The importance of religious and worldly education

Dear brothers and sisters, ”Assalaamu Alaikum” (peace be upon you)

The most important thing about is the fact that we will be not in this world after sometime (seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months or years) i.e. we are bound to death.

We are expected to give full account of our life. Death is not the end of our life, but a beginning. Whatever we do in this world is recorded and will be shown to us in the life after death, Allah warned us. We can hear a better understanding of this phenomenon at present since we are familiar with recording (tape, voice or video). Prophet (peace be upon him) reminded us that on the Day of Judgment, no slave of God (Allah) will be allowed to put a step forward until he is asked these questions:

How did you earn your wealth and how did you spend you wealth?
For what did you spend your knowledge?
How did you spend your youth?
For what did you die?

In short, we have to give a full account of worldly life before God. Qur’an says ” So whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it, And whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it.” (Qur’an 99:7-8)

Seeking knowledge

The main difference between man and animal is the ability of man to acquire knowledge and work according to the knowledge. He can attain higher positions in the worldly life as well as spiritual life only through knowledge.

Islam is the most sacred and trust worthy religion, which has given us guidance in every aspect of life. The importance of education in the sight of Islam is very high. Therefore, Islam stresses on education, to seek knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim, male and female. As our prophet (peace be upon him) said: “To seek knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim, male and female”. Dear beloved Muslims! Education, briefly, is a mean to understand the past striving and development of man. Without education none can find in both worlds. The importance of education is basically for two reasons. Firstly education makes a man right thinker. Without education a person is considered innerly blind. He fails to observe the situations in the right context. It guides a man to make a good decision. Secondly education prepares and qualifies our new generation for participation in the cultural development. Having good education, succeeding generations may benefit from the knowledge and experience of their predecessors. That is why Islam lays a great stress on education, particularly on religious education, which is the basis of a healthy society. The first and foremost obligation on us is to acquire knowledge, practice and then preach it. None can be a true Muslim without learning the teachings of Islam. Unless we come to know the basic and fundamental teachings of Islam, how can we believe in it and act according to what our prophet (peace be upon him) thought us.

 

A person without knowledge is like one walking along a tract in complete darkness, most of his steps stray away. He easily can be deceived by Satan. This shows that the greatest danger for us is in our ignorance, about Islamic teachings, what the holy Qur’an teaches us and what guidance has been given by the prophet (peace be upon him) but if we are blessed with the light of knowledge; we will be able to identify and avoid the dangerous path of kufr and shirk. So every one of us, young and old, men and women should at least acquire sufficient knowledge which is necessary to understand the teachings of the holy Qur’an and it’s purpose. But nowadays we are going to extremes. The person who gets worldly education, he is completely unaware of the Islamic teachings. Even he does not know what the Kalima is and how to perform namaz (salah).

The first instruction received by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was ”Iqra/ bi-ismi rabbika allathee khalaq” which means ”Recite in the name of your Lord who created -”The next verses were, ”Created man from a clinging substance. Recite, and your Lord is the most Generous -Who taught by the pen -Taught man that which he knew not. ”(Qur’an 96 : 1-5). The most important knowledge is the knowledge of Qur’an, which is the message of God to man, the guidance for our life, here and hereafter, and of Hadith  the words and deeds of prophet. The translations are available in English, Urdu and many regional languages. But unluckily it is not available yet in Manipuri language. If one devotes at least 30 minutes to 1 hour per day in it, one can acquire most of useful knowledge which will be helpful in this world as well as in the hereafter. God says He has made Qur’an easy (to learn and remember).

Everyone must learn Qur’an and try to apply  its teachings in our day to day life so that we may get a peaceful life in this world and heaven in the hereafter.

Allah does not make it compulsory to get higher education, but He has obliged us to get Islamic knowledge. On the Day of Judgment, Allah will ask his parents, “Have you instructed your children in Islamic teachings? “He will never ask about modern education. What a pity to those parents who do not give Islamic teachings to their children. The other side of the picture is not also satisfactory. For instance, lets see the condition in the context of Manipur. Muslims number 190,939, or about 8.32% of the state population as per 2001 census. The literacy rate of Muslims is 58.6 percent (male 75 percent and female 41.6 percent) much below the state against average of 70.5 percent (male 80.3 percent and female 60.5 percent). That means the educational status of Muslims in Manipur is in alarming condition. Again coming to religious education, there are Madarssas in every village. They are mostly attached with the village mosques. These are informal Islamic institutions basically meant for providing religious education to the Muslim childrens. Unlike others, many Muslims undergo a course of religious education before entering school. But the problem is that each of these Madarssas have only single teacher locally called Moulavi except in a few Madrassas like Madrassa Darul Uloom, Lilong Haoreibi, Madrassa Alia,  Lilong etc. Most of the learners of these institutions are irregular and often dropped-out without acquiring even the basic knowledge of Islam.

Most of the persons who gets Islamic teachings, do not know even a single word regarding the the worldly education. It also causes trouble for him. He can’t live in this world with comfort without knowing the basic terms of modern age. For example, at present, the time demands English language because it is the most understood language in the world. Therefore every one should learn English language, so that we can communicate with others easily. But nowadays the person who gets only Islamic education, most of them are unaware of English language and basic rules and regulations of India, how to get our rights and how to communicate our demands to government. Due to lack of this knowledge we are unable to communicate our message to the parliament and demand our rights. Therefore we have to face problems in every aspect of life. In brief getting Islamic education is very necessary for us; side by side we should learn modern education. Having both the knowledge s we will be successful in this world and hereafter. May Allah enable us to act upon it. Aameen

Submitted by:                                                                                                                                             Ayub Ali Mohammad                                                                                                                             (email id: ayyoob.md11@gmail.com)

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