Education is the way forward for Indian Muslims
With the changing dynamics of the political landscape in the world, Indian Muslims must embrace educational reforms.
India experienced a largely peaceful protest in terms of CAA-NRC-NPR movement with people participating from all the religions, majorly Muslims. It would be apt to say that these people managed to register their protest in the top echelons of the Indian Democracy which can be greatly attributed to the acknowledging statements by the hon. Prime Minister and the hon. Home Minister.
What next? Islamophobia is not a myth now. It is on the rise across the world every day. While I write this article twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and many other social media platforms are getting filled with hateful messages, trolls, and misinformation about Muslims. More than Islamophobia, Indian Muslims are the worst-performing community in India. Justice Sachar Committee Report justly highlights each and every metric where we suffer.
Before I begin to try and define the shortcomings and their solution, let me share a glimpse of India, my motherland where I grew up!
The movie is my personal way of identifying myself in India. While most of us will agree with my thoughts, I do not deny the fact that the Indian Muslim community is the most helpless community in the social, economical, educational, and political landscapes.
A glimpse of Social, Economic, Education and Political status of Indian Muslims
Have you heard about a myth, ‘Muslim Appeasement’?
A casual look at the above statistics shows that even after the Sachar Committee report, there hasn’t been a significant change in the position of Muslims in India. For example, the share of Muslims in India’s police force was 7.63% in 2005 which fell to 6.27% in 2013.
Muslims still have the lowest average monthly per capita expenditure among all communities. The work participation rate for Muslim men progressed insignificantly to 49.5% in 2011 from 47.5% in 2001; for Muslim women, the rise was even tinier, from 14.1% in 2001 to 14.8% in 2011.
According to the Sachar Committee report, the percentage of Muslims in the IAS and IPS are 3% and 4% respectively. The numbers became more worrisome around 3.32% and 3.19% respectively on January 1, 2016, according to Home Ministry data.
The share of Muslims in India has risen from around 10 percent in the 1950s to an estimated 15 percent today but the political representation has been on the decline.
The solution lies in the Glorious past!
Yes, contrary to our prejudiced minds the solution lies in the Golden Age of Islam. And No! It is not extreme or fundamental but rather progressive. Read further if you don't believe it yet.
Magical Conquests
Islam was founded in the 7th century and within a century it already reached the borders of China in the East and France in the West. It seems miraculous as different people with different cultures got easily absorbed in Islam ranging from the Persians, the Indians, and the Chinese. This extravagant conquest has been largely attributed to various reasons; the similarity of Islam to Christianity and Judaism, the decays of heathen creeds, corruption, class disparity, and the lack of economic and social balance. Further, the basic spirit of tolerance in Islam contributed towards its spread until it became the religion of millions in Asia and Africa. Haven’t we given up already on these basic principles and made Islam only about prayers, fasting, and false restrictions?
Progressive then or progressive now?
Education alone can help Muslims! Why can’t we make our madarsas progressive, a replica of the House of Wisdom?
Known as Bayt al-Hikma in Arabic, the House of Wisdom was founded in 8th century Baghdad by Caliph Harun al-Rashid of the Abbasid dynasty and it was once the center of learning in the medieval world. Initially set up as a library, the House became the center of ancient and modern wisdom for entire Europe and the Middle East.
A dynamic cultural climate was being fostered with the onset of the House. Indians, Persians, Sumerians, Greeks everyone united to become one intellectual tradition.
9th-century geographer and historian Al Y’qubi described the early Baghdad as a city ‘with no equal on earth, either in the Orient or the Occident,’ being ‘the most expensive city in the area, in importance, in prosperity,’ and that ‘no one is better educated than their scholars.’
The House of Wisdom, a library alone became the powerhouse of scholars across the empire. It became the symbol of the expansion of intellectual traditions and knowledge in the fields of Philosophy, Astronomy, Science, Mathematics, and Literature.
