BaKhabar, December 2012, Page-6 [DA'WAH at the Zoo + Purpose of Education]

Purpose of Education

... By Mohammad Atiqur Rahman

Throughout the lives of young students it has been drilled into their heads that if you get good grades and study hard then you’ll get into a good college. A good college leads to a good job. That’s how education is perceived, but there is much more to it.

The purpose of education is to acknowledge not only one’s career but also one’s character. It provides one with the ability to make decisions and achieve their goals. It is to develop logic and reason. It should help learners to discriminate between knowledge and ignorance, light and dark, space and time, life and death, illustration and illusion, image and mirage etc. In addition, common values such as punctuality, following rules, cooperation, learning to work and get along together as well as a sense of responsibility are all important factors of education. The combination of knowledge and skills as well as the common values help young students bloom into mature adults and become responsible and productive citizens.

Many of the problems we face today—corruption, injustice, oppression, poverty, etc.—are man-made, i.e. they are largely traceable, directly or indirectly, to the education system that produced the people who perpetuate the problems. The rulers who sell out to their own selfish agendas and subjugate their people; the bureaucrats who enforce laws based on injustice; the generals who wage war against their own people; the businessmen who exploit and cheat; the journalists who lie, sensationalize, and promote indecencies; they are all educated people, in many cases highly educated people. Their education was meant to prepare them for the roles they are playing in real life.

Influenced by the mere materialistic approach, present education system is based on only the career development to produce a workforce for the industry rather than providing good human beings for the society. For sustainable peace, prosperity, growth and stability of the society we need an education system which is based on human values. Each and every individual should be taught moral and ethics as a primary and compulsory education and then s/he should be trained for the science and technology, commerce and trade. Without that we are producing lots of doctors, engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, etc. but no good human beings.

Students who are the future leaders of the society must study the practical social sciences with a complete knowledge of social well-being, social reforms and social systems. I recently came across a very old advertisement for the post of an Imam for the Grand Mosque of Istanbul at the time of Khilaafat (Khaleefa Sultan Suleyman) during 1520 – 1566 AD. In those days an Imam used to be a government official (like an IAS officer, or a minister, today). The qualifications asked in the advertisement were:

- To have mastered the languages of Arabic, Latin and Turkish and Persian. - To have mastered the Qur'an, the Bible and the Torah. - To be a scholar in Shari'ah and Fiqh. - To have mastered physics and mathematics up to teaching standard. - To be a master of chivalry, archery, dueling and the arts of Jihad. - To be of handsome countenance. - To have a strong melodious voice.
(Source: Al Ahram newspaper 22nd September 1986, Egypt)

Practically, it is impossible to find one such person with this qualification in any part of the world today. You may find a person who has mastered in Physics and Maths but it is highly unlikely that he is master in the Arabic and Quran as well. Even if he is master in Physics, Maths and Quran but it will be almost unrealistic to expect that he is master in Bible, Torah or other scriptures. It is all because we have not made our education system to take care of these educations. There are very few schools in the country that have got good infrastructure and facilities to teach sports along with science & technology but there are no educational institution to teach or master students in various scriptures. In reality, social knowledge, growth, peace and prosperity depends upon the study of scriptures alone. How well are scriptures gone inside the social fabric of society? More we study the scripture better is our understanding on of social responsibilities and development. Scriptures are sent to us by The Creator who has created all human beings (societies) and made an arrangement to teach us all about the society through Prophets (pbut). Only through Him we can achieve true education that can bring peace to an individual and society as a whole.

Isaac Newton used to spend more time in study of Bible than science; George Gamow (who gave theory of Big Bang) was a priest and a physicist. Albert Einstein describes his thoughts about God as “I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this element or that, in the spectra of this element or that, I want to know His thoughts, and the rest is detail. .
In earlier days Astronomy, Biology, physics, Maths etc were studied under Fiqh that is where Muslims became the world leader and they were progressive and advanced.

DA'WAH at the Zoo

... By Umar Shariff, President, DIET [www.discoverislam.co.in]

DIET, Discover Islam Education Trust, in Bangalore, organised a field work at the Zoo, towards promoting an awareness on Islam. The program "Da'wah Net" included about 140 members who donned white T-shirts carrying the message on its back, "Worship the Creator; not the creations".
Some members are wondering why we chose the Zoo for the da'wah work. We ask them, why not the Zoo. Zoo is a place which attracts tourists from various parts of the world. Wherever there are people, then that's the best place for da'wah.
Registration fees for the da'wah field work was Rs. 300, which covered the expenses for T-shirts, breakfast, lunch, commute facilities and 2 bottles of mineral water. Every process was meticulously planned and executed accordingly. We exhausted thousands of pamphlets and hundreds of books; which means thousands have received our literature. Books on oneness of God and the life of Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu alaihi wasallam, in English, Kannada, Telugu and Tamil were distributed. Individual and group discussions with non-muslims were also witnessed.
The members who participated in the 'Da'wah Net' included about 80 men, 20 boys, 20 women and 20 girls. The little boys and girls of 5th and 6th standard of Al-Basheer International School too were engaged in the da'wah program. In one of the incident, a boy of std 6 gave literatures
on Islam to a non-muslim man, and finally he even suggested the man to embrace Islam. What makes me wonder is the daringness and the conviction of the boy who was bold enough to
invite a stranger to Islam. It reminded me of the life of Ibraaheem 'alaihissalaam, who as a child was a forerunner towards inviting people to Islam. May Allah make this child blessed in this world and the hereafter.
Many people who heard of our preparation towards going to a Da'wah field work to Zoo were inquisitive to know about our safety. They feared repercussions from the mischief makers who might interrupt the field work. They enquired if we have taken the permission from the authorities and such. We didn't find any need to ask the authorities to distribute the literature, as we follow the motto, "everything is permitted, unless forbidden". There's no such law or such that restricts the distribution of literature in public places; then how could anyone stop us? Hence we left the matter to Allah, and went ahead with our mission.

Alhamdulillaah, all praises and thanks be to Allah. It was more than a field work. We had good food, prayed our salaah in congregation, socialised with each other and played games; which made our day, a day of Islamic recreation. What a way to have real fun!
I personally had couple of interactions with youngsters of other faiths. Their minds were inclined towards darwin's theory and atheism. Alhamdulillaah I did enjoy the discussions with them.
One of our participants was questioned by a Muslim woman at the Zoo. She asked why we are forcing the passers-by to collect the literature. For which the participant said there is no force;
it's up to the individual whether he/she wants the literature or not. Many amongst our community are not quite clear of the importance of the da'wah activity.
One of the lady who received the literature, enquired about DIET, and was very happy to hear about our activities. She just pulled out 1000 Rs and donated for the work of da'wah. That was indeed a noble thought. May Allah bless the lady.
The members who participated at the zoo feld work are looking forward for more such events in the future. Inshaallaah a plan is on its way to get into certain areas in the Bangalore city, with the similar field work. We at our da'wah centre generally wait for the visitors to walk in to our premises. But in the field work we get to meet many members. Theres great scope for dawah in the field work. Inshaallah in the coming days we have lots of dawah activity coming up. We need you. Lets make a difference to the world through da'wah. Let our aim be the pleasure of Allah. If you too want to join us, you are most welcome.
Monkeys and snakes that we saw in the Zoo, were kept in the cage; but these animals are being worshipped by people in India. The people of India are open to hear to our words; but are we ready to open our mouths? The world is thirsty for the truth about their purpose of life on earth. Lets just share the knowledge that has reached us.