The pen is mightier than the sword -by Khalid Chaudhry
Khalid Chaudhry argues that education should not be secularized since Islamic scriptures shed light on some of the most important scientific phenomena. It is essential to the point of rooting out extremism, but that too must be seen in the context of US forces' wayward policies with respect to Muslim nations.
No accomplishment, no assistance, no training, can compensate for lack of belief. - Emerson
There is a notion in some circles in Pakistan that in order to modernize our educational system, among other things, it will also have to be secularized. Furthermore, there is apparently a strong external pressure towards this end, which is largely based upon misconceptions about Islam. These entities are either unaware or have chosen to ignore the works of eminent writers like Karen Armstrong, Annemarie Schimmel and Frithjof Schuon, which would have removed their misgivings.
In an interesting article, "A new history for Iraq", Christina Asquith had reported some time back that in line with US policy for Iraq, the US-led department of education was getting their history textbooks revised. She said that American officials didn't want to appear as if they were meddling in what the Iraqis should learn but at the same time, they would prefer if all anti-Semitic, anti-American and radically religious material was removed.
However, Samer Shehata, a specialist of Middle Eastern studies at Georgetown University in Washington DC, was quoted as advising the US not to try to overly-secularize the curriculum since that may backfire. Instead Shehata believes that respected and learned Iraqis should be allowed to solve the problems themselves. From this, it seems likely that the US may have similar plans for other Islamic countries.
Be that as it may, this article will focus on the issue of whether education should be secularized in Pakistan. At the outset, one would like to express complete concurrence with the government's decision to curb extremism and militancy amongst the students, particularly those belonging to the religious seminaries. Also, the move to include subjects such as English, science, computers, mathematics and social studies is very commendable.
It is further suggested that the curriculum of all students should include matter that would increase their emotional intelligence and promote self development, and educate them about human rights, especially women's and minorities' rights. In addition, numerous libraries should be set up with the help of the US, EU, China and Japan (apart from other benefits, they won't get burned down for political reasons, like the USIS library was in 1965).
The hard work being done by Federal Education Minister Dr Zubeida Jalal, and the steps taken - for instance of the overseas training programme for teachers, and also making English compulsory from class one - is laudable. Apart from the beneficial effects for public-sector institutions, these measures will bring the madressah students into the mainstream of education, thereby serving to broaden their outlook and expanding their career opportunities. It should also make them more tolerant and serve as a check on sectarianism. Furthermore, all the young pupils would become more enlightened and respectful of other's rights.
However, for some months an agitation has been going on against the removal of some verses of the Holy Quran from the new edition of the biology textbook for class 11. These had formed a one-page sub-section titled, "Quranic Injunctions and Biological Studies." While responding to this in the National Assembly, Dr Jalal said in a written reply that the inclusion of Quranic verses was not a requirement of the curriculum, "However, in this case, (they have been moved) from the biology books for classes XI-XII to the books for classes IX-X."
While the relevance to the curriculum will be discussed later, the factual position is that these verses have not been moved to the textbooks for classes IX-X, which already contained some other verses and a related discussion, including the role of Muslim biologists. It may be noted that there is no reference to jihad or any other religion in them. It appears that the minister is misinformed about this. Nevertheless, it is advisable to retain such material in the intermediate books for reasons to be set forth. (The physics textbooks too have something similar). In any case, the question of the secularization of education needs to be examined more closely.
Before proceeding any further, because of the nature of this article, it appears necessary to shed some light upon my own perspective, perhaps at the risk of seeming self-serving. As a student, I grew up listening to western pop music and frequenting the USIS ("American") library, whose books on scientific subjects proved to be most interesting and immensely useful in leading me to my future career. Nevertheless, I also retained an eastern outlook.
Many years subsequently were spent in the US (and elsewhere) which provided greater exposure, enabling me to feel equally at home in Karachi and abroad. If a friend wanted my company at a musical concert, a Thanksgiving dinner, or a church programme, I was available. If another sought my help for tablighi (missionary) work, I would go along.
