What is Wrong With Our Education System?
By Khalid Baig
Quick question: Who discovered America? The almost
guaranteed answer: Why, Columbus, of course. The bright student may even know
the famous story that Columbus thought he had reached India and therefore
called the people he found Indians.
If providing sound knowledge and developing critical
thinking capabilities are any goals of an education system, the answer
highlights the miserable failure of the education system prevalent in the
Muslim world today on both counts. For no one asks the obvious: How can anyone
be credited with discovering a land that was already heavily populated?
Columbus was the first European to discover America, not the first man.
Hundreds of thousands of other men and women had reached there before him and
had been living for centuries. The assertion about Columbus reveals a
Euro-centric mindset but the bias goes undetected and unquestioned.
This is not the only questionable fact that our schools and
colleges, and textbooks and teachers have been dispensing. In every field of
study, they have been passing on "facts", ideas, values, assumptions,
perspectives, explanations, "truths", and principles that are
questionable, secular and anti-Islamic. All while sincerely believing that they
are providing a great service by promoting education.
Education is a wonderful thing. But, what are we really
teaching?
In science, we are teaching our students to look at the
universe from the viewpoint of a person who does not know God. "And how
many Signs in the heavens and the earth do they pass by? Yet they turn their
faces away from them." [Yusuf, 12:105]. A proper study of science would
make one appreciate both the Power, Majesty, and Grandeur of Allah’s creations
and the humbleness and limitations of human knowledge and abilities. Today our
science education, in its best form, gives exactly the opposite message. It
also fails to enable students to separate scientist’s opinions from their
facts. Let’s ask: In the wide Muslim world is there any, Islamic school
teaching science whose graduates can challenge Darwin’s Theory of Evolution on
scientific grounds? As we teach science, are we teaching our children to put
science in its proper place, to know its limitations? Can they competently
question the "technological imperative"?
A medical doctor would not be considered competent if he did
not know the limitations of the medicines and procedures he used. An engineer
would be considered unqualified if he did not know the limitations of his
tools. Why then our teaching of science does not include a discussion of its
limitations? Because for the secular mindset science is the ultimate tool, the
supreme arbiter of Truth and Falsehood. Without even realizing it, we have
accepted the proposition and our science education reflects that assumption.
The problem is not limited to science and technology. The
best of our MBAs have learned that the goal of a business is to maximize
profits, the goal of marketing is to create demand, and the proper way of
making business decision is through cost-benefit analysis. All of these are as
solid in their eyes and as questionable in reality as the assertion about
Columbus. The best of our journalism graduates do not have a different model
for journalism than the one presented by the West. They do not have their own
definition of the news, their purpose for gathering it or their own moral
standards that must regulate its dissemination. In economics we have been
teaching that human beings are utility-maximizing animals governed by Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs. In our teaching of history, we see random events without a
moral calculus driving them. We do not see Allah’s laws that govern the rise
and fall of nations. In psychology or sociology, medicine or engineering,
civics or geography, it is the same story. In fact, our schools and colleges
have been the main agency for secularization of Islamic societies. They have
been effectively teaching that Islam is irrelevant to understanding this world
or to solving its problems. Many of their graduates develop misunderstandings
and doubts about their faith. But even when they are strong practicing Muslims,
they have not been trained and educated to detect and challenge the secular
dogmas that have been integrated into their curriculums.
This great tragedy is of a recent origin and a historical
perspective may be helpful. For centuries our societies, culture, and education
system were free of the secular/religious dichotomy. Our schools taught all
subjects of importance using a naturally unified approach. As long as Muslims
were the leaders in all the sciences (until the fifteenth century C.E) subjects
like medicine, astronomy, and chemistry had not developed their secular biases.
The dichotomy started in the West during its
"Renaissance" as it threw away its religious dogmas--which had become
a burden--and found a speedy path to material progress using a-religious or
secular approaches. The industrial revolution gave it momentum. Colonialism
brought secular ideology and the religion of secular humanism to the Muslim
lands.
At this time, Muslims were at a low point on several fronts.
They had surrendered intellectual leadership to the West and had failed to keep
pace with scientific developments there. They found themselves in a no-win
situation. If they accepted and taught the Western sciences, they would also be
teaching anti-Islamic dogmas. If they stayed isolated, they would be left
behind in science and material progress.
In response, Muslims developed two approaches. Our
Darul-ulooms preserved Islamic knowledge and values by hermetically sealing
themselves against western influences. It is due to this effort that Islamic
knowledge is alive and well today. (Where they were lax in this matter --- as
in some Arab countries--- the result was a compromise in their Islamic
character without any advantage in the quality of education.) However, they are
not equipped to provide leadership in most other areas of the society. This
role has gone to the graduates of the Western-style schools and colleges. Unfortunately,
these schools and their curriculum nurture secular ways of looking at this
world and solving its problems. The tensions created by the two diametrically
opposed systems can be seen today in every Muslim country.
This dichotomy must end. We cannot move forward without
revamping our education. We cannot fully establish Islam in our societies
without producing educated citizens and leaders needed for an Islamic society.
The time is now to develop Integrated Islamic curriculums and remove secular
biases from all of our education. Merely establishing more schools is not the
answer. Developing educational institutions that can teach every subject in the
wholesome Islamic context is. It is a monumental task. But without it we’ll
continue to spread ignorance in the name of education.
