Twin Education

Much as I honor and revere the sacrifices that an Arab prince, Osama bin Laden, made for the defence of Muslims worldwide, a question rises to my mind. This Arab prince was not a prince by legacy but by the riches of his father and magnificent were the riches. Osama bin Ladin was born with a golden spoon and he could have continued to eat scrumptious dinners, play water sports and recline on silk sheets. Instead, he felt the pain of the Muslim nation as his own pain and chose to wage a holy war against the oppression of Muslims. To achieve this, he lived in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan, in the harsh cold and with scarce food on the table. He sacrificed his personal life, an easy life and even compromised the education of his own children. Osama bin Laden is accused of being the mastermind behind the 9/11 attack at the Twin Towers of America. I do not know if it is true or not, but for the sake of argument, let us assume that it is true. Then, what happened?

Ten years after 9/11, America reconstructed more towers next to the fallen twin towers of America. Also, ten years after 9/11, Osama bin Laden was supposedly killed by the Americans. And during these ten years, three Muslim countries, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, have been ravaged by the so-called war-on-terror and literally thousands of Muslims have been persecuted, tortured, gone missing and are either dead or are languishing in notorious secret prisons, simply based on suspicion. 

The question that rises to my mind is this; what did the Muslims achieve by attacking the twin towers of America then? America has the power and resources to construct more towers. And America also had the power to hunt down and kill Osama bin Laden. So what was the use of all those sacrifices and struggles made by Osama bin Laden, his family and comrades? Where is the victory?

Some say that the victory lies in the political and spiritual awakening of the Muslims worldwide by a blast as loud as that of the fall of the twin towers. Yes, it is true that many mentally sleeping Muslims woke up shaken-up by the loud protest. However, living in the material world, where success or failure is judged in the material terms, where is the material victory?

On the other side, we see America. America is all powerful in resources and technology. America is the sole super power of the 21^st century, so far. When 9/11 occurred, America came fast racing to Afghanistan fully equipped with troops, tanks, jets and what not, within a month of the attack. They faced an enemy that was so low in resources and capability that they said, ‘We are happy to have Americans on our soil, because it is an enemy we have to fight. Since we do not have the means to reach their soil, the alternative is that they should come to our soil so that we can fight them…’ How is that?!

America fought vigorously for ten years. America did not fight alone but with a coalition of twenty-seven countries of the world under the flagship of NATO. America also cajoled Pakistan, former comrade of Taliban, to fight against its own friend, the Taliban, across the border. Yet, ten years down the line, America lost the war against Taliban. Then, the super power America sought negotiations with the handful Taliban. Tired of war and exhausted in economy, America has also announced a retreat from Afghanistan. At the same time, realizing the evergreen existence of Taliban in the region, America seeks a security pact with the Afghan government which would allow them to keep reinstated about ten thousand American troops in Afghanistan even after America leaves Afghanistan. So where is the victory? What has all the power, resources and technology boiled down to? A lasting defeat?

Who has won this war? In my opinion, no one.

As I step back and take a panoramic view of the two groups, I see each group hanging on to one of the two vital ingredients of life. America and its likeminded people believe in worldly education, material strength and manmade technology. They believe in these ingredients to be the recipe of sure success in life. While the Taliban? I do not know any Taliban family personally but I can judge the orientation of the Taliban families from the orientation of the conventional religious families in Pakistan, especially those studying in the religious seminaries, the madrassahs. They do not have much regard for worldly education, material strength or manmade technology. They are more inclined towards believing in the power of religion, fighting on the right side and supplications to Allah Almighty.

With much respect, I would like to bring to their attention the virtues of worldly education, material resources and manmade technology as stated by Allah Almighty Himself. Firstly, the very first holy verses of Islam were about learning. Secondly, Islam has made the seat of knowledge compulsory for every Muslim man and woman. Where does Islam differentiate between religious knowledge and worldly knowledge? Thirdly, the angels bowed down to Prophet Adam AS for his ability to learn and reproduce. Did Prophet Adam AS recite a religious sermon at that time or identify worldly objects? Hmm? Read out the episode in Surah Al-Baqarah once again with translation and answer yourself. Fourthly, this world has been created by Allah Almighty and learning about His world is neither unIslamic, nor unnecessary. Fifthly, we staunchly believe in the recitation of Surah Al-Kahf, as having the power to protect us against the evil spread of Dajjal. Many of us also believe that America and its allies are forerunners of Dajjal. So will we keep reciting Surah Al-Kahf like a jantar mantar (muttering of a wizard) or would we care to understand its meaning and work on that?

“They requested: ‘O Zul-Qarnain! People of Gog and Magog ravage this land; should we pay you tribute in order for you to build a wall-barrier between us and them?’ Zul-Qarnain said: ‘That which my Rabb has granted me is more than enough, just help me with worker-force and I will erect a fortified barrier between you and them. Bring me panels of iron.’ Finally when he had dammed up the space between the two mountains, he said: ‘Ply your bellows.’ They did so until the iron wall became red hot, then he said: ‘Bring me some molten brass to pour over it.’ This became such a barrier that Gog and Magog could not scale it or dig through it. He said: ‘This is a blessing from my Rabb. But you should know that when the promise of my Rabb shall come to pass, He will level it to the ground, for the promise of my Rabb is ever true.’” [The Holy Quran, Surah Al-Kahf, Verse 94-98]

Indeed America ravages our lands. Indeed we need a worldly defence against it. And indeed worldly defence begins with worldly education, makes use of material resources, and finally comes forth as ‘manmade’ technology.

You know I feel really, really, really ashamed when our fighters say Allah’o Akbar and brandish a Russian-made Kalashnikov in the air! And our pilots say Allah’o Akbar and fly F-16s humiliatingly bought secondhand from America! And our militant speakers say Allah’o Akbar and videotape and broadcast a feat while condemning the invention of videos otherwise…

While worldly strength, without the consent of Allah Almighty, is sure to crumble, as spoken by Zul-Qarnain in the Holy Quran, as happened to the Muslims in the Battle of Hunain and as has happened with America in Afghanistan today.

To achieve a lasting success, yes we must begin with Allah Almighty’s name and we must end with Allah Almighty’s name, but we have to fill in the blanks with acquiring worldly education, digging out material resources and producing technology. Faith, without the support of worldly strength, will remain just wishes and woes and the continued onslaught of the one who has the bigger gun. We want the Battle of Badr every time. Excuse me, but even in the Battle of Badr, Prophet Muhammed Pbuh mustered all the worldly strength that he could. He did not come to the battleground looking towards the skies for angels.

I am certainly not negating the importance of Jihad here. It is a must, for national security. Even the non-Muslims believe in it, else why would they keep police, security personnel and armed forces for their countries? They do, but they have kept different names for it.

However, Jihad is not much effective when pursued with outdated technology, lack of resources and an empty economy.

Whosoever hit the Twin Towers, if it were the Muslims, I feel that they should aim for, not the Twin Towers, but for Twin Education for the Muslims.