Transforming the Wild Repository to Paradise of Learning

I am told that the locality where your institution is located was once a complete forest abounding with wild animals. Until it came in the eyes of a far-sighted visionary, who, with his intellectual and scholarly mettle, changed the very definition of this hilly neighborhood. Qazi CM Ustad transformed this repository of wild beasts to a paradise of learning. The students of Malabar Islamic Complex Darul Irshad Academy owe to that Sage whatever they shall accomplish for the rest of their lives. For, he was nothing short of your Spiritual Father.

Cognitive Heterogeneity

Everything about each one of you is unique. The glory of God’s creations lies not only in its sophistication, but diversity as well. Not only are humans unique in facial appearance but in other bodily parts and movements as well. One may identify their friend merely by their shoulder movements. Similarly, the IQ level of each individual is unique. The diversity of intelligence is a mega blessing that need to be honored and encouraged, especially when our educational institutions promote cognitive homogeneity as the norm.

Birds shall not Swim. Nor Fish may Fly

A Turkish madrasa had these inscribed on its walls: We do not teach the bird to swim nor the fish to fly. Each of you is blessed with a different intelligence, emotion, attitude and skill set. Be it poetry, essay, short stories, novels, comics, portraits, calligraphy… there is no end to diversity of human creativity.

Either of you are unlike. However, neither of you shall attempt to imitate the other. The bird-friend should not aspire to be like the fish-friend. Vice versa too. Education should help to discover the either in the student. Diving to the Depth of meaning is as important as soaring to the Heights of expressions. Imitation is, hence, to dishonor the creative glory of God.

Sun and Scholar are Twins

The excess wealth of a rich person is commonly attributed as a trial, or fitna, precarious for his spiritual wellbeing. Excess Knowledge, too, puts men and women on the firing line of destiny’s louche downfall. A miser is often described as one who hesitates to share his possessions with the deserving. The cultivated minds who refuse to share knowledge are far worse. A selfish scholar is a greater tyrant than the miserly rich, for, Knowledge is sacrosanct than Wealth.

Every knowledge is public property. No son or daughter of Adam is a lesser heir than the other to inherit it. Intellectual property, in this sense, is an oxymoron. Knowledge cannot be kept in an uncharitable locker. It deserves to be doled to all like the sunlight. Scholar and Sun are, thus, twins— not only in their common letters of origin, but in function too.

The Selfish Scholar Sinister than Miserly Rich

In Turkey and Bulgaria, it is said, those with extra winter jackets would hang their spare ones on the trees in the open forest, so that the passerby could use them to escape the freezing chill. The surplus knowledge in your command is the right of those suffering from the numbing ignorance out there. Zakat is not for the wealth alone. The tax payable on excess Knowledge is sharing it with the ignorant.

Moreover, it is not practically possible to apply all the knowledge you have learned due to time and circumstantial limitations. By sharing it with others, you make possible for others to implement in their lives the fruits of knowledge that was impossible for you.

Quality Audit of Islamic Activism

The monotonous Islamic activism in Kerala calls for a quality audit. The graphics used in branding of religious institutions lack originality and creative innovation. The same templates have been used for decades with prosaic imitation. Perhaps no wonder why Islamic Da’wa appears dismal to the State’s millennial generation. The promotional literature of Religious events— be it rallies, commemorative celebrations, conferences or lectures— lack aesthetic refinement bereft of any appeal to the critical souls.

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Posted March 27 2019