Orya Maqbool Jan

Corporate Culture & Literary Festival | 28 Feb 2015

Corporate Culture & Literary Festival | 28 Feb 2015

If you happen to meet some particular type of people in and around Al Hamra Arts Council Lahore, you should immediately understand that...

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Na Mustafa Na Raza Shah Main Nu Mud Uski | 27 Feb 2015

Na Mustafa Na Raza Shah Main Nu Mud Uski | 27 Feb 2015

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Soodi Maeeshat Ka Corporate Culture Aur Is Ka Literary Festival | 23 Feb 2015

Soodi Maeeshat Ka Corporate Culture Aur Is Ka Literary Festival | 23 Feb 2015

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The Quranic Concept Of Punishment | 20 Feb 2015

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The modern secular man has devised certain rules and principles for leading his life and quite interestingly, he uses the same rules and principles as a yardstick for judging God</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">An interesting feature of human psychology is that man regards only those things as true which come within the scope of his mental understanding. The modern secular thinking is based on two fundamental principles: scientific truths and cause-and-effect relationship, which implies that everything that happens in the world has some plausible reason behind it. As far as scientific truths and facts are concerned, it should be remembered that the scientific rules and formulas taught in one century, assume the form of white lies in the next.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">But science continues to teach them as truths to the people who are in search of knowledge throughout the world. As mentioned above, the second principle of secularism is that there is always some reason for everything that happens in the world. For instance, water vapours rising up from the oceans take the form of clouds that cause rain. The process that begins with the sowing of the seeds in the soil culminates in the ripening and harvesting of the crops. Minerals present in the mountains make the water warm or poisonous. Lava within the earth gushes forth from soft ground. Earthquakes are caused by the movement of tectonic plates. Germs and viruses cause different diseases. If no logical reason is discovered for some phenomenon, it is described as an unanswerable query or mystery.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">It is further claimed that as the process of scientific inquiry goes on, this mystery will also be resolved one day or another. Modern secular minded people wish that somehow or the other, God Almighty should also be fitted into the framework of this basic concept or philosophy. Allah on the other hand claims that He is the Original Creator (Prime Mover) and far from being dependent on causes, He is the Creator of all things including their causes. Every creator in the world is dependent on causes but Allah Himself is the Creator of all causes.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">Probing into the secrets and mysteries of the universe is one of the attributes of pious and righteous people, but all their endeavours to unveil the mysteries of the universe are aimed at getting a better understanding of God, who is the creator of the universe and all its mysteries. Praising such people Allah says in the Quran “Men who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (With the thought): “Our Lord! not for naught Hast Thou created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the penalty of the Fire.” (Surah Aale Imran, verse 191)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; line-height: 30px; text-align: center;">If today, we are reluctant to beg forgiveness for our sins collectively, its only reason is our false pride and arrogance. We are afraid that people will describe our attitude as foolish, fundamentalist, ignorant and unscientific.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">Thus, the more we understand the wonders and blessings of Allah, the more should we realise His Glory and Grandeur. But the problem with the modern secular thinking is that every increase of knowledge fills the human mind with the false notion of the greatness of man and, therefore, instead of saying “Allah is Great” he forgets Him and announces “Man is great”. The modern secular man has devised certain rules and principles for leading his life and quite interestingly, he uses the same rules and principles as a yardstick for judging God. For instance, God is Just, but man tries to make Him sit on the seat of the Chief Justice and wants Him to exercise only those powers which the constitution of a country grants to the Chief Justice.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">While doing so, man is utterly oblivious of the fact that Allah claims that He can conceal, forgive or write off all sins and can even change the vices of a person into virtues. He repeatedly declares that true repentance can make a man pure and blameless. But no constitution of the world can ever grant such absolute powers to any Chief Justice. The natural consequence of this approach is that when people attempt to understand the concept of Divine Punishment, they treat God as an ordinary Chief Justice and then expect Him to penalise the innocent and protect the guilty.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">It is in sharp contrast with the concept of justice and punishment given by Allah in the Quran. It must be kept in mind that the world in which we live, is a place for trial and tribulation, not for ideal justice and punishment. Real justice will be done on the Day of Judgement. It will be the day of Divine reward and punishment. Instead of appearing before God collectively in the form of families, political, religious, or sectarian groups, everyone will appear individually. As Allah says in the Quran, “And everyone of them will come to Him singly on the Day of Judgment.” (Surah Mariam, verse 95)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">The Quranic philosophy of punishment has been beautifully summed up in the following verse of Surah Sajda: “And indeed We will make them taste of the Penalty of this (life) prior to the supreme Penalty, in order that they may (repent and) return.” (Surah Sajda verse 21)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">When a whole group of nation goes astray and adopts the course of evil and disobedience, the punishment is also collective sparing no individual. “And fear tumult or oppression, which affecteth not in particular (only) those of you who do wrong: and know that Allah is strict in punishment.” (Surah Anfal, verse 25)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">“While the wicked and the sinful people are punished, the virtuous and the pious are saved and particularly those who go on urging the evil doers to abstain from evil.” (Surah Anfal, verse 165)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">In the same story, Allah also mentions those people who remained silent and did not try to prevent the sinners from committing more sins. They were of the view that there was no use of advising them and that Allah Himself would deal with them. But they were wrong, because they were also included in those who were punished by Allah, who saved only those who earnestly performed their duty of preaching till the last moment. “When some of them said: “Why do ye preach to a people whom Allah will destroy or visit with a terrible punishment?”