House of Wisdom became the flower of the Islamic Golden Age
Diverse fields of science were promoted under Caliph al-Mamun, who was an enthusiastic supporter of the House.
Caliph al-Mamun was also adept in the branches of knowledge taught at the House of Wisdom, including medicine, philosophy, and astrology, and often visited the scholars there to discuss their research. At this time astrology was held in the highest esteem as science in Arab society. The stars and planets were perceived to influence events on earth and astrology were thus carried out with the greatest attention to detail.
Renowned 9th-century Arab mathematician Al Khwarizmi studied in the House of Wisdom. It is his famous Book of Restoring and Balancing, from the Arabic Kitab al-Jabr wa’l-muqabala, which today gives us our term ‘algebra’.
The accomplishments of a mere library, the House of Wisdom is so vast that it will need an entire book to elaborate. However, I tried my best to introduce us to the basic solution to all the problems, Muslims are facing. We desperately need another House of Wisdom. I am enlisting some notable scholars from the period.
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This is a list of notable people related to the House of Wisdom.
- Abu Maʿshar (786–886) — leading Persian astrologist in the Abbasid court who translated the works of Aristotle
- Averroes (1126–1198) — born in Islamic Iberia (modern-day Spain), he was a Muslim philosopher who was famous for his commentary on Aristotle
- Avicenna (980–1037) — Persian philosopher and physician famous for writing The Canon of Medicine, the prevailing medical text in the Islamic World and Europe until the 19th century[4]
- Al-Ghazali (1058–1111) — Persian theologian who was the author of The Incoherence of the Philosophers, which challenged the philosophers who favored Aristotelianism
- Muhammad al-Idrisi (1099–1169) — Arab geographer who worked under Roger II of Sicily and contributed to the Map of the World
- Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (d. 850) — Persian polymath head of the House of Wisdom
- Al-Kindi (d. 873) — considered to be the among the first Arab philosophers, he combined the ideology of Aristotle and Plato
- Maslama al-Majriti (950–1007) — Arab mathematician and astronomer who translated Greek texts
- Hunayn ibn Ishaq (809–873) — Arab (Nestorian)[41] scholar and philosopher who was placed in charge of the House of Wisdom. In his lifetime he translated over 116 writings by many of the most significant scholars in history.
- The Banu Musa brothers — remarkable engineers and mathematicians of Persian descent
- Sahl ibn Harun (d. 830) — philosopher and polymath
- Al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf ibn Maṭar (786–833) — mathematician and a translator who was known for his translation of Euclid’s works
- Thābit ibn Qurra (826–901) — mathematician, astronomer and translator who reformed the Ptolemaic system. Considered as the founding father of statics.[42]
- Yusuf Al-Khuri (d. 912) — Christian mathematician and astronomer who was hired as a translator by Banu Musa brothers
- Qusta Ibn Luqa (820–912) — mathematician and physician who translated Greek texts into Arabic
- Abu Bishr Matta ibn Yunus (870–940) — physician, scientist and translator
- Yahya Ibn al-Batriq (796–806) — astronomer and translator
- Yahya ibn Adi (893–974) — Syriac Jacobite Christian philosopher, theologian and translator
- Sind ibn Ali (d. 864) — astronomer who translated and reworked Zij al-Sindhind
- Al-Jahiz (781–861) — author and biologist known for Kitāb al-Hayawān and numerous literary works
- Ismail al-Jazari (1136–1206) — physicist and engineer who is best known for his work in writing The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices in 1206
- Abu Yūsuf Yaʻqūb ibn ʼIsḥāq aṣ-Ṣabbāḥ al-Kindī (800–870) — mathematician, and the first self-identified philosopher in the Arabic tradition
- Jabir Ibn Hayyan — known for his work with practical metallurgy, his work was translated into Latin During the 12th century
- Omar Khayyam (1048–1131) — Persian poet, mathematician, and astronomer most famous for his solution of cubic equations
