Universities are Secular Indoctrination Camps

Last night when a young Alim e Deen friend who is also a Shaykh of the Naqshbandi tariqah, wrote the above phrase, a chain of thoughts began to unwrap in this faqir’s mind. Allah (swt) also provided the opportunity to write them down. I hope you will be able to take out some time to read it and reflect on it.

He wrote: Universities are secular indoctrination camps. My response was: Masha’Allah quite an opening (with a smile). This faqir would like to add “and schools and colleges too.”

My point was that our thinking that by successfully going through this education system we will be able to raise our generations as better servants of our countries and our religion is flawed at best, though exceptions are always there. The same goes for the notion that if we build separate educational institutions for men and women, and then clear books of any material against the finality of Prophethood, remove pictures of pigs and women etc., and prevent dance and music at these institutions, then they will become completely “Shariah” compliant and begin to produce a large number of good Muslims. This faqir has been trying to explain this concept for some time now, with full awareness that it’s an uphill battle. It has not been easy to explain this to the religious and scholarly, let alone the common folk. So the principle this faqir has ultimately adopted for this purpose is:

الاش یاء تعرف بأ ضدادھا
(i.e. Things are better understood by knowing their opposites.)

For example, the concept of “day” is otherwise not easy to explain but becomes easy by comparing it with “night.”

The very first thing to remember in this discourse is that the most effective method of acquiring knowledge and etiquette (ilm wa adab) is by being in the company (suhbat) of people of knowledge and practice. However, it is also true that in this particular manner only a few individuals can be taught because however lofty the teacher may be, his time and strengths have their limits. He cannot give sufficient time to too many people because he has many other necessities in his life to attend to as well. Limitless time and ability is only for Allah (swt). In order to train large numbers of people, our society needs schools that are called madaris in Arabic. These madaris or schools are established and to some extent run by people who were trained in the company of the grand teacher (i.e. through suhbati tarbiyah). Within these institutions as well, a certain amount of suhbati tarbiyah is used in producing a large number of students, but the intensity is relatively low. Individuals who graduate from these schools are sufficient in terms of numbers to run the structure and functioning of the society. As one American educator has put it, Schools are Weapons of Mass Instruction, because schools are where masses are instructed to think and be a certain way.

Now if we look at the life of our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, he prepared a few individuals to perfection under his close supervision. These people were the early and foremost Muslims (al Sabiqoon al Awwaloon). Then when his government was established in Madinah Munawwara, he صلى الله عليه وسلم founded a madrassa which used to have between 70 to 400 students in attendance at a time. Those students kept graduating from the madrasa depending upon their individual conditions. All of them were called Ashaabus Suffa, but the Ashra Mubasshara (the 10 guaranteed Paradise) and the Khulafa-ur-Rashideen (first 4 rightly guided Caliphs) and other senior ones were not among them. Those were people with families and households who had been prepared under the company of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم beforehand. Yes, they did use to visit the Suffah school from time to time.

Now let’s focus on our principle (i.e. Things are better understood by knowing their opposites). Can any sane Muslim belonging to Ahlus Sunnat wal Jamaat imagine that the madrasa built by the Prophet ,صلى الله عليه وسلم rather his education system, would produce disciples who, despite studying the Qur’an and Hadith from the Prophet of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم, found their hearts filled with the love of other than Allah and His Messenger ?صلى الله عليه وسلم Can one fathom their loyalties being not with Allah and His Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم, but with their enemies instead? Of course not, right? But why not? The simple reason for this is because whenever someone creates an education system, his first and foremost objective is to produce a large number of people who are loyal to him, agree with his ideology and who will run the society and government following his directions. He aims to produce people on whom he can put his trust because they will eventually be his representatives who carry his work forward. Our common understanding that schools impart education with the sole objective of empowering pupils to take care of themselves tends to turn a blind eye to their additional (infact primary) objective of producing a loyal and obedient population. No one, in their right mind, wants to create subjects dissatisfied with the system in their society.

If we agree up to this point, then let’s come to the opposite of Madrasa Suffa: Today’s education system which is currently in force in all of our secular as well as semi religious educational institutions. Who made this education system? After our so-called freedom from our colonial masters, have we made any significant modifications in it other than some cosmetic changes? In the early days of Pakistan, the government at the time had senior ulema like Mufti Muhammad Shafi r.a., Maulana Yusuf Banuri r.a., and other scholars from various schools of thought compile an alternate education policy for Pakistan.

But when the time came for implementation, it was shelved. Read Mufti Taqi Usmani’s book “Hamara Taleemi Nizaam.”

Even by making children wear an Islamic outfit and teaching them some extra religious terminology, are we able to free them from the indoctrination of this system that the makers of this system desired? A few children may have gotten some protection from the love of Dunya and love of self, mainly those whose parents have worked hard in their homes to inculcate the love of Allah and the hatred of disbelief in their children through good company (i.e. applying suhbati taleem wa tarbiyat methodology). But that’s an exception, not the rule.

But those who were not fortunate enough to get this mentor-based suhbati education, because their parents either did not have a deep enough understanding of the issues or were too busy in their necessary or unnecessary occupations day and night to find time for their children, they have certainly fallen victim to the love of Dunya and being in awe of its greatness. This is because that’s what the makers of this system wanted for us. These system planners are so determined to keep it in place that even if they have to allow separate buildings for boys and girls in order to prevent us from abandoning their system, they are ready for that concession. Even if the book of Islamic Studies in the curriculum has to be expanded from the easiest of all books to score in exams to a huge book full of Islamic knowledge (as an object of study), they are ready for that as well. This is because they know very well that all they need to ensure is that we Muslims must continue to be educated under the system that these people have created for us. They will even allow our girls to study in their universities wearing burqa if it comes to that. Even if our girls want to observe Hijab bil Bayt (observing separation from men utilizing the privacy of one’s home), which is the first and foremost type of hijab, they will provide online options for them to do that from the privacy of their homes. They know how to keep us under control, such that our bodies may remain at our will, but our hearts and minds are subdued to them.

اَللِّّٰھُمَّ اَرِنََ الْحَقَّ حَقًّا وَّارْزُقْنَا اتِ بَاعَه وَاَرِنََ الْبَاطِلَ بََطِلاً وَّارْزُقْنَا اجْتِنَابهَ

May Allah (swt) show us Truth as it truly is and give us as our sustenance the ability to follow it, and may He show us Falsehood as it truly is and give us as our sustenance the ability to avoid it. Ameen.

If the above brief explanation of the problem makes sense to you, you may be wondering what we should do about it. Our answer is that the path to a solution is obviously not laid out before us since things have moved far beyond the days when a comprehensive Islamically-designed education system used to be in place. The current system has prevailed for well over a century and almost all of us have been trained under its influence, so for us to be able to change it is undoubtedly very difficult. But we also know that what is difficult for us is very easy for Allah (swt). The only question is whether or not we know how to seek His help. So let’s start by making du’a to Allah (swt), acknowledging that what we have done so far for our education was a mistake that we now wish to rectify with His help.

Alhamdulillah we have not the slightest doubt that once Allah’s help comes everything will fall into place.

و ما ذالک علی الله بعزیز
(and it is not at all difficult upon Allah subhanahu wa ta’Ala)