- said the preachers:” To discharge our duty to your Lord, and perchance they may fear Him.” (Surah Anfal Verse 164)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">Allah alone has the complete and absolute authority to punish, forgive or protect whomever He likes. Death is not the end of life. It the transfer or shifting of a person from one world to another. On the Day of Judgement, all those who were killed during Divine Punishment will appear individually before God. Evil doers and transgressors will be dispatched to Hell, while the noble and the righteous will enjoy the blessings of Heaven. According to the Quranic philosophy, Allah sends down His penalty to awaken the people from their slumber of unheedfulness so that they may turn to Allah in repentance and remorse.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">All troubles, trials and tribulations whether big or small, come from Allah, so that people may remember Him earnestly in order to secure their next life. Cruel and oppressive rulers are also a form of punishment for the people from Allah. Thus, Allah tells the Israelites to remember how He saved them from the dire oppression and brutality of the Pharaoh. “And remember, We delivered you from the people of Pharaoh: They set you hard tasks and punishments, slaughtered your sons and let your women-folk live; therein was a tremendous trial from your Lord.” (Surah Baqara, verse 49)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">But those who cannot rise above scientific truths and cause-and-effect relationship, regard such happenings as ordinary and routine worldly matters. For this very reason, when someone tells such people to turn to Allah at the time of punishment and to beg forgiveness from him collectively, they make fun of him. But from the story of Prophet Yunus (Jonah) as narrated in the Quran, we come to know that Allah has an intense desire to see the sinful nations begging forgiveness and turning to Him in repentance collectively.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">When the people of Jonah fell before Allah collectively, with the feelings of utmost submission and sincerity, He canceled their punishment which had come almost within sight. “Why was there not a single township (among those We warned), which believed, – so its faith should have profited it, – except the people of Jonah? When they believed, We removed from them the penalty of ignominy in the life of the present, and permitted them to enjoy (their life) for a while.” (Surah Yunus, verse 98)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">All the prophets of Allah, including Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and their companions often begged for Allah’s mercy, blessings and forgiveness collectively. Thus, whenever there were no rains for a long period, they would come out of their homes for collectively offering a special prayer known as Salatul Istasqa, to request Allah to send down the much needed rain. This particular prayer is also a form of repentance and begging for forgiveness collectively.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">Another type of Divine Punishment is dividing a nation into groups and sects, who fight against each other, resulting in massive bloodshed. Early Muslims fully understood it and thus, when there was a bitter political row between Hazrat Ameer Muavia and Hazrat Hasan, reconciliation efforts were made in line with the instructions given in Verse 8 of Surah Hujurat. But when mediation attempts proved in vain, Hazrat Hasan voluntarily stepped down as Caliph, to save the Muslim Ummah from division and civil war. “Say: ‘He hath power to send calamities on you, from above and below, or to cover you with confusion in party strife, giving you a taste of mutual vengeance – each from the other.’ See how We explain the signs by various (symbols); that they may understand.” (Surah Anaam, verse 65)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">The early Muslims were fully conscious of this type of punishment and always tried their best to stay away from divisions and disputes. Hazrat Ali’s willingness to make peace with his enemies by accepting the Quran as a mediator and Hazrat Ayesha’s life long regret over the unfortunate battle against Hazrat Ali were the manifestations of their desire to keep the Muslim Ummah united. But when Muslims lost sight of this tradition, they were bitterly divided among themselves resulting in endless bloodbath.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">If today, despite Allah’s strong desire, we are reluctant to beg forgiveness for our sins collectively, its only reason is our false pride and arrogance. We are afraid that people will describe our attitude as foolish, fundamentalist, ignorant and unscientific. They will condemn and criticise us for believing that it is Allah who establishes peace and ensures economic progress and prosperity. We are afraid that people will make fun of us and say that we have wasted all the time and money spent on our education. In the Quran, Allah urges the people of Quraish to worship the Lord of the Kaaba, for two particular reasons. “Let them adore the Lord of this House, Who provides them with food against hunger, and with security against fear (of danger). (Surah Quraish, verses 3 and 4)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">But those whose minds are nurtured on secular ideas, always describe it as non-scientific. The reason is that they cannot believe that it is Allah who provides food and security to the people in the real sense.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;"><i>Orya Maqbool Jan is a Lahore-based senior analyst. He can be reached at oryamaqbooljan @ gmail.com </i></span></span></div>
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The Quranic Concept Of Punishment | 20 Feb 2015

