Zubeir's land-my husband's-while I lived in Medina, and it was about two thirds of a league from Medina."
A woman could accompany the army for first aid and nursing tasks and similar services suitable to her nature and her abilities. Ahmad and Al-Bukahri recounted on the authority of Al-Rubayyi' bint Muaawith of the Ansar who said, "We went to the battle with Allah's Messenger (blessings and peace be upon him) offering water to the men and doing them service and returning those killed and wounded to Medina". [Transmitted by Ahmad, 6/358.]
Similarly, Ahmad and Muslim recounted on the authority of Um `Ateyya, who said, "I went to the fighting with Allah's Messenger (blessings and peace be upon him) seven times, following them in their campaigns, preparing food, treating the wounded and helping the sick". [Transmitted by Ahmad, 6/407 and Muslim (1812)]
This is the work for the woman and for the nature of her function; but to carry a weapon and fight or lead a battalion is not one of her affairs, unless there is a special need for that; then she could share with men in their struggle against the enemies as much as she is able. On the Day of Hunain Um Salm took a dagger, and when her husband asked her the reason, she said, "I took to so that if any of the polytheists came near me I would stab him in his abdomen". [Transmitted by Muslim (1809)] Um `Imarah of the Ansar fought so well in the Battle of Uhud that the Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) commended her, and in the apostate wars she witnessed the battles herself until Musaylimah Al-Khattab ("The Liar") was killed. She returned with ten stab wounds.
If in some ages the women are deprived of knowledge, isolated from life at home as if they were pieces of furniture, not taught by the husbands and not given the chance to learn-even going to the mosque is considered forbidden-if such a picture its prevalent, then it is a consequence of ignorance, exaggeration and deviation from the guidance of Islam. It is then an exaggeration in rigidity, not allowed by Allah. Islam is not responsible for such absurd traditions of the past; likewise it is not responsible for other exaggerated conventions created at present. The nature of Islam is the gentle balance in every thing legislated and suggested concerning rules and morals. Islam does not grant one thing to forbid something else, nor does it exaggerate one side at the expense of the other. It does not exaggerate in giving rights, nor in assigning duties.
Thereupon, it was not the intention of Islam to pamper the woman at the expense of the man, nor to be intent on satisfying a woman's whims and diminishing her calling, nor satisfying the man while belittling her dignity. But we find that Islam's stance towards the woman illustrated as follows:
It protects-as we have already said-her nature and her femininity as created by Allah, and it keeps her away from the wolves who like to devour her illicitly and away from the greediness of exploiters who wish to exploit her femininity as a commercial tool and for illicit profit.
It respects her supreme function for which she is intuitively and chosen by her Creator, Who gave her more than man's portion of compassion, affection, sensitivity and excitability to be prepared for the compassionate vocation of motherhood, which supervises the greatest industry in the nation, the industry of the future generations.
Islam considers the home as the great kingdom of the woman. She is its mistress, its head and axis. She is the man's wife, his partner, the solace of his loneliness, and the mother of his children. Islam considers a woman's job of keeping house, looking after her husband's affairs, and raising her children well as a kind of worship (`ibaadah) and struggle in the cause of Allah (jihad). Therefore, it resists every method or system that hampers her from fulfilling her task or that impairs her from performing her duty in the best way or that destroys her home.
Every method or system that attempts to remove the woman from her kingdom, to take her from her husband, or displace her from her children in the name of freedom, work, art, etc., is in fact the woman's foe that wants to rob her of everything and hardly give her anything. Doubtless, it is rejected by Islam.
Islam wants to establish happy homes to be the basis of a happy society. Happy homes are established on confidence and certainty, not on doubts and suspicion. The family whose consistency is based on a couple exchanging suspicions and fears is a family on the edge of an abyss, a family for which life is an unbearable hell.
Islam allows her to work outside the home in an appropriate job which suits her nature, her concern, and her capacity, and which does not crush her femininity. Her work is legitimate within certain limits and certain conditions, especially when she or her family needs the outside work or when the society itself needs her work in particular. The need for work is not merely limited to the financial aspect. It could be a psychological need such as the need of a specialised learned woman who is not married, or the married woman who has no children, or who has a lot of leisure time and to alleviate boredom.
The matter is not as claimed by those who are for the woman 's work without any limitations or controls. We will deal with this topic in some details in the next pages, Allah willing.
