"Read, in the name of thy God who
created; created man out of a clot of congealed blood. Read and thy God is Most
Bountiful. He who taught with the pen (writing and reading). Taught man that
which he knew not."
[Surah Al-‘Alaq, Verse
1-5]
These are the first few verses of the holy
book of Quran. Allah the almighty, ordered us humans to read, and seek
knowledge. Thus, it is clear, that the propagation of the religion itself is
through the means of knowledge. Thus regardless of any aspects of knowledge, it
would be considered acceptable, be it in the teachings of aqidah or ibadah, right
to the more ‘western’ types of knowledge such as science and even
entrepreneurship. Specializing in a more ‘secular’ part of education does not
make you any less of a Muslim and vice versa. But from the views of a portion
of the community, there is a bold line that separates the knowledge of the deen, and the knowledge of worldly
matter. Through this arguable point of view, it may seem wrong for one to
specialize in a ‘worldly’ field and would prefer him/her to pursue all into the
knowledge of the deen.
But, let us take a look at an example, the
man who contributes most of what we know as Algebra today, Muhammad ibn Musa
Al-Khawarizmi. He specializes in the
field of modern mathematics. By knowing this fact, does it make him less of a
Muslim?
The world needs to have individuals that
could erase the lines between theological knowledge and other secular knowledge
thus applying it into the world that he/she lives in. Having individuals who
could lead the community onto thinking right, would lead to a nation that could
see, and think right as well based on facts and pure rationale by the guidance
of Al-Quran and Sunnah.
We need to step up our game, in the eyes of
the world. Yes, we are oppressed, we may appear as a community that believes in
terrorism but that doesn’t stop us from achieving greatness of the nation
through the power of knowledge. Wake up fellow Muslims. It is time to lead by
example.
I shall quote from an American author, Tim
Ferris, ‘’Someday is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with
you.’’
So act now.
Editor: Hadri Hadi bin Md Yusof
Economic and Welfare Bureau 2012/ 2013
Muslim Society (MSOC)
International Medical University (IMU) Bukit Jalil.