The modern secular man has devised certain rules and principles for leading his life and quite interestingly, he uses the same rules an...

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Package Deal | 20 Feb 2015

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Islam Tera Dais Hai Tu Mustafavi (S.A.W.W) Hai | 16 Feb 2015

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Hijab And Corporate Morality | 13 Feb 2015

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I am not Saadat Hasan Manto who was only pre-occupied with sex while exercising his freedom of expression</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">The woman who keeps her body and face covered and does not display her physical beauty while going out of her home, to protect herself from the vicious looks and venomous thoughts lurking in the unconscious mind of men, is the only object of hatred for all the liberal thinkers, democratic intellectuals, social activists, advocates of human rights and secular political leaders of the world, who are often found making eloquent speeches on human progress, economic prosperity and cultural evolution. Being a man, I am fully aware of the violent waves of lustful thoughts which suddenly rise up in the minds of all the “freedom loving” men, as soon as they see a woman clad in tight dress in the market, a model girl in the fashion show, a singer on the stage or an attractive girl sitting on the reception counter of some office. I can even write all the vulgar phrases and filthy sentences which they use on such occasions. But I am not Saadat Hasan Manto, who was only pre-occupied with sex, while exercising his freedom of expression.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">The malicious eyes of men, their cheap sentences and the heinous crimes committed by them, are not just confined to my country. They are found even in the most developed states of the world, with a dangerously high intensity. The only difference is that the eyes of our men go astray as soon as they behold the Dupatta of some woman slightly slipping down her neck, whereas in the West, the necks of men are turned by the shortest dress of women. Why is it so that all liberal thinkers, intellectuals and human rights activists are always harping on the same tune of bringing the women out of their homes, in order to make them a symbol of glitter and glamour for the public? None of them has any objection if someone regularly performs his religious obligations such as praying, fasting, reciting the Holy Quran, paying Zakat and performing Hajj. But the moment they see some woman who opts to stay indoors, to train and look after her children and family, they at once become loud and vocal in criticising her, describing her as old-fashioned, conservative and regressive, who has wasted all the time and money spent on her education. Their anger and frustration reach the boiling point, as soon as they see some woman coming out of her home with her face and body covered.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; line-height: 30px; text-align: center;">The woman who decides to cover her face and body is challenged by morally bankrupt capitalists who launch a vigorous onslaught against her by using weapons such as women’s rights, democratic values, economic progress and gender equality</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">Is it a religious issue? Had it been a religious issue, Christian nuns would have been the first target of the hatred of these liberals. But they are not disturbed by the “hijab” of nuns, because nuns lead an ascetic life, away from all social activities and so-called progressive freedom. Moreover, nuns are like a drop in the ocean and, therefore, their hijab cannot upset the over all social structure. But the question is, if hijab becomes a popular phenomenon in society, what difference would it make? It should be remembered that there is a strong psychological reason for the popularity of hijab. All social thinkers and psychological experts are unanimous in their opinion that lustful and lecherous eyes of men are the most hateful object for women. Even those women who are forced by the circumstances of their life to sell their bodies in the market, feel a strong repugnance for the lascivious looks of men. An extremely lucrative business worth billions of dollars depends upon the relationship between the lustful eyes of men and the women who publicly expose their physical charms. Those who are behind this dirty game are fighting the war of their survival and the survival of their business. This business begins with beauty products and continues to flourish in the form of fashion industry, media, advertising, dress designing, vulgar movies and the global mafia of prostitution. An objective analysis of this industry reveals startling facts. Hundreds of multi-national companies are busy all over the world in the manufacturing of hair dyes, lotions, hair dyes and shampoos for making the hair straight, curly and attractive. The business of several other companies is aimed at producing creams and other such products to give a seductive look to legs and arms when they are shown in public. Each and