Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

The Real Scholar

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The Real Scholar

He was twice thrown out of the mosque. On his request, I am not mentioning his name but he is a person who leads the life of an ordinary person in Kabul. He used to regularly attend the special morning sermon or speech of religious scholar or ‘Mullah’ in the mosque. But he felt a bit uneasy in these gatherings. His knowledge and study about religion, science, philosophy and others gave birth to numerous questions in his mind but he tried his best not to bring them on his tongue.

Having a look at the trends prevalent in the society, he was always afraid of the reaction of both the scholar and other people in the mosque, but sometimes, he could not control himself and put a question. The scholar did not like his participation and had openly blamed him of making efforts to pollute the thoughts and beliefs of others. One day, when Mullah finished his speech about some of the religious beliefs, he came up with a question. He asked, ‘Respected teacher, all these things that you said are absolutely true and correct but how are you going to convince a Non-Muslim who doesn't have any belief on these things?’ As he finished his question, the anger and irritation could have been easily noticed on the face of the scholar. Then he came with his answer in a very harsh tone, ‘I was not thinking that you would also be one of those Non-believers and I was telling all these keeping in mind that I am addressing people who do have a firm belief on the things that I mentioned. If you cannot stop from asking your stupid questions, better you should go to any other scholar who should be able to answer you properly’. Having said this, he quickly left his spot and he was left with people in the mosque who were staring him strangely.

Anyhow, he resumed his attendance after a break of a few days as he wanted to learn from the scholar, however less it was. After a few days, the scholar was saying, ‘Except Allah, no one can tell about the hidden secrets of the earth.’ As he reached to this point, he raised his hand and asked his permission to tell something about the fiber-optic technology. In this brisk and modern technology, the data is transferred through special fibers or cables under the soil or water. Whenever any kind of problem happens inside this cable, the signals stop and engineers can easily detect the point of the problem. He wanted to tell that in this technology, engineers can tell the point of problem inside the soil from the surface. He wanted to say that, large number of modern day technologies can tell something about the things under the soil and keeping in mind the above facts, what can be present day interpretation of the words of Mullah? To this, Mullah got once again angry from him and ordered him to leave the mosque immediately.

When he returned from the mosque, he was really angry and disappointed. Then he narrated a similar story of Iran. Once he read a book about the life of our Holy Prophet (PBUH) and large number of questions sprouted in his mind. In order to get the answers, he went to a scholar in a nearby mosque. When he presented him with the questions, the scholar remained silent for a while and then asked him to come the next day for answers. Next day, scholar informed him that he had failed to obtain the answers for the questions but he gave the telephone number of another famous scholar. This scholar used to teach in one of the prestigious universities in Europe and used to return to Iran once in a month, for three days only. When he called, he was told that the scholar would arrive after some days and would answer all his questions on Skype. Date and time were fixed and on the given time, he talked to the scholar on the internet for non-stop three hours and got satisfactory answers for all his questions. Although the scholar had a very busy schedule in Iran but he answered all the questions comprehensively and without any haste. He gave too much honor and respect for his questions and encouraged him to make clear the points especially about the religious issues.

The treatment of the scholar left its lasting imprints on his mind and he learned that he was not a ‘Mullah’ but an ‘Aalim’. In Islamic terminologies, ‘Mullah’ is the term used for a person who has a special religious appearance and who renders his services in mosques as ‘Imam’. On the other hand, ‘Aalim’ is a person who also has a religious appearance and may or may not be serving as ‘Imam’ but he is far superior to a Mullah in terms of religious knowledge and understanding. His knowledge extends not only to the religious issues but also to the present day studies of science, philosophy and others. It doesn't mean that a Mullah doesn't have the knowledge of the religion but his knowledge is mostly limited to the religious issues only, especially in the context of our society.

Modern era has made available the blessings of knowledge and understanding to every member of the society. Those times are gone when people accepted blindly whatever was told to them. In the same way, different people have vast knowledge about different fields. Some have thoroughly studied religious studies, some have good command on history, some appreciate literature, while some can be good in philosophy and logic. When people with such good understanding of different knowledge and studies assemble together, it becomes quite asking to address them. It simply means that the speaker needs to be having some knowledge about all these fields of study and should have a good convincing power. Unfortunately, our Mullahs could not change with the time. The books that were taught thousands of years before are still in use and there are many who don’t want to accept the bright light of science and modern studies. On the other hand, our religion has always emphasized on acquiring knowledge and being equipped with all the skills of the changing time.

Keeping aside the fact of knowledge and modern studies, majority of our ‘Mullahs’ are not in position to welcome any kind of criticism. They have become habitual to continuous obedience and blind-following. When they are asked to change with the time or answer any question out of the routine, they come up with a reply full of anger and disappointing sentiments. A true scholar needs to be open-hearted, open-minded and should always be willing to welcome questions from people.

In present era, we see large number of famous scholars in the Muslim world who are on high level of knowledge and who always show willingness to accept criticism and answer the questions. Same different approach needs to be promoted in our society as well. Otherwise, we would always be pushing the people away from religion and its effective teachings.

(Muhammad Rasool Shah works as Academic Coordinator at Barakat Int’l School, Kabul. He can be reached at muhammadrasoolshah@gmail.com)

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