A Warning Against Ideological Fanaticism: Shaykh Salih b. Mahdi al-Muqbili & Shaykh Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi

olehAbdullah Bin Hamid Alipada 06 Juni 2011 jam 0:39

Translation by Abdullah bin Hamid Ali

Shaykh Salih b. Mahdi al-Muqbili, a Yemeni scholar who died in the year 1108 AH/1696 CE, says in his work,Al-'Ilm Al-Shamikh fi Tafdil al-Haqq 'ala al-Aba' wa al-Mashayikh (The Towering Knowledge Concerning the Superiority of the Truth Over One's Forefathers and Shaykhs),

"One should know that disagreement, fanaticism, and partisanship are the factors which have led to some Muslims taking up arms against others; removing the sanctity of their blood, wealth, and honor; and distorting the Book and the Sunna to the point of making them [the Book and Sunna] as if they no longer exist via the closure of the door toijtihad...Then the consequence of the sectarian split was that everyone placed the main source of schism (between them and others) before all else. And each of them took pride in the various governors (muluk) who inclined toward them against their opponents."

After mentioning these words of Al-Muqbili, the Syrian scholar, Shaykh Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi (1866-1914) said the following,

"As a whole, among the greatest flaws of fanaticism are the division and reciprocal enmity that result from it; such that the successor inherits it from the predecessor to the point that one who is close to another begins to hate his relative whenever he finds him opposing his view. He then attaches to him every disparaging accusation even if he [the accused] establishes numerous proofs of the correctness of his opinion. Rather, the disdain of some for others has reached the point of inciting rage against those who oppose them and awaiting every opportunity to detract from their character. This is evident when the accused commits an error or slips--while none are infallible saves those God has protected from error, his opponent lifts up his wounded prey with severe censure. He fills the earth and sky with shouts to make the case of his opponent well-known without a care for what the sacred law (shar') has forbade regarding the incitement of hatred and grudges, and against what breaks the grip of fraternity. But there is no blame on the politically shrewd (dahma') who pursues such a policy of promulgation since they are engulfed by the oceans of ignorance.

Rather, only the intellectual leaders are to be blamed for pursuing such a policy and adopting such an approach, since had it not been for the clamor of this faction (of intellectuals) and their dissemination of these [offensive] titles (alqab) into (peoples') hearts, the Umma in its parts would be clinging together, strong in the grip of love between its members."

Tarikh al-Jahmiya wa al-Mu'tazila, pp. 96-9

Education not Competition>>Sunday, June 5, 2011

BismillahiramanhiraheemI have been in Indonesia for the last eight months and have been very busy. However that is not the reason for the absence. This piece took me seven months to write. I had so many things to say but no direction. This piece was edited time and time again taking out unnecessary ranting and provocation. I ask Allah that if any of my writings have a positive effect on people it will be this one. Ameen.

Education not Competition

"Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today."

Every parent will nod their heads in agreement to the words attributed to Malcolm X (better referred to as EL-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz in the Muslim community) quoted above. Then they will probably menacingly beam at their children. The child will understand this look as a command that they must never be wrong or make a mistake in the classroom or never fail a test. This fear holds the child back from learning. An essential part in the learning process is to make mistakes. However, students who have succumb to fear would rather stay quiet and opt not to answer a question rather than trying. Their fear causes them to hesitate answering simple questions that have no right or wrong answer such as a simple, How are you. I had a student who is very bright and was probably the smartest child in the class but she was so afraid to get a question wrong you could literally see her whole body tremble and then see her eyes look from right to left out of fear. My question was What did you do on the weekend. Why do parents instill this fear in their children? Is it for the childs benefit or the parents? The main reason parents put this fear in their children is because of competition. They must realize that education is not competition and there is no shame in failure. Failure helps the student by allowing him to redo what he or she may be weak in. However, parents are more concerned about saving face with their peers they do not concern themselves with what their child actually needs. Sometimes the parents go so far as to use under handed tactics to have their children pushed into the next grade or level just to save face. If the student is pushed forward because of their parents under handed tactics, the student will just have more troubles in the future. Furthermore the fear does not benefit the child at all specially during assessments because instead of actually thinking and stressing about the assessment they have in front of them, they stress about the consequences that will be brought upon them if they do not succeed. This factors into the students failure on a test and has no benefit to them. The parents get no benefit because now they must save face. How does this factor into Islam? Well first we must look to a fictional character to understand where fear leads us. Yoda from the star wars films said, Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. Fear (of anything except Allah) leads us to the dark side, we start to hate what we fear. When a teacher punishes a student for making a mistake the student subconsciously starts to hate the subject being taught and the teacher. If the student is punished for making a mistake while reciting, such as being slapped across the face or having his or her fingers being squeezed together with a pencil in the middle, do we really think he will love the Quran or the teacher? Instead of having students compete against one another and live in fear we should promote cooperation between them. One of the best ways to learn is to teach the subject to others. Have stronger students help the weaker ones. It will enforce the subject to the stronger students and having their peers explain the subject the weaker students will be brought up in level. For parents who are skeptical, try to remember a time you did not listen to your child so they had to go to another adult who got through to you. In secular education this helps because we start to have less dropouts and failures and a bigger percentage of people succeeding and working towards the betterment of society. However if we make students compete we create winners and losers. We have losers who become nothing of use and unable to better society and have the winners go on to become professionals but because they are so ingrained with the competition mentality they do not work for the betterment of society. Greatest example is of all these immoral doctors only caring about money. A doctor is no longer seen as a noble profession but rather is seen as a criminal.As for Islamic knowledge this approach also has many advantages. For example one of the reasons for major sectarianism is because people cannot admit they are wrong. The arrogance a teacher develops that they could never be wrong is only an extension of their fears of making a mistake when they were students. However if we take out competition in Islamic learning we would effectively close one of the paths leading to arrogance. Another reason for a person to become arrogant is because a teacher is a person who has extreme power and even more trust; this position is an easy road to feel powerful. If we have stronger students help weaker students when the students eventually become teachers they will not be arrogant because part of their learning career was also teaching weaker students. Education is not competition. Competition is when we have parties trying to get to the top while not caring for the other. Competition is when we step over others. Competition enforces arrogance. Leave competition in the sports arena and do not bring it into the centers of learning. Stop treating education like a sport. Parents should not be spectators who get into fights because their team lost. Our children are not football teams and schools are not arenas.