every bit of the body from the nails of the feet to the hair on the head is being used in the market for business purposes. This whole business is being promoted and consolidated all over the world by means of the glamour of media and abundance of fashion shows. The typical physical features of model girls shown through media and fashion shows are projected as an ideal thing for the women throughout the world. At times, size zero is described as ideal. But a few years later, articles appear in newspapers and magazines in praise of the fleshy body. International beauty contest is the culmination of all these things. It is interesting to note that in 1921, just one year after the Western countries granted women the right to vote, two additional holidays were also announced along with the annual May Day holiday, in the US city of Atlanta. In order to keep the people busy, hotel owners arranged a competition for women clad in swimming costumes. One of the women taking part in the competition was crowned as beauty queen. These beauty contests have been regularly going on since then and even wars, floods and earthquakes have not been able to stop them. In 1951, Eric Murrey of Britain devised rules and regulations for this contest. In the subsequent years, for the sake of vested interests, the women of every region were selected as beauty queens. Whenever the woman of some region is declared Miss World, all the women of that region are deliberately intoxicated with the charm of these contests. There were only three plastic surgeons in India in the year when Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai won the titles of Miss World and Miss Universe. Within two years, there were hundreds of plastic surgeons in the country and now, their number is around five thousand.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 30px; text-align: center;">When women are sold as beauty products in the market, the whole society is gripped by a sudden thrill or emotional excitement, accompanied by violent sexual passions in men.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">For the further flaring up of these feelings and for the further expansion of this business, a huge pornographic industry with an annual income of 70 billion dollars, was brought into existence. Out of this 70 billion, 15 billion dollars are earned only from the United States. Twenty billion dollars are earned each year by the sale of porno movies and 8 billion dollars are earned by selling pornographic magazines. Those who operate porno web sites on the internet, earn three billion dollars annually. A similar amount of money is earned by the pictures and videos of children less than thirteen years of age. Currently, there are around a hundred thousand such web sites on the internet. The total number of porno websites is about 4.5 million and the number of porno internet pages is approximately 37 million. Around three billion people download these pornographic pictures and films from the internet. Only in the United States, 325,000 girls expose their bodies for the sake of such nude pictures and videos. The violent emotional excitement engendered by this uncontrollable flood of nudity stimulates the beastly men to rush to the sex market, with the result that the business of prostitution continues to boom all over the world in the form of massage centers, parlours and escort service. Hundreds of thousands of underaged girls and young women are brought to these massage parlours and brothels from the poor and underdeveloped countries of the world. Trained dogs and powerfully built rascals are deployed to keep a strict watch on these unfortunate girls.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">Girls belonging to the areas hit by war, hunger, poverty and disease are also dumped into this obnoxious business. There is a huge influx of such women wherever there is some international event like World Cup. Two women in each second are subjected to sexual violence in a society that comes into being as a result of this grim situation. Thousands of serial killers are born, who kidnap and murder innocent girls after subjecting them to brutal sexual violence. Each year, only in the United States, underaged unmarried girls give birth to one million children, most of whom are sent to charity institutions. It is a horrific and heart rending process, that begins with sexual harassment of women in offices and culminates in their ruthless kidnapping and vicious murder. But this process continues unchecked and unrestricted, because on it depends a huge industry worth billions of dollars. The woman who decides to cover her face and body challenges this thriving industry and is, therefore, targeted by the capitalists who are the operators of this whole business. In order to crush this opposition from the very beginning, morally bankrupt capitalists launch a vigorous assault by using such weapons as women’s rights, democratic values, economic progress and gender equality. They are keen to suppress every such voice that jeopardises their easy source of income.</span></span></div>
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The Long Journey Of Madrasas | 06 Feb 2015

