ALIGARIANS: Dividing Dunyaa From Deen
It is very difficult to communicate with a huge majority of Aligarians. It should actually have been the easiest! “I know it all” and “Don’t try to tell ME” is written large on their faces. The friends from Aligarh will perennially divide dunyaa from deen as a natural reflex. It is almost axiomatic. This division is like a universal truth which they have arrived at after years of research and generations have grown on this notion. They are deeply conditioned on this and will rarely think otherwise. The representatives of a Movement which symbolizes the abolition of this division are perpetuating the same division!
You ask them to make a list of ‘secular’ and then ‘religious’ matters and you will face a deafening unending silence. You will never hear a word back. You will never get that much desired (impossible) list. But you will keep hearing about the division. And you will keep wondering about what is happening. When it comes to casual approach the Aligarians will surpass any other fraternity. They are so much concerned about Muslims that they have no time to figure out why are they concerned and what Islam is or isn’t. But they will certainly surpass all others in this concern.
The division of dunyaa from deen and deeni from dunyaawi is at the crux of it. It has acted as a strong psychological barrier and has prevented many good things from happening. It has led to two separate streams which never or hardly ever meet. It has led to all kinds of problems. It has led to all kinds of laws. It has led to the increasing phenomenon of taking the law in one’s own hands. It has led to incoherence and disjointedness in our thoughts. It has led to all that we are not happy with – without taking the analysis to the logical conclusions and taking some remedial steps.
The state of affairs could be gauged by the response (or lack of it) to the call of introducing Arabic language in the curriculum. A decent standard reply in this case is or could be that it is currently beyond our scope. We might introduce this language at an appropriate time. The Aligarh fraternity will not notice any civilizational (de)link here. The cycle of (the unrecognized) poverty of ideas is even more vicious. But the friends from Aligarh will not pay much attention to it. They will refuse to acknowledge this poverty. They will believe that only the actions are missing. Why the actions are missing is a question that we don’t stay with – a bit longer. If, however, the friends from Aligarh pause a little it will change the whole scenario!
The Aligarh fraternity will at the most suggest keeping Islam (merely) along – ignoring the fact that it is a Faith that can put us in the forefront. With this degree of disorganized ideas what we can achieve is not difficult to imagine. With this incoherence even if everybody becomes a doctor or an engineer there is no benefit. Because those thousands and thousands of doctors and engineers aren’t removing our poverty of ideas. Once we are able to understand the crux of it, the current self-doubt of the ‘modern’ educated will give way to excellence. It will remove all psychological barriers and we will be on the highway in the civilizational journey towards a better world.
As a remedial measure we need to be extremely watchful in our conversations and in all other communications. Whenever we find that dunyaa is being divided from deen we – ALL of us – need to point it out forthwith, without fail. We need to ask the person dividing the two to rationally prove the validity of this division. If he is not able to, then we should instantly bury the idea of division deep in the earth without condoling its sad demise. Let us reinforce this action with the prayer suggested earlier (and reproduced below) for our Institutions so that our future generations develop a different outlook. I don’t know how else we can tackle this problem.
Thanks and salaam.
Wasim
Ajman, UAE
+971505363235
“Almighty Lord! Make our students understand Your Book in its totality and become leaders of the entire humanity. Almighty Lord! Help our students abolish the division between dunyaa and deen. Almighty Lord! Help our students eliminate the division of knowledge into ‘secular’ and ‘religious’. Almighty Lord! Help our students develop a coherent body of ideas and creatively reach out to the unknown with critical and scientific thinking. Almighty Lord! Make our students master all the sciences of the world and become founders of many more. Almighty Lord! Make the Muslims contribute their maximum to the world civilization and enrich it to the best of their capacities.”
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