All perfect praise is due to
Allaah alone. We praise Him, seek His
help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek
refuge in Allaah, the most high from the evils of our own selves and from our
wicked deeds. Whomsoever Allaah guides,
none can misguide him, much same
whomsoever Allaah leads astray, none can
guide him. We beseech Allaah to continue to guide and affirm us on this great
religion of Islaam.
I bear witness that there is
no true deity worthy of being worshipped except Allaah, Alone without any
partner or associate. I further bear
witness that our noble Prophet Muhammad is His true slave and messenger. May
Allaah, the exalted bestow His peace and blessings upon the warner and giver of
glad tidings -our noble Prophet Muhammad,
his righteous and purified household, his chosen companions and all
those of us who shall strictly adhere to his teachings till the day of mutual
loss and gain.
My respected and cherished
brothers and sisters in Islaam. I begin this knowledge sharing by saying
As-salaamu Alaykum Warahmatullaahi Wabarakaatuh
I am indeed honored and
humbled to be called upon amidst my Scholars and esteemed colleague students of
knowledge to share the little Allaah has blessed us with. The proposed topic
for tonight is : the impact of secular education on Islam.
In order to fully comprehend
the subject matter at hand, it is worth defining the key words and also to
critically analyze it in the light of Qur'aan to see whether the concept has a
place in Islaam. That is, the concept of secular education and Islaam.
Secularism is defined as the
separation of public life and government related matters from religious
teachings. To put it better, it is anything relating to worldly affairs or
things that are not regarded as religious, sacred or spiritual. The question
then is, who determines what is religious, spiritual or sacred? I guess it is America or the west.
Islamically speaking,
Secularism has no place in Islaam. Reason being that, we cannot reconcile
between this concept and Allah's saying:
قُلْ إِنَّ صَلَاتِي وَنُسُكِي وَمَحْيَايَ
وَمَمَاتِي لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
Say. Surely my prayer and my sacrifice
and my life and my death are (all) for Allah, the Lord of the worlds. (Qur'aan
6:162).
2. A somehow similar verse is
found in Qur'aan 43: 15 where Allaah says:
وَجَعَلُوا لَهُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ جُزْءًا إِنَّ
الْإِنسَانَ لَكَفُورٌ مُّبِينٌ
And they assign to Him a part of His
servants; man, to be sure, is clearly ungrateful.
From the above verse and many
other related verses including the authentic sayings of the Prophet, we can
conclude that, Islaam is a complete way of life ranging from economics,
politics, social, religious, among others. Taking the prophet into perspective
as Allah commanded us (the believers) in Qur'aan 33:21 and Qur'aan 3:31 to
follow his exemplary life, we will come to the realization that, he was all in
one. Thus, he was the political head, the Chief Justice, commander of the army,
and God conscious business man - that is why the Pagans of Makkah were accusing
him of walking in Markets as recorded in Qur'aan 25:7. But with all these, he
was guided by the Islamic ethics in each sphere he finds himself.
Having this in mind, it
therefore means that, the popular saying more especially within the Christian
fraternity, we should give what belongs to Caesar to Caesar and to Allaah what
is Allaah's, or the saying, we should do what the Roman's do when we are in
Rome does not hold within the terrain of Islamic teachings. Hence as Muslims, we are not to restrict our
God consciousness to some specific places like the mosque, but rather let it be
our guiding principles were ever we find ourselves as the noble prophet
commanded us to fear Allaah were ever we find ourselves both in secrecy or
open, in prosperity or in adversity.
We should not as Muslims
allow the presence of high tech Cameras determine our faith. The guiding Angels
and Allah are always with us. Refernce: Qur'aan 82:11 and Qur'aan 50:18 and
also Qur'aan 50:16 and Qur'aan 58:7 respectively.
3.Again, the concept of profane
and sacred as championed by Mircea Eliade does not apply in Islam because the
Prophet is reported to have said, Allah has made the entire land to be a place
of worship.
So real success in Islaam is
not restricted to the daily prayers but also other aspect of Muaamalaat( human
to human relationship) as Allaah says in His glorious book:
: لَّيْسَ الْبِرَّ
أَن تُوَلُّوا وُجُوهَكُمْ قِبَلَ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ وَلَٰكِنَّ الْبِرَّ مَنْ
آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةِ وَالْكِتَابِ وَالنَّبِيِّينَ
وَآتَى الْمَالَ عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِ ذَوِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَالْيَتَامَىٰ وَالْمَسَاكِينَ
وَابْنَ السَّبِيلِ وَالسَّائِلِينَ وَفِي الرِّقَابِ وَأَقَامَ الصَّلَاةَ وَآتَى
الزَّكَاةَ وَالْمُوفُونَ بِعَهْدِهِمْ إِذَا عَاهَدُوا وَالصَّابِرِينَ فِي الْبَأْسَاءِ
وَالضَّرَّاءِ وَحِينَ الْبَأْسِ أُولَٰئِكَ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ
الْمُتَّقُونَ
It is not righteousness that you turn
your faces towards the East and the West, but righteousness is this that one
should believe in Allah and the last day and the angels and the Book and the
prophets, and give away wealth out of love for Him to the near of kin and the
orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and the beggars and for (the
emancipation of) the captives, and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate; and
the performers of their promise when they make a promise, and the patient in
distress and affliction and in time of conflicts-- these are they who are true
(to themselves) and these are they who guard (against evil). Qur'aan 2:177
To sum on this, we can say
that, in the light of Islaam, secularism has no place. So I implore my
respected elders not to refer to our Imaams as "our spiritual
leaders" because everything relating to the life of a Muslim is
spiritually based Education on the other hand is defined as the process of
receiving or giving systematic instruction or learning about something one has
no prior Knowledge of.
