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Educational & Education System In IslamWritten by: by Baqir Sharif al-Qarashi :: (View All Articles by: Baqir Sharif al-Qarashi) |
INTRODUCTION
The intellectual renaissances all
over history have been the inevitable result of the development, prosperity, and
progress of education and the reciprocal response to the social and individual
lives. People that are supplied with the elements of conscious education will
indisputably attain their goals in the fields of society, policy, and economy.
On the other hand, people lacking such disciplines will surely retard and be
unable to catch the procession of the civilization and the coinciding with the
developed nations.
Without the availability of the
conscious education, -that aims at achieving a true composition and development
of the cognizance, and constructing the personalities- man will definitely be
too short to attain scientific maturity and social evolution. Education should
not be considered as a luxurious mark or an extra deluxe phenomenon. It is, in
consequence, a life necessity and a humane original affair that plays the
greatest role in the individuals’ general, as well as the private, lives. With
all of its schemes and issues, education is responsible for training the
individuals for associating in societies altogether with their rules,
regulations, principals, and traditions. Moreover, it enables to socialize with
others in the frame of such rules. Some characterize the education as the mirror
on which philosophy, expectations, and goals of the societies are reflected.
Human civilization had never been a heritage that is received easily. It was
indeed a social tradition that took the greatest share of man’s endeavors for
acquiring and saving it for thousands of years. Education has been the only
course through which such an effort-exerting heritage was conveyed to the other
generations. This education carried, trustfully, the intellectual fortunes,
noble values, and esteemed habits to the next generations. An educationist
expresses that the reason beyond the essentiality of education is the fact that
babies are not born as humans, but they become so through education..
The educational processes, without
which the individual and social lives would extinct, propose sound plans of the
growth and durability of the social movements. John Dewey’s says that existence,
as well as the continuation of societies, depend exclusively upon the process of
the cultural conveyance which occurs only via the transference of the customs of
working, thinking, and feeling from the adults to the infants. Life cannot
continue unless the fine patterns, expectations, ambitions, criteria, and
opinions are delivered to the new comers..
The source of the acquired
psychological and social composites is, simply, education. On that account, the
necessity of education for individuals, as well as societies, is substantiated..
“Supposing people leave this earth without their children, and return twenty
years later, they will find them as same as cattle.”. This saying is accurate to
a great extent.
In the western north territories of
India, it happened frequently that wolves kidnapped some children and slain most
of them. They, however, pitied some and kept in safe. As some men could identify
the places of those children, they went there and could overcome the wolves and
save the children. Later, they named them the wolves’ kids or wild kids since
they followed the very same natures and habits of wolves. They also imitated the
wolves’ cries, and ate like them, and torn their clothes, and confined
themselves in isolated dark places, and behaved as if they were real wolves.
Nonsuccess was the result of every attempt of civilizing, educating, or teaching
those children how to talk.
In his ‘Life in Indian Jungles,’
Valentine Paul describes one of those wild children whom was put in an orphanage
in February, 4, 1867:
“That boy showed signs of idiocy;
such as the lowness of the forehead, anxiety, and disorder. He often opened his
mouth just like a wild animal. He used smelling, rather than tasting, for
identifying things. It was impossible to leave him without supervision. He used
to use his legs and hands in moving. Few months later, he could use his legs
only. He used to pause suddenly and walk unsoundly. He used to move his head
swiftly to the right and left, and gaze on things as if he was waylaid. Until
his demise, he could not change his way of life.”
Accordingly, education is an acquired
matter. This is tendered in God’s saying:
And
Allah has brought you forth from the wombs of your mothers, you did not know
anything, and He gave you
the
hearing and the sight and the hearts that you may give thanks.*
Evidently, the Quranic text
emphasizes that knowledge and the intellectual growth are obtained through
acquaintance and received by the hearing, sight, and intellectuality. In this
regard, the holy Quran has preceded the modern educationists.
Anyhow, education can be a principal
base of developing humankind, especially in the fields of intelligence, when it
aims at achieving the general boom of personalities, and cares for sowing the
virtual tendencies of spirits. Otherwise, man will certainly lose originality
and character.
The religious education is the most
considerable since it focuses on the spiritual progression, self-discipline, and
the development of performance in addition to the regard of the virtuous
conventions, the honorable ethics, and the dignified patterns.
Psychoanalysts focus a considerable
light on this topic as they affirm that religion supports individuals with
powers of faith, intellectuality, and acuteness. These powers form the spiritual
vitalities resulting in depositing virtues in minds. This is indeed the most
favorable and decent human goal..
Religion is the one and only
restraint against irregularity and aberrance. It controls the tendencies,
manages the desires, cleans and saves the soul from ruination, and protects
against collapse and the pollution of sins and impulses. Religion, when finds a
shelter in souls, props up a huge power that prevents from crimes and forbids
aberrance, and inspires the doing of good and the competition in the fields of
virtue.
Education that is formed on religious
criteria achieves the most victorious success of societies. It eradicates the
causes of tenseness and rebel, and authorizes the individuals to live naturally
in their environments.
Failure is the inescapable fate of
any education that ignores the religion. Such education will surely cause a
great amount of disorder and nonsuccess for those living under its shades.
Spiritual powers leave a rich
influence on man’s behavior, and direct to mental and intellectual balance.
Faith, if based upon an ideology and creed, influences the interior and exterior
organs and, consequently, calls to charitable deeds and behaviors.
Like many others, psychoanalysts have
agreed unanimously that the religion plays the greatest role in the general
composition of life, and the construction of security and settlement. They also
affirmed that it is impossible to have a respectful life of amiability,
geniality, and settlement without the existence of the spiritual education,
which creates self-improvement, governs the habits, and takes away pride and
whims.
The weakness of people’s religious
conscience was the main reason beyond the spread of crimes, immoralities,
unethical principals, and the consequent crises. This weakness caused the most
terrible calamities that overcame the societies and traveled over the
intellects. It also composed the horror and dismay that the modern man has had
to face. Involuntarily, peoples of this world have been misguided into a dead
end. Meanwhile, the great powers have been chasing each other in the outer space
and the deep oceans, using weapons of termination, such as the atomic and
nuclear bombs, for extending their supremacy and colonialism over the powerless
peoples who possessed nothing for defending their homelands.
The prevalence of the modern culture
and the increase of the scientific renaissance could provide no help in the
fields of saving man from wars and the other arduous problems. Some people
presuppose that the promotion of sciences and cultures, as a substitute for the
religious and moral disciplines, may guarantee peace and luxury. This
presupposition is too degraded to be discussed. Science is a two-edged weapon.
Like being used for construction and reformation, it may be used for demolishing
and deformation. It has been turned into a crisis and an essential origin of the
international horror and fear only when politicians and rulers neglected the
religious restraint. Robert Milkan says, “The most important matter in this life
is the faith in the actuality of minds, and the value of ethics. The decline of
this belief has been the direct reason beyond the public war. We must now exert
efforts for acquiring or bracing this faith, lest science will be worthless, and
this world will be disastrous for mankind.”.
Robert Hushance affirms, “As the
material science has attained its climax in the fields of knowledge, technology
and nature, it has attained the deepest point in the circle of policy and
morality.”
In consequence, people have been
recording their outstanding triumphs in the fields of biological and geological
sciences. We are living in the competition of inventions, and there has been a
magnificent progress in the outer space and the other planets. Humanity had
never even dreamt of reaching the surface of the moon. Moreover, there are
serious endeavors to reach the other planets.
We should ask whether such
explorations and inventions have achieved good for humanity in the fields of
cooperation, association, and luxury, or not. The answer is that the contrary
has occurred. Such scientific progress has taken humanity lower and lower into
the savage fighting and the enormous disputation that carried permanent horror
to mankind. It has also taken man to the bottom of ethical worsening and sexual
confusion.
The trends of modern sciences pushed
men to degrade each other. This is clear in the United States where a racial
discrimination has been the characteristic of the legislative regulations. This
discrimination is mainly noticed in schools and universities. The authorities
there ruled that the white should possess lodging higher than that of the black.
There has been a difference in penalties, too. Al-Ahram, the Egyptian journal,
mentions in the issue dated on 30/8/1958, that the international body of
antiradicalism called for protesting against the death sentence issued to Jimmy
Wilson, the black American man, for the accusation of larceny of $1.95 from a
white mistress. This sentence would be executed in September 6.
The scientific progression of the
United States could not eradicate such a wrong and transgression.
The material sciences have lacked the
ability of being fair and amiability and cooperation among individuals. Majority
of philosophers refuted the idea that the salvation of humanity from combats and
disasters lies mainly in the scientific progression. In addition, they declared
the falsity of this supposition. Mr. Leman says, “During the First World War, it
was believable that the salvation of humanity lied in the scientific
progression. Today, this illusion has been unveiled.”.
Iqbal warns people firmly against
such sciences. He declares, “Beware of the studies you are receiving. They have
the capability of killing the spirit of an entire nation.”. As he exposes
teaching, Iqbal says, “Modern teaching is as same as the acid that works for
melting humans’ personalities and recomposes them as it likes. Acid is more
influential than any other chemical material since it can change a high mountain
into rubbish.”
At any rate, modern sciences have not
been interested in developing human behavior or leading the new generations to
the accurate entrance to the social lives and the participation in founding
sound societies of amiability and teamwork.
The material sciences have neglected
the spiritualities and disdained the mental disciplines. This has been the most
serious disadvantage that resulted in the pervasiveness of the moral defects.
The gravest defects have been the commonness of crimes, the absence of human
ties, and the release of family links and ethical rules. All the above caused
the modern man to live in a dreadful nightmare.
Neglecting any objective treatment of
the educational affairs, Christianity dedicated the activities to the invitation
to the other life, the negligence of this world, and the lessening of the value
of the earthly desires. It called for confining in temples and churches. The
Christian education, as an educationist emphasizes, dedicated its mission to the
preparation for the other life. Meanwhile, it neglected the discussion of any
worldly affair, including those aiming for developing the acceptable tastes and
intellectuals. From this cause, we can rule that the Christian education
antagonized the liberal individual education of the Greeks, and the scientific
one of the Romans..
Priests devoted all efforts to the
affairs of the other life. Willula confirms, “The essential purpose of education
is reforming what our forefathers had ruined, by deciding on the best
recognition of God and opting for the best way of cherishing Him and committing
to His path through acquiring virtues.”.
The church stopped in the face of the
intellectuals and any invitation to progression and reformation. In the same
way, it was recruited for serving the benefits and the ill deeds of the
imperialism. Merrill Kurthy says, “The alliance of the church and the ruling
authorities reached its climax in the occupied territories, especially the
states of New England. The various religious sects exploited education, which is
surely a strategic weapon purposed for supporting the political powers of the
ruling authorities and protecting them against the competition of principals and
anti habits..
Such states gave the missions of
teaching to the churchmen exclusively. Hence, it depended upon churchmen’s
recognition..
Churchmen courted three hundred
thousand scientists, among whom thirty two thousand were sentenced to burning
penalty. Churchmen also punished Borneo the naturalist for his opinion of the
plurality of worlds. He was burnt alive. By the same token, Galileo was
sentenced to death penalty for claiming the movement of the earth around the
sun.
As a result of such struggle, the
revolutionary naturalists decided that science and religion should never come to
an understanding..
This caused the other scientific and
reformist organizations to declare war against churchmen for eradicating their
fables and intolerable regulations that antagonized the scientific and the logic
rules. This intellectual uprising brought about the French revolution that
produced the Chart of Human Rights. The most remarkable articles of this chart
were the declaration of equality, freedom, and justice among people apart from
their different nationalities and races.
In any event, the church could not
issue any article referring to the scientific or professional education.
Generally, the Christian education was subject to fables, myths, and parables of
the churchmen.
Thanks to God, Islam has been using
and equipping positively all powers for finding the sound education aiming at
developing the human conscience and expanding the social and intellectual levels
in the boundaries of a single educational process upon the base of which the
individuals are formed in one mode. This formation tends to pursue the right and
justice and compete in the fields of virtue and goodness. Unlike Christianity
and Jewism, the feature of the Islamic education has not been a sort of utter
religion or utter worldly regulations, like that of the Romans. It has been a
harmonious structure of religion and worldly customs since it aims at achieving
a comprehensive renovation of the two. The Islamic education has taken in
consideration all of the social classes to which it has dedicated the most
excellent courses based upon the most modern means of civilization, development,
progression, and maturity of mankind. It is the only source of Muslims’
civilization and glory all over their golden ages. An Islamic educationist says,
“It is impossible for any educationist or historian to deny the fact that the
Islamic education has been the firm ground of Muslims’ civilization. The eminent
idealities of this education comply with the modern trends. Islam has sanctified
knowledge and scholars, and elevated science to attain the rank of worship. It
has cared greatly for all types of education in general, and the spiritual,
religious, and moral in specific. Islam has called for liberty, equality, and
equal opportunities of learning, disregarding the social classes. Moreover, it
has eradicated the classification of societies and imposed learning upon every
Muslim -male and female- after it provided every attainable means of studying.
The portals of mosques, institutes,
schools, and libraries in addition to the scientific and literary sessions were
widely open before students. The Islamic states provided the students and
scholars with whatever they needed, including lodgings, free medical care, and
financial supports for guaranteeing good living and sparing enough time for
studying. The principals of modern education -that came forth in the twentieth
century but have not been applied yet- had been conceived and applied by the
Islamic education in its golden ages tens of years before the modern
formulation.. Islam has presented for all peoples on this globe the intellectual
booms that included the bases of renaissance, progress, and comprehensive
rectification involving all of the courses of life.
Generally, Islam has made knowledge
the essential element of the social composition and Muslims’ collective revival.
It has encouraged the receiving of knowledge and made it one of the doctrinal
precepts.
The imperialistic powers, initially,
manipulated the Islamic homeland and divided it into small weak humble states
that lack the capability of self-defense. These small states wanted the
potential of independence since the imperialists bounded them to their wheel,
and controlled them thoroughly. The next step of imperialism was terminating
Muslims’ powers and genuineness by contending with the Islamic conscience and
opposing the doctrine and morality.
They recognized the reason that made
Muslims achieve the triumphant conquests- it was the genuine doctrine that
rejects humiliation, dishonor, and slavery. Hence, they equipped all their
powers and intelligences for opposing the Islamic conscience along with its
illumination in minds. They exercised the intellectual conflict, which has been
the fatal weapon of mentality. They also brought into play the most modern
technical means for controlling such conflicts.
The following are the most
significant means of the intellectual conflicts.
Creating new courses of studying:
The imperialists took sure steps
for changing all of the study courses that are applied in the Islamic countries,
by taking away the religious contents. They also distorted the Islamic history,
invented fabrications, and forged lies against Muslims’ moralities and beliefs.
The British Government committed
Dunlop with the mission of instituting the teaching courses in Egypt. He showed
no blemish as he founded an exclusive policy of teaching when he banished the
whole bases of the Islamic education, and substituted with poor systems resulted
in the intellectual infertility and reversed the religious concepts.
Dunlop’s policy of teaching was
grounded upon two pillars:
First, it concentrated on filling as
much as possible, the students’ minds with information, and neglecting the other
principals of education. Thus, schools were required to engage the students in
surface, aimless, and profitless information.
-It applied the synchronization
system. This barren system aimed at uniting the methods, courses, and plans of
education.
Hence, Schools became quite similar
to each other, and their characters were destroyed. In fact, there are
environmental and social circumstances that play a considerable role in the
entity of each school..
Such modest educational programs
would certainly cancel the genuine conscience in the minds of the new
generations to turn them into instruments that the imperialists control.
In Iraq, the ruling authorities of
the British occupancy looked deeply upon the institution of the teaching courses
that served their goals and interests. They attempted to kill the religious and
national spirits. Taha al-Hashimi mentions the following incident:
Miss Bill demanded with mobilizing
the retired officers, who had been recruited in the Ottoman army. “How can such
nationalists and sincere officers be mobilized in the new Iraqi army?” a British
senior official working in the British Embassy in Baghdad exclaimed, “They will
bring forth sincere nationalist generations.” “You should never worry,” said
Miss Bill with wicked smile, “As long as Mr. (…) is holding the Ministry of
Education, he will be responsible for teaching the new generations!”.
Unfortunately, the imperialists’
educational proposals succeeded, to great extent, in taking away the religious
doctrines from the Muslim generations’ minds. St. Samuel Zoimer said,
“Scholastic teaching and the Western moral education yielded great results and
beneficial effects on the children and the youth. Once, I could persuade the
Muslim pupils that the precept of fasting in the month of Ramadhan had not been
God’s, since it was impossible to perform such a precept. I raised a ball before
them as representing the earth and focused a bright light on it.”.
Jape also expresses proudly and
arrogantly the triumph of the imperialistic education that played the biggest
role in shaking the Islamic faith. He says, “By means of modern schools and
media, cultural and educational activities could stamp a great influence on the
unconscious Muslims. Thus, they appeared, as a general extrinsic view, as
faithless. This was surely the best fruit of the endeavors of the West that
caused Muslims to desert their civilization and… Islam, as a belief, lost some
of its significance and power, but as a social prevalent power, it lost its
proper situation.”
The Imperialistic education
established a great dam between Muslims and their religion. They stopped those
genuine spirits that destroyed tyranny.
As soon as the imperialistic powers
found a place in the Muslims’ body, they killed the values, idealities, and
genuineness, and made Muslims, as exactly as they intended, follow their
capricious desires and neglect the right and justice.
The imperialistic great influence on
Muslims can be obviously noticed through the new generations that took off the
moralities and became the soldiers whose mission is achieving the expectations
of the imperialism.
Imam Sharafuddin -the master scholar
of Islamic ideology- presents the catastrophic inconveniences of the
imperialistic educational systems in our schools. He says, “The imperialists
could prevail on us through the schools they established in our countries. They
cheated and caused us to send our dearest sons to their schools, which were
surrounded by the imperialistic hands. We realized that our loss had been
greater than the benefits only when the first generation was graduated. Only
then, we realized that our sons had been taught without guidance, or with
misleading one. Hence, our education complied totally with the imperialistic
courses that invaded the spirits of our sons with weapons that are deadlier than
those they had used in invading our territories. We committed suicide when we
sent our sons to such poisonous institutes. Our nation attempted to regain the
past glory by educating the individuals. Unfortunately, it was only the
deceptive misapprehension that cheated us and caused to throw those individuals
in schools that were founded in the east only for dominating on people’s
religion and fortunes. The result was the unbearable damage that the new
generations suffered, and a new loss of glory called ‘arts.’ The biggest
misfortune was that those individuals were signed up as soldiers and given the
mission of destroying our sacred principals and essences. Neither Islam nor have
the East encountered such a disaster before.”.
The wording of Sharafuddin is
completely true. Neither Islam nor have the East encountered such a calamitous
educational invasion that ruined our beliefs and ethics.
The
Missionary Campaigns
Unfortunately, the imperialists
employed the missionary campaigns -that should have conveyed the Christ’s
spiritual guidance, characteristics, asceticism, and rectitude- for threatening
people and subjecting them to impartiality and persecution. They also employed
those campaigns for deviating and straying Muslims.
The missionary campaigns were the
leading instruments of the imperialists’ predominance. The British minister of
foreign affairs said in Edinburgh Conference, “The missionaries have aided the
government in all of its tasks. Without them many obstacles would not have been
passed. On that base, the government is in need for a permanent committee for
managing the missionaries’ affairs.”.
In a report stated by the chairman of
the Commerce Chamber in Hamburg, it was said, “The growth of the imperialists’
wealth is dependent upon those men who have visited the occupied territories.
The most significant method of achieving this expectation lies in taking the
churchmen to these territories. This is surely the first condition for achieving
such a growth, from an economic viewpoint.”
The imperialists used the
missionaries for seizing peoples’ treasures and confiscating their earnings.
They worked painstakingly for antagonizing Islam because it opposed imperialism
and stood against their illegal purposes. The following decision, issued in the
German Conference, assured this fact:
“The growth of Islam threatens a
serious danger to the occupied territories. From this cause, the Imperialistic
Conference recommends the governments to increase the supervision on this
movement –Islam-, and confesses of the necessity of keeping up the plan of
complete neutrality in the religious affairs. The Conference also counsels those
managing the occupied territories to resist any activity that may lead to the
expansion of Islam, and handles the missionaries’ actions that spread out the
principals of civility, especially in the fields of disciplinary and clinical
services. Because of the Islamic threat, it is necessary to work on advancing
the German Christianity for taking the required reasonable steps in all of the
countries that have not received Islam so far…”
The imperialists have used all of
their powers and systems for opposing Islam and Christianizing Muslims or taking
them away from their religion. To some extent, the missionary campaigns achieved
these goals. A good number of Muslims converted to Christianity. In Indonesia,
for instance, 250 thousand Muslims converted to Christianity. The same occurred
in other Islamic states. This was natural because Muslims had ignored the
reality of their religion; therefore, the misleading propaganda cheated them.
At any rate, the committees of
missionary campaigns have been waylaying Muslims. The usurpation of the Islamic
faith has been the job of such committees. Monsieur Chattily -one of the major
personalities in the committee of missionary- says, “Various opinions have been
said about the results of the plan of destruction, which is the second part of
the Missionaries’ duties. The uprooting of the Islamic faith has been
permanently coinciding with the efforts that have been exerted in the field of
the Christian education. The new political map of Muslims will surely pave the
way to the application of the European civility. Politically, such a map will
vanish, but still we do not need lengthy time to see Islam surrounded by
European wires.”
The plans of missionaries have
carried the signs of death and devastation to Muslims. They have been the most
dangerous means of the eradication of Muslims’ genuineness and the submission to
the imperialistic predominance.
Christian Schools
The third pillar of the
imperialistic combat against the Islamic conscience has been the Christian
schools. Those schools have been mainly purposed for paralyzing the Islamic
movements and Christianizing or, at least, dragging Muslims to Christianity. One
of the missionaries asserted this fact. He said, “Schools are the most favorable
means of publicizing the goals of the missionary campaigns. In Tehran, for
example, the students in a Christian school attained 115 while they were 40 only
two years ago. All those students are receiving the Christian education.”
The imperialists paid more attention
to the Christian schools of girls since they have been the only gap through
which the social decline would be more effective. In this regard, Jape says,
“Christian schools of girls are the pupils of my eyes. I had always the feeling
that the future of Syria depended upon teaching girls and women. Our school in
Beirut has just begun. Yet, a great deal of care has been arisen in the
missionaries’ media regarding this topic. The French Government paid good
attention for supervising the teaching courses.”
Christian schools are generally
imperialistic headquarters that have been founded for opposing Islam and
Christianizing Muslims. In a thesis about the Protestant Missionary Campaign,
Chattily records, “France is required to depend upon the rulings of the
intellectual education in the schools of the East. I hope such a sort of
education will be soon applied so that it will distribute the teachings of the
French faculty among Muslims.”
As some honorable Muslims intended to
establish an Islamic university, horror covered the imperialists’ media so
completely that they held a conference in Lingo. In this conference, St. R.
Simon presented this report: “Thanks to the missionary schools, the Christian
education has already poisoned the Muslims’ blood. The Government of the
Netherlands applied the courses that are earned from the principals of
Christianity for quaking the Muslims’ false expectations.”
The Christian schools have poisoned
the young Muslims for pulling out the Islamic conscience and planting bad
manners and lethargy instead.
Clinical Employment
The imperialists employed
medicine as a means of invading Islam intellectually and distributing the
Christian ideas in the Islamic homeland.
In the issue 6687, Al-Mueyyad, the
Egyptian journal, affirms that the publicity of the Bible and the missionary
campaigns via the medical care were the main means of accomplishing the
missionary tasks. Medicine was chosen because it would be far away from any
governmental supervision, and Muslims would push themselves to the hospitals and
clinics of the missionaries.
In the same issue, St. Klirlsral
reports, “Missionaries acquired people’s love due to the clinical activities
that made the enemies confess that Christianity has been the source of virtues.
Missionaries’ means in this regard were the clinical distributions including
journeys and activities of men and women. The German missionaries approached
Muslims through schools and clinical journeys. Muslims’ chiefs received these
matters like thistles in their bodies.”
In the same issue, another report of
St. Silstine regarding the clinical activities was publicized. He reported, “In
Khubi Mardan, there was a clinical Danish missionary of women whose job was
publicizing Christianity among Muslim females. Not before a long time, they
would land to Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Women who came for treatment
were received hospitably since Muslims were not interested in the activities of
the she-missionaries.”
St. Lipsos asserted that the Armenian
Aid Association changed its interests into a missionary campaign. He also
reported, “Interesting in securing the Oriental Church is insufficient for
achieving total changes in the East. It is obligatory to antagonize and oppose
Islam, the enemy of the ancient Oriental Christians. Consequently, the Armenian
Aid Association was changed into the German Association of Missionary.”
Because he was the wickedest enemy of
Islam, Lobos was given the management of this association. He addressed his
famous word, “It is unsatisfactory to fight and antagonize Muslims. In fact,
weapons must be opened in their faces.”
The imperialists’ intellectual
invasion has mainly aimed at usurping the Islamic faith from Muslims’ minds, and
eradicating their genuineness and glory, which is simply the Islamic conscience.
In Palestine, Roomier spoke in a conference of missionaries. After he had
expressed the malice they had had against Muslims, he said, “Our main concern
should not be converting Muslims to Christianity. The most important goal is
taking them out of Islam and leaving them faithless. Thereafter, you will be the
first leading group of the imperialistic convoy. May Lord bless you.”.
That was the trend of the Western
imperialists. Their malice, enmity, and revenge caused them to address
missionaries to the Arab world for removing any religious basis, and
distributing immorality and depravity. This would surely lead to the worst fate
in this life. The mental powers and the intellectual boundaries of any society
will be definitely weak if religion is disdained. Moreover, such societies will
absolutely be late and will rapidly fall in retardation and extinction.
The imperialistic powers’ dreams and
plans came true when Muslims were banished, humiliated, and deprived of their
fortunes on their own lands. The imperialists seized the Muslims’ treasures and
economic potentials to use them in constructing their peculiar scientific and
economic entities. Meanwhile, the Islamic world has lived in poverty and
scarcity, as well as ignorance. This brought about retardation in industrial,
economic, and military domains.
Israel has been the most serious
menace that the imperialists left in the Islamic world. They brought and
protected Israel after they had been rejected all over this earth. They donated
weapons and uncountable capitals, and asked them to protect their interests and
strike any Islamic or national movement.
Israel is indeed the mother homeland
of imperialism, and the chief rule of aggression. It is headquarter of the
imperialists’ campaigns. They also have used Israel for seizing peoples’
fortunes. This is quite clear through the imperialists’ supporting, directing,
and excusing the Israeli aggressions. They have also stipulated the Israelites
on capturing more lands and combating the Arabs for dragging them to accept
objectionable matters. The Israeli politicians confirmed, “Israel has chosen
hostility as policy.” It has depended on America’s capitals for massacring the
Arabs and confiscating their lands to substitute the Israeli Homeland with the
Arab homeland. Besides, the Israeli officials stated that the Arabs should
settle in other lands since these would be the Israelites’ lands. They claimed
that the prophets had promised of so.
The Israelis have worked for
eradicating the Arabs in Palestine in such an unprecedented savage way.
Meanwhile the United States has been cheering on such crude procedures that
persecuted man’s dignity. America has been supporting them with Phantom jets and
electronic means. The Sixth Squadron is ready for protecting Israel. In the
United Nations also, the US authorities have been there for justifying the
Israeli aggressions and encouraging more expansion and “new triumphs” while they
have profited the Arab petroleum from which they gain, annually, more than
thirty million dollars. As a reward, the US authorities have put the Arabs under
the hammers of the most uncivilized and irregular people of this world. The
roles of those peoples have been massacring, fatiguing, and startling the Arabs
away from their lands. A more catastrophic matter is the progression of the
diplomatic relations with Israel in more than one Islamic capital. The officials
of such countries have permitted the foundation of monopolist corporations whose
missions have been mainly spying and assuming the Muslims’ fortunes.
The Prophet (s), whose source was the
unseen, determined that the Jews had been an element of destroying and
devastation. He also foretold that they would waylay Muslims. Hence, he gave the
orders of banishing them from the Arab Peninsula. In the final hours of his
honorable life, the Prophet (s) assured this order determinedly. Had Muslims
carried out their Prophet’s orders, they would not have encountered such a
disaster that terrorized their entity and threatened a coming catastrophe.
Owing to its malicious intendments
and wicked schemes against Islam, Israel forms the most threatening danger
against the Islamic and the Arab worlds. The Israelis have spared no effort for
eliminating the features of Islam and extinguishing its illumination. This is
clear through their activities, such as burning the Mosque of Jerusalem, and
removing any Islamic feature there. The West has defended such aggressions by
providing them with arms because they have been the guard of their interests.
The ruling authorities in the Islamic and Arab homeland are required to unite
their word and settle their discrepancies for saving Islam against such a gang.
The Arab countries must take
initiative steps for using any means for protecting their lands against the
Israeli invasion. They should always keep in mind the fact that Israel has been
expanding in occupation, and summoning all of the Jews on this earth to join and
reside in the Arab lands. They have been planning for founding the Israeli
homeland of which they have permanently dreamt. They are employing their
diplomatic potencies and the American aid and relief. Consequently, there should
be a united decisive situation, and the most modern arms should be available.
The Arab countries are demanded with establishing manufactures of heavy arms on
their lands so that they will not need the foreign countries, especially those
aiming for predominating on the Arab countries.
The educational conscience should be
highly esteemed in this regard. It is also essential to nourish the new
generations, in schools and faculties, with the danger of Israel and the
international Zionism. All of the mass media -TV and radio stations and
journalism- should be taken up for this procedure. The armed forces that are the
skeleton of this nation should be given a special attention. They should receive
a full cognizance of the situation. Triumph will be theirs if they have full
acquaintance, as well as belief, with the real situation.
The Islamic world is passing through
a decisive and exact stage. As the imperialists acted so badly to Muslims, they
–Muslims- were unable to achieve any success or progression. They were also left
on crossroads where internal and external aspects of disintegration had
challenged.
It is the educationists’ role to
exert all endeavors for recomposing the Islamic belief in the minds of the new
generations, and developing the feeling of the waylaying danger of Zionism and
imperialism. Ministers of education should manage private systems that should be
given the charge of every matter relating to the operations of planning in the
fields of education and teaching. The missions of such systems should be
presenting the Islamic studies as teaching courses in all of the academies so
that the religious behavior will spread out among the generations.
The malicious imperialistic
educational systems have been the origin of the crisis of the traditional
educational systems all over the Islamic countries. For composing young
generations that believe in their country and strive for releasing it from the
imposed economic, political, and cultural imperialism, it is obligatory to
eradicate and confiscate any feature of the Western education.
The governments of the Islamic
countries should also reevaluate the educational policies carefully and
honestly, and discuss them comprehensively. They must take in consideration that
the educational philosophy in the previous ages aimed at creating generations
that are unable to develop their countries at all. In other words, the purpose
beyond the previous philosophies of education was providing barren governmental
officials, who lack any purposeful or social attitude. On that account, it is
indispensable to examine the educational plans, courses, and styles so that it
will be possible to produce generations that are fit enough for taking the
responsibility of constructing the society. In addition, it is binding to check
all of the textbooks, for taking out any doctrinal or ideological aberrance. It
is also necessary to eradicate all the principals and opinions that antagonize
Islam. Finally, it is obligatory to apply a firm supervision on the teaching
staff in favor of throwing away the solicitors of destructive ideas and
unworkable beliefs- such as existentialism.
Islam has presented a complete
educational course that create virtuous individuals competing in the fields of
social services, and seeking to achieve completion in their environments and
societies. It has been a distinctive course containing full aspects of
vitalization, growth, and unification. This course made Muslims, in the earliest
ages, such an unparalleled united power that conquered, dominated, constructed,
and founded the noble values that relied upon the bonds of humanity, amiability,
and cooperation.
The Islamic fascinating education
could produce the choice and grand men of humanity, such as Ammar bin Yasir, Abu
Therr, Selman, and others who built the Islamic history as they riled and denied
the wrong. They promoted the right and enlivened the spirits of sacrifice and
struggle for bracing justice and precluding unfairness and tyranny.
In the current crucial stage, Islam
has been suffering a suffocating crisis in the educational entity. Unmanliness,
disrespect, and disintegration have spread out in our society, and the notions
that provoked the right have predominated. It has become impossible to notice
any shade of the Islamic education since its elements and bases disappeared.
Hence, loyalty has vanished, and amiability and association –on bases of God’s
favor- have been lost. The social hypocrisy has become a general phenomenon.
Greed and struggle for worldly affairs have become normal behaviors. Any
boundary for earnings has been off course, and sincerity in labor has become a
myth. The doctrinal rules, such as the precaution in treatment (Ihtiyat),
suspension of the doubted matters, God-fearing- all these and the like have
become out of line. There has been no compassion, no kind, and no social
relations. Accordingly, societies collapsed, and numerous social epidemics and
illnesses prevailed.
The unfortunate calamities reached
the climax when some of the young left their families to live alone. In
consequence, they have given in the total social bounds and traditions. They
have not cared for the emotional sensations that their fathers felt, and paid no
attention to their duties to their fathers, when they would become too old. Such
fathers suffered too much of the behaviors of their young sons as they lacked
custody and sympathy.
Fathers’ crisis has been seriously
cruel, especially from their sons who had received their studies in the Western
capitals, and, in consequence, acquired the Western habits and natures of
leaving their families and disesteeming their affairs or any social tradition.
When young men and women are out of their parents’ hands, -especially when they
lack any social centrality- they will surely disregard their parents
increasingly and reward them with humiliation and disrespect.
Majority of the youth, nowadays,
pursues their lusts and sexual desires since they could find the way to the
cinemas and nightclubs and directed towards filthy entertainment and the vulgar
TV shows. Hence, they lost seriousness. That was because they lost the conscious
education that protects them and supplies with the noble habits and the virtuous
ethics.
This book studies comprehensively and
objectively the factors of the imperfection and disintegration of modern
education. Through this work, a comprehensive exposition of the Islamic
education and its goals that develop the conscience and improve the intellective
levels will be exposed. An exhibition of the Islamic plans aiming at publicizing
the knowledge that depends upon believing in God and self-discipline will be
provided. The author hopes this work will contribute in developing the Islamic
conscience and serving Islam by putting on views some of the educational
magnificent ideas. Finally, this work is offered to God the Exalted.
Baqir Sharif Al-Qireshi
Najaf
Safar, 27, 1391 A.H.
MEANINGS AND GOALS OF
EDUCATION
We will identify the lexical and
terminological meanings of education, show the necessity and the goals of
education, and refer to its relation to teaching, philosophy, and policy.
Educationists have concerned with the above as a whole. As a comparative study,
we have to pass precisely by all of the topics that we have recently presented.
We will expose them in the form of a preliminary introduction to the modern
educational studies as compared to the Islamic, which is the main concern of
this book.
Lexical Meaning
In Arabic, the item ‘Tarbiya’
–education- stands for bringing up a child as it is mentioned in the
Arabic-Arabic dictionaries of Tajul-Arus and Lisanul-Arab.
Accordingly, education refers to bringing up and caring for a child until
attaining juvenility. This meaning comprises mental and intellectual
perceptions.
Terminological Meaning
Educationists have paid a great
attention to the explanations of the term in order to explicate its scientific
purport. Yet, they have not presented a unanimous one. The following is a set of
definitions:
The earliest definition of education
is that exposed by Plato’s saying, “Education stands for granting the souls and
bodies as much as possible an amount of aesthetes and perfection.” This
definition comprises physical and spiritual education. The former is that
education which sows corporal development and prosperity, while the latter is
that which creates perfection and virtue.
Hubbell renders a characterization
of the perfect education. He says, “Perfect education is that conserving the
physical condition and vigor of pupils, and gives the power of controlling the
mental and corporeal powers. It also increases the rapidity of realization and
the sharpness of intelligence, and accustoms to good and precise judgment and
creates gentleness in fulfilling duties deliberately.”
For Gold Simon, “Education is the way
of making the intellect a real intellect and the heart a real heart.” This
definition indicates that education should be the device of achieving
intellective growth and nourishing souls with virtuous ethics. At any rate, it
refers to the spiritual education exclusively.
Herbert says, “Education is training
man for enjoying perfect lives.” Like the previous, this definition is
exclusively restricted to the mental education.
John Milton defines, “Perfect
education is that which helps man to fulfill any job so accurately and
skillfully in peace and wars.” This definition is dedicated to the professional
education.
For Mistalotzi, “Education is
developing all of the potentials of children perfectly and properly.”
Hassle defines education as the
manners of disciplining the natural abilities of children to make them fit
enough for being in charge of a happy compartment.
Gimuel says, “Education is bringing
up individuals for satisfying themselves first, and others secondly.”
Lithery says, “Education is the
activities that purpose for bringing up a child or a young. It is a set of the
acquired intellectual and manual habits, as well as ethical features.”
We may affirm that John Dewey’s
definition is the most acceptable. He defines education as the process of
adaptation between individuals and the environment. He says, “Education is a
form and composition of the individuals’ activities, and then casting them in
certain matrices, i.e. changing the process into a social action that is
welcomed by the others.”.
Some of the previous definitions
should be reviewed since they refer to a definite category. Logicians affirm
that a definition ought to be comprehensive and inclusive to involve all of the
individuals concerned.
The
Educational Purport of the Term
The term has two purports, one is
general and the other is specific.
The general purport is so
comprehensive that it includes every intentional or unintentional action that
helps in developing the corporeal, intellective, ethical, or susceptible powers.
As a general conception, education
includes heredity, environment, and will, –the three factors of education- and
their intentional and unintentional effects in maturing the powers and the human
promptness. Every motion, activity, or aspect of the social environment that
affects man’s essence or material entity, in any stage of the physical and
mental composition, results in education in variant levels. All the above are
within the effects of the broad-spectrum education. Steward Mill says,
“Education, in its common sense, comprises all of the deeds that we ourselves
do, as well as the deeds that others do for approximating us to our natural
perfection. From this cause, education includes the indirect effects on ethics
and human powers that create various direct purposes. As examples, we may cite
laws, governmental formulation, arts, manufacture, and the other fields of
social lives. Moreover, the effect may occur to the natural factors that are out
of man’s order, such as climate and geography.”
Education, as a common sense,
includes all of the matters that influence the process of constructing the
ethics, apart from the source. Even the natural phenomena that are out of man’s
control play a role in the processes of education and self-building. If we look
at a nice influential thing, this will surely inspire in the development of our
imagination and taste. We always hear some individuals refer to time, incidents,
or events as their educators. Of course, these matters have nothing to do with
self-determination.
The specific purport of
education stands for the generations’ exchange of the educational and cultural
bases. Some educationists delimit this purport by suggesting that it be
committed to the efforts that are purposed for disposing the youth in a definite
worldly affair. In other words, the specific purport of education is the
endeavors and efforts that the adults exert for educating the intellects of the
youth and ordering their moralities. The activities of the educationists and the
practical teachers, which are aimed for instructing the youth, are regarded as
the specific purport of education..
John Stewart denies the common sense
of education and allocates it to the specific purport. He says, “Education, as a
term, refers restrictively to the culture that moves among the generations to
provide the youth with factors of bringing up. These factors pass on the level
of the preceding generation..
At any rate, the majority of
educationists argue that education, in its specific purport, is too short to
build personal entities unless it coincides with the common sense, which is the
social contact. T. S. Elliot says, “Schools are ready to transfer only a part of
the culture to the students. Such transference is fruitless unless it is fully
harmonious with the external factors. We do not dedicate the external factors to
family and environment, but we extend them to comprise labor, amusement,
journalism, general views, shows, and means of entertainments and sports.”.
The
Necessity of Education
Education is a life necessity and
a genuine human concern through which mental and social constituents are
attained. It is surely man’s distinctive feature. As well as societies,
education is necessary for individuals. An educationist says, “For individuals,
education is a process of social normalization that gives the character of
humanity, which is the distinctive feature. Everybody knows that individuals
inherit their biological roots, such as colors of eyes, hair, tallness, and the
other physical features, from their fathers and forefathers. The mental and
social constituents of personalities are gained only through education. On that
account, the basic chore of education helps in acquiring the human features.
Hence, education is necessary for individuals and societies in an equal
degree.”.
Education provides with the
individual elements and habits the influence of which remains forever. Some
psychologists affirm that babies actually rest upon others, to great extent, in
the minimal needed habits, the most significant ethical and intellective
specifications, and the general manners of people, life, and labor. Mostly,
babies behave unfeelingly, but as soon as they learn how to imitate gentle
individuals, this ethical and emotional influence will persist. Shortly, this
imitation changes into a habit that is a second nature. Imitation, however, is
one of the two ways through which the individual specifications are obtained,
and personal ethics are constituted..
It is, then, a life element and a
basic principal of personal perfection since it plays the role of coinciding,
developing, and maturing the individuals. An educational analyst says,
“Education is necessary for individuals as well as societies because the newborn
individuals can not be regarded as mature social human beings. Biologically,
they are human beings, but immature since they are incapable of associating and
accommodating in societies. This fact unveils the importance of education in
helping in developing and maturing individuals and their potentials,
preparations, and skills to maximum. In like manner, education helps in
acquiring the social characters for associating and belonging to societies.
Thus, it is important for both individuals and societies. It is a social
necessity, and an individual necessity, too.”.
Education is the one and only means
of achieving maturity, and raising the individual and social levels; therefore,
it is a binding necessity of life and a significant part in the entities of
societies and individuals.
The
Educational Goals
Education enjoys serious goals
and big social responsibilities. The specialists have exerted great efforts for
explicating such goals and responsibilities. Yet, they have had different
viewpoints regarding the question of defining those responsibilities. Some
worked in the frame of the spiritual goals while others worked in the material.
A third group looked upon the social goals, and a fourth sought the individual
growth and the personal composition.
Spiritual Goals:
Some Islamic educationists have
affirmed that the basic purposes of education and learning are self-purity,
self-chastity, and the constructing of relations with God. This is the most
elevated purpose and the noblest intendment. Al-Ghezali says, “O youngster! Many
are the nights that you have passed with seeking knowledge and scanning books,
and you abstained from sleep. I do not know your intendment. If it has been
obtaining the concerns of this world, collecting its wreckages, holding its
positions, and ostentation before the others, then woe is you! If your
intendment is enlivening the Prophet’s practices, refining your ethics, and
violating the bad-tending soul, then many happy returns will be yours!”.
A number of Islamic educationists
specify self-purity as the provisory of receiving knowledge. On that account,
teachers used to check one’s moralities before being accepted as a student. The
morally wrong ones were dismissed from classes so that they would not use their
knowledge in evildoings..
Froble says that education is
supposed to make the individuals feel their internal souls, realize nature, and
confide in God’s oneness. Likewise, it must lead the individuals to the sacred
pure life that is originated by the cognition of God, nature, and the human
spirit.. He also affirms that the purpose of education should be the
presentation of a sacred pure life of sincerity and goodness..
Master educationists have agreed
upon the idea of dismissing any edification, which does not lead to perfection
and self-discipline, out of the circle of education. Willula says, “The purpose
of education is improving what our fathers corrupted. We can achieve so by
adopting the accurate cognition of the Lord, cherishing Him, and committing
ourselves to His path through virtues.”
As he asserts the moral aspect of
education, John Luke says, “Virtues are the leading purposes of education.” The
previous opinions have focused lights on the moral and spiritual aspects of
education, ignoring theotheraspects.
Material Goals:
A group of educationists believes
that the organization of the youth for obtaining their earnings should be the
main goal of education. Some English educationists have named this goal as
“bread and butter goal.” This opinion, however, owns a value. Human beings, as
they tend to live persistently, are required to gain the earnings and seek its
means that are actually the most imperative for awarding the survival of the
individuals and the dependants. It has been said, “The learning of a profession
is a security against poverty.”
The wealthy should not rely upon
their fortunes and neglect professions and career. God has made the lands
usable, and instructed us to seek the various ways and have from His sustenance;
so, we should show our sons how to seek their earnings..
This opinion is interested in the
material aspects exclusively.
Social
Goals:
Some educationists have looked
upon the matter from a social aspect. Jean Beige says, “The most significant
goal of education is the attainment of the perfect boons of personalities, and
supporting the respect of others’ rights as well as the basic rights. Education
is responsible for substantiating the spirit of conformity and familiarity among
people, including the racial and religious groups. It is also given the mission
of developing the activities that are practiced by the UN Organization for
keeping peace.”.
Kondrsie says, “First of all,
education should act for enabling every individual to master the personal
skills, and fulfill the required social tasks completely, and develop the
makings as much as possible. In addition, it should share out the spirits of
equality among people. Otherwise, it will not achieve the political equality
that the law declares. The social goal of education is the management of
learning in a way that produces the industrial development for achieving
people’s contentment and enabling them to act the necessary social duties.”
Islam has declared most of these
goals as the basic principals of the educational domains.
Individual Development:
Some educationists believe that
the main goal of the educational processes is the achievement of the
individuals’ perfect growth according to their predispositions and capabilities.
The cultural heritage is regarded as one of the educational means. Such a
heritage should be organized psychologically for fitting the various stages of
development..
Other educationists added the
estimation of the ethics, the good behavior, and the activities in labor to the
educational processes. They also added self-will, self-reliance, and the
rectification of desires, respecting people’s rights, good relation with the
society, forbidding evil, presenting the environmental factors, and working for
developing the human societies, to the goals of the educational processes..
Plato supposes that one of the
educational goals should be releasing the ignorant individuals from the bonds of
unawareness, and taking them from the world of gloom to that of illumination and
freedom. The highest mental natures should be elevated to the ranks of
practicing good deeds in this world..
More
Goals
Philosophers of education state
more goals that achieve the individual development and self-assertion. They are
the well being, the emotional and social duties, and the recognition of the
natural world.
Other philosophers expose ten goals
as the most important in the education in secondary schools.
1. The development of the accurate
ways of thinking
2. The founding of useful habits
that are related to labor and lessons
3. The development of the social
trends
4. The providing of a set of
suitable tendencies
5. The development of the artistic
and aesthetic aspects
6. The development of social senses
7. The development of
individual-social concurrence
8. The presentation of the principal
information
9. The development of physical
conditions
10. The development of a steady
philosophy of life.
Teaching and Education
The general purport of education,
as it has been already cited, comprises all of the categories of activities that
influence the development of individuals, predispositions, and behaviors. It is
not peculiar to the activities that persons themselves do, or those done by
others. The purport of education covers every modification and reformation
practiced on ethics and behavior. It also includes the indirect factors, such as
laws, the ruling authorities, the manners of living, the traditions and the
social habits and conventions et al.
Such indirect factors, in addition
to the material and natural environments and conditions such as climates and
geographical locations, have effects on education. Finally, all of the
circumstances that help in the formation of the human beings are included in the
factors influencing the processes of education.
From the above we conclude that
education comprises every development or formation that does with individuals’
powers, predispositions, and behavioral aspects tending to guidance.
Teaching, on the other hand, stands
for the transference of information from a teacher to a student for delivering
knowledge. Hence, teaching is confined in this frame while education enjoys a
more elevated and comprehensive meaning since it includes every positive
progress and maturity of the individuals’ capabilities.
Education, in its common sense,
takes account of the whole physical, intellectual, and ethical aspects of
personalities. Teaching stands for the process of transferring knowledge to
individuals. This process is one of the educational means. The positivity of
teaching is estimated according to the obtained knowledge.
Knowledge may influence the
individuals’ lives only when being sentient and accordant to the actuality that
it can be consumed in the behavior..
The imperfect knowledge leaves no
effect at all in the individual composition. It creates the suspension of the
practical life.
Philosophy and Education
Philosophy and education have a
firm relation. Fichte affirms this relation in the essays he wrote to the
German. He said, “Without the benefit of philosophy, education cannot attain a
state of perfect clarity. There is an interrelation between the two any of which
will be imperfect and ineffectual without the other.” John Dewey exceeds this
point. He says, “The classical philosophy would not have been existent without
the pressure of the educational questions on the intellectualities. The foremost
naturalists were a single chapter in the history of science. The educational
affairs obliged Sophists and their opposites on philosophizing. Their
educational wording led them to instigate the philosophic theories.”.
Hobart Spencer says, “The accurate
education can be practical through the accurate philosophy only.”
Psychology and Education
Psychology could find a way to
the educational affairs when it has taken in all of the materials of education.
It has analyzed such materials to the preliminary elements that involved the
potentials and the intellective processes. There have been psychological
analyses for the educational courses such as reading, writing, mathematics,
languages, and composition. Likewise, arts and the practical materials of
painting, carving, and ornamentation have been psychologically studied and
analyzed into the preliminary matters, whether intellectually or manually. Such
studies and analyses enabled teachers to select the most appropriate method that
meets the pupils’ predispositions, taking in consideration the age and the
grade. In addition, teachers could use such studies in choosing the most
adequate courses.
Psychology is regarded as the major
guide of teaching and educational processes..
The
Educational Development
In the initiation of the history
of humanity, houses were the only means of education. The preliminary tribe had
individually the mission of educating the children physically, intellectually,
and ethically, by arranging the means of the life preparations. This continued
until the opening of the ancient ages. The Roman families, in their oldest ages,
had full and exclusive supervision on bringing up and educating their children
in the various aspects according to distinctive systems that were independent
from any public authority. Education was one of the responsibilities of houses.
Such educational efforts were confused with other indifferent activities to the
degree that education was seen as an unintentional process. Afterward, houses
began to look upon the educational affairs intentionally. After the invention of
writing., education depended upon the familiarity with the experts of the
previous generations, thanks to the recordings of the explored facts. This added
a new household job, which is teaching in the meaning of private tutorials.
Fathers, kinsmen, and the elder
members of families and tribes did this job to the children.. With the shining
of the illumination of Islam, a great change occurred in all of the aspects of
life, including education. Islam paid the greatest attention to education.
Muslims have been encouraged on learning so that they would review the
references of knowledge and culture for improving their lives and raising their
levels.
Policy and Education
Each political system needs the
support of an educational system. The political and social revolutions paid a
great attention to education and teaching for keeping up the ruling and
explaining their philosophy. An educationist says, “Social dominance through
education comes to surface evidently when a political, martial, or social
revolution occur. When such a revolution achieves success in the political
objectives, it should turn to education to use it as an instrument of achieving
the social objectives. Without education, revolutions are narrowed in a scope
that is isolated from the society and the individuals. Time will not be too long
for terminating the isolated revolutions that lack the social publicity of their
goals.”
Reliance upon education is one of
the most significant means of the modern systems that believe that education and
knowledge should be the slogans of the cultural revolutions. Communism used all
means for the propaganda of their ideology, and founding units in the
educational and teaching institutes to betake the students as soldiers that
support such ideologies and combat the collapsing camp of capitalism.
At any rate, policy, in its common
sense, used education as a method. Education should be an inevitable necessity
if such policies tend to survive and continue.
FACTORS OF EDUCATION
Generally, education is an essential
base of the behavioral results if it depends upon the factors that influence its
structure and composition. Without the reasons that lead to the foundation of
education, the fruits will be absent. Summarily, the reasons of the educational
foundation are as follows:
Heredity:
Psychologists ascribe
individuals’ intelligence and idiocy to heredity. “Directly, intelligence and
idiocy lean on heredity,” they said, and added that intelligent children will
easily receive the educational and teaching systems. Besides, intelligence is
one of the most significant elements of the intellective growth and the
scientific maturity. In the same way, idiot children will encounter difficulty
in receiving the educational and teaching methods entirely. Hence, methods do
nothing in the progression and prosperity of such children. It is seemingly
necessary to have a look on heredity for its being one of the most significant
means in the process of structuring the educational entities.
Definition of Heredity:
Heredity is defined as the
branches’ natural tendency to imitate the origins in the physical composition
and physiology. Other hereditists define it as the branches’ copying the
origins.
Scientific analysis:
The scientific analysis of
genetics implies that human beings being a single small cell called gamete,
which is the most marvelous, mysterious, and minute in the universe. It refers
to the immense potency of the Creator. This cell is arisen from a process of
fecundity of two diminutive cells, which are the ovum. and the spermatozoon..
The union of these two cells produces
the nucleus of a new individual. In that very moment, it is determined whether
this individual will be male or female, short or tall, intelligent or idiot, or
blue or honey-colored eyed. All of the descriptions are decided unchangeably in
this cell. Heredity then is a set of specifications that concentrate in the
fecundated ovum.
Laws
of Heredity:
Laws of heredity are within the
involuntary matters that coincide with the individuals all over the life phases.
One of the clearest and most familiar
laws of heredity is the branches’ copying the origins in the extrinsic
appearances and the private specifications. This fact is quite evident in all of
the creatures. Seeds of cotton yield nothing but cotton, and seeds of a flower
produce nothing but flowers that copy the mother in colors and characters. This
copying is more obvious in animals. A small cat is being like its parents in
shape and other characters. For human beings, babies bear resemblances to their
parents in the general, as well as the most diminutive, characters. The black
give birth of black ones and the white give birth of white. In a like manner,
intelligence and idiocy are inherited characters. This is because –as
hereditists decide- human beings enjoy private qualitative parts, called germ
plasma, that never expire but extend in the offspring. Wiseman says, “A baby is
his father’s half brother since each has a mother. In the very moment at which
the ovum is fecundated, it divides into two parts. One keeps the father’s
qualities to move to the new generation, and the other is consumed during the
processes of growth till it changes into a fetus.” Byron says, “It is true that
my son is mine, but I see his forefathers have hands in this darling thing. They
deform his self-purity and bother his integrity with the unknown evil tendencies
that they bore in their hidden, and he had to receive by heredity.”
Copying heredity is classified into
three parts.
1.
Heredity by partiality:
It stands for the branches’
copying one of the two origins in all, or most, of the qualities. Boys who bear
almost all of the physical and mental qualities of their fathers are examples of
the heredity by partiality.
2.