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The only motive behind the vicious propaganda against the Madrasas is to remove every sign of the teachings of Allah and His Prophet (PBUH) from our education system.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">In the fourteen hundred years of Muslim history, the concept of religious schools (or madrasas) was for the first time introduced in the Sub-Continent by the British Governor-General Warren Hastings, who founded the first such Madrasa in Calcutta (Kolkata) in 1781. Previously, the glorious movement initiated by Baghdad’s Darul-Hikma, along with the Toledo School of Translators, had been the intellectual guide of the whole world for several centuries. The schools built under the influence of this movement did not make any distinction between worldly and religious sciences. Acting upon the saying of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that “Knowledge is the lost asset of a Muslim”, special arrangements were made in all the leading schools of the Muslim world to teach Philosophy, history, mathematics, chemistry, physics, medicine, astronomy, geometry, music and several other branches of knowledge, in addition to the Quran and Hadith. The same tradition was upheld by the Muslim schools of the Sub-Continent till the arrival of the British. The syllabi of Madrasa Rahimiya and Madrasa Farangi Mahal had the same variety and diversity of subjects. Besides religious scholars, these education institutes also produced qualified doctors, who spread far and wide to serve the humanity. Even today, the medical books which were taught in these schools can be found in the libraries of those whose ancestors once studied there. The teachers trained by these institutions were appointed as tutors in every village. This informal education system prevailed throughout the Sub-Continent, as a result of which the literacy rate in this region was more than 95 per cent. The book “Indigenous Education in Punjab” written by the first principal of Government College Lahore Mr. GW Leitner bears witness to the fact that during the Mughal era, there was a strong and solid system of primary education even in the rural areas of the country. Literacy in those days did not merely mean the ability to read and write. Besides being able to read the Quran and the Vedas, every literate person could read and write in Persian and possessed a fairly good knowledge of mathematics. Excellent teachers, who could be found in almost each and every village, were educated and trained in these schools. The gazetteers of all the Indian districts compiled in 1906 reveal the fact that in general, the literacy rate in the cities was around 90 per cent. A similar situation was shown by the census report of 1911. This vast network of education and literacy was spread by those who had studied at these education institutes, which produced civil servants like police officers, judges, revenue collectors, those who conducted the measurement of lands and architects, who constructed such magnificent masterpieces as Taj Mahal and Shalimar Garden. Only a well coordinated and well-integrated education system could be expected to perform this miracle. All foreign tourists who visited India in those days were unanimous in their admiration for the common man’s grasp of knowledge, literature, philosophy and politics.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">The travelogue of India written by Sir Thomas Rowe and published in 1642, supplies valuable information about the elaborate network of education institutes all over the country. A copy of this book is still preserved in the Punjab Archives. It shows that as many as four hundred colleges were working even in the far off city of Thatha. A salient feature of these education institutes was that unlike our present day system, they did not have any formal system of passing the examination and getting the required degree. In other words, degree or certificate could not be acquired by memorising a few important questions. Instead, teachers evaluated the performance of their students on a daily basis and, in due course of time, they announced that some of them had attained the required proficiency in their particular field of study.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Roboto; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; line-height: 30px; text-align: center;">If Maulvis are not present in our society, it would become extremely difficult for people to find someone who can lead prayers or even give the Azan. During the last two centuries, they have performed their duties most efficiently. None of them has ever locked any mosque as a mark of protest or as part of some strike</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">Prior to the setting up of the religious school in Kolkata in 1781, the British authorities had already banned all Muslim education institutes in this region in 1757, following the conquest of Bengal. This seminary founded by Warren Hastings in 1781 was only meant for religious education of the Muslims. After the completion of their education, the students of this madrasa were given the same type of duties which are given to the priests in Europe after the renaissance movement. The duties of the priests include baptising the new born babies, giving legal status to the newly-wed couples, performing the rituals of death and leading the church service