In fact, the issues of religion, diversity
and social justice are of extreme interest to me. When I was preparing for my case
study of Islamic education system in Egypt, it was a very exciting exploration
journey. I found out that it is not recent and that it goes back to the time of
Prophet Muhamad (PBUH). Actually, I was impressed by Dr Joyanne's answer to my
question "When do you think the first form of Islamic schools
started?" She said that most religions started with the sending or the
existence of their holy books which is related to reading and writing.
Allah (SWT) commanded His Messenger, in the first verse to be revealed to prophet Muhamad, to ‘Read! In the Name of thy Lord Who Created’ (Quran, 96:1). The word ‘Iqra’ literally means to ‘read’, or ‘recite’. And Prophet Muhamad didn’t know how to read. I think this gives a powerful message about the importance of education in Islam. Education is held up high. It is the passage to enlightened minds that could embrace diverse ideas and perspectives to evaluate without prejudice.
Allah (SWT) commanded His Messenger, in the first verse to be revealed to prophet Muhamad, to ‘Read! In the Name of thy Lord Who Created’ (Quran, 96:1). The word ‘Iqra’ literally means to ‘read’, or ‘recite’. And Prophet Muhamad didn’t know how to read. I think this gives a powerful message about the importance of education in Islam. Education is held up high. It is the passage to enlightened minds that could embrace diverse ideas and perspectives to evaluate without prejudice.
As much as the search journey was such an
eye-opener, it ended with disappointment. I found out that the "NAME"
of the system has nothing to do with its "VALUES". I saw
carelessness, corruption, and indifference. What struck me the most is that Al
Azhar was basically built as a mosque then a university that aims at graduating
individuals who are callers for Islam, its values and become useful and
productive citizens, yet; that wasn’t reality, not even close. This may not be
the case in other departments but that is how it is in EDUCATION which is
basically the base of everything else!
When I was talking about my interview with
the principal of the Islamic private school, I mentioned that the vision of the
school is to prevail a "Moderate" Islamic way of life. That is when
Mrerriam asked "How can you know it is moderate Islamic view? How can you be
sure?". I have been thinking about an answer to this question and it
turned to be very simple. "Moderate" way of life is the way of living
where our actions don’t infringe on the freedom of others, respect our
diversities, and keep the balance of coexistence. I should say that our concern
about "Moderate" should not be exclusive to Islam or religions; it
should be our pursuit in life.
Going back to the title of my entry, I
would like to urge any government, authority or person not to give
"tags" to their "products" without really applying them.
Accordingly, don’t use it until you prove it!
Lili, this brings back a very powerful saying by the famous Nelson Mendella, he said "For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others." This is the moderate that we should reach in life. That no matter what we do, we do not disturb the freedom of others but actually aid at enhancing it.
ReplyDeleteGreat entry and comments. I was particularly impressed with the two images you chose. Why were these included? What o you have to say about them?
ReplyDeleteWhen I first laid an eye on the feather and stone image, I kept thinking about how do they keep the balance, although having extremely different qualities. So came the answer, for us to start searching about our commonalities rather shedding High-voltage spotlights on our differences. When I see "you" I better notice what we have in common. Then, it is also very important to realize our differences so we can respect them and don’t violate each other's privacies.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the "head that is full of fears", I see that we, or most of us, spend so much time worrying about the future, what time will bring us, what "others" may do to us. It really occupies a huge space of our mental efforts. There are fears all over the world towards wars, turbulence, poverty, crimes, drug abuse among many others. Fears from people who belong to race, ethnicity, religion or culture that are different than others. I don’t have now the magic solution to eliminate these fears but all I can say is that we can start by educating our children, to have enlightened minds so they respect others with appreciation to their difference, without pointing an accusing finger at them