THE FIG: A FRUIT WHOSE PERFECTION HAS ONLY RECENTLY BEEN
REVEALED
[I swear] by the fig and the olive. (Qur'an, 95:1)
The reference to the fig in the first verse of Surat at-Tin
is a most wise one in terms of the benefits imparted by this fruit.
The Benefits of the Fig for Human Beings
Figs have a higher fibre level than any other fruit or
vegetable. One single dried fig provides two grams of fibre: 20% of the daily
recommended intake. Research over the last fifteen years or so has revealed
that the fibre in plant foods is very important for the regular functioning of
the digestive system. It is known that fibre in foods assists the digestive
system and also helps reduce the risk of some forms of cancer. Nutritionists
describe eating figs, which are rich in fibre, as an ideal way of increasing
one's fibre intake.
Fibrous foodstuffs are divided into two types: soluble and
insoluble. Foods rich in insoluble fibre facilitate the passage of substances
to be expelled from the body through the intestine by adding water to them.
They thus accelerate the digestive system and ensure its regular functioning.
It has also been established that foods containing insoluble fibre have a
protective effect against colon cancer. Foods rich in soluble fibre, on the
other hand, have been shown to reduce cholesterol levels in the blood by more
than 20%. These are therefore of the greatest importance in reducing the risk
of heart attack. Excessive levels of cholesterol in the blood collect in the
arteries, hardening and narrowing them. Depending on which organ's blood
vessels the cholesterol accumulates in, disorders connected to that organ
arise. For example, if cholesterol accumulates in the arteries that feed the
heart, problems such as heart attacks result. Accumulations of cholesterol in
the kidney veins can lead to high blood pressure and kidney deficiency.
Furthermore, the intake of soluble fibre is important in terms of regulating
blood sugar by emptying the stomach because sudden changes in blood sugar can
lead to life-threatening disorders. Indeed, societies with fibre-rich diets
have been shown to have far lower incidences of illnesses such as cancer and
heart disease.117
It is also another major health advantage for soluble and
insoluble fibres to be present at one and the same time. It has been shown that
when both forms are present together, they are much more effective in
preventing cancer than when they are on their own. The presence of both forms
of fibre, soluble and insoluble, in the fig makes it a most important foodstuff
in this regard.118
Dr. Oliver Alabaster, Director of the Institute for Disease
Prevention at the George Washington University Medical Centre, refers to figs
in these terms:
… [H]ere is an opportunity to add a really healthy, high
fiber food to your diet. Choosing figs and other high fiber foods more
frequently means that you'll naturally choose potentially harmful foods less
frequently-and this is great for your lifelong health.119
According to the California Fig Advisory Board, it is
believed that the antioxidants in fruit and vegetables protect against a number
of diseases. Antioxidants neutralise harmful substances (free radicals) that
arise as a result of chemical reactions in the body or else are taken in from
the outside and thus prevent the destruction of cells. In one study performed
by the University of Scranton, it was determined that dried figs had a much
higher level of the phenol makeup, which is rich in antioxidants, than other
fruits. Phenol is used as an antiseptic to kill micro-organisms. The level of
phenol in figs is much higher than that in other fruits and vegetables.120
Another study, by Rutgers University in New Jersey, revealed
that due to the essential fatty acids omega-3 and omega-6 and phytosterol
contained in dried figs, they can play a considerable part in reducing
cholesterol.121 It is known that omega-3 and omega-6 cannot be manufactured in
the body and need to be absorbed with food. Furthermore, these fatty acids are
indispensable to the proper functioning of the heart, brain and nervous system.
Phytosterol permits the cholesterol in animal products, which has the potential
to harden the heart's arteries, to be expelled from the body without entering
the blood stream.
Despite being one of the oldest fruits known to man, the
fig-described as "nature's most nearly perfect fruit" by the
California Fig Advisory Board 122-has been rediscovered by food producers. The
nutritional value of this fruit and its health benefits have led to its
acquiring a whole new importance.
The fig can constitute a part of just about any special
diet. Since figs do not naturally contain fat, sodium or cholesterol but have
high levels of fibre, they are an ideal food for those trying to lose weight.
At the same time, figs have higher mineral contents than any other known fruit.
Forty grams of figs contains 244 mg of potassium (7% of the daily requirement),
53 mg of calcium (6% of the daily requirement) and 1.2 mg of iron (6% of the
daily requirement).123 The calcium level in figs is very high: The fig ranks
second after the orange in terms of calcium content. A crate of dried figs
provides the same level of calcium as a crate of milk.
Figs are also thought of as a medicine which gives strength
and energy to long-term patients as they seek to recover. They eliminate
physical and mental difficulties and give the body strength and energy. The
most important nutritional component of figs is sugar, which comprises 51-74%
of all fruits. The sugar level in figs is one of the highest. Figs are also
recommended in the treatment of asthma, coughs and chills.
The benefits we have restricted ourselves to mentioning here
are an indication of the compassion Allah feels for human beings. Our Lord
provides the substances required by human beings in this fruit, which is so
pleasant to eat, already packaged and at the ideal levels for human health. The
way that this special blessing from Allah is mentioned in the Qur'an may
indicate the importance of the fig for human beings. (Allah knows best.) From
the point of view of human health, the nutritional value of the fig was only
established with the advance of medicine and technology. This is another
indication that the Qur'an is indisputably the Word of Allah, the Omniscient.