on Sunday. Almost similar duties were assigned to those who received education from the seminary of Kolkata. Quite interestingly, Christian missionary schools were set up on the pattern of the old Muslim schools mentioned above. The first such Christian missionary school was opened in Kolkata in 1810. Its syllabus included all worldly sciences along with the Biblical Ethics and other Christian teachings. English was made the medium of instruction and the knowledge of English was made an essential prerequisite for getting all government jobs. The teaching of Quran and Sunnah which was expelled from all education institutes of the country was replaced by an optional subject called Islamic Studies. Education was confined to schools and colleges, as a result of which there was a sharp decline in the standard of education during the next 90 years. At last, in 1947, when the British rule came to an end, the literacy rate in the country was not more than 14 per cent. In this age of decline, the Muslim seminaries happily accepted the responsibilities given to them by the British. They fully focused on producing a whole generation of religious scholars, who made their best endeavours to preserve the teachings of Quran and Sunnah and spread them in every corner of the country. In the face of the onslaught of Western education and culture, the preservation of religious heritage and knowledge became the top priority for the Muslim madrasas. With full honesty and dedication, they fulfilled this responsibility. Facing all sorts of difficulties and challenges, they continued to function in the far flung villages of Baluchistan, burning deserts of Sindh, remote and backward districts of the Punjab and isolated towns situated in the mountainous region of KPK. Indifferent to the shortage of water, power, education and basic medical facilities, the qualified students of these seminaries open the door of the mosque in the early hours of the morning, straighten the rows of worshippers, give the Azan (call to prayer) and lead the five daily obligatory prayers. Far from having any regular or permanent source of income, they largely depend on the food they get from different homes and the offerings they receive from their people during the marriage and death rituals. Present in almost every region of the country, consciously or unconsciously, they have become the only symbol of keeping alive the name of Allah and His Prophet (PBUH). In case, they are no more present in our society, it would be extremely difficult for the people to find someone who could lead their prayers and even give the Azan. During the last two centuries, they have performed their duties most efficiently. None of them has ever locked any mosque as a mark of protest or as part of some strike. None of them has ever been late in leading the prayers.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 15.3333330154419px;">They are present in every city, town, village and street of the country and even in those areas where they is no sign of government. If one happens to go to some remote village of the country, one might find no doctor in the government hospital and no teacher or student in the government school. But even in that area, one would surely find light, life and activity in the mosque, on account of the earnest efforts of the poverty stricken Maulvi. The same Maulvi has now become the object of hatred and hostility, only because knowingly or unknowingly, he has become the representative of Allah’s name. Whenever our “illustrious” intellectuals get a chance, they are very loud and vocal in their demand for the nationalisation of all such Madrasas. But they have never bothered to think what would happen if their demand is really met. Madrasas would collapse and crumble like all other institutions. There would be frequent protests, sit-ins, strikes and demonstrations by the Maulvis for the increase of their salaries and provision of other facilities. Mosques would be frequently locked and the academic activities in the Madrasas would be brought to a standstill. I fully agree with the logic of these “great” intellectuals who demand that computer, English and modern scientific subjects should also be taught in religious schools, so that students could make spiritual and material progress at one and the same time. But is it not wise to apply the same logic to our secular schools, colleges and universities by teaching Quran and Hadith to their students, so that good human beings could be produced and a single unified education system could be evolved in the country for all people? The only motive behind the vicious propaganda against the Madrasas is to remove every sign of the teachings of Allah and His Prophet (PBUH) from our educational system. It is being described as a necessary condition for peace in the country. By the end of the 19th century, religion had been cast out of education in Europe. But did it bring about the long awaited peace in that continent? The two world wars that claimed millions of innocent lives tell a totally different story. Perhaps, our people have forgotten the lessons of history, or they are in no mood to recall them.</span></span></div>
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The Long Journey Of Madrasas | 06 Feb 2015

The only motive behind the vicious propaganda against the Madrasas is to remove every sign of the teachings of Allah and His Prophet (P...

+ Read more »