ASK MAULANA

ASK MAULANA Your Questions Answered The remedy for ignorance is asking questions. (Prophet Muhammad). The spirit of enquiry is the hallmark of an open society and the above saying of the Prophet aptly illustrates this principle. A culture of curiosity and open-mindedness will foster development in any society by motivating its members to learn enthusiastically and enrich their knowledge. This is because awareness of one’s ignorance is half of knowledge, as it becomes a stepping-stone to seeking and finding answers. A questioning mind is like a flowing river that is replenished with fresh thoughts and ideas and continues on its journey. What is the mission of Islam? The Islamic mission is the tazkiya (purification) of the individual. The target is that every person should discover God, develop spiritually and be devoid of malice in his heart. Why is the spirit of Islam being lost in Muslims? The degeneration that we see in present Muslims had been predicted by the Prophet. According to a Hadith: A time will come when nothing except the name of Islam will remain [among Muslims] and nothing except the words of the Quran will remain [among Muslims]. (Shuab al-Iman, al-Bayhaqi) This is not surprising because every community undergoes degeneration, and Muslims are no exception to this principle. This degeneration does not set in in the first generation, but in the generations that follow. This is why reformers are required to suggest what work needs to be done to revive degenerated people. To regain the spirit of Islam, we need to identify the right reformers from the wrong ones. How can we revive the Islamic spirit among Muslims? Muslims should be able to revive the Islamic spirit by reading the Quran in a language they can understand. During one of my travels, I met a Muslim who used to carry a pocket Arabic Quran and used to keep reading it as and when he got some time. Upon enquiry he told me that he had been doing this for fourteen years. I asked him what