Islamic Education

Aaqib Shaheen;

Islamic Education… man’s mental health is an issue that is closely linked with knowledge and insight. Islamic education, depending on this knowledge, nurtures both body and soul and satisfies man’s mental needs. Islamic approach is to bring happiness to man, to develop his faculties and talents and to create a balance between mans desires and needs so that there is no extremism. Islam as a divine religion which places so much emphasis on humanity, and not on mans class, race or family. This is a universal standard that goes beyond all places and times… from the point of view of Islam, knowledge is a whole and its reality is that man should know his own caste, his own society and the universe, his own creator. And its rules should be recognized. FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF ISLAM, KNOWLEDGE IS A WHOLE AND ITS REALITY IS THAT MAN SHOULD KNOW HIS OWN CASTE, HIS OWN SOCIETY AND THE UNIVERSE, HIS OWN CREATOR. There are two sources of this knowledge, one is the revelation of Allah, which came to mankind through the Prophets and the other is man’s own observation and experience, for which Allah has given him the blessing of intellect and senses. Granted, these two sources are not fundamentally different, but they are helpful to each other. Allah Almighty has made knowledge a deep ocean. The more one acquires knowledge, the less he has. And the world is not divided into two separate compartments. There is no such mention anywhere in the Qur’an or Hadith. This division has been made according to the needs in later times. After all, the knowledge that bestows on man the knowledge of Allah, the universe and his being. That is the knowledge of religion and everything… I am going to use the word, need… the absolute important and need for Islamic education and Islamic schools. I know there are a lot of opinions about that. Do we need to send our children to Islamic schools or public schools or should they be sent to public schools? If we don’t give our children Islamic education we may be lost of our children. We are chasing after things in this life and many of these things are, halal. Like a good job, money, status, and we want these things for our children, but in this seeking sometimes we loose much more than we gain such as, losing the heart and soul of our children. And this is a serious thing. If you don’t give religious education to your child, but he/she managed to get the highest degree by acquiring other sciences and arts and while living in the world, he/she earned innumerable money, a life of nobility and prosperity, but since you kept him/her away from the religion, he/she was completely unaware of the fact that he/she is also a Muslim and as such he/she has some important duties and responsibilities, so nothing for him/herself in the Hereafter. If he can do it, then he will do good deeds only for his parents. Good and virtuous children give charity to their parents, but what can a child who is not in a position to do any good for himself do for his parents? So with these facts on my mind, we should take our children’s religious education as seriously as we care about their schooling and do not indulge in any kind of laziness. Otherwise, someone will do good deeds only for the parents. Good and virtuous children give charity to their parents, but what can a child who is not in a position to do any good for himself do for his parents? With this in mind, we should take our children’s religious education as seriously as we care about their schooling and do not indulge in any kind of laziness. Every single person will eventually enter his/her grave and when we enter our grave (and everyone of us knows), what will happen once we die. All of the things we chased, all of the money, the status and all of the degrees we acquired, so when we enter our grave all of these these things we got they don’t come with us to our graves. Money doesn’t come with us neither our degrees nor our status. Whether you are a doctor or not there is only one thing that can come with you in your grave and the three things that you do include the righteous deeds of your child who pray for you. The righteous child who you left behind makes dua for you. Second one is sadqa-e-jaria. Now sadqa-e-jaria is a charity you give to this life and gather benefit by continuously benefiting others even after you pass away. So you are in your grave and your continuing to collect good deeds by means of this charity that you left behind. Third one is some knowledge that you gave to another person the continuously benefits others even after you have entered your grave.

The writer is a columnist based in Palwama Jammu Kashmir.