Those who exaggerate about woman's work and the misconceptions concerning them
However, as the captives of intellectual invasion call for a mixed relationship between the man and the woman, and the melting of the barriers between the two sexes, we see the call to put the woman in any kind of job, whether she needs the job or not, and whether society needs such work or not. This matter is a completion of the first, as it is fulfilling the goals of mixed relationships, melted differences, and the liberation of the injustice and darkness of the Middle Ages, as claimed.
The cunning and slyness is frequently shown in not declaring outright what is wanted is woman to rebel against her nature, exceed the limits of her femininity and make use of that femininity for illicit pleasure or illicit earning. They appear in the image of pure and loyal people who do not seek anything but the general interest. Opinions concerning the work of the woman are stressed through scattered reasons, collected as follows
The West, which is more advanced than us in civilisation, has preceded us in employing women; so, if we wish to advance like the West, we should follow suit in everything, for civilisation is an integrated whole.
Women represent half the society. If they stay at home without employment, it is a waste, and it has harmful effects on the national economy. It is in the interest of the society for women to work.
It is also in the interest of the family for the woman to work, as the costs of living have increased in our age.The woman's employment increases the family's income and helps the man with expenses of living, especially in an environment where income is limited
It is in the interest of the woman herself for her to work. Coming into contact with people and life, with the society outside the home, polishes her personality and provides her with experiences she would never have obtained inside her home.
In addition, work is a weapon to arm her against the enmity of time. Her father might pass away, her husband might divorce her, or she might be neglected by her children. In that case, she would not be humiliated by poverty and need, especially at a time characterised by selfishness, widespread ingratitude, and cut-off blood relations in which everyone is merely concerned about himself. [ See "Woman's Work and the Call of its Propagators" and the replies to them in "Woman between Jurisprudence and the Law" (Al-Mara'ah baina al-Fiquh wal-Qann) by Dr Mustafa Sib,.]
The reply concerning these misconceptions
As to the claim of the West, it is a false claim for the following reasons:
The West is not a good example for us to follow, and we are not committed to take the West as a worshippers of Allah or as a model to be followed. " To you your religion and to me my religion (Islamic Monotheism)". [Surah 109:6]
In the West the woman has been forced to go to the factory, the store, etc. and does not do so out of her own choice. She is driven by the need of food and is obliged to earn her living after being rejected by man, who refuses to be in charge in a cruel and merciless society which does not have mercy for the young nor for the weak females. Allah has provided us with the maintenance system in our Islamic Law, which makes such action unnecessary for the woman.
Professor Mohammed Youssef Moussa, may Allah have mercy on him, mentioned in his book Islam and Humanity's Need of it, while discussing Islam's care for the family:
It may be relevant to mention here that during my stay in France, I lived with a family whose maid-servant seemed to me to be of a good family and did in fact arduse my curiosity. I, therefore, asked the lady of the house, "Why should this lady debase herself in this way? Has she no relative who can support her and put an end to her degrading job?" The answer was that the lady had an extremely rich uncle, but who still did not look after her. When I told her that the lady could sue him to get support, she was greatly surprised and told me that the law did not provide for this at all.
When she knew that Islam states that such an uncle was legally obliged to support his poor relative, she commented that this blessing of Islam is really needed to put an end to the debasement of the fairer sex in outdoor jobs. [ Islam and Humanity's Need of It by Mohammed Youssef Moussa (trans. by The Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Ministry of Waqfs, Cairo).]
She means that their fear of hunger and loss is what has led such an army of women to work, through necessity.
The West which is followed as a model has been complaining now of woman's work and its consequences. Women themselves are complaining of such misfortune on which they have no choice. The famous writer Anna Rhode, said in the newspaper Eastern Mail:
If our daughters work at home as servants or like servants, it is better and less unfortunate than working in laboratories where girls are infected by disease and dirt which take the gleam from their lives forever. I wish our country were like the Muslim's, arrayed in purity and chastity where the servant and the slave enjoy the best in life and are treated as if they were the children of the home. Their honour is undefiled. Yes, it is shameful for the English to make of our daughters a model of evil by their promiscuous relationships.
Why don"t we seek what agrees with a girl's natural tendency to work at home and leave men's work to men to keep her honour intact? [From Islam and Sex (Al-Islam wal-Jins) by Fathy Yakan.]