Heredity by coalition:
It implies that the branches
oppose the origins’ qualities. When a man from the east, for instance, marries a
lady from the west, the son will not bear the same physical qualities of the
parents.
3.
Heredity by association:
It means that the branch copies
one of the origins in definite qualities and copies the other in others. A child
may receive the intelligence and tallness from the father, and the colors of
hair and eyes from the mother. Asserting this point, Mendel says, “Majority of
the genetic qualities move from one or both origins to the new generation
without any separation or changeability.”
Individuals may receive the
forefathers’ physical and mental qualities. Dr. Alexis Karl says, “Time extends
just like the extension in emptiness beyond physical edges. Individuals’
boundaries are not more accurate or firmer than their extensive boundaries are.
Individuals are connected to the past and the future through the essences that
cannot extend to the present. As everybody knows, our individualities are
brought forth when the spermatozoa find a place in the ova. The elements of
essence are existent before that process. They are scattering in the tissues of
our parents and forefathers because we are made from the cell materials of our
forefathers and foremothers. Those materials stopped in the past on unanalyzed
organic states. In our souls, we carry diminutive pieces of the precedents’
bodies. Our qualities and defects are the extension of our precedents’ qualities
and defects.”
This view states openly that sons and
grandsons inherit most of the forefathers’ mental and physical qualities
unwillingly and involuntarily.
Heredity and Environment:
The roles of the environment in
the mental composition are still ambiguous. There is also a prevalent belief
that the environmental changes influence heredity. Through many thirty-year
experimental studies on plants, animals and human beings, hereditists could
subvert this thought when they proved that the environment is no more than a
secondary factor of heredity. The environment can decide the emergence and
extents of the qualities and their growth. Therefore, heredity selects the
constant factors, while the environment selects the changeable.
The environment would never produce
matters that are contrary to heredity because it is not subjected to the factors
of changeability and variableness..
Islam
and Laws of Heredity
Islam preceded the psychologists
and the geneticists in referring to many effects and phenomena of heredity,
proving its positive role in the individuals’ sound composition.
The Prophet (s) said, “The knave have
been knave since they have been in their mothers’ abdomens, and the auspicious
have been auspicious since they have been in their mothers’ abdomens.”
This prophetic saying indicates that
the genetic elements give the fetuses either fortune -when the fathers’ virtuous
qualities and tendencies are available- or ill fate in case their qualities and
natures are evil. The contingent qualities are also genetically received.
Providing the story of Noah the prophet, the holy Quran refers to this matter.
God says:
And
Noah said: My Lord! Leave not upon this land any dweller from among the
unbelievers. For surely if Thou
leave
them they will lead astray Thy servants, and will not beget any but immoral
ungrateful children.
This Quranic text indicates that the
disbelievers’ offspring, who genetically receive their fathers’ ill qualities,
will also inherit their convictions. It is reported that a man from Ansar.
complained before the Prophet (s) that his wife -who was his cousin- had given
birth of a black baby while none of their forefathers was black. “You have
ninety nine arteries,” answered the Prophet (s), “And she has ninety nine
arteries. When these arteries combine, they will be in a state of disorder and
each asks God the Exalted to associate with its like. This is surely your son.
You may leave now. This baby must have come from one of her or your arteries.”
The man took his wife’s hand and left.
This prophetic notice implies that
sons can receive genetically even the most minute and the deepest qualities.
Many Islamic rulings are legislated according to this fact.
First, Islam urges on looking
upon the most accurate manners of women before they are taken in marriage.
According to Islamic rulings, a great attention should be paid to women’s
families and lineage so that any state of anticipated mental or physical
handicap or deformity would be evaded. The Prophet (s) asserted the necessity of
checking women before marriage. He said, “O people! Beware of the
green-looking.” “What are the green-looking, God’s messenger?” some asked. “It
is the beautiful women of evil source,” answered the Prophet (s)..
He also said, “Select for your
sperms. The maternal uncle is one of the couple –in any sexual intercourse-.”.
“Marry your women to the suitable, and select for your sperms.”.
The Imams emphasized on this point
demandingly. Ibrahim al-Karkhi sought the advice of Imam as-Sadiq (a) in the
question of his marriage. The Imam said, “You should check confidently the place
you are going to choose for yourself and the one you are going to make a partner
in your assets, and show your religion and open your secrets before him. If you
insist, you then should choose a non-virgin lady that is known as moral and
well-mannered.”.
In another occasion, the Imam (a)
said, “A woman is a necklace. You should select what you will put. Neither the
good nor do the evil women have likes. The good women are not like gold and
silver since they are preferred to gold and silver. The evil women are not like
dust. They are lowlier than dust.”.
Islam dislikes men who marry idiot
women in order that families will be saved from decline. Imam as-Sadiq (a)
relates Imam Ali’s saying, “Beware of marrying idiot women. The companionship of
the she-idiot is an ordeal, and their sons are waste.”.
In the same way, Islam warns against
marrying insane women so that the society will not come upon irregular and
unsound individuals. Imam al-Baqir (a) was asked whether it was appropriate to
marry women after they had been loved. “No,” answered the Imam, “It is not
undesirable to copulate with the insane bondmaid on condition that she would not
have children.”.
The Imams urged Muslims on testing
and checking women before taking in marriage, for assuring whether such women or
their families are empty of any mental or physical disability, lest such a
disability will be common in the society.
Secondly, Islam stresses that
women should identify precisely the men they choose as the life partners. This
identification is the responsibility of the women’s guardians. Imam ar-Rida (a)
told that his father related that the Prophet (s) said, “Matrimony is slavery.
You will be slavering your daughters when you marry them; therefore, check the
individuals you are going to give your daughters to in slavery.”.
Islam warns against marrying the
drunkard. The Prophet (s) said, “For those who marry their daughters to the
drunkards, they are cutting off the relations of kinship.”
In modern medicine, it has been
proven that sons receive genetically the effects of the intoxicants. Dr. Brogans
says, “Alcoholism causes barrenness. Duncan reports the story of the alcoholic
lady that could not be pregnant for years while she had no physiological problem
at all. As she was treated from dipsomania for one year, she could bear a baby.
The same thing is applied to men. The reason is that the alcoholic materials
enfeeble the backbone and paralyzes the brain. The offspring of those who are
poisoned by such drugs receive genetically these poisons. Hence, they are
dangerous not only for the drunkards, but also for their descendants, nation,
and mankind. It is also emphasized that the successors of the drunkards bear
signs of structural frailty and may suffer serious disorders that lead to
insanity, general paralysis, or barrenness. Genetic effects can kill the fetus
or the newborn. Thus, families may entirely extinct in two or three generations.
Moreover, the offspring of the drunkards may suffer painful deformities, such as
skull defects, shortness, and amentia. They may also suffer from retardation of
the mental powers, such as cenotaph defects, childishness shortcoming, idiocy,
hysteria, and others. Master physicians deemed unlawful to marry the drunkards
for the previous serious dangers that may occur after marriage..
The alcoholic materials that are
consumed by the she-drunkards move to the blood of the fetuses through the
placentas inside the uteri. It has been proven that the suckling babies receive
the alcoholic materials..
Psychologists say that amentia and
states of hesitation may affect the drunkards. They also advice women to test
such men before combining with them in matrimony, otherwise they will suffer
many disasters and calamities. Women are inaccurate, to great extent, if they
believe they will be able enough to change such habits after marriage. They have
also proven that maladjustment is one of the reasons of dipsomania. The male
drunkards easily push themselves to wrongdoing, and the female drunkards are
easily led to prostitution. Dipsomania incites the spouses to break the barriers
and challenge their consciences; thus, it becomes easy for them to breach the
matrimonial pledges and lead such social bonds to failure by the corrosion of
the family rules.
Islam –many years before modern
science- explored and referred to this point. It has warned against giving women
in marriage to the drunkards so that the coming generations will be saved
against such disabilities and defects.
In like fashion, Islam bans women
from marrying the ill-natured ones so that their ill manners will not move to
the coming generations. Bashar al-Wasiti sought Imam ar-Rida’s advice when an
ill-natured man asked for his daughter’s hand. The Imam told him not to give her
to the ill-natured individuals.. Books of the Islamic heritage are full of
reports that urge women on identifying the men that are expected to be their
husbands before agreeing to marriage, so as not to give birth of evil offspring.
Third, as an Islamic rule,
both spouses have the choice of revoking the matrimonial contracts if any of
them is proven to have a mental irregularity, a physical disability, or other
defects that the jurists identify. Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “Matrimony is
revocable in cases of leucoderma, leprosy, insanity, and cystocele.”.
This ruling saves the Islamic
society from such diseases that cause retardation and social weakness. The
jurisprudential bases of Islam sustain the modern articles that the
international health organizations have declared. The spouses’ blood, for
example, should be analyzed before marriage for recognizing whether any of them
is affected by sexual diseases such as rrhoea, syphilis, or others that are the
main cause of the babies’ blindness or venereal diseases. The calamities of such
diseases are inherited genetically causing mental and physical disabilities
beside the other party’s misery, suffering, and other mental problems that
deprive of a content life.
FAMILY
Family. is one of the principal
elements of constructing educational entities, creating processes of the social
naturalization, forming the personalities, and providing the children with the
habits that persist forever. In other words, family is the preliminary seed of
composing the individual maturity and the structure of personalities. In most
cases, children pursue their parents in habits and behaviors. Family then is the
most evident, accurate, and abundant of the other educational elements.
The
Significance of Families
Undoubtedly, family has the great
effect in the construction of the individual behaviors and the arousing of
vitality and tranquillity in children’s minds. Through families, children
acquire their language, values and trends. Families contributed directly in the
construction of mankind civilization and the associative relations of people. It
led man to learn the principals of sociology and the rules of ethics and
moralities. It is also the reason beyond the maintenance of many professions and
career that fathers transfer to sons. It is strange to notice that Plato’s
Republic that glorified the roles of the governments denied the roles of
families. This denial led to the belief that families stood as obstacles in the
face of the allegiance and loyalty to the government. For Plato, home, which
enjoys a great value, is no more than a curse and an evil. Plato shouted out
“Destroy those walls that contain nothing but a limited feeling of the domestic
life.” On the other side, one of our proverbs is that “A man’s house is his
secure fortress.”.
Duties of Families:
Family is responsible for
educating the children correctly in standard criteria that are away from
aberrance. There is a number of duties and obligations of families.
First, Families are
responsible for saving the factors of settlement, amiability, and tranquillity
in home, and removing any sort of violence, malice, and antagonism. The
aberrance of majority of the aggressive children, which would lead to
criminality, was the result of the home unsettlement. An educationist says, “If
we visit jails, brothels, and insane asylums-- then visit schools for counting
the unsuccessful, the quarrel makers, the politically extremists, and the
abnormal, we will definitely notice that most of such individuals were deprived
of the family settlement. They must have been lacking tranquil houses in which
there should be compassionate fathers and kind mothers that do not exceed in
dalliance or severity. The corruption of such houses has created such pictures
of social disorder and purposeless and unsettled generations.”.
Amiability and compassion to sons
have the greatest bearing on the sound composition of individuals. Mental
complexes are the inevitable result in case fathers pay no attention to this
fact. Sons are not ready to accept any advice or guidance unless there is a sort
of sincere amiability among the members of families. Psychologists have proven
that the complexes that emerge in the period of early childhood, especially
those complexes that are originated from the parents’ bad relations with their
sons, are the most serious and the preliminary to personal disorders.. Mutual
concordance and amiability help in creating the intellectual maturity and the
personal boons. Dr. Gilas Thomas says, “Despite the parents’ big responsibility
of guiding and training their children, it is quite important to realize that
such practices should never replace another essential task that parents must do.
This task is the creation of an amiable mood that is shaded by care, and
surrounded by compassion and justice. If parents show dearth in reviving such a
mood in which the norms of composition are illuminated, they will deprive the
children of an uncompensated constituent. Religion, society, and school play a
remarkable role in educating the youth. However, none of these factors can save
the impressive emotions the center of which is home, and the perfumes of which
are smelt among families only.”.
The family pleasure prompts
tranquillity in the children’s minds and helps in facing the life difficulties.
Salama Musa says, “The family pleasure of children prompts tranquillity to the
degree that it does not fade away even if fathers depart the life. When the
children of London were evacuated during the raids of the Second World War, it
was found that the children who enjoyed that family pleasure could stand the
estrangement more than the others could. This proves that the family
satisfactory mood prompts tranquillity in the children’s minds. Hence, those
children could encounter the estrangement satisfactorily. Estrangement increased
for the children who were brought up in troublesome mood. Finally, we expect the
children to provide pleasure if they are brought up in pleasant mood.”.
Second, families should
supervise the processes of education. Sociologists confirm this necessity. They
emphasize that families must be in charge of the processes of the social
education through which the children acquire the cultural experts and the
rulings that make them eligible for receiving more and more, and fit enough for
dealing with the society. Correspondingly, educationists confirm that parents
should afford enough compassion, sympathy, and kindness to their children for
securing them against depression and melancholy. UNESCO provided a noteworthy
report about the defects that may be suffered by the children due to the
deficiency of fathers’ compassion. “Children’s deprivation of their fathers,
whether temporarily or permanently, results in depression and melancholy
accompanied by feelings of sinfulness and malice. It also causes uncontrollable
rebellious tempers, self-faintness, and loss of the feeling of family
compassion. Children that are affected by the deprivation of fathers always swim
in illusive worlds, because they are the substitutes of the actual world that
they have lost. In most cases, they dream of heroic fathers and angelic mothers.
In a survey on kindergartens, it has been noticed that defects, such as
difficulty of articulation, ill naturedness and deficiency of emotional
sentiment, occur to the children who depart their parents, despite their good
health, maturity, and accurate intentional motives..
Association and supervision are the
best ways of protecting the children. Modern educationists affirm that the best
heritage that should be left to the children is no more than a few minutes a
day.. Sociologists who survey the juvenile delinquency have proven that the best
way of eradicating the juvenile aberrance is picking the fathers who wander at
night from the streets..
Indisputably, fathers who fulfill
their duties to their sons, such as supervision and association, will find those
sons copying their qualities and natures. Fathers are also asked to give away
the luxurious amusement and confine on supervising their sons so that they will
be saved against degradation and negligence.
Ahmed Shawqi –An Egyptian poet- says
that orphans are not those individuals whose parents depart away and leave them
alone. Real orphans are those who have to encounter negligent mothers and busy
fathers.
Third, some educationists
believe that fathers and mothers should apply the following steps as duties:
1. Parents should unanimously agree
upon the criteria of behavior. One should support the other in the decisions
that are related to their sons.
2. Fathers should put in their daily
programs that they must associate with their sons, including the babies, for a
considerable time. Such practices contribute in seeding the feelings of
association in the family.
3. Children ought to make out that
their fathers should have enough time for personal activities and practices,
such as privacy, reading or practicing their hobbies.
4. Fathers should make their
daughters feel their femininity and responsibility of being virtuous, chaste,
and righteous. 5. Sons are in need of
masculine, powerful, and kind fathers. Any excessive hardness and strictness may
cause the sons to take shelter of their mothers and pursue womanish behaviors..
Naturally, children enjoy spontaneous
qualities, such as purity, inexperience, sound emotions and simple mentality.
Thus, parents should direct their eyes to virtues and seed moral tendencies so
that they will yield well in the future.
Functions of Families
1. Families are in charge of
producing and satisfying the children with upright moods for fulfilling their
biological and social requisites. Families that only produce children have no
difference with animals.
2. Families are responsible for
training the children to associate and identify the values and customs of
societies.
3. Families are responsible for
providing the children with means of personal composition in societies.
4. Families are responsible for
securing settlement, security, protection, and sympathy to the children until
they attain adulthood. Families are the most proficient body that can afford so
because they receive the early children., while any other social association
cannot replace them –the families- in this regard.
5. Families should take on the great
portion of the children’s ethical, emotional, and religious education all over
the various stages of childhood. They are fully responsible for the children’s
religious education, whether the political regimes, such as the communists,
directly or indirectly oppose religion, or neutral in the ethical and religious
affairs, such as France. Thanks to the family life, the individuals receive the
religious spirits as well as the other family emotions that prepare for
associating in societies and homes..
Childhood requires a good deal of
care and means of mental and physical maturity. It is quite unacceptable to
hypothesize that families’ one and only role is affording the fiscal supports.
Such a hypothesis neglects the various mental factors, such as emotion,
affection, security, and tranquillity that are essential for composing the
individuals. These factors are important for the children’s mental maturity..
Psychologists and educationists
confirm that families play the greatest role in the process of education and the
formation of personalities. This significant role becomes more manifest when we
take in consideration the biological principal which affirms that the younger
the human being, the more increasing formation and obedience. It is also
possible to apply this principal to the mental powers in the variant levels of
maturity. Families are responsible for all of the effects that early children
encounter, since they are the basic factor of the children’s lives and the head
source of their experts. Further, families are the genuine appearance of the
children’s settlement. From this cause, the children’s personal settlement and
maturity are totally dependent upon the variant quantitative and qualitative
relations of families. Analysts find out that the children’s religious and moral
values develop in the surroundings of families..
Family
in Islam
Islam has instituted the system
of family on sound bases agreeing with the life necessities and the individuals’
exigencies and behavior. It has regarded the family talents that are afforded by
God, as spontaneous. God says:
And one of his signs is that He created mates for you from yourselves that you
may find rest in them, and He put
between
you love and compassion.
This phenomenon on which mankind
have been natured is one of God’s grand portents and graces. Islam also works
for arranging the Muslim families to be good exemplars and have the elements of
orthodox leadership. As God exposes the manners of the virtuous servants, He
says:
O Our Lord! Grant us in our wives and our offspring the joy of our eyes, and
make us guides to those who guard
against
evil.
The availability of good exemplars
and virtuous patterns is the most important rule in the educational processes.
In the previous surveys of genetics,
we have referred to the Islamic rule that any matrimonial bond should be first
founded on test so that the defects of any spouse would not move to the coming
generations and societies. Islam has also given fathers the guardianship on
their daughters for selecting the most appropriate husband and dismissing the
disabled who may cause misfortunes and problems. Since women generally realize
only the shells of life, they naturally show blemish in selecting for
themselves. In most cases, women are deceived by their fiancés’ false promises
and appearances. Most women lack enough acquaintance with the deceitful
licentious individuals that may speak of the fascinating words of love and
fondness and imaginary promises and pledges. They ignore that a satisfactory
marriage occurs only when the other party enjoys noble ethics and high traits
that encourage on caring for their affairs and rights, and producing virtuous
offspring that bring pleasure and contentment in the final age. Islam stresses
on this result.
The system of families that is
instituted by Islam relies upon the deep cognizance of the elements of family
contentment and bond in physiological, mental, and social fields. It calls for
satisfying each individual with kindness, affection, moderation, and settlement.
Islam cares a lot for achieving
amiability, understanding, and harmony between spouses since their bond
represents the chief core of families. These qualities are available in the
ideal spouses about whom Hammerlock Alice said, “Ideal marriage does not rest on
accordant desires. It rests upon a chaste union that is based upon deep warmth
that increases day by day to scope all of the fields. This is the union of
flavors, feelings, and tendencies. It is the union of common life as it binds to
paternity burdens.”.
Islam wants the sexual bonds to be
ideal and based firmly upon love and understanding so that the educational
processes will fruit effectively and create sound societies.
Islam has legislated for attaining
all of the objective courses aiming at conciliating, developing, and leading the
families to prosperity. On that account, it paid a special attention to the role
of home, and ordered the common ethics among families and delimited the private
duties that bring about family association and have a positive influence on the
educational composition.
Significance of Home
Home, through which the social
environment achieves the children’s educational results, plays a considerable
role in the educational processes. Children receive traditions, practices,
beliefs, arts, traits, history, and triumphs of their nations through their
homes. The social environment can attain its strong effects in education only
when home accomplishes its missions successfully. Corruption of children is the
natural and the inescapable consequence of home corruption. There is more than
one role played by home in the educational processes since it is the natural
source of affection and kindness. The way to tranquillity passes through home..
Islam has devoted a specific attention to home. It has ordered that love and
cordiality should prevail on homes. It also has regulated that any sorts of
primness, forsaking, and reproach may retard the children’s adaptation. Serious
deviations, such as the loss of security, self-confidence, and others, will
affect the children whose homes are too short to fulfill their missions.
THE COMMON COURSES
Islam has constituted courses
that are common among family members and called for applying them to their lives
so that contentment will shade the all.
Love
and Affiliation:
Islam has called for the
predominance of love, affiliation, and cordiality among the family members who
are required to avoid any concern that may confuse the purity of the living.
Women should meet this liability in the first place since they can turn a home
into a paradise -by fulfilling the duties, considering the morals, and being a
unique believer- or into a hell. A man told the Prophet (s) of his wife’s
customs, “She receives me as I enter the house, and sees me off as I leave, and
alleviates my cares if she notices any. She used to say, ‘You should care about
nothing. If you care for the livings, this is the mission of other than you. If
you are caring for a paradisiacal matter, Allah, then, may increase your care.’”
The Prophet declared his great admiration of that lady, “Tell your lady that she
will be abiding in the Paradise. She is truly one of God’s veritable servants.”.
When wives take care of their
husbands by fulfilling their duties, affiliation will be prevalent. Furthermore,
a tie of deep adoration will be established among the family members, and this
will lead to the successful education.
Cooperation:
Islam has called for the spouses’
collaboration in the living affairs and the management of the home affairs. It
has called for living associatively in mutual affiliation and relationship. This
is the task of the paterfamilias. Islam has bound the householders with
attending to their wives and taking part in the home affairs. The Prophet (s)
used to participate with his wives in the house affairs and say, “Partaking
wives in the house affairs is a sort of alms.” Imam Ali (a) was wont to help
Fatima az-Zahra (a), the veracious and the mistress of women of the worlds, in
the housekeeping and the home management. These acts will surely establish a
spirit of noble empathy -which is the most significant element of the sound
education- in the sons’ essences.
Mutual
Respect:
Islam has urged on mutual respect
and abidance by morals among the family members. The older must feel for the
younger, and the younger should reverence the older. The Prophet (s) said, “The
old should be sympathetic to the young, and the young should reverence the old.”
Abidance by morals erects a sense of good virtues and values. It correspondingly
enjoins the maturity of perfect behavior in the children’s minds, and incites to
fling in the field of collaboration with the family and the society.
Psychoanalysts have proven that the children’s religious and moral values mature
only in the family surroundings..
FAMILY DISORDER
The family members -chiefly the
children- will suffer mental defects, nervous disorders, loss of sound behavior,
and aberrance if the family is characterized by inharmony and disorder. Modern
educational surveys show that family disorder and unsettlement is the biggest
elements of aberrance.. Crises that lead to deviation are the results of family
clutter. Consequently, it is essentially incumbent, for protecting the juveniles
from irregularity and deviation, to conserve the family settlement by removing
all of the factors of distress and confusion.
FATHERS’ RESPONSIBILITIES
Not only are fathers responsible
for saving their dependants’ alimonies and fiscal necessities, but also they are
required to provide education, discipline, morals, and guidance. They must
ensure the high traits and warn against evil. Imam Zeinul-abidin (a) says, “Your
sons’ right is that you should realize their being parts of you and attached to
you in good and evil. You are responsible for providing the noble traits,
conducting them to their Lord, and backing them in worshipping Him as a
compliance with you. They entirely be rewarded or punished. You should act to
your sons as seekers of the good remuneration in this world, and justified to
the Lord through the acceptable supervision and training.”.
Imam Zeinul-abidin (a) was used to
supplicating to the Lord for his son by saying, “O Lord! Make them filial pious,
godly, aware, listeners, and obedient for Thee, and adherents and advisers for
Thy saints, and mutinous and antipathetic of Thy foes.”.
Fathers are subject to bring forth
the chaste education for the sons to guarantee their sincerity. The Imams of the
Prophet’s progeny regarded this topic highly. Imam Ali (a), the first Islamic
educationist, says to his son, Imam al-Hassan, “I consider you being a part of
me, being me all in all. Anything that strikes you is actually striking me.
Death when draws near to you is drawing to me. Your affairs are as same as
mine.”
Yes indeed, sons are not only parts
of their fathers. They are truly their fathers’ all in all. They expose their
fathers’ existence and entity. From this cause, fathers should care for their
sons’ education, edification, and perfection in order that they will take pride
in them magnificently. On the other hand, sons may be evil and mischievous to
their fathers if their education and affairs are neglected. The following are
some of the fathers’ tasks:
1.
Custody of Sons:
Fathers should take care of their
sons by granting them with affection and tenderness, and conferring honor upon
them. These matters form the most influential effects in structuring their
educational entity and advancing their personalities and mental maturity.
The Prophet (s) had al-Hassan and
al-Hussein -his grandsons- in the greatest custody. As he was having them on his
shoulders, the Prophet (s) used to say, “These two are my single basil in this
world. He whoever loves me should love them.”. On another occasion, he said to
Fatima az-Zahra (a), “Summon my two sons.” As she presented them, the Prophet
(s) smelt and embraced them.. It is also related that al-Aqra bin Habis, seeing
the Prophet’s fondness and custody of his two grandchildren, said, “I do not
remember I have ever kissed any of my ten sons.” This saying made the Prophet
irate. “What can we do to a man that God has uprooted mercy from him!”.
The Prophet (s) poured his ideal and
guidance in the minds of his two grandsons. He also dwelled his merciful
tendencies on them. Therefore, they became the excellent exemplars of
perfection. Their liberal lifetime accumulated the total aspects of magnitude
and divinity as well as whatsoever mankind boasts all over history. They
achieved the elevation in ethics and essence, and delved into the fields of
grandeur and right.
Fathers’ custody, affection, and
charity to sons are the most consequential constituents of the educational
entity that consummates the children’s personal affluence and spares the mental
complexities that are the most serious diseases. Modern educational surveys have
proved that good citizens and virtuous scientists are mostly the outcome of the
careful families.. Psychologists have asserted this fact, too. Conversely, the
sons that are unwelcomed and disregarded by their families take aggressive paths
and seem to be negative, quarreling, and rebellious, and invent skillful
trickeries for disturbing the adults. Besides, they tend to criminal behavior.
- The aspects of the family
negligence are as follows:
- Cruelty and excessive vulgarity in
treating the children.
- The use of the fierce physical
disciplining.
- The continuous criticizing,
reproaching, and exposition of the children’s defects before others.
- Intemperance in neglecting and
accusing the children.
- The negligence of praising the
children.
- Disgracing the children before the
other brothers and sisters.
- Showing astonishment when others
praise the children..
Fathers should avoid the previous
matters when they deal with their sons. This will save the children’s behaviors
and guard them against irregularity and aberrance.
2.
Equality:
Fathers should cover their sons
with equal amounts of love, affection, and custody. Many psychological
complexities, jealousy, fury, and the arising of mental passive revolts may
occur to the children who notice any distinction in the fathers’ conservation.
These effects may lead to serious psychological ailments.
The holy Quran exposes the story of
Joseph the prophet when his father favored him to the other brothers.
Consequently, they plotted for an artifice by which they threw him in a well and
came to their fathers weeping. The father –Jacob the prophet- was so regretful
that his eyes turned into white. A calamitous crisis that he had to suffer was
owing to favoring a definite son to the others. The Prophet (s) is reported to
say, “Treat your sons equally as you like to be treated fairly in benevolence
and kindness.” As he noticed a father of two sons kiss one and neglect the
other, the Prophet (s) reproached, “You should have treated them equitably.”.
Equality among sons is one of the
components of the Islamic education. Fathers should never distinguish between
brothers. Fathers who address charity and benevolence at certain sons
exclusively, or give the heritage exclusively to the sons and neglect the
daughters, are definitely out of the circle of Islam. Such procedures arouse
hostility and hatred among the brothers and cause retardation in their
educational entity, and mental disorder and slowdown in the social relations. It
is proven that the sons that are deprived of paternal affection and benevolence
are stroke by psychological complexities, social antagonism, and severe conduct.
Fabrication, larceny, cruelty, evildoing, and assaulting deeds are the effects
of the children that lack paternal affection.
“Children’s paternal hatred stops
against the social conditioning. It cancels the feelings of security and
self-confidence. Modern psychological surveys have confirmed that the most
critical causes of disquietude are the nullity of the family emotional warmth,
feelings of others’ negligence, deprivation of love, kindness, and affection,
and feelings of weakness in the aggressive world. Secondly, inequality among
brothers arises the feelings of disquietude in the children’s minds, and kills
the spirits of keenness that help in pushing the way easily and tranquilly.
Disordered men feel of depression and mental torment everywhere.”.
Fathers should treat their sons
equally, lest the sons will be affected by such serious ailments that smash the
mental entities.
3.
Cordiality:
Fathers must cover their family
members, especially spouses, with cordiality, affection, and benevolence, and
meet their needs entirely. God has instituted this as one of the wives’ rights.
It also contributes in the children’s prudent education and personal contentment
that live in aspects that are filled with love, affection, peace, and
settlement. Islam has urged on caring for wives. The Prophet (s) said, “The best
of you are the best to their wife. I am the best to my wives.” He also said,
“Wives are the husbands’ delight. Almighty God favors those who deal with their
delight in the best way.” Imam al-Baqir (a) says, “May God’s mercy be upon those
who enjoy good relations with their wives. Allah the Exalted gave men the wives
in possession and made them their custodians.” Imam as-Sadiq (a) says, “Fear God
while you deal with the two weak; women and slaves.”
Fathers ought not to displease or
wrong their wives. The Prophet (s) says, “The best men of my nation are those
who do not encroach or wrong their wives and those who treat them kindly.” He
then recited God’s saying:
Men are the maintainers of women
because Allah has made some of them to excel others.
Fathers’ natures and manners to
their family members leave the greatest influence on the children’s consonance
in the society. The children’s personalities achieve prosperity only when their
fathers’ treatments are well. Contrariwise, children’s behaviors and
intellectual maturity are badly affected and ceased if fathers use rudeness.
4. Avoidance of Obscene Language:
Fathers, as paterfamiliases, are
in charge of constituting the educational entity of their families. They should
avoid obscene language, vulgarity, and any matter that injures the general
manners. Chastity and homogeneity should find a considerable place in every
house. It is obligatory upon fathers, whose words and deeds penetrate the hearts
of their sons who are influenced by their manners and morals, to shield the
family members from evil and obscene language. Children who notice their
parents’ ill deeds can never have sound education and growth up. Similarly,
children who notice their fathers say false things will never comply with their
instructions of truth and sincerity. They pursue their fathers’ deeds and
actions. On that account, fathers must apply the noble traits and manners to
their lives to be good exemplars for their family members.
5.
Supervising the Sons’ Behaviors:
In most cases of the ethical
crimes that are committed by juveniles, the source is heeded to be the fathers’
negligence of superintending their sons and discounting the signals of aberrance
they show. Naturally, children whose conscience and mind are imperfect cannot
distinguish between good and evil. As children notice that no problem or
reproach occurred owing to their doing a bad deed, they will certainly keep up
doing it habitually.
Islam has urged fathers on
associating and supervising the behaviors of their early children for saving
them against the pollution of crimes that are arisen from aberrance. Nowadays,
it is unfortunately noticeable that fathers disdain this condition on which the
future of their children relies. This terrible negligence led to the young’s
deviation and moral degradation. Violence and irregularity have become the
nature of most young men’s behaviors and morals.
One of the ugliest sorts of
negligence and deviation from the sound educational courses is the unsupervised
mixing of the two sexes of the same age in schools and universities. In most
cases, such mixing may induce young women to lose chastity and avert the
behavioral criteria of probity.
Fathers are liable -before God- for
supervising their sons’ behavior and turning them aside from all of the evil
tendencies. Al-Ghezali says, “Opting for certain methods of educating is one of
the most significant and considerable tasks. A child is his father’s trust. His
stainless heart is a precious gem that is clear from any image or picture. It is
becoming to receive any image and follow any way. If a child is inured to good,
this will stick to his mind, and the pleasure of this world and the Hereafter
will be amassed for him. Parents, tutors, and trainers of children have a share
in his rewards. Inversely, if a child is inured to evil, and neglected like
animals, nonsuccess and loss will be the result. The guardian will undergo the
sin of misguidance. God the Exalted says:
O
you who believe! Save yourselves and your families from a fire whose fuel is men
and stones; over it are angels
stern
and strong, they do not disobey Allah in what He commands them, and do as they
are commanded.
Fathers should save their children
against the hell-fire and that of this world. Fathers’ salvation is educating,
disciplining, and leading their children to the noble traits and keeping them
against associating with the evil. Fathers should avoid inuring their children
to luxurious living, otherwise the sons will spend their lives looking for such
things, and this will definitely cause damage. Fathers’ supervision should be
initiated with the children’s early years. It is also essential for fathers to
choose chaste and religious wet nurses and nursemaids. Women’s milk is unblessed
unless it is produced from legal earnings. Children who are brought up on such
illegitimate food will tend to evil and illegal matters.”.
The previous opinion of Al-Ghezali
is, to great extent, exact. Modern educational surveys have accepted this
opinion. Early supervision, encouragement on the noble traits, and the avoidance
of the evil tendencies; all these are the matters that incite prosperity of this
world and the Hereafter. In like fashion, negligence and non-supervision lead to
nonsuccess and damage.
6.
Disciplining:
Fathers should take initiative in
disciplining their children as soon as they notice a behavioral irregularity or
any offense that contradicts the religious and social traditions as well as the
general manners. Precipitation in disciplining the wrong children is a
sufficient means for removing evil and rebellious spirits. Islam has confirmed
this matter. The Prophet (s) said, “Discipline your children. This is better for
you than a daily giving of a big sum of alms.” He also said, “If you honor and
discipline your children aptly, God will forgive you.”
In most cases, irregularity that
accompanies the children is the consequence of the fathers’ negligence and
failure to discipline the children who deviate. Sheik Naraqi says, “Children
that are neglected in the earliest stages of growth up will mostly opt for ill
manners. They chiefly prefer fabrication, envy, and obstinacy, and become
thieves, traitors, and impolite. In other cases, such children may be weakling,
licentious, and profligate.”.
7.
Taking the children away from the sexual activities:
Islam has warned spouses against
copulation near their children, since this may incite their lust and give them a
motive to seek fields of harlotry and depravity. Imam al-Baqir (a) advised Jabir
saying, “Avoid copulating in a place where a boy that is able to distinguish
your doing, can see you.”. Imam as-Sadiq says, “Men should never copulate with
their ladies where there is a boy. This brings about fornication.”. The Prophet
(s) said, “I swear by the Prevailing of my soul, success will never approach
boys who see or hear even the breath of the copulating spouses. Fornication is
the result.”.
Specialists in sexual education have
affirmed the necessity of taking the children away from the sexual relations.
Sir Pepsi says, “The sexual sense is existent to every human being including
babies to whom this state begins to gush after maturity. So, it is very much
important to avoid any activity arousing this state before its proper time. Some
fathers undervalue the necessity of preventing the children from noticing them
when they strip their clothes. Such fathers go to extremes in this regard, as
they think of being intellectuals or progressists who should give us the
opportunity to see them naked. As children frequently notice such manners, they
will soon be paying great interest to the sexual characteristics in their
minds.”.
Children’s minds are quickly
affected by what they notice. On that account, it is essential to take them away
from whatever stirs up the lusts and corrupts the moralities, for guarding them
against aberrance and irregularity. As the western education paid no attention
to this regard, their sons had to encounter mental damage, many sorts of sexual
troubles, and moral downfall as well as the absence of social bonds.
8.
Taking the children away from the ill-gotten food:
Fathers should provide
legal-gotten foods to their children, and protect them against any food that the
Lord has forbidden. The forbidden foods are the usurped, the real filthy things
-such as pork-, the external filthy things -such as foods affected by external
impurities-, and the like things that are detailed in the theses of the jurists.
Fathers should exert all efforts for habituating their children to have legal
food only since, as it has been proven through modern clinical surveys, the
sources of nutrition leave a great influence on the behavior and maturity.
Islam is terribly sensitive to any
matter that may delay the children’s growth and personal prosperity. Ill-gotten
foods have internal aftereffects on the mental constituents. They may cause the
hindrance of the behavioral activities in a way permitting the composition of
evil tendencies, such as severity and extreme assaults. As Islam has cared for
these aspects, it issued the obligation of keeping the children clear of the
ill-gotten foods. It is related that as the Prophet (s) noticed that Imam al-Hassan
-when was a child- put a fruit of date palms in the mouth, he disciplined,
“Throw it out! Have you not known that we –the Prophet and his household- do not
have from foods given as alms?”
After the calamitous incident of
Kerbala, Imam al-Hussein’s harems were taken to Kufa as captives. As some people
noticed that the accompanying children were starving, they gave them some fruits
of date palm as alms. Ummu-Kulthoum, the Prophet’s granddaughter, reproached the
children and informed that it was forbidden for the Prophet’s household to
receive alms. Immediately, the children took the fruits out of their mouths. As
the Prophet’s household kept up this illuminative behavior in the educational
fields, they produced those unprecedented and unparalleled young men and women
who formed the greatest exemplars in veracity, chastity, and decency.
Mothers’ Responsibilities
Mothers are the headmost schools
of structuring the children’s personalities, and supplying them with the noble
traits. Polite and courteous mothers produce virtuous generation. Decadence and
lewdness are the outcome of the generations that are brought up by impolite
mothers.
On mothers’ shoulders lie great
social liabilities. They are responsible for the nations’ future, honesty, and
progress. They are the origin brick in the building of the educational entity.
They also bear the most momentous aspects of the education of children since
they are the builders of the bases of the children’s tendencies and moralities
through guiding to virtues, ambitions, progression, action, and self-reliance.
It is very much difficult to change totally the matters that the children
acquire before their eighth year of age. So, those matters influence greatly the
society and peoples’ lives and maturity. It is so natural that a child --when
brought up on ambition, progression, activity, and diligence- will positively
add strong pillars to the nation for achieving the required deeds and
structuring propitious civilization..
Mothers enjoy some motives for
helping in the children’s custody and education:
1. Mothers are more tolerant than
others are in the field of educating and keeping their children. This is because
they enjoy natural instinctive motives. God has given deep love and affection to
mothers exclusively so that they consider their children as their hearts and
souls. Without this, children would not exist and live.
2. Mothers are more aware and
conscious of their children’s morals and moods. They are also more enlightened
with the soundest means of enjoining good and forbidding evil.
3. Naturally, children respond to
their mothers according to the law of exigency. They exert all efforts for
carrying out their mothers’ desires and obtaining their satisfactions.
Mothers’ duties:
Mothers, who desire to see their
sons be their future pleasure and relic, should work hard for educating the sons
and overseeing their behaviors by sticking in their minds the good biases and
the noble idealities.
1. Mothers should endear and
encourage on every good conduct by referring to the successful outcomes.
2. Mothers should warn their children
against any criminal and evil way and custom, and should warn them against the
behaviors of any party that is incongruent to the religious and social habits.
They should refer to the consequences of such things that are injurious for
families, societies, and the children themselves.
3. Mothers should choose chastity and
morality as the courses of educating their daughters whom should be guided to
the qualities of the female exemplars. They should be warned against
recklessness and being affected by the fashions of those women who are unaware
of their chastity and dignity. Careful tutelage should be focused on daughters
and their affairs so that they will not be polluted by the libertine conventions
that, unfortunately, found their way to our Islamic societies, and invaded our
people’s intellective and doctrinal lives. Daughters are usually more obedient
-to their mothers- than sons. They are always in need of their mothers. Hence,
mothers should maintain, manage, and train them on housekeeping. They should
also make them perceive the life’s liabilities so that they will fulfill their
duties in the future and become the good mothers of other generations.
4. Mothers should not exceed in
pampering their children in order to avoid the disadvantages that contribute in
the retardation of education and the future unbecomingness.
5. Mothers should attract their sons’
attentions to the high standards of their fathers. They should insist on
reverencing and respecting them. This will improve the fathers’ roles in
disciplining the deviate and leading to the good behavior.
6. Mothers should never contend their
husbands since this creates an aspect of mutual malice and hatred. Consequently,
such matters may lead to the children’s disorder and anxiety as well as other
mental complexes. Islam has urged women on pleasing the husbands and neglecting
any matter that may enrage them. The Prophet (s) is reported to say, “Allah will
not accept any dissuasion, remuneration or good deed of the wives unless they
satisfy their husbands.” “Wives, who mistreat and burden their husbands with
arduous and unbearable things, will not be rewarded for their good deeds, and
God will come upon in ire.” “Wives will not fulfill God’s rights before they
fulfill their husbands’.” Imam Abu Jafar says, “The deeds of wives, who address
at their husbands that they did not see any good from them, will be come to
nothing.”.
Muslim wives are asked to satisfy,
appease, and comply with their husbands in addition to avoid whatsoever may
disturb them. This is the only way of saving good education for their children.
7. Mothers should inform the
paterfamiliases of every aberrant deed they may notice on their sons’ behaviors.
Fathers’ turn then is disciplining and guiding the sons to the correct path.
Mothers should never cover up such deeds lest sons will have motives to keep up
the incorrect manners. Mothers are also asked not to make objections to fathers’
disciplinary punishments lest sons’ rebel and corruption may increase.
8. Mothers should protect their sons
from the streets that are full of seductive matters and motives of antisocial
behaviors. Nowadays, streets are including, to excess, the aberrant ones and
those who are morally affected and the source of children’s being polluted and
dragged to junkyards of immoralities and serious offenses.
9. Mothers should deprive their sons
of any cause or method that may injure chastity and purity, or collapse the
morals and ethics, such as sexy books, novels and cinemas, nightclubs and the
like. Such sources of seductive media draggle to the lowest levels of whoredom
and insolence.
10. Mothers should conserve chastity
and good behaviors. They should never display their charms and cast their
screens. They should keep up the Islamic conducts so that they would be the good
exemplars of their sons in fields of chastity and noble descent. Finally, they
should elude any matter that may arouse the cravings and corrupt the moralities.
Honest matrimonial relation creates
the precious emotions of the husband and incites him to believe perfectly that
he should prefer his sons and wife to his own interests. Dishonest relations, on
the other hand, eradicate the husbands’ jealousy to their wives and smash any
cerebral motive to bring up their sons honestly or care for saving good life for
them. This grand disaster affects mankind. Moral corruption of the young is one
of the consequences of that disaster. Sons who lack familiarity with
affectionate fathers who care for them will most surely opt for immorality.
Indeed, death of emotions leads to death of humanity.
Sons’
duties:
Islam has given a great attention
to sons whom are required to respect and obey their fathers absolutely. Thus,
impiety to parents is one of the grand sins for which God has threatened the
hell-fire. God’s Book refers to the obligation of benefaction and obedience to
parents in more than one position. God has attached the obedience of parents to
worship and compliance with Him. He says:
And your Lord has commanded that you
shall serve any but Him, and goodness to your parents. If either or both of them
reach old age with you, say not to them so much as ‘Ugh’ nor chide them, and
speak to them a generous word. And make yourself submissively gentle to them
with compassion and say: O my Lord! Have compassion on them, as they brought me
up when I was little.
Muslims should treat their parents
according to this straight course that represents Islam’s genuineness and
constancy in education and teachings. Muslims should also meet their parents
with thorough travails of service and charity, and dedicate all of the deeds to
the parents’ use until they are emotionally satisfied. Besides, the spirits of
contentment and acceptance should be dispersed in the parents’ mentalities. Any
single word of boredom or annoyance should not be said to the old parents who
lack the ability of managing their affairs. In such cases, it is insistently
imperative to serve and superintend them. It is quite obligatory to use leniency
with them and supplicate to God for their good and meet them with the best forms
of dignifying and honoring since these acts leads to God’s forgiveness. Reports
of confirmations of the Prophet and the Imams on the commitment to benevolence
and piety in treating parents are uninterruptedly existence in the reference
books of hadith and history.
Imam As-Sadiq (a) narrated: “O God’s
messenger!” a man addressed at the Prophet, “I have the desire to participate in
jihad.” “Yes,” said the Prophet, “You should strive for God’s sake. If you are
killed, you will be divinely alive and rewarded with earnings. If you die, God
will be rewarding you. If you come back safe, your sins will be totally condoned
as same as the day on which your mother had given birth of you.” “O God’s
messenger!” said the man, “I have aged parents who claim they feel at ease with
me and disagree to my departure.” “Then,” said the Prophet; “You are to settle
with your parents. By the Prevailing of my soul I swear, one day’s ease you
provide to your parents is more preferable to a year participation in jihad.”
Hence, we notice that sons’ piety to
their parents is more rewardful than jihad, which is one of the portals of the
Paradise. Zakaria Bin Ibrahim said: I had been Christian before I converted to
Islam, performed the ritual pilgrimage and came to Abu Abdillah (Imam as-Sadiq)
and told of my conversion to Islam. “What have you noticed in Islam
distinctively?” asked the Imam. I referred to God’s saying:
You had not known what is the Book
or the believing. But, We made it a light by which We raise whom We desire. The
Imam raised his hands upwardly supplicating to God for my good and guidance. “My
father and mother, who is sightless, are Christians,” said I, “I usually
accompany them and eat from the same saucer.” “Do they have the pork?” asked the
Imam. “Never,” I answered, “They do not even touch it.” The Imam instructed,
“Never mind. You should be pious to your mother. If she dies, none other than
you should make her funeral ceremonies. You should manage her affairs.”
As I was back hometown, I began to
implement the Imam’s instructions of piety of my mother that she wondered the
reason beyond my extraordinary supervision. “O son!” she pondered, “When you
were on my religion, you did not do this to me. As you converted to Islam after
your immigration, I noticed this fantastic piety to me, what is this?” “A man,
who is one of our Prophet’s descendants, instructed me,” I answered. “Is he a
prophet?” asked she. “No,” I answered, “He is a prophet’s descendant.” “These
are certainly the prophets’ instructions,” she expressed, “Your religion is
really the best.” She then Islamized.
Islam is grounded on rewarding the
well doers and piety to parents as much as possible.
Islam asserts on mothers’ piety
specifically more than fathers’. This is because mothers’ rights upon sons are
more abundant than fathers’ are. On the authority of Imam as-Sadiq, a man asked
the Prophet which of his parents he should treat more benevolently. “Your mother
is,” said the Prophet. “Who’s next?” asked the man. “Your mother is,” confirmed
the Prophet. “Who’s next?” reasked the man. “Your mother is,” said the Prophet.
“Who’s next?” reasked the man. “Then comes your father,” worded the Prophet..
Sons are responsible -before Allah-
for supervising and honoring their mothers by saving whatever they need. It may
be a part of rewarding the burdens and difficulties that they stood and exerted
in educating their sons. As a man was shouldering his mother to perform the
ritual circumambulating of the precept of pilgrimage, he asked the Prophet
whether he had fulfilled her duty. “No at all,” asserted the Prophet, “You have
not met even a single sigh.”
The filial piety and obeying the
parents -by serving them- are fundamental constituents of the Islamic education
that aims at establishing social ties that should be based upon true amiability
and association.
MODERN FAMILY
Today’s problems of families are
seriously impending. Owing to the social variances, modern families have left
many functions they had met before. This caused the dissociation and collapse of
family bonds. An educationist says, “As a matter of fact, one of the serious and
main threats of modern society is the dwindling of the natural roles of
families. This occurred because many other associations seized most of the roles
of families. This is unfortunately anticipated to make families lose that
effective role which is the most important power of social settlement.”.
It is inadmissible to regard the
feckless opinion of calling to the negligence of the family affairs and the
laxity of any discussion or thesis in this regard, since this plays no single
role in the social development. Moreover, Marxism, in its first stage, declared
that family affairs are one of the sources of exploitation that should be
destroyed. They claim paterfamiliases’ capitalizing on their wives and sons to
use as productive means.. It is to add that Engels confirms, “The individual
families do not work in transferring the means of production into a public
ownership which is the society’s economical unit. Private home management is
similarly changed into a craft, and children’s supervision and education are
changed into a public issue. The society should charge the mission of educating
the children including those who are not due for marriage. All those will surely
eliminate the feeling of abashment that girls feel because of some reasons
related, in this time, to the most important economical and ethical factors that
impede girls from subjecting freely to the one they love.”.
Communism has conceded many of its
decisions because it collided with the factuality of people all over history;
family is an indispensable, constant, and unchanging system. Thus, the Russian
project has directed to elevate the family affairs and work for protecting the
state for the good of children and mothers. It has also legislated the law of
granting the pregnant working women vacations before and after giving birth with
full stipends..
At any rate, it is significant to
have a short prospect on the terrible damages that families encountered under
the shades of the modern materialist civilization.
Women’s Conceding Education
In the past, women settled in
their houses for supervising their sons and looking after their husbands’
requirements. In association with men, women used to play the role of the
instructors to their sons. In the present day, women went out for practicing
men’s jobs. Home affairs became secondary tasks for women most of whom, in many
countries, conceive that giving birth of children contradicts their jobs;
therefore, birth control and negligence of giving birth floated on the surfaces.
It is quite understandable that women
are singly responsible for contriving the social and mental spheres for
achieving perfect and sound growth up of children. Numerous disadvantages were
the outcome of women’s secluding their basic functions. Family collapse has been
the main pitfall of this misdeed. Women began to meet their husbands and
children in concise periods. For many of them, family has been something similar
to a locanda that is vacant of any social or mental tie, which constantly calls
for putting the family interests in the top..
Women’s being outdoors has deprived
the children of enjoying the motherly affection since mothers practiced their
outer jobs and left their children most of time. Artificial nutrition and wet
nurses can never supplant mothers’ affection and kindness. Experiments have
proved that mothers’ milk is not the sole source of children’s maturity.
Mothers’ affection and tenderness, which is the natural and mental nutrition
that is received through their breasts, share the same significance of natural
nutrition in the fields of sound maturity and growth up. This is the main reason
beyond favoring mothers’ nutrition to the artificial. In other words, mothers’
milk gives physical and affectionate maturity, while the artificial may
contribute in the physical only since it is empty of the natural love and
tenderness. Mothers whose babies are nurtured artificially are recommended, by
pediatrists, to embrace their babies frequently.. As a rule, sound maturity is
attainable only through the reception of acceptable amount of mothers’ love and
affection. Mothers who leave their houses and babies will lose love and
affection. Many educationists, economists and psychologists reproach women’s
secluding their houses. Let us refer to some of these wordings and leave any
comment. A grand philosopher says, “As women began to practice general jobs,
families began to dispel. Tests have proved that women began to revolt against
the traditions of familiar ethics.”. John Simon the economist says, “Nowadays,
women have been weavers and typists. The governments employed women in
factories. They earned some money, but razed the pillars of their families
thoroughly. It is yes that husbands benefit by their wives’ earnings, but their
own earnings have been reduced because women began to compete with them.”.
August Cant, the sociologist, said, “If women’s manners in the social structure
are kept up in the way they desire, expiry is their fate. They will be captive
bondwomen.”. Annie Rod says, “It is quite preferable and less disastrous for our
girls to work as maids in houses to joining the factories where they are
polluted with profanities that rub out their glamour for good. I wish our
countries were like those of Muslims in reserve, chastity and purity. Maids and
servants there lead a life of ease and comfort and are treated as same as family
members without any sort of abuse. It is dishonorable for the country of the
English that our girls became models of vice due to association with men. I
wonder why we decline to make our girls practice the jobs that accord their
natural characters, such as the home affairs. For protecting our girls’ honor,
we should lead them to avoid men’s jobs.”.
Shafiq Jibri says, “Women in America
are leaving their nature when they began to compete with men in their jobs. This
participation will soon demolish the rules of their social lives. How can a
woman work and supervise her children and manage her home affairs at the same
time? The American women drifted in this course so excessively that a sort of
vying with men will be the result.”.
Samuel Smiles says, “Systems that
decide women’s working in factories for saving the national fortune are arising
lethal results that destroy the structure of the house lives. Such systems are
raiding at the frameworks of houses, demolishing the family pillars, and
unknotting the social ties.”. Ms. Amina Saeed says, “Ignorance is still
widespread among women. The present family decrees should be discussed in the
parliaments more than other issues. As much as I conceive, a house is an
unparalleled paradise. Women’s settlement in their houses equates thousands of
political rights.”.
When women left their houses to enter
to the factories and compete with men in jobs and economy, they became too short
to fulfill their house missions completely. They also show shortage in the task
of educating the early young. When the working women return home, they are
encumbered with an exhausting state. How can such women then provide a sound
education for their children? Naturally, this forms a menacing danger on the
generations that could be affected by several mental defects and behavioral
unsettlement, as educationists and psychologists affirm.
DIMINUTION OF MATRIMONIAL PROPORTIONS
The diminution and extreme
reduction of the matrimonial proportions is the most threatening exposure that
forebodes the family entities. Modern materialist civilizations has offered
women as a low-priced and trite stock that most of the youth abstain from
marriage since they could easily have the sexual carnality. They also lost any
motive to be involved in marriage and its accompanying liabilities. Sheik Behi
al-Khuli says, “The young men refrain from marriage since it prevents them from
getting the accessible renewed desires. The motives of modern developments have
brought about the expansive freedoms regarding ideas, wording, beliefs, and
private behaviors, in most of the western societies. It has also established
material goals in assets, utilities, and sensual desires that contradicted the
spiritual goals and the criteria of honor and chastity. Thus, everyone had the
private extensive freedom through which he could do whatever he liked without
any legal or traditional barrier. Traditions and social attitudes urged the
individuals daringly on doing whatever they want. The result was the triumph of
sex worship. The mania of lusts became too prevalent to exclude any. Hence,
matrimony became a manacle that restrains the freedom of obtaining the desires.
Each individual would leave his friend to find another at whom he can renew the
flaming desires.
This would indisputably lead to the
reduction of the population and the weakness of the nations in their mental and
material components. Ten years ago, some European societies showed the
disadvantages of such moral disintegration. Unfortunately, it is got bigger and
bigger to include many other countries.
