Dr. Firdaus Kamalodeen
At the time of Rasulullah, Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Sallam, education was the domain of the privileged few. And yet Islam, which Rasulullah, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, brought changed the order of things using education as the common platform for all of humanity.
And yet, he himself was Ummi. If ever there was a paradox in this world, and in human life, this certainly will have to be it.
But that tells me that even though it was him, it wasn’t; it wasn’t any thing earthly either but rather it was far superior and greater than anything we know even till today.
It was nothing other than the hand of Almighty Allah every inch of the way writing the script for total human transformation at the hands of Rasulullah, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, using the instrumentality of universal education.
And human beings, and Muslims, had a nice run of a few hundred years, a millennia or so, riding this divine wave of education coming directly from heaven.
I have often wondered, to myself mostly and to a few others who might be in earshot sometimes, how everything that is good gets corrupted, and sometimes it seems easily so. From the moment business is introduced into the equation, the so called bottom line takes over and with that also come all kinds of personal interests.
And that sadly has been the case with education in much of our world today. It seems to me that our education systems are not propelled by the fundamental premise of the word that "All Men Are Created Equal," as someone put it, and therefore they must all have equal opportunities.
But rather, our education systems are designed to fit people in square and round and triangular holes so that they can yield a profit to those who do the placing. And the education systems everywhere around the world seem to be based on this model.
However, it seems to me that even though education has become a business and an industry (and business is also what Rasulullah, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam did) and even though in many ways it is still mostly the domain of the privileged people, there’s still a lot of potency remaining to transform individuals and people, using education.
Education still is the vehicle to make the world a better place and take the Qur’an to every home and heart that needs it.
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