It is not in the interest of the society to abandon her first calling at home to work as engineer, or a lawyer, or a representative, or a judge, or a factory worker; but it is in its interest for her work in the field of her specialisation for which she is instinctually prepared, the field of marital life and motherhood, which is not less serious but more so than working in stores, laboratories and establishments. Napoleon was asked, "Which castles of France are more impregnable?" He said, "Good mothers."
Many have undermined the work of the house wife which is one of the greatest services to the community. The responsibilities of a home and children are abundant and challenging. The woman has the task of homemaking, which entails a lot of physical labour, and the job of shaping her children to be productive citizens. If some women have some leisure time, it can be spent doing crafts, serving their communities and their fellow women, or contributing to fighting poverty, ignorance and vice.
In fact, a lot of working women employ other women as baby-sitters for their children or as servants at home. This means that the house needs a woman to look after its affairs, and the priority goes to its mistress and queen instead of to the outsider, who in most cases a stranger to the house with different morals, religion, language, ideas and habits, as is prevalent in the Gulf societies where nannies and servants are imported from the Far East. The danger of that situation cannot be hidden from the sane person.
The happiness of the family rests not in merely increasing the income-which is mostly spent on buying clothes for going to work, and necessities for a mixed life (e.g. men mixing with women) which is based on affectation, the fashion race and being in vogue. In return, the home is deprived of the quietude and companionship established by the woman in the atmosphere of the family. The working woman is exhausted, quick-tempered, and needs someone to lessen her burden, so she cannot give what she has not got to the home.
It is not in the interest of the woman to force her out of her nature and her responsibility and force her to do a man's work. Allah has created her a female. To do a man's work, then, is cheating her nature and reality. A woman could gradually lose her femininity until she is what some English writers have called the "third sex". That is what many women of moral courage have confessed.
What is claimed as weapon in the hand of the woman, if it works in the West, does not work for us as Muslims. This is because in Islam a woman has her needs satisfied due to the obligatory maintenance decreed by Islamic Law on her father, or her husband, or sons, or brothers, or others of blood relation. If copying the West has started to make us gradually lose our traits so that even the brother has started to deny his sister, the male relative has started to abandon his duty towards his female relative, and many people think merely of themselves, we still must adhere to Allah's Laws until the religious motive supersedes the worldly motives.
The harmful effect when a woman is involved in men's work without restrictions or limits
Therefore we learn that when the woman is involved in men's work without restrictions or limits, it has its harmful effect on various aspects:
It is harmful for the woman herself because she loses her femininity and her distinguishing characteristics and is deprived of her home and children. Some become barren and some are like "the third sex", which is neither a man nor a woman.
It is harmful for the husband because he is deprived of a bounteous source flowing with good company and cheerfulness. Nothing flows any longer except arguments and complaints about the troubles of work, the rivalry of work mates, men and women. This is in addition to the competior jealousy the man may feel, real or imagined, of other men in the workplace who vie for her attention.
It has a harmful effect on children because a mother's compassion, sympathy and supervision cannot be compensated by a servant or a teacher. How can children get benefit from a mother spending her day at work and on her arrival at home being tired and stressed? Neither her physical nor her psychological condition would allow the best she has to give regarding education or direction to her children.
It is harmful for men because every working woman takes the position of an eligible working man. As long as there are unemployed men in the society, the woman's work is harmful to them.
It is harmful for the work itself because women are frequently absent from their work due to natural emergencies which cannot be avoided, as menstruation, giving birth, nursing a baby, and the like. All such things deprive the work of discipline and valuable output.
It is harmful on morals. It is harmful to the woman's morals if she loses her modesty and on the man if he loses his attentiveness. It is harmful on the whole society if earning a living and increasing the income is the main goal sought by people, disregarding higher principles and good models.
It is harmful on social life because going against the grains of nature and dislocating things which are naturally located spoils life itself and causes imbalance, disorder and chaos.
When is a woman allowed to work?
Do we understand that the woman's work is forbidden by Allah in any case? Certainly not. However, here we have to indicate to what extent and in which fields the Islamic Law allows the woman to work. That is what we are going to point out briefly and clearly, so that the right wilt not be mixed with the wrong on this sensitive issue.