Sociologists are ringing the tocsins
and warning again the coming misfortunes of the negligence of family. They are
also alarming against the ethical collapse, the destruction of social ties, and
the extinction of generations. It was thoroughly true when the French Marshal
Petan called his people to virtue on that day when the German forces occupied
France in the Second World War. He said, “Weigh your steps. They are surely
hefty in the balance. You have disdained the virtues as well as the total
spiritual principals. You have rejected the children, relinquished the family
affairs, and pursued the libidos.”
The Islamic states are required to
attend to the establishment, conduct, and the guaranty of the security of
families. They should also improve the economic, cultural, and political
circumstances that may influence family systems. Like alimentation, teaching,
and defense, the Islamic states are fully responsible of managing families in
the most appropriate manner. As a matter of fact, there are many alike purposes
that should never be left in the individuals’ hands because they are the
governments’ missions.”.
Sexual
deviation
The reduction and diminution of
the matrimonial proportions exuded the disadvantages that threatened the
destruction and disintegration of family entities and individuals’ behavioral
disorder. One of the most critical disadvantages was the predominance of abuse.
It is clearly notable that nothing should be more menacing and fatal than the
commonness of abuse, which is behind the confusion of lineage and the collapse
of the moral rules. God has counted fornication with polytheism, and compared it
with those who commit homicide. They are threatened of immortality in the
hell-fire. God says:
And
they who do not call upon another god with Allah and do not slay the soul, which
Allah has forbidden except
in
requirements of justice, and who do not commit fornication and he who does this
shall find a requital of sin.
The
punishment shall be doubled to him on the day of resurrection, and he shall
abide therein in abasement.
Islam has instituted many dams and obstacles against fornication. It has ordered
women of concealing their charms. God says:
And
do not display their ornaments except what appears thereof.
It is also forbidden for women to
attract the attentions and leading to their beauties and decorations. God says:
…
And let them not strike their feet so that what they hide of their ornaments may
be known.
Men are forbidden from associating with women except the family members. The
Prophet says, “You are not permitted to meet women separately except those
enjoying a degree of prohibition.”. It is also illegal to touch women other than
the family members. The Prophet (s) said, “Stabbing with an iron pin is quite
preferable to touching a non-consanguineous lady.”. The rewards of the women’s
prayers that are performed in their houses are as same as those performed in
mosques. This Islamic ruling intends to guard women against mixing with men and
being pushed in depravities and losing dignity, nobility, and honor.
Islam has used all devices and
potentials for contesting the sexual deviation and the libidinous anarchy, and
struggling all of the means that cause women to fall in depravities. Islam has
also called for elevating women to the maximal levels that make them good
housewives, educators, and gentle. It has intended to cause them to be
encompassed by dignity and honor. The modern materialist civilization has
cheated women and driven them to sins and licentiousness. Hence, women left the
bright field into a mean life of humility, meekness, and qualms.
Horrible waves of perversion have
crept into the western world due to which women lost the meanings of chastity,
dignity, coyness, and honesty, and lacked any knowledge of the genuine meaning
of existence except saturating their sexual libidos. Prostitution has been
common in clubs, institutes, and public locations in such a horrible way that it
embarrasses humanity. People have no longer counted the prostitution with the
ugly socially deniable matters. They have to agree upon encouraging and
admitting it. Paula Bierro says, “Nowadays, prostitution has turned into a
well-structured system comprising officials, hirelings, writers, publishers,
speakers, instructors, physicians, midwives, and commercial tourists. The most
up-to-date means of publications, shows, and advertisements substituted for this
regard.” George Askan says, “Adultery, inchastity, and opting for vulgar manners
have became one of the red-hot livings for the present girls.”
The daily and political mass media of
the West have been suffocated with topics that drive women to strip the dresses
of chastity and purity. This caused women’s unconcern, pollution, and running
behind lustful and libidinous falsities, changing the boyfriend whenever they
feel bored. This led to the corruption of the family affairs and the disorder
and aberrance of the family members.
Prostitution is a grand epidemic that
affects the societies. It is also one of the most significant motives that smash
the social entities and eradicate its genuineness and cohesion. Diseases, such
as chancroid, syphilis, and leukorrhea prevail on societies that are affected by
the epidemic of prostitution. Likewise, these diseases eliminate the public
health, cause serious ailments, eradicate the personal integration, and dismiss
all of the moral and ethical sources.
These epidemics have affected many
territories around this world. Hospitalities and clinics have received great
waves of the diseased everyday. Despite the modern medications, these epidemics
prevailed hugely on people and led to other mental diseases such as hysteria.
Lunatic asylums were suffocated with the diseased of hysteria, which is the
outcome of the sexual diseases. Thus, the numbers of the victims of such
diseases increased horribly. Meanwhile, such diseases thwart economical
developments and progression on which the prosperity of health depends. Finally,
they have been wasting a great international wealth as disbursements of the
medications of the diseased by such epidemics.
The outbreak of the contraceptive
tablets among the prostitutes who fear pregnancy is one of the humiliating
aspects of the sexual deviation. These tablets have been greatly widespread
among the students of the Western colleges and institutes where the states of
abortion and miscarriage have been intensely common. Such states should
naturally leave an extreme influence on women’s health and lethargy, and play a
great role in the processes of birth control. The prodigality of foundlings has
also been one of the results. In the capitals of the Western countries, this
phenomenon has occupied a great area. This has caused the governments there to
establish refuges and orphanages for receiving the great numbers of those
afflicted individuals who have originally lost the paternal affection and
undergone a great deal of mental complexities, as psychologists assure. Ill
manners, natures, and social impression are the most menacing dangers affecting
such individuals. These were only a part of the dangers of the sexual anarchy,
which threatens waves of dominating sins over the family structure and leads to
decline.
Sons’
impiety
Another aspect of the modern
family disintegration has been the sons’ isolating their parents distinctively
in opinions, beliefs, and tendencies. The modern education has used all of its
material potencies for doubting and reducing the parents’ customs and ideas.
Thus, the new generations cursed their fathers’ idealities and values. This
created an ideological and mutinous struggle against the (antiquated) social
traditions. A violent and intense combat between sons and their fathers, who
continually complained the sufferings of their sons’ impiety, disobedience, and
ill manners, was has been come up. They reported various stories of the sons’
crudeness, inchastity, severity, and depravity. John Dewey the educationist
says, “It is inutile to mourn for those old days that carried the sons’ good
manners, chastity, respect, and obedience. Mourning will never regain the past,
however. Modern changes are the outcome of the natural edicts that should be
solved only by a sufficient amount of disciplining.”
Dewey’s opinion is very true. Modern
changes on family, educational, and social systems have been the main cause of
the sons’ mutiny and extreme disobedience. It is impossible to regain the former
nature without reeducating the natures and desires, and seeding virtuous
tendencies in spirits.
DISINTEGRATION AND LOOSENESS
Terrible sorts of disintegration
and looseness have affected most of the modern families. Exaggeration in using
the various sorts of pleasures and plural of prohibitive matters led to moral
downfalls and behaviors. Running behind amusement causes incoherent generations
that lack the meanings of human and social values and idealities. Children, when
notice their parents addicted to the intoxicants and other vices, will surely
have ill behaviors and misguidance. An educationist says, “Family has generally
become a humble sphere of education. Modern parents have exceeded the borders in
their naivete, agitation, weakness, or awkwardness. Most of such parents may
convey those defects to their children. Most children receive the ill manners,
corruption, quarreling, and addiction to intoxicants through their houses and
families. Others may receive such manners through their friends. So, it is not
exaggerative to decide that most of the modern parents ignore the proper ways of
education disregarding their social class. Schools have fallen behind in
fulfilling their duties. Teachers’ behaviors are not much different from those
of parents.”.
In most cases, the aberrance of the
early young is based upon the family disintegration and looseness. It is correct
to affirm that the family reformation is preceded to the other educational
factors. Family is the first school that has a direct influence on behaviors and
guidance.
School:
School is one of the educational
elements that help in composing the children and amending their education.
Schools, when enjoy good intendments and sound courses that are managed by a
sincere teaching body, will produce conscious generations that believe in their
national goals. On the other side, when schools neglect their duties and
liabilities, the national values will collapse and the generations will be
affected in their behaviors and intendments. It seems important to have a brief
look on schools.
Prominence of schools:
Schools have an eminent access to
man’s progress and development. They are the sources of the ideological
illumination and the scientific maturity. In addition, they are the most
significant principle of saving people from ignorance and vice. An educationist
says that the establishment of a school is the demolishing of a prison.
Shakespeare says that science is the
wing by which we fly in skies. A French author records, “This world is keeping
successfully on approaching to thinking in humanity. It is impracticable for any
nation to elevate by any means other than the generalization of teaching.
Science is the only manner of protecting people against ignorance.”
The spread of schools and science is
an essential provision of any national renaissance, attainment, and elevation.
It is also a basic element in the structure of the educational entity and the
children’s acquiring a sound personality and behavior. Some educationists decide
that schools are more influential than families are in the field of education.
They say, “For their positions, schools are the national means of the
educational management. I oppose those who threw the burdens of the ethical
education on the shoulders of families. I decide schools’ roles in the
children’s ethical composition must be on great importance since the most
significant part of the moral culture cannot be received through any aspect
other than schools. Family may have the ability of arising and developing the
house clemencies that are essential for moral lives and based upon simple
individual relations. Yet, families are still unable to be the most virtuous
means of preparing the children for performing their duties in the social life
soundly.”.
Mental life in early childhood is
usually weak. Sentimental life in the same period is too naďve to allow the
psychological state to compose the life elements without the existence of
schools. From that cause, educationists care much for schools and reckon with
the most significant educational portions.
Teaching:
For educationists, teaching is
not merely how to write and read. It is a comprehensive meaning for all means of
preparing the individuals to participate in their environments. It also gives an
adequate amount of study to make them conscious citizens that are competent for
serving themselves and their societies.
Goals
of teaching:
Educationists are disposed to the
goals and purposes resulted from teaching. They are as follows:
Development of the Cognizance:
The chief function of teaching is
the development and guidance of the conscience and the tendencies in such a
prudent way that agrees with the good of the individuals and societies. The
teaching staffs are in charge of managing this guidance and developing the
feelings of serving people. It also functions for plunging into the positive
undertaking for others’ good. This is the very point to which Islam has
referred. “You should long to others the same things you long to yourselves, and
hate to others the same things you hate to yourselves.” This is a prophetic
saying indicating the topic involved. On the composition of this noble tendency,
Islam has built its creative education that aims at serving the societies and
developing the means of elevation on the bases of mutual association and advice.
Psychologists affirm that the leading mission of schools is the orderly
influence in the individual behavior that is directed by the society. The main
function of schools must be directed to the children’s behavior. The scope of
changing is the actual measurement of schools’ success in conducting the
generations’ comportment. Schools should seek the help of all of the
humanitarian sciences for achieving this success. This fact provoked on the
establishment of a department in psychology devoted to solving the educational
problems. It is named educational –or teaching- psychology..
Publicity of the Educational Conscience:
The general criterion of peoples’
progress all over the stages of humanity depends upon the amount of teaching
opportunities that are provided for the individuals. This is the greatest
fortune that nations may possess.
Teaching must purpose for publicizing
the cultural conscience that relies upon the individuals’ realizing the
encompassing circumstances and the ability of improving them. The educational
and teaching institutes should work for stretching the scientific spirits and
using the modern scientific means in the private or the general life. This
achieves the life prosperity and the prevalence of scientific conscience all
over the country.
Identification of the Social Problems:
It is imperative for the teaching
processes to identify exclusively the social questions and problems. As much as
we conceive, the imperialism is the most menacing danger that the Islamic nation
had to face. It executed Muslims’ dignity and rent asunder their nation into
weak small countries. It also rooted Israel in the heart of the Arab nation,
supported with armament, protected, and favored its aggression and assaults
against the Arabs. Israel has been playing the role of humiliating the Arabs and
Muslims, seizing their territories and banishing them. The imperialists’ purpose
has been replacing the Arab homeland with the Israeli so that the sources of the
Arabs’ great wealth would be in their hands. Thus, it is quite urgent for the
teaching staffs to attract the early generations’ attention to the dangers of
Zionism and imperialism, and create a revolutionary spirits that are based upon
antagonizing the imperialism. This is surely the greatest service that the
teaching staff may provide for their countries.
DUTIES
OF TEACHERS
The teaching message is not
limited to enlightening the pupils with information. In fact, the teachers’
tasks are more comprehensive. Besides teaching and stuffing the pupils with
knowledge, teachers should prepare them soundly to associate and establish their
own lives in the various fields. Teachers should also provide for empowering the
pupils’ talents, disciplining their morals, undertaking their desires and
tendencies, planting virtues in their hiddens, and educating them according to
the systems that confirm their societies’ traditions for making them good
citizens. Moreover, the teaching staffs are responsible for founding the bonds
of cooperation with the pupils so that they can identify their problems and
behaviors. They should never misuse their positions. They should show their
students a fraternal spirit to lead them to the right and establish in their
minds the immunity against falling in crooked paths.
“Teachers are playing the role of the
pupils’ pioneers and their guardians’ guides and masters. This is the base of
composing sound societies.” Teachers can prepare virtuous and orthodox
generations in the society only when they fulfill their educational missions so
aptly and seed the ties of confidence and love with the pupils. Teachers should
evade alignments and defects since these restrain the pupils’ individual and
social activities. They are also required to describe the most significant gaps
that hinder the pupils’ scientific development. Islamic educationists refer to
other duties that the teachers ought to care and undertake.
-Teachers should provide a detailed
study of the Islamic civilization and its values and developments. The
influences of the Islamic civilization on the other civilizations should be
focused, too.
-Teachers should provide a study of
the current Islamic society for familiarizing the elements of the ceaseless
modification and identifying the aspects of its power and weakness. Pupils
should have full acquaintance with all of the parts of the participation in
establishing a perceptive, powerful, and united Islamic society aiming for
achieving justice, raising the levels of livelihood, and securing the
individuals and the society.
-Teachers should present the
geographical and cultural connections of the parts of the Islamic homeland,
which is completely perfected and reciprocally coupling.
-Teachers should provide a
comparative study of the teaching and the educational systems all over the
Islamic countries.
-Teachers and pupils should visit the
Islamic countries, and contact the educational and teaching institutes there.
-Teachers should arouse the Islamic
sense in the pupils’ spirits by providing them with the spirits of taking pride
in their religion so that this may reflect on the whole sorts of the aspects of
individual and social behaviors.
-Teachers should provide a detailed
study of the Islamic history and geography for identifying the Muslims’ past
glories and present interests.
-Teachers should unveil the grand
Islamic personalities in the various fields of the human civilization.
-Teachers should guide the pupils to
their national duties in the social and political fields.
-Teachers should immunize the
citizens against the foreign ideological invasion that intend to pervert the
Islamic spirit.
-Teachers should enlighten Muslims of
the threatening dangers of the imperialism and Zionism.
-Teachers should encourage Muslims on
the positive activities that aim at liberating the territories that are seized
by the Zionist gang.
-Teachers should provide the Islamic
behavior that comprises the bases of common cooperation, responsibility,
feelings, and sacrificing for the publics.
-Teachers should study the courses
that lead the pupils to their duties to their parents and families.
Qualifications of teachers
A teacher is the nation’s pioneer
and the generations’ instructor who is bound with the greatest social
responsibilities. The following are some qualities that teachers should carry:
- Teachers should be acquainted with
a suitable amount of knowledge and science as supports in identifying the nature
of the human behavior, reasons, and results lying behind this behavior.
- Teachers should acquire a set of
skills helping in practising definite sorts of activities.
- Teachers should acquire a set of
virtuous tendencies that help in a successful interaction with the pupils.
- Teachers should be punctual and
capable of conducting and taking in consideration the various circumstances and
situations.
- Teachers should supervise
accurately their functions and use the best fruiting acts in the fields of
performance.
Teachers are successful only when
they contribute in rendering good citizens who serve their nations consciously
and faithfully. Nations would collapse and the social progression would be
hindered if teachers neglect these goals and stop at filling in the pupils’
minds with information only. Unfit teachers publicize psychological disorders
among the pupils as if an infectious disease has affected them.. At any rate,
the real education requires the teaching staff’s powers of working,
intelligence, and endowing with the righteous customs, virtuous moralities,
self-reliance, and consciousness.
They are also asked to fulfill the principals that are required by the genuine
education. These principals are as follows:
- The attainment to perfection.
- Benefiting by and guiding the
children’s natural talents.
- Educating the desires and
encouraging them on doing well.
- Caring for the pupils’ senses,
bodies, and mentalities.
- The utility of the children’s
personal activities for enabling them to benefit by the talents God has gifted
and the virtuous tendencies they have inherited.
- Granting the children the
opportunities of training on acquiring the best of customs and ethics..
Teachers should master the materials
they teach. They also must have full acquaintance with the principals of
psychology, education, sociology, and physiology. These principals qualify them
to acquaint the children’s physical and mental potentials along with their
natures, functions, and growth. Likewise, teachers should have familiarity of
the most current surveys and norms of educationists. Teachers should apply and
exploit these studies in the processes of educating the children. Finally,
teachers should be good exemplars in personality and behavior..
Teachers’ Responsibilities:
Teachers carry serious
responsibilities and excellent duties. They are responsible -before God- for
educating the young generations correctly and guaranteeing their future so that
they will be their fathers’ relief and their nations’ representatives.
Abul-Hassan an-Nadawi says, “I do not know a trust more responsible, serious,
and influential in the nations’ future and present than education and teaching
are. Any flaw in these fields may lead the nation to the deepest hallow, and may
lead to evanescence, degeneracy, and anarchy in morals, sociology, policy,
teaching, non-religiousness, and atheism. Education is the one and only means
through which the guidance of the intellectualities and mentalities, the new
national establishment, and the excellent future are achieved.”.
Teachers are in charge of any
ideological or doctrinal aberrance that may affect the nation. They are also
responsible for any mental maturity and cerebral disciplining of people. Gilbert
Hyte compares between the professions of teaching and medicine. He makes the
process of teaching more important than that of medicine. People may leave the
insufficient physicians, but the little pupils do not realize their teachers’
negligence, and fathers do not accompany their children for exploring the real
states of the teachers. Even if they do, they would not be able to realize the
very reality of the teachers’ doing their jobs properly. It is easy for people
to leave the insufficient physicians, while the little pupils cannot choose
another teacher. Therefore, the responsibility of teachers is more serious than
that of the physicians.. It is said, “If you want to seek the reason beyond a
people’s development, you should search for their teachers.” An educationist
says, “If we believe that the development and expansion of the children’s
intellects, tendencies, and faculties is the school’s responsibility, the
teaching they should receive before joining schools must be more exalted.”. John
Luke believes that the human intellect is purely white when a child carries it
to school. The school fills in its sides with human heritage and experiments.
This means that the teachers’ processes of teaching have the greatest part in
the composition of personal behaviors and supporting with potentials that are
essential for achieving good success, noble living, and social true association.
Psychologists confirm that teachers
are responsible for prompting the educational development. Societies have given
the teachers the trust of contriving the children’s experts and inducing their
talents and inclinations. They are also responsible for managing and guiding
such development in such a good way that becomes the interests of the society
and the individuals..
Concernment of the Teaching Staff
The teaching body is the
inception of the country’s mental illumination. On that account, the ministries
of education should pay more attention to the teachers by identifying their
problems and providing the binding succor. They are gainful. It is also
obligatory upon those ministries to encourage teachers on exerting all efforts
in their jobs. Ministries are also asked to alleviate the teachers’ fatigue,
show them engrossment, cooperate with them in the management of teaching, raise
their levels, disperse the spirits of sincerity among them, and eradicate the
elements of retardation, abrasion, and defect. All these would participate in
saving the teachers’ dignity. Paying attention to teachers is one of the general
life affairs in the developed countries, regarding them as the centers of
guidance and the sources of the scientific progression and advancement. Thus, it
is important to care for and cooperate with teachers in the total fields of
life.
Concernment of the Students
The teaching process cannot
accomplish its goals unless the students’ economic lives reach an acceptable
level. Students will not be able to keep on and devote to learning if they lack
such circumstances in which the institutes of teaching and education should
interfere and contribute in aiding the poor students. Actually, poverty
eliminates the talents and aptitudes as well as the other human potentials. The
governments should assist the free physical checkup and the essential nutrition.
This does not mean that the administrations of schools are in charge of doing
this alone, but they may promote in it as much as possible. Providing aids for
the poor students, whose poverty impedes them from continuing in receiving
teaching, is a principal upon which the equality of the teaching opportunities
is reliable.
FAILURE OF TEACHING
A tremendous failure has affected
the teaching process in most provinces of this world. Hence, the teaching
process fell behind to achieve its educational mission that aims for
disciplining the ethics, reforming the spirits and devoting to virtuous customs
and noble traits.
Negligence of the Moralities
Modern education has not been
based upon the principals of teachings and ethics. Most of the teaching media
has paid no attention to this matter. An educationist says, “Teachers do not
engage themselves in treating the pollution that affect the children. They think
only of scholastic tests and success. Moralities are totally neglected, none
thinks of rectifying the ethical faults.”. The outcome of this neglect has been
the moral anarchy that is situated in the youth’s spirits. Owing to miseducation
and ignorance, some began to regard such looseness as a good behavior. Harris
Man the educationist says, “The real education is neglected since schools,
unfortunately, care only for stuffing the memories. Teachers are interested in
the abundance of news and chat. Speaking a lot has never been a sort of
education or teaching. The teachers’ tasks are not addressing information only.
The actual tasks of teachers are the real multi-sided education. Teachers ought
to be educators; they should join education to teaching.”.
The teaching has failed to establish generations that are conscious, developing,
believing in the national goals, and working positively for the good of mankind
and homeland. An educationist says, “It is not a sort of exaggeration to say
that the teaching has failed in composing mature personalities that are marked
by an intellectual and mental equanimity and capable of enjoying a free life of
kind humanitarian bonds. The reason is very evident. It is that the teaching has
not taken in consideration the relations between schools and societies. The
managers of teaching pretend to forget the fact that the responsibility of
schools is preparing the youth through the experts, learning of the social life,
and associating in the societies that are ruled by independence and cooperation.
These two matters are surely the qualities that are most essential for modern
being. Scholastic authorities tend to pour information in the pupils’ minds
rather than composing their moralities. This gives triumph to the
non-educational innovation.”.
Mr. Lehman criticizes the American
education. He stresses that it does not create a culture, a common set of
principals, or an ethical and mental disciplining..
Failure is the inevitable fate of any
teaching process that disdains the moral structure and the mental disciplining.
Successful teaching is exclusively that which proposes the mental reformation
and the sensible amendment. Aristotle says, “There is no instructed lesson or
acquired habit more meaningful than true judgment and jubilating over noble
traits and estimable deeds.”.
The negligence of morals and the
unconcern of behaviors lead to many disadvantages such as the prevalence of
arrogance, rashness, looseness, and concern. among students.
Negligence of the Good Manners
It is unfortunately noticeable
that the current schools are uninterested in the students’ good manners outer
schools. Fathers are also detached in their sons’ aberrance and irregularity.
They care only for the scholastic success that their sons achieve in the final
exams. This has resulted in the youth’s mutiny and loss of most of their ethics
and social traditions. An educationist says, “Fathers who are careless to their
sons are interested only in the scholastic success they achieve in the final
exams. For the officials, the successful schools are only those providing the
maximal number of successful students. Education and care for behaviors are
matters uninterested for the majority. This negligence of the educational
aspects in home and schools is the main cause of the big disparity between sons
and fathers and the immensity of struggle. It also has established that
independent, purposeless, and aimless generation that walks randomly and ignores
the past bonds.”.
Serious social dangers, the most
important of which is the demolishing of the family entities and the social
structure, are the results of such negligence.
Absolute Teaching:
Modern schools have been
interested in the absolute teaching, which supplies the pupils with no experts
or social interaction. Filling up the pupils’ minds with sciences and knowledge
is powerless on the individuals’ lives unless it accords their factualities.
Unfortunately, the majority of schools is uninterested in this course since they
have been caring for finishing the teaching courses in any form, and the
students’ most interesting matter is passing the scholastic tests successfully.
Surveys on the graduated students have proven that passing the tests
successfully has not been an adequate proof of a student’s success in the
practical life. Plenty of academically successful students failed in their
practical life because of the educational defects. Thus, the conscious education
underrates the absolute knowledge that is obtained via inanimate or negative
processes of teaching. It also devaluates the knowledge that is disconnected to
the environment or the general life.
The processes of teaching should be
totally streamed in the children’s powers that ought to be discovered for
training, developing, and guiding suitably so that a pupil would earn beneficial
mental, physical, and social habits and skills that condition his behavior
according to the varying circumstances. As well, education ought to pour on the
pupils’ response, tastes, and emotions to compose lively spirits of right and
justice. The actual education and teaching are the means of organizing man’s
capabilities of acquiring behaviors that are congruous to the social systems in
a way warranting the individuals’ good manners and aptitude of conditioning with
the social world.
The knowledge that the teachers
provide for their students demarcates the process of teaching. Those students
gain such knowledge in the scope of acquisition. Knowledge is not a triumph
unless its meanings and purports are perceived and utilized, individually and
collectively, in the life and behaviors. This is inapplicable unless the
teaching processes care for the learners’ intellectualities, tendencies,
activities, powers, and behavior in an aspect that is positively materialized in
the current and future actions..
Coeducation
Many educationists have agreed
that the coeducation is the hindrance of the development and prosperity of
teaching. They have also confirmed the necessity of sexual separation in the
teaching processes. They provided the following proofs:
-Girls cannot compete with boys in
the mental processes because the two sexes do not have equal health, power, and
intelligence.
-The atmosphere of combining girls
and boys in the same classes is unfit for benefiting by the sources of
intelligence and the opportunities of teaching completely. Sexual separation in
the stages of pre-teenage, and teenage in specific, is the only method of
creating the educational aspect that fits the sound teaching.
-The dangerous moral and emotional
results of the coeducation are quite harmful especially in early childhood and
teenage. Before the little individuals catch enough time for gaining a mental
understanding and a wakening sensitivity, they lose the vitality and frankness
due to the coeducation. For the little girls, they lose delicacy, viscosity, and
modesty due to being mixed with the other sex. Sexual agitations that injure
love and matrimony in the age of adulthood may be, in most cases, the
consequence of the meeting of male and female teenagers.
-There is a big difference between
the two sexes in the fields of the professional and social guidance. Hence, it
is impossible to constitute a special program fitting the exigencies of the two
sexes in the same time in any scientific institute. Both sexes will lose the
educational, as well as the other, aspects.
-Girls’ maturity is speedier than
boys’ is. This fact creates an unsolvable trouble in the classes of the teenage
and pre-teenage pupils. The coeducation obliges both to be in the same class for
several hours a day, and practice common operations in a stage of unlike
physical, exciting, and social points.
The problems of the coeducation
result in mental retardation of the pupils and maturity of the sexual mutual
tendencies in addition to many other troubles and difficulties.. It indisputably
leads to a moral deadlock and the collapse of ethical rules. Some conceive that
there is no harm in the coeducation. They describe the matter as naďve and far
away from profanity and aberrance. As a matter of fact, The bearers of such
ideas do not regard man’s nature, components, and impulses. From early creation,
man is molded on gushing to sexual desires, smashing every obstacle. God relates
the story of Joseph the prophet and with the chief’s wife. He says:
And
Thou turn not away their device from me, I will yearn towards them and become
one of the ignorant.
Joseph the prophet was one of God’s
apostles. How should ordinary people practice then? God has exposed that man’s
soul is cast on gashing to impulses. He says:
Most
surely man’s self is wont to command him to do evil.
It is now clear that the strong young
can hardly be screened against the lusts and against perpetrating fornication.
Sheik Mohammed Zeinuddin says, “Before a glutton hungry, fetch an appetizing
banquet that is filled with the various colors of mouth-watering food. Let him
enjoy by gazing at it for an hour or more so that you will be assured of the
accuracy of this proof. Let that hungry gratify his eyes with each dish singly,
inhale the smells, gaze at each, count the fruits, and repeat the same process.
After a couple of hours, you may ask him whether he is still hungry or not. His
hunger will never keep its same state after filling the eyes with those various
colors of food. Neither the joy of the eye with appetizing food, the joy of the
hearing with speech, nor can any other sense supplant the gourmands of sex and
stomach. Anyone who may repudiate this fact is belying himself and the
intellectual postulation.”.
This opinion discloses the life
factuality and the sound nature on which God has created the human beings.
People’s rushing voraciously towards their sexual desires is the sound nature
that never changes. The press media have reported tens of the sins and dishonors
of this mixing of the male and female students in universities and faculties.
Alittihad al-Qawmi –a magazine- reported, “Mixed schools in America resulted in
ugly consequences. Boys and girls have been wholly engaged in philandering,
chasing, and practicing the sexual relations instead of studying. Thus, students
of the two sexes left their study courses totally. Educationists there decided
sexual isolation in primary and secondary schools.” As-Sha’b, the Egyptian
newspaper, wrote, “The waves of sexual disintegration have been terribly
increasing in the United States.
Schools and universities have become
the most fertile grounds of the sexual irregularity. Male and female pupils have
become addict drunkards and assassins. Pistols, blades, and knives are noticed
in the male pupils’ pockets, while cigar boxes and tablets of contraceptive are
in the females’. As these phenomena attained an unbearable level, a judiciary
body began to survey the pupils’ crimes in New York. It recommended that a
policeman should stop on the gates of each school for hindering the activities
of the pupils’ gangs. Some judges have anticipated that policemen may drift in
the pupils’ limitless clamor!” Lindsey, the American judge, guesses that about
45% of the girls of schools profane their honors before graduation. This
proportion is greatly higher in the advanced stages of teaching..
Educationists have understood
completely the necessity of the sexual isolation in all of the stages of
teaching after they had noticed the frightful injuries of the coeducational
system, which led to the cessation of the teaching development and the
informality of the students’ disintegration and corruption.
Contrast of Teaching:
The mixture of contrasting
opinions and principals that the teachers pose has affected the teaching
processes. A teacher may introduce special ideas in the class, and incite the
students to accept them. Another teacher may come to the same class with another
contrary idea that he favors and encourages. This would create the students’
ordeal. An educationist says, “For imagining the scope of the hazardous hardship
and hesitation, you may picture the students’ nerves and ideas when they receive
a contrary mixture of opinions and principals everyday. Yet, they are obliged to
accept and embrace them all. The teacher of religion exposes this universe from
a religious viewpoint, but the teacher of sociology denies this opinion totally.
Both teachers want the students to believe in their opinions. A third teacher
may demolish the hypotheses of the two and keeps on building a new idea in the
mentalities of those poor students. Like the opinion of the universe, the theses
of ethics, history, economy, and metaphysics can be contrarily opposite and
different.”
This sort of discord has fixed an
ideological disorder and contrastive tendencies in the students’ minds. It is
sorrowful that the teaching faculties have been the mart of foreign ideas that
antagonize our nationality and religion.
Some schools in the Islamic world
have failed acutely in conveying their missions. From that cause, an
undiscerning generation that ignores the religious and national goals and
submits to the imperialistic rumors, has come forth. The imperialists have
depended upon such individuals in publicizing their ideas and goals. If the
officials intend to treat this failure, they should concern with identifying and
devoting the lessons to the religious education in all of the stages of
teaching. The youth then will recognize the creative systems that Islam has
brought for developing the social behavior and installing the spirits of virtues
and noble tendencies in the minds.
ENVIRONMENT
Environment is one the most
eminent effects of education. Children pursue their environments unfeelingly.
The environment plants instincts and habits in the children’s minds easily and
readily. The youth follow the environmental effects in good and bad
circumstances. However, internal and external factors, that interact and receive
medial influences to bring about the moralities and habits, affect the human
beings directly.
Signification of Environment:
Educationists have unanimously
agreed that the social surroundings are within the most significant elements on
which education depends in the formation of human personalities and the
achievement of the individuals’ desires within the general frame of
civilization. They also contribute in consummating a high degree of social
perfection. At the same time, the surroundings reduce the tensions and aspects
of aberrant behaviors, and this creates the individuals’ collective combination
and loyalty to the goals and values of the society..
The
Environmental Responsibilities:
The social surroundings are
responsible for any degradation or retardation that affects the educational
values since their role is elevating the levels of the national scientific and
ethical ambitions. They are also asked for establishing the competent means of
promoting the culture and illuminating the intellectualities with science. A
deep look into the social surroundings all over the various historical eras will
expose that the surroundings of a considerable progression and civilizing had
performed their duties of urging the officials on developing the conscience and
broadcasting the scientific waves among the various social classes. This is one
of the immense goals that are intended in the Prophet’s saying, “You all are
supervisors and you all are responsible for your subjects.” Hence, all Muslims
are in charge of demanding their governments with founding the means of
development and outgrowth for contributing in the constructing of the human
civilization.
The
Environmental Settlement:
The settlement of the social
surroundings and the family order has a substantial pertinence in the rectitude
of the behaviors and the mansuetude of the youth. UNESCO has discussed the
unnatural effects on the children’s mentalities. After a comprehensive
inspection, the following report was submitted:
“The surroundings’ psychological
settlement and the families’ mutual amiability are the bases on which the
children’s emotional conditioning and the satisfactory social relations are
grounded. In case these surroundings deform the children’s piety to parents, it
will be so arduous for them to associate socially.”.
The environmental settlement is
really one of the causes that contribute in the coherence and prosperity of the
children’s personalities, and in avoiding the elements of concern. Psychologists
decide that the environmental disorder and the accompanying perplexities and
depravities; all these cause the children to feel weak in the face of a world of
cheating, trickery, treason, and envy..
Categories of Environment
Educationists determine that
there are two sorts of environments in which the human beings live.
One:
The Natural Environment:
The natural environment comprises
all of the natural surroundings. The earth along with all of what is above or
beneath in addition to the powers and energies; all these are the components of
the natural environment. The natural sciences beginning with simple information
given to the pupils up to biology, chemistry, and physics are related to the
natural environment that the students must understand, totally or partially, so
that they can condition themselves.
Two:
The Social Environment:
The social environment is the
society of mankind and the relations between the individuals and groups.
Economical, political, professional, cultural and psychological relations are
the components of the social environment. Besides, the social sciences, such as
history, geography, education, economics and politics, relate to the social
environment. On that account, it is preferable for the students to have enough
acquaintance with these sciences in order to be able of conditioning socially.
The spiritual and mental values play a considerable effective role in the social
environment through educating and raising the levels of the early youth.
The
Environment in Islam:
Islam has been intensely
concerned with the environment since it is an effective element in the
educational and social composition. Good environments support the nation with
the best and the most proficient individuals who progress in great steps in the
fields of virtue and reformation. In like fashion, evil environments bring about
the vile licentious individuals who distribute their mental defects among
people.
Islam has identified the whole
devices and powers of reforming and evolving the environment for achieving
justice, right, and equality, and eradicating the elements of lag, retardation,
injustice, wronging, and stinginess. It has been also purposed for achieving
security and settlement, and eliminating the seditious and disorderly affairs.
The Islamic environment has produced those great, excellent, intelligent, and
virtuous reformers who were the best of mankind, all over history, in believing
in God, inciting to the right, and exerting efforts for the sake of justice.
It is noticeably important to discern
that Islam has actually been concerned with the private environments. It has
recognized the most significant aspect of raising the individuals’ reactions in
acquiring customs and moralities. This aspect is friendship, which is the most
powerful educational element that transfers the individuals’ traits and
tendencies. Sociologists have affirmed the point by saying, “The social life is
the life of influence and perception. Every individual influences and perceives
from the surroundings.” This meaning is also asserted through proverbs and
literary sayings that prove the individuals’ being influenced by their friends.
Islam has emphasized on associating
the virtuous, godly, noble, honorable, and straight individuals, through whom
good manners and noble traits are acquired. Imam al-Hassan (a) says in his
everlasting words of advice: “When you need to associate with men, you should
choose those whose friendship graces you and guards in troubles. You should
choose those who assist you in exigencies, and believe your discourse, and back
you in charges, and participate in virtues. It is they who cover up your flaws,
and regard your favors, and give when you need, and chatter in silence, and
console in misfortunes, and save from troubles, and do not misguide or
disappoint in calamities, and prefer in litigation”.
By those golden words, the Imam has
assigned the Islamic duties of friendship that obligate mutual supervision,
amiability, and cooperation among friends.
Friendship lead to the acquisition of
customs and the interaction with the friends’ ethics, tendencies, and trends.
Therefore, Islam has warned against befriending the morally and mentally
defected individuals. Imam Ali (a), the great educator, instructs his son Imam
Al-Hassan:
“O son! Beware of associating with
the idiot. They harm when they intend to benefit. Beware of associating with the
misers. They deprive you of the very things that you need. Beware of associating
with the licentious. They vend you with valueless. Beware of associating with
the liars. They look like a mirage that shows the remote as close and the close
as remote.”
Many damages that cause the loss of
the behavioral balance result in associating with such individuals. The
reference books of hadith are full of many prophetic and imamic sayings
regarding the qualities and influences of friends. The Prophet (s) says, “Man
pursues his friend’s religion.”.
The youth that accept their religion
and doctrine are advised to be careful of the individuals that are defected
morally and behaviorally, since such ones lead to sinning and depravity. The
youth should also avoid those who bear weak principals, such as existentialism
and the like, that call for disintegration and the prevalence of the jungle law.
Unfortunately, the Islamic society
has been affected by many of those deviants who do not possess any Islamic or
national conscience, and ignore any upright social purport. Hence, they worked
poisonously for dishonoring this nation’s social and spiritual divines and
values. The faithful youth should be careful of such individuals and should
never associate with them so that they would not be misguided.
The
Environment in the Present Ages
Modern social surroundings have
attained a great scale of merging and similarity because of the new means of
communication that approximated the nations and peoples by mutual transference
of habits and traditions. This has naturally created the unprecedented extensive
reciprocity of ideas. Most people then participated in the same tendencies,
traditions, and habits
. The social environments all over
this world have painfully had to encounter fears, horrors, and insecurity
because of the greed of the politicians who rule the great powers. They have
competed with each other on invading, occupying, and subjecting the weak
peoples. They have also struggled for distributing their principals. This
brought the destroying wars that broke out in some countries and caused the
disorder of the social environments and the individuals’ fear and horror.
Modern man is living nervously after
the loss of the future expectations. Man anticipates ambiguous future and evils
of the great powers that tend misguidedly to wars and destroying by using their
entire economic, military, and diplomatic devices for aggressions and massacre.
Nothing but the news of termination and massacre are reported every news agency
all over this world. The great powers have exploited their people’s wealth in
the fields of developing their armament. They have coerced the scientists on
inventing in this field exclusively. Hence, the development of such weapons has
been highly formidable and fascinating. Satellites and electronic devices have
been put in the service of exploring the others’ strategic situations and means
of defense and power. The most horrible invention in this regard has been the
nuclear weapons that had the ability of destroying any country in few hours.
Thus, fear and horror have predominated on the inhabitants of this planet.
These are definitely exhausting and
arduous crises and difficulties that people have had to face. Everybody ignores
the time in which those gods of evil click on the buttons of these terminating
weapons to demolish this life thoroughly and handle the keys of this planet to
the Creator. All these dangers have indisputably been the outcome of the lack of
conscious education in the interiors of the politicians and leaders of this
world. Had they enjoyed a single particle of human conscious, they would have
saved this world from such a gigantic hazard and exerted their efforts in the
fields of man’s luxury, indulgence, and settlement.
THE CULTURAL PLANNING IN THE MODERN EDUCATIONAL PROCESSES
The modern regimes have paid
special attention to the teaching affairs, considering them as the natural right
of every citizen under the responsibility and supervision of the governments.
Ministries and several committees have been dedicated to the teaching processes.
The missions of these bodies are concerning, developing, and advancing the
teaching processes. Teaching federations have been also established for noticing
and guarding the teachers’ affairs. The great powers have devoted grand assets
of the public budget to expand the scopes of teaching. This has created the many
schools, faculties, and universities that provide studies in various fields of
sciences and arts. The tremendous ideological developments of inventions and
industrials have been the outcome of this concern. Man could invade the outer
space, reach the moon and dispatch satellites that pictured every situation they
passed by and sent these pictures to the earth. Man could also repair any defect
in those satellites from the headquarters on the earth. Those satellites have
automatically recorded the information of the climate and the universal rays
they pass by in their orbits. Science is going on more developments, and man is
going on achieving greater triumphs. Nevertheless, each political regime in this
world has adopted a special philosophy in judgment and policy and has benefited
by science for publicizing its principals and political ideas.
THE TEACHING COURSES IN THE WEST
The teaching systems in the
Western states, as well as other places, have depended upon the development,
crystallization, and expansion of the material sciences. People have been
competing with each other in the fields of science and knowledge since these two
are within the life necessities. They have also believed that the processes of
illumination and growth are obtained through the publicity of science only. Adam
Smith says, “Any people that are ruled by an organizing government should never
leave any individual uneducated.”.
The criterion of peoples’ progress
all over history has been based upon the scope of the nation’s possession of
teaching opportunities, which are the real wealth through which noble lives and
mastership can be achieved.
In the past, the West was moaning in
the chains of ignorance after it had degraded socially and mentally, and lost
any power of progress and science. Myths, illusions, and weak customs and
traditions controlled the west for centuries. This feeling of defect and
retardation induced the people there to communicate with the Islamic world for
excerpting the elements of renaissance and growth. Hence, they quoted
mathematics, chemistry, medicine, philosophy, and astronomy in addition to other
legislative and social methods. Hundreds of Islamic scientific books were
translated into their languages that many Islamic terms are still noticed. The
West burst forth in founding faculties and schools and itemizing each science
and art. Yet, many flaws that led to the loss of a conscious education have
influenced the teaching courses there.
The
expelling of Moralities
The Western teaching courses paid
no attention to the moralities. They expelled ethics from the factuality of the
studying life. An educationist says, “The Western teaching systems are no more
than a cabal against religion, ethics, and magnanimity.. They have been also
unconcerned with the conscious education that aims at planting liberal and
elevated traits and tendencies in the spirits. The grand educationists agree
that teaching is meaningless unless it leads to perfection. Froble says,
“Precisely, the purpose of teaching is the presentation of a scarified life
which is full of sincerity and perfection.”. Mr. Lehman says, “The American
education does not create any common culture or set of principals or ethical
disciplining.”. A Western educationist says, “Teaching has been empty of
situating the bases of reciprocal love and cooperation. Hence, it is not strange
that humanity among individuals is eliminated.”.
School is the nonesuch means that the
human society has innovated for guiding sons uprightly so that their behavior
fits the habits and customs that the society defines. Unfortunately, the Western
school was inconsiderate and unconcerned with this meaning. This has decreed
many disadvantages, the most significant of which was the collapse of the human
values, demolishing of the principal cooperation among the society members, and
the circulation of egotism, greed, fabrication, and trickery. George Friland
says, “Sociologists confirm that the individuals’ right citizenship and good
ethics are the basic criterion of the values of the human civilization. On this
account, education should have carried the heaviest burden of saving the
civilization against retrogradation. H. G. Wells, the great author, who says
that civilization is a competition between education and collision, perceived
this situation.”.
The source of the ethical crisis that
is suffered by the Western teaching courses and their adopters has been the
studying courses’ avoiding the spiritual and humanitarian systems and values.
Scientific institutes cannot contribute perfectly in structuring the
individuals’ personalities unless their courses are based upon a correct
religious cognizance. As the American authorities experienced the new
generations’ spiritual privation, they allowed the churches to establish private
schools named, “sectarian schools.” The management has been in the hands of the
Catholic Church that enjoys a broad system of primary schools and an increasing
number of secondary schools. The Lotharios church also manages a great number of
primary and secondary schools. Other religious foundations grant exclusive
periods at which the representatives of churches teach religious questions in
the institutes and faculties other than those subjected by churches. The
authorities there urged children on joining these churches for receiving
religious teachings.. Christianity has not possessed sound courses in the
educational fields, and has not been sufficient enough for performing a
comprehensive life and an individual reformation. It refers only to the refuge
to churches and worldly abstinence. This has created many mental perplexities
and alienation against the religion.
Christianity has been too short to
manage the affairs of life and constitute reformatory programs. Weakness and
delicacy have affected Christianity because the churchmen have insinuated
slanders and myths that contradict logic and antagonize the mental powers. It is
not unfamiliar that Christianity fails in preparing a developing and sound
education that is marked by composure and cooperation in constructing the human
society.
At any rate, the Western teaching
systems have been unsuccessful in performing their educational missions, and
failed in achieving generations of sound and conscious behavior. Inversely, they
produced generations that are defected in their morals and tendencies searching
for harlotry, frivolity, and impudence and hounding impulses, amusement, and
disintegration in the fields of values and ethics.
THE TEACHING SYSTEMS IN THE COLONIES
The Western imperialists have
taken initiative in affecting private teaching courses in the colonies. These
courses aim at killing the conscience and spreading the objective and spiritual
poverty. They affirmed that teaching should associate the military conquests.
This is intended to persist on their control and lead the occupied countries to
miss the cognizance of liberation and salvation from colonialism.
The old imperialist plans of teaching
were negative. They propose to reduce or eradicate the educated individuals.
When a revolution broke out against the Spanish colonialism in South America, in
early 1800, the general commander raised a note to the king telling of their
armies’ triumph. He also told that he treated the educated ones with an ultimate
severity. Thus, as he expressed, he uprooted the idea of mutiny and rebellion.
In North America, the black were interdicted from learning writing and reading.
Detention and whipping were the punishment of the white that intend to teach any
black how to read and write. This policy, however, failed. The imperialists
realized their fault when they needed the economic conveniences of those people
that require teaching the early youth for preparing them for certain jobs. Only
then, they constituted teaching faculties but with special courses inciting to
cherish the imperialists and embrace their ideological trends. Lord McAllen
declared this fact in a report he wrote when was the chairman of the Teaching
Committee in 1835 that decided English as the teaching language. He said, “A
group works as translators between the millions of our subjects and us. This
group should be Indian in color and blood, but English in taste, opinion,
language, and thinking..
On the same account, France
constituted the teaching courses in Algeria. As an article of that decision, it
is recorded, “France has protected the Algerians and constituted justice to
their country, and publicized security on their lands, and provided them with
teaching and civilization. All these imply the Algerians’ duties to France. They
should respect those who manage their country in the name of France. They should
also show respect to the French flag.”.
This policy could not achieve its
objects since teaching in colonies stirred up the spirits of struggle and revolt
against the colonialists and demanding with liberty and independence. That
caused the masters of the imperialist policy to hold a conference and decide
changing the teaching courses in addition to the following findings:
“We must teach, not culture, the sons
of the colonies. We must teach them practical affairs that make them good
instrumentality in factories, stores, and farms without expanding the horizons
of views and ideas to more than the required.”.
This was the last conclusion that the
imperialists could attain for solving the problem of teaching in the colonies.
Hence, teaching became barren and imperfect since it lacked the elements of
vital edification by which the ideological life achieves advancement. Such a
restricted teaching will cause harsh injuries to the citizens because it hinders
the mental maturity and the march of the social development.
THE COMPREHENSIVE DEVASTATION
The Western teaching carried the
signals of terminating and devastating all of the genuine values from which the
nation drives its conceptual and social aspects. It also targeted this nation’s
vital constituents so as to take it away from its factuality. Furthermore, the
Western teaching doped this nation totally to make it unaware of the
excruciating strikes that drove the elements of disintegration and collapse all
over its parts. The following are the most hideous effects of this teaching
invasion:
Exclusion of Islam:
The Western teaching systems
spared no efforts for excluding Islam and eradicating any of its trace in the
teaching entity. They tried to expose a brief picture that does not denote its
goals or betrays its factuality.
Teaching has neglected the affairs of
this great religion that treated all of the problems of mankind and posed sound
courses for the reformation. Teaching did not refer to the procedures that were
applied during the reign of the Islamic State. The constructive policy, which
was grounded upon the pure right and sheer justice, was the distinctive feature
of those procedures. They are surely the honorable all over history. The Islamic
policy granted people the extensive freedoms in the fields of doctrine and
ideology as well as deeds and words. It also presented that fantastic equity in
which prerogatives and patronage had no place. All people are equal before the
law and the right. Furthermore, the Islamic policy rendered justice in its
entire concepts and enormity and burdened the government with the liability of
protecting and guarding it since it is a personal human right that everyone
should enjoy.
The Islamic economy had no single
gesture in the Western teaching. As a matter of fact, this economy appeases the
development and achieves the general economic life as it eradicates poverty and
deprivation. In the Islamic economic system, it is the governments’
responsibility to wipe out poverty and its ghost, which is the equivalent and
the match of atheism. Governments are also asked to get labor and prepare its
opportunities equally among people. They must open the doors to the social
security the mission of which is supervising and meeting the needs of the sick,
the handicapped, and the poor whose daily income is insufficient. The monition
on markets and the eradication of monopoly and exploitation are the governments’
duty according to the Islamic economy. The Western teaching neglected also the
rules of the Islamic education that achieve the social coherence, development,
disciplining, cooperation, and protection against irregularity and aberrance.
Besides, it neglected the Islamic great activities in the fields of the
individual education and reformation and being endowed with high traits and
noble ethics. It also neglected the Islamic social systems that care for the
comprehensive unity of Muslims. This unity comprises the unification of
feelings, emotions, fate, and trends.
The Western teaching has neglected
all of the Islamic opinions in the life aspects. Moreover, it threw dense
screens on the Islamic illumination and guidance, and showed it in a shape and
frame other than that revealed from God. The Imperialist systems confessed that
their teaching methods tried to loosen the Islamic ties. St. Wales says, “The
Western education is a means of releasing the Islamic ties.”. Steward Grover
declared, “The Western education made Muslims quote from the Christian
principals and be ready to convert to Christianity inadvertently.”.
The imperialist powers made use of
all of their teaching and political media for the purpose of expelling Islam out
of the life factuality since it threatened their interests and cupidity. The
following is quoted from the decisions of the German Imperialist Conference:
“The development of Islam threatens an immense danger on the maturity of our
colonies. The conference recommends the government of multiplying the
supervision and monition over the phases of this movement. The imperialist
conference recommends resisting any activity that leads to the expansion of
Islam, removing the obstacles that lie in the paths of Christianity, and
benefiting by the missionaries’ activities that distribute the principals of
civilization. Yet, it confirms the necessity of maintaining the plan of
extrinsic neutrality in the religious affairs,”.
William Geofford Balcard says, “When
we see the Quran and Mecca go away from the Arabs, only then we can make the
Arab individuals slip in our civilization from which Mohammed and his book have
taken him away.” Anyhow, the imperialism has been ceaselessly plotting against
Islam for eradicating and expelling it.
Imposing the Imperialists’ Language
The colonialists imposed their
language in the teaching systems and made it a part of the studying programs on
which success and failure depend. The French made their language the pivot of
the total lessons. They said, “First of all, schools should be acting as
institutes for learning French.”.
The English also imposed their
language in their colonies and gave it a specific lesson. They opted for their
language as the main tongue in the institutes of medicine, chemistry, and
physics in addition to the Arabic literature and the Islamic history. Each
Muslim who desires to obtain a certificate should study in the European
institutes or their graduates. Mohammed Saeed Al-Urfi comments, “It is
definitely the ugliest, the most terrible, and the nastiest shame that the Arabs
receive the arts of their language of that glorious honor and ancient
civilization from the enemies of their religion and language. This is surely the
evident deviation. We have never heard that the arbiters and references of any
elevated or humble language are other than its sons. Unfortunately, the present
Arab nation is excluded. History has never referred to a nation receiving its
language from its waylaying enemies.”.
Imposing the imperialists’ language
in schools and institutes serves only their nationality, language, interests,
and cupidity, and establish a permanent relation between those scientific
institutes and the imperialists. Mohammed Saeed says, “These foreign languages
are the main reason beyond the publicity of the foreign propaganda and the vile
part of their civilization. They are the paths through which the West could
seize the Arab countries as well as those in the east. It made this nation
forbear the traditions and lose the religion, language, fashion, and everything
related to the past. The most unfamiliar matter is that the foreign languages
are dissatisfied in equating the Arabic in the shares of studying,
consideration, and success. They excelled it in all these shares. Mastery of one
foreign language is sufficient for obtaining a certificate even if the Arabic is
unmastered. Therefore, the governments are highly concerned with teachers of
European languages by picking the most masterful teachers for this mission even
in primary schools. Hence, pupils are brought up on cherishing the foreign
languages as they notice the governments and nation care for this manner, and
notice the teachers’ ability, authority, respect and distinctive payment. All
these make pupils waste their national spirits.”.
The grand intellectuals and
educationists denied imposing English languages in schools and institutes since
it hinders mental growth and impedes the general course of studying in the
country since students are not familiar with it. Ghandi says, “English language
has stopped against conveying plurality of knowledge to the masses. The
increasing interest in English language has burdened weighty things on teaching
and interdicted children’s mentalities from enjoying natural life. Moreover, it
has made them strange in their lands and homes.”.
Ghandi forbade English language in
Indian schools for its great damages. He issued a decision that; “We will not
permit teaching English because we realize that most of children’s time are
wasted uselessly in memorizing English words and statements. Even if they are
permitted to memorize and repeat these words and statements, they are unable of
translating them into their mother language. They are also disable of benefiting
by lessons of their teachers.”.
Islamic and Arab countries are able
of expelling this language, which is one the imperialist residuals, and
translate the textbooks into Arabic for the purpose of making the students’
tasks easier since this foreign language is overexerting them. Likewise, this
process may enliven the Arabic that the imperialists attempted strenuously to
kill and enervate. At any rate, mastering of more than one language is
preferable and required according to doctrinal instructions. The Prophet (s)
ordered Zeid bin Thabit of mastering the Hebrew. As an Arab proverb, it is said,
“He whoever master a language of a people, will secure their evils.” Therewith,
demanding with expelling the English languages from our scientific institutes is
not an encouragement on restricting to the mother tongue. The solicitors of
Islam are more required to master foreign languages than others so that they
will broadcast solicitation to God and refute the suspected matters arisen
against Islam.
