Why?
One of the great truths of human history is that questioning and research are the very factors that lay the foundations for any nation’s progress, intellectual awakening, and scholarly development. When a person loses the ability to think, to examine, and to arrive at the truth on the basis of evidence, decline becomes his inevitable fate. This is the very question now confronting us with urgency: why have we fallen into intellectual and educational decline? Why have our universities, madrasahs, and educational institutions, instead of becoming centres of knowledge and research, turned into bastions of imitation, personality cults, and blind devotion? And the most pressing question of all: why has permission to ask “why” been eradicated in our society?
This matter is no longer confined to an individual or a particular group; rather, our collective disposition has become such that whenever something touches the emotional inclinations of our temperament or the popularity of a personality dominates our hearts, we shut the doors of reason and understanding, and we blind ourselves. Instead of inquiry, questioning, and evidence, emotions, tradition, and blind reverence take their place. This poison has seeped so deeply into us that we have lost even the fundamental ability to test a claim on the touchstone of evidence, to delve into the depths of an idea, and to refrain from accepting a thought simply because it conforms to our tradition or desires.
The religion of Islam and the history of mankind teach us that to question, to research, and to reflect are natural and commendable qualities in a human being. If we read the teachings of the Noble Qurʾān with contemplation, we find at every turn a call to question, to research, and to reflect. When Prophet Ibrāhīm, upon him be peace, asked his Lord, his question was neither considered insolence nor rebellion; rather, his intellectual quest was seen as a means to perfect his faith. These teachings of the Qurʾān make it openly clear that Islam is not the enemy of reason, evidence, or inquiry; it is, in fact, their greatest supporter.
Unfortunately, we have abandoned this luminous spirit of the religion and imprisoned it in rigid traditions and blind imitation. In our madrasahs, students are not permitted to ask questions, there is no room for research, and they are not given the courage to disagree. The word of the teacher or the elder is considered final, and questioning it is seen as insolence or misguidance. Even more regrettable is the fact that this same attitude is flourishing in our modern educational institutions as well. There, too, the curricula are so rigid that students are trained merely to memorise, to pass exams, and to obtain degrees; but they are not cultivated with the courage to question, the passion for research, or the ability to think critically.
When educational institutions begin to consider questioning a crime, disagreement insolence, and research rebellion, then the society becomes afflicted with intellectual decline, scholarly barrenness, and creative stagnation. This is precisely why we are now lagging behind developed nations, our names lost in the race of knowledge and research, and our intellectual gatherings entangled in stories and traditions of the past.
If we wish to emerge from this decline, we must first recognise the importance of questioning. We must change our mindset to understand that disagreement is not enmity but a sign of intellectual advancement. Educational institutions must provide an environment of freedom for inquiry, questioning, and reasoning. Teachers must instil in students the confidence that they can think, examine, and disagree. Curricula must be designed not merely as heaps of information but as means of developing the ability to think, to understand, and to analyse.
Parents, teachers, and societal leaders must lead this intellectual revolution; otherwise, we will leave future generations shackled in the same intellectual slavery where questioning is a sin, disagreement a crime, and thinking an act of rebellion.
Living nations question, research, and advance their intellectual and educational systems on the foundation of evidence. If we truly wish to break free from this intellectual decline and bondage, we must revive the question “why.” This very question will show us new paths, grant future generations the freedom to think, and lead us towards progress, dignity, and survival. This is the purpose of this writing, this is the first condition of our awakening, and this is the question that we must answer through our conduct, our thinking, and our educational attitudes.
Disclaimer: This article was translated by AI. Original post: https://t.me/DrAkramNadwi/6383