The woman's first and greatest work, in which no one can rival her, is to rear new generations. She is prepared for that by Allah, both physically and psychologically, and she should not be occupied by anything else materialistic or moral whatsoever, as nobody can replace her in that great work on which the future of the nation and its wealth, i.e. its human wealth, depend. May Allah have mercy on the poet of the Nile, Hafiz Ibrahim, who said:
Mother is a school, if well-prepared
An entire healthy society is prepared.
That does not signify that the woman's work outside her home is forbidden by Islamic Law. No one has the right to forbid without an authentic text which is clear in meaning. On that basis, we say that the woman's work in itself is allowed. It is even requested if she is in need of it, if she is a widow, divorced, or did not have a chance to marry, and if she has no income to avoid the humility of asking for charity or people's condescension. It could be the family who needs her work, such as to help her husband, or to care for her children, or young brothers and sisters, of her father in his old age, as in the story of the two daughters, of the old man mentioned in Surah Al-Qasas in the Qur'an, who used to look after their father's sheep. The Almighty says: " And when he arrived at the water of Midian (Madyan) he found there a group of men watering (their flocks), and beside them he found two women who were keeping back (their flocks). He said, "What is the matter with you? " They said "We cannot water (our flocks) until the shepherds take (their flocks). And our father is a very old man. [Surah 28:23]
The society itself might be in need of the woman's work, as in giving medical treatment to women and looking after them, teaching girls and such work that concerns women. It is more proper for a woman to deal with another woman like herself, instead of with a man. The acceptance of a man in some cases is a matter of necessity which should be considered accordingly and should not be taken as a rule. The same case applies when the society needs working hands for the sake of development. If we allow some women to work, it should be restricted by a number of conditions:
The work itself should be Islamically lawful in the sense that it should not be Islamically forbidden (haram) or lead to what is forbidden, for instance as a maid working in the house of a bachelor, or as a private secretary for a manager, whose position requires her to stay with him alone, or as a dancer who excites physical instincts and lusts, or as a worker in a restaurant serving alcohol. The Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) condemned those who produce alcohol as well as those who transport or sell it. She should not work as an air hostess, a position which obliges her to wear forbidden clothes and offer what is unlawful (haram) to passengers. Her job would also require her to stay overnight alone in foreign countries, some of which are not safe. She should not work in other types of work forbidden by Islam for women in particular, or forbidden for men or women.
If she goes out of her house, she should adhere to the morals of a Muslim woman in her clothing, her talk and movement. " And tell the believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protect their private parts (from illegal sexual acts) and not to show off their adornment except only that which is apparent and let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what they hide of their adornment. [Surah 24:31] then be not soft in speech, lest he in whose heart is a disease (of hypocrisy or evil desire for adultery, etc.) should be moved with desire, but speak in an honourable manner. [Surah 33:32]
Her work should not affect other duties which cannot be neglected, such as her duty towards her children and husband, which is her foremost and basic duty. [For more information about the woman's position in Islam, see The Liberation of Woman in the Period of the Message (Tahreer al-Mara'ah fe Asr Ar-Resalah) by Abd Al-Haleem Mohammed Abu Shaqqah. It is a six Volume encyclopaedic book documented with texts from the Qur'an and Sunna.]
What is required of the Muslim community is to organise matters and make arrangements so that the Muslim woman can work-if her interest or her family's or her society's requires that-without touching her modesty, or contradicting her commitment towards Allah, herself or her home. The general atmosphere should help her to perform her tasks as well as obtain her rights. There should be some arrangements where she can work part-time for half pay (threes day a week, for example). She should also be granted enough leave for her marriage, delivery and nursing.
Some of the arrangements should include setting schools, colleges and universities especially for girls where they can practise sports and physical exercises suitable for them and where they can have freedom of movement to practise different activities. There should also be women in ministries, establishments and banks, away from places of temptation and where a woman will not be alone with one or more men, in addition to other and new means which cannot be counted.
It is Allah Who says the truth and guides to the right path.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
JUSTICE AND FAIR TESTIMONY
By Imaam ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah
From the book Ar-Risaalat ut-Tabukiyyah
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Establishing Justice
It is surprising to find someone claiming closeness to the Messenger (S) and complete love for him while he strives to follow and establish someone else's opinions. He bases his anger, love, and satisfaction on such opinions; he referees them; and he compares the Messenger's statements to them - if they agree with those opinions then he accepts them, otherwise he applies all sorts of tricks and takes all measures to reject them and to turn away from them.
