Monday, January 2, 2012

From Sky to Date Palm

There is an Indian proverb saying fallen from sky, stuck on a date palm. Obviously the meaning is that though bigger problem has been solved but there is another one which is equally debilitating in spite of its small magnitude. This is the state of the modern youth of Islam. The bigger problem, in the last century, has been the bout of communism that spread far and wide even in the Islamic society. Though the spread was not as endemic as in other societies but it was very serious nevertheless. Coming back to the smaller problem - it is the problem of intellectualism. Because of the western influence the youth has discovered their intellectual powers and are fascinated by it. When a tough guy roughs up people then it is difficult to explain to him that his actions are wrong. Similarly when a person is carried away by intellectual abilities then it does not occur to him that this strength too has its limitations. Of course this has something to do with guidance. Only those receive it whom Allah(SWT) wishes. An extreme manifestation of this obsession with intellectual abilities and hence the tendency to look at everything from that point of view is the case of Qur'anists. These are the people who deny Prophetic Traditions (hadith). There might be some of them who have high intellectual caliber but even the most miserable of them think that those who do not share their opinion are sort of intellectually challenged. Indeed their similitude is of those who have been described in the earlier part of Surah Baqrah. They think they are making fun of the religion of Allah but in reality Allah(SWT) is making fun of them. What can be a bigger calamity then be devoid of the guidance of Allah(SWT)?