Quoting Or Vomiting

Please forgive me for this expression. During a number of discussions with the scholars (‘Ulama) and students of ‘traditional’ institutions I have noticed that they only ‘vomit’ and do not actually quote from the texts. Someone will think that they quoted but in reality they didn’t. They only vomited. Because they haven’t done the “jugaali”. They have not allowed it to become a part of their persons. What they quote hasn’t actually become nutritional for them. It has not served as an extremely necessary food for them. They have not internalized that information themselves. 

This is precisely the reason that despite profusely quoting from the texts we are where we have been. Imagine the number of times we hear these quotes from the texts but it does not change our lot as it should have. How much we quote could be gauged from a single lecture. It could be found out from only one Friday’s khutbah. In most of these situations what is missing is RELATING and APPLYING – in the real sense of the words. What is found is merely the reproducing of the verses and Ahaadeeth.

Also, the quotes are used as a weapon many a times. As a tool to win an argument. This is why the aim, as I have mostly noticed, is to ‘defeat’ the ‘opponent’ in the arguments rather than winning the addressees (mukhaatabeen) over. This trait is essentially different from the methodology of the one who had “beautiful ideal character” (pbuh). I wonder that those who are expected the most to be open for learning are the most resistant to it. The ones who are supposed to be most humble are hardly ever found saying “I am sorry” or “I was wrong”.

One will quickly hear a verse or a Hadeeth quoted at the slightest pretext – to suit only a given situation and partially. Ignoring the rest of the Book and the total teaching of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as well as his “beautiful pattern of conduct”. This is why I feel that our education system has badly failed. It has helped the students master the art of memorization but not the application of what has been taught. The fact that it has left many gaps is beside the point.

In many a cases I have noticed that verses from Qur’an and Ahaadeeth are merely blurted out in the same manner as one vomits undigested food. The food that has been chewed very well becomes a part of the human body and is transformed into flesh and blood. It can never be vomited. The same applies to the spiritual food and nutrition which is what Qur’an is. It has not become the part of the person. It is kept somewhere separately – like the fodder before jugaali – and it is quickly thrown out of the mouth.

It becomes an equally deadly weapon in the hands of the ‘modern’ educated. Because of not having the complete picture (just like the ‘traditionally’ educated), while they quote one text they, too, forget the rest. In the same manner as their ‘counterparts’ do. (The fact that they should not be counterparts is yet another matter. A biologist is not a counterpart of a physicist. Why?) They, too, have learnt this from others. And both of them are equally unmindful of the need for the ‘full circle’ or the ‘Taj Mahal’. Both of them are happy with a partial view of things. Both of them do not believe that “thinking is the most difficult job on earth and this is precisely the job which we are obliged to perform”.

Our focus on memorization and not on truly understanding has added to the indigestion a great deal. Our parents send their children for memorization of Qur’an at a very early age basically for the former’s wellbeing in the Hereafter. These youngsters get used to the mind-set of memorizing than understanding for the rest of their life – proving the adage, “catch them young”. They keep repeating what they have memorized without trying to understand it. This is true in most of the cases.

Because of a faulty instructional methodology and system (wherein the aptitude of students is not of much concern and wherein the teachers want their students to become like their teachers and not like those in the mirror) we frequently fall in the holes of our own making. We do not realize it. And it is even graver a situation. Please forgive me again for the caption. I take it as a price for the change which we need. We should be ready to pay this price.