Allah (T) said:
"Believers! Stand out firmly for fair dealings, as witnesses to Allah, even though it be against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin; be he rich or poor, Allah can best protect both. So follow not the lusts [of your hearts] lest you may avoid justice. If you distort your testimony or refuse to provide it, verily, Allah is ever Well-Acquainted with what you do" [an-Nisaa' 4:135]
This ayah carries great meanings that should be emphasized because of people's dire need for them.
Allah (T) commands the believers to establish equity and justice. It should be rendered toward everyone, whether enemy or friend.
It is even more important to establish justice in matters of ideas, opinions, and beliefs, because they relate to Allah's commands and teachings. Allowing whims and disobedience to influence one's opinions and beliefs conflicts with Allah's commands and with His Messenger's Message.
Establishing justice in ideas, opinions and beliefs is the mission of the successors to the Messenger (S) in his Ummah (nation) - those who are worthy of carrying the trust among his followers. No one deserves such description of honesty except those who establish absolute justice in this, as an advice for Allah, His Book, His Messenger, and His worshipers. These are indeed the true inheritors [of the glorious Message].
Thus a person is not worthy of this description if he takes his company, ways, and opinions as measures and indicators of the truth - loathing or befriending people because of them.
How far is such a person from establishing the justice that Allah mandated on everyone, especially in these matters of belief where the obligation is higher!
Fair Testimonies
The above ayah has,"... as witnesses to Allah ...". A witness is a reporter. If he reports truthfully then he is acceptable and just; if he reports falsehoods then he is a false witness.
In addition to establishing justice, Allah requires one to be a witness for Him alone. Thus the testimony should be: with justice and for Allah alone. In another ayah Allah (T) said:
"Believers! Stand out firmly for Allih as witnesses to fair dealing" [al-Maaidah 5:8]
Together, these two ayaat require four things: establishing justice, doing it for Allah, maintaining truthful testimonies, and doing this for Allah as well.
The ayah in surah an-Nisaa' emphasizes fairness and maintaining the testimonies for Allah, while that of surah al-Maaidah emphasizes standing out firmly for Allah and maintaining fair testimonies. This difference (between the two ayaat) has an important reason that cannot be dealt with here.
THE TEST OF FAIRNESS
The above ayah (an-Nisaa' 135) then says, "... even if it be against your own selves, your parents or your kin ...".
Allah (T) commands to establish justice and to maintain fair testimony against everyone, including the most beloved ones. One is required to be fair against himself, his parents who are his roots, and his relatives who are usually closer and better supporters for him than other people.
A person's love for himself, his parents, and his kin, tends to prevent him from establishing the right and justice against them, especially when the right is for someone whom he hates and loathes. Thus, it is obvious that no one will establish this justice except he to whom Allah (T) and His Messenger (S) are more beloved than anything else.
One can use this to test the strength of Imaan in his heart, and his status of Imaan.
On the other end, one should be just toward his enemies and those whom he dislikes. His hatred should not cause him to be unjust to them, just as his love for himself and his kin should not prevent him from establishing justice against them. This hatred should not make him do wrong, just as that love should not stop him from doing right. One of the salaf1 said:
"A just person is one whose anger does not cause him to do wrong, and whose pleasure does not prevent him from doing right."
Thus these two ayaat (of an-Nisaa' and al-Maaidah) together require two things: establishing justice, and maintaining fair testimony with friends and enemies.
WEALTH-BASED BIAS
The above aayah (an-Nisaa' 135) then says, "... be he rich or poor, Allah is closer to both of them ...".
[The meaning of this is that,] "Allah is the Lord and Master of both the rich and the poor; they are His 'abid (subjects), just as you are his 'abd. So, do not be prejudiced toward a rich man because of his wealth, nor toward a poor man because of his poverty; Allah (T) is closer than you to both of them."
A possibly better interpretation of this is the following: "People may be reluctant to establish justice and to testify against the rich or the poor; as for the rich, they fear to cause him a loss in wealth; and as for the poor, they tend to take the matter lightly with him because of his poverty and that he possesses nothing. So they are told, 'Allah is closer than you to both the rich and the poor; He is more knowledgeable of, and more merciful toward both; thus do not stop establishing truthful testimony against either of them.'"
