Seek God's Mercy Through Education

Written by Md Zahid Ansari

From the life of cave to this modern times, this age of information, the age of computer or the age of
Artificial intelligence whatever name you can call, one thing is fixed that is we’re in pinnacle of
mankind’s success. We are all agree with that. Although if I put certain bad things aside most
probably we’re living for peacefully more than ever(compare to other time in history).

But all we achieved , all we created , everything came from our brain, from our intellect , from our
capability to think and to solve problems. From the invention of fire to agriculture to harvest the
nature we learned everything and mastered in every field based on just brain. Can you imagine
how fascinating it is! Literally one single body part made it possible, this is so amazing! We don’t
need to much introduction on education because we all are well informed about this topic and about
the power of education and how it shaped us time to time. But there are some negative aspects or
misuse of education and it’s simply for us, for our greed and desire. Better to avoid now.

Now coming to the main point Islam’s holy scripture Qur’an claimed that Islam is the only
complete religion or way of life till the end of the world and being that it didn’t mention anything
on education or knowledge is it possible? Creator of intellect, God didn’t speak on importance of
education or knowledge..is that possible? No! Obviously not!

First revelation from the God in holy Qur’an was... Qur’an ( 96:1-5)
1. “Read! In the name of your Lord, who created.
2. Created man from a clot(of blood)
3. Read! Your Lord is most Bountiful one.
4. Who taught by pen,
5. taught man what he did not know.”

Here you can see first word is ‘Iqra’ means Read. God uses the word read and he taught by pen So
all of these are core components of education. And since time immemorial with help of writing, with
help of pen we preserved all knowledge and transmitted generation to generation. And God said he
taught mankind what they knew not! And Muslims believe that all knowledge came from God
alone.
So in short if God in his first revelation to mankind talks about education and about its importance
then there is no doubt about it that it is most valued and important. Anybody can understand it
without much effort. The evolution of knowledge and evolution of understanding and thinking is
parallel to each other and complementary as well. Whether it be Mathematician , physicist,
Psychologist , Poet , Architecture in their profession ‘thinking’ play a major role. So it is clear that
our power of thinking is another reason for our all progress and achievement.
You realized the importance and benefits of thinking and understanding but don’t you excited to
know what your Lord says, then read following verses from holy Qur’an(3:190)
“Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and earth and the alternation of the night and the day are
signs for those of understanding.”
So another similar verse is on chapter 39 and verse 9. It says
“ Say , Are those who know and those who do not know equal? Only possessors of intellect reflect.”
Further Quran says in another place..
“He made subservient unto you whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is on the earth- all
together. Truly in that are signs for a people who reflect.” Qur’an (45:13)
From above two verses it is clear that those people who have knowledge and understanding they
aren’t equal to those who don’t have understanding or knowledge...and they will never be equal.
And God himself encourages us to ponder over on his vast creation and this is the opportunity to
discover our creator, our Lord through his creation.
Again in another chapter Qur’an mentioned..
“ You will not find any flaw in the creation of the Gracious one. Then look once again: can you see
any flaw?
Then look again and again Your gaze will come back to you confused and exhausted.” Qur’an
(67:3-4)
For above verse a great physicist of 20th century and Nobel laureate Professor Abdus Salam once
said: “Almost, this is the core belief and inspiration of every physicist; more we go deep inside more
we shocked, and our sight becomes dazzled.”
And statistically speaking in the holy Qur’an the word ‘Ilm’(Science or Knowledge in Arabic
language) mentioned 750 times and it is the 3rd most repeated word in entire Qur’an.
So one can easily understand that for every Muslims ‘Ilm’ and education must be placed in their
heart.
Prophet of Islam said...
“ Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave”.
According to Al Ghazali “ the prophet regarded any day as lost in which he did not increase in that
knowledge that would draw him closer to his Lord” ( Fatihat Ul Ulum, p-3)
And there are numerous Qur’anic verses and Hadith literature on that subject of knowledge and
education if I mentioned all of them here maybe I couldn’t finish this article!
To be a Muslim you must have ‘Iman’ simply belief in God and on his limitless power over all
things you can imagine or you can’t!
That’s why you need to know your Lord , for that you must have some basic knowledge otherwise
you won’t be able to identify your Lord!
Now all of these I wrote you can argue that all of them just theoretical but if you ask where is the
practical application...is the applicability present in history?
My answer is Yes! You can find thousands of application throughout Muslim history.
Again it’s irrelevant here to mention all history! Better to skip details! I can mention few names like
Ibn Sina, Ibn Hytham, Jabir Ibn Hiyyan , Ibn Khawarizmi, Al Burundi, Ibn Nafis , Omar
Khayyam and the list goes on...they were mathematician, astronomer, scientist, Geographer,
historian , explorer they were polymath even they were mastered on Islamic theology and
jurisprudence and Quranic exegesis! And were devout muslim, actually their vast knowledge and
understanding helps them to come closer to God but not opposite!
Through this knowledge and understanding they’ve achieved ‘Ihsan’(excellence) which is highest
form of worship.
And there is some Hadith on Ihsan like
"Do the best as if you see Allah, and if not remember Allah sees you”
(Al-Bukhari)
So this is the higher form of worship as mentioned by our beloved prophet and this most important
sunnah is almost negligible to us and we don't care about that! Almost half of wealth of the world is
in our hand yet we couldn't able to produce our own needs and we're dependable on other country
and our productivity level is always downgraded!
Even our prophet (saw) said….
"Verily Allah has prescribed ihsan(excellence)in all things” (Muslim)
Two story from past:
Whenever any problems came( education related) to Ibn Sina (the great scientist) , he would go to
mosque and he performed two unit of prayer there and seek help from God Almighty!
And another is in death bed , Al Biruni asked to his companion an answer of an unsolved problem.
And this is just two examples there are many.
A great educator E H Wilds wrote in his book ‘The foundation of Education’...” It was this great
liberality which they(the Muslims) displayed in educating their people in the schools which was one
of the most potent factors in the brilliant and rapid growth of their civilisation. Education was so
universally diffused that it was said to be difficult to find a Muslim who could not read or write.”
There were not just Muslims scholar but there were jews and Christians scholars who taught side
by side in those Muslim institution and that is unbelievable for that time. And mosque wasn’t just
the place of worship but was the centre of education and knowledge and it was started from
Prophet’s mosque!
We forgot our glorious Quranic verse that's stating " And hold fast to the rope of God, altogether,
and be not divided".( Qur'an 3:103)
So final point is when the Muslims followed the path of truth which is based on true principles of
Islam and Qur’an, they were the best of best people and their civilisation was the landmark for
humanity. They were the tourch bearer of mankind and leaders of every field. But when they forgot
their path and deeped into darkness God made them neglected and failure in every field across the
world maybe as punishment. And we are divided into hundreds of sects and arguing about in
pointless matter and there is no unity between us. We are failed to show the universality of Islam
and its message. We spent our wealth, money and energy on meaningless matter even though a
believer never be lived without purpose and without proper intention.
So therefore, we need to understand this as soon as possible and should apply those principles to
bring our past glory.

Author Bio :
I'm student of Knowledge both Islam and other! A high school graduate and preparing for NEET.
Love to read and share what I have learned.
Address:
Village- Kabira
Post- Basuldanga
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West Bengal
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