Debilitation of the Arabic
Imperialist cadres use their
powers entirely for enfeebling the standard Arabic, in which the Quran was
revealed, and enlivening the colloquial. They aim at dragging the Muslims away
from the huge conceptual wealth and masking the marvelous eloquence that draws
people’s attention towards the Quran. Mohammed Saeed says, “The most important
purpose beyond the colonialists’ opposing the Islamic education and preventing
the new generations from reaching it, is their intendment to construct barriers
between the generations and the Quran. They want these generations to
misunderstand and misstate the Quran and its eloquence. Then they would affirm
that the nowadays generations refute eloquence and heaviness of the ancient
heritage; therefore, they need renewal and simplification. This renewal and
simplification is the very hole from which the imperialists intend to push their
daggers into the body of Arabic language. Hence, the last hope of this
generation’s return to the Quran and its guidance would be unattainable.”.
Satti al-Hissari poses another
reason:
“The imperialists conceived that the
standard Arabic has been the only means of the Arabs’ communication through
which ideas and tendencies are transferred among the Arab countries. They also
though that when the movements of publicizing the standard Arabic in the Arab
countries are aborted and supplanted by others supporting the colloquial
accents, only then each country would have its own accent. This would remove the
idea of independence or any notion calling for unity of the Arab countries.
English and French assemblies favored this thought and began to broadcast
colloquial accents in the Arab countries especially the independent. A good
number of famed personalities and Orientalists supported the thought that
incited some Arabs on publicizing it ignoring its origin source and intendment
and menacing consequences.
Some European individuals called for
this idea and claimed that wireless radiobroadcasting, parties of singing,
theatre and the cinema would sustain centers of colloquial accents all over the
Arab countries since they communicate more than the standard. They also claimed
that plays of colloquial accents attract more audience. All these elements will
finally give victory to the colloquial accent to overcome the standard.”.
This is the teaching and educational
trend of the Western colonialists who have spared no efforts for executing this
nation and eradicating its conceptual and mental constituents.
THE COMMUNIST TEACHING COURSES
Communism had its own policy of
teaching. They conceive that scientific movement should be brought up on bases
of Marxism only. All of the scientific and teaching institutes are required to
identify the students of instructions of Marx, Angeles and Lenin in universal
and social laws in addition to changing from capitalism into socialist
communism. They also intend to identify the students of the Russian revolution
of October, policy of the communist party and the pressure of workers in
capitalist states.
In truth, the most important goal of
communist teachings is seeding the Marxist beliefs in mentalities of the coming
generations for forming the pupils’ trends and tendencies in such a way
according the international communist viewpoint. Now, we should survey their
teaching courses and their constructive criticism.
Study
of the Constitution
Students of the tenth grade are
obliged on studying the Soviet constitution, as a try to convince them that
communism is the most elevated of the democratic regimes. It is also purposed
for introducing the triumphs the Soviet Union has achieved thanks to wholeness
of socialist systems that are the first stage of shifting into communism. In
this program, students should study the regulations and the role of communist
party in governing the country as well as the Soviet citizens’ duties.. They
selected this age for this study so that the youth would construct Marxism in
their mentalities for believing in their objects and sacrificing for their
principals.
Atheistic Tendency
The Communists’ main concern is
planting atheism and the eternity of the cosmos in the students’ mentalities,
and teaching them that no eternal being has created the universe. They also
teach that materials are not negative or static that receive their movements
from the soul, but they are energetic beings that enjoy self-governing and
independent from the soul. Furthermore, they teach that materials are passing
through ceaseless historical developments, and the universe is infinite with no
creator or life donator. Politzer and his companions say, “The idea of God
wasted its content totally. Disputation on the existence and nonexistence of God
has no longer arisen thanks to the non-Marxist naďve trend. God became a useless
hypothesis, as Laplas affirms. Ideal objective trend cannot distinct the
solution of God’s existence problem and that of God’s existence in people’s
minds.”. Lenin says, “Hypothesis of Heraclitus, the ancient philosopher who
surmised that the world is one and not created by a god or a man, and will
ceaselessly remain as a lively spark that flames and extinguish according to
certain laws, is a fantastic exposition of the principals of the atheist dialect
tendency.”.
Refuting Hegel’s hypothesis of
pre-earth existence, Angles says, “ Hypothesis of the pre-earth existence is
mere residuals of the illusion of believing in the creator of this earth. The
only reality is actually that material world we can realize and belong.”.
Science, ancient and modern
philosophical studies have nullified the atheist hypothesis. It has been proven
that every possible necessitates to an existing cause for composing and
existing. This cause makes and transfers the possible from nonexistence to
existence. It is impracticable that a caused can be existed without the act of
an existing. In a like manner, no reason can be without reasoning. The existing
cause should inevitably be having active ability and firm will of existing and
composition lest it is impossible for composition and creation to exist since
the wanting cannot grant its long-sought aim. Everything in this universe is a
witness on God’s existence, competence and almightiness. As we analyze and study
any of the universal phenomena, even by means of deduction, we do nothing more
than noticing God’s traces and eminence. We can see God’s portents in our souls,
as well as every single particle in this existence.”
They screened their intellectualities
against gazing at these planets spreading in the space and counting hundreds of
millions. Modern science has discovered stars too innumerable to need less than
seven hundred years to attain the number if 1500 stars are counted per minute.
The ratio of the earth to these stars is as less as a point on a letter in a
library containing more than half a million volumes.
It is most naturally that serendipity
was not the source of such a system. Serendipity is too short to manage and
create such worlds. “It is impossible to find reasonable explanation for the
claim that such a schematization in the universal phenomena, along with those
causative relations, perfection, assumptions, coincidence, and counterpoise. The
other prodigies disposed such systems whose effects are constant in the various
ages. It is unattainable to understand that there is no creator and manager of
this marvelous creating.” John William Cotes says, “The universe in which we’re
living is too dexterous and complicated to be the product of serendipity. It is
fascinatingly filled up with miracles and complicated structures that
necessitate a manager and can never be ascribed to a blind fate. Sciences have
indisputably helped us in increasing the understanding and estimation of
phenomena of this cosmos. Correspondingly, our recognition of God has
augmented.”.
Using their satellites, spaceships
and all of the scientific devices, the great powers tried to identify the
factuality of stars and explore whether they are suitable for life or not. They
spent thousand millions of their people’s riches, but they did not turn their
mentalities and intellects to exploring the creator of these stars. They turned
their heads aside, engaged themselves in gloomy anarchy, and insisted on denying
Him intentionally while He has shown facts people’s intellects and mentalities
can see obviously. They did not involve their minds in these stars that rotate
in a fascinating and orderly system that is too elevated to be realized by
mentalities. God says:
Neither
is it allowable to the sun that it should overtake the moon, nor can the moon
outstrip the day, and all float
on
in a sphere.
Hours, minutes, and seconds cannot
measure the circulations of the earth and the sun as well as the other planets.
They are measured by the speed of rays that cover 186 thousand miles a second.
The cosmos has proceeded in such an accurate order with regular affairs and
overflowing results. Any error in these courses causes the planets’ stroke and
worlds’ combustion.
They did not apply assiduously in the
planet we are living on. It is hanged in the space and its pivot rotates once
per twenty-four hours. The speed of its movement is one thousand miles per hour.
It levitates around the sun once a year. This creates the consecution of the
four seasons. Supposing its speed is one hundred miles per hour, length of night
and day will be tenfold, and the sun will be burning all the plants in summer
and every being will be freezing in the cold nights. In the same way, supposing
the sun approaches the earth, the rays will be increasing in such a way
obliterating life on its surface. The opposite will occur if the sun is little
remoter from the earth. Supposing the earth is as large as moon, it will be too
short to reserve the encompassing hydrous and atmospheric covers. As well,
temperature will be too high to live. Supposing the earth’s diameter is twofold,
the gravity will be consequently twofold. This will reduce the aerial cover and
increase the atmospheric pressure. Supposing the earth is as large as the sun,
gravity will be reach 150 folds. This will cause reduction of the aerial cover,
each animal will weigh 150 folds of its present weight, and man’s mental life
will be generally absent.
God has given the earth another
quality; that is the gaseous cover the density of which is 800 km. This cover
preserves temperatures suitable for life. It also carries the vapor of waters of
oceans into remote distances inside the continents where they condense to form
the rainfall with which derelict lands are invigorated. This cover is also the
reason that precludes the fatal fireballs from arriving at the earth.
Correspondingly, it is the way through which sun heat reaches the earth
moderately, enabling plants and animals to live on its surface. Some planets
lose such a cover; therefore, life there is absent. Mars, for instance, has
slender gaseous cover that is empty of oxygen. So, it is unlivable.
Competence of Almighty God is clear
in every creature. Intellects are too stunted to identify Him.
Ibn abil-Hadid composes two verses of
poetry in which he says:
In Thy, marvel of the cosmos, the
intellect has been ailed
Thou has perplexed the sound-minded
and befuddled the intellects
When my conception approaches Thee a
span, it absconds a mile
Fleeing and stumbling in purblind
enigma and losing the right path.
Atheists had inaccurate, unconscious,
surface and idiot look on this existence; hence, they established a conventional
frame grounded upon denial of the Almighty Creator whose competence has been
obvious in everything. They have not looked upon their bodies and the
spectacular systems there; all of that do refer to God’s existence. The eye with
which they see comprises telescopic and microscopic designs. They eye enjoys 130
million light receptive that are the extremities of sight nerves. The eyebrow
that holds the cilia protects and guards the eye day and night from dusts and
particles and reflects sunlight and installs that encompassing liquid known as
tears with its unintentional movement. Besides, tears are the most effective
antiseptics and sterilizers. In addition, there are tens of such microscopic
devises in the eye all of that states the existence of the Almighty Creator.
Let us take a look on the hearing
sense. It is one of the most complicated devises of human body. It contains a
system about which Corthi the scientist says, “This system contains a sort of
channels between spiral and half-circulated. In the spiral part there are four
thousand small arcs connected to the hearing nerve in the head.”
How long is each arc? How big are
they? How were they constructed? They are surely astounding and mind-boggling.
Were these composed serendipitously? Or was it the purblind nature that created
it? Adopters of such opinions are degrading to bass levels of ignorance.
The smelling sense is also
spectacular. Its center is a restricted area of embodied mucous membrane having
several olfactory long and slim cells the function of which is conveying the
effect to the brain in a part of the nose, which is the main entrance to the
respiratory system.
Human body has also the osteal tract
that consists of 206 bones connected to each other by the knuckles. These bones
form the factory of life in the body since they compose the white and red
corpuscles about 130 millions of which expire every minute as they defend human
body against the coming microbes. Likewise, bones are the store in which
residuals are kept. Fatty and albumin materials are reserved inside the bones
while calcic outside.
Human body has other accurate tracts
such as the nervous, genital, lymphatic and muscular systems that are amazingly
regulated.
How is it acceptable to conceive that
these systems are created serendipitously or randomly?
Souls’ safes, inspiration,
interaction and agitations are totally comprehending conflicting elements and
opposite qualities such as illumination and gloomy, mercy and severity,
toleration and ire and the like. Allama Samawi poetizes: O soul! Like the
cosmos, y
ou have light and dark
You are war and peace, and it is war
and peace
Whenever a regime dominates in you,
another is ruined
Is it not unity of justice that
decreed what is unknown?
Like the sun, you have rise and set
on the cosmos
You are the core of the cosmos if
union and incarnation are fit
Brains shined in you and others
deviated
On the midway of doubt sat those who
do not know.
How can the deaf nature or
serendipity create such worlds living in the mental world? Believers in such
unacceptable thoughts do never have any amount of illumination and ideology.
Unfortunately, fog of atheism has found a way in the mentalities of many Muslim
young whose minds have been filled up with doubts and illusion as the outcome of
ignorance and conscious education. Marxist, and other, ideologies that are based
upon ultimate belief of materialism and denial of God and considering Him as
fable and restrictive illusion, have invaded those youth’s minds. The conceptual
frame of Marxism is surely one of the comics and trivial delusion of human
ideology. It will soon diminish and remove before the logic and evidence. Except
the deviants who lack genuineness of personality and counterpoise in behavior
and thinking, none adopts such ideology.
Communism insists on holding fast to
their beliefs of denying the Almighty Creator. It poses a dialectical material
explanation for every fact. This non-scientific base, it grounded its teaching
courses.
Mathematics
For the communists, mathematics
develops the dialectical thinking of the children’s mentalities. They ascribed
the mathematical studies to the qualities and basic laws of matters. In other
words, the material world forms a subjective depiction that is isolated from
perception. On this account, they expressed that the natural matter supports the
complicated phenomena such as atomic energy. They also discussed that matter and
energy are immortal, and energy can be modified into other types. The result of
so is that the natural matter has a big significance in the composition of the
materialist dialectical hypothesis..
The ancient, as well as modern,
scientific studies have nullified oldness, immortality and non-creation of
matters. The philosophical conference, held in Russia, has proven that matters
necessitate the existing cause. They have also evidences that every possible in
this universe must have had an active cause that grants life and survival..
History
The communists have regarded history
as the grand substance of seeding the communist ideas and principals. Kariov
says, “History is the strong arm of the communist education. It supports with
scientific answers that guide in the path of the human development, and provides
means of growth. It helps in assuaging birth of the new society and making the
pupils understand the basic facts in addition to revealing the classes struggle.
The history of the Soviet Union enjoys a special significance since it helps the
pupils comprehend the deeds of the inestimable socialist revolution. It also
helps in appreciating the wars of heroism that their fathers and forefathers
waded for the sake of freedom. Teachers of history guide the pupils to sustain
the victory of the revolution and develop the desire of using all powers for
achieving the efforts that their fathers exerted for constructing the communist
society in the Soviet Union. It also brings up loyalty to the interests of the
working classes, and the discordance with all of the reactionary powers.”. For
the communists, the interpretation of history is mere economic. Marx looked in
history and tried to identify the powers that formed it in the present picture.
Conclusively, he opted for the material or the economical interpretation. This
viewpoint determined that the reference of all of the historical events and
incentives was the economy.
Marx has regarded the matter as the
chief motive of history that controlled its development. The other elements can
be demarcated through matter only because they are not independent in
composition and form. The material circumstances that are connected to the
production means and the reciprocal relations of the social classes influence
the existence and formation of these elements. On the other hand, Hegel
considers that the material fact along with its economical, political, and
social situations is only a material reflection of absolute concepts the source
of which is the intellect.
For Hegel, substances are formed
according to intellectual influences. Yet, Marx did not change his mind. He
expressed that dialectical development is propelled by influences of matter or
production means and art. Hegel affirms that concept is the base of development
and the former of factuality.
Marx said, “Judicial, social,
political, technological and philosophic as well the other intellectual aspects
cannot be merely understandable since they combine and shape according to
influences of material or economic elements. Economic situations are the basic
pivot around which the general situations entirely circulate. I wonder what that
overdeveloping material phenomenon that governs history of mankind is. It is
neither the geographical nor massiveness of population that does not change. It
is fundamentally the development of production means. Economic elements work for
maturing society of mankind. Human beings spend most of their times in work for
securing their food, clothes and house. Each uses certain devices in their jobs.
Development of these devises improves man’s mutual relations and creates the
discord of social relations and contrariety of ideologies. Economic factors
control all these. On this account, history develops. Feudal society is the
outcome of hand mills, while the capital industrial society is the outcome of
vapory mills.”
Communists pose material explanations
for all of the historical events. Engels says, “Like the natural, active social
powers work aimlessly with demolishing power we could not understand and
estimate. As soon as we understand and comprehend their deeds, trends and
effects, then it is our concern to subject them. We can achieve our objectives
through such powers. As we understand natures of these powers, they change in
the producers’ hands from crude masters into obedient servants.”.
Communists believe that matter is the
main explainer of historical events and generations’ march and generate the
social forms that copy the individual relations in societies. Marx says, “It is
not obligatory to search for the historical clue in people’s minds, opinions and
concepts. This clue should be searched in production means and subjective laws
of economy that work separately away from people’s wills.”
The logic Marxism uses in educing and
searching for this phenomenon is actually sectarian, not methodical since it
does not depend upon scientific studies related to accurate statistic and sound
comparisons. It subjects history to singly to the economic elements without
referring to any trace of human conscience and mental, family and emotional
cognizance in addition to any other tendencies. It is most naturally that such
factors have the effective authority in development of mankind societies and
progression. Reformers went on reforming the general situations and advancing
life means without being incited by any economic or material motive.
A great deal of activists contributed
acutely in erecting civilizations of mankind. They instituted the preeminent
idealities and opened noble horizons for their people; any material aspect did
not induce all these activities. The only objective has been reformation and
fancy of general rectitude..
Literature
The communists paid no attention to
literature. They picked up only those topics that praise Marxism and the
economic elements or those satirizing capitalism. This was, for them, the
highest level that takes the authors to the top, even if the writings are
affected by valueless style and idea. The reason that they cited was that the
economic elements had been the principal rule of literature as well as other
arts. This is most surely unreal. Literature is an emotional state that is
irrelevant to any economic factor since its resource is man’s feelings and
surrounding circumstances. The elegies of the morose emotional poetry that
vibrates the codes of spirits to arouse the warmth of grief and dolor, and those
poems that cite pictures of this nature and universal views were not originated
by materialism. Only those who had no idea of the factuality of literature that
is grounded on mere emotions and feelings, which are far away from material
influences; only those may declare such false opinions.
Textbooks
Communism has paid great attention in
choosing definite textbooks. The officials, hence, have checked the books
accurately and sweepingly, to empty them from any idea antagonizing Marxism. In
February 12, 1933, the Central Committee of Communist Party issued a decision
decreeing that each word and definition –in the books of study- should be
concordant to the communist principals. This was the reaction of their past
unconcern with the studying courses.
Under the government’s supervision,
the studying books have been arranged and edited so that it would include the
required basic information that reflect the viewpoints of the ruling
authorities.. Such firm procedures resulted in the generations’ deprivation of
detecting the other scientific values that contribute in constructing a
scientific personality and the prosperity of the conceptual movements.
The previous exposition of the
cultural frames of capitalism and Marxism has shown that they dedicated their
teaching efforts to the industrial sciences that developed man in such an
unexpected astonishing way. Yet, they have neglected the spiritual aspects and
used the axe of demolishing for eradicating all of the distinctive human values.
Hence, they have wasted the shades of mercy, mutual relations, family and social
ties and exalted the standards that play a considerable role in creating man’s
behavior and equanimity.
Primarily, the cultural planning of
the modern education, whether in capitalism or communism, aims at inciting the
youth to obtain the certificate through which they save their living. Most of
the youth have disdained knowledge, thrown the book, and embarked voraciously on
their desires and impulses as soon as they got a job.
Most of the graduates forget their
scholastic information as soon as they leave the teaching institutes. This is
because of the velocity of teaching. Many psychological surveys of teaching have
proven that 50% of the students disremembered the scholastic information they
had received in the colleges in one year. Eighty percent of the information have
been disremembered two years later.. These disadvantages have been the outcome
of the speedy teaching and the seeking of studies for purposes other than
obtaining knowledge.
THE CULTURAL PLANNING IN THE PROGRAMS OF THE ISLAMIC EDUCATION
Islam has acceded to science and
its creative capability of developing, maturing, and achieving the social
prosperity. It has also believed that any society that rejects science is
reactionary and its mental powers and conceptual ties are weak. Such societies,
according to the Islamic viewpoint, must leave the caravans of life and
illumination.
The Prophet (s) said, “My nation’s
expiry occurs when they disdain knowledge.” Since its earliest stages, Islam
declared war against ignorance and indolence. It has adopted positively the
advocacy to knowledge and the florescence of the conceptual horizons. It has
considered it as an essential element of forming the social, as well as the
individual, lives and the motive behind the cultural, economical, and social
renaissance of the nation. Finally, Islam has regarded the seeking of knowledge
as one of the precepts and the most significant elements of constructing the
society and designing the civilization.
The West claimed that Islam combats
conceptions and eradicates the freedom of opinions and interdicts the seeking of
knowledge. Pierre Lute refutes this opinion. He says, “We, the European, look at
Islam as the religion of the conceptual gloom that prevents from enlightenment.
We also suppose that Islam calls to extremity and poses many obstacles in the
path of progression. First, this proves the Western people’s ultimate ignorance
of the Prophet’s instructions. It is also regarded as an ignorance of the
historical witnesses. Since its early centuries, Islam went on developing and
proceeding in variant fields. We can realize the prompt elevation that the first
caliphs did to Islam.”.
We have not seen any accusal weaker
and cheaper than the previous. A look to the factuality of this great religion
will easily prove the falsity of such an accusal. Islam has cited the seeking of
knowledge on the top of its precepts and projects. It has also alluded at the
big differences between the educated and the ignorant and established amounts of
professions and knowledge as the criteria of people’s variance and preference.
Imam Ali (a), the pioneer of wisdom and objectivity on this earth, says, “People
are evaluated according to what they master.”
MERITS OF KNOWLEDGE
Islam has paid a considerable
attention to knowledge. It has acclaimed its elevation and considered it as an
essential matter of the conceptual renaissance.
Knowledge in the Quran:
The Quran praises the merits of
knowledge and the exaltation of the scholars’ statuses in more than one Verse.
God says:
Allah will exalt those of you who
believe, and those who are given knowledge in high degrees. Say: Are those who
know and those who do not know alike?
Ask the followers of the Reminder if
you do not know.
Nay! These are clear communications
in the breast of those who are granted knowledge.
Those of his servants only who are
possessed of knowledge fear Allah.
Besides, many Quranic texts indicate
the great significance of knowledge and the virtues of the scholars who are the
source of illumination and the root of conception on this earth.
Knowledge in Hadith:
The Prophet (s) said: “Seeking
studies is a precept that is imposed upon every Muslim. God likes the seekers of
knowledge.” “God prefers a single errand for seeking knowledge to the
participation in one hundred battles.” “People of knowledge and jihad are the
closest to the degree of prophecy.” “I advise the seekers of the worldly affairs
to adhere to knowledge, and advise the seekers of the Hereafter to adhere to
knowledge, and advise the seekers of both to adhere to knowledge.” “You should
learn. Learning for God’s sake is a grace. Its study is a divine praise, and
seeking for it is as same as struggling for God’s sake, and its pursue is
worship, and its teaching is alms, and its publicity is offering to God.” “Seek
knowledge even in China.*”
The reference books of hadith include
many other sayings that expose the merits and status of knowledge. Those sayings
incite people to proceed in the scientific fields and dismiss the ghosts of
ignorance out of their society since it is the source of retardation and
disintegration.
Imam Ali (a) says, “O people! You
should realize that the perfection of the religion is seeking and applying
knowledge. Seeking studies is more necessary than seeking livelihood. The Just,
who will surely fulfill the promise, divides and secures the livelihood.
Knowledge is stored at its people and you have been ordered of seeking it from
its people. You should carry out.”.
As he speaks with Kumeil bin Ziad,
his student, about the merits of knowledge, Imam Ali (a) says, “O Kumeil!
Knowledge is preferable to wealth, for it guards you while you guard wealth,
which is reduced by expenditure and knowledge betters the almsgiving. The made
of wealth vanishes with the vanishing of wealth. O Kumeil! The cognition of
knowledge is an adopted creed with which God grants obedience in this life and
remembrance after death. Knowledge is ruling while wealth is ruled. O Kumeil!
The collectors of wealth are dead in their lives, and the scholars are as same
as time in its persistence. Their essences are missed, but their exemplars are
existing in hearts.”.
Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “Seek
knowledge and attach tolerance and veneration to it.”.
The Prophet’s progeny called and
urged on seeking knowledge, educating, crystallizing the concepts, and adorning
with awareness and ethics. This is quite evident through the numerous
uninterrupted reports.
TRANSMITTED SAYINGS
Masters of the Islamic conceptual
movements could not hide the encouragement on seeking knowledge.
Abul-Aswed ad-Dueli said: Nothing is
more powerful than knowledge. Kings are people’s rulers, and knowledge is the
kings’ ruler..
Mussab bin az-Zubeir instructed his
son: Seek knowledge. It is the beatitude of those lacking beatitude and the
wealth of those lacking wealth.
Al-Ghezali said: Without scholars,
people would have been like animals. Knowledge transfers them from savagery to
humanity.
Al-Jahiz said: I do not seek
knowledge for achieving a definite purpose and attaining a certain purport. I
seek it for getting a thing the ignorance of which is unallowable, and the sane
should never disdain.
Ibn abdil-Berr said: Seek knowledge,
because it distinguishes the kings and enlivens the publics.
THE GRAND GOALS
The purpose beyond seeking
knowledge, from the Islamic viewpoint, is not attaining narrow material
objectives or gaining personal earnings that are unrelated to the factuality of
spirits and disciplining. Actually, the goals, we will refer to some
hereinafter, are nobler and more elevated.
Activities of the seekers of
knowledge should be purely intended for God’s sake, away from any material
benefit. The oppressive efforts-- including the turmoil and the hard striving of
continuous nights- that the students encounter for receiving knowledge should
never be exerted for a worldly affair, which leads to nonsense. Such efforts
must achieve a great triumph the resources of which should spread over the
society as a whole. Nothing is more beneficial and widespread than working for
God’s sake and satisfaction. The sect of Ikhwanus-safa has dedicated the goals
of learning to the work for God’s sake. They said, “O brethren! You should
realize that every item of knowledge or art that does not lead to the Hereafter
will be a loss and an argument on the Resurrection Day.”. Al-Ghezali also
dedicated the processes of learning to this aspect. He said, “O youngster! Many
are the nights that you have passed with seeking knowledge and scanning books,
and you have abstained from sleep. I do not know your intendment. If it has been
obtaining the concerns of this world, collecting its wreckages, and holding its
positions and ostentation before the others, then woe is you! If your intendment
is enlivening the Prophet’s practices, refining your ethics, and violating the
bad-tending soul, then you will get many happy returns!”.
The Prophet (s) repudiated all of the
material intendments that are pursued by those faithless ones. He said, “He
should find himself a place in the hell-fire that whoever seeks knowledge for
disputing with the ill-minded and showing off before the scholars and attracting
people’s attentions.” On this bright rule, Islam has encouraged people, by all
means, on committing to knowledge. An Islamic educationist says, “The seekers of
knowledge ought to dedicate their acts to God and the Hereafter. They ought to
intend to eradicate ignorance of people, as well as themselves, enliven the
religion, and perpetuate Islam. Knowledge is surely the only means of
perpetuating Islam.”
The incentive of seeking studies
should be spreading knowledge and God-fearing among people. Islam has urged
groups on having religious erudition and rulings, and disposing them among
people. God says:
Why
should not then a company from every party from among them go forth that they
may apply themselves to obtain understanding in religion?
The seeking of knowledge in Islam is
significant only when it aims for disciplining people and raising their levels
to take them away from the total sorts of irregularity and deviation. Such
seekers of knowledge are definitely the prophets’ heirs and the masters of the
pious and the virtuous.
In any event, the propagation of the
Islamic doctrine, the introduction of the conventional rulings to people,
habituating them to the noble morals, and taking them away from ill manners and
vile moralities; these are the most important incentives of the religious
teaching.
We may mention the creation of the
social conscience and leading people to cooperation, heart purity, and spiritual
fineness with the goals with which Islam has concerned. The development of the
feeling of responsibility, the encouragement on the conceptual and scientific
maturity, and the improvement of the general life for avoiding poverty, ailment,
and ignorance; all these are included with the goals involved. The Islamic
teaching has not been mere religious nor mere material. It has accommodated
between the religious and the worldly affairs since it has prepared people to
act positively in this world and the Hereafter. The holy Quran refers to this
point. God says:
And
seek by means of what Allah has given you the future abode and do not neglect
your portion of this world.
The Prophet (s) stated, “The best of
you are not those who neglected the worldly affairs for the Hereafter or the
affairs of the Hereafter for the worldly. It is surely they who take from both.”
The propagation of the political
conscience, the compaction of the social conceptions, and the expansion of the
general mentalities before the public interests along with the supervision of
the political affairs are in reach of the goals of the Islamic teachings. These
are the very objects that are intended by the prophetic saying, “You all are
wardens, and you all are responsible for your wards.”
Such a sort of conscience can be
consummated in the Islamic society only when the conceptual and scientific life
is affluent. The prevalence of ignorance induces a total destruction of such
conscience. The menacing crises affecting the Islamic world in most of the life
stages have been the direct results of the conceptual and social disintegration.
Knowledge achieves the nation’s
attachment and unification, and eradicates dissidence and corruption. Muslims as
a whole are one body gathered by the ties of faith that are more inherent than
the ties of lineage. Virtuous spirits can be attainable through the publicity of
the Islamic sciences and Muslims’ realizing the factuality of their great
religion. The goals of the Islamic teaching are not devoted to religious
affairs. They are comprehensive and comprising all of the sciences through which
social and economic, as well as other, aspects develop. An educationist says,
“Teaching -for Muslims- achieves four purposes- religious, social, material, and
rational.”.
THE OBLIGATION OF TEACHING
The distinctive feature of Islam
is the collective obligation of obtaining knowledge that systematizes the life.
Obtaining the religious knowledge is an individual obligation upon Muslims by
either extraction or pursuance. The excuses of the uneducated are inadmissible.
The Prophet (s) said, “On the Resurrection day, the servants, who will excuse of
ignorance, will be told that they should have learned.”
Al-Ghezali divided knowledge into two
parts; one is collective and the other is individual. He said, “People has
different opinions regarding knowledge that is imposed on Muslims. They were of
twenty sects- each explained the obligation of knowledge according to its own
opinions. Theologians estimated theology with which monotheism is realized.
Jurists referred to jurisprudence with which people can recognize the precepts
including the legal and illegal matters. Exegesists -of the holy Quran- and
hadithists suppose that the knowledge of the Quranic and prophetic texts are
obligatorily learned. Others suppose other opinions.”.
Al-Qabisi assumes that it is
obligatory upon boys to learn. He refers to the obligation of learning as his
proof. The Quranic knowledge is also obligatory since it is necessary for
performing the prayers correctly. Fathers are assigned to teach their sons the
knowledge of the Quran and prayers. They may send them to the tutorials and pay
for teachers. In case fathers are too poor to meet the costs of teaching, their
relatives should pay them. Finally, teachers may teach the boys freely for God’s
sake or receive their stipends from the public treasury. This hypothesis was
highly considerable for jurists that issued the verdicts of the obligation of
receiving knowledge on all of the Muslims..
As Ibn Wahab was attending the
classes of Malik, the time of a prayer commenced. He prepared himself for
performing it. “The lessons you have attended are not less obligatory than the
prayer you are preparing for,” said Malik.
In any case, Islam has incited to
obtain religious, and other, knowledges for achieving development and avoiding
ignorance, which is the one and only source of retardation.
Compulsory Teaching:
According to the Islamic
legislation, governments are responsible for playing a positive role in breaking
the bonds of illiteracy and sparing no efforts for spreading science and
knowledge among people. Omar bin al-Khattab, once, asked a Bedouin whether he
could recite the Quran. “Yes, I do,” said the man. “Well,” expressed Omar,
“Recite the mother of the Book.” The Bedouin worded, “I do not know the
daughter. How can I then recite the mother?”
Omar whipped and sent him to the
tutorials. He could no longer tolerate; hence, he escaped. Teaching is one of
the life necessities. It is a significant element in the social progress and
development. Therefore, Islam had made it a basic rule for the social structure
and paid special attention to obtaining religious knowledge. Imam as-Sadiq said,
“I wish I could lash our acquaintances on the heads for the sake of receiving
knowledge.” He also said, “I do not want the youth to be in other than two
states- either teaching or receiving knowledge. Otherwise, they will neglect.
The negligent always misspend and then sin. I swear by Him who sent Mohammed
with the right, the sinners’ fate will be the hell-fire.”
The period of youth represents power,
determination, diligence, and hard working. It is the phase in which powers are
perfect and tendencies are ready; therefore, all of the abilities should be
spent on knowledge, personal disciplining, and excellence.
Stipend of Teaching:
Jurists had various opinions
regarding the permissibility of the teachers’ receiving stipends. Some
disallowed while others legalized. Each had their own arguments recorded in the
books of jurisprudence. The unanimous fact is that the virtuous and the
religious teachers refused to receive wages for teaching. They offered their
efforts to God’s sake and the Hereafter. They understood that the process of
teaching is God’s guidance; therefore, it is unfit to take wages for it since
the prophets did not ask for wages. Ad-Dehak bin Muzahim and Abdullah bin al-Harith,
for instance, refused to receive wages for the teaching they had provided for
children. Moreover, they forbore from accepting the presents offered by their
pupils’ fathers.. Once, Abdurrahman as-Salami, who was teaching in Kufa Mosque,
refused a present offered by one of his pupils’ father, and wrote to him, “We do
not teach the Quran for wages.”.
Hajji Khalifa says, “The purpose
beyond the publicity of knowledge is not securing the life affairs. It is
purposed for showing facts and disciplining moralities. Those who receive
knowledge for obtaining a profession are not scholars. They are semi-scholars.
The Eastern master scholars referred to this point. When they are informed of
the establishment of schools in Baghdad, they held consolation ceremonies for
the knowledge. They said, “The masters of elevated concerns and dignified
personalities were engaged in knowledge intending to attain honor and
perfection. They become the scholars of useful knowledge and personalities. The
lowly and the lazy come to knowledge when stipends began to be received for
teaching.”.
People spent big riches for obtaining
knowledge for purposes other than improving their livelihood. Abu Bakr an-Nisapuri
said, “I spend one hundred thousand dirhams for obtaining the knowledge of
hadith by which I benefited no single dirham.” With the development of the
Islamic state and the scientific movement during the Abbasid reign, knowledge
became a path taken for reaching the ruling regimes and securing a good
livelihood. Since then, stipends were received for teaching. Ibn Khuldoun said,
“Knowledge became one of the professions. The extremists took it as a way of
gaining leading positions; therefore, individuals other than its real people
took this position to change it into a profession. The wealthy and the officials
disdained knowledge.”.
The grand religious universities of
Najaf and Qum are still practicing the free education since all of the
knowledges given there are free and offered to God’s sake exclusively.
Age of
Teaching:
Islam has noticed all of the
aspects originating the prosperity of education and teaching. One of these
aspects was the age of teaching that is defined according to children’s mental
maturity. It is the seventh year of age. Imam as-Sadiq, the pioneer of the
Islamic mental and scientific movement, is reported to say, “A child should play
for seven years, and learn at schools for other seven years, and acquire legal
and illegal questions for other seven years.” He also said, “Let your son play
for seven years and be disciplined for other seven years. He will then thrive
lest he will be valueless.”.
Islam had declared this fact before
the modern studies of psychology of teaching that decided the seventh year as
the age of acquiring teachings. UNESCO also affirmed this matter within the
educational regulations. Children who join school before this age may undergo
lethargy, suffering, and cessation of the mental maturity. Unfortunately,
numerous fathers send their sons to schools before attaining this age. An
educationist says, “One of the painful states in this age is the drastic
competition for acquiring knowledge to the degree that parents often forget that
their sons, who have limited mental and physical potentials and specific
tendencies and desires, should enjoy their childhood. They hurried in taking
their sons to schools before attaining the five or six-year-old, and deem
excessive six years of primary school. They try to reduce the period by
fatiguing their sons in special tutorials that exhaust their powers and
incapacitate their mental maturity.”.
Al-Abdari says, “The virtuous
ancestors used to send their seven-year-old sons to the tutorials since they are
asked to teach their sons the ritual prayers and good manners and traits in this
age. Now, children are joining schools in an early age. Teachers should beware
of teaching such children the principals of reading lest they are exhausted
physically and mentally. As a matter of fact, fathers are sending their sons to
school in an early age for getting rid of their home troubles, not teaching
them.”.
Laziness, sloth, and cessation of
mental maturity are within the disadvantages of sending the early children to
schools.
Islam has referred to another
nonesuch matter that is the necessity of feeding the children with religious
spirits so that the atheistic ideologies will not affect. Imam Ali said, “Teach
your sons useful knowledge so that the atheists will not overcome them.”.
The children’s minds are the most
fertile for receiving the religious advocacy and embracing the virtues and
guidance of Islam. The children’s religious advocacy purifies their souls
against deviation and aberrance, and guides to a brighter future.
Children are the recipients of every
idea. Imam Ali says, “The like of the juveniles’ minds is the vacant land that
receives whatever is seeded.” This fact should be utilized for directing the
children to the virtuous bearing of honesty and good manners. Unfortunately, the
educators and fathers have shown shortage in this regard. They did not immunize
their sons against the lethal diseases, such as existentialism and the like,
that gushed into the Muslim countries and affected many individuals. Such
individuals went on imitating the fashions and styles of the aimless and the
corruption of the existentialists. They have lost all of the criteria of human
values and distinction between good and evil.
Categories of Sciences:
Islam has ordered of plunging
into all of the classes of sciences especially those achieving social and mental
growth. Furthermore, it is obligatory upon Muslims to receive some sciences such
as medicine, pharmacology, and other industrial sciences and arts. Modern
sciences and specialization are given an exclusive intention for their being the
bases of people’s development and renaissance. The Islamic world has collapsed
and been rent asunder because of ignorance and the conceptual slowdown in
industries, and falling behind the developed countries that built their
civilization on the grounds of science and arts. All these made the Islamic
homeland the target of the imperialists who hurried for usurping its riches and
economic resources.
Islam has not restricted science to
certain categories, but it urged on using all of its categories and arts. The
imams, who are the Prophet’s heirs and the repositories of his wisdom and
secrets, have cleft the portals of most of sciences. They tackled the various
classes of mental and reported science through their lectures and theses. They
recorded their attendance in jurisprudence, hadithology, Quranic exegeses,
medicine, and chemistry et al. Imam As-Sadiq grasped the grand portion of the
crystallization of mental life and the expansion of science scopes that
contributed in constructing the Islamic civilization. Sayyid Mir Ali al-Hindi
says, “It is quite acceptable to state that the sciences of that time helped in
unlocking the restricted mentalities. Philosophic discussions became public all
over the Islamic world. It is worthy mentioning that the chief of this movement
was the grandson of Ali bin abi Talib, known as Imam Jafar whose nickname was
As-Sadiq. He enjoyed expansive mental horizons and intellectual far-thee-well.
He had full and complete familiarity with the sciences of his age. He was surely
the founder of the well-versed philosophic schools in Islam. His classes were
not dedicated to those who became, later on, founders and masters of the sects,
but they were attended by the grand philosophers and the students of philosophy
all over the Islamic state.”.
Mohammed Sadiq Nashat says, “The
house of Jafar as-Sadiq was a university decorated permanently with the grand
masters of hadith, exegesis, wisdom, and theology. The number of the attendants
was attaining two thousand in most times. It could reach four thousand all are
famed scholars.”.
The main topic of the previous
exposition is to prove that Islam has constituted the conceptual life on the
bases of enlightenment and development of the general, not specific, classes of
knowledge. Al-Aqqad says, “Islamic science is too comprehensive to leave any
topic. It is more significant than teaching how to perform the ritual precepts.
It is surely the best worship by which man is led to the Lord’s secrets of
creation as well as the personal and surrounding facts.”.
Islam has concentrated on the
necessity of acquiring religious teachings and Shariite rulings since they
regulate the social relations and achieve the equanimity of personal behavior
and manners. At any rate, such teachings include transactions such as contracts,
pledges, blood money, and doctrinal provisions besides the rituals. They also
involve social, political, and economic affairs in addition to those related to
ethics and moralities.
THE BANNED SCIENCES
Sorcery:
Sorcery causes terrible damages
to the society since it attracts people to fables and false matters and
believing in illusions and mirages. From this cause, Islam has banned the
teaching and learning of sorcery, and likened it to atheism and polytheism. The
Prophet said, “The sorcerers are atheists.” “He is converting to atheism that
whoever learns any amount of sorcery, unless he repents.” “Three classes of
people will not be in the Paradise- the drunkards, the sorcerers, and the
violators of relations of kinship.”.
Those who practice this art are ruled
as apostates since it is an instrument of demolishing and deviation and a source
of frivolity and sedition. A number of naďve, simple, and ordinary people
accepted sorcery completely; hence, they used to act upon the words and
directions of sorcerers for revealing what they ignore. For instance, people
seek the help of sorcerers for revealing the perpetrator of a murder. In many
cases, sorcerers accuse innocent persons, arouse sedition, and disorder in the
society.
Astronomy:
Astronomy causes to believe in
the influence of the planets in the events and independent impression in
composing and establishing certain occurrences. It also indicates the planets’
managing and founding this cosmos. This will certainly lead to denial of God’s
existence and His relinquishing in the earthly affairs after creation of these
stars. Islam has warned against learning or believing in astronomy. The Prophet
said, “He whoever believes in wording of astronomers or fortune-teller is
denying what has been revealed to Mohammed.”
As Imam Ali was about to begin his
journey, an astronomer said, “If you choose this very time for traveling you
will not win your intendment. This is the astronomy.” The Imam gazed at him and
said, “Do you claim you lead to the very hour that discharges the evil and the
one that brings about the vile? Believing in you is belying the Quran and
disdaining God’s help in obtaining the wish and evading the abominated. O
People! Beware of learning astronomy except in cases of direction. Astronomy
leads to fortune telling. Fortune-tellers are the like of sorcerers. Sorcerers
are the like of atheists. Atheists will be in the hell-fire.”.
This is the logic of Islam aiming at
believing in God and engaging all of the events to His will and determination.
Stars have nothing to do with events except those regarding climate, lunar and
sonar eclipses and the like. Those predictions do not confront the religion and
its factuality and guidance.
Those banned sciences cripple the
conceptual movement, deaden the cognizance and enliven believing in delusions
and fables.
Teaching Women:
Islam has not dedicated teaching
to men. As a matter of fact, women had a good share of teaching. Islam has
aroused the spirit of knowledge among women of Muhajirs and Ansar* and
encouraged them on learning reading and writing in addition to religious
affairs. Al-Bukhari records that women asked the Prophet to assign a day on
which he might meet and teach them and the Prophet did. Al-Belathiri counts the
ladies who were teachers of writing and reading among whom were Hafsa the
Prophet’s wife, Ummukulthoum bint Awaba and Aisha bint Sa’d who said, “My father
taught me reading and writing.”. Easa bin Miskin used to gather his sons and
nieces for teaching reading and writing..
Al-Jahiz affirms, “Women should not
be taught writing and poetry. They should learn the Quran, especially sura of
Nur.”. Al-Qabisi banned women’s learning to avoid depravity. He said, “It is
more secure for women to evade learning reading.”
In fact, such opinions lack
scientific genuineness and resist the Islamic spirit and guidance. Islam has
persistently used all methods and powers for eradicating ignorance and
illiteracy, and regarded the acquisition of knowledge as an individual right of
every male and female. It has also burdened the governments of arranging equal
opportunities of obtaining knowledge apart from race, nationality, and social
class. It has declared that every human being should enjoy the right of the
expansive participation in the scientific and conceptual activities.
The Islamic mission is based upon
knowledge and believing in its being an important element of social progress of
individuals and communities since it is not devoted to men exclusively. Women,
whose roles in establishing the humane society and life prosperity and maturity
have been distinctively and highly praised and estimated in Islam, are also
included because they form the basic ground upon which family structure is
built. How is it acceptable that Islam that gave women unprecedented respect and
granted them as much as possible rights in scopes of general, as well as
individual, relations with governments and societies has prevented them from
obtaining knowledge, which is the guide to social and conceptual maturity and
progress?
It is impossible for women to attain
and rank of elevation and perfection unless they construct their lives on bases
of knowledge and religion. It is yes that Islam banned women from mixed learning
and warned against grooming since these matters push them into depths of
disintegration and corruption and nullify their chastity and dignity. Islam aims
for preserving women’s dignity and protecting them against slipping in humble
levels. Women should be the mistresses of their class, and should manage and
supervise the education and guidance of their likes for being active members in
this life.
Status
of Teachers:
Islam has paid considerable
attention to teachers for their being the first brick in the structure of social
development and perfection and the cause of guiding and developing behaviors and
mentalities of individuals and communities. The Prophet cared for teachers and
showed their elevated standings. Once, he passed by two circles of people; the
first was supplicating to God while the other listening to a teacher. He
commented, “The first is begging God who may or may not give them. The second
was learning. I have been sent as teacher.” Hence, he joined the second. This is
the best example of the Prophet’s encouraging education and teaching.
Teachers are exemplars:
Teachers are indisputably their
pupils’ none such exemplars. Pupils acquire the good traits and sound trends, as
well as the virtuous behavior and equanimity, from their teachers whose guidance
and conducts penetrate to their hearts. On that account, teachers must
overdiscipline themselves and train on virtuous and noble morals and manners to
be the best exemplars of their pupils.
As a caliph appointed a teacher for
his son, he instructed, “The reformation you will provide to my son should be a
part of your self-reformation. Flaws of pupils are totally related to yours.
They will deem good only what you deem good and deem evil only what you deem
evil.”.
An educationist states, “Teachers are
the good exemplars to whom the pupils refer inadvertently.”. Another
educationist says, “Majority of people are pursuing states of the speakers.
Those who are not are very rare. Hence, teachers should care for themselves more
than improving their ways of teaching.”. It is said that admonitions of masters
that neglect applying them are being very unstable in hearts.
Abul-Aswed ad-Dueli composed a couple
of verses in which he said:
O, man that teaches others! You
should have taught yourself first
Warn not against a manner while you
are doing
This is the great shame on you
Begin with yourself in interdicting
sins
If you do it then you are truly wise
Only then, your admonition will be
acceded
And your words will be ensued and
teaching be useful.
Self-disrespect and immorality of
some teachers have been the cause that resulted in the present youth’s
irregularity and deviation from the social traditions.
Teachers’ Rights:
Teachers enjoy abundant rights on
their pupils since they are sources of their perfection and familiarity with
life experts. They are also sources of their mentalities’ illumination.
Therefore, teachers’ rights are preferable to fathers’. Pupils are required to
show their teachers the highest pictures of respect and reverence. Imam
Zeinul-abidin says, “The right of your instructor is dignifying him and
committing to solemnity in their classes and good listening and attending. You
should provide for your instructor with mental presence and conceptual
attendance and heart retaining and sight propinquity. The way of all these is
laxness of desires and confine of lusts. You must understand that you are the
emissary of what you have been received to the ignorant you may meet. Then, you
should convey properly and never breach the mission if you should perform.”.
These golden words have been
definitely suffocated with teachers’ rights that bring about the nation’s
guidance in behavior and morals.
Teaching stuff should enjoy the most
remarkable rights not only on the students, but also on the nation. This is
because teachers’ being the source of illumination and cognizance from which we
recover elements of our renaissance and development. Teachers’ efforts are the
source of establishment of civilizations and prosperity of life characters as
well as achievements of the great expectations for which the nation yearns.
Teachers’ Qualities and Responsibilities:
The ancient Muslim educationists
referred to a number of qualities and responsibilities that the teachers should
apply on their teaching life. These qualities may participate in making the
teachers the noble exemplars and achieving the prosperity of education and
teaching for creating a generation of equanimity and good manners. The following
is an exposition of these qualities:
- Teachers should offer their
disciplinary activities for God’s sake. Their acts must aim at reforming the
Muslim young generations. They should avoid thinking of riches or positions.
Deviation is the inevitable fate of any teacher that intends to gain good
livelihood or high positions through his missions. Sufian bin Uyeina says, “I
had been gifted the understanding of the Quran, but when I received those riches
from Abu Jafar I lost the understanding totally.”
- Teachers should be of
extraordinary faith in God the Exalted, and should perform the rituals for
showing the Islamic norms and destroying the seditious. They should also acquire
noble traits so that God will cast understanding in their minds. Ibn Masud said,
“Knowledge is not the abundance of narration. It is an illumination that God
casts in minds.”
- Teachers should avoid humble
professions, such as cupping or tanning, during the rest hours. - Teachers
should clean their bodies and practice the other ablutionary activities such as
clipping the nails and avoiding malodors.
- Teachers should economize in their
clothing, food, and lodging. Ashafii said, “I have not been saturated for
sixteen years.”
- Teachers should keep themselves
away from the ruling authorities as much as possible. Al-Awzaii said, “Nothing
is more hateful to God than the scholars’ visiting the viziers.”
- Teachers should copy the virtuous
and pious men among the Prophet’s companions and their followers.
- Teachers should be concerned with
the serviceable knowledges and avoid the useless and disputable.
- Teachers should be concerned with
the knowledges that take to the affairs of the Hereafter. Shaqiq al-Belkhi asked
his student, Hatem al-Asem about the questions he had learned. “How long have
you been with me?” asked the teacher. “They have been thirty three years,”
answered the student. “What have you learned all these years?” asked the
teacher. “I have learnt eight questions,” replied the student. The teacher
expressed his sorrow and said, “I have finished my years with you, but you have
learnt eight things only!” “That is it,” expressed the student, “ I do not want
to lie.” “Well,” said the teacher, “Let me hear.” “They are the fondness of the
good deeds, shoving the caprices away, decency and god-fearing, befriending the
right, antagonizing the devil, adhering to obedience, leaving the humiliation of
seeking earnings to people, and depending on God,” counted the student. The
teacher expressed his great admiration and esteem and said, “O Hatem! God may
prosper you. As I looked in the Torah, the Bible, the Psalms, and the Quran, I
found these eight questions be the pivot of these Books.”
- Teachers should not engage
themselves in positions higher than their abilities until they accomplish their
profession and grant the certificate of master teachers. As-Shibli says, “He
whoever has the front before attaining suitability is meeting his shame.”
- Teachers should discipline the
pupils with their accounts and deeds in addition to words and admonition.
- Teachers should love their pupils
and guard them against harm. Abu Abbas said, “The most respectful -for me- is my
student who leaves all people to come to me. I protect him to the degree that I
exert my efforts for preventing even the flies from reaching him.”
- Teachers should pardon and acquit
the pupils who make mistakes. They should use intimation in attracting their
attentions to their faults. If they do not conceive, teachers then may state the
fault openly. Then comes the reproach. The Prophet (s) said, “Teach without
chiding. Teachers are preferable to the scolders.” He also said, “Use leniency
to those whom you teach and those who learn you.”
- Teachers should welcome the
attendant pupils and ask about the absent.
- Teachers should not answer
questions they ignore. They may confess they do not know. Ibn Masud said, “O
people! He, whoever is familiar with something, should say it, otherwise he
should say: Allah is the most knowledgeable. This saying is a part of
knowledge.”
- Teacher should realize the levels
of the pupils and offer to them according to their understandings. They should
intimate to the smart, elucidate for others, and repeat for the unintelligent.
- Teachers should refer to the
unchanging rules and the exceptions of the materials they teach. They should
also urge them on working and ask them to repeat the matters they had to
memorize, and chide the negligent and praise the good retainers. They should
also ask them for testing their understandings and order them of moderation
especially when signs of physical or mental fatigue are shown. They should
recommend the bored ones of rest and relaxation.
- Teachers should not ask for
intolerable matters that do not fit the students’ minds and age. They should not
ask the students of reading books that are mentally unattainable. They should
test before referring to a subject to be perceived. After test, teachers may
refer to books that accord the pupils’ minds. They should not engage the pupils
with several subjects at the same time.
- Teachers should not teach when they
are annoyed or complaining an illness, hunger, or anger since these states may
harm the students and themselves.
- Teachers should neither prolong nor
shorten the lessons unacceptably. Likewise, they should neither raise nor reduce
their voices inadequately.
- Teachers should allot certain times
to receiving the scope of the pupils’ memorized items. In the ancient times,
teachers allotted Wednesday night and Thursday morning to recalling. Friday was
the day off.
- Teachers should treat the pupils
equally and avoid any sort of discrimination. The Prophet is reported to say,
“Teachers who have three students- of different social classes- and do not treat
them equally, will be in the line of the traitors on the Resurrection Day.”
- Teachers should supervise the
pupils’ tendencies and mental desires so that the suitable subject is chosen.
They should lead the pupils who seek another subject to the correct direction.
Avecinna says, “Not every desired profession is possible and attainable for
boys. They should be fit enough for conforming it. If all of the professions and
knowledges were responsive, none would lack arts and professions, and people
would have the same arts and professions or the opposite. Wardens who intend to
select a profession for the wards should first test the nature and suitability.
Hence, professions should be selected on the bases of suitability and
capability.”
- Teachers should reward the
hard-working pupils and praise them before the mates. Ibn Maskub said, “Pupils
should be praised and rewarded for any good manner and favorable act they show.”
- Teachers should be accurate in
treating the pupils. They should count their breaths and account their entire
movements and activities.
The desires of seeking knowledge
should be evolved in the pupils’ minds. Teachers should refer to the most
significant matters that advance them and their societies plentifully. Pupils
will surely pursue knowledge resolutely if this noble tendency is sewn in their
minds and, consequently, the conceptual and scientific life will be prosperous
in the country..
Because they applied those programs,
the teachers of the early eras of Islam could produce those virtuous generations
of such high traits and perfect maturity, and achieve the most remarkable
scientific renaissance the sparks of which have covered all of the ages.
TEACHING METHODS
The ancient Muslim educationists
adopted a special method of teaching that promotes the recipients of knowledge.
The following are some articles of the teaching methods:
Forsaking Tension
Teachers ought to treat their
pupils leniently and kindly and avoid any tension and cruelty since these two
things impede the mental growth and author serious psychological complexes. Ibn
Khuldun says, “Tensional teaching injures the pupils, especially the children
and the harshly educated.”
Physical Discipline
Pupils of irregular behavior and
negligence should be disciplined if they ignore the advice. The ancient Muslim
teachers used to beat and detain even the kings’ sons. Abu Merriam, the educator
of al-Amin and al-Mamun*, caned them so harshly that one’s arm was injured.