Two Motivations for Hiding the Truth
The next portion of the above ayah (an-Nisa' 135) says, "... So do not follow the lusts, lest you may be reluctant to establish justice..."
Another possible (but not as strong) interpretation of this ayah says, "... lest you may be unjust ..."
This ayah (an-Nisa' 135) continues,"... if you distort your testimony, or refuse to provide it, verily, Allah is ever Well- Acquainted with what you do"
Allah (T) mentions here the two incentives for hiding the truth, warning against committing either of them. These are: distorting the testimony and refusing to provide it.
When the truth becomes clear and evident, a person who likes to hide it does so in one of two ways: he either turns away from it and abstains from mentioning it, acting by this as a mute devil, or he changes and distorts it.
The distortion of truth is either in words or in meaning. Distorting the words is done by adding, dropping, or replacing them with other words. It can also be done by uttering other words in such a way as to make the listener think that he heard something different from what was actually meant. This is similar to what the Jews did in greeting the Messenger (S) or on some other occasions2.
Distorting the meaning is done by interpreting the words differently from what the speaker intended, introducing that which he did not mean, dropping some of what he meant, and so on.
Summary
Thus Allah (T) warns against all kinds of distortion in the testimony. A witness is required to provide a precise testimony, without hiding or distorting it.
Just contemplate then on the great amount of wisdom and knowledge contained in this ayah.
In summary, Imaan is not complete, or not even present in a person, unless he submits the Texts [of the Qur'an and Sunnah] with acceptance and pleasure, proclaims them, and invites people to them. He should never respond to them with rejection or distortion.
Footnotes
1. Salaf: The early pious Muslims of the Sahabah (companions) and their true followers.
2. When greeting the Messenger (S), some Jews used to fake "As-Salaamu 'Alaykum" (Peace be on you) by saying "As-Saammu Alaykum" (Death be to you) instead [Al Bukhari and Muslim]. Also, review al-Mujaadalah 58:8.
From the book Ar-Risaalat ut-Tabukiyyah
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Establishing Justice
It is surprising to find someone claiming closeness to the Messenger (S) and complete love for him while he strives to follow and establish someone else's opinions. He bases his anger, love, and satisfaction on such opinions; he referees them; and he compares the Messenger's statements to them - if they agree with those opinions then he accepts them, otherwise he applies all sorts of tricks and takes all measures to reject them and to turn away from them.
Allah (T) said:
"Believers! Stand out firmly for fair dealings, as witnesses to Allah, even though it be against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin; be he rich or poor, Allah can best protect both. So follow not the lusts [of your hearts] lest you may avoid justice. If you distort your testimony or refuse to provide it, verily, Allah is ever Well-Acquainted with what you do" [an-Nisaa' 4:135]
This ayah carries great meanings that should be emphasized because of people's dire need for them.
Allah (T) commands the believers to establish equity and justice. It should be rendered toward everyone, whether enemy or friend.
It is even more important to establish justice in matters of ideas, opinions, and beliefs, because they relate to Allah's commands and teachings. Allowing whims and disobedience to influence one's opinions and beliefs conflicts with Allah's commands and with His Messenger's Message.
Establishing justice in ideas, opinions and beliefs is the mission of the successors to the Messenger (S) in his Ummah (nation) - those who are worthy of carrying the trust among his followers. No one deserves such description of honesty except those who establish absolute justice in this, as an advice for Allah, His Book, His Messenger, and His worshipers. These are indeed the true inheritors [of the glorious Message].
Thus a person is not worthy of this description if he takes his company, ways, and opinions as measures and indicators of the truth - loathing or befriending people because of them.
How far is such a person from establishing the justice that Allah mandated on everyone, especially in these matters of belief where the obligation is higher!
Fair Testimonies
The above ayah has,"... as witnesses to Allah ...". A witness is a reporter. If he reports truthfully then he is acceptable and just; if he reports falsehoods then he is a false witness.
In addition to establishing justice, Allah requires one to be a witness for Him alone. Thus the testimony should be: with justice and for Allah alone. In another ayah Allah (T) said:
"Believers! Stand out firmly for Allih as witnesses to fair dealing" [al-Maaidah 5:8]
Together, these two ayaat require four things: establishing justice, doing it for Allah, maintaining truthful testimonies, and doing this for Allah as well.
