“Deen Ki Khidmat”

Often we hear expressions like “deen ki khidmat”. Have always wondered what we mean by that and why we need to serve Deen. Maybe we need to stop serving the Deen and start serving ourselves. We have to get rid of such expressions which we frequently use and which only reinforce the division between dunyaa and Deen. When the young and impressionable minds listen to such expressions numberless times it leaves a lasting impact in their mind and it becomes very difficult to come out of the conditioning effects. This goes on in an unending cycle as the students of today become teachers tomorrow. We repeat expressions like “deen ki khidmat” generations after generations. Let us, however, ask ourselves can we “serve” the sun and the moon? Can we serve honesty and truthfulness? Can we serve some beautiful universal principles? Can we serve light? Can we serve patience and truth? If we cannot serve these, how can we serve Islam then? We cannot. And nobody should claim to. No Institutions and no Organizations.

We have to break the vicious cycle of such expressions at some point. An entire edifice is standing (or crumbling) on this notion of “Islam ki khidmat”. I don’t know who actually needs to be served, the Deen or the ones who are “serving” it. Deen can serve us better if we leave our markaz gureziyat (‘centrifugality’) and don’t keep talking to ourselves – almost always. It can serve us better if we do not speak in a language which is not understood in ‘Makkah’ anymore. Deen can serve us much better if we don’t divorce it from dunyaa. It can serve us better if we really listen to it and come out in the streets of ‘Makkah’ rubbing shoulders with the rest of the human beings. For this we don’t have to necessarily dress and look differently. We only have to think differently. We only have to equip ourselves with more skills and qualifications. We only have to take to the longest path which is actually the shortest. We only have to come to the mainstream and shun the exclusivism which first exists in the minds and then we see its evil effects and marginalization outside. We only have to broaden our outlook. We only have to find out the laws of nature and use them for our benefit instead of trying to change them – currently a noble pastime.

“Deen ki khidmat” has moved one step further. It has led to “deeni khidmat”. The latter sounds as strange to me as does the former. I don’t know if the efforts of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) could be categorized into “deeni” and “dunyaawi”. How we still classify the efforts into these notional categories is beyond comprehension. However, “serving” Islam is far easier than living it. Living Islam is like taking to the longest route. We leave that long route because the qualifications for that are not-so-easy to obtain. We take, instead, to the path of ‘serving’ it. This is certainly easier. But in doing so we ignore the fact that “the longest is the shortest”.

Let us stop “serving” Deen. Let us start serving ourselves with the beautiful ideals that Islam has. For instance, it asks us to engage with life and not to run away from it. It wants its adherents to dispense justice and serve the humanity. And become the givers – not the receivers. How could they do so is a difficult question. Nevertheless, let us try to figure out the answer of this question in the changed situation of today’s world keeping the future trends in view. The following VISION might be of some help in this regard: The students coming out of our Colleges and Universities should have Qur’an in the right hand, most modern scientific and technological advancements in the left hand and the crown of Laa Ilaah on the forehead. So that the Muslims regain the same glorious status of founders and promoters of science and technology as they did during the ascendance of their civilization. Let us see if this VISION takes us in a certain direction or we should continue “serving” – the Way of Life (al-Deen).