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The following email was received a few weeks ago from Asif Iftikhar, member of Renaissance Editorial Board. I became disillusioned in just one
year. In one year of exposure to modern scholarship, I became disillusioned
with what I had always held in the highest esteem: knowledge. How could
something so hallowed in essence be so defiling for the soul at times?
The realization that it could be was heart decimating. It was not an easy
gulp to swallow. But the fact remains that knowledge without commitment
to God is just another idol filled with intellectual filth. I have seen
that without that commitment, even the scholars of the highest calibre
can make the worst imaginable compromises just to buttress their image.
But my disillusionment has little to do with the academic milieux of the
lands beyond the ‘Kuh Kaf’. It has to do with my own self – with
my own failings as a Muslim. The only thing that I guess has happened here
in the highly diverse and syncretic environment is a thorough expose of
myself to me. And even underneath the atavist veneer that I have worn for
years with much care, I have found my inner self pretty hollow. Don’t let
anyone ever fool you that iman is enhanced by knowledge. Knowledge
does keep the accompanying emotions on the right track, and, therefore
we are duty bound to do our best to seek it. But, at the end of the day,
it is our sacrifices for our Lord that sustain, augment and fulfill our
iman. It is that zest, that early euphoria, that joyous willingness
to make sacrifices in His way that I find attenuated to a deplorable extent.
Over here, I have seen the Devil himself reciting the scripture for his
own creed. And aye, he’s the scholar of scholars. An accomplished
virtuoso. Maestro par excellence. He is the Dark Prince alright. The Masih
Dajjal. Charming, glorious and downright charismatic: he stands tall,
strong, invincible and at ease, like a Roman emperor, a hand on the hip
and the other extended for all – the good, the bad, the evil, the
pious – to kiss in coveted or uncoveted submission. Some are lured by greed
or pride, some are goaded by fear. And some are made to genuflect in their
weakness. The emperor rules supreme. And thus the ‘system’ works. Anyone
who has different ideas is left out in the cold to freeze. The only recourse
for such a dissident: Stop thinking. Get on with life. Grow and prosper.
Get accepted. Get accepted at Harvard. Get accepted at Yale. Get accepted
at Princeton. Get rejected from Jannah? Think about that later.
Better still, do not think at all.
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