Access to Books

Similarly, I studied several books with Maulana Daud Akbar Islahi. While reading Duroos al-Tarikh al-Islami, I felt particularly aware that I was learning about events I had not personally witnessed but could now understand through the medium of books. Among the Arabic books I studied in the madrasa was AlMufassal fi al-Nahw, which was taught to us by Maulana Akhtar Ahsan Islahi. The author of this book, Jarullah alZamakhshari (d. 538 AH), was a Mu‘tazilite scholar who did not hide his beliefs and openly criticized non-Mu‘tazilite scholars. The works of many Mu‘tazilite scholars from that era were destroyed, but Zamakhshari’s Al-Mufassal fi alNahw and Al-Kashshaf ‘an Haqaiq al-Tanzil were preserved as exceptions because no equivalent works in grammar and exegesis existed. Through this incident, even during my education, I came to understand a profound truth of life: if a person excels in knowledge and skill to an extraordinary degree, even their fiercest opponents cannot ignore or dismiss them. Educational curricula generally include classical books, and the same is true for madrasas. Most of the books I studied in my madrasa were classical works written by scholars of earlier generations. While reading these books, I would often feel a deep appreciation for the incredible blessing of the written word. Writing allows a person to access the works of learned individuals from every era, even without having lived in those times.