Dr. S. Shafiq Ahmed
The divergence in strategies and thoughts about any public issue is natural and welcome. However, the harmful strategies and thoughts need necessary reform, correction or rejection. Muslim Educators complain that the conventional thinking or fixed mindset is commonly prevalent among the Muslims. And that,it has caused a tremendous harm to Muslims in particular and the humankind in general during the last 4-5 centuries. To justify the complaint, they project and highlight the cool (if not passive) tendency of Muslims towards research, discoveries and inventions in matters of sciences and technology during this period. The continued backwardness causing Muslims lag behind on major global issues is also attributed to it. The question is what is the reason for the conventional thinking or fixed mindset which is responsible for cool tendency of Muslims towards research in the matters related to sciences and technology ? Is the religion of Islam responsible for this kind of passivity or is it the wrong understanding of Islamic teachings that led to this backwardness? The above querries have come to the fore again due to a week stand by Muslims in the present fight against COVID-19 pandemic. Both the medical researchers and the leaderships (at different levels) in Muslim world have restricted themselves to emphasize over the preventive or precautionary measures necessary to stop community transmission of this deadly disease. In this fight against COVID-19, Muslims are purely defensive, both in theory and practice. The general perception about this pandemic is to fight the disease by following the precautions religiously. Not to complain of general masses, even the concerned medical institutions and researchers in the Muslim world seem satisfied with these preventive and precautionary measures. They have not shown signs of any offensive, more accurately, a pro-active mindset in this fight against the most dangerous pandemic. Truly, what is expected from this fraternity and their institutions is the enthusiasm (they lack) in working-out some comprehensive treatment or a cure to this pandemic for which whole humankind is waiting impatiently. As against this, thirty five(35) different organizations and research institutions in U.S, Canada and Europe are busy in developing a cure vaccine. Even four(04) such organizations have a candidate vaccine and one of them is going to start human trial very soon. During past one week, the enormity of COVID-19 pandemic made common masses very much inquisitive about the latest situation and the guidelines issued by the concerned public health experts regarding prevention of the disease. The experts of the other fields are also expressing and sharing their views on the subject. Most of the views are welcome. But, some unhealthy views are also expressed which may cause tremendous harm to society; in case, they are not reformed, corrected or rejected. One such harmful view was expressed briefly by a learned person through his comment on the urgent need of research by Muslim medical researchers to invent a curing drug or vaccine against COVID-19. The Commentator has given a negative notion of the Islamic teachings, consciously or unconsciously . Let me reproduce the comment hereunder; He writes, “There is nothing in the world to stop Allah’s Will, All we have is to follow Hadith: take Precaution. It (COVID-19 Pandemic) will affect only to those whom Allah Wills. The so-called advanced country in the world and its city in the world is New York in USA. What happened with its advanced science abandoning Allah? Let’s say they invent a vaccine, and then what is stopping Coronavirus to mutate into another strain. This is Allah’s Will, So, follow instructions of our Prophet (PBUH) and don’t fight against Allah”.
A faithful researcher/scientist or a poet do possess wisdom and we Muslims are in dire need of that wisdom too for our growth.
The above comment is indicative of the conventional thinking or a fixed mindset which is prevalent among Muslim masses and even most of the learned amongst us. Actually, any pro-active step by a faithful medical researcher to invent a treatment drug or a curing vaccine to save human lives is a service to mankind. Service to mankind (Khadmat-e-Khalaq) is akin to Islamic Ibadah which forms the core of the teachings of our beloved Prophet (PBUH). Our beloved Prophet (PBUH) also encouraged such medicinal treatment of a disease. Saving one human life in Islam is saving whole humankind. So, how a research for inventing a curing drug or vaccine which may save many many human lives in future, can be construed as a fight against Almighty Allah ? Rather, it is a struggle in the way of Almighty Allah which is beneficial not only for Muslims but also to the whole mankind. Further, scientific inventions and discoveries may be benificial or detrimental depending upon their good use or misuse. Invention of a curing drug or vaccine to treat COVID-19 patients has beneficial aspect dominant. So, any step by a faithful towards its invention is in the way of Almighty Allah and not against His Will. Lastly, life is a challenge, so are its ups and downs including these epidemics, calamities and this COVID-19 pandemic which need to be tackled with wisdom. Interestingly, Almighty Allah described moon as one of the signs of His Majesty and Creativity; for observing calendar for days, months and years, besides having other beneficial features. But, different outlook/s helps us differently. Scientific outlook encouraged some to land on the moon successfully while as philosophical/aesthetic outlook helped others to expound its beauty in diverse words of poetry. Both the scientific and poetic outlook/s is creative and full of wisdom. They help in human growth and do not cause any harm, unless misused. Certainly, wisdom is lacked when we say, “Moon is Allah’s sign for calendar and other(routine) purposes , so, if we do research to land on moon for any other good purpose, it goes against Almighty’s Will. If a poet expounds the beauty of moon in his poetic verses, it goes against Allah Almighty”. Conclusively, a faithful researcher/scientist or a poet do possess wisdom and we Muslims are in dire need of that wisdom too for our growth. (Allah knows the best).
( The author is a freelancer. Views are his own, [email protected])