Before his father, the boy showed his hand, and the teacher was summoned. “What
for did Mohammed –al-Amin- complain you?” asked ar-Rashid. “He is full of
naivete and slyness,” answered the teacher. The caliph then said, “You may kill
him! His death is better than being dull.”.
In his instructions to al-Ahmer, one
of his sons’ educators, ar-Rashid said, “You should first reform him by means of
kindness and lenience. If he refuses, then you should use tension and coarse.”
Fathers used to say to the educators
of their sons, “Your share is the flesh while ours is the bones.”
Beating and tormenting were the most
important means of education. This is incorrect indeed since it is undecided to
Islam that regards mercy, kindness, and lenience as the most matters on which
education should settle. All of the crooked ways should be avoided in the
educational processes. Teachers should not exceed in disciplining the irregular
and deviant pupils since it creates mental complexes and impedes the maturity
and prosperity of education and personality. Ibn Khuldoun says, “If the educator
uses coercion, this will distress the pupil and confine his delighted spirit and
urge on indolence and lead to lie and malignancy for avoiding more coercion. In
addition, this coercion will teach the pupil trickery and fraud, and the pupil
may take them as customs and qualities forever. The educator, whether teacher or
father, should not exaggerate in disciplining the sons.”. The Prophet (s) said,
“Teach without chiding. Teachers are preferable to the scolders.” Ibn Quteiba
said, “Teachers are recommended not to use tension or pride.”.
Teachers are compared to the
compassionate father. It is said, “Teachers are the substitutes of fathers.”. It
is also said, “Teachers ought to care for the students’ interests and treat them
like the dearest sons with kindness, courtesy, benevolence, and patience on
probable alienation. Teachers should apprise of their flaws by means of advice
and sympathy, not chiding and crudeness.”. Al-Qabisi, one of the master
educators of the fourth century –of Hegira-, was asked whether it is recommended
for teachers to use coarseness or lenience with students, he answered,
“Disciplining should never occupy the good teachers’ lenience and mercy to the
pupils. Teachers are the substitutes of their fathers. It is discommended for
teachers to be always frowning. This will make the pupils disrespect them.”.
Teachers’ roughness originates mental
troubles and leads to the students’ refusing the lessons.
Suggestive Rebuke
Muslim educationists believe that
the insinuative rebuke should be within the teaching methods in case pupils show
irregular behavior or imperfect work since this method is more impressive than
expression. They said, “Teachers who notice an irregularity or a crooked
behavior should not state it directly to the pupils. They should insinuate
within their common speech by referring to the disadvantages of such a behavior.
This will achieve the intended convention.”.
This method, in fact, is more useful
than direct reproach, which may lead to rebellion and insistence on the wrong.
Islam has asserted this topic in the fields of education and teaching. It is
related that Imams al-Hassan and al-Hussein, the grandsons of the Prophet, once
noticed an old man perform the ritual ablution incorrectly. They avoided stating
to him directly; hence, they agreed on making him the arbiter who should rule of
the most accurate ablution. As they performed the ablution before him, the old
man said, “O masters! You both have performed the very accurate ablution, but it
seems that the old man can master nothing.”
Islam has adopted this necessary
practice since it saves the deviant from irregularity and aberrance and takes
him back to the truth and right. Educationists said, “The pupil that is not
amended by insinuative impression, owing to lack of understanding and
perception, secret expression and frank warning should be used. If this method
is unsuccessful, the teacher may warn openly and reproach. If this is also
unsuccessful, the teacher then may dismiss and leave the pupil till he
returns.”.
THE LEARNERS’ MANNERS
Muslim educationists have been
greatly concerned with the learners’ affairs. They constituted the considerable
methods that aim at disciplining and acquiring the virtuous ethics and noble
manners.
- Learners should seek knowledge for
God’s sake purely, neglecting any worldly interest or valueless purpose. God
will surely raise the respects of such learners, facilitate the difficulties,
grant perception and intelligence, and combine the welfare of this world and the
Hereafter.
- Learners should carry out the
religious instructions and precepts as well as the noble morals and ritual
practices. They should fear God in their hiddens as well as their appearances
and purify their hearts against discommended qualities such as envy,
ostentation, pride, and arrogance since these characters are the vilest and the
most unassuming. An educationist says, “Prayers are invalid without extrinsic
purification. Likewise, heart worship that is seeking knowledge is invalid
unless the hearts are purified from ill manners and immoral qualities. Knowledge
is not the abundance of narration. It is an illumination that is cast in
hearts.”
- Learners should enjoy
self-possession and sedateness. The Prophet (s) said, “Seek knowledge and convey
to people. Use composure, tranquility, and modesty to those from whom you learn
and those to whom you convey. Do not be the despotic of knowledge.”. Imam as-Sadiq
said, “Seek knowledge and use self-possession, composure, and modesty to those
from whom you learn. Do not be the despotic of knowledge, otherwise the wrong
will remove your right.” Students of such perfect moralities will naturally be
the exemplars of others and influence positively in the people’s behavior and
ethics.
- Learners should exert all efforts
for seeking knowledge since it is not inspirational. Knowledge is acquirable. It
depends upon the scope of the efforts that lead to obtaining scientific fortune.
Learners should respect time as well as their lessons. Any tardiness will waste
the classes and cause the teachers’ carelessness.
- Learners should not exaggerate in
studying lest their powers and energy will be exhausting and the mental maturity
be impeded. It is essential for learners to have sufficient time for rest and
physical relaxation. Men should regard the rights of their bodies. Al-Ghezali
said, “It is essential to give the pupils sufficient time for acceptable
amusement and relaxation after the fatigue of teaching. Preventing the pupils
from entertainment after the exhausting teaching will deaden their hearts
stupefy their minds. This will also cause a life disturbance and oblige them to
look for trickeries for the sake of getting rid of such a disturbance.”
- Learners should not ask rigor
questions otherwise they lose prosperity owing to disrespecting the knowledge
and dishonoring the teachers whose approval should precede everything else.
- Learners should respect their
teachers who should enjoy rights that are preferable to the fathers. Ashafii
said, “I used to reverence my teacher, Malik, to the degree that I skimmed over
the books so slightly so that he will not hear the sounds of the papers.”
Learners should also esteem their teachers in their presence or absence, use
various styles of honoring and veneration, neglect using their names, and stand
their flaws and roughness. Ashafii reported, “People informed Sufian bin Uyeina
that some people, who had come from distant districts, would leave him because
of his harshness.” He said, “They are surely ignorant if they leave their
advantages because of my ill manners.” Learners should also be in the class
before their teachers, sit in front of them, not lean to a wall or a pad, and
not turn the back before them. All these affairs contradict the teachers’
rights. They should also listen heedfully to their teachers and save them
against repeating the teaching materials. Moreover, learners should avoid
yawning, eructing, laughing, mocking, or practicing any deed that dishonors the
teachers.
- Learners should not combine two
subjects of study at the same time, lest their minds will be exceedingly
disturbed. Ibn Khuldoun says, “Learners must not mix two matters of knowledge at
the same time, lest they will be too deficient to obtain any of them since this
causes mind confusion and leaning to one on the account of the other.”
- Learners should not associate with
other than the hard-working students so that they receive the good behaviors. It
is said that the social life is influential and being influenced. Each
individual gives and takes from the surroundings. Lazy and slender individuals
will surely convey their qualities to their associates.
- Primary learners should not involve
themselves in discrepancies and ambiguous opinions of the master scholars
especially in conceptual theses, lest these variant opinions will weaken their
mentalities and natures.
- Learners should not move to another
lesson before they master the earlier. Negligence will surely cause tardiness
and skillessness.
PROSPERITY OF THE SCIENTIFIC LIFE
Islam has overthrown totally all
of the concepts of Jahilism* including ignorance, fables, and submission to
delusions and hallucination. It brought about a genuine conscience and a
tremendous development in the conceptual and scientific fields. It has also used
all means to crystallize the concepts, publicize science, and eradicate all of
the social aimless and unconscious traditions.
The Islamic culture has covered all
of the territories that became under its control. Ibn Hazm said, “When the
Prophet was deceased, Islam was prevailing on the Arabian Peninsula entirely
from the –Red- Sea passing by all of the Yemeni coasts to the –Persian- Gulf
upward to the Euphrates to Syria. The cities of this area, such as Yemen,
Bahrain, Oman and Najd… to Mecca, converted to Islam and established mosques.
Every single village recited and recorded the Quran and conveyed it to their
boys, men, and women. When Omar came to power after Abu Bakr, Persia, Syria, the
Peninsula, and Egypt were entirely conquered. Every city there established a
mosque, and copied and learned the Quran.”.
The great Islamic Empire saved equal
opportunities of teaching. Knowledge became the commonest matter. Mosques,
institutes, and faculties of knowledge and wisdom opened their portals before
everybody. The Islamic State also provided all of the alimony that the seekers
of knowledge may need..
Besides teachers, students, and
librarians, the cultural and scientific cognizance –in the early ages of Islam-
was common among Muslims. It is related that a young man intended to return home
after he had accomplished his study in Baghdad. As he was in his way back, he
listened to a scientific discussion between two of the shopkeepers there. He was
highly admired and affected; hence, he returned the pack animal he had hired to
its owner and declared, “It is quite inappropriate to leave a country the
shopkeepers of which enjoy such a scholastic rank.”
People also confined themselves to
reading to excess that they used to reject any summon during reading. It is
related that a caliph sent his servant to summon a scholar for communication. As
the servant reached there, he saw that many books encompassing the scholar who
was reading. “Tell the caliph that I am engaged with many wise now. I will
attend if I finish,” answered the scholar after he had received the caliph’s
invitation. The servant conveyed this answer to the caliph who asked him about
those wise ones. “In fact,” said the servant, “I saw none with him.” The caliph
ordered of fetching that man in any case. The man was present before the caliph
who asked, “Who were those wise ones that you had accompanied.” The scholar
worded:
They are the sitters that we do never
feed up with their conversation
Honest and confident in presence and
absence
In our oneness, they are the best of
their talks are
Helping in eliminating the whole
grief
We benefit by their past information
Morals, disciplining, opinions, and
honor
We anticipate neither doubt nor bad
association
Nor fear their tongues or fists
I do not lie if I say they are dead
Nor am I a fabricator if say they are
alive.
The caliph understood that the man
was referring to the books; therefore, he did not blame.
They also were unduly concerned to
their books. Except in conditions of harsh neediness, the personal books were
not vended at all. Historians also related that Sharif al-Murteda purchased a
copy of Ibn Dureid’s al-Jamhara from a man –named Abu Ali bin Ahmed al-Fali-,
and found the following poetry written with the handwriting of the vender on one
of their pages:
These books have been my pleasure for
twenty years. Then I vended
After them, my anxiety and longing
have been dragging
I have never thought I would vend
them
Even if my debts will lead me to life
imprisonment
But for weakness and poverty, and
children
Little and on them my affairs are
based
And I said while I could not control
my tears
The saying of heart-burnt and sad
It happens that exigencies take out
the honorable from their tenacious lord.
The Sayyid returned the books to
their owner and granted him the price..
They also decided the abomination of
sitting to shopkeepers except the booksellers.
In any case, the scientific life and
conceptual movements were highly prosperous in the Islamic ages. Associations
and the caliph sessions in addition to public circles used to discuss scientific
questions and theological and philosophic schools as well as the other sorts of
high culture.
CENTERS OF THE ISLAMIC CULTURE
Yathrib, the place of Hegira, was
the public center of the Islamic education, and the midpoint from which the
scientific and cultural movement extended to the other points of the Islamic and
Arab world. The Prophet’s Mosque was the higher institute of receiving
scientific and religious affairs. It was also the center of managing
governmental affairs and political and military issues. For many Islamic eras,
this mosque has been the center of Muslims. The Imams of the Prophet’s progeny
used to deliver their considerable lectures that covered a great deal of
sciences and knowledges. Imam as-Sadiq made it the center of his grand
university that contained four thousand students including the founders of the
Islamic sects such as Abu Hanifa, Malik, and Sufian bin Uyeina. Imam Musa bin
Jafar also delivered his lectures and scientific lessons in that mosque. Qeba
Mosque was also the center in which delegations gathered for holding scientific
circles. It is the place where the Prophet instructed his companions, sent them
to call to Islam, and taught the people of the Arabian Peninsula the good deeds
and forbade the evil.
Mosques were the public teaching
faculties. They were spreading all over the Islamic State. For instance, Kufa
Mosque was exclusively significant since the master graduates of the school of
Imam as-Sadiq joined it. They were about nine hundred. Al-Hassan bin Ali al-Wesha
said, “I saw in Kufa Mosque nine hundred teachers, each says: Jafar bin Mohammed
told…”.
Al-Maqdisi counted 110 scientific
sessions in the Grand Mosque of Cairo.. Al-Mansur Mosque in Baghdad was the most
famed teaching center in the Islamic kingdom in which Ibrahim bin Mohammed
–known as Naftawayih- delivered lectures for fifty years..
The first Islamic scientific
foundation is Darul-Quran in which some readers lived for receiving knowledge.
Dies, the Oriental, says, “Since the early era of Islam, it seems there have
been places in which Muslims gathered for receiving and studying the Quran.
These places must have been like primary schools that provided the principals of
reading and writing, as al-Wahidi asserts and mentions that Abdullah bin Uummi
Mektum lodged in Darul-Quran in Al-Medina.”.
Mosques were not dedicated to
religious studies. Sessions of literature, linguistics, and poetry had a good
share in these studies.. Moreover, the other conceptual sciences such as
theology, philosophy, medicine, and botany were discussed there. With the
expansion of the scientific movement, the Islamic governments established many
faculties and schools all over the Islamic State. Sharif ar-Radi established a
school named Darul-Elm (House of knowledge) in which students lodged and
received their alimony.. There was a huge library comprising all sciences in
every school or faculty. Scholars used to dedicate their books in the mosques..
Ibn Heyan- the judge of Nisapur- established a teaching house, library, and
lodging for the foreign students. He also saved their alimony..
The teaching institutes and cultural
centers contributed in spreading sciences and arranging conceptualities and
progressions of Muslims.
EMIGRATION FOR KNOWLEDGE
Islam has called to emigrate and
travel for obtaining knowledge. God says:
Why should not then a company form
every party from among them go forth that they may apply themselves to obtain
understanding in religion, and that they may warn their people when they come
back to them that they may be cautious.
Muslims all over the ages responded
to this original call, then many groups of them emigrated to the various Islamic
provinces for joining the teaching institutes there. They also spent most of
their ages enduring the pains of dreariness, and traveling for nothing other
than seeking knowledge and God’s favor. As soon as Imam Jafar as-Sadiq
established his grand university, the students all over the Islamic provinces
hurried to join it. A. Al-Ahl said, “People of Kufa, Basra, Wasit, and Hijaz
sent their sons and dearest among all of the Arab tribes… especially sons of al-Harith
bin abdil-Muttelib and al-Hassan bin Ali… in addition to great groups of the
free and sons of the slaves and the non-Arabs among the celebrities of the Arabs
and Persia, and Qum in specific.”.
The Islamic countries, as a whole,
participated in sending their sons to the University of Imam as-Sadiq for
acquiring his sciences and receiving the religious rulings from that grandson of
the Prophet (s). The Islamic society achieved a scientific renaissance, the
shining waves of which extended to all of the ages.
The celebrities of Muslims embarked
upon the seeking of knowledge, disregarding the sufferings of traveling. Ibn
Isaac says, “Makhul said: I wandered this earth for seeking knowledge. In Egypt,
I missed no single knowledge. Then I came to Syria and garbled their sciences.”
Saeed bin al-Museyab said, “I was traveling for several days and nights for the
sake of studying a single hadith.”. It is also related that an-Nisai listened to
the hadiths in Khorasan, Iraq, Hijaz, Egypt, Syria, and the Arabian Peninsula.
As Abut-Teyib at-Tabari intended to
emigrate for learning from Mohammed bin Ayub ar-Radi, his wife prevented him.
When he knew of ar-Radi’s decease, he moaned, tore his clothes, smeared in dust,
and shouted, “I have been informed of the death of the man that you had
prevented me from joining him.” Hence, his wife consoled him and permitted to
emigrate for learning.
Abdullah bin al-Mubarak said, “I
examined the scholars and checked the Syrian, Iraqi, Persian, and Hijazi people,
but I could not find literature but with three men; Ibn Awn whose impulse is
literature, and abdul-Aziz bin Dawud, whose profession is literature, and Wahab
al-Maliki who was born with the literature.”.
Muslims in the golden age were
competing with each other on learning and recording the hadiths. They used to
welcome and receive the scholars warmly for listening and coming by their
information. When Imam as-Sadiq arrived in Kufa, people crowded around him to
ask for fatwas and religious rulings. Mohammed bin Maruf al-Hilali reported, “I
traveled to Hira for meeting Jafar bin Mohammed –as-Sadiq-, but I could not
reach him for the crowds that encompassed him. On the fourth day, he saw me and
asked to approximate him. Hence, people left. I followed when he went to the
tomb of Imam Ali. I heard his words while I was accompanying him.”.
Historians relate that people of
Baghdad welcomed Abu Bakr Jafar bin Mohammed, the famous scholar, before he
reached the land. He promised he would deliver a lecture in a certain place.
Thirty thousand individuals attended the lecture and 316 were dictating..
Ali bin Mohammed al-Basri related: As
we attended the session of Abu Isaac Ibrahim bin Ali for receiving the knowledge
of hadith, he was sitting on his house and people were filling the street to
excess. I intended to take a good place; hence, I went there in the dawn, but I
found some people had preceded me. There must have been more than thirty
thousand persons who attended these lectures.”.
Abdullah bin al-Mubarak was asked
what he should do if he realizes he would die a few hours later. He said, “I
will take initiative to learning.”.
This highly considerable spirit is
one of the Islamic inspirations and illumination. They prove the fact that
Muslims were greatly concerned with learning. Circumstances that helped in the
emigration for learning were the extension of the Islamic State and the unity of
the formal language, which was the Arabic, in addition to the nonexistence of
foreign languages in studies or courses.
Specialization
Muslims of the first ages
competed with each other on specialization in the conceptual and reported
sciences. Many of them came into sight. Husham bin al-Hakam, Husham bin Salem,
Muminuttaq, Mohammed bin Abdullah at-Teyar, and Qeis bin al-Masir; those master
scholars majored in philosophy and theology. Those magnificent masters were the
choice of the graduates of the University of Imam as-Sadiq. Zurara bin Ayun,
Mohammed bin Muslim, Jamil bin Derraj, Yazid bin Muawiya, Isaac bin Ammar,
Ubeidullah al-Halabi, Abu Basir, Eban bin Teghlib, al-Fadl bin Yesar, Abu Hanifa,
Malik bin Anas, Mohammed bin al-Hassan as-Sheibani, Sufian bin Uyeina, Yahia bin
Saeed, and Sufian at-Thawri; all those majored in the field of jurisprudence.
Al-Mufeddal bin Ammar specialized in the wisdom of existence and the secrets of
creation. Jabir bin Hayan al-Kufi specialized in chemistry. It is to mention
that this man was the most famous chemist in the Arab world, as Vandyke
affirmed. He invented many fascinating discoveries that are mentioned in the
books involved, like the non-incendiary papers and those shining at night under
the supervision of his great master, Imam as-Sadiq (a). Abdurrahman Badawi says,
“Searchers of the Islamic history can never observe a personality stranger than
Jabir bin Hayan. He was so ambiguous and encompassed with secrets to the degree
that he was about to be a legend. He was also a high thinker that bewilderment
will be the feature of everybody who notices his deep scientific and philosophic
vital viewpoints. He also enjoyed a general spirit that is covered by the
essence of illumination and human trend tending to unveil all of the secrets.
Scientific, theological, and
civilizing researches can never contain this personality in any means. On the
contrary, such efforts are being remoter whenever they delve into the
personality whose amount increases whenever the sides are stroked. Today, we are
the furthest from realizing this personality and cognizing the main lines and
the guiding currencies.”.
Precisely, Islam preceded modern
faculties in founding the specialization of scientific studies.
Freedom of Study:
Students of religious, as well as
other, fields –in Islam- enjoy perfect freedom in selecting the materials they
desire to study. No regulation might define a certain age of teaching. Likewise,
no provision might restrict the propriety of pursuing certain sciences. The
students’ desires, which were offered to God, were the only motive beyond
studying.
The students of the Religious
University of Najaf, as well as others, hold perfect freedom of discussing the
teachers. This characteristic proves the students’ superiority and perception.
Recording and Compilation:
It is quite sure that Islam,
since its first stages, adopted the invitation to record and convey the sciences
since recording and conveyance influence greatly the development of the
scientific and cultural life. The Prophet (s) said, “Record the knowledge.” Some
companions asked him the method of recording. “Write it down,” tutored the
Prophet..
Narrators also related that a man
complained before the Prophet of his ill retaining. “Seek the help of your right
hand,” said the Prophet who referred to writing..
Imam as-Sadiq (a) also urged
oftentimes his students on recording the lessons and lectures that covered
mostly all of the arts and sciences. Abu Basir narrated:
Imam as-Sadiq (a) said to me, “What
prevents you from writing down? You will not memorize before you write. A group
of people of Basra have just left me after they had recorded the answers of
their questions.” He also said, “You should write down. You will not memorize
before you write.”
The Imam’s students responded to the
illuminative instruction that carries the spread of knowledge to people. Thus,
they competed with each other on obtaining knowledge. Eban bin Teghlib, for
instance, compiled the following books:
Maanil Qur’an (Meanings of the Quran)
Al-Qira’at (The recitals)
Al-Fedhail (The virtues)
Al-Usul fir-Riwaya (Principals of
narration)
Gharibul-Qur’an (The allegorical of
the Quran).
Mohammed bin Ali al-Kufi –known as
Muminuttaq- compiled the following:
Al-Imama (The imamate)
Al-Marifa (The knowing)
Ithbatul-Wasiya (Proof of the will)
Ar-Reddu Elel-Mutezila Fi
Imametil-Mafdul (Refutation the Mutazilites in the matter of the preceded
leader.)
Amru Talha, az-Zubeir and Aisha
(Affairs of Talha, az-Zubeir and Aisha) If’al Wela Taf’al (Do and do not)
Al-Munazara ma’a Abu Hanifa
(Disputation with Abu Hanifa).
Al-Mufeddal bin Omar compiled at-Tawhid
(Monotheism), which is one of the most remarkable Islamic writings discussing
the topics of creating and composing the human beings along with the secrets of
creation. The book also provides many medical searches.. Husham bin al-Hakam
-one of the honorable students of Imam as-Sadiq- compiled seventeen books
regarding various sciences and arts.
Jabir bin Hayan compiled a
thousand-page book of chemistry including the five hundred theses of the Imam..
Those theses were the most fertile sources of chemistry. Muslim and Oriental
scholars, as well as scientists, praised Jabir since he equipped the Islamic
society with the most abundant scientific wealth he had received from his
master, the Imam and the pioneer of the Islamic conceptual and scientific
movement. In addition, there is a great deal of other students who compiled
volumes in various sciences and arts, such as Zurara bin Ayun, Abu Basir, Ismail
bin abi Khalid, and others. Agha Buzurg, the late grand master of Islam, exposed
two hundred volumes compiled by the Imam’s students..
Scientists were encompassing Imam
Musa bin Jafar. They used to carry clays and writing instruments so that they
would record any single letter that the Imam would utter.. Hence, the Islamic
scientific movement was widely spreading in the Islamic districts, and the
scholars transferred the Islamic heritage to the next generations.
Fading
of Teaching
The illumination of teaching was
extinguished when Hulagu, the tyrant, seized Baghdad the capital of the Islamic
caliphate in 765. The Mongolians caused the ever most terrible sufferings to the
Islamic people.
When the Western powers rent asunder
the Islamic homeland into small states, the scientific and conceptual life began
to dwindle gradually until it disappeared. The intellectual indolence and the
mental slump subdued the Islamic provinces totally. The West then went on
implementing their horrible policy of castrating the mental prosperity and
intellectual outburst. This policy also aimed at killing the cognizance and
publicizing humiliation and ignorance. An Arab educationist says, “In the early
twentieth century, schools were moveless. They included a few students who were
unaware of their surroundings or interiors. They were of one composing,
cultural, and unproductive matrix. This was the outcome of the outer control of
knowledge. Hence, it is not strange for us to earn such a humble collapse that
threatens the aspects of our life wholly. The controller of our education was a
foreign element that aimed at producing humble and unprolific generations, who
should never contribute in opinions and be unable to overcome the life
difficulties. Hence, teaching was far away from discussing and exposing such
difficulties.”.
Nowadays, the conceptual renaissance
began to flow all over the Islamic homeland, and Muslims began to remove away
the dust of ignorance and retardation to join the developed countries that held
fast on the caravans of life and light. The current governments are required to
utilize this phenomenon and provide, first of all, the necessary experts of
teaching in schools and faculties, and create moralities -in the spirits of the
youth- in addition to self-reliance, systemization, caring for the home affairs,
and sacrificing for the protection and independence of their homeland. The
governments are also advised of arousing the hatred of the imperialists and
Zionists in the minds of the youth by proving and referring to the menacing
dangers of those powers that have been plotting the Islamic and Arab homeland.
This is surely one of the most significant social liabilities that the
governments of the Islamic countries should concern.
The Islamic society has had to
encounter various sorts of calamities and dangers from the imperialists and
their agents. The imperialists have created the causes of discrepancies and
enmity besides the dispersion of the spirits of frenzy, egotism, and negativity.
They have spared no efforts for screening the heritage of the Muslims’ great
religion for depriving them of the constituents of dignity and elevation. From
that cause, the new generations should be brought up on antagonizing and
abhorring the colonialists by means of dispensing with their educational systems
that impede our march of progress, prosperity, and national investment of our
riches. It is also obligatory to show the great powers of Islam in the fields of
education, policy, and sociology as well as the whole fields and affairs of
life. Those powers should be within the teaching methods since they are the best
way of achieving the Muslims’ renaissance and development.
ISLAMIC MENTAL AND SPECULATIVE EDUCATION
Islam has betaken man’s
conscience, as well as the mental and speculative powers, as the chief ground of
constructing the educational entity. Thus, it dedicated the grand powers to the
reformation of impulses, the maturity of the noble tendencies, and the
incapacity of the evil ones so that man would be actually God’s representative
in this earth through constituting the right and enjoining justice and seeking
the good.
Islam has focused its concernment on
the mental frames in order to save them from disintegration, collapse, and
frailty, and saturate with the spirits of faith, willpower, and
self-determination. In fact, Islam has applied this excellent education to the
life. The old men were rushing to the battlefields for the sake of guarding the
principals of their grand religion. The youth were also armored with powers of
belief and struggle for the sake of right. They attained the top of loyalty when
they left their fathers and brothers who tarried in the battle of Tabuk*.
However, the Prophet asked them to associate with their families later on.
The Islamic education overflowed with
immense spiritual powers that are kept in the first Muslims whose feelings and
emotions were totally captured by Islam. They formed a single body that was tied
by religious emotions and single words and trends. The powers of belief, which
is the most fastening than any other bond, tied these trends.
Speculative education:
Using all of its methods and
powers, the Islamic education aims at maturing and releasing the human
speculations from the chains of ignorance and blind imitation. It also purposes
to teach through the providing of the historical examples and events. It arouses
the deep thinking in the universal precision and systemization so that man will
believe in the Creator. This belief should be provable through argumentation and
evidenced certitude. Only then, the illuminations of the conscious belief, which
encourages on competing in the fields of virtue and good, will be shining in the
minds.
Islam has been greatly concerned with
the intellects; therefore, it called for an intellectual liberation and
prosperity, and decreed of using the judgments of the intellects. Uninterrupted
reports have related that the Imams confirmed that the intellects are the
intrinsic argument of men and the means by which the Beneficent Lord is
worshipped, and the wisdom is attained. They also affirmed that the intellects’
judgments are the messages of the intrinsic apostles.. The Imamite Shias decide
that the intellectual judgments are within the four evidences, according to
which the jurists can elicit shariite rulings. Furthermore, the intellects are
the master judge of the questions of contrary narratives -narratives that are
intellectually accepted should be grasped only.
The holy Quran condemns those who
neglect their intellectual talents. God says:
Surely,
the vilest of animals, in Allah’s sight, are the dear, the dumb, who do not
understand.
Or
do you think that most of them do hear of understand? They are nothing but as
cattle; nay, they are straying
father
off from the path.
God has also stated that the reason
beyond the torture that would inflict the atheists is that they screened their
intellects against thinking in God’s affairs:
And
they shall say: Had we but listened or pondered, we should not have been among
the inmates of the burning
fire.
Islam has surely glorified the
headmost basis of believing and wisdom.
Thinking in the Universal System:
Truthful meditation and deep
thinking in the universal phenomena fill in the heart with shining and believing
in God. Islam has encouraged on this matter. God says:
Do
they not then look up to heaven above them how we have made it and adorned it
and it has no gasps. And the
earth we have made it plain and cast in it mountains and we have made to from
therein of all beautiful kinds. To
give sight and as a reminder to every servant who turns frequently to Allah.
The human beings will surely
strengthen their relations with the Lord through exposing the fines of this
universe and thinking in its miracles, from which the most accurate essences of
wisdom, excellence, and creation are perceived. Islam calls for wakening the
mentality and guiding to look upon the universal portents: God says:
Most
surely, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the
night and the day there are signs
for men who understand. Those who remember Allah standing and sitting and lying
their sides and reflect on the
creation
of the heavens and the earth; Our Lord! Thou hast not created this in vain!
Glory be to thee; save us then
from
the chastisement of the fire.
Looking deeply in the creation of the
heavens and the earth, and thinking in the alternation of day and night; all
these fill in the mentalities with faith and confidence in Allah the Creator.
None would think of these matters except the sound-minded individuals who use
their conscious mental powers in a serious thinking of the marvelous creation.
They mention God permanently and say with pure tones of certitude and imploring,
“O our Lord! Thou hast not created all this in vain. Glory be to thee! Save us
against the chastisement of fire.”
Thinking in God’s kingdom is the
perfect course of the speculative education since it release the minds from
every deviation, and negates any doubt or suspect to lead them to the locations
of believing in God. People will surely and indisputably believe in God if they
look accurately in the fascinating and excellent systems of this universe. It is
quite impossible that such systems be the origin of serendipity that is,
according to absolute scientific conceptions, the most nonsensical. Lablabs
says, “This mind-perplexing system, within the movements of the stars from which
the solar system is composed, can never be presupposed to be the outcome of
serendipity. In fact, serendipity is logically nonexistent in the language of
science. Serendipity is absent and nonexistent in this world all of whose
components are subduing to the laws of equanimity and statistics that are
assigned by an unseen will and an ultimate wisdom. The thing we are naming
serendipity is the very result of the unseen powers that we ignore their
influences totally. Likewise, we lack knowledge of their existence while they
are surrounding us. On that account, it is not possible to regard the order we
are noticing in the solar system as a serendipity. We must confess of the
existence of an origin and general matter that organizes this system.”.
Eckersie Morrison says that the
nonfinite systems, without which the life is impossible, are the evidence on the
Creator’s existence. Man’s existence on this earth and the excellent aspects of
his intelligence are only a part of the program that is implemented by the
Creator of this universe..
Islam pushes the conceptual powers to
think and perceive the mysteries of this universe so that people will believe in
God sincerely and, thereafter, constitute their lives on bases of equanimity.
Pondering over the Creation of Man:
Islam has encouraged on pondering
over the creation and composition of man. God says:
So,
let man consider of what he is created. He is created of water pouring forth,
coming from between the back
and
the ribs. Most surely, he is able to return him to life. On the day, the hidden
things shall be made manifest. He
shall have neither strength nor helper.
O
people! If you are doubt about the raising, surely we created you from dust,
then from a small seed, then from a
clot,
then from a lump of flesh, complete in make and incomplete, that we may make
clear to you. And we cause
what
we please to stay in the wombs till an appointed time. Then we bring you forth
as babies, then that you may
attain
your maturity. And of you is he, who is brought back to the worst part of life,
so that after having
knowledge
he does not know anything.
Men’s realizing themselves, as well
as looking upon the worlds and the mysteries there, is within the matters that
incite to believe in God without doubt. Afif abdul-Fettah says, “The Evidences
on God’s existence, which are lying in man’s essences, are innumerable. With the
extension of the scientific scope, these evidences grow more acceptable and
plentiful. All these evidences verify that this fantastic creature should have a
Wise Lord. Which of the man’s aspects are not astonishing and amazing?
Are man’s phases in the uteri not one
of God’s portents?
The digestive system dissolves the
food into variant balanced materials. Each material directs to the place where
it fulfills its function while the unusable is emitted. Are these not one of
God’s portents?
The system of blood distribution is
responsible for taking the blood from its main center, which is the heart, to
all of the body directions via uncountable arteries, then returns to the heart
through the blood circulation and the passage of air that is brought by
aspiration. This process aims at reforming the polluted blood and bettering the
body. Is this system not one of God’s portents?
Man’s hearing, sight, articulation,
and feelings, including oblivion, grief, delight, familiarity, and ignorance;
all these are within the grand evidences that refer to the Creator’s
existence.”.
The modern microscopic devises and
labs could realize a tiny part only. All these refer to the Creator’s excellence
and power.
Pondering over the creatures:
Islam has encourages on looking
upon the creatures, including the plants. God has given each plant an exclusive
quality, arranged it so aptly that it absorbs only the matters it needs for
maturity, and prepared it for the purpose of creation. God says:
Then let man look to his food. We pour down the water, pouring it down in
abundance. Then we cleave the earth,
cleaving
it asunder. Then we cause to grow therein the grain and grapes and clover and
the olive and the palm and
thick
gardens and fruit and herbage. A provision for you and for your cattle.
And
a sign to them is the dead earth; we give life to it and bring forth from it
grains so they eat of it. And we make
therein
gardens of palms and grapevines, and we make springs to flow forth into. That
they may ear of the fruit
thereof
and their hands did not make it; will they not then be grateful.
He
it is who sends down water from the cloud for you; it gives drink, and by it
grow the trees upon which you
pasture.
He caused to grow for you thereby herbage, and the olives, and the palm trees,
and the grapes, and of all
the
fruits. Most surely, there is a sign in this for a people who reflect.
If man looks deeply upon the creation
of animals with their countless classes and remarkable making, he will certainly
believe in God. Newton says, “How were the bodies of these animals composed in
such a gorgeous creation? What for were their numerous parts designed? How is it
rational to believe that eyes and ears are originated without full acquaintance
with the origins of sight and audition laws? How are the animal’s movements
renewed intentionally? What is the source of this natural familiarity of these
animals?
These creatures, along with their
most splendid and perfect formation, refer to the existence of an incorporeal
god. This god should be everliving and wise and existent in everyplace, and
should be realized by the factuality of everything.”.
The holy Quran invites man to look
deeply in the striking creation of animals. God says:
Do
they not see the birds, constrained in the middle of the sky? None withholds
them but Allah; most surely there
are
signs in this for a people who believe.
Will
they not then consider the camels, how they are created?
God has created the animals for that
people would use and benefit by them. He says:
And
your Lord revealed to the bee saying: Make hives in the mountains and in the
trees and in what they build.
Then
ear of all the fruits and walk in the ways of your Lord submissively. There
comes froth form within it a
beverage
of many colors, in which there is healing of r men. Most surely, there is a sign
in this for a people who
reflect.
And
Allah has made for you of what he has created shelters, and he has given you in
the mountains places
of
retreat, and he has given you garments of preserve you from the heat and coats
of mail to preserve you in your
fighting.
Even thus does he complete his favor upon you that haply you may submit.
Thinking in God’s creatures leads to
believing and removes any delusion or suspect. It is surely the best of worship.
The Prophet said, “A one-hour thinking is preferable to a seventy-year worship.”
Reflecting manners of the past nations:
For awakening the minds and
maturing their acquisitions, the manners of the past nations, people, history,
and affairs should be considered. A group of these nations took the right path
that saved them from all of the sorts of irregularity and aberrance. They gained
the regal life of amiability, security, and settlement. The other group went
astray. They abandoned the path of right and justice; therefore, they vanished,
and lost their existence. This carries lessons and examples for every conscious
and free man, and saves against the elements of ruining and elapse and clinging
to the equanimity and straightness. Imam Ali (a) says:
“Beware of the consequences of the
past nations due to their ill deeds and wrongdoing. Remember their worthy and
vile manners, and beware of being their likes. If you look upon the variance of
their two –good and evil- manners, then you should cling to matters that
dignified them, scavenged their enemies, elongated their healthiness, submitted
their graces, and connected them to nobility. These matters represent the
avoidance of discrepancy and acceding, urging, and recommending of amiability.
They shunned every matter that breaks their backs and weakens their intentions,
like the heart malice, the mind malevolence, the spiritual rancor, and the power
frustration.
Look upon the affairs of the past
believers and study their behaviors in the manners of testing and examination.
Were they not the most antagonized, the most examined, and the most distressed?
The tyrants enslaved, showed the worst of torment, and coerced them to swallow
the bitterest. They were kept up in this state of humiliation, expiration, and
persecution of mortification. They could not be availed with a plan of
refutation or a way of defense. As God noticed their serious toleration that
they offered for His favor, and their harsh endurance that they chose for His
fearing, He relieved them after the hard examination. He substituted dignity for
the humiliation and security for the vacillation. They became kings and rulers.
God has made to them what they did not expect.”.
The Imam (a) keeps on exposing the
vigorous pictures of the past nations that coincided with the paths of right and
justice and achieved the most significant states of dignity, nobility, honor,
and custody. The holy Quran is filled up with the repetitive calls to count the
results of the pious that God has appointed in the earth and fortified their
religion that He pleased. The Quran is also stifled with the calls to attend to
the consequences of the tyrants and the beliers who averted the right path;
hence, God devaluated their triumphs and deadened their affairs.
Result
of the pious:
The Quran declared that victory
should be the share of the pious and the virtuous ones:
Allah
has promised to those of you who believe and do good that he will most certainly
make them rulers in the
earth
as he made rulers those before them. And that he will most certainly establish
for them their religion, which
he
has chosen for them. And that he will most certainly, after their fear, give
them security in exchange; they shall
serve
me, not associating aught with me, and whoever is ungrateful after this, these
it is who are the transgressors.
God has granted those pious servants
with this noble standing in this world, and bestowed upon them by immortalizing
their mentioning and making their lives as exemplars. In the Hereafter, God will
lodge them in the Paradise and the permanent felicity.
Consequence of the tyrants:
God has pledged of destroying the
tyrants and the despots who disbelieve the social rights and people’s souls and
dignities. In various positions in the holy Quran, God exposes the story of
Pharaoh who tyrannized and bullied; consequently, God fisted him strongly and
revengefully. God says:
Surely,
Pharaoh exalted himself in the land and made its people into parties, weakening
one party from among
them.
He slaughtered their sons and let their women live. Surely, he was one of the
mischief-makers. And we
desired
to bestow a favor upon those who were deemed weak in the land, and to make them
the imams, and to
make
them the heirs. And to grant them power in the land, and to make Pharaoh and
Haman and their hosts see
from
them what they feared.
Mortification and torment were the
result of Pharaoh because of his having denied God’s elegance and averting the
straight path in addition to tyranny and arrogance.
The holy Quran has also called for
considering the manners of those that wronged or trampled; therefore, God
tortured them, and none could guard them against His punishment. God says:
Have
they not traveled in the earth and seen how was the end of those who were before
them? Mightier than these
in
the land, but Allah destroyed them for their sins, and there was not for them
and defender against Allah.
And
certainly, we did destroy generations before you when they were unjust, and
their apostles had come to them
with
clear arguments, and they would not believe; thus do we recompense the guilty
people. Then we made you
successors
in the land after them so that we may see how you act.
God cursed the wrongdoers and
prepared for them a painful torment. God says:
Now
surely the curse of Allah is on the unjust, who turn away from the path of Allah
and desire to make it
crooked.
And they are disbelievers in the Hereafter. These shall not escape in the earth,
nor shall they have any
guardians
besides Allah. The punishment shall be doubled for them. They could not bear to
hear and they did not
see.
God has decreed to punish the
wrongdoers all over history. When God’s discipline and punishment inflict the
wrongdoers, their economic and military powers will not protect them since God
makes all these in vain.
By the exposition of the wrongdoers’
manners, the Quran intends to provide lessons and admonitions for people to
convince them of giving up the vile qualities, such as aggression and insulting
people.
Releasing the intellects from imitation:
Islam has called for releasing
the minds from the bonds of imitation. The source of such an imitation is
ignorance and bigotry. The Quran reproached the imitators whose words are
expressed by His saying:
Thus,
We did not send before you any warner in a town, but those who led easy lives in
it said: surely, we found
our
fathers on a course, and surely, we are followers of their footsteps.
The Quran alienated the question of
resting upon the chiefs and leaders who avert the guidance, and ruled that those
chiefs, along with their imitators, will share the same punishment. God says:
Those
who were followed shall renounce those who followed them, and they see the
chastisement and their ties
are
cut asunder.
Islam antagonizes any baseless trend
that depends upon unfounded imitation and pursuance. This is an invitation to
discipline the minds and release the ideas from the bonds of imitation.
Verification of matters:
Within the courses of its
speculative education, Islam insisted upon the verification of matters and
obtaining certitude before judging. God says:
And
follow not that of which you have not the knowledge; surely the hearing and the
sight and the heart; all of
these
shall be questioned about that.
On that account, God forbade
depending upon surmise. God says:
They
do not follow anything but conjecture, and surely conjecture does not avail
against the truth at all.
The baseless surmise leads to
incorrect delusion and many fatal troubles. Fatalists depended upon such surmise
when they denied the existence of God as well as the Resurrection. God says:
And
they say: There is nothing but our life in this world. We live and die and
nothing destroys us but time. And
they
have no knowledge of that. They only conjecture.
Fatalists deviated to such a lowly
foot only because they depended upon conjecture in the conventional fields.
Islam has also banned relying upon
the reports of the licentious lest sedition and ignorance will be prevalent. God
says:
O
you who believe! If an evildoer comes to you with a report, look carefully into
it, lest you harm a people in
ignorance,
then be sorry for what you have done.
Opting
for the best:
Islam has urged on clinging to a
certain opinion. Muslims should opt for the best of opinions since this
expresses sincerity to the right and disciplines the intellects. God says:
Those
who listen to the word, then follow the best of it. Those are they whom Allah
has guided, and those it is who are the men of understanding.
God has ordered Muslims of
scrutinizing every sect and avoiding rejecting, owing to fanaticism, any opinion
before checking. Muslims are also advised of opting for the best. God describes
those who follow this method as the guided and owners of right minds and shining
mentalities..
MENTAL EDUCATION
The Islamic education achieves
sufficient potentials in the mental fields that impede from irregularity and
deviation, and mature the noble tendencies and the virtuous habits. They also
establish a spiritual coherence and perseverance against occurrences and create
equanimity that covers all of the mystical horizons in order that man will
achieve a unique entity of behaviors, trends, tendencies, and emotions. Thus,
any mental aspect will not influence the spiritual, and man will not be enslaved
be any capricious or vile inclination. The Islamic mental education drives men
to prudent, self-control, and perfect mastery of impulses and trends. We should
stop at the aspect of the Islamic mental education.
Conscientious Guidance
Using all of its powers, the
Islamic education strives for composing the religious deterrent in the depths of
the soul, so that this deterrent will overcome the mental motives and hold the
leadership and the guidance.
The only protector against deviation
and tyranny is the alert conscience that is full of the spirits of belief and
conviction. As a matter of fact, the conscience is the greatest deterrent that
guards against falling in the holes of vices and forbidden matters. Islam is
trying to compose and reform the aware conscience so as to control the lusts,
and guide to the bright fields that achieve God’s satisfaction and please the
conscience. This is the reason beyond the genuineness of the Islamic education
that succeeded in achieving its goals. Some French generals, who have been the
rivals of Islam, confessed of the existence of this remarkable phenomenon. They
said, “We must not underestimate Islam and Muslims. Surely, Islam is a marvelous
belief that has persisted on this globe. We have tried all of the economic,
capitalist, and administrative laws, but we failed. The very element in which we
have failed was the equality of distribution and monition. In Islam, this
monition is not an individual or official duty. It is the fear of God and the
maturity of the religious conscience. This is adequately a potential power in
Islam. Unfortunately, Muslims do not understand or appreciate their religion,
which has been the only element that kept and conserved them. Our mission is
precisely eliminating the aspects of this religion by impoverishing them in
addition to massacring and depriving them of knowledge and fortune.”.
There is a divine gift in each
individual’s mentality. Yet, there are numerous effective and sharp satanic
tendencies. Each man has a violent incentive and a potent stimulus to the world
of the uncounted and uncontrolled lusts. Islam has considered all these things
deeply and comprehensively; thus, it used ultimate accuracy in paralyzing the
vile activities of impulses for uprooting and delimiting them. It also
brightened the noble powers for controlling the spirits. Hence, Islam went on
promising the righteous of permanent bounty. The Quran is filled up with
magnificent pictures of the rewards and prizes of the pious. God says:
Most
surely, the righteous shall be in bliss, on thrones they shall gaze. You will
recognize in their faces the
brightness
of bliss.
Other
faces on that day shall be happy, well-pleased because of their striving. In a
lofty garden wherein you shall
not
hear vain talk. Therein is a fountain flowing. Therein are thrones raised high.
And drinking-cups ready place,
and
cushions set in a row, and carpets spread out.
On
thrones decorated, reclining on them, facing one another. Round about them shall
go youths never altering in
age.
With goblets and ewers and a cup of pure drink. They shall not be affected with
headache thereby, nor shall
they
get exhausted. And fruits such as they choose. And the flesh of fowl such as
they desire. And pure beautiful
ones,
the like of the hidden pearls. A reward for what they used to do.
Surely,
as for those who believe and do good deeds, their place of entertainment shall
be the gardens of paradise,
abiding
therein. They shall not desire removal from them.
Such an abounding reward will release
from all of the arts of irregularity and deviation, and support with the great
powers of virtue and illumination.
God has also described the horrible
punishment that will be cast upon the pursuers of their lusts and impulses. God
says:
These
are two adversaries who dispute about their Lord. Then as to those garments of
fire; boiling water shall be
poured
over their heads. With it shall be melted what is in their bellies and their
skins as well. And for them are
whips
of iron. Whenever they will desire to go forth from it, form grief, hey shall be
turned back into it, and taste
the
chastisement of burning.
Lay
hold on him, then put a chain on him. Then cast him into the burning fire. Then
thrust him into a chain the
length
of which is seventy cubits. Surely, he did not believe in Allah the Great. Nor
did he urge the feeding of the
poor.
Therefore, he has not here today a true friend. Nor any food except refuse,
which none but the wrongdoers
eat.
Is
this better as an entertainment or the tree of Zaqqum? Surely, it is a tree that
grows in the bottom of the hell. Its
produce
is as it were the heads of the serpents. Then most surely they shall eat of it
and fill their bellies with it.
Then
most surely they shall have after it to drink of a mixture prepared in boiling
water.
The Quran refers to many horrifying
texts that fill in the minds with tense hazard and fear of God’s castigation.
Such texts will absolutely establish barriers against disobeying God and
perpetrating evil and sinful deeds.
The world of expectancy and fear is
the most effective for achieving self-control completely. Through this splendid
method, Islam has obtained conscience monition and constituted a controller,
which inhibits and impedes the leaps, on the other mental impulses.
MENTAL VIRTUES
Owing to the great concern of Islam
in the mental virtues, it has dedicated a specific course leading to personal
adhesion and abnormality besides the marks of every honorable tendency and
virtuous quality. Herewith, we will refer precisely to some of such virtues.
CHASTITY
Ethicists define chastity, as the
self-control and equanimity of the inclinations to desires including the bodily,
like eating and the like, and the mental, like agitations and emotions. The
quality of chastity is applied to those who are moderate in all of these states.
This virtue aims at achieving people’s self-restraint away from being the slaves
of lusts and inclinations. The reports of the Imams regarding this virtue have
been uninterrupted. Imam Ali said, “Chastity is the best of worship.” Imam al-Baqir
said, “No worship is preferred to the chastity of the abdomen and the genitals.”
This virtue saves man from a great
deal of mental and physical diseases and ill manners, such as gluttony,
fornication, greed, squandering, rage, hatred, blabber, and many others.
Chastity pushes man to a general
rectitude. It dismisses the quality of overeating that brings about many
diseases and causes repetitive visits to clinics. The holy Quran encouraged on
adhering to the virtue. God says:
Eat, drink and be not extravagant.
Besides, the extravagant abstinence
and avoidance of the good matter that God has deemed lawful are excluded from
chastity, which is merely the moderation. God says:
Say:
Who has prohibited the embellishment of Allah, which He has brought forth for
His servants and the good provisions? Say: These are for the believers in the
life on this world, purely theirs on the resurrection day.
Chastity requires self-restraint and
guardianship against full release of the whole mental lusts, the intemperance of
which corrupts the life, enfeebles the spirituality, and leads to failing.
Ethicists said, “Lusts are infinite. If time is extended, lusts will surely lead
to others and so on. Finally, man will be the captive of endless lusts and the
slave of untold caprices. Virtue is not the associate of such men.”. Chastity
requires man’s full dominion of trends and lusts, and moderation in passions,
and temperance in eating and drinking. For instance, man is advised of avoiding
excessive grief in cases of calamities.
Means
of developing chastity:
Ethicists mention several means
leading to chastity. They are:
- Moderation in inclination to lusts
- Avoidance of associating with the
evil who exaggerate and decorate the vices
- Acceding to the virtuous and the
religious individuals who advance to moralities and warn against evil-doing
- Avoidance of reading erotic books
that deconstruct the structures of virtue and perfection, and leaving the places
of immoral entertainment
- Using self-control in states of
wrath, which is a short-termed insanity.
- Retreating the unwelcomed customs
such as arrogance and self-esteem since they lead to excite for any valueless
matter because of the illusion of indignity
- Avoidance of thinking in vile and
violation because such a thinking is the pioneer of will and work. The prolixity
of licentious imaginary and vile misgiving lures on falling in the depths of
vices.
- Avoidance of carrying irate and
pessimistic thoughts, and agreement with those who disregard this life and
disassociate with people
- The exploitation of the legal and
acceptable provisions of the mundane affairs. God says:
And
seek by means of what Allah has given to you the future abode, and do not
neglect your portion of this world.
WILLPOWER
Willpower and self-determination are
primary intendments of Islamic mental education. First, Islam has been concerned
with establishing a firm will, a constant determination, and a fixed spirit in
the minds in order to save from drifting with the trends of occurrences, and
challenge the seditious events. Islam has scorned extremely the languid and
described them as dead. God says:
You
do not make the dead hear, and do not make the deaf hear the call.
Islam bestows man with huge powers of
determination and will to protect against the elements of weakness and fear. The
Prophet (s) was the true exemplar of willpower and immense determination. He
stood in firmness during struggling and resisting for the sake of his principals
and goals. He behaved according to the Lord’s instructions, ignoring the
problems and catastrophes. One hand was holding fast on the pennon of
monotheism, while the other held the axe of destroying and ruining the ideas,
customs, and traditions of Jahilism. Meanwhile, he was calling out to man’s
dignity and rights. At the same time, all of the powers of polytheism and
atheism were standing against him in one hand. He had no single supporter except
Abu Talib his uncle --the believer of Quraish and the protector of Islam. The
Quraishi chiefs threatened and menaced Abu Talib if the Prophet would not stop
his advocacy. The Prophet answered his uncle who carried the chiefs’ words to
him, “O uncle! If they position the sun in my right hand and the moon in the
left for leading me to leave this advocacy, I will not respond till I perish or
God will triumph.”
By such a giant willpower and great
determination, the Prophet (s) overcame all of the problems. He demolished the
pagans, ended the potentials of polytheism, and blasted the cells of Jahilism,
and raised God’s word aloft on the earth and established a new life of firm
right and strict justice.
The Prophet fed his companions with
this remarkable trend to change their few numbers into mountains of dignity and
fortification. They resisted the huge parties and defeated the armies of
polytheism. They did never abscond in the battlefields until they conquered the
countries and raised the Islamic banner on most of the provinces on this earth.
This handsome will was represented by
the higher commander of Islam and the door of the Prophet’s city of knowledge-
Imam Ali (a), the champion of the great conquests. He decapitated the
polytheists, and overcame and subjected the Jews. He said, “I will never abscond
even all of the Arabs collaborated against me.”
This giant willpower is a part of
God’s will that rejects subduing, humiliation, slavery, and surrender. This will
was visibly manifested by Imam al-Hussein (a)- the Prophet’s grandson and the
father of the noble ones. He stood on the land of Kerbala despite the scantiness
of supporters, and faced the armies of polytheism and deviation to dictate his
will on them. He said, “I will not give you with my hand like the humble, nor
will I submit to you like the slaves. I certainly consider death as happiness,
and consider living with the wrongdoers as discontent.”
He then walked to the field of death,
along with the virtuous men of his household, to deliver the best lessons of
willpower, hard belief, and sacrifice for God’s sake to the world entirely.
Man’s value lies in his willpower,
without which humanity is lost. A French philosopher says, “Nothing is more
sticking to man’s personality than will.”
Willpower influences completely man’s
composition and immortality. The weak-willed can never achieve any individual or
social aim. Emerson says, “Willpower is the secret of success which is the goal
of existence. The willpower of the famous personalities, such as Napoleon,
Crenate and Alexander, was the reason beyond their immortality. Other
personalities were known of their situations of humiliation because of their
hesitation and ill self-determination. It is impossible to participate in the
life conflict and expect triumph without the possession of willpower.”. It is an
aspect of independent personality that contributes in making the human history
and ignores impossibility. Napoleon answered, when he was told of the existence
of the Alps in his way, “There will not be Alps there.” The worst words Napoleon
hated to hear were ‘Impossible’ and ‘I cannot.’
