A Du‘aa’ For AMU, JMI & Jamia Hamdard Masjids

It has been argued earlier that du‘aa’ is not an alternative to action. It is only for reinforcement of actions. It reinforces the actions by making us concentrate more and focus our energies. A lot of research work and educational activities are taking place in the Aligarh Muslims University, Jamia Millia Islamia and Jamia Hamdard. Let us reinforce those very important activities with a collective prayer in the following words (besides all other prayers):

“Almighty Lord! Make our students understand Your Book in its totality and become leaders of the entire humanity. Almighty Lord! Help our students abolish the division between dunyaa and deen. Almighty Lord! Help our students eliminate the division of knowledge into ‘secular’ and ‘religious’. Almighty Lord! Help our students develop a coherent body of ideas and creatively reach out to the unknown with critical and scientific thinking. Almighty Lord! Make our students master all the sciences of the world and become founders of many more. Almighty Lord! Make the Muslims contribute their maximum to the world civilization and enrich it to the best of their capacities.”

Let the above prayer be said by the Imams after every Salaah loudly and especially on Fridays in the masjids of the AMU, Jamia Millia Islamia and Jamia Hamdard. Let it leave a lasting impact on the minds of our youngsters. Let it become a formality. Not a problem. We can live with this formality.

Let any other educational institutions and masjids adopt this du‘aa’ if they desire so and I wish they do. If the sea creatures pray for students why not all the masjids and earthly creatures do that? Let the above du‘aa’ be also said in due course after every Salaah in the masjid of Markaz Jamaa‘at-e-Islami Hind. It might help the Jamaa‘at to focus on the all important agenda of holistic education. The above du‘aa’ might also help it to stop quoting from Qur’an selectively (disregarding its collective spirit).

If the Jamaa‘at-e-Islami Hind chooses to turn its headquarters into a University, here is a VISION for that University: The students coming out of this University 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.

This change of direction is more expected from the Jamaa‘at-e-Islami Hind as it has very sincere and educated cadre. With a fresh orientation its members can do a lot. If they devote their resources for the significant agenda of education the country as a whole and the Indian Muslims in particular will be grateful to them. They will pioneer a new and much desired trend and many other Organizations will (have to) follow suit. This will bring about a happy change in the scenario of India and later in the world.

A VISION of an organization makes the job a lot easier. It serves as a criterion to decide the desirable from the undesirable. Decision-making is the crucial thing in any set-up. Once a VISION is arrived at we can always go back and check all the minute details if they are in accordance with that VISION or not. Normally, we don’t decide the VISION and keep beating about the bush and grope in the darkness of confusion.

For instance, we spend a lot of energy and resources figuring out the teaching methodology etc. However, if we give our teachers the correct definition of knowledge (Developing a coherent body of ideas and creatively reaching out to the unknown with the power of critical and scientific thinking), to start with, it will be very helpful. Classroom teaching / lectures, assignments and questions for examinations etc should all be aligned with the VISION and the correct concept of knowledge (as different from merely ‘knowing the known’). There should be measures to monitor the entire process of education – knowing the fact that spoon-feeding is the antithesis of grooming leaders. And knowing the fact that only leaders can produce leaders. We should regularly assess if we are getting leaders from our institutions or we aren’t.

The prayers suggested above – coupled with the crucial and unavoidable actions in this regard – will help remove the self-doubt of the ‘modern’ educated which will then lead to excellence. This is essential because no excellence is possible with a degree of self-doubt. On the other hand, it will make the ‘traditionally’ educated rethink about the misconceived division of knowledge into ‘religious’ and ‘secular’. It will make them rethink about the ill-conceived division between dunyaa and deen.