The ayah in surah an-Nisaa' emphasizes fairness and maintaining the testimonies for Allah, while that of surah al-Maaidah emphasizes standing out firmly for Allah and maintaining fair testimonies. This difference (between the two ayaat) has an important reason that cannot be dealt with here.
THE TEST OF FAIRNESS
The above ayah (an-Nisaa' 135) then says, "... even if it be against your own selves, your parents or your kin ...".
Allah (T) commands to establish justice and to maintain fair testimony against everyone, including the most beloved ones. One is required to be fair against himself, his parents who are his roots, and his relatives who are usually closer and better supporters for him than other people.
A person's love for himself, his parents, and his kin, tends to prevent him from establishing the right and justice against them, especially when the right is for someone whom he hates and loathes. Thus, it is obvious that no one will establish this justice except he to whom Allah (T) and His Messenger (S) are more beloved than anything else.
One can use this to test the strength of Imaan in his heart, and his status of Imaan.
On the other end, one should be just toward his enemies and those whom he dislikes. His hatred should not cause him to be unjust to them, just as his love for himself and his kin should not prevent him from establishing justice against them. This hatred should not make him do wrong, just as that love should not stop him from doing right. One of the salaf1 said:
"A just person is one whose anger does not cause him to do wrong, and whose pleasure does not prevent him from doing right."
Thus these two ayaat (of an-Nisaa' and al-Maaidah) together require two things: establishing justice, and maintaining fair testimony with friends and enemies.
WEALTH-BASED BIAS
The above aayah (an-Nisaa' 135) then says, "... be he rich or poor, Allah is closer to both of them ...".
[The meaning of this is that,] "Allah is the Lord and Master of both the rich and the poor; they are His 'abid (subjects), just as you are his 'abd. So, do not be prejudiced toward a rich man because of his wealth, nor toward a poor man because of his poverty; Allah (T) is closer than you to both of them."
A possibly better interpretation of this is the following: "People may be reluctant to establish justice and to testify against the rich or the poor; as for the rich, they fear to cause him a loss in wealth; and as for the poor, they tend to take the matter lightly with him because of his poverty and that he possesses nothing. So they are told, 'Allah is closer than you to both the rich and the poor; He is more knowledgeable of, and more merciful toward both; thus do not stop establishing truthful testimony against either of them.'"
Two Motivations for Hiding the Truth
The next portion of the above ayah (an-Nisa' 135) says, "... So do not follow the lusts, lest you may be reluctant to establish justice..."
Another possible (but not as strong) interpretation of this ayah says, "... lest you may be unjust ..."
This ayah (an-Nisa' 135) continues,"... if you distort your testimony, or refuse to provide it, verily, Allah is ever Well- Acquainted with what you do"
Allah (T) mentions here the two incentives for hiding the truth, warning against committing either of them. These are: distorting the testimony and refusing to provide it.
When the truth becomes clear and evident, a person who likes to hide it does so in one of two ways: he either turns away from it and abstains from mentioning it, acting by this as a mute devil, or he changes and distorts it.
The distortion of truth is either in words or in meaning. Distorting the words is done by adding, dropping, or replacing them with other words. It can also be done by uttering other words in such a way as to make the listener think that he heard something different from what was actually meant. This is similar to what the Jews did in greeting the Messenger (S) or on some other occasions2.
Distorting the meaning is done by interpreting the words differently from what the speaker intended, introducing that which he did not mean, dropping some of what he meant, and so on.
Summary
Thus Allah (T) warns against all kinds of distortion in the testimony. A witness is required to provide a precise testimony, without hiding or distorting it.
Just contemplate then on the great amount of wisdom and knowledge contained in this ayah.
In summary, Imaan is not complete, or not even present in a person, unless he submits the Texts [of the Qur'an and Sunnah] with acceptance and pleasure, proclaims them, and invites people to them. He should never respond to them with rejection or distortion.
Footnotes
1. Salaf: The early pious Muslims of the Sahabah (companions) and their true followers.
2. When greeting the Messenger (S), some Jews used to fake "As-Salaamu 'Alaykum" (Peace be on you) by saying "As-Saammu Alaykum" (Death be to you) instead [Al Bukhari and Muslim]. Also, review al-Mujaadalah 58:8.
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