Education is Empowerment!

How striking a word is 'empowerment'? It is recognised as the formless pre-cursor to the internal liberation of man. It unlocks the treasures of freedoms, independance, moral fortitude, courage in implementation of justice, self-belief and is the missing-link in re-conciling our present state with the wonders of our glorious past.

Empowerment is incidental to education. Quaid-e-Azam said that, "the advancement of a nation, depends on its intellegensia" and none can disagree with this analysis. So the question this leads to, is why have we as a community become so absent-minded, vacuous and incoherent in inculcating this trusim? To develop the faculities of the mind, is a message of universal wisdom, temperance of uncivility and furthermore, an obligation on every muslim. The kernality of education and it's lasting implication upon our advancement is without debate.

The imbalance seems to have aroused from our affair with emotional-rhetoric and an approach zinged with love; there is no lack of accomodation for this in my own theological thought, but to maintain perspective, love never taught istinja and furthermore, even a lover needs to learn what objects are worthy of their emotive tumescence.

Our communites, have also become enslaved to self-deprecating affirmations, that they are unworthy, unequipped or simply unable to become educated, little realising, that this is the disease of mass-media noxious corruption, malignant in design to keep the general population plugged in to a perfunctory life. This is particularly troublesome for muslims, as it completely derogates us away from the inevtiable reality and keeps us absorbed in the asinine sheep like life, without understanding of Allah and His noble messenger (SAL).

I don't subscribe to the notion that each and every muslim should become erudites of their religion and the world that they reside in, what I'm referring to is, continuous self-improvement given the resources, circumstances and ability that one is equipped with. Einstein once said, "genius is in everyone, we wouldn't judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, if we did, it would spend its whole life believing it's stupid", we all have parameters, within which we work, so we should seek to remove regression and progress the best we can, don't worry about limitations, just seek to quarrel with them and stretch their dimensions, they are not as stubborn as you may think. All greatness has been achieved by people who realised that there was something inside them that was far superior to their circumstances.

Education is the progressive discovery and removal of our ignorance, it is not the beacon which simply teaches us how to make a living, but how to make a life and an akhira. it is the building blocks of giving life to the message The Prophet (SAL) brought, it was not whim that the sahaba called him the walking-talking Qu'ran, but he epitomised the sum of learning. Education will help your imagination encircle your internal and external world with the love of Rasoolullah (SAL); it is the force that will beget an existence which will bare fruit in the akhira.

Ofcourse, many people are all to happy drifting thorugh life, they feel that the direction of the wind is such, that they can't help but be thrust along with it; it is here, where one must resolve to adjust their own personal sail and force a pathway out of their neglect. It is an old adage, but rings true even in these contemporary times, that 'the world is not in need of another waste of life'; there has been enough chaffe which has withered in the winds of time.

Paulo Coelho said, that once you want something, the whole universe will conspire in helping you achieve it and it is this initial surmounting that we must inject into ourselves, as opprtunities are sought, they are found, as they are found, they multiply. We should start by sacrificing a short amount of time to the process of learning, as we settle, we should invest further time in our endeavour; it is a happenstance of learning, that once the flint of it is ignited, the spread of this yearning is a completely involuntary reflex, it draws you further into its limbo, as the desire yawns ever more for you to lose yourself.

The current crisis we see engulfing Pakistan, is the consequence of a blind populace being led by one-eyed leaders, a complete victory of ignorance, ignobility in politics and business has corrupted the harmony in society, leading to an extremist and violent backlash from elements within, further escalating discord and breakdown, which has lead to poverty on a biblical scale. It has become like a proverbial run-away train of destruction and there is no seemingly happy-ending in sight, from a have-a-go Lollywood hero, those movies just haven't been possible with the shoe string budgets the industry is bated with.

Pakistan was created on the promise of upholding the Kalimah, thus it is tragic to see that the image and influence of this country being viewed so suspiciously and even condescended on the world stage; there is a deep-seated fear and intolerance of Pakistan, which isn't wholly a conspiracy from the corridors of the world's power bases, but something that we as a nation, through our diminished academia and our collective failure at planning and incorporating a worthy civil service equipped to organise and implement the processes which oil the wheels of a progressive country, which trickles down positive and noble principle from the top-down, have allowed to happen.

At Fareed ul Asr, we are comitted to changing the panorama of Pakistan, form one that is in turmoil, to one that empowers people, to try and change it's socio-political landscape, which would compromise a government, for the people, by the people, it is a human right to seek fair and just governance, one which shall not perish from the Earth. Our aim is to be the sum of parts, together we can be an ocean, for the betterment of humanity, evil never takes a day off and our belief at Fareed ul Asr is that nobility and goodness should also bond and refuse to take a day off.

We want to transcend barrieds of creed, colour, culture and any other appelation which keeps mans emotive biases proliferated. Allah say's in the Qu'ran al Kareem, that he who has served man, has served his Lord; and it is armed with this guidance, that our conscious efforts are being focused. We are under no illusion to the size of the task, but we sincerely belive, that with knowledge and education, we can maybe not see a promulagated change in our lifetime, but we have no doubt, that we will spark the many minds who will make a change which will reverberate for a millenia.

Spirit Of Islam: Education is Empowerment! - Spirit Of Islam