It is worthy mentioning in this
regard that Islam has specified willpower and giant self-determination as terms
of selecting the rulers. The weak-willed are prevented from managing Muslims’
affairs since they may cause dangers, vanish the prestige of leadership, and
cause mutiny and disobedience.
Lack
of willpower:
Individuals that lack willpower will
surely waste their personalities and their fancies will overcome. They will
surely yield to their lusts and fling in lowly fields of vices such as consuming
intoxicants, gambling, and committing all of the colors of sins. They will also
relinquish to laziness and sloth that result in many problems and calamities.
Maturity of willpower:
Ethicists affirm that the treatment
of the lack of willpower is the commitment to hard and arduous works that
empower and help in overcoming the difficulties. Within the factors that
increase the willpower is the exertion of all efforts. Hence, we should never
show any delinquency in any duty that we should act. Islam has also called for
this quality. God says:
And
if you determine, rely upon God.
As well, considering the deeds of the
great men of history is a means of arousing willpower, since those men could not
achieve their success and change the history unless they enjoyed a high
willpower that incited to do virtues.
Free
will:
Islam has granted each individual the
free will that enables in controlling all of the desires and achieving all of
the expectations. Islam has banned from obstructing the individual wills except
those that are used for sinning and perpetrating illegalities or harming others.
Such wills should be interdicted and resisted for the sake of preserving the
publics. In our ‘Political system in Islam’, I have referred to this point in
detail.
COURAGE
Courage is one of the significant
constituents of the conspicuous personality because it provokes on self-control
and endurance in states of dangers, and saves against collapsing in calamities.
Islam has spared no efforts for seeding this quality in the souls and caring for
it in the thorough mental and educational aspects. Thus, it has driven Muslims
to the battlefields and the terrains of sacrifice and offertory to the right,
for guarding their principals and goals. In the first eras of Islam, Muslims
showed no dearth in joining the battles with consonant determination and giant
will that qualified them, despite of their little number, to defeat the powers
of polytheism. The Islamic history has abounded with the unparalleled
championship. Imam Ali (a) cited the most engaging example of courage. None of
the ancient and modern history considered a man more courageous and consonant
than him. He was the star of the celebrated situations and the distinguished
standings in the battles of Badr, Uhud, Ahzab, and Khyber. No single hair of him
was terrified by such nauseous situations when he strove for God’s sake
consistently and recorded that file of heroism in struggling the atheists in
their lands and opposed them openly. He said, “The great numbers of the
surrounding people will not increase my fortification, and their dissension will
not make me desolate. I will not submit even all of the people let me down.”
Imam Ali’s heroic situations
comprised the languages of this world. Thence, he was the founder of the most
splendid pictures of courage in the whole world. Imam al-Hussein, being a copy
of his father, has elevated in this bright field. He has become the leader of
the Islamic liberal and combative movements. He received spears and swords while
he was standing like an exalted mountain to deliver to the generations the
lessons of dignity, haughtiness, and self-denial. He disregarded those
heartbreaking catastrophes that resulted in the massacre of his sons, brothers,
and darlings, in addition to the horrible adversities of harsh thirst and the
screams of his harem and children. All these tear-jerking distresses did not
hinder his striving and struggle. He kept on fighting invariably until he met
the Exalted Lord with full endurance. The Imam’s great attitude recorded the
greatest triumphs of Islam that remained lively and illuminative to open the
paths of struggle for freedom and independence to people.
Aspects of courage:
The most important natural aspects of
courage are as follows:
- The preservation of the natural
state and equanimity, and the avoidance of hesitation during disputations and
exchanging opinions and defending the beliefs
- Overcoming the countering
difficulties and taking steps in the path of reforming the faults of people’s
lives and beliefs
- Declaring the right and the bravery
in the face of the evils for the sake of exalting the wording of the right
Ethical courage:
Ethical courage stands for declaring
the right bravely. It also stands for the self-denial. Islam has adopted this
very meaning in its educational aspects. Muslims are required to express the
right under any circumstance. The Prophet said, “Say the truth even if it
injures your own personality.” “Care not for any blame in the field of saying
the truth.” Within his precepts to Imam al-Hassan his son, Imam Ali says,
“Engage in the right wherever it is.” the Prophet (s) warned the nation against
concealing the truth before the tyrants and the unjust. He said, “My nation will
be vilipended if they fear of declaring the wrong deeds of the unjust.”
Abu Therr al-Ghefari was the most
famous in the field of declaring the right and criticizing the evil. Induced by
the revelation of the Islamic doctrine, he went on denying the Umayyad policy
when they deviated and went astray. He used to threaten Othman and call for
revolting against him.
Abu Therr’s call was originated from
a heart that cognized Islam thoroughly and understood its goals and factuality.
He denied Othman’s policies of acting fraudulently in the nation’s destiny when
he usurped its fortune to provide them to the celebrities and the rich
individuals while starvation attacked people all over the state. Sayyid Qutb
says, “Abu Therr’s call was one of the Islamic thrusts that the corrupt-hearted
denied. Presently, the likes of such individuals –such as the packs of the
colonialists- are still denying the calls of right. It was a call of arousing
the consciences that are uncontrolled by greed in front of the harsh inflation
of the riches in a way of classifying Muslims into various categories and
demolishing the bases that Islam came for reforming.”.
Abu Therr conducted very bravely when
he showed his intense denial and indignation on Othman who exiled him to Rabatha
where he was deceased due to starvation. Meanwhile, Othman grasped the riches to
spend them generously on the Umayyads and the sons of Muit, and withheld from
this notable companion, who was likened, by the Prophet, to Jesus (a) in
guidance and straightness.
Shiite leaders also possessed such
huge amount of bravery and audacity. They did not submit to the persecution and
severity of the unjust ruling authorities. They pushed forwardly for exalting
God’s word and renouncing corruption and evil. Abdullah bin Afif al-Azdi, the
acquaintance of Imam Ali, revolted against Ubeidullah bin Ziad, the tyrant
murderer, when the latter addressed a speech after the killing of Imam
al-Hussein, the Prophet’s grandson. Before Ubeidullah had finished his speech,
the man answered him with words sharper than new swords. He said, “The liar is
most surely you and your father, and that who appointed you and his father. O,
you slave of the barbarous! You killed the sons of the prophets, and ascended on
the Muslims’ pulpits. Where are the sons of Muhajirs and Ansar to revenge you
and your tyrant chief-- the cursed and son of the cursed? –He refers to Yazid
and Muawiya whom were cursed by the Prophet (s)-”
Al-Kumeit bin Ziad, the poet, was
another example of the revolution against the wrongdoers. He satirized roughly
the Umayyad kings and praised the Alawids. He said:
“They –the Alawids- are chiefs unlike
those who see no difference between leading people and leading sheep. They are
unlike Abdul-Melik, al-Walid, Suleiman and Husham*.”
He also satirized Husham the tyrant
as well as the Umayyad kings. He said, “His words are the prophets’, while his
deeds are the Jahilites’**.” “Tell the Umayyads wherever they were, though you
fear swords: May God starve those whom you feed, and saturate those whom you
starved due to your injustice.”
Those kings exceeded in persecuting
and oppressing our poet, but he was exceeding in adhering to his belief and
principals.
On the theatre of Shism, another poet
emerged. He was al-Farazdaq, who criticized and reprimanded the Umayyads and
upheld the Prophet’s progeny --the real people of the Islamic right and justice.
The most remarkable situation of this poet was praising Imam Zeinul abidin and
denigrating Husham bin Abdul-Melik, the Umayyad king, who pretended he had not
known the Imam. Al-Farazdaq said, “This is the one whose steps are realized even
by the deserts. The holy House, the legality, and the precincts realize him,
too. This is the son of the best of God’s servants.
This is the pious, the pure, the
sanitary, and the master. Your asking about his personality does by no means
prejudice him. The Arabs and the non-Arabs know him.”
The poet went on praising the Imam in
such an unprecedented wording. Consequently, he had to encounter the Umayyads’
irritation and punishment. Nevertheless, this persecution did not stop him. He
satirized Husham and kept on referring to the Umayyads’ defects. He said, “He is
nodding the head which has never been a master’s head. He has a crossed eye of
manifest defects.”
Diibil al-Khuzai was surely the poet
of the persecuted and the wronged ones. He declared the right and criticized the
kings after they had exceeded in wronging and persecuting people. He satirized
ar-Rashid, al-Amin, al-Mamun, al-Mutassim, and Ibrahim bin al-Mahdi. The most
influential and consonant poetry was that addressed at al-Mutassim. He said,
“Then came an unguided leader who lacked intellectuality and mind. The Abbasid
kings are seven as it was predicted in the ancient books. No single book has
referred to an eighth one. This is similar to the people of the cave, who were
seven individuals. They were virtuous. Their eighth was their dog. I exalt their
dog to you, because you are sinful while it was not.”
This giant man used the notable
religion and the belief that he embraced for antagonizing the unjust rulers, who
wrung from this nation’s affairs, persecuted, and debasing people. None could
declare the right word and defend the miserable and the deprived except Diibil
and his faithful brothers who stood against the ferocious waves to declare God’s
word in the most horrible and suffering circumstances.
Women also had notable roles in the
field of the moral courage. They contributed in supporting the right and
conflicting the social injustice and oppression.
Suwada bint Imara-- the mistress of
the Iraqi women- was the best example in this regard. As she was before Muawiya
for complaining the injustice of the governor, the man realized her. He said,
“It was you who said in the battle of Siffin*, ‘O son of Imara! Fight like your
father on the days of fighting and the meeting of opponents. Support Ali,
al-Hussein, and their party, and combat Hind** and her son degradingly. The
Imam, who is the Prophet’s brother, is surely the sign of guidance and the
minaret of believing. Lead the armies and walk under his pennon with your sharp
sword and spear.’ You said these words, did not you?”
She embarked upon Muawiya with highly
firmness and said, “Yes, by God. It was I. I do never disdain the right and
provide false excuses.” This answer surprised Muawiya who asked for the reason
that incited her to say that wording. “It was the love of Ali and the pursuance
of the right,” she replied. “But I do not notice the effects of that love,” said
Muawiya. “The head was deceased and the tail was amputated. You had better leave
remembering the forgotten and repeating the past,” she worded, and cited her
problem of the injustice that her people and she had to encounter due to the
oppression of their governor. She then expressed, “May the Lord bless that body
in that grave in which the justice was buried. He allied nothing but the right;
hence, he was permanently mentioned with the right and belief.” “Who is that?”
wondered Muawiya. “That was Ali bin abi Talib,” she answered. “What did he do to
you to occupy such a situation in your heart?” asked Muawiya. The woman storied,
“Ali was performing a prayer when I came to him to complain the tax-collector
that he had appointed on our province. He finished his prayer and asked about my
demand. When I told him the whole story, the Imam wept and supplicated to God,
‘O, Allah, thou know that I did not instruct them of wronging your servants or
deserting the right.’ He then took a piece of skin out of his pocket and wrote
down, ‘In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. An evidence from your
Lord has come to you. Give full measure and weight fairly, and defraud not men
their things, and do not act corruptly in the lands, making mischief. What
remains with Allah is better for you if you are believers, and I am not a keeper
over you. As soon as you read this missive, you should keep what is in your
hands until a man that receives the position will arrive.’”
The story shocked Muawiya completely.
He could not control his nerves when he said, “Son of abi-Talib suffused you
with bravery and inveigled you by his saying, ‘If I am the doorkeeper of a
paradise, I will surely welcome the people of Hamdan warmly.’”
The memorable situation of this noble
mistress was one of the gifts of the Islamic spirit that never subdue to
affronts and subjugation, and never succumb to wronging and injustice.
ENDURANCE
Endurance is one of the factors that result in the coherence and equanimity
of personalities. Islam has paid specific attention to this quality and urged
Muslims on acceding to it. God’s reward will be highly considerable for the
tolerant. God says:
Only
the patient will be paid their reward in full without measure. And we will most
certainly give to those who are patient their reward for the best of what they
did.
And
reward them, because the were patient, with garden and silk.
And
we made of them imams to guide by our command then they were patient, and they
were certain of our communication.
Surely
we found him patient; most excellent the servant! He was frequent in returning
to God.
Endurance, without which the minds
would topple and the powers would retreat, is one of God’s gifts that the
faithful individuals should accept. In addition, they should meet the hardship
with a compatible rigidity and serene reasoning. Islam has called for hanging on
endurance, for it is the most significant moral virtue. It was mentioned in
seventy situations in the Quran. It is greatly notable and a source of the
social erecting. The impatient nation is unable to resist the calamities and
difficulties. Endurance, likewise, stirs up the virtuous tendencies that
thoroughly lack it. The Imams brightened endurance and prompted on sticking to
it. Imam al-Baqir (a) said, “Difficulties and endurance encompass the Paradise.
He, whoever tolerates the worldly difficulties, will be in the Paradise. Lusts
and desires encompass the hell-fire. He, whoever submits to the lusts and
desires, will be in the hell-fire.” Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “Endurance
represents the head of believing. With the fading of the head, the body will be
valueless. In the same manner, when endurance vanishes, the believing will be
valueless.”
Endurance is the remedy of the hearts
that are injured by calamities and wronged by the mishaps. It is the consolation
of the grievous souls when attacked by the currencies of obsessions and
distresses, and the delight of the excruciated ones who are suffering anguishes
and mistreatments. Under the shades of endurance, the anguished ones may find
tranquility, rest and settlement.
Categories of endurance:
Ethicists define certain categories
of endurance:
- Endurance against evildoing,
caprices, lusts, and every act that may mar man’s dignity and value
- Endurance of catastrophes through
tolerating the misfortunes, pains, the missed interests, and the worldly
benefits
- Endurance in the situations of
danger and horror, especially in defending the right and the honor
- Relinquishment to adversities and
slowdown in resisting them, using all of the legal means
Subjection to poverty and rest, as
well as expecting the matters of earnings, is not included with endurance. It is
obligatory upon everybody to exert all efforts for obtaining good livelihood.
Unemployment is illicit since it is a sort of ignorance and sloth and an
entrance to sinning and vices.
At any rate, Islam has called to
endurance and considered it the most notable mental virtues and the most
beneficial for both individuals and societies. It is said that the most
dignified and elevated people are those whom are described of endurance,
steadfastness, and tenacity in hazardous and menacing situations. Those people
face the calamities with full preparations and means to be saved against
difficulties and inutilities.
COMPOSURE
Composure is one of the divine names
and attributes that helps to win the best opportunities and adhere to virtues.
God has given composure exclusively to the prophets and the godly. God says:
Most
surely, Abraham was forbearing, tenderhearted and oft-returning to God. Take to
forgiveness, enjoin good, and turn aside from the ignorant.
Composure is one of the most renowned
mental virtues that achieve board-heartedness, high self-determination, and
virtuous moralities. Many narratives refer to the adherence to this trait.
The Prophet (s) said, “O Allah!
Richen me with knowledge and adorn with composure.” “God will never support by
ignorance or humiliate by composure.”
Imam Ali (a) said, “The abundance of
fortunes and sons is not the goodness. The real goodness is the abundance of
knowledge and the munificence of composure.”
Imam Ali bin al-Hussein (a) said,
“Men, whose composure overcomes their wrath, admire me.” Imam as-Sadiq (a) said,
“Composure is a sufficient support.”
The Imams were highly ascribed with
composure. Imam al-Hassan, the Prophet’s grandson, was the exemplar of composure
by the testimony of his enemies. Marwan bin al-Hakam tried to participate in the
ceremonies of Imam al-Hassan’s funeral, but Imam al-Hussein said to him, “Do you
intend to carry his funeral while you were one of his ultimate enemies who raged
him to excess?” The man said, “I did this to the man whose composure was as huge
as mountains.”
Imam Musa bin Jafar was also one of
the most self-possessed and broad-hearted. He was named al-Kadim, which means
‘the self-possessed.’ God praised the carriers of such elevated qualities. He
said:
And
those who restrain their anger and pardon men, and Allah loves the doers of good
to others.
Composure settles numerous problems
and enmity, spreads mutual amiability and association, and takes away from
malice and hatred. From this cause, Islam has paid thorough attention for
concentrating composure in Muslims’ mentalities.
MODESTY
Modesty is a noble quality that the
Islamic education cares for seeding it in the mental horizons. It eradicates
arrogance and destroys its affection. It elevates man in this world and
approaches to God. Uninterrupted reports have assured that the Prophet (s) had
said, “He whoever behaves modestly to God, will surely be raised.” He once asked
his companions, “Why do I not notice the beauty of worship?” “What is the beauty
of worship?” they wondered. “It is modesty,” asserted the Prophet.
He also said, “There are four matters
that God will not grant to other than those He likes. They are silence, which is
the headmost of worship, and reliance upon God, and modesty, and abstinence in
this world.”
The Imams applied the full meaning of
modesty when they delivered fascinating lessons. Historians relate that once a
man and his son were the guests of Imam Ali, who welcomed them and served a
plate of food. As they finished their food, the Imam hurried to fetch a pitcher
of water to pour it on the guest’s hand. The man abstained. “Sit down and let me
help in washing your hands,” said the Imam, “The Exalted Lord sees you when your
brother, who does not outclass you, serve you especially when he aims at gaining
the Paradise.” The man kept on abstaining but the Imam abjured him by his right;
hence, the man had to accept. As he finished, the Imam handled the pitcher to
Mohammed, his son, and ordered of pouring water on the son’s hands. He
explained, “I would pour water on this son’s hands if he was not accompanying
his father. God, the Elevated, rejects to equate between fathers and sons when
they are in the same situation.” Mohammed carried out his father’s order.
This is the very spirit due to which
the Islamic education has been prevalent and exalted in the instructions and
moralities.
Imam as-Sadiq (a) discussed the
quality of modesty. He said, “Modesty is the origin of every choice honor and
eminent rank. If it were a tongue perceived by people, it would speak out the
facts of the hidden outcomes. Modesty is only that intended for God’s sake, lest
it is arrogance. He, whoever used modesty for God’s sake, God will raise and
prefer him to great numbers of the servants. The Modest enjoy marks that are
realized by the people of the heavens; the angles, and the people of the earth;
the spiritualists. God says:
And
on the most elevated places there shall be men who know all by their marks.
The origin of modesty is honoring,
esteeming, and reverencing the Lord. It is the door to the rituals that God
accepts and receives. Except God’s intimate servants, who realize the deepest
purport of monotheism, none can identify the very meaning of modesty. God says:
And
the servants of the Beneficent God who walk on the earth in humbleness, and then
the ignorant address them,
the
say: Peace.
The Lord urged the best of His
creatures and the master of people, Mohammed (s), on using modesty. God says:
And
be kind to him who follows you of the believers.
It is the homestead of submission and
god-fearing. Veneration and pudency are parts of modesty. The actual and perfect
honor is unsound unless it offers modesty for God’s sake.
The Imam’s wording has referred to
the actuality of modesty for which God rewards and requites, provided that all
of the material tendencies are abandoned and it is offered to God's sake purely.
PARDON AND CONDONATION
The Islamic education has been
concerned with the noble characteristics of pardoning the aggressive and
condoning the wrongdoers. God has urged on pardoning and condonation in many
Quranic texts. He says:
And
if you pardon and forbear and forgive, then surely Allah of Forgiving, Merciful
God has also ordered of treating the
wrongdoers benevolently and pushing the evil away by means of altruism. God
says:
And
not alike are the good and the evil. Repel evil with what is best, when lo! He
between whom and you was
enmity
would be as if he were a warm friend.
Books of hadith contain a great deal
of narratives encouraging on adhering to this titled tendency. The Prophet (s)
said, “May I inform you of the best traits of this world and the Hereafter? It
is condoning those who wrong you, and associating with those who breach
relations with you, and using benevolence to those who maltreat you, and
granting those who deprive you.”. “Cling on pardon. It elevates the dignity.
Condone and God will dignify you.”.
Imam al-Baqir (a) said, “There are
three matters by which God dignifies increasingly. They are condoning the
wrongdoers, giving those who deprive, and constructing good relations with those
who breach.”.
Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “There are
three matters that are within the virtues of the world and the Hereafter. They
are condoning those who wrong you, and relating those who breach you, and using
composure to those who ignore you.”.
The Prophet (s) represented this
quality most honorably when he pardoned and condoned those who maltreated him.
He also pardoned the Quraishi polytheists who mistreated, injured, expatriated,
and instigated all powers of polytheism against him. When he conquered Mecca, he
gathered them and asked, “What do you think I am going to do to you?” “We expect
the good, since you are the magnanimous and the son of the magnanimous,” they
all answered. He then said, “Go off! You are released.”
Anas bin Malik related: I was
accompanying the Prophet (s), who was in a cloak of a hard margin, when a
Bedouin pulled him from the cloak fiercely and said in harsh and irate tone, “O
Mohammed! Carry on my two camels with God’s riches that you keep. They are
neither yours nor your fathers.” The Prophet kept silence for a while, and then
said, “The riches are God’s. I am only His servant.” After a pause he asked, “O
Bedouin! Do you not expect to be retaliated for you deed?” “No, I do not,”
answered the Bedouin. “What for?” wondered the Prophet. “Because you do not
answer the evildoing with evil,” replied the Bedouin. The Prophet (s) smiled and
ordered of giving him barley and dates as much as his camels bear.
The Prophet (s) used benevolence,
goodness, and condonation with any wrongdoing he might encounter. This nonesuch
morality was stuck to the tendencies of the Imams by which they preceded the
others.
Historians mention that once a man
threw showers of insults and reviling at Imam Zeinul abidin while he was leaving
the mosque. The Imam stopped his slaves who intended to punish that man. “O you
man!” addressed the Imam; “I am more than your previous wordings. You ignore
more than what you have known about me.” The man felt shy and was embarrassed.
Hence, the Imam gave him his shirt and bestowed with one thousand dirhams. The
man then confessed, “I must declare that this is one of the Prophet’s sons.”
A Syrian man went on reviling at Imam
al-Hassan. The Imam answered him with handsome smiling and said, “O man! We will
give you what you need, and lead you to your lost, and bestow you if you ask,
and feed you if you are hungry, and enrich you if you are destitute, and succor
you if you are fugitive.” The Imam kept gentleness with the Syrian man until the
evil was uprooted from his mind. He was highly astonished to the Imam’s
morality; therefore, he could utter no single letter. He only worded, “God is
the most knowledgeable of the fittest of conveying His message.”.
These pictures of the Imams’ conduct
incite to hold to self-denial and freedom from hostile tendencies. Hence, they
were the best examples of God’s saying:
And
repel evil with good.
CHARITY
Charity, which stands for good doing,
is the best trait and the best fruit of existence. It results in people’s
docility and collective honoring. It also causes the illustrious mentioning
after death. Islam has positively adopted and called to charity. God says:
Surely,
Allah enjoins the doing of justice and the doing of good to others and the
giving to the kindred, and He
forbids
indecency, and evil and rebellion.
He defines it as the best quality:
And
whoever submits himself wholly to Allah and he is the doer of good to others, he
indeed has taken hold of the firmest
thing upon which one can lay hold.
He also urges on doing charity, and
promised of rewarding what is better:
Whoever
brings good, he shall have better than it, and they shall be secure from terror
on that day.
He promises of rewarding the good
doing tenfold:
Whoever
brings a good deed, he shall have ten like it.
God also promises of keeping the
reward of the charitable and rewarding them with the best:
And
be patient, for surely Allah does not waste the reward of the good doers.
Charity is a principal pillar of
constructing the human societies and the best means of dispersing reciprocal
love and association. God defines some parties and orders of treating them
benevolently because of the ties of relation, neighborhood or being without
custody. God says:
And
serve Allah and do not associate any thing with Him. And be good to the parents
and to the near of kin and to
orphans
and the needy and the neighbor of your kin and the alien neighbor, and the
companion in a journey and the wayfarer
and those whom your right hands possess. Surely, Allah does not love him who is
proud, boastful.
God compares worship with treating
such parties kindly, since they are in exigent need of kindness and charity.
These parties are:
- The parents: Custody and kind
treatment to the parents are the tightest matters of family attachment. We have
previously referred to this point.
- The near of kin: They are the
brothers, paternal and maternal uncles, and their sons in addition to the other
kinsmen and kinswomen. Using charity to these individuals disperses love among
the family members. Family is surely the first brick in the social structure.
- The orphans: They are those who
lost their parents. The nation entirely is responsible for caring and educating
the orphans as a form of the social solidarity that Islam has imposed. It has
also decreed of meeting the needs of the handicapped, the weak, and the orphans.
- The poor: They are the paupers who
are unable to meet their annuity. Hence, Islam has ordered the nation of saving
the needs of the poor. Islam has also given them exclusively a good deal of
social obligations and a portion in the poor rate, so that they will get rid of
poverty, which should be eradicated totally from the Islamic society.
- The neighbors, whether the near of
kin or the alien: God orders of treating the neighbors kindly in order to
achieve firm bonds of love and association among people of the same quarter.
This is surely one of the reasons of the social connection and attachment.
- The wayfarers: They are those who
lose all their fortune before they arrive in their hometowns. Islam has ordered
of attending to them carefully and meeting their needs until they reach their
homes. In addition, a portion of the poor rate is allotted to them.
- The slaves: Islam has urged on
doing good to the slaves by manumitting them and treating them kindly and
avoiding intruding them to heavy duties.
Charity and benevolence to those
parties creates amiability and empowers the reciprocal social bonds to make
people represent one hand against their enemies.
GENEROSITY
How benevolent, philanthropic,
confident of God, great-spirited, honorable, and noble are the openhanded
individuals who adhere to the codes of generosity and avoid misery and avarice!
The Islamic education cares for
seeding this quality in the minds for its being the worthiest estimable tendency
that leads to social adhesion and the harmony of the individuals’ reciprocal
love and association. The Prophet (s) called to heed this quality. He said,
“Generosity is surely a part of faith. Faith will be in the Paradise.” “God the
Praised said: I have accepted this religion. It will not be amended without
generosity and good manners. You should spare no efforts for honoring this
religion with these two matters.” “The generous are close to God, and close to
people, and close to the Paradise and remote from the hell-fire.” “Do the favor
to its deservers and to those who do not deserve. If you give it to its people,
then you have done the right. If you do not reach them, then you are its
people.”
The Imams also spoke much about
generosity. Imam Musa bin Jafar (a) said, “The courteous generous is being in
God’s sustenance. God will not leave him before He sends him to the Paradise.
God did never select for prophecy and the succession of the prophets other than
the generous. My father kept on advising me of generosity till he passed away.”
The Imams adhered to generosity. They
devaluated the riches except in cases of meeting the needs of the hungry, the
needy, or the insolvent. Imam al-Hassan, the generous of the Prophet’s
household, is reported that he had never said, “No” to any suppliant. People
asked him about this quality. He answered, “I ask God and long for His
benevolence. I am too diffident to be suppliant or reject a suppliant. God has
inured me to receive His abundant graces and I accustomed to give His graces to
people. I am afraid He will cease His habit if I cease mine. As a suppliant come
to me I say: Welcome to him whose favor is an urgent obligation, and whose favor
is imposed on every charitable. The best days of a man are those in which his
favor is asked.”.
The Imams were draining their virtues
and generosity on the needy and the orphans. Al-Kumeit, the poet, refers to this
point by composing; “They are the rainy –with charity- that became the laps of
orphans when people refrain.”
The Imams’ history is suffocated with
situations of generosity and charity.
ALTRUISM
Altruism is a gentle feature that
elevates man and contributes in perfecting the personality, sobriety, and
self-sacrifice for the sake of the right and good. Islam has tended to this
quality and praised its people. The holy Quran praised a group of Muslims who
preferred their brothers to themselves. Exegesists report that seven Muslim
warriors who had been wounded in the battle of Uhud were harshly thirsty. A
Muslim fetched them some water that was sufficient for one person only. The
first man, to whom the water was offered, refused to drink since he suggested
offering it to the other. The other preferred the third, and so on. As the man
reached the last one, he found him dead. He returned the other and found him
dead and so on, until all of the wounded were dead. .
Islam has supplied Muslims with such
a magnificent spirit, and copied the high traits in their souls and made such a
notable human perfection all over history.
The ever most expressive, genuine,
and influential picture of the Islamic altruism was that of the Prophet’s
household. A whole sura was revealed for expressing this altruism. It is the
sura of Insan –or Addahr-. Unanimously, the exegesists –of the holy Quran-
related that the Prophet (s), with some of his companions, visited al-Hassan and
al-Hussein, who were sick. They suggested that Imam Ali, their father, should
vow a three-day fasting if they would recover their health. The Imam, as well as
their mother Fatima the veracious and Fudda their bondwoman implemented that
suggestion. When al-Hassan and al-Hussein were healed, the group fasted. The
Imam had no food at that time; therefore, he had to borrow three measures of
barley. In the first day, Fatima the veracious milled and baked one of these
measures. In the very time* of breaking the fast, a poor man knocked their door
for a meal. The imam gave him his share. The other entirely pursued the imam and
gave their shares. They passed that night without eating any thing. On the
second day of their fasting, Fatima the veracious milled and backed the second
measure to make some bread. An orphan complaining hunger knocked their door in
the time of breaking the fast. They entirely offered their shares of bread and
passed the second night without eating anything. On the third day, Fatima the
mistress milled and backed the last measure and made some loaves of bread. In
the very time of breaking the fast, a prisoner complaining hunger knocked their
door asking for some food. They all offered him their shares before having
anything of it. In the fourth day, the Prophet (s) visited them and noticed the
paleness of their faces. He was highly influenced when he shouted, “Is there a
helper? Mohammed’s household is starving.” Before he completed his words, the
angel Gabriel descended with the sura of Insan. The sura comprises the ultimate
adulation and the best wording.. God thanked their unparalleled efforts of
altruism and promised of a great reward and compensation in the Hereafter when
they will be enjoying the everlasting bliss of the Paradise. He also
immortalized their mentioning in this world and made them the imams and leaders
of Muslims.
COLLABORATION
Teamwork in the fields of charity is
also one of the most notable aspects of the Islamic education. God says:
And
help one another in goodness and piety, and do not help one another in sin and
aggression.
This is the Islamic methodology that
aims at composing the individuals and communities on firm bases of cohesion and
cooperation in the fields of goodness and piety, not sin and aggression. The
best sketches of the moral cooperation is establishing schools, hospitals,
institutes of studying, factories, and the like matters that lead to social
development and prosperity of mental and economic life.
This noble tendency caused the
predominance, maturity, and elevation of Muslims in their early ages. With
discrepancy and weakness of this tendency, the Muslims’ affairs and word were
scattered. They descended to the depths of humiliation and ignominy to the
degree that Israel, which was the most humble nation, dared to assault them. In
the Muslims’ homeland, the Israelis have founded a state for the Zionists and
humiliated the Arabs and Muslims. Had there been a sincere collaboration among
Muslims, Israel had had no ability to occupy these territories of our homeland,
banished their people, and exceeded in demeaning them. Muslims can hear the
various colors of persecution that the Palestinians are encountering, such as
massacre and displacement. The religious zealotry has not moved their feelings
to save their brethren and liberate their usurped rights.
SINCERITY
Islam has devoted great attention to
truthfulness, and urged on taking to it for its being a priority of the noble
traits and the good qualities. It is one of the four pillars of the social
system. Likewise, it is the title of the nations’ maturity and, meanwhile, the
evidences of their degradation in case people abandon.
In the
Quran:
In many Quranic texts, the importance
and high-ranking of veracity are exposed. God describes His Essence of veracity.
He says:
And
who is truer of word than God is?
We
are surely truthful.
He praised the prophet Samuel by
saying:
Surely,
he was truthful in his promise, and he was an apostle, a prophet.
Truthfulness is also a quality of the
pious believers. God says:
The
believers are only those who believe in Allah and His Apostle then they doubt
not and struggle hard with their
wealth
and their lives in the way of Allah. They are the truthful ones.
Sincerity is also the key to success
on the Resurrection day. God says:
Allah
will say, this is the day when their truth shall benefit the truthful. That
Allah may reward the truthful for
their
truth.
God also orders of pursuing the
truthful in this world. He says:
O,
you who believe! Be careful of your duty to Allah and be with the true ones.
Many Quranic texts call to using and
adhering to sincerity.
In the
prophetic traditions:
The Prophet and the Imams worded many
sayings inciting Muslims to be true-tongued and avoid fabrication.
The Prophet (s) said, “Hold fast on
sincerity. It guides to the benevolence that guides to the Paradise. Man is
still saying and inspecting the truth until he is recorded as a veracious to
Allah. Beware of untruth. It leads to licentiousness that leads to the
hell-fire. A man is still lying and inspection fabrication till he is recorded
as a liar to Allah.”.
Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “Regard not
the elongation of the genuflection –Rukuu- and prostration –Sujoud-. This may be
a habit, without which one may feel bored. You should regard the truthfulness
and the fulfillment of trusts.”. “God the Elevated had never sent a prophet but
with truthfulness and fulfillment of trusts to the pious and the licentious.”.
Advising his adherents, Imam as-Sadiq
(a) said, “Be solicitors to good doing with means other than your tongues so
that people will notice your solemnity, veracity, and piety.”
Necessity of sincerity:
Sincerity is the individual component
and the genuine affair on which the systems and equanimity of the cultural and
economic life depend. International economy is managed by truthful transactions.
National and individual capitals, banks, and commerce are proceeding on the
light of sincerity and factuality that are within the peculiar elements of the
transactional processes and effects. Sincerity is the pivot of the international
economic movement. It is impossible for the fraudulent and duplicitous economic
movements to develop.
Sincerity is a basic component in the
cultural life, too. Culture is grounded upon the method of factuality and
sincerity. It will be vain and meaningless if students and teachers are
untruthful in their tests, courses, and lessons.
The same thing can be said about the
political life. Policy is being continuous and valid only when it is fixed upon
sincerity. Insincere policy will eventually fail. The best example in this
regard is the behavior of Imam Ali, the pioneer of the right and justice on this
earth, to the Kharijites after they had discovered Muawiya’s fraudulence in the
question of the arbitration. They insisted on demanding the Imam with declaring
the repentance from (the guilt) of accepting the arbitration. The Imam declined
since he had originally not committed any guilt. They perpetrated that guilt.
Had the Imam accepted their demand, he would have been saved against the mutiny
of his army. He rejected the political life that is based upon fabrication,
cheating, and fraudulence. He pursued the completely sound path. Similarly, had
the Imam kept abreast with Abdurrahman bin Awf, who specified pursuing God’s
Book, the Prophet’s practice, and way of the Sheiks –Abu Bakr and Omar-, as the
condition of holding the position of leadership after the death of Omar bin al-Khattab.
Had the Imam accepted that condition, he would have saved the Islamic nation
from Othman bin Affan, the chief of the Umayyads-- the real foes of Islam. The
Imam, however, insisted on veracity disregarding the results. He preferred God’s
satisfaction to everything. Thus, he rejected to pursue the course of the two
Sheiks and insisted on the fact that the Islamic policy and management should be
grounded upon God’s glorious Book and the Prophet’s practices.
Categories of sincerity:
The categories of sincerity are
elevated and honorable:
Honesty:
Honesty is one of the firmest pillars
on which the sound society rests. It is the guide to all of the virtues and
moralities, and comprises God’s rights, including precepts, obligations, and the
abandonment of illegalities. It also contains the respect of the publics’ rights
by preventing from using the deposits, cheating, defrauding in measures, and
pursuing people’s flaws. People’s rights are guiding them, testifying, and
conveying the missions completely in addition to many others. God ordered of
fulfilling the trusts to their owners. God says:
Surely,
Allah commands you to make over trusts to their owners.
He also reckons honesty with the
qualities of the pious believers. He said:
And
those who are keepers of their trusts and their covenant…
The Prophet (s) said, “Honesty brings
subsistence. Dishonesty brings poverty.”
Advice is a sort of honesty. In fact,
the seekers of advice entrust the advisers.” “The individuals that are asked for
advice are entrusted. Those who are asked for an advice should provide the best
as if they were the doers of that act.” “He, whoever advises of a matter other
than the accurate, is defrauding the seeker.”
Likewise, keeping the others’ secrets
is a sort of honesty. People, who unveil their secrets before others, should
trust one another because they have presumed each other without any form of
concern or care. Both are warned against deceiving through conveying the
secrets. The Prophet (s) said, “The two associates communicate each other by the
trust of God. It is illegal for them to unveil the secrets.”
The Prophet (s) affirmed that the
safety and continuance of this nation is kept only when people care for their
trusts, apply it to the factuality, and take it out of their benefits. He said,
“My nation is still secured as long as people do not regard the trusts as
profits and the almsgiving as debts.”
Keeping the covenant:
Keeping the covenant is a notable
aspect of the Islamic education. Islam has called to this quality. God praised
Samuel the prophet by saying:
And
mention in the Book Samuel. Surely, he was truthful in his promise, and he was
an apostle, a prophet.
The pledge is a recorded document;
hence, it must be fulfilled. God says:
O
you who believe! Why do you say that which you do not do? It is most hateful to
Allah that you should say that
which
you do not do.
And
fulfill the covenant of Allah when you have made a covenant, and do not break
the oaths after making them
fast,
and you have indeed made Allah a surety for you. And fulfill the promise.
Surely, every promise shall be
questioned
about.
The Prophet (s) said, "The signs of
the hypocrites are three, even if they perform the prayers and fast and claim
being Muslims. They lie when they speak, and breach when they promise and cheat
when they are trusted."
As he was asked about the signs of
the hypocrites, the Prophet (s) answered, "They breach when they pledge."
The fulfillment of promises is a
social necessity upon which the life course and system depend. Islam has
confirmed the necessity of fulfilling the promises and compelled Muslims with it
even if the other party was an enemy. In his will to Malik al-Ashtar, Imam Ali
says, "If you tie with your enemy a knot or dress him your covenant, you should
encompass this covenant with fulfillment and keep your pact by honesty. Make
yourself an armor of what you have given. Nothing -of God's precepts- is more
agreeable, despite people's discrepant caprices and varying opinions, than the
glorifying of the fulfillment of pledges. This commits the polytheists, not
Muslims, among them due to there regarding the consequences of breaching as
great woes. Do not breach by your humility, infringe your covenant, or violate
your enemies. Only the rascal ignorant do venture God after He had made His
pledge and rectitude the security that should be publicized among His servants
by His mercy, and the shelter and vicinity to which the servants harbor and
rest."
This is the pure Islamic attitude to
pledges and promises. It has decreed obligatorily the fulfilling of the pledge
and promise even to the foes and the rivals of Islam.
GOOD WORDING
The Islamic education has exerted all
efforts for habituating to the good wording and avoiding the bad. God says:
To
Him do ascend the good words. And the good deeds lift them up.
The good wording ascends to the Lord
to reward it and bless its sayer. Islam has emphasized on this matter in many
occasions. God also orders the servants of speaking only the best wording. God
says:
And
say to My servants that they speak that which is best. Surely, the Shaitan sows
dissensions among them.
And
you shall speak to men good words.
Good wording achieves the good
reputation and saves from numerous problems and difficulties, the source of
which is the evil wording that, in most cases, arouses spites and draws
approaching damages.
Lowering the voice and avoiding
noises are within the Islamic instructions. God says:
And
lower your voice. Surely, the most hateful of voices is braying of the asses.
Imam Musa al-Kadim (a) narrated that
the Prophet (s) liked the low-voiced and hated the sonorous.
The loud-toned speech refers to the
ill manners and the degraded behaviors and ethics of the speaker.
The previous noble traits are surely
the brands of God's illumination and the gifts of His mercy. They push to the
good manners, aspire to good doing, and preclude from irregularity and
deviation.
THE EVIL TENDENCIES
The evil tendencies that lie in the
mental horizons stimulate to evil and sinning, and occlude against the straight
path. If they are left free, they will overcome and appropriate the virtuous
traits and noble morals by which the human beings differ from animals. Islam has
posed the sound bases of uprooting and ceasing the activities of such evil
tendencies so that mankind will be saved against vices and sins. Muslim
ethicists have studied these tendencies on the light of the Quranic and
prophetic texts.
RAGE
Rage is the vilest mental defect that
introduces the behavioral aberrance and irregularity.
Definition of rage:
Ethicists define rage as a psychical
action due to which the blood in the heart is excited. Hence, it spreads in the
arteries and reaches the top of the body and makes the brain as same as a cave
in which fire is flared to blacken its sides and cause that little torch to
extinguish. Thus, the face and eyes are reddened.. They added that the blood,
when tensed, makes a violent movement that fills the brain, as well as the other
nerves, with darkening smokes. Such smokes screen the intellective illumination
and enfeebles the actions of the brain; therefore, any admonition or advice will
be invalid. Sometimes, coarseness and intensity may be added to the manners of
the angry.
Other ethicists define rage as a
firebrand of God’s flaming fire that prospects only the hearts, and lies in the
bottom like the fire’s lying under ash. The zeal of religion takes it out from
the believers’ hearts. The zeal of the screened arrogance and ignorance in the
tyrants’ hearts has a connection to the Satan who said, “You created me from
fire and created him from mud.”
These definitions reveal the vile
factuality of this hateful tendency that usurps man’s equanimity and
intellective components.
Reasons of rage:
The following are the reasons of
rage:
- The intellective weakness and
laxity, that occur due to sinking in boons and luxury. This brings about the
influence of any affect.
- The mental sensation, that is
aroused due to the feelings of insult, and the perception of the appearances
without thinking or deliberateness.
- Disease and physical fatigue that
consume the intellective powers.
- Engrossment in working and the
continuation of staying up and engaging the mind with greed that sow the seeds
of rage.
Disadvantages of rage:
Rage has many disadvantages that
cause many risks. It is the most influential element of criminality and
retorting. Rage has caused numerous misfortunes and opened many jails, gallows,
and fire. It has also cut off the bonds of relations between kinsmen, fathers,
sons, and friends. Tongues uttered insults and revilement because of rage that
unveiled hatred and schadenfreude, and induced to beat and wound, and aroused
the feelings of malice and enmity. An ethicist says, “Rage causes the mind to
confuse, the body to thrill, the lips to shrink, the voice to hoarse, the breath
to accelerate, the face to flare up, the veins to puff, the hands to shrivel,
the nerves to confuse, the hear to pulse, the blood to boil, the mouth to froth,
and the eyes to throw evil. When all these are noticed on the angry, it will be
surely adjudged that the insane are sounder and nearer to bettering than the
angry are. If the angry look in the mirror to see that disgusting mien, they
will surely feel shameful and be embarrassed.”
At any rate, rage is one of the
vilest the most injurious manners since it causes variable misfortunes and
calamities and inflicts the greatest difficulties and dilemmas.
Warning against rage:
Islam has warned against rage, which
is a nefarious quality. It has counted it as a danger and risk. Many narratives
have been reported in this regard. The Prophet (s) said, “Rage corrupts
faithfulness like the vinegar when rots honey.” He also regarded self-striving
and self-possession in the states of rage as signs of heroism. He said, “The
hero is not that who overcomes in fighting. The real hero is that who possesses
himself in rage.” Imam Ali (a) said, “Fury is a sort of madness.” Imam as-Sadiq
(a) said, “My father used to say: Which matter is more intense than rage? In the
states of rage, a man may kill the innocent, and slander the honorable matrons.”
He also said, “He whoever lacks control on his rage, will not control his mind.”
“Rage eliminates the minds of the wise.”.
Islam has also added the pardon in
the states of rage to the believers’ qualifications. God says:
And
when they rage, they surely forgive.
Islam has warned Muslims against
being submitted to rage that leads to disintegration and failing in this world
and the Hereafter.
Precautionary methods
Ethicists refer to several means that
protect against the evil of rage:
- The recall of vileness and
remembering the bad results of rage that brings about problems and desolation.
- Considering the advantages of
composure, such as the good reputation. It is also recommended to remember that
the angry disputants may be changed into close friends by means of
self-possession and pardon. God says:
Repel
evil with what is best, when lo! Be between whom and you was enmity would be as
if he were a warm
friend.
- Regarding God’s might, which is the
most powerful. The revenge that is directed at the other party, especially when
he is weak, is always less powerful than God’s. Aggression, however, overtakes
the doom and negligence of God’s mercy.
- Remarking that rage is a sign of
mind imperfection and psychic defect. The angry are estimated as same as the
valueless idiot. This remark may guard the enraged from sticking such
descriptions to themselves, since self-esteem and conservation of entity and
reputation are personal matters.
- Remarking the defects and the
diseases of nervous collapse and disorder that is originated from ire and rage.
- Remarking the physical state of the
angry and the ill-spoken statements they would utter.
- Avoiding curiosity,
inquisitiveness, and sycophancy.
- Hiding and devaluating the ill
wording. God says:
And
when they pass by what is vain, they pass by nobly.
- The observance of the physical
health and cleanness, and practicing sports. In most cases, rage occurs to the
diseased.
FEAR
The Islamic education exerts all
efforts for the sake of eliminating the ghost of fear to achieve tranquil and
settled life.
Reasons of fear:
Islam has antagonized the several
factors that originate fear, and called to release them. They are:
Fear
of death:
Fear of death is a natural
phenomenon. Man always avoids any circumstance that may cause danger, and tries
to take any available means that keep the life and oppose termination. The
adherence to the lifeline may cause humiliation and mortification. Islam has
rejected humiliation and regarded it as a sort of self-weakness since fear of
death will never postpone or change what God has prescribed to man, who
definitely be led to death in the very limited time. God says:
And
Allah does not respite a soul when its appointed term has come.
Any effort of respiting death is
void. God says:
Every
soul shall taste of death.
Whenever
you are, death will overtake you, though you are in lofty towers.
Matters that prevent from performing
the national duties, especially opposing the unjust rulers, will never change in
any means the factuality of death that is imposed on everybody.
Fear
for subsistence:
God the Elevated has entrusted man’s
earnings to His will and volition. God grants whomever He wills. He says:
Allah
makes abundant the means of subsistence for whom He pleases of His servants, and
straitens them for
whom
he pleases.
Surely,
Allah is the Bestower of sustenance, the Lord of Power, the Strong.
Seek
the sustenance from Allah, serve Him, and be grateful to Him.
The holy Quran asserts this fact in
many texts so that man will be released from the ill delusions that relate the
sustenance and earnings to the creatures, not the Creator, so that they may be
betaken as gods. God says:
Surely,
they whom you serve besides Allah do not control for you any sustenance.
By means of such a creative
education, Islam has canceled all of the sorts of fears that may prevent from
delving in the various the aspects of sustenance, which is the most dangerous.
Thus, it has committed the earnings to God, and vacated any role of the
creatures in this process. This regulation paves the way of dignity, freedom,
and honor so that people would not take any course to slavery and misfortune.
Fear
of the coming:
The anticipation of coming problems
is a natural phenomenon. Islam has released men from this bond and attached
whatever inflicts people to God. God says:
Say:
Nothing will afflict us save what Allah has ordained for us. He is our
Patron,
and on Allah let the believers rely.
Say:
I do not control any benefit or harm for my own soul except as Allah pleases.
The individuals, who believe that
they will be inflicted by matters that God has ordained, will surely live in
tranquility and beatitude, away from anxiety, disorder, submission, and
humiliation.
Islam has fought all of the factors
and incentives of fear so that the whole horizons of life will be used
thoroughly.
The
factual incentives of fear:
God-fearing:
Islam has emphasized on fear of God.
God says:
But
do not fear them and fear Me if you are believers.
That
Allah might know who fears Him in secret.
God-fearing, when settled in the
mind, will certainly prevent from committing crimes or sins, and prompts the
good and virtuous doing.
Fear
of disobedience:
Fear of disobedience and sins is the
actual fear because it takes away from vices and forbidden matters, and warns
the punishment of the Hereafter. God the Elevated mentions the pious believers
who fear Him and escape from disobedience. He says:
Say,
surely, I fear, if I disobey my Lord, the chastisement of a grievous day.
The Prophet said, “One must not fear
other than his guilt.”
Before we commit a sin, we must
remember and fear God, Who will punish in this world and the Hereafter.
Fear
of the Resurrection Day:
Man should fear the terrors and
difficulties of the Resurrection Day, by avoiding any matter that God has
forbidden, and clinging to the precepts and obligations. The holy Quran exposes
the horrifying terrors of the situation on the Resurrection Day. God says:
The
day on which a man shall fly from his brother and his mother and his father and
his spouse and his son. Every
man
of them shall on that day have an affair, which will occupy him.
Surely,
the violence of the hour is a grievous thing. On the day when you shall see it,
every woman giving such
shall
quit in confusion what she suckled, and every pregnant woman shall lay down her
burden, and you shall see
men
intoxicated, and they shall not be intoxicated but the chastisement of Allah
will be severe.
The Quran also exposes the horrible
chastisement that the tyrants and murderers will encounter on that day. God
says:
Lay
hold on him then put a chain on him. Then cast him into the burning fire. Then
thrust him into a chain the
length
of which is seventy cubits. Surely, he did not believe in Allah the Great. Nor
did he urge the feeding of the
poor.
Therefore, he has not here today a true friend. Nor any food except the
wrongdoers’ eats.
It is obligatory upon every
individual, who possesses a mentality, to shun any sort of sinning, and to fear
God. Naturally, such a high education will achieve a bright and pure mentality
ENVY
Envy is the virulent disease that
affected men all over history and caused many distresses and difficulties. Islam
has warned against envy and reproached the envious and called for prompting
against it.
Reality of envy:
The ill-favored envy* stands for the
wish that the amenities were to lapse. In other words, the evil envy is the
intendment of ruining and destroying. The desire of getting the same amenities
of somebody else has nothing to do with envy. This is the emulation. In most
cases, the feeling of obtaining others’ good qualities is being favorable since
it encourages doing well. The Prophet said, “The faithful believer emulates, but
does never envy.” Likewise, envy is different from the competition that stands
for striving for copying others’ good deeds. It is the main incentive of the
industrial and commercial progression. Islam has urged on competing with each
other in the fields of good and benevolence. God says:
And
for that let the aspirers aspire.
Warning against envy:
Islam has paid a great attention to
protect Muslims against the insalubrious disease of envy because it causes
social disunion and spreads enmity. It has also criticized and rebuked the
envious.
Several Verses deny and malign the
envious. God says:
Many
of the followers of the Book wish that they could turn you back into unbelievers
after your faith, out of
envy
from themselves.
Or
do they envy the people for what Allah has given to them of His grace?
God also exposes the nature of envy.
He says:
If
good befalls you, it grieves them, and if an evil afflicts you, they rejoice at
it.
The Prophetic texts are also filled
up with many indications to the ill manner of envy. The Prophet (s) said, “Envy
consumes the good deeds like fire when consumes wood.”. “Poverty is about to be
atheism, and envy is about to overcome God’s act.”. “The malady of the past
nations has crept to you. It is malice and envy, which is shaving. It shaves of
religion, not hair. By the Prevailing of Mohammed’s soul, you will not be
believers before you love each other. May I lead to a matter after which you
will certainly love each other? Propagate salutation among you.”
Imam al-Baqir (a) said, “Man may
convert to atheism when he commits an ill manner in case of rage. Envy surely
consumes faith like fire when consume the wood.”.
Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “The plague
of the religion are envy, self-esteem, and arrogance.”.
Besides, there are many texts warning
against envy, which is an epidemic that corrodes the entity and change the
envious into victim of pains and infliction.
Incentives of envy:
Ethicists referred to a number of
incentives that originate envy:
- The origin of envy is the mental
evilness and avarice. It takes the souls to the bottoms. Such souls are annoyed
when they notice God’s amenities and charities widespread over people, and
rejoice when they notice distressed persons. This is the most evil sort of envy.
The Prophet (s) said, “God’s amenities have enemies. They are those who envy
people for receiving God’s charities.”
- Envy is originated from enmity and
malice. The enemies and the malicious are pleased when they see others sink in
grief and sorrow. They feel depressed as they notice them live in luxury.
- It is also originated from the
desire of exceeding others. The bearers of such desires are dejected when others
excel them, and think they will obtain comfort if they excel others.
- It is also originated from the
anticipation of missing opportunities and interests. This feeling is generally
stuck to craftsmen. It extends with the narrowness of the province. The big
cities may lack this sort of envy because of the engrossment of crafts.
- It is also originated from
arrogance and pride. The arrogant may fear of others’ excelling them if their
elegance is increasing.
- It is also originated form
contempt. The envious, who contempt others, wish the fading of others’
amenities. This sort comprises the atheists’ envying the prophets for being
given the Lord’s mission exclusively. Those atheists used to say to the
prophets, as the Quran exposes, “Your are naught but mortals like ourselves.”
This envy also incites those atheists to accuse the prophets and apostles
falsely. Anyhow, these accusations would change into the publicity of those
apostles’ virtues and elevation.
Abu Temmam, the famed poet, referred
to this meaning when he composed a couple of verses in which he asserted that
God uses the tongue of the envious when He wills to arouse an unseen virtue.
Misfortunes of envy:
Numerous misfortunes and calamities
are originated from envy. The envious may be inflicted by ceaseless grief and
sorrow because they suffer if any amenity is granted to a mortal. God’s
amenities, however, are incessant. Thus, the envious are in continual regret.
Consequently, this will affect the physical health. Ibnul-Mutaz says, “Envy is
the epidemic of the body.” A spiritualist says, “I have never seen such wrong
people who are as same as the wronged. They consider the amenity as their
calamity.” The envious are the rejecters of God’s act. In most cases, this may
lead them to atheism and disbelief. Accordingly, the Prophet said, “Envy
consumes the good deeds like fire when consumes wood.”
The reduction in the social ranks of
the envious is one of the misfortunes involved. People usually abandon the
envious, since they cause the rupture of relations in addition to other defects,
such as fabrication, backbiting, tattling, perfidy, treason, calumny, killing,
and larceny besides other sins and evil-doings.
Treatment of envy:
Ethicists have cited some treatments
for this disease:
- The envious are prescribed of
acceding to the ethics of Islam and considering God in every action since this
precludes and trains on leaving this vile habit.
- The envious should regard that this
ill quality is a perishing disease that results in falling in this world and
failing in the Hereafter. The envious will surely leave this habit if they look
curiously upon this fact. Self-love is one of the inveterate human qualities.
