I get that God made this universe and some very respectable Muslim scientists were behind inventions that modernized the world. But that’s just about it. What have we done as a collective humanitarian effort other than fight?
Our textbooks are full of Quranic verses. SCIENCE TEXTBOOKS! I simply cannot understand the reason. At one point in time, you’re teaching me a verse that says God created this world or a verse saying that God created man from a clot of blood. In the next chapter, you’re teaching me scientific methods based on hypothesis, observation, theory and results. This is a question that is almost always part of the examination.
And the moment a student applies this technique in real life to learn about religion, our prestigious mullahs condemn him to hellfire, continuously insisting upon this bull that some topics are prohibited from being discussed.
Dude! REALLY?
How hard is it to say, ‘I don’t know.’?
And where should we draw a line when it comes to shoving religion down a person’s throat?
When I talk about modernizing the world, I mean scientific advancements and exploration. Our history is full of people who encouraged us to seek knowledge and wisdom. It is full of people who praised curiosity rather than condemning people just because they wanted to know things or had questions.
A very dear friend of mine comments as follows:
Define modernity? Secondly, where are you getting your info? Really, have we only fought in our entire history? If you compare the death toll from last 100 – 120 years along with the years before, you’re gonna know the difference.
You are questioning the humanitarian efforts of Muslims? It is we Muslims who send aid to Europe when there was a famine there. It is We who shared our place with other people of different religions when others were butchering them.
Actually, it’s not you, its the system who apparently draws us to curse our past and to start idolising the western ideologies. When the Muslims used to run the world we had peace and order. On the other hand, look at the present state (of the world). I mean all my life I only witnessed wars. War waged not by Us (Muslims) it was them who started it.
Yes, you are right the current methodology and philosophy of our current education system not in line with our religious philosophy, current capitalistic(human construct) philosophy is nothing but the materialistic approach to life and questioning the legitimacy of the presence of God. But as Muslims to have yaqeen (belief) and emaan (faith) is the core (essence) of our life.
It should be people like you and us who should start thinking something out of the box and revisit the current system instead of blaming everything towards the mullahs. Human beings are full of flaws so are us but that doesn’t mean we are wrong in every aspect.
Coming to hypothesis obs theory blah blah and you know very well science is always changing. I mean today, you derive some law based on certain observation but you don’t know in the future if someone else derives something new negating the previous observation. It happened in the past and it can happen in the future.
My response is as follows:
I never said Muslims only fought. But Muslims have blood on their hands, just like Christians, Jews, and members of other faiths. That is not the point under discussion. Bloodlust is exploited as a tool for political survival under the guise of survival tendencies.
If Muslims send aid, Muslims receive it too. Helping people is not a matter of religion; it is based on the simple principle that this world is meant to be shared, not ruled. It is not a Muslim’s birthright to own, nor are we as Muslims superior to any other ethnicity or race just like any other division is not superior to the other; as stated by Prophet Muhammad SAW in his last sermon.
When the Muslims were in charge, peace prevailed, but so did the rest of the things that went along with it. We, as human beings, are full of folly, so it’s better to paint the picture as it is rather than whitewash it. If there was good, there was bad too. One cannot turn a blind eye to how things really were. Saying that all was butterflies and rainbows when the Muslims ruled implies that human beings of a certain religion are just perfect!
I am not questioning the legitimacy of God here, but one must not judge people for raising questions or being honest about their thoughts or seeking answers. We are made by this massive source of energy/ entity that has given life to everything on our plane of existence. We call it by many names, the most common, God. Just because someone is unable to understand a concept does not mean we rage war against them.
The current system should be revisited to address not only the education that is being taught in schools but the way molvis (clerics) are being taught as well. I do not have anything against the mullahs other than the fact that they are inept at rational thinking and also because of the massive bigotry that stems from what they preach and what they do!
It’s a very simple thing: there is a striking difference between an alim (scholar) and a mullah! The majority of the mullahs in our country today barely know how to read! Correct me if I’m wrong at every step of the way. A significant number of such mullahs are those who have learned this role from their peers or they couldn’t choose a different career option, or they weren’t good at studying, hence their lack of proper schooling and education. There are only a few who choose to study religion. AND I MEAN STUDY! Delve into it, dive deeper, just beyond rote learning!
Memorizing the Quran is an enormous task, but if recitation was the only thing that we ever needed, wouldn’t it be far too easy to simply record and play? We’ve had cassettes in the past, and we have MP3 players now. And we do that all the time—play the recitation on our routes while sitting idly at home in times of crisis, hoping that some miraculous thing will happen to get rid of our problems. But is that what the Quran is all about? Chanting verses blindly without the need to ever understand the words this holy book holds!
I’m not undermining religious teaching, I’m simply stating that the current religious system needs an overhaul too.
No one would like me if I kept mentioning Superman at the madrasa because of how it reminds me to be humble, kind, or help others; neither would anyone tolerate if I were to tell different arcs in Superman’s story about how he saved so many different people in all the comics I’ve read, even though Superman embodies a lot of attributes that God wants us to acquire!
Similarly, no one would like me to quote math every single time I meet them other than in a math classroom or when it is an absolute necessity. Pushing Islam into a curriculum where it does not fit simply binds us from utilizing the same out-of-the-box approach!
Do you want to know how? Let me tell you how!
I’ve heard my entire life that evolution is against Islam or that it is against what God stands for. Well, people like you and me who read scripture beyond the page would understand that it is God who plans and executes things in a manner that humans can’t comprehend, and without his planning, the universe would never exist.
So, if I say evolution is because of God’s will, or that the Omnipotent Paradox is also true and has numerous examples in Islam, I can predict a certain number of outcomes happening:
- I would either be termed a heretic or executed when the general population goes out on a protest against me, with the majority of the people unaware of what I said in the first place!
- I would be hunted down by people who would not look beyond me as an individual human being who loves God too, but twist my words according to their understanding and take justice into their own hands.
- Or I would be told to keep my thoughts in check for the devil implanting things in my head, and there is a very high probability of me being labelled blasphemous!
I’ve been subjected to extreme rudeness and discomfort at the hands of our mullahs when I speak out about something that is not in the air. Never have I seen a religious cleric maintain his calm or composure while discussing science; the underlying cause – ignorance.
Science brought me closer to God and I believe that critical thinking is the essence to weed out my imperfections and vices in hopes of becoming a better human being. What people think of God is something that they must question and come to terms with themselves. What and how a person thinks about God is his own journey. One lifetime is too little to achieve spiritual enlightenment. We are neither the judge nor shall we be judged on the deeds of others. The question is how pure are we on the inside?
We must continue the search for answers whether they lead us to the divine or bring us to the blight, the important thing here is that we retain our humanity along the way.
I wish that people could start seeing science as an ally and not as a subject to just get a passing grade!
Unwritten 