Befriending people regardless of their race or religion, and learning about their countries and cultures (besides trying their cuisine), thereby developing a global perspective, was a wonderful experience, as was the weekly zikr arranged by some Californian Sufis. So one was neither "too westernized" nor a "religious fanatic".
Returning to the issue at hand, the purpose of including some pertinent Quranic verses in science textbooks is to show that many scientific, in our specific example, biological facts had already been stated in a scripture revealed 1,400 years ago. Equally importantly, they showed that its teachings, among other things, invited humanity to contemplate upon, carefully observe, and study scientific phenomena, because it would lead to human welfare.
For the students of science, nearly 97 per cent of whom in Pakistan would be Muslims, this would lead to a strengthening of faith and a positive motivation to study their subjects with greater zeal, and also to utilize their minds to the fullest. The latter aspects at least are the hallmarks of any good scientist.
The value of faith and motivation for achieving success in life is evident not just from Islamic sources, but even from the teachings of numerous western thinkers, psychologists, counsellors and sages. The noted American psychologist Daniel Goleman writes in his celebrated book, Emotional Intelligence: "The added payoff for life's success from motivation (emphasis added), apart from other innate abilities, can be seen in the remarkable performance of Asian students in American schools and professions." Thus, the degree to which we are motivated propels us to accomplish more.
Talking of faith, any number of western quotations can be provided, but two should suffice. That breathtakingly refreshing writer and sage Ralph Waldo Emerson had observed, "The whole course of things goes to teach us faith." Dr Wayne W. Dyer, the American psychiatrist, writer and a leading figure of the self-development movement, has written a whole book with the theme and title You'll See It When You Believe It.
From these it should be apparent that a stronger faith and a higher motivational level of our children will definitely result in more competent, successful and morally responsible physicians and other medical professionals, scientists, engineers, etc.
But, some people, especially in the West, may ask whether following the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of the last Prophet (PBUH) would indeed make us better human beings and scholars, or would it lead us towards extremism and terrorism? In the present global environment, when the West is focussing so much on our educational system, answering this question wouldn't be a digression, because it is very important.
The extremism witnessed amongst a minority of Muslims is mainly a reaction to the occupation of places like Palestine, Afghanistan, Kashmir and Chechnya. It has nothing to do with Islamic teachings, which are merely being maligned to justify the repression by the occupying forces.
The existence of violence based on politics, ethnicity and provincialism in the Muslim as well as non-Muslim countries is further evidence that baser passions, rather than religion, lie at the root of such phenomenon, whereas controlling them is considered to be the greatest jihad in Islam.
Further conviction can be sought by examining the lives of some converts to Islam. The legendary boxer Muhammad Ali got appointed as a UN Ambassador of Peace and is greatly admired by people everywhere. The famous Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki (who once fought Ali and some Pakistani grapplers) went on to become a legislator. Just before the first Gulf War, he and the British convert Yusuf Islam (the former pop singer Cat Stevens, who's now an educationist) had flown to Baghdad and met Saddam Hussein to try to dissuade him from war.
Then there is Dr Robert Crane who had been President Nixon's adviser and has been striving hard for decades to help promote a better understanding between American Muslims and other Americans. I have had the opportunity of meeting him and Dr Maurice Bucaille when they delivered talks at the University of Southern California in 1986. Both were very rational, enlightened and highly professional gentlemen who greatly inspired the students.
A very interesting case is that of another American who converted 25 years ago and with whom I became friends. Before embracing Islam he had carefully studied all the major religions and ideologies (including communism) and practiced some of them. Highly educated, with an IQ of 140 and a top salesperson in his company, he was running a free Islamic education centre as well. Like a wali (saint), he had some amazing spiritual powers, such as precognition, clairvoyance and mind reading, which he normally kept concealed, so he's not being identified here.
