Recently, while traveling from the metro, I started looking at Facebook while sitting, and I saw a friend’s post. It meant something like this:
“While passing through Muslim neighborhoods, I am often reminded of a conversation between the famous Andalusian philosopher Ibn Rushd (1198-1126) and a Christian priest who was very proud of his city. As there is no city, in response, Ibn Rushd made him incomparable by saying that “when someone (singer) dies in our city, your city (probably Ashbelia) is used to sell his instruments. And when a scholar, researcher, or scholar dies in your city, his books come to our city (Cortuba) to be sold.”
This was the story of our heyday, but today the case is quite the opposite. Those people (heirs of the priest) come to our neighborhoods to eat and drink, and we (heirs of Ibn Rushd) go to their areas to read and write. That was the reason for our rise and this is the reason for our downfall.
If this sounds like an exaggeration, visit Old Delhi’s Urdu Bazaar. There used to be bookstores here, but now you’ll see more hotels instead. Find out from an old literate person in the area that the market which was famous for book shops, where most of the book shops have gone. Not only Old Delhi, but you can also go to any town. The concept of the library, which included even patrol libraries, has become alienated from our society. Every time Rakim al-Haruf passes through a Muslim settlement, he has a longing to see the library there, which has always been a dream come true. Now there are reports of the closure of old libraries too.
Some people may know this as a common thing, but it is certainly true that today people from non-Muslim areas come to Muslim neighborhoods to enjoy food and drink, while people from Muslim areas visit non-Muslims for education. Travel to areas. This is a cause of concern and worry, because the development of sciences and arts helped Muslims to reach a prominent position in the past, and this wave of intellectual flight and scientific and research activities spread to many regions of the world, including Europe. The generation was given a happy opportunity to reach new heights of knowledge and art, but the brightness of these bright lanterns of knowledge, wisdom, and research is no longer visible.
Thinking about this attitude, I started to have different thoughts in my mind, I started to remember the scene in the movie Avatar in the first episode where Jack Sully tells the Na’vi tribe that I want to learn from you people. Natri’s mother tells her that if the cup is already full, nothing else can be added. People in the world who think that they already have everything, that they already have all the knowledge, then they stop moving forward. Muslims seem to have assumed this about themselves. I have visited many cities in India, and except for a few settlements, I have seen very few settlements that we can call ideal in terms of education and learning, yes, the name of Muslim settlements must have been taken in relation to food, drink, and clothes, etc. can go.
Many so-called progressives will blame the religiosity of Muslims for these conditions when the reality is that the religiosity of Muslims is nothing more than lip service. If an honest analysis is made, Muslims are far away from religion, otherwise, how could the religion whose first commandment is ‘Iqra’ be an enemy of knowledge? The ummah of which the Prophet ﷺ gave the good news of Paradise to the one who gave two sisters or two daughters good training and good upbringing, would not close the doors of schools and madrasahs and even mosques for their daughters and sisters.
Why is that the case? We need to consider this. The problem is not the religion itself but the attitudes and mindset of the people. Of course, hotels should also be opened in Muslim areas, these are also necessary for life, but establishing institutions like coaching centers, schools, and think tanks are also the need of the hour. Now is the time for Muslims to rise above their materialistic desires and focus on their education, which will ultimately benefit them and their community. It is only through knowledge that Muslims can establish their identity in various fields and break the barriers that stand in the way of their progress and success.
COMMENTS