We Muslims need to change a lot for our own good. We need to study our religion academically. When we were young and went to madressahs, we were taught our religion in parrot fashion. We were expected to memorise certain verses by heart for example.
We were not encouraged to ask questions about things we did not understand. Sometimes people were told it was wrong to think deep in matter of religion and ask too many questions. This was probably because those mullahs themselves were educated in the same fashion and they never used their own brains. They could not admit their ignorance and instead discouraged people from asking questions. Alhamdulillah, the time has changed now. Ideally speaking, in this day and age, no one has any reason to remain ignorant as all kinds of information are available on our palms.
We need to be open minded and willing to learn about different faiths and different schools of thoughts not to ridicule them or insult them but to understand and respect them. Even Allah (swt) commands us in the holy Qur’an not to insult the deities of other faiths. One of the things we Muslims should be doing is, to try and understand our faith from an outsider’s perspective. When for example one studies the history of Islam, it should not be a matter of reading as a story book and keep our minds closed and never ponder over it. It is common sense that when we study history, the purpose should be to take lessons from it. It’s not good at all to say “don’t judge anybody and don’t call a spade a spade because we have very high regard for such characters and revere them very much”.
Our principle and goal of life should be one and only and that is that after the passing away of the holy Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his holy progeny), what is the source of our knowledge about Islam, Qur’an, and Shari’ah. What should be our criteria of accepting or rejecting the source of guidance from those who claimed to be the authority on our religion?
It is indeed a very great tragedy that there are countless so called self-styled ulamas/molvis/scholars that are misguiding people and feeding wrong information about other schools of thought and inciting hatred amongst fellow Muslims.
Please spare some moments to study the document that is provide to you with an open mind. This is only food for thought and something to ponder over.
Any fair minded person and someone seeking truth need to address such issues and look for some concrete answers.
Remember the best gift Allah has granted us human beings is ‘aql’ or intelligence. If we deny ourselves from exercising our intelligence, then rest assured there can be nothing worse than this.
EBRAHIM RASHID,
Lahore, August 14.