Man will definitely avoid any matter that may lead to expiration. For the
envious, when they esteem that envy will never harm the others, they will think
of giving up this habit.
- Within the matters that help in
quitting envy is looking to those who are in lower states, so that God’s graces
and amenities will be realized. The Prophet said, “Looking to the more should be
followed by looking to the less.”.
The envious are prescribed of
considering the results of envy that brings the ill manners as well as
misadventures and vices.
AVIDITY
Avidity is a mental vice that the
Islamic education has tended to uproot and eradicate. Its source is the
excessive engagement in the earthly affairs, the greedily coveting of collecting
money and the complete negligence of death. The Prophet (s) referred to this
phenomenon by saying, "Had son of Adam had two valleys of riches, he would have
wished of obtaining a third. Nothing fills his interior but dust.". "Richness is
not the abundance of items. It is the self-contentment.".
The Prophet (s) also warned against
the excessive avidity. He said, "O people! Calm down in seeking your livelihood.
Man will never obtain more than the decreed, and will never leave this world
before receiving the decided.". Imam al-Hassan (a) said, "Avidity is the enemy
of mentalities. Adam was expelled from the Paradise because of avidity."
Avidity urges unheedingly on
obtaining riches. Man is inconsiderate that earnings and sustenance are in God's
hand that He bestows to whomever He desires and prohibits from whomever He
desires. Man's excessive endeavors will never change anything of the limited
sustenance. Ibn Zureiq the poet assures this meaning. He affirms that God had
already distributed the individuals' earnings; hence, it is nonsense to exert
excessive efforts for gaining and profiting.
Avidity draws to many sufferings and
pitfalls, seduces to strive and work hard, deprives of rest and settlement, and
arouses grief and pains. The best way of getting rid of this ill manner is the
contentment to God's decree and contemplating that these riches will surely
inherited by others. Hence, if the riches are ill-gotten, then the sin will be
stuck to the collector while their benefits will be the inheritors'.
PARSIMONY
Parsimony is a vile quality and an
ill manner. It is one of the fruits of adhering to the worldly affairs, as
ethicists affirm.
Reality of parsimony:
For ethicists, parsimony is the
stinginess in the situations of the necessary giving. It is the preference of
abstinence in any matter. Imam al-Hassan (a), when was asked about the meaning
of parsimony, expressed, "It is to consider any spending as a loss.". This is
the most accurate definition of parsimony.
Warning against parsimony:
Islam has struggled and warned
against this aspect. The Quran and the prophetic traditions refer to this topic
in many texts. God says:
Those
who are niggardly and bid people to be niggardly and hide what Allah has given
to them out of His grace.
And
let not those deem, who are niggardly in giving away that which Allah has
granted them out of His grace, that
it
is good for them. Nay, it is worse for them. They shall have that whereof they
were niggardly made to cleave to
their
necks on the resurrection day.
Many prophetic texts condemn
parsimony.
The Prophet (s) said, "The
parsimonious is remote from God and remote from the Paradise.". "Parsimony is a
tree rooted in the hell-fire. Only the parsimonious will be in the hell-fire.".
"Beware of niggardliness. It wiped out the past nations. As they responded to
niggardliness, they killed each other, violated the forbidden, and cut off their
relations.". "Niggardliness and faith do never combine in a Muslim's heart.".
Imam al-Hassan (a) said, "Parsimony comprises all of the vices and defects and
weeds out the heart amiability."
Many other texts warn Muslims against
this evil trend that is the head of every lechery and blotch.
Protection against parsimony:
The best way of protecting against
this disease is considering deliberately the bad consequence of adhering to it,
especially after departing this world. Every man will be surely asked about the
money he leaves in this world. Punishment will fall upon those who collect
ill-gotten riches and those who collect the riches legally, but care for them
excessively. Besides, the parsimonious are socially degraded and scorned. Sheik
an-Naraqi says, "The best way of treating parsimony is dissecting its causes,
which is the fond of riches. The reason is surely the fondness of the lusts that
are gotten through money only. The excessive hope is another reason. If a man
expects he will leave this life soon, he will never think of collecting money
parsimoniously and saving it for the descendants.".
MALICE
Malice is a vile tendency and a state
of rage that may destroy and terminate since it is hidden in the minds. Islam
cares for purifying the mentalities from the vices and evils of malice. The
Prophet said, “The faithful believer should not be malicious.”
Envy is the source of malice that
ruptures the relations, leads to animosity, and drives people into tremendous
evils. Slander and schadenfreude are within the outcomes of malice. Malice may
result in other bad consequences, such as mockery and other illegal matters that
create dishonor and corrupt the religion. Disorder and depression usually affect
the malicious since they live in incessant and unsettled grief, pains, and
animosity.
Protection against malice:
- The malicious should consider that
the internal animosity takes away from faithfulness and approached to the
hypocrites and the deviants.
- The malicious should remark that
malice brings about pains and suffering without gaining any profit.
- The malicious are advised of
looking upon the courses of the great men of history whom were described of good
behavior and virtuous moralities. Imam Ali (a) says, “If you overcome your
enemy, you should consider pardoning him as the gratitude for the overcoming.”
People went on supplicating to God
against the unknown larcener that thieved some dirhams of Abdullah bin Masud,
the grand companion of the Prophet (s). Abdullah answered, “O Allah! If it was
an exigent need that drove that man to thieve those dirhams, then I implore thee
to bless him. If he thieved due to intending to commit a sin, then I implore
thee to make it the last of his sins.”
A wise man said, “If you are told
that somebody was reviling at you, you should answer: He must have been unaware
of my defects totally, lest he would not utter only these words.”
ARROGANCE
Islam has warned against arrogance
and self-conceit that create egoism and tyranny. They are also the indications
of ignorance and pride. God said:
Do
not attribute purity to your souls. He knows him best who guards against evil.
Therefore, enter the gates of
hell,
to abide therein. So certainly evil is the dwelling place of the proud.
The Prophet said, “Three matters are
annihilating. They are the obeyed niggardliness, the pursued fancy, and
self-esteem.”. “Arrogance consumes the good deeds like fire when consumes
wood.”. Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “Doom is the outcome of arrogance.”.
Islam has antagonized the evil
tendency of arrogance that is originated from ignorance, pride, and rashness.
Blights of arrogance:
Arrogance causes serious mental
blights, the most notable of which are as follows:
- Arrogance generates pride,
self-esteem, and precedence.
- It results in the oblivion of
sinning and the abandonment of God and the Hereafter.
-It perverts the deeds that are
offered purely to God. As he was asked about the arrogance that perverts the
good deeds, Imam Musa (a) said, “Arrogance is of different classes. A class
makes the ill deeds seem to be good and admiring. Another class secures,
falsely, from God; hence, the bearers of such an arrogance think they do favor
to God, while the truth is that God is doing favors to everybody.”.
- It arouses self-esteem. The
arrogant thinks of being guarded against God’s acts and punishment, and thinks
he have many rights that are mandated upon God because he performs some rites.
-It leads to boasting and
trespassing.
- It results in dictation and
challenging the right.
Types
of arrogance:
There are several types of arrogance.
They are as follows:
- The vanity about richness and
amenities. God said:
And
he possessed much wealth; so, he said to his companion, while he disputed with
him: I have greater wealth
than
you, and am mightier in followers.
As the Prophet (s) noticed a rich man
roll his clothes while he was associating with a poor man, he said, “What! Do
you anticipate that his poverty will affect you?”
- The vanity about the abundance of
wealth and the power of the family. The holy Quran refers to this phenomenon.
God says:
And
they say: We have more wealth and children, and we shall not be punished.
- The vanity about power. The holy
Quran exposes the story of the tribe of Ad who said, “Who is more powerful than
we are?” This sort of vanity creates wars and seizure. The powers that are
admired of their arms will tend to overcome the less powerful.
- The vanity about lineage and
nationalities. Islam has antagonized such an ill quality and ruled of combating
anyone that may call to it, because this racism disunites Muslims and promotes
the variant trends. According to the Islamic viewpoint, Muslims should be one
body of equal organs.
The vanity about ill opinions. God
says:
What!
Is he whose evil deed is made fairseeming to him so much so that he considers it
good?
They
think that they are well versed in skill of the work of hands. This is the
compound ignorance.
- The vanity about knowledge. The
students may esteem themselves and despise others. This is the most influential
disease that deconstructs knowledge and takes away from God. The Prophet said,
“The blight of knowledge is self-complacency.”
- The vanity about deeds and worship.
This sort of arrogance nullifies the worship and creates pride.
Protection against arrogance:
The best way of guarding against
arrogance is the thorough self-consideration. Man is the target of various
calamities and misfortunes especially when none can realize or predict the
coming. After death, man will not be more than an obscure thing and a mass of
valueless dust. What for should man be arrogant? Any consideration and judgment
will remove the elements of arrogance and takes back to the right.
OSTENTATION
Ostentation is a serious sin. It indicates mental vices. The ostentatious do
not have any relation with God. Islam has warned against exhibitionism and
ordered Muslims of purifying themselves from its germs. The holy Quran, also,
exposes and warns against ostentation. God says:
Surely,
the hypocrites strive to deceive Allah, and He shall requite their deceit to
them, and when they stand up to
prayer,
they stand up sluggishly. They do it only to be seen of men and do not remember
Allah save a little.
Whoever
hopes to meet his Lord, he should do good deeds, and not join any one in the
service of his Lord.
Woe
to the praying ones who are unmindful of their prayers, who do good to be seen
and withhold the necessaries of life.
The reports that deal with and warn
against the ostentation are uninterrupted.
The Prophet (s) said, “The most
dangerous thing that I warn you against is the minor polytheism… It is the
ostentation. On the Resurrection Day, God will say to the ostentatious: I reward
the servants for their deeds. Go to those whom you were showing in the world.
Will they reward you?”. “God will not admit any deed that possesses a bit of
ostentation.”
Imam Ali (a) said, “Fear God
exhaustively, and work for Him without seeking any reputation. He, whoever works
for other than God, will be attached to those for whom he works.”.
Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “Dedicate
your affairs to God’s sake. Do not make them for people’s sake. Whatever is
intended to God, goes to God, and whatever is intended to people will never
ascend to God.”
Imam ar-Rida (a) said, “You should
work for other than ostentation or reputation. He, whoever works for other than
God, will be attached to those for whom he works.
Ostentation is rebuked and considered
as a sort of polytheism that never ascends to God.
Incentives of ostentation:
Incentives of ostentation are as follows:
- Showing off piety and virtuousness
for winning people’s respect and veneration.
- Showing off for holding some
religious positions, the terms of which are piety and religiousness, such as
judiciary and imamate,
- Showing off for winning people’s
confidence, and planning for embezzling their trusts, or the like.
Only those who sacrifice the
Hereafter for worldly affairs may take the path of ostentation. The ostentatious
individuals, in fact, worship others besides God, and dress piety as a means of
achieving the narrow aims.
Ostentation invalidates worship:
Muslim Jurists affirm unanimously
that ostentation invalidates the worship. There is no difference in the rule
whether such a state of ostentation occurs in the first of the ritual, in the
middle or in any part of it. Likewise, ostentation invalidates the rites even if
it is intended in some parts that are out of the obligatory ritual. For
instance, the prayer is invalid when the performer shows off by joining a
collective prayer, or choosing a definite mosque, imam, time or place..
The actual worship is engaged in the
sincerity to God. When ostentation occurs, the rituals will be invalid and
should be repeated.
Treatment of ostentation:
Ethicists mention a number of matters
that eliminate this virulent defect.
- The ostentatious should clear the
incentives of ostentation, such as the fondness of praise and greediness in
people’s amenities.
- The ostentatious should regard the
blights and calamities that are resulted from ostentation, such as the
corruption of the deeds and God’s scorn.
- The ostentatious should consider
that people’s praise and confidence would not improve the livelihood, since
sustenance is God’s concern, and that whoever seeks sustenance from other than
God will gain nothing but humility and decline.
- The ostentatious should concern the
grief and the lack of tranquility that affect them because of presuming people’s
emotions and trends. They should also remark that nothing would please people
who have contradicting opinions and tendencies. This will surely bring about the
most intolerable suffering and heartache and deprive of any profit.
- The ostentatious should consider
that God will sooner or later divulge the ill intendments and unveil the
actuality in this world or in the Hereafter. Thus, no profit is gained from the
deceptive efforts. The ostentatious will surely get rid of their ill habits if
they consider these treatments carefully.
CONCEIT
Conceit is one of the mental defects
that the Islamic education has treated and purified the mentalities from its
germs.
Reality of conceit:
Ethicists mention that the reality of
conceit is the minds resting to what accords the fancies confusedly and
conceitedly. He is deceitful that whoever esteems his present or fated success.
They also disclose that deceit is composed of two matters:
First: esteeming the vile as good.
Second: the fondness of lusts and
rage..
Warning against conceit:
Islam has warned against conceit
because it ruins the minds and causes sufferings and leads to commit the
forbidden matters. God says:
Let
not this world’s life deceive you, nor let the arch-deceiver deceive you in
respect of Allah.
But
you caused yourselves to fall into temptation, and you waited and doubted and
vain desires deceived you till
the
threatened punishment of Allah cane, while the arch-deceiver deceive you about
Allah.
The Prophet (s) said, “How excellent
the sleep and the nature of the courteous are! They excel the staying up and the
efforts of the idiot. A bit of piety and certitude is preferable to the
conceited even if it is as much as this earth.”.
Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “The
conceited people are poor in this world and grieved in the Hereafter. They sold
the best for the worst. Do not be conceited by yourselves. Your riches and
health may allure you, thinking you will persist. The long age, the children,
and the associates will not save you. Your beauty, wish, and gaining the target
may allure you, assuming your being sincere and true. Your remorse for
delinquency in worship may allure you, while God realizes that your heart has
the opposite. You may undertake excessively for adoration while God wants mere
sincerity. You may take pride in your knowledge and lineage while you are
unaware of the unseen damages. You may imagine that you supplicate to God while
you are supplicating to someone else. You may think you are advising people
while you intend your own interests. You may reproach yourself while you are
actually praising.”.
This saying indicates all of the
incentives and causes of deceit. The Imam warned against all sides of conceit
and called to purify the mentalities against its deviation and sins.
Protection against conceit:
The eradication of fondness of lusts
and fancies is the best protective way against conceit. It is essential to
cognize that we will leave this world to the world of the right. Looking upon
these facts may take back to the straight path.
MENDACITY
Mendacity is the origin of every vice
and the source of every defect. It is a hateful quality. The honorable and the
virtuous are remote from such an ill manner that Islam has opposed.
Censure of mendacity:
Islam has warned against this ill
characteristic. God says:
Only
they forge the lie who do not believe in Allah’s communications, and they are
the liars.
So,
He made hypocrisy to follow as a consequence into their hearts till the day when
they shall meet Him because
they
failed to perform towards Allah what they had promised with Him and because they
told lies.
The Prophet (s) said, “Beware of
fabricating. It leads to licentiousness, which leads to the hell-fire.”. “May I
inform you of the grandest sin? It is polytheism and impiety to parents and
telling lies..
Imam Ali (a) said, “The servants –of
God- will not find the good taste of faithfulness before they quit intentional
and unintentional fabrication.”
Imam Ali bin al-Hussein (a) said,
“Beware of insignificant, influential, unintentional, and intentional lies. Fibs
lead to fabrication.
Imam al-Baqir (a) said, “God the
Praised has made locks for the vices. He made the consuming of intoxicants the
keys of these locks. Mendacity is viler than consuming intoxicants.”
Imam al-Askari (a) said, “All of the
vices were confined in a house the key of which is mendacity.”
Moreover, many other narratives
forbid this evil quality and declare God’s punishment to those who commit this
depravity.
Reasons of mendacity:
Many causes that are originated from
self-weakness and disloyalty to God incite to commit mendacity. They are as
follows:
- Fabricating lies for gaining a
delusive profit or guarding against an anticipated damage. This anticipation is
dictated by the soul, which is the incessantly demanding with evil.
- Fabricating lies for profiting by a
good livelihood or approximating the profitable wealthy. The source of such
mendacity is self-degradation and humiliation. The comic mendacity is also a
repulsive feature. It stands for forging lies for the sake of making others
laugh. This property drags to illegal matters without gaining any benefit.
- Fabricating lies for disturbing and
wreaking the enemies. These matters incite to describe false questions and
revile by inaccurate accusals.
- The most notable incentive of
mendacity is the lack of piety and religiousness. Those who fear God never
commit mendacity.
Mendacity may be an irremovable habit
if it controls the mind. It is said that if suckling of mendacity is found
sweet, it will be very difficult to wean. The mendacious are socially
disrespected and any said lie will be naturally imputed to them.
Sorts
of mendacity:
The sorts of mendacity are as
follows:
- Forging lies against God and the
Prophet. This stands for the intentional ascribing unsaid statements to God and
the Prophet. Some of the companions, who merchandized with their religion and
sold their Hereafter to Muawiya, such as Samara bin Jundub, Abu Hureira, and Amr
bin al-As, purposed to forge lies against the Prophet. Muawiya bestowed them
abundantly; therefore, they counterfeited the prophetic traditions and falsified
the sayings of censuring the Prophet’s infallible household and praising others
for gaining Muawiya’s gold and power. That was the most calamitous damage that
Islam had to encounter, since such false reports corrupted Muslims’ doctrinal
lives and deformed the religion’s signs and rulings. For Shias, forging lies
against God and the Prophet invalidates the ritual fasting of the month of
Ramadhan.
- Perjury, which wastes people’s
property, honors, and souls. It is surely the most horrendous crime that
eradicates justice and systems. The Prophet (s) said, “May I inform you of the
grandest sins? They are polytheism, impiety to parents and –emphatically-
perjury.” Perjury in insignificant or grand matters is indifferent. Judiciaries
should chastise and distrust the perjurers.
- Mendacity for mocking people. This
is also an ugly forbidden matter since it stands for abusing others. Islam,
however, protected people’s dignities and forbade debasing and deriding them.
Mendacity brings about God’s ire and scorn, and causes the mendacious to lose
lechery and the failing of justice and trustfulness.
Warrants of mendacity:
Islam has permitted mendacity in
cases of attaining some social benefits when the way of telling the truth is
blocked. These cases are as follows:
- Telling lies is permitted when it
is intended for saving a Muslim from the unjust ruler’s fist. When a tyrant
intends to kill, usurp, or dishonor a Muslim, it becomes obligatory to tell
false things, if there is no other way, for saving that individual. In this
case, “the vice of mendacity retreats because the obligation of salvation is
effective,” as scholars of jurists affirm.
- Telling lies is permitted when it
is intended for refitting ruptured relations. In case the reuniting of ruptured
relations relies upon a fib or telling untrue things, it is not unacceptable to
fib or invent a matter, provided that there is no other solution, that
re-gathers the hearts of the adversary parties at odds and dislodges the spirits
of rivalry and animosity. The Prophet (s) said, “He is not a liar that who makes
peace between two rivalry parties when he says good wording or publicizes good
deeds.”. Abu Kahil reported: As two of the Prophet’s companions were engaged in
discrepancy, I came to one of them and told, falsely, that the other party used
to praise and applaud him. I went to the other party and did the same thing.
Hence, I could make peace between them. Then, I considered that I had made peace
between those two, but violated my own personality due to telling lies. I came
to the Prophet (s) and cited the problem. “O Abu Kahil!” said the Prophet, “Make
peace between people even by means of…” He referred to fabrication.
Islam has greatly concerned with
making peace and reconciliation between discrepant parties, and preferred this
process to the general rituals of prayers and fasting. Rivalry opens the door to
evils, ruptures the united word, and spreads the spirits of animosity and
contest among Muslims.
- Telling lies is permitted when it
is intended for winning a battle. War depends upon trickery. If Muslims’ triumph
and the foes’ defeat rely upon fabrication, it becomes obligatory to lie. The
Prophet (s) said, “Every fabrication is forbidden except telling lies in wars,
since wars depend upon trickery.”
- Telling lies is permitted when it
is intended for reconciliation among the fellow wives. Polygamous husbands are
required to deceive each wife that he loves her more than he loves the others,
for relieving them and saving from rivalry and quarrels.
Unfortunately, people have opened the
portals of mendacity as wide as possible. They have stuck to it so adhesively
that they got used to it. Deceptive flattery, which is surely a sort of
mendacity, has become a habit. For instance, when an individual tries to get rid
of the embarrassment of breaching a promise, he may cite falsely an ailment as
his excuse. Fathers also used to instruct their sons to tell those who visit
them of their absence in order to avoid the visitors. These sorts of social
hypocrisy have been prevalent nowadays that even some poets recommended of
sticking to them in the social relations. This flattery is surely a social
defect that is originated from cowardice, timidity, and lack of mental
disciplining.
It is strange that some writers,
especially the Orientals, have purposed to forge lies in their writings. For
instance, the Islamic Encyclopedia Britannica is filled up with intrigues,
inventions, and lies especially in matters pertaining to Islam and some leaders.
We have referred to many examples of their forged lies that are intended defame
Islam and wrong the Imams.
By the same token, the books of Dr.
Ahmed Amin and Dr. Ahmed Shibli that are pertaining to Shias and some of their
doctrinal beliefs are filled up, shamelessly, with lies and fabrications.
At any rate, people used to fabricate
and lie. Indisputably, this deadly defect destroys all of the moral virtues.
Degradation and collapse will be the inescapable fate of any nation that takes
fabrication as a course.
Protection against mendacity:
The following are the ways of
protection against mendacity:
- Deliberate concern of the ceaseless
chastisement that God threatened the liars who gain nothing from mendacity.
- Considering the ordeals and
distresses, the most important of which is the social degradation and distrust
that is originated from mendacity.
- Avoiding associating with the
evildoers, who do not refrain from forging lies, and clinging to the virtuous
and the religious ones so that their deeds, habits, and morals may influence and
help in uprooting the evil customs.
Educators are required to activate
their notable roles for extirpating this malignant disease and saving the new
generations by citing the terrible damages of mendacity that leads to
degradation and ruin.
BACKBITING
Backbiting is a lethal defect and
evil that unveils envy, oppression, and lack of faith. Unfortunately, people
hanged to the bad manner of backbiting that became a general custom and a fruit
in which they have fun. They used to place each other on the table of slicing to
reveal the flaws and imperfections of one another openly.
Reality of backbiting:
Backbiting stands for mentioning the
others' affairs that they detest, whether frankly, metonymically, indicatively,
symbolically, or literally. It also comprises the mentioning of religious
affairs, such as accusing of larceny, treason, negligence of prayers, impiety to
parents, or the like, and worldly affairs, such as accusing of ill manners or
loquacity or mocking the way of dressing or the like.
Illegality of backbiting:
Islam has banned backbiting since it
arouses malice and animosity. God says:
And
do not spy nor let some of you backbite others. Does one of you like to eat the
flesh of his dead brother? But
you
abhor it.
Hence, God considers the backbitten
as a brother, considers his honor as the flesh, and considers backbiting him,
while he is unaware, as his death.. God also says:
Surely,
as for those who love that scandal should circulate respecting those who
believe, they shall have a
grievous
chastisement in this world and the hereafter. And Allah knows, while you do not
know.
The Prophet (s) said, “Backbiting is
more serious than fornication. God may forgive the fornicators if they repent,
while He will not forgive the backbiter before the backbitten forgives.” “He
whoever keeps on backbiting and unveiling his brother, will be kept on in
hell-fire, and God will unveil his flaws before the creatures.” “Sessions in
which backbiting is prevalent are ruining the religion. Prompt your hearings
from listening to backbiting. The deliverer and the receiver are parties of the
sin.
Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “He whoever
declares what he notices and hears about his faithful brother, is with those who
are intended in God’s saying:
Surely,
as for those who love that scandal should circulate respecting those who
believe, they shall have a
grievous
chastisement in this world and the hereafter.”
Backbiting is a grand sin for which
God will chastise and interrogate on the Resurrection Day.
Incentives of backbiting:
Ethicists mention a number of
incentives of backbiting. They are as follows:
- Mocking and ridiculing encourages
backbiting others.
- Jocularity incites to backbite
others.
- Faulting others and self-love
causes backbiting.
- Associating, flattering, and
consenting to individuals that are accustomed to exposing people’s defects cause
backbiting.
- If it is expected that somebody
will sooner or later backbite, this may lead to take initiative in backbiting
him.
Backbiting is a sign of the ingenuity
of mentalities that is irrelevant to virtue and morals.
Penance of backbiting:
The penance of backbiting is seeking
the backbitten’s satisfaction and acquittal. Numerous narratives assert this
indication. It is related that backbiting will not be forgiven unless the
backbitten forgives. The Prophet (s) said, “Those against whom there is a
complaint of honor or assets, should seek the acquittal before the coming of
that day on which there will not be any dirham or dinar. On that day, the good
deeds of the charged will be added to the complainants. If there is no good
deed, the evils of the complainants will be added to the charged.”
Jurists have issued that the
repentance due to which God forgives and pardons does not omit the chastisement
of backbiting because it is people’s, not God’s, rights.
Protection against backbiting:
- A deliberate concern of the
ceaseless chastisement that God has threatened the backbiters for debasing,
dishonoring, and wronging the others, is a protective method against this
malignant disease.
- The consideration of the worldly
vices that are originated from backbiting, especially when it reaches the
backbitten and arouses or increases animosity and may creates harm, insult, and
aggression, may encourage avoiding backbiting.
- Removing and treating the
incentives of backbiting will save against going on backbiting others.
TATTLING
Tattling is as evil element and a
door to arousing sedition. It unveils ignobility and villainy.
Reality of Tattling:
Tattling stands for informing others
of the ill wording that is said about them. It is a sort of divulging the
secrets and exposing the screens. It comprises the conveyed words and deeds,
whether they were acceptable or unacceptable. In other words, tattling stands
for the broadcasting of any kept secret affair.
Censure of tattling:
The holy Quran censures the
malevolent quality of tattling. God says:
And
yield not to any mean swearer, defamer, going about in slander. Woe to every
slander, defamer.
The Prophet (s) said, “The most
beloved of you to Allah are the best of moralities and the modest. They are
those who like others’ company and others like them. The most hateful of you to
Allah are those going in slander, driving wedges between the associates, and
searching for the innocents’ flaws.”. “For those who refer to a Muslim’s flaw
for tattling, they will be in the hell-fire in the Hereafter.”.
Imam al-Baqir (a) said, “The Paradise
is interdicted from the backbiters and those going about in slander.”.
Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “Those who
convey a deed of a Muslim for the purpose of debasing and dishonoring, God will
dismiss them from His guardianship to the Satan’s. The Satan will reject them,
too.”.
Incentives of tattling:
- The will of stirring up discord,
evil, and malice against the slandered causes tattling.
- The will of approximating and
favoring those about whom a word was said, for obtaining their confidence, is
another incentive of tattling.
- The will of rupturing relations and
creating sedition between the slanderer and the slandered is another incentive
of tattling.
Protection against tattling:
- A deliberate consideration of the
sedition and the evil that is created from tattling may save against adhering to
it. Tattling is a means of destroying and corruption that is possessed only by
the faithless.
- Looking upon the chastisement that
God will subject upon the tattlers, whose deeds reach to no profit at all, may
remove this ill quality.
- Tattlers should regard that their
deeds debase them, and make people distrust and belie them.
MOCKERY AND SARCASM
Islam has called to the mutual
respect and esteem. According to the Islamic education, it is illicit to mock or
debase others whether by words, deeds, or indication in order not to arouse
animosity and discrepancy. God says:
O,
you who believe! Let not one people laugh at another people perchance they may
be better than they, nor let
women
laugh at other women, perchance they may better than they. And do not find fault
with your own
people
nor call one another by nickname. Evil is a bad name after faith. And whoever
does not turn, these it is that
are
the unjust.
Mockery, carping, and defamation
bring on heart malice, rupture the bonds of mutual association, amiability and
disobedience, and occasion God’s scorn. Mockers are surely wronging themselves
and approaching God’s chastisement and castigation.
SCHADENFREUDE
Schadenfreude stands for the
enjoyment obtained from others’ troubles. It suggests ignobility and meanness.
Experiments have shown that those who are enjoyed for others’ misfortunes would
eventually be inflicted by similar misfortunes. Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “He
whoever expresses glee for others’ misfortunes will not leave this world before
being inflicted by a misfortune.”. Schadenfreude originates spites and animosity
among people.
GARRULITY
Islam has called to avoid garrulity
and ill wording and the like matters since they waste time uselessly. More than
one Quranic text refers to this ill manner. God says as He mentions some
qualifications of the favorable servants:
And
when they hear idle talk they turn aside from it and say: We shall have our
deeds and you shall have your
deeds.
Peace be upon you, we do not desire the ignorant.
And
when they pass by what is vain, they pass by nobly.
Garrulity comprises all of the sorts
of idle talk that arouses lusts and corrupts moralities.
Islam has worked for disciplining and
purifying the mentalities against defects and misfortunes, for saving people
against the moral and mental blotches that lead to irregularity and deviation
from the straight path.
The Islamic education solves the
problems of the speculative elements that arouse dangerous sorts of psychic
struggle. It also influences positively the general behavior, and elevates to
high levels of the human culture and the sound cognizance that help in achieving
the productive activities of developing the social life. In fact, the Islamic
education is not devoted to disciplining and reforming the mentalities only. It
aims at achieving social amendment and comprehensive guidance in all of the life
aspects. Naturally, this nonesuch education will not achieve reformative and
disciplinary predominance on the national maturity and composition unless it
affects the mentalities, and finds a place in all of the fields of man’s
behavior.
THE PHYSICAL AND MORTAL EDUCATION
IN ISLAM
Islam has adopted positively the
principals of the general health to concentrate in the legislative fields. All
of the precepts and laws of Islam yield the best fruits that preserve the
physical health and guard against many diseases. Some Western physicians, after
they had been acquainted with the Arab and Islamic medicine, accepted Islam. Dr.
Georgeo Dar Blanto says, “All of the Islamic precepts, rituals, and recommended
practices have a good relation to health. They always intend to achieve two
goals at the same time; religious and physical.”.
Dr. Ronan confirms the same fact. Dr.
Rondsandge says, “The Islamic instructions represent health since they call to
contentment and moderation in food and drink, cleaning, and washing with pure
water five times a day before every ritual prayer. In addition, the ritual
prayer is a set of physical activities. Islam has also decreed to confine those
who are defected by infectious diseases. The Islamic sciences allot a great part
of searches for the health conservation.”.
The fascinating physical instructions
of Islam admired the Western physicians, such as Dr. G. Blanton and Dr. Ronan,
who regard the Prophet (s) as the noblest and the excellent physician in this
world. Dr. Blanton says, “It is quite undeniable that treatment and health were
within the main topics that Mohammed dealt with. In addition, he himself enjoyed
a considerable acquaintance with medicine.”.
At any rate, the Prophet (s) cared
very much for the well-being since he believed that without the marks of the
physical education along with its application, the elements of the sound life
are unavailable. He was so careful of the physical soundness such that he used
to instruct his companions to supplicate to God for good health and recovery,
“After certitude, nothing is more beneficial than sound health.” He also
approved medicine and called to specialization in this field. He said, “Science
is of two sorts; physical and religious.” Likewise, he ordered of medication and
assured that each malady has a remedy. He said, “Use medication. God has not
made a malady before He had created its remedy, except death- it is surely
cureless.”. He also constituted a special medical program titled ‘At-Tibb un-Nabawi
–The Prophetic Medicine-’. In this program, he exposed some diseases and
provided their remedies in addition to a comprehensive elucidation of food, such
as fruits, edibles, and meat that are medically useful.
Imam Ali (a) also expressed some
physical courses within his recommendations and advice, among which was that
magnificent advice he had afforded to his son Imam al-Hassan (a) in which he
said: “O son! May I offer four words after which you will no longer need
medicine? Do not eat unless you are hungry. Stop eating while you are still
hungry. Chew food deliberately. Before sleeping, go to toilet. You will not need
medicine.”.
This advice is the highest physical
recommendation that the modern medicine has declared. Overeating and inaccurate
chewing bring about many diseases to the digestive system.
Imam as-Sadiq (a) also discussed
medicine and hygiene and delivered valuable lectures that revealed the most
accurate affairs of these sciences. He also discussed physiology, blood
circulation and the microbes that affect diseases. Moreover, he reviewed the
qualities of fruits, vegetables, meat, and the like. These physical and medical
discoveries have been compiled in a book titled ‘Tibb ul-Imam as-Sadiq’
–Medicine of Imam as-Sadiq-. The Imam argued with the best physicians of his age
and discussed the deepest and most accurate medical advances. Those physicians
submitted to his knowledge and confessed of the questions he had provided. Most
of these argumentations are recorded in the books dealing with the life of the
Imam. We may consider that the best of these advances are those recorded in the
book titled ‘Amalil Imam as-Sadiq’ –Dictations of Imam as-Sadiq-, in which
chapters pertaining to physiology with its accurate questions and topics are
recorded. The most modern scientific labs and analytic devises and technology
have not attained the topics that are discussed in that book. Naturally, these
treatises contributed in the development of hygiene. As much as we conceive, the
most splendid physical theses that are related to the Imams (a) are those
recorded in the book titled ‘Ar-Risaletul Thehebiya’ –The Golden Treatise-. It
is also called ‘Tibbul Imam ar-Rida’ –The Medicine of Imam ar-Rida-.
Imam ar-Rida (s) wrote it as a
response to the demand of al-Mamun, the Abbasid caliph. Historians mention that
the caliph concerned greatly with that book that he ordered the writing it with
gold and betook as a course of his physical life. He also eulogized that book
honorably. He said, “I named it the golden and stored it in the store of wisdom
after the Hashemite youth had copied it. The soundness of corporeality depends
upon the well preservation of food and averts diseases to form vigorous life
that brings about wisdom due to which the Paradise is gained.”
It surely deserved protection, guard,
attention, and consideration since the seekers of wisdom and knowledge could
depend and refer to it. It also was the authority since it came out of the
houses that inherited the Prophet’s rulings, the prophets’ eloquence, the
successors’ proofs and the scholars’ ethics. It is the remedy of the diseased. I
showed it my retinue and the most knowledgeable people of wisdom, medicine, and
authoring. They all praised and applauded it for the high rank of its writer and
the truthful contents.”.
The Imam (a) disputed with the master
scholars of his age that the caliph had gathered for overcoming him so that the
caliph would have a flaw through which he would debase and disgrace him.
However, those master scholars were unable to overpower the Imam. They confessed
of his virtue and mastery in that field.
In any case, Islam has constituted
general principals of physical courses that guard against many diseases.
CLEANNESS
Cleanness is one of the most
important elements of the composition and prosperity of the physical life since
it protects from the lethal and epidemic diseases. Islam has adopted positively
and involved some rulings and obligations to cleanness. God praises and adds
cleanness to the qualifications of the favorable. He says:
Surely,
Allah loves the returners and loves those who purify themselves.
Certainly,
a mosque founded on piety from the very first day is more deserving that you
should stand in it. In it are men
who love that they should be purified. And Allah loves those who purify
themselves.
Many reports of the Prophet and the
Imams deal with the adherence to cleanness, considering it as a principal rule
of the individual and social lives.
“Cleanness is a part of faithful
believing.”
“The religion is based upon
cleanness.”
“Allah is good and loves the good. He
is clean and loves those who are clean.”
“Purity is the half of faithful
believing.”
The cleanness to which Islam has
called comprises the following:
- Islam has called to the cleanness
of the body by removing the dirt, clipping the nails, shaving the hair, and
brushing the teeth.
- Islam has called to the cleanness
of the clothing by removing the insects that carry diseases.
- Islam has called to the cleanness
of the residence, especially the bathroom.
- Islam has called to the cleanness
of food and drinking water.
Any negligence of these matters may
lead to the effect of diseases. This is forbidden, because it is, according to
the Islamic legislation, a sin. God says:
And
do not throw yourselves to the danger.
Islam has also abhorred and warned
against dirt. The Prophet (s) said, “How evil the dirty servants of God are!”.
Some of the types of dirtiness are the body dirt, dress dirt, lodging dirt,
sitting in dirty places, and spitting in the public places and mosques.
Islam’s attention to cleanness is
evidently clear through the following enactment:
Bathing
Islam has directed both sexes to wash
all of the body, with water soon after any sexual intercourse or wet dream. God
says:
And
if you are under an obligation to perform a total ablution, then wash
yourselves.
Modern science has proven that the
human body loses a part of its vitality and activity after each sexual
intercourse, and will not return by any action other than washing all of the
body with water. It is also obligatory upon women to wash their bodies and
remove the dirt of blood after purification from the blood of menstruation. This
washing recovers the women’s vitality and activity. Muslim jurists refer to
other obligatory and recommended baths that make Muslims clean, in most cases,
and away from dirt and filth.
Ablution
Ablution is obligatory before the
five daily prayers in addition to other obligatory prayers except the Funeral
Prayer. It is obligatory to wash the face and the two arms, and pass the hand
over, for Shias, the head and the feet. Similarly, it is recommendable, in the
ritual ablution, to wash the hands and rinse the mouth and the nose in addition
to the other actions. The specialist physicians mention important advantages for
the ablution. They are as follows:
1. Water that is shed on the face and
the hands helps in activating the dermal capillaries. This increases the heart
vivacity, activates the body respiratory processes, and helps in inhalation and
exhalation. Consequently, the perceptive motivated nerves are stimulated. Then,
the stimulation moves to the whole cardiac, gastric, and pulmonic nerves, as
well as all of the organs and glands.
2. Eyes are protected against
ophthalmia because they are washed with water several times a day.
3. The nasal channels are cleaned
from the germs gathering there by rinsing the nose.
4. The skin is protected against
dermatoses. The face and the hands are uncovered organs that are vulnerable to
the affection of microbes. Immunity will certainly be obtained if those organs
are washed several times a day.
5. The oral cavity is protected
against the germs that penetrate because of the pollution of hands. If the hands
are always clean, they will not carry any microbe. Diseases that affect the
human body through polluted hands are the digestive parasites, typhoid, and
paralysis. At any rate, the ablution is the most notable means of protecting the
human bodies against such serious diseases.
6. The ablution alleviate tense
nerves and anger, as physicians aver. The Prophet (s) said, “Rage is the
Satan’s. The Satan is created of fire. Water extinguishes fire. You should
perform the ablution whenever you are enraged.”.
Brushing the teeth
Islam has recommended using the
toothbrushes. The Prophet (s) said, “Unless I did not want to fatigue my people,
I would order them of using the toothbrush.”
The toothbrushes in the early era of
Islam were the miswaks. They are branches of a tree that includes small fibers
used for cleaning the teeth. Dr. Hamid al-Badri refers to some of the hygienic
advantages of these fibers. He says, “This plant is chemically composed of
cellulosic fibers and some volatile oils. It has aromatic rating and mineral
salts such as Sodium chloride, which is the normal salt, and potassium chloride
and gypsum oxide. Thus, these sticks are natural toothbrushes that are supplied
with mineral salts and aromatic materials that help in cleaning the teeth. The
Prophet (s) and his companions used these natural toothbrushes many centuries
ago, while the other toothbrushes were first used in 1800. It is worth
mentioning that any negligence of the teeth may lead to tooth decay that carries
poisonous materials and originates many diseases.”.
Using
the toilet:
Islam has legislated cleaning after
using the toilet. This process stands for cleaning the urinal organ twice or,
preferably, three times with water. For the fecal organ, it is optional to clean
with water or with a material that removes the feces thoroughly. The first way,
however, is preferable, as jurists confirm. This notable enactment creates body
cleanness and protects against the microbes and the dirt of the urine and the
feces.
Cleanness of dresses:
Jurists unanimously have agreed upon
the obligation of wearing clean clothes during prayers. They have also ruled the
invalidity of the prayers that are performed by those whose clothes are
–intentionally- unclean. They rule that such prayers should be repeated with
clean clothes. It is quite acceptable that the cleanness of dresses plays a big
role in the achievement of individual and social physical soundness, and
protects against definite diseases.
Hairdressing and nail clipping:
Islam tends to clean the parts of the
body; hence, it urges on hairdressing and nail clipping. The Prophet (s) said,
“There are five matters that are within the sound nature. They are shaving the
pubes, circumcision, trimming the mustache, tearing out the hair of the armpits,
and clipping the nails.”. Health and protection against infectious diseases are
obtained through the application of these healthy courses.
In any case, Islam has decreed
cleanness, because it involves the prosperity and the development of the general
health, and contributes in saving good physical soundness. The developed
countries, along with the international health organizations, strive for
publicizing the general health among peoples of the world. They also work for
guarding man from irregularity and aberrance. Bantam, the English, says,
“Diligent preservations in the legislative purity of the Islamic religion will
dismiss sinning and quit the defects. All of the criminals that I have seen in
the jails were dirty in appearance and reality.”
NUTRIENT COURSES
Islam has constituted a distinctive
course of nutrition, and ordered Muslims of applying them to their lives.
Moderation of food:
Islam has shown the necessity of
moderation in food. God says:
O,
children of Adam! Attend to your embellishments at every time of prayer, and eat
and drink and be not
extravagant.
Surely, He does not love the extravagant.
This holy Verse includes the
principals of the general health and founds an equable rule of physical safety.
This is the moderation of eating. Overeating ravages the body and causes the
infliction of many diseases. Imam as-Sadiq (s) says, “If people economize in
their eating, their bodies will be sound.”. Imam ar-Rida (s) says in ar-Risaletu
Thehebiya, “O Amirul-Muminin*! Consider only the food that suits you and your
stomach, and intensifies and relishes your body to prepare it for yourself and
use as the diet. The excessive food is useless. The food that is neither
excessive nor imperfect is the useful. You should not have the adequacy of food.
You should leave the food while you are still craving for it. This is better for
the stomach and the body, and more helpful for the mind and less heavy for the
physique.”.
Islam has underlined the necessity of
moderation in eating since it achieves the physical soundness and takes away
from diseases. The Prophet (s) said, “Eat only when you crave, and abstain while
you are still craving.” “Sons of Adam –human beings- have not filled a bowel
worse than the abdomens. Sons of Adam should be content with a few bits that
rectify the body. If this is impossible, one third should be given to eating,
and one third to drinking, and one third to breathing.” “Stomach is the house of
every malady. Diet is the head of every remedy. Give the soul what it
habituates.”
Overeating creates serious and
impending developments that lead to many dangers and difficulties. Some of these
dangers are as follows:
- Overeating causes fatness, which is
a serious ailment, since it brings about heart troubles, hypertension, nephric
defects, and diabetes.
- Overeating causes the digestive
system to encounter many diseases due to the extension and reduction of the
stomach, such as ulcer and the like.
- Immoderation in eating causes
problems of fecundity. Modern medical surveys have proven that the immoderation
in having food, especially the fatty, affects the activities of the glands and
the sexual reproduction. In some cases, it may lead to barrenness..
- Overeating may cause mental defects
and idiocy.
Food mastication:
Islam has urged on food mastication
and added it to the healthy courses due to which the physicians become unneeded.
Modern medical searches have supported this fact and assured that bad
mastication creates many defects to the digestive system.
Coldness of food:
Islam has banned from having hot
food. The Prophet (s) said, "Cool the food. The hot food lacks bless."
Physicians have proven that having hot food creates dental defects.
Forbidden food:
Islam has forbidden some foods that
ruin the health and destroy the body. Instead, it has referred to some foods
that comprise essential elements. God says:
O
you who believe! Eat of the good things that we have provided you with, and give
thanks to Allah if him it is
that
you serve. He has only forbidden you what dies of itself, and blood, and flesh
of swine, and that over which
any
other name than that of Allah has been invokes. But whoever is driven to
necessity, not desiring, nor
exceeding
the limit, no sin shall be upon him. Surely, Allah is forgiving, merciful.
Forbidden to you is that which
dies
of itself, and blood, and flesh of swine, and that on which any other name than
that of Allah has been invoked, and
the strangled animal and that beaten to death and that killed by a fall and that
killed by being smitten with the
horn,
and that which wild beasts have eaten.
The
dead animal:
The dead animal is that departs life
before legal slaughtering. Specialists mention several damages of the animals
that depart life naturally. They say, “Animals are not died unless there is a
reason. If it is a disease, it is still in that animal’s carcass that is
poisoned by unnatural materials that harm man even if fire sterilizes it. Such
carcasses are similar to the fermented food that is harmful even if it is
sterilized from germs. Having the meat of such carcasses may lead to death.”.
“All of the natural qualities and vital materials of carcasses are missed as
soon as death occurs. If such fresh carcasses are eaten, a gastric colic and
tense enterotoxins occur. In case such carcasses had been dead for a long time,
they are changed into lethal poisons that damage the human body totally, such as
hemiplegia, apoplexy, and sudden death. Sometimes, it may cause barrenness.”.
Animals that are dead due to senility
carry damages similar to the diseased. Senility results in the disintegration of
all of the tissues that affects the nutritive values of the meat and its
digestibility, which create gastronomical diseases.
Blood:
Islam has forbidden having blood,
because it is the hotbed of germs. They breed and spread in the blood to carry
poisonous secretions. Blood, when consumed, causes hurray in the gastric tissues
in addition to other serious diseases. The blood of diseased animals causes high
temperature and hypertension.
Pork:
Trichinosis is a disease that pork
causes. It is very serious. It is accompanied by increasing tense, sometimes
hematic, diarrhea, colic, high fever, apathy of powers, painful aches in the
knuckles, aridity in the larynx and the respiratory organs, and clear facial
intumescence, especially near the eyes, in addition to general impuissance. It
may cause death.
In 1983, an English physician
discovered this serious disease while he was anatomizing a body of a man who had
eaten pork excessively. Owing to consecutive experiments, the physician
discovered that the disease had been caused by a worm called Trichina, and lived
in the intestines of the mammary animals such as rats, mice, dogs, and pigs.
This worm, however, breed in pigs more than other animals, because this parasite
animal eats carcasses. A great part of the operative sacs of these worms enters
the bodies of those who eat pork. Afterwards, the tissues of those sacs dissolve
in the intestines, and the worms begin to spread all over the body to cause the
previous diseases.”.
Such diseases are commonly widespread
in the Western countries since people there have the pork legally. Webney
Widexon says, “This disease is common in some provinces in France, Germany,
Britain, and Italy. It is approximately nonexistent in the eastern countries,
since the religion there bans the pork.” Other physicians state the following
matters:
- It is not possible to decide
whether a single swine does not carry these worms unless microscopes check each
of the organs accurately. This is impossible since this process will lead to the
expiration of the pork.
- Each female of these worms gives
birth of about 1500 fetuses in the mucus membrane of the intestine of the
diseased; thus, millions of these female fetuses distribute all over the organs
via the blood circulation. They gather in the intentional muscles to cause tense
pains and muscular inflammations that effect the intumescence and the
inflexibility of the muscular tissue. This produces tumors that extend to all of
the muscles.
This disease is cureless. For
technical reasons, no remedy has been effective yet. Pork carries some decayed
germs. It also carries the paratyphoid that causes tense toxins associated by
taut inflammations in the digestive system. Death may occur in few hours..
The previous horrible damages that
are evolved from having pork reveal the deep scope of the Islamic legislation
and the genuineness of its prohibition.
The
strangled:
Islam has forbidden the meat of the
strangled animals. Physicians have proven that strangulation causes instant
rotting, and makes the meat tend to blackness and fetor.
The
beaten to death:
The meat of the beaten to death
animals are also instantly and uneatable.
The
killed by a fall: The meat of animals that are killed due to falling is
uneatable because it is decayed and blackened.
The
smitten:
The meat of the animals that are
killed due to fighting with other animals is uneatable because of its instant
decay and blackening.
The
devoured:
Islam has also bans the meat of the
devoured animals. The wild animals usually have the carcasses that carry the
fatal germs that move to the devoured animals to pollute their meat totally.
This naturally causes problems to health.
Jurists have discussed the rulings of
the forbidden food in details. These meats cause serious problems that may lead
to physical collapse and infliction with diseases.
INTOXICANTS
Intoxicants are the base of every
crime and misfortune. They deform the human beings and seize their minds to lead
to tremendous evils.
Prohibition of intoxicants:
Islam has forbidden the consuming of
intoxicants totally, and considered it as one of the major sins and misfortunes.
The holy Quran has ordered us to refrain from intoxicants. God says:
Intoxicants
and games of chance and sacrificing to stones set up and dividing by arrows are
only an uncleanness;
the
Shaitan’s work. Shun it therefore that you may be successful.
The Prophet (s) said, “God has cursed
the wine, its consumer, butler, purchaser, vendor, presser, squeezer, and the
one who carries it, and the one to whom it is given.”. “Three sorts of people
will not be in the Paradise. They are the drunkards, the sorcerers, and those
who severe family relations.”.
Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “The
drunkards are the same as the pagans are. Intoxicants are the chief of every
sin. The consumers of intoxicants are belying God’s Book. If they acceded to
God’s Book, they would abstain from the matters that are forbidden there.”.
Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “He who
consumes intoxicants his entire life, is not different from the pagans. Those
who abstain from intoxicants for God’s fearing, God will admit them to the
Paradise and quench their thirst from the pure sealed drink.”.
The
terrible damages of intoxicants:
The addiction to intoxicants causes
physical downfall and destruction. Modern medical writings have mentioned the
great damages of intoxicants.
Damages on birth:
The descendants inherit many defects
from the intoxicants. The descendants of drunkard parents carry the effects of
weak structures and the affliction of serious disorders -the outcome of which is
idiocy, general paralysis, or barrenness. It may also lead to the newborns’
death. In addition, the offspring of the drunkards may be afflicted by painful
deformities such as inequality of the brain, shortness, and edema, and
retardation of mental powers such as frailty of memory, fatuity, and the like.
Many physicians, such as Bogonus., Shawn, Stoker, Dingo and others, confirm this
fact..
Damages on blood and heart:
The analysts of intoxicants have
proven that the effective element of the intoxicants is alcohol or the spirit
that easily leaks into the blood without need to disintegrate. The accompanying
materials may dissolve in the stomach into a material called aldehyde, and
distribute to all of the tissues and organs. A little of that material composes
carbonic or acetic acids. As evidence, the physicians say that if an amount of a
drunkard’s blood is brought near fire, it will be burnt like wine and spirit.
The intoxicants cause the heart to
beat rapidly because of the irregular activity of the cardiac muscles. Withering
and disintegration are the results of the reduction of the cardiac activities.
It also causes blood pressure on the walls of the blood vessels. This induces
the skin to sweat. Some physicians add that the addiction to intoxicants is
within the three major causes of arteriosclerosis, which is a serious disease
that causes cardiac damage and the explosion of brain arteries. This produces
hemiplegia and cureless paralysis.
Damages on liver and kidney:
Intoxicants, which the body absorbs,
pass by the liver via the blood stream and cause damages and inflammations of
the hepatic cells. When such inflammations become chronic, a swelling and
cirrhosis occur in the liver. Doctors Hill and Doth Howard confirm these facts.
Intoxicants cause the reduction of
diuresis owing to the extension of the nephric blood vessels. A considerable
amount of alcohol comes out from the kidney to cause serious inflammations.
Effects on the stomach:
Physicians have emphasized that
alcohol will dissolve into aldehyde and acetic acids when it mixes with the
ingredients of the stomach. It also hastens the pepsin and the residuals of
perthite and other enzymes. Pepsin is the most important element that helps in
digestion. The precipitation of this element hinders the digestive processes and
agitates the mucous membrane of the stomach. This creates the extension of the
blood vessels and the effluence of the glands of the gastric sap. Addiction to
intoxicants ruins the efficiency of the gastric sap and causes dyspepsia. The
drunkards always suffer pains in the stomach.
Physicians have stressed that the
addiction to intoxicants causes the following diseases:
- Hepatic swelling that leads to
edema
- Nephritis that causes general
toxemia
- Hemiplegia
- Hysteria
- General nervous disorder
- Pulmonary defects that lead to
tuberculosis
- The deficiency of immunity against
lethal diseases such as typhoid and meningitis
The addicts to intoxicants cannot
resist such diseases or benefit by aids or modern medication, such as penicillin
and other antibiotics.
The addiction to intoxicants causes
many economic damages. The drunkard will eventually be dragged to wasting and
squandering in addition to gambling, fornication, impudence, and other dishonest
matters.
Means
of controlling the intoxicants:
The malignant defect of consuming the
intoxicants is the most influential element of terminating the health and the
life. The following are some means of controlling it.
- The ruling authorities should ban
the intoxicants categorically and destroy the factories and the devises of
filtration in addition to imposing a strict punishment upon the traffickers and
merchants of intoxicants.
- All of the print media should be
used for broadcasting the terrible damages of the intoxicants.
- Jurists, educationists, and the
health organizations should control and expose the damages of the intoxicants.
- Sport clubs should be established
so that the youth will practice the various sports and other useful activities.
- Propaganda and commercials of
intoxicants should be banned..
SEXUAL DEVIATION
Islam has forbidden all sorts of
sexual deviation since they cause collapse of the general health and lead to
serious diseases.
Fornication:
Islam has forbidden fornication
regarded it as the worst of the forbidden acts. God says:
And
do not go nigh to fornication. Surely, it is an indecency and evil is the way.
Moreover, God considers fornication as polytheism and murder. He says:
And
they who do not call upon another god but Allah and do not slay the soul, which
Allah has forbidden except
in
the requirements of justice, and who do not commit fornication. And he who does
this shall find a requital of
sin.
The punishment shall be doubled to him on the day of resurrection. And he shall
abide therein in abasement.
Damages of fornication:
Health failure and ruination of the
principals of life are the most horrible damages and serious dangers of
fornication.
Syphilitic diseases:
Fornication is the main cause of the
syphilitic diseases. They affect the nervous, respiratory, lymphatic, digestive,
and genital tracts of the human body. They also affect the bones, knuckles, the
ductile and ductless glands, skin, eye, and ear so gravely that death is its
only cure. The sufferings of misfortunes and the pains of such diseases are
terribly intolerable. Detailed exposition can be read in the books of medicine..
