The Importance Of Supporting Islamic Education

Abdul-Qaadir Abdul-Khaaliq

Perhaps some have never reflected upon the fact that to be able to study and get an education in an Islamic institution is a great ni'mah from Allah. I know students and parents who do not understand or appreciate that fact. When students don't, you see the result in their performance and level of dedication and their distraction with matters they should have no time for or no right to delve into. Perhaps some take that education for granted. Also many parents do not strive to get their children an Islamic education and even look down upon Islamic education and institutions. Indeed many Muslims suffer from an inferiority complex the size of Texas. Let them reflect: Does Harvard, Yale, MIT, Duke, Princeton, Columbia, Univ. Penn, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Oxford, Cambridge or any other top university in the western world open their doors to students for no tuition? Do any of those universities then give stipends and living quarters to each and every one of their students? Is the criterion for acceptance at these universities a simple matter as an interview, coming below a certain age, filling out a form, and meeting a quota or does it not require having the highest grade point averages, meeting high academic standards by proving one's analytical and critical thinking capabilities through standardized tests, well-written essays to the university's admissions department, well written recommendations from teachers and counselors and reputable individuals, or meeting the narrow criteria of academic performance, race, sex and income level to get financial assistance, scholarships or grants? Aren't the professors and teachers at these universities given the highest degree of respect and looked upon as tops in their respective specializations, authorities who the highest level professionals, politicians, pundits, power brokers and lawmakers consult and refer to? Is not graduation and achievement at any of these institutions considered a near guarantee for the up and coming professional lawyer, doctor, scientist, etc. a job or at least a shot at working for the best law firms, corporations, various top institutes and colleges around the world (Islamic studies graduates are in many cases forced to get second degrees in other fields or work in jobs they are overqualified for because of there not being enough employment for them as teachers and the like even in Muslim countries)? Is it not considered a great privilege to attend the classes of the renowned, erudite law professors or doctors at these institutions and a major achievement to have learned at their hands and absorbed the knowledge they pass on? Aren't dedicated and ambitious students known to work all hours of the day and night just to get a passing grade or some small measure of recognition from those instructors? Do the best of those professors tolerate excuses, incompetence, unpreparedness and untimeliness from their students without their being a heavy price to pay on the part of the students either in the loss of grades, privileges, increase of work, additional assignments or retaking of courses, if not all-out failure (often academic underachievers are channeled into Islamic studies as though it takes less mental capability and scholastic aptitude)? Aren't graduates of such prestigious programs looked upon as being at a higher standard and aren't expectations of what they will do with their lives and in their professions also higher (whereas

graduates of Islamic studies programs are not given the respect and regard they deserve as carriers of Islamic knowledge and are often given a back seat to those who haven't finished a semester of anything.)? This is just a partial list of what I could recall are the high standards and regard that the best institutions in the west are given and the esteem which they are held not to mention the level of competition surrounding them. The question is: Why don't we Muslims value our institutions and those who maintain them and go through them similarly? Is it because they are often without cost that we don't value them? Is it because they often give their students stipends and living quarters, albeit of the simplest type, that they are not viewed as prestigious? Is it that we expect Islamic knowledge to be given for free or because we believe that it doesn't really take much to attain it? By Allah when one thinks of the millions of dollars spent to develop and nurture the great institutions of the west and the type of support they get from all over the world from different governments and philanthropic individuals and societies it makes one really wonder what is wrong with us as an ummah! The kuffaar will do anything to get their children into these places even for a semester! They prepare them from nursery school until high school graduation to get them into one of them and save just as long to afford it. The US and British governments see it as a matter of upholding not only national pride but their civilization to keep these institutions running at the very top and cutting edge of development, technology, research and discovery. Can one say that the few Islamic universities in the world are given any where near as much care and support by Muslims? Aren't the professors and students at these universities worthy of the regard, respect and esteem for upholding a tradition and civilization greater than anything the aforementioned western institutions represent? Namely, the inheritance of the prophets and the guidance and salvation of mankind and the preservation of the Word of the Creator and its proper understanding and implementation. Isn't the development of the minds of those young Muslim students of knowledge at the hands of Islamic scholars just as time consuming, serious, valuable, and meticulous and require as much dedication as that of any western "paper chase"? Why should our standards be any lower than those whose aim is largely to dominate the world economically and culturally, prove the superiority of their civilization and culture, and overwhelm anything or anyone that stands to challenge it with the ultimate impetus underlying it being greed, pride and arrogance? The impetus for the believers is to please Allah and gain His pleasure through bringing guidance to His slaves as He has legislated through His noble Messenger (sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam). It is an unselfish motivation and one that the person who embarks upon it deeply believes will be rewarded, not monetarily, but with that which all the wealth in this world cannot buy - the pleasure of Allah and His Jannah the expanse of which is the heavens and the earth and the lowest of which has a value 10 times that of this world and all that is in it. With such a motivation and inner conviction, can the real student of knowledge be any less dedicated than any "yuppie"? By Allah I don't think we realize how serious a matter it is and how much is at stake. I pray that Allah opens the hearts, minds and pockets of the Muslims - especially Muslim parents Muslim governments and Muslim financial institutions and Muslim philanthropic organizations to support the development of Islamic institutions of learning throughout the world, as well as those who work within them among the scholars and academics, and certainly those students therein who chose a life of scholarship, learning and calling mankind to Allah, ameen.