In brief, he could be called lqbal's 'perfect man' and some of his words are pertinent for us. For instance, he would often exclaim that, "The faith is like a muscle: it is strengthened by exercising (it)." He also revealed, "Even the Freemasons bring out the Holy Quran (to read) when nobody is looking."
The conclusion is that Islam didn't make extremists out of these gentlemen. The handful of exceptions who turned to terrorism after 9/11 is but an infinite small percentage of the millions of people who embraced the religion in recent decades. But extremists do exist in every religion. Detailed observations about the Quran made by unbiased western scholars provide another perspective on its utility.
These are perhaps best identified by the work of Dr Maurice Bucaille, the French surgeon, scientist, scholar and author. In his well-known book, The Bible, the Quran and Science, he has talked about his quest to find out how far the various scriptures agree with the findings of modern science.
He has pointed out the sheer abundance of subjects discussed in the Quran (which he studied after learning Arabic) such as the Creation, astronomy, animal and vegetable kingdoms, human reproduction and so on. His finding was that it contained many scientific facts that were discovered by modern science many centuries later.
He says the Quran mentions precise mechanisms in many places and describes clearly defined stages in reproduction without containing even a single inaccurate statement. While discussing the "Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms" he notes that when specialists of the nervous system wish to provide striking examples of the prodigious organization directing animal behaviour, the animals most commonly referred to are bees, spiders and birds (especially migratory birds). It is no coincidence that the Quran refers to this exemplary trio, which highlights the exceptionally interesting character of each of these animals from the scientific standpoint.
Pointing such things out to our youngsters (and even teachers) will only serve to stimulate their interest and motivate them. Instead of deleting religious knowledge from the textbooks, use should be made of interesting and imaginative works, for instance those of Dr Bucaille by quoting from them. This will broaden the students' perspective, bring enlightenment, strengthen their faith, and fire their imagination, thereby producing good scholars.
It ought to be realized that the western scientists' antipathy towards religious scriptures is the result of the stifling of scientific research due to the bigotry of their clerics of the medieval period, who used the Bible to justify themselves. Many scientists were burned at the stakes and the vengeance extracted by the men and women of science after the Renaissance continues to this day, making them scoff at any references to religion.
However, as noted by many unprejudiced western commentators, the situation is totally different in Islam, where religion and science have from the very beginning been considered as twin sisters. The Quran and the prophetic traditions alike exhort the people to reflect on God's creation and to acquire knowledge.
In a recent interview given to Dawn Magazine (Feb 15), Dr Edward de Bono, "the father of thinking about thinking", had made some very interesting observations. In the world today, there is a perception that Islam is full of fundamentalists and terrorists but if you read the Quran and Hadith, Islam is more about thinking than any other religion. And there are 130 verses in the Quran specifically about thinking. So, this version/misconception that Islam is contrary to thinking is not true.
Apart from that, the book Understanding Islam by the renowned orientalist Dr Frithjof Schuon begins by quoting the Hadith: "The first thing created by God was the intellect, whose significance cannot be lost on anyone." Such facts when pointed out to budding scientists and scholars will be a source of inspiration for them.
The bottom line of this discussion could only come most appropriately from the "Thinker of Pakistan", Sir (Dr) Muhammad Iqbal. As explained in the invaluable book Iqbal's Educational Philosophy by K.G. Sayidain, Iqbal considered it imperative to acquire modern education with science occupying a prominent place in it.
However, it should be an education thoroughly permeated and vitalized by the spirit and ideals inspiring our cultural and social order. It ought to inculcate an all-embracing 'humanism' and a truly international outlook amongst the youth. Iqbal also cautioned that this instruction must not set up a false and mischievous antithesis between the values represented by religion and science. In short, he believed that Islam should be given a distinguished place in education, free from dogma, but filled with its humanistic side. And he put it tersely: the pen of a person without faith is of no use.
Courtesy
htp://dawn.com