Gonorrhea:
Gonorrhea is one of the fatal
diseases that affect the urinal ducts. It causes blindness to the fornicators’
newborns. Many other disadvantages of fornication are exposed in details in the
books of medicine.
Syphilis:
Syphilis is the worst disease. It is
called the ape of diseases. It affects any organ or tissue. In the first phase,
a hard ulcer emerges in the body. In the second, red spots affect the organs
totally. In the third, the main system of the body is affected. If the brain is
affected, mental defects, such as insanity, may occur. If the medulla is
affected, paralysis may occur. If the heart and the blood vessels are affected,
heart troubles may occur.. If it affects the pregnant women, it directly
influences the fetuses that may be affected by inherent deformities. In some
cases, the fetuses may be dead..
Chancroid:
Chancroid is a soft red cureless
chancre that has a negative effect on the human body. Detailed exposition of
this disease can be seen in the books of medicine.
We have proven some of the lethal
diseases that affect the perpetrators of fornication. This crime, however,
results in barrenness, dishonor, destruction of the family’s entity, and other
social damages.
The
strict punishment:
Islam has decreed the harshest
punishment for the perpetrators of this crime. Married fornicators should
undergo stoning. Some jurists rule that the married fornicators should be
whipped and stoned. This rule applies to both Muslim and non-Muslim male and
female. The bachelor fornicators should be sentenced to one hundred lashes. God
says:
As
for the fornicatress and the fornicator, flog each of them giving a hundred
stripes. And let not pity for them
detain
you in the matter of obedience to Allah, if you believe in Allah and the last
day. And let a party of believers
witness
their chastisement.
Some jurists have issued that a group
of people should witness the application of the whipping so that they would take
example and stay away from this act. This firm procedure eradicates the social
corruption and poses dams and barriers before everyone that intends to
perpetrate this crime. The French legislation in this regard is the weakest. It
considers fornication as a crime only when perpetrated by the husband if it is
committed in the wives’ home. Anyhow, the punishment is no more than a fine of a
few Franks. Wives that commit adultery are sentenced to detention. Actually,
such punishments do not eradicate the crime of fornication that ravages many
souls.
SODOMY
Sodomy is unquestionably the worst
moral crime and the most terrible category of irregularity and deviation.
Syphilitic diseases that destroy the health and life will eventually affect the
sodomite. Likewise, many social dangers, including the reduction of matrimonial
rates, stem from this phenomenon that creates a harsh decrease in the birth
rate. Islam has constituted strict punishments for this crime. Perpetrators of
sodomy should be sentenced to one of the following punishments:
- Killing by sword
- Burning
- Building a wall around them
- Throwing from a high place
The sodomised individuals should be
sentenced to death penalty if they are adults, sane, and discerning. If the
sodomised or the sodomites are children, they should undergo the punishment of
chastisement.. This strict ruling is constituted for eradicating this crime and
warning people against it. Formerly, the crime of sodomy was lawfully banned in
Britain, but it was legislated due to the importunate persistence of the
Parliament there. Actually, the British government has led the people to great
calamity since this crime destroys the family and the social life.
MASTURBATION
Islam has banned masturbation for
being the vilest means of pleasing the sexual lust. Masturbators are afflicted
by mental defects in addition to innate frailty and depression.
Protective methods:
- Early marriage eradicates all types
of sexual irregularity, most of which are originated from bachelorhood. The
Prophet (s) said, “Marriage saves two thirds of the religion. You should fear
God in the other third.” “The vilest of the dead are the bachelors.” “Bachelors
form the majority of people of the hell-fire.”. Marriage guards against
committing such vices and protect from falling in the depths of immorality.
- Sexual cultivation and exposing the
disadvantages may help in getting rid of this disgusting habit.
- Removal of sexy movies and the
other lusty media, such as sexy magazines and books, guards against this ill
manner.
- The practice of sports and artistic
exercises, and reading useful and disciplinary books, are methods that protect
against masturbating.
- The implementation of definite
activities, such as general cleanness, leaving the bed as soon as possible, and
the engagement in useful matters, protects against the habit of masturbation..
PROHIBITION OF COPULATING WITH THE MENSTRUOUS
Islam has forbidden copulating with
the menstruous for avoiding many diseases. God says:
And
they ask you about menstruation. Say: It is a pollution; therefore, keep aloof
from the women during the
menstrual
discharge and do not go near them until they have become clean.
Modern clinical studies have proven
that copulation with the menstruous injures the health of the spouses. This is
because the blood of menstruation contains various microbes and germs that cause
inflammation. The women’s internal membranes congest during the menstruation.
Any copulation may rupture these membranes and cause the infection of the
microbes to spread to other places, effecting women’s health. In many cases,
such copulation may cause nervous disorders..
RELAXATION
Carnal relaxation is one of the
programs of the Islamic physical education. Human beings should not bring about
mental and physical fatigue, which is a banned danger. Relaxation is a
recommendable matter. The Prophet (s) said, “Your mind enjoys rights that you
must keep. Your body enjoys rights that you must keep. Your spouse enjoys rights
that you must keep. Your eyes enjoy rights that you must keep.”. “Your essence
is as same as your pack. You should be lenient to it.” This means that one
should not overburden or neglect himself and should treat any frailty that may
affect. The Prophet (s) said, “Relax from time to time.”
Relaxation protects against many
diseases that are originated, in most cases, from overworking, exhaustion, and
behavioral instability that causes diseases and defects.
ATHLETIC EDUCATION
Islam has been deliberately caring
for the athletic education for its being a significant element for composing the
physical vitality and activity. It has legislated a number of courses in this
regard.
Racing:
Racing is a contract legislated for
exercising competition and readiness to fight. The Prophet (s) said, “No racing
except in spears, feet, or horses.” It is also legislated for strengthening the
body and activating the muscles. Jurists have concerned with racing. They
dedicated chapters for discussing its rulings and ethics.
Archery:
Archery stands for the exercising of
fighting processes and taking up arms. This exercise creates physical powers,
activates muscles and matures the verve. It also teaches willpower and
self-reliance.
Hunting:
Hunting stimulates the organs,
activates the muscles, initiates activity, and empowers the body, because it
requires movement, walking, and other athletic motions. The Muslim kings, in the
early ages of Islam, were fond of hunting, yet they practiced it for amusement.
Books of the Islamic jurisprudence expose explicitly the legality, illegality,
and conditions of hunting.
PHYSICAL BENEFITS OF WORSHIP
In addition to the elevation of
morals, disciplining of mentalities, and connection to the Creator, the Islamic
rites aim at amending health, training the body, activating the muscles, and
empowering the will.
Prayer:
Prayer is the believers’ ascent and
the offertory of the pious. It is the sole sanctuary when ideas, grieves, and
pains seize the mentalities. Prayer enables the minds to connect directly with
the Creator, shunning the thorough material and personal interests. That saves
against the destroying depression and the terminating anxiety. Prayer,
fundamentally, implies mind inclination and mental turnout. Prayers lose essence
and factuality if they lack those two items. God threatens those who perform the
prayers physically while they are unaware of its purport and factuality:
So,
woe to the praying ones, who are unmindful of their prayers.
The performance of prayers while the
soul is tending, succumbing, and calming to God and His potentiality will
certainly save against the life pains that foist diseases and misfortunes to the
body. Many reports have asserted that the prayer brings about health in addition
to the innumerable benefits in this world and the Hereafter and large powers of
athletic advancements. As the late imam Mohammed Hussein al-Kashiful-Ghitta,
discusses the clinical and physical advantages of prayers, he says, “The
required in all of the movements and stillness of prayers is settlement and
stability. In standing erect or sitting, each organ should be stabilized in its
exact position along with performing all of the movements that activate the
whole knuckles and organs with a new movement. Standing erect, sitting, bending,
prostration, various conditions of raising the hands and conjoining the arms
intervened by suppliant sayings, recital and praises in definite times of
universal peculiarity, like dawn, midday and sunset. All these are objects to
learn lessons and refer to the signs of the excellent creation and the Supreme
Creator, along with various fields of thinking. Each of these movements has
physical advantages. The genuflection, for instance, empowers the abdominal
membrane because of causing it to reduce, prevents its relaxation, and alerts
the viscera and the intestines to the straight pulses. This saves the body
against tense constipation. Besides, there are many other advantages. The ritual
prostration is another example. It reduces the muscles and bones of the breast
more tensely, activates the diaphragm, alerts the stomach to throw its contents,
and saves it from symptoms of the painful extension. Subsequently, all these
activities and certain conditions, which are orderly arranged, are athletic
movements that greatly influence the activity of the organs and the reduction,
power, and cohesion of the muscles. They also play a considerable role in
alerting the sensitive nerves, stimulating the blood circulation, igniting the
instinctive heat that prepare a consonant internal environment and animating the
powers of sound reasoning. It is commonly familiar that the functions of the
muscles are not only activating the body movement to other places. They surely
have more significant and communal functions, which are influencing all of the
limbs and systems of analysis and respiration, and alerting the digestive system
and the spine. Those movements are healthy exercises and natural sport that
influence each organ distinctively. They are designed so regularly in definite
times per day. They are clinical prescriptions and magnificent models of
immunity for the knuckles, the nerves, the heart, the lungs, the stomach, and
the head. The ritual prayer is physical, mental, moderate, and quiet sport that
grants, if performed in their exact times, willpower, time respect, order,
fulfilling the pledge, keeping the promise, and the like good manners. These
sports are highly elevated from those childish sports. The prayer is only
cleanness, purification, lessons, thinking, athletic activities, mental efforts,
and spiritual disclosure. The simplest result of prayers, if performed properly
with their functions and practices, is guaranteeing the performers’ enjoining
the good and forbidding the evil.”.
Dr. Mustafa al-Haffar, the specialist
in the diseases of the digestive system, was asked about the advantages of the
ritual genuflection and prostration of the prayers. He answered, “The
genuflection capacitates the muscles of the abdominal membrane and helps in
contracting the stomach for performing its digestive function properly. It also
helps the intestines in emitting the digestive residuals naturally. The ritual
prostration pushes the air in the stomach to the mouth to release it from
extension that causes digestive pains and cardiac reflections.” Dr. F. Azure,
the specialist in the nervous diseases and knuckles, exposes the physical
benefits of the prayer. He says, “Prayers of Muslims, altogether with the
genuflection and prostration, strengthen the back muscles and tender the
vertebrae, especially if the prayer is performed in early age. Moreover, it
materializes immunity from the diseases of muscles that exceed the spine.
Different sorts of nervous defects, that cause tense pains and muscular spasm,
may occur due to the weakness of muscles.”.
Fasting:
Hadiths have stressed that fasting
protects against the hell-fire and its chastisement. It is actually the most
influential means of spiritual sports, willpower, and customs of endurance. It
is the healthiest means of reforming the digestive system. Dr. A. Ismail states
that the fasting is the only remedy that protects against many diseases, and the
best prescription of the following defects:
-The fasting is prescribed for
treating the chronic disorders of the intestines that are associated by
fermentation of the albuminous and amyloid materials. Fasting -which is the
abstinence from water and food from dawn to sunset- is the most successful way
of purifying the intestines and treating the states of fermentation.
- It is also prescribed for treating
the excessive fatness that is the result of overeating and the paucity of
activities. In this case, fasting is the best curable method provided that it is
accompanied by moderation during having the meal of breaking the fasting, and
drinking water during the post-midnight meal.
- It is also prescribed for treating
the spontaneous blood pressure. This disease is increasingly spreading due to
luxury and psychic agitations. In such cases, Ramadhan is the month of grace and
bless, especially for the excessively weighty.
- It is prescribed for treating
diabetes. This disease spreads with the pressure of blood. It is often
associated by the excessive weight. Hence, fasting is the beneficial treatment
since the proportion of saccharine decreases with the retreat of the weight.
Five hours after having a meal, the sugar in the blood reaches lower than the
natural term in cases of slack saccharine urination. Ten hours later, it reaches
lower levels. Before the discovery of the insulin, fasting, with some nutritious
notices, was the best treatment of this disease, especially for the fat.
- It is prescribed for treating the
tense and chronic nephritis that is associated by exudation and tumefaction.
- It is prescribed for treating the
heart troubles that are associated by tumefaction.
- It is prescribed for treating the
chronic arthritis, especially for the fat, such as the forty year old ladies. It
has been noticed that fasting was the best cure, for this disease, since it has
exceeded the other means of electricity, injections, drugs, and modern medicine.
It may be cited that fasting, in
these cases, needs clinical prescription, while it is imposed on the healthy
only. This is quite correct, but fasting protects against these diseases.
The Prophet (s) said, "Fast, so that
you will be healthy." Fasting protects against many diseases and leads to mental
disciplinary and good traits.
Pilgrimage:
Rites of the pilgrimage are
considerable activities that strengthen the muscles, activate the bodily
movements, and alert the organs. It is also the most notable Islamic conference
by which Muslims would benefit greatly if they take as the occasion of
discussing their political and economic problems.
NATIONAL AND MILITARY
EDUCATION
Genuineness, depth, and expansion are
the characters of the Islamic education. In addition to the life affairs, the
Islamic education is too comprehensive to avoid any affair or course. It aims at
composing sound societies that receive the caravans of life and light completely
confidently and familiarly. We have previously betrayed some vital pictures of
the life affairs. In this last exposition, we will refer to others, yet we are
unable to discuss all of them properly. Hence, we have to brief in our
discussions.
NATIONAL AND SOCIAL EDUCATION
The Islamic national education is not
mere slogans and enthusiastic chants or any other empty aspects that bring about
no single advantage to the society. The actual national education of Islam
alludes to rational and faithful activities that aim at servicing the nation
purely. It also insinuates that the souls and riches should be sacrificed for
the sake of the national independence, struggle, and cultural and economic
development.
Social
unity:
The mission of the Islamic national
education is making the individuals feel that they form unity with the society.
It also encourages hurling consciously and sincerely for achieving others’
pleasure and saving them from misfortunes. This is the implication of the
Prophet’s saying, “Take to others whatever you like to yourselves, and guard
others against what you guard yourselves against.”
Societies will be debilitated and
baseless and not deserve dignity and life if the individuals work exclusively
for themselves and ignore any sort of social reaction. Islam has worked
deliberately for educating the society brightly by canceling the social classes
and privileges and making all Muslims represent one body that if an organ is
afflicted, the others stay up and suffer for it. Unity and congruity bring the
social indulgence and guarantee dignity and interests.
Islam has constituted the Islamic
unity on grounds of fraternity. This unity comprises huge energies that supply
the Islamic community of understanding, altruism, and cooperation and create a
unique model of social solidarity. It also blocks the way before the enemies and
rivals, such as the snakes of greed and imperialism.
The Islamic fraternity is more than
an extrinsic emotion. It is a secure relation lying in the minds to provoke on
participating in welfare and adversity. The Prophet (s) declared oftentimes this
fraternal relation. He, once, interrogated the man who came late after he had
sent him in a mission. The man cited the want of clothes as his apology. “Your
neighbor has two dresses that he might borrow you one,” said the Prophet (s).
“Yes,” averred the man, “This is true.” The Prophet was depressed when he said,
“Your neighbor does not represent the fraternity of Islam.”
Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “A Muslim is
the brother of Muslims. He is their eye, mirror, and guide. He should not
betray, wrong, cheat, belie, or backbite them.”
Imam al-Baqir (a) said, “A faithful
believer is the brother of the believers. He should not revile, deject, or
mistrust them.”
Islam has constructed the Islamic
fraternity on deep bases that are similar to the natural brotherhood in strength
and status. It has also legislated the most splendid courses that achieve the
coalescence of powers and warn against the factors of discrepancy and
disassembly.
MEANS
OF SOCIAL UNITY
Islam has constituted the straight
courses that lead to the determinism of the social correlation and the community
of amiability and fraternity of Muslims.
Reciprocal kindness and sympathy:
Islam has encouraged being kind and
sympathetic to each other. Kindness and sympathy are the most important means of
Muslims’ unity and congruity. Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “Fear God and be good and
concordant brothers for God’s sake. You should be interconnected and kind to
each other. Visit and meet each other. Mention and refresh our affairs.”.
“Muslims should visit each other and cooperate in fields of sympathy and
condolence to the needy. They should be reciprocally empathy so that they will
be congruently compassionate, as God decrees. You should pursue the supporters –Ansar-
in the Prophet’s time.” “Visit each other and be reciprocally kind, merciful and
sympathetic.”
If Muslims apply these vital
instructions, they will certainly be one hand against others, and will stop
their enemies and rivals. Moreover, poverty and deprivation will be eradicated
from their societies. Cooperation and firm relations are the firmest factors of
the social solidarity that protects Muslims from poverty and indigence.
Visiting:
Islam advises of exchanging visits
since this is a base rule of founding collaboration, amiability, and relations.
Imam Ali (a) said, “Meeting of brothers, even in a few numbers, is a great
gain.” Imam al-Baqir (a) ordered Kheithama of conveying the following remarkable
recommendations, within which is the exchanging of visits, to his adherents. The
Imam said, “Convey the following to any of our adherents you may meet. Advise
them of God-fearing. The rich and powerful should help the poor and the weak.
The alive should attend the funerals. They should exchange visits and refresh
our affair. God bless those who refresh our affair.” Imam as-Sadiq (a) said,
“Exchange visits. This powers up your hearts and makes you mention our sayings
that distribute sympathy among you. You will be guided if you take in our
sayings, and you will deviate and expire if you omit. Take in our sayings and I
guarantee your being saved.”
The reference books of hadith are
filled up with a great deal of reports that urge on exchanging visits, which is
a basic element of the national and social education.
Settling people’s needs:
Islam has recommended and stressed
the necessity of settling people’s needs, since it is a significant factor of
the social relations. The Prophet (s) said, “Spending a single hour, whether in
daylight or at night, in settling an individual’s need is preferable to a month
confinement to mosques.* Imam al-Baqir (a) said, “Compete with each other in the
field of doing favors to others. The Paradise has a definite portal, named ‘the
favor’, from which none will enter except those who do favors in this world.
While the servants –of God- settle the needs of their brothers, God orders two
angels of encompassing them for seeking God’s forgiving them and settling their
needs.” Safwan al-Jemmal.symbol 183 \f "Symbol" \s 11.·. said: I was attendant
before as-Sadiq (a) when a Meccan man complained a question. The Imam asked me
to help him. I did and came back. The Imam was highly joyful for my deed. He
said, “Providing a help to a Muslim is favorable for me to circumambulating
around the Kaaba for a whole week.” The Imam went on expressing the great
rewards of settling others’ needs, “As a man came to Imam al-Hasan (a) seeking
his help, the Imam hurried up. He passed by al-Hussein (a), who was performing a
prayer. “What for did you overlook Abu Abdullah – al-Hussein (a)- for this
mission?” asked the Imam. “I intended, but some said he had been in
confinement,” said the man. The Imam expressed, “It is most surely that helping
you is preferable to a month confinement.”.
Settling people’s needs is one of the
firmest factors that strengthen people’s relations and create a community of
love and association.
Aid
and condolence:
Reciprocal aid and condolence arouse
the Muslims’ social unity and lead to the confirmation of congruity and harmony.
The Prophet (s) said, “For those who relieve a Muslim’s agony in this world, God
will relieve one of their agonies on the Resurrection Day. God aids the servants
as long as they aid their brothers.. Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “For those who
relieve a believer’s agony in this world, God will relieve one of their agonies
on the Resurrection Day, and will revive them from the tombs with fully cool
hearts. God will offer food of the Paradise to those who feed the needy in this
world. Similarly, He will offer the paradisiacal sealed pure drink to those who
offer drink to the needy in this world. “For those who relieve and meet an
insolvent believer’s need in this world, God will settle their needs in this
world and the Hereafter. For those who cover up a believer’s flaw, God will
cover up seventy of their flaws in this world and the Hereafter. God aids the
servants as long as they aid their brothers. Thus, benefit by the admonition and
seek the good. Imam al-Baqir (a) said, “Those who settle the believers’ needs
are not only delighting them. They, by God, delight us. Moreover, they delight
the Prophet (s). “The most preferable deed to God is delighting the believers.”
Imam ar-Rida (a) said, “For those who relieve a believer in this world, God will
relieve them on the Resurrection Day.”
These sayings urge on benevolence and
condolence for the sake of applying the Islamic fraternity and solidarity so
that any gap, from which the rivals and enemies may penetrate to the Islamic
body, will be blocked.
Rights
of the Islamic fraternity:
Islam has organized a nonesuch course
of fraternity and bound Muslims on applying it for achieving coherence and
unity.
Imam Ali (a) said that the Prophet
(s) had said, “Muslims have thirty rights that are imposed upon their brothers
who are unexcused unless they carry out. They are:
Pardoning the flaw; sympathizing in
grievous situations; covering up the defect; overlooking the fault; accepting
the excuse; rejecting the backbiting; keeping on advising; respecting the
friendship; caring for the pledge; visiting the ailed; attending the funerals;
responding the invitation; receiving the present; rewarding the relation;
thanking the grace; excelling in support; observing the sanctuaries; settling
the needs; answering the questions; blessing the sneeze; guiding the lost;
responding the salutation; bettering the words; acknowledging the favors;
believing the oaths; acceding to the backers; staying away from antagonizing;
and advocating whether in states of wronging or being wronged. The wrong
brothers are advocated by preventing them from wrongdoing. The wronged brothers
are advocated by backing them for regaining their rights. Neither Muslims should
give up their brothers nor should they disappoint them. They should take to them
whatever they like to themselves and guard them against whatever they guard
themselves. The Prophet (s) then said, “For those who neglect any of these
rights, they will be demanded on the Resurrection Day.”.
Muslims will certainly be the most
developed, perfect, and united nation if they apply these rights to their lives.
Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “Muslims have
seven obligatory rights on their brothers. Violence of any of these rights takes
out of God’s sanctum and obedience. They are:
(First) Muslims should take to their
brothers whatever they like to themselves, and guard them against whatever they
guard themselves.
(Second) Muslims should avoid their
brothers’ ire, pursue their satisfaction, and obey their orders.
(Third) Muslims should help their
brothers with their souls, riches, tongues, hands, and legs.
(Fourth) Muslims should be their
brothers’ eye, guide, and mirror.
(Fifth) Muslims should avoid
saturation while their brothers are hungry, and avoid quenching while the
brothers are thirst, and avoid dressing well while the others are naked.
(Sixth) Muslims should send their
servants for serving their brothers who have no servants.
(Seventh) Muslims should approve the
others’ oaths, respond to the invitations, visit the ill, attend the funerals,
and take initiative in settling the needs before they are asked. These matters
correlate the affairs.”.
These rights compose the excellent
course that achieves the nations’ solidarity, union, and protection against
discrepancy and difference.
Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “Muslims’
rights are that they should never be saturated or dressing well while others are
hungry and naked. How great the Muslims’ rights that are obliged upon their
brothers are! You should take to your brothers whatever you like to yourselves.
You should ask them when you need, and give them when they need. You should
never stop treating your brothers benevolently, and they should never stop
treating you the like. You should back them and they should back you. You should
keep them while they are absent, and visit them when they are present. You
should regard and dignify them because they are yours and you are theirs. If
your brothers blame you, you should not leave before seeking their forgiveness.
You should praise God for the wealth that they get, and support them in
misfortunes and help them in neediness. This relationship may be cut by a single
indication of nagging.”.
This chart provides a vital course of
the Islamic league that distributes emotions and passions and creates Muslims’
alliance in good and bad.
Imam as-Sadiq (a) also said, “The
believers’ rights are the inherent amiability, sharing the riches, guarding the
family in absence, supporting the wronged, receiving the share of the absent,
visiting the tombs, and avoiding wronging, cheating, betraying, disappointing,
belying, or showing any sign of boredom.”. He once asked a man about the
conditions of people there. The man praised them elegantly. “How about the rich
men’s visiting the poor?” asked the Imam. “Not that bad,” answered the man. “How
about the rich men’s supervising the poor?” asked the Imam. “Not that bad,”
answered the man. “How about the rich men’s relations with the poor?” asked the
Imam. “You are mentioning moralities that we hardly have,” said the man. The
Imam (a) said, “How do you claim those people’s being Shias?”.
These excellent instructions supply
the nation with all of the components of renaissance and maturity, and protect
from discrepancy and disunion. They are surely the most impressive principals of
the national and social education that fix the boundaries and barriers before
the antagonizing powers, and encompass the nation with compact fences.
FACTORS OF DISCREPANCY AND DESTRUCTION
Alienation:
Islam has warned against alienation
and the rupture of relations because they contribute to the perfusion of
animosity and disrelish.
The Prophet (s) said, “Any two
Muslims, who do not settle their discrepancy before three days, are out of Islam
and breaking their fraternity. The precedent in conciliation will precede to the
Paradise on the Judgment Day.”. “It is illicit for a Muslim to diverge his
brother more than three days.”. Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “One of the two parties
that depart each other deserves disloyalty and curse. It happens that the two
may deserve the disloyalty and curse. The wronged party deserves disloyalty and
curse because he does not invite his brother to conciliation and the regaining
of their relations. My father said, if two parties litigate, the wronged should
confess of being the wrong, for breaking the litigation. God the Blessed is
just. He will retaliate the wrong..
Inconsistency:
Islam has denied rigid inconsistency
because it creates Muslims’ opposition and rupture of relations. Imam al-Baqir
(a) said, “He whoever refrains from supporting his brother will surely be
undergone an act of settling a need due to which he is sinned.” Imam Musa (a)
said, “He that refrains from providing the help that a Muslim asks for, is
rupturing God’s loyalty.”
Imam as-Sadiq (a) asked his
companions, “What for do you disparage us?” A man from Khorasan answered, “God
forbid! We never disparage you or any of your affairs.” The Imam said to the
man, “You were one of those who disparaged us.” The man was astonished and
horrified, and sought God’s protection against disparaging the Imams. The Imam
exposed, “You heard the tired man who sought your support, but you disparaged
him. He whoever disparages a believer is surely disparaging us and violating
God’s sanctuary.”.
Injury
and disgracing:
Islam has forbidden injuring and
disgracing any Muslim, because such acts infringe the Muslims’ union and
congruity. Besides, they are sorts of wronging and aggression that Islam has
forbidden. The holy Quran refers to this prohibition. God says,
And
those who ‘hurt’ the believing men and the believing women without their having
earned it, they are guilty
indeed
of a false accusation and manifest sin.
The Prophet (s) said, “God the
Elevated says: He that humiliates My faithful slave is colliding Me.” “It is
illicit for Muslims to refer to their brothers by injurious look.”
Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “For those
who disgrace and humiliate a believer for his weakness or poverty, God will
shame them before the creatures on the Resurrection Day.” “For those who
humiliate a believer, whether poor or not, God will be humiliating and abhorring
them till they retreat their humiliation.”.
Humiliation and injury are the
qualities of the sinful that are unfaithful in the human standards and the
elevated idealities. Islam has antagonized this quality because it ruptures the
bonds of amiability and Muslims’ fraternity.
Terrorism and chaos:
Islam has forbidden terrorizing each
other to avoid oppression and rupture of relations. The Prophet (s) said, “For
those who gaze at a believer for terrorizing him, God will frighten them on the
day when there will be no shade but His.” Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “He will be
with Pharaoh and his adherents that whoever causes an unjust ruler to frighten a
believer.”
Revilement:
Revilement creates disunion. Islam
has warned against reviling even at the enemies. God says:
And
do not revile at those who are atheists so that they will not revile at Allah
intentionally without awareness.
Imam al-Baqir (a) said, “The Prophet
(s) advised a man of matters among which was avoiding reviling at people so that
animosity will not occur.” The Prophet (s) said, “Reviling at the believers is
desertion. Fighting them is atheism. Backbiting them is disobedience. The
believers’ properties are as sanctified as their blood.” Imam al-Baqir (a) said,
“He whoever berates a believer will die very badly and will not see any
goodness.”.
Vituperation, revilement, and
defamation are such disgusted qualities that publicize animosity, malice, and
hatred.
Inspecting people’s flaws:
Islam has surrounded the social unity
with a protective fence by forbidding any matter that may split it. Thence,
Islam has forbidden inspecting people’s flaws and broadcasting their defects,
since these matters cause disparity and arouse abhorrence among Muslims. The
holy Quran warns against such matters. God says:
Surely,
as for those who love that scandal should circulate respecting those who
believe, they shall have a
grievous
chastisement in this world and the hereafter.
The Prophet (s) said, “O, you who
Islamized by tongues, not hearts! Do not inspect people’s flaws. For those who
inspect people’s flaws, God will inspect their own. God will surely unmask
them.” “Charity is the most precedent act in rewarding. Aggression is the most
precedent act in punishment. It is the biggest shame to inspect people’s flaws
and forget your own, and impute dishonor to people for an action you cannot give
up, and harm the associate with uninterested matters.” Imam al-Baqir (a) said,
“The nearest degree to atheism is accompanying someone, in the name of the
religion, for inspecting the faults to dishonor thereafter.”
Belittling:
It is a factor of discrepancy and
disintegration to censure, belittle, and degrade others. The Prophet (s) said,
“He that broadcasts an evil, is considered as the originator. He whoever finds
fault with a Muslim, will not die before God makes him carry that fault.” Imam
as-Sadiq (a) said, “For those who face their brothers with a matter they detest,
God will face them with their faults in this world and the Hereafter.”
Pride:
Islam has warned against taking pride
in the lineage and any other matter, considering it as an element of rupturing
the Islamic fraternity. Pursuant to the Islamic Sharia, people are evenly equal.
Except God-fearing and good deeds, nothing distinguishes people. In his splendid
recommendation to Malik al-Ashtar, Imam Ali (a) says, “People are of two kinds;
either brothers of religion or matches of creation.”
As a famous Arab character began to
take pride in his lineage before Imam al-Baqir (a), the Imam said, “Do not show
us your lineage proudly. God has raised by faith those whom were called humble,
and humiliated those whom were called honorable due to their atheism. None is
preferred except through God-fearing.”.
Islam has antagonized all the means
that rupture the social unity and dissociate Muslims’ harmony, and forbidden
every matter that causes dissidence, such as backbiting, tattling, mockery, and
calumny.
CRYSTALLIZATION OF THE POLITICAL CONSCIENCE
The Islamic national education
concerns with the crystallization of the political conscience and the
florescence of the public mentality before the social circumstances. Islam has
imposed the positive intrusion in the national affairs and committed the
citizens to keeping deliberately their interests and affairs. None is permitted
to stop negatively against the public interests of the country or neglect any of
its affairs or be indifferent for any event or misfortune that the nation
undergoes. The Prophet (s) said, “You all are wardens and you all are
responsible for your wards.” “He whoever disinterests in Muslims’ affairs is
completely out of Islam.”
This hadith is the most evident proof
on the necessity of publicizing the political conscience among Muslims to link
their mental and social renaissance in this bright factuality.
Within the most important programs of
the national and social cognizance is the communal implementation of enjoining
good and forbidding evil. This procedure protects the publics’ dignity and
guards against the violence of the oppressors. It also enables Muslims to live
in peace and security since none would be wronged or degraded. They also can
reach the highest levels of social renaissance. In our ‘The Political System in
Islam’, we have exposed these topics and evidenced the correlation between Islam
and policy, which is a part of its factuality and core. We have also proved that
Islam may lose activity and essence without policy.
NATIONAL OBLIGATIONS
- People must defend the homeland and
protect it against the foreign invasion. It is surely a holy duty. Muslims, who
are asked to hurry to jihad and play positive roles for the sake of struggling
against any invasion or takeover, must haste to jihad. The obligation of defense
increases according to the nearness to the occupied country. Had Muslims carried
the spirits of jihad collectively, the Jewish gang would not have seized
Palestine for founding their state in the heart of the Arab homeland. The
Zionists have been working for terminating all of the signs of the Islamic
setting, and subduing people of Palestine to massacres, displacement, and
imprisonment. Meanwhile, America is supporting them with the most modern arms in
addition to economical and military aids and fortifying their procedures of
violating the human rights. When will the Arabs and Muslims rise to consolidate
their powers for eliminating this cancer that threatens termination and ruin?
Muslims should dedicate their souls
to serving their homeland and understand deeply all of the surrounding events.
This responsibility is the mission of the diplomatic cadre and the politicians.
Those are responsible for husbanding means via which the economical and social
development occurs.
- People must fulfill perfectly the
duties of their nation and homeland.
- People must encourage the national
industries that should be preferred to the foreign.
- People must boycott the whole goods
and products of the unfriendly countries. This is the best means of impeding the
aggressors and the greed.
- People must work seriously and
believe in the fatal issues of their homeland. The homeland should not be tied
to the imperialist coalition. The national economical destinies along with every
matter that may harm the homeland’s independence, security, and freedom, should
not be gambled.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIAL EDUCATION
We should expose a brief picture of
the characteristics of the Islamic social education, yet we have previously
referred to some aspects.
-Muslims should stay away from the
conceptual discrepancies, and eliminate fanaticism. The latter is the most
important obligation, especially in this age in which the Islamic world is
passing through the most decisive stage of its history. Thus, it is obligatory
to unite before the harrowing hurricanes and the torrential misfortunes. It is
highly considerable to cite the fact that Islam has antagonized fanaticism and
called for leniency with people of the other heavenly religions. God says:
Say:
O, followers of the Book! Come to an equitable proposition between us and you
that we shall not serve any
but
Allah and that we shall not associate aught with Him.
Allah
does not forbid you respecting those who have not made war against you on
account of your religion, and
have
not driven you forth from your homes, that you show them kindness and deal with
them justly. Surely, Allah
loves
the doers of justice.
The Prophet (s) situated the
principals and rules of this leniency. He said, “On the Resurrection Day, I will
be the litigant against those who wrong, revile, overtax, or seize an ally –a
non-Muslim individual that confederates Muslims-.”
The Prophet did not coerce any Jew or
Christian on leaving their religions. He also ordered the governor of Yemen of
this matter. The master churchmen declared this genuine spirit and great
morality of Islam. Patriarch Esau Yamshu Mayaya said, “When the Lord enabled
them to prevail on this world, the Arabs treated us justly, as you know. They
have not been the enemies of Christianity. On the contrary, they have praised
our religion, respected our sanctuaries, and aided our churches and abbeys.”.
Sir Thomas Arnold says, “The victorious Arab Muslims treated the Christians with
great lenience since the first century –of hegira-. This lenience has continued
all over the consecutive centuries. We can rightly aver that the Christian
tribes embraced Islam optionally and willingly. The current Arab Christians, who
live among Muslims, are the best evidences on the intended lenience.”.
Fanaticism and mutual alienation of
people of the various religions are the remotest from the Islamic logic and
guidance. In his splendid recommendation to Malik al-Ashtar, Imam Ali (a) -the
master of Islam and the pioneer of its renaissance- says, “People are of two
kinds; either brothers of religion or matches of creation.”
He is surely wronging Islam and
offending the factuality that whoever claims of Islam’s calling to malice and
abomination of people of other religions. The late Sheik Mohammed Hussein al-Kashiful-Ghitta,
the master reformist, composes a couple of poetic verses in which he says that
the religion never discriminates since it is based upon peace and lenience..
Harmony and resting upon the guidance
of the holy Quran are the best means of achieving renaissance and development.
The holy Quran opens the door to amiability and fraternity. God says:
Certainly,
the believers are brothers.
Islam has made this bond stronger
than the bonds of lineage and blood. It has also instructed Muslims to care and
conserve it for the sake of protecting their glory and dignity.
-Muslims should feed on and accustom
to the moralities of their excellent religion so that their souls will shine and
their essences advance. These moralities include reformation, God-fearing,
sincerity, decency, chastity, loyalty, good manners and wording, activity,
willpower, self-reliance, respecting and admitting people’s rights, appreciation
of honest workers’ efforts, working for reforming people’s ill deeds, refuting
the evil by the good, participating in people’s misfortunes and bliss, and using
sympathy to the weak and the poor in addition to many other high traits and
elevated ethics. Muslims would have been the masters of the nations and the
guides of peoples had they applied these moralities to their lives.
-Muslims should have full
acquaintance with their rights and obligations so that they will work for
acquiring their rights and fulfilling their obligations, especially in the
social fields. This will eradicate any aberrant behavior and cause the
individuals to mingle in the society and believe in the nation’s goals and
values. The main goal of the actual social education is preparing the
individuals for the social life with its rules, regulations, traditions, and
systems, and enabling them to adapt to the society in the frame of these rules.
This makes them contribute in the society to be a productive element in the
social body.
MILITARY EDUCATION
Islam has treated the military
education so accurately and deeply. It has constituted the most advanced and
genuine courses of educating the army, developing its potentials, and skill
training. Islam has concerned deliberately with the armed forces for their being
the nation’s armor and the defensive paling that guards against misfortunes and
dangers. Imam Ali (a) describes the armed forces with unparalleled words. He
says, “Soldiers are, by God’s permission, the fortresses of people, the garnish
of the rulers, the might of the religion, and the ways of security. People
cannot erect without them.”
The Imam vested people’s lives and
constituents with their defensive power on which the nation’s glory, dignity,
and independence depend. Commenting on these excellent words, al-Fukeiki says,
“Look deeply to these statements. They contain eloquent secrets and marvelous
intendments. You must not be admired if I tell that these words comprehended all
of the chapters of Consultant Volndrov’s Nation in the war and all of the
records of the military encyclopaedia, including the German, Italian, English,
French and Japanese, in this age. The current international situation in the
east and west and the governments’ struggles are the best evidences on our
claim.”.
The most important topic for Islam is
equipping the military forces with a nonesuch education that gives a unique
behavior and conscience and pushes faithfully and sincerely on defending the
homeland. In the earlier centuries, the Islamic army could record the most
peculiar triumphs when they destroyed the rules of polytheism and achieved the
miracle in spite of their few numbers and scanty arms. In the battle of Badr,
the Islamic army used branches of date palm trees as weapons and faced the most
modern arms in that time. They could defeat the polytheists. The main reason
beyond Muslims’ triumph in that immortal battle was the perseverance and the
power of faith.
Perseverance in wars:
Islam tends to make the armed forces
enjoy high spirits of perseverance, faith, unity, congruity, and consistency.
Discrepancy is the main cause of every defeat and loss. God says:
O,
you who believe! When you meet a party, then be firm, and remember Allah much,
that you may be successful.
And
obey Allah and His Apostle and do not quarrel for then you will be weak in
hearts and your power will
depart,
and be patient. Surely, Allah is with the patient.
Surely,
Allah loves those who fight in His way in ranks as if they were a firm and
compact wall.
Imam Ali (a) instructed Mohammed, his
son, during the battle of Jamal to be perseverant and firm. He said, “Do not
move even if the mountains moved. Bite on the molar and firm your feet in the
ground. Raise your sight to the last of the opposite army., cast down your
eyes., and realize that triumph is God’s affair.”.
These golden words introduce the best
description of firmness in battlefields. The Imam stressed on these instructions
in many situations when he instructed the commanders.
Faith
and self-denial:
The Islamic military education seeds
faith and self-denial in the minds of the armed forces. These two elements were
the distinctive features of the Islamic army in the first ages. Bliss and
delight were noticed on the face of the martyrs. Soldiers welcomed the
battlefields and used to express the days of their martyrdom as days of rapture
and pleasure. After the battles, they were depressed because they had not caught
martyrdom. Owing to their great faith, they thronged to death for God’s sake.
Historians mention that Anas bin Annadr, during the battle of Uhud, passed by a
group of Muslim soldiers who ceased their activities because they thought the
Prophet had been killed. Anas said to them, “What will you do with your lives
after the Prophet? Stand up and seek the death for the sake of what he had been
killed for.” He then bravely pushed in the midst of the battlefield, until he
was killed. After the battle, his body was the target of more than seventy
strokes and stabs. His sister could recognize him only by a sign in his
fingertip..
Historians also related that a Muslim
soldier, under the commandment of Muslima bin abdil-Melik, watched a place that
the Islamic army had chosen as a hole through which they would attack the
enemies. The whole night, that soldier worked in that hole painstakingly. The
next morning, the Islamic army noticed that the hole had been complete. Muslims
attacked the enemy and triumphed. The commander then wanted that soldier to
reward him, but he did not emerge. That night, the soldier came secretly to the
commander and asked not to mention his name in the missive he would send to the
caliph. The commander responded.
The Islamic army could achieve many
triumphs and establish that great unprecedented empire due to this high spirit.
Other nations embraced Islam faithfully and deeply because they could notice the
dignity, prestige, and protection against exploitation and egocentricity.
Asceticism:
Asceticism and offering to God is a
course in the programs of the Islamic military education. Historians mention
that when the Islamic army, under the commandment of Amr bin al-As, directed to
Egypt, the ruler sent spies. Two days later, the spies informed of their
astonishment by that army. They said, “We saw people prefer death to life and
modesty to arrogance. None had any desire or craving for this world. They sat on
dust and ate on the knees. Their commander was not distinguished. None can
distinguish the modest from the high-ranking, or the slave from the master. None
of them was late from the prayers. They washed their limbs with water and
submitted in their prayers.” The ruler was highly terrified. He said, “Those
would remove even the mountains. We cannot fight them.” He then sent a missive
to Amr in which he demanded with a group with whom he would conclude a peace
treaty. Ebada bin as-Samit, the black, was the head of the group that Amr sent
to the ruler. The ruler asked them to take the black away and precede another
one he would discuss. The group said in one voice, “This black is the best of us
in opinion and knowledge. He is our master, leader, and chief. We refer to his
opinion.” The ruler could no longer hide his puzzlement when he asked, “How do
you accept that a black is the best of you? He should be the most modest.” They
answered, “He is the best in situation, precedence, opinion, and mentality. For
us, blackness is not shame.”
He had to discuss with the black;
therefore, he said, “Well, you black! Come and talk with me respectfully.” Ebada
said, “I have heard your wording. I have left thousand men who are like me or
blacker. If you see them, you will be more terrified. Thanks to God, I, despite
my old age, never fear hundred men of my enemies even if they meet me
collectively. The same thing I can say about my companions. This is for our
desire to fight for God’s sake and seek His satisfaction. Our fighting God’s
enemies is for neither a worldly desire nor an affair we lack. Yet, God has
legalized this for us and given us the spoils. We do not care whether we have
many riches or lack a single dirham. We do not ask for more than a single meal
by which we meet our hunger and a cloak that protects us. This is sufficient for
us. If we have many riches we will spend them for the sake of God and confine to
what we have in our hands because the earthly bliss in not bliss. The actual
bliss and luxury are those of the Hereafter. This is the decree of our Lord and
the instruction of our Prophet, who taught us that our desire should never pass
a single bit of food that meets our hunger, and a single cloak that covers our
genitals. Our desire and work should be for obtaining God’s satisfaction and
struggling His enemies.”
These words show the best items of
the military education when soldiers and their commanders deny the material
interests to seek God’s satisfaction and the reward of the Hereafter. The words
also referred to the union of all of the ranks and units of the army, who enjoy
the same idea that is based upon the Islamic guidance and spirit.
As the ruler of Egypt heard these
words, he said, “O Virtuous man! I have heard your wording in which you
discussed the affairs of your companions. I swear you have not attained this
great standing for any reason other than adhering to what you have mentioned.
Similarly, you have not conquered those because they sought the earthly affairs.
Uncountable numbers of the strong and firm Roman soldiers have joined us. They
do not care for their enemies, and you will not be able to conquer them because
of your weakness and fewness. You have resided with us for months and undergone
harsh conditions. We feel pity for your feebleness and fewness. We want to make
peace with you and give each soldier two dinars and the commander one hundred
and the caliph one thousand. You will take these golden dinars and leave to your
country before those powerful soldiers arrive.”
The courageous leader did not care
for the ruler’s threat of the Roman soldiers. He confirmed he would fight if the
ruler and his people would not convert to Islam or pay the tributes
submissively. He also provided excellent disputation, filled up with
championships and sacrificing for God’s sake, with that ruler..
In any case, this situation unveils
the great scope of the Islamic military education that is unique in its givings
of firmness in the right and self-denial.
Caution against the foes:
The Islamic education feeds the army
with caution and wariness against the foes’ movements. It instructs them to be
permanently ready. God says:
O,
you who believe! Take your precaution, then go forth in detachments or go forth
in a body.
This Quranic text warns against sloth
and negligence lest the foes may attack and seize. Had the Arab armies been
cautious and ready, the setback of June 5 would not have humiliated them.
In this decisive stage of our
history, we are facing a foxy enemy that waylays for swooping down on our
homeland and terminating all of its powers. America, the source of aggression,
is supporting our enemy and encouraging seizing more territories for enfeebling
the Arab nation and controlling the fortunes and wealth there. Hence, the Arab
armies must be cautious and scrupulous against trickery and the foes. They must
also strive sincerely and faithfully for eradicating the dishonor of defeat and
humiliation that our people had to undergo.
EDUCATION OF POLICE
Police is the most sensitive national
sinew and the remarkable medium of security and protection. They are responsible
for taking the procedures that protect against crimes and events. They also hold
the liability of arresting and chasing the criminals. Nations are competing for
caring for police by providing means of teaching, training, and immunizing with
guarantees and luxury so that they will implement their huge responsibilities
perfectly. Specialists in the educational affairs of police refer to some
courses concordant to the Islamic principals. They are as follows:
Good
manners:
Good manners are the pillars of man’s
glory. Individuals’ values and social positions rely upon morals. Thus,
policemen should be characterized by high traits to acquire people’s confidence
and estimation.
Courage and bravery:
Courage and bravery must be in the
top of the manners that policemen should enjoy. They are surely the
ornamentation of policemen who must avoid timidity and alarm especially during
carrying out their duties that are dangerous in most cases. Using this, they
will satisfy their conscience and people’s appreciation.
Helping people:
Policemen should care deliberately
for aiding people and responding to their calls. For instance, they should aid
the wounded, in cases of emergency, and save the drowned, and extinguish fire.
Policemen should provide other activities, such as guiding the lost, helping the
weak, and the like.
Good
conduct:
Policemen ought to conduct well in
any state. They should be firm and lenient, but without violation and inability.
They should not use coarseness in situations of leniency or the opposite. They
should conduct suitably.
Politeness in answering:
For gaining people’s respect and
appreciation, policemen ought to answer people’s questions politely with
firmness, self-possession, and caution.
Justice and equity:
Within the obligations of policemen
are the commitment of justice, persistence of inequity, settling people’s
rights, and precluding the wrong. Policemen should always be in the line of the
wronged, because they are the guards of the law and the country. They should be
familiarized that there is no screen between the supplication of the wronged and
God. They should also know that the most preferable thing to God is supporting
the wronged and that justice is the pillar of kingship. God says:
Surely,
Allah commands you to make over trusts to their owners and that when you judge
between people you judge with justice.
People’s confidence:
Policemen should work for acquiring
people’s confidence. They should be servants, not masters, of people. Yet, they
must keep up the dignity of their positions and do only what they are authorised
by the law. They must carry out their obligations cordially to acquire people’s
confidence and collaboration. This will surely bring about the best fruits to
security and the country.
Decency:
Decency should be the center of
policemen’s moralities. They should avoid any matter that may infract their
positions. Finally, they should evade any satanic idea.
Sincerity:
Sincerity and avoiding fabrication
are the most consequential qualities that policemen should appropriate. They are
the most influential in the soundness of conscience and people’s service.
Policemen are also obliged to witness rightly before courts. Concealment of
testimonies is the most critical forbidden matter in Islam. God says:
And
do not conceal testimony. And whoever conceals it, his heart is surely sinful.
In courts, policemen are required to
report the very facts. Condemnation, however, is not their task.
Fulfillment of obligations:
Policemen should realize and fulfill
their responsibilities thoroughly so that they would avoid blemishes and faults
and acquire the community’s confidence and appreciation.
Adhering to the religion:
Policemen should adhere to their
religion and accede to the ethics and morals of Islam. People would not have
encountered any crime or misfortune had they only adhered to the religion.
Implementation of duties:
Policemen, as considered as the
executive body of judiciary, must implement their missions properly and
submissively. They should opt for wisdom in their activities and avoid
exploiting their authorisation in affairs that are out of their tasks. They
should leave good influence in their behavior and fulfillment.
God-fearing:
Policemen must fear God Who watches
all of the deeds and to Whom every thing returns. Violation of people’s
interests causes God’s ire and punishment.
Remuneration:
Officials must grant rewards and
bonuses to policemen completely. This may leave an influential effect in
implementing their tasks thoroughly.
THE EDUCATION IN WORK
FIELDS
The Islamic education in work
fields aims at spreading piety, taking precautions in earnings, and habituating
the craftsmen to the moralities and the Islamic ethics. It also aims at
encouraging them on increasing and developing the production. It also proposes
works’ skillfulness and development in such a way that is concurrent to the
national maturity and prosperity in economical fields, for releasing people from
poverty and neediness.
Islam has provided the most premium
educational courses for craftsmen and workers.
Fidelity and sincerity:
Islam has instructed to be loyal and
sincere in works and professions. The Prophet (s) said, “The real earning is the
sincere.” “Allah loves the masterly work.” Insincere working brings about
illegal earning, which is the most critical. Rewards are given to the faithful
deeds, while the insincere are not rewarded. Workers should guarantee damages
they cause to employers.
Avoiding cheating:
Islam has forbidden cheating totally
because it causes economical and social damages in the country. The Prophet (s)
said, “He is not one of us that whoever cheats, injures, or defrauds a Muslim.”
“For those who cheat a Muslim in vendition or purchase, they are not among us,
and God will add them to the Jews on the Resurrection Day. He is surely not one
of us that whoever cheats us. (The Prophet repeated this statement thrice.) For
those who cheat their Muslim brothers, God will remove blessing from their
earnings, and will corrupt their livings and forsake them.”
Imam as-Sadiq (a) said to a seller of
flour, “Beware of cheating. The consequences of cheating will be shown in the
properties or the family members of the cheaters.”
Imam Musa (a) said to Musa bin Bukeir
about a counterfeit dinar, “Throw it in the drain so that nothing cheated will
be sold.”
Jurists decide the right of
revocation in the cheated deals. They also rule the invalidation of the deals in
which cheating by showing counterfeited classes is proved.
Fulfillment of missions:
Employees must begin their works in
the definite time and do their jobs by themselves. It is invalid to hire others
for doing the jobs since the contract was concluded with certain persons. The
hirelings could be not adequate enough for doing that job except there is a
previous conclusion with the employer on this point. The Prophet (s) said, “The
believers are bound to their conditions.”
Keeping the production means:
Craftsmen and employees must protect
the tools of working and the productive means. The employees should never
neglect them because they are their trusts. Damages of the production devices
cause economical loss and injure employers.
Development of wealth resources:
Craftsmen and employees should work
sincerely and faithfully for developing and preserving the sources of wealth
since the economic life relies upon them. It is impossible for any nation to
develop economically unless workers possess a general cognizance of the
necessity of conserving and maturing the nation’s resources of wealth.
Professional specialization:
Professional specialization helps in
the national development, productive increase, and economical prosperity.
Governments are responsible for encouraging these goals by sending the seekers
of specialization to institutions inside and outside the country. They are also
responsible for meeting the needs of these people. This is surely the most
important social responsibility.
Activity and firmness:
The Islamic education in work cares
for distributing the spirits of activity and firmness in the employees’ minds.
It also cares for warning against laziness and sloth, since these matters
paralyze the economic movements and freeze the energies. The following
supplication is related to the Prophet’s household. It shows the abomination of
laziness and sloth. “O Allah! I seek thy guard against sloth, laziness,
inactivity, and indolence.” Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “Beware of tedium and
laziness. They are the key to every vile. The tedious cannot fulfill any duty.
The lazy cannot keep any pledge.” Imam Musa (a) said, “Beware of tedium and
laziness. They block the shares of this world and the Hereafter.”
Islam abhors laziness, forbids
unemployment, and censures the unemployed because it leads to poverty, misery,
and neediness. Muslims in the early ages disgusted long rest and stillness. They
came to working fastidiously. Imam as-Sadiq (a) exposed the deeds of those
companions before his adherents. He said, “Do not be lazy in seeking earnings.
Our forefathers used to hasten in seeking their livings.”
Proudly, Islam calls to diligence,
activity, and dispatching to working fields so that the life of luxury and
amenity will prevail. In our ‘Labor and rights of workers in Islam’, we have
referred comprehensively to labor courses, obligations, and rights that Islam
imposed for the laborers and peasants.
Evasion of the ill-gotten:
The most prominent course of the
programs of the Islamic education in work is seeding the spirits of piety and
integrity in the minds of the employees and craftsmen as well as taking them
away from sins and vices. Stipends and salaries of those employees were gotten
due to their efforts and pains. They should spend those stipends on their
dependants and themselves. They will surely spend them illegally if they slip in
fields of lechery. Thus, they leave the ghost of poverty in their houses and
expose their families and children to poverty and deprivation.
Last
word:
As we reach the end of this thesis,
we would like to attract attention to the fact that this has been a brief
exposition of the Islamic educational system. We cannot claim of embodying all
of the topics and affairs in this regard, since this needs too many volumes.
The educational system of Islam is
based upon the most modern means that lie at the top of the marches of the
humanitarian civilizations. It can change the general behavior and establish
immunity from the moral defects and other vicious compounds. This system
achieved the best outcome in the early stages of Islam when it created men who
were above all others in their progress towards the right, justice, confidence
in God, and wholehearted devotion for God’s sake. Those celebrities could save
people from the gloominess of ignorance, sloth, and indolence to take to oases
of knowledge, activity, and production.
We regard it obligatory to praise the
efforts of the grand master Sheik Hadi al-Qireshi, who provided the notices of
this book. I can also hardly neglect his compassion and kindness, that I highly
appreciate, without which I could not provide this work. I supplicate to God to
reward him with blessings and best merits.
Finally, I wish the readers to point
out any flaw that I have inadvertently mentioned in my work, so that we all
achieve the service of the right.
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