To contextualize the topic,
we have to also define Islamic knowledge instead of Islam.
4. Nuur defines Islamic
education as "a process of nurturing and training of the mind, the
physique and the spirit of human based on Islamic values which are sourced from
the Qur'aan and (authentic) Sunnah." This means in essence, Islamic
education is to instill morals and God consciousness in humanity.
Now coming back to our main
subject matter. NB: I will use the term secular for our understanding and not
because Islam approves it.
I have to at this juncture
emphatically state that "secular education" is accepted in Islaam if
not compulsory in some cases, and there is no clear evidence from the Qur'aan
or the authentic sayings of the Prophet that forbids that.
This notwithstanding, there
is no doubt that the path and method through which Secular knowledge is
disseminated really contradicts Islaamic principles. Nonetheless, we need to
reform it to conform Islamic principles or better still take the good out of it
and leave the bad. We should not throw away the baby with the bath water but
instead take the baby first. Let's open the gate and not break it.
A simple analogy may explain
it better. Do we say because Islaam prohibits usury or interest, then business
transaction or trading is equally forbidden? Absolutely no but rather we will
transact business and make sure that we strictly apply Islaamic ethics
governing business traction.
That is why Ziauddin Sardar
in his book, Science, Technology and Development in the Muslim world declares
that Muslims "should learn from others but there is no need for us to
borrow their spectacles as well. This borrowing of other people's spectacles is
a result of lack of self confidence"
Prophet Muhammad made a
companion of his learn the Jewish language within a period of six days because
according to him he has no trust for them. This in any case did not influence
the companion to adhere to their principles or doctrines. For the record, you
and I know that they (the Jews) are the greatest enemy of Muslims and Islaam as
Allah categorically stated in His noble book and also caution us in many
verses. Among which include the following
لَتَجِدَنَّ أَشَدَّ النَّاسِ عَدَاوَةً لِّلَّذِينَ
آمَنُوا الْيَهُودَ وَالَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا وَلَتَجِدَنَّ أَقْرَبَهُم مَّوَدَّةً لِّلَّذِينَ
آمَنُوا الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّا نَصَارَىٰ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّ مِنْهُمْ قِسِّيسِينَ
وَرُهْبَانًا وَأَنَّهُمْ لَا يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ
Certainly you will find the most violent
of people in enmity for those who believe (to be) the Jews and those who are
polytheists, and you will certainly find the nearest in friendship to those who
believe (to be) those who say: We are Christians; this is because there are
priests and monks among them and because they do not behave proudly.(Qur'aan 5:82)
5.
: وَلَن تَرْضَىٰ
عَنكَ الْيَهُودُ وَلَا النَّصَارَىٰ حَتَّىٰ تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَهُمْ قُلْ إِنَّ هُدَى
اللَّهِ هُوَ الْهُدَىٰ وَلَئِنِ اتَّبَعْتَ أَهْوَاءَهُم بَعْدَ الَّذِي جَاءَكَ مِنَ
الْعِلْمِ مَا لَكَ مِنَ اللَّهِ مِن وَلِيٍّ وَلَا نَصِيرٍ
And the Jews will not be pleased with
you, nor the Christians until you follow their religion. Say: Surely Allah's
guidance, that is the (true) guidance. And if you follow their desires after
the knowledge that has come to you, you shall have no guardian from Allah, nor
any helper. (Qur'aan 2:120)
: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا
الْيَهُودَ وَالنَّصَارَىٰ أَوْلِيَاءَ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاءُ بَعْضٍ وَمَن يَتَوَلَّهُم
مِّنكُمْ فَإِنَّهُ مِنْهُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ
O you who believe! do not take the Jews
and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever
amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely
Allah does not guide the unjust people.(Qur'aan 5:51 )
How then do we reconcile
these verses and what the Prophet did. In my own analysis, it tells us that we
can derive good in each and every individual or institution since nobody is an embodiment of only good
and vice versa. Allah knows best.
Summing on this, we need
change and it should come in piece meal and not radical change. To effect this
change in line with Islamic principles, we need and must establish and cherish
our own schools. Not just the name Islamic schools ooo but rather Schools with
discipline and results oriented.
So what are the impact of
secular education on Islaam. We will just list them because time is far spent.
It diminishes the religious consciousness
of individuals
It affect most cases the
tenets of the Islamic practices and beliefs
It promotes immorality like
homosexuality, free mixing of male and female among others
It distance individuals from
the core principle of creation and that
is to worship Allah. Reason being that the core ideology of secularism is to
liberate man from the religious values.
On this note we will end
here. What ever we said right may Allah reward and accept it from us. May He
forgive us for wherever we erred. May he purify our intentions and make us
ambassadors of Islaaam.
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