Farther From The Crux Of It

Many a times we discuss a lot of issues. Deservedly so. There is a lot of learning for me in them – personally. Still I feel that we are not focusing on the major problems as much as we could and should. We almost always remain away from the crux of it. Professor ‘Arif Suhail reminds us but we do not take it further. Hence, we get farther and farther away from our ultimate goals.

We normally tend to think that only an argument is either right or wrong. Not really. Sometimes the entire discussion and the theme itself may be wrong or misplaced. Over eight years ago a friend of mine in Abu Dhabi asked me for the reference of a couple of verses about the ‘Qur’anic methodology of revolution’ as there was a conference / seminar taking place under the same theme. I told him that there is nothing like ‘revolutionary methodology’ in Qur’an. Qur’an is all for reform (islaah) i.e. the natural and organic change and not for revolution. This is why the Prophet (pbuh) was a muslih (reformer) and a mu‘allim (teacher / educator).

I sometimes think that we have convened numberless seminars and conferences under various themes for articulating and demanding the rights of Muslims and their share in the jobs etc. This is perfectly fine. We should get all thsose rights which are duly recognized and granted by the Constitution. I, however, don’t know if we ever convened a conference to remind the Muslims of their duties towards the homeland. We pass resolutions only demanding our rights. This is alright. Why, however, do not we pass at least a quarter of those resolutions to remind ourselves of our duties to the Nation?

Surveillance cameras (and many other issues) took a fair share of space in our Forums. We debated it from many angles. I would, however, submit that the installation of double the number of existing CCTV cameras and the instant removal of all of them will not take us any farther towards an ‘Oxbridge-Like Institution’ unless we most deliberately try to – starving the problems and feeding the opportunities. The provision of even more computers may help. It, too, will not bail us out – in the ultimate analysis. But the DIRECTION and clear civilizational goals may and will.