Birds and animals require little teaching or training to lead a successful bird or animal life. They know how to make a home or shelter for themselves and how to keep themselves alive instinctively . the instinct of self-preservation is implanted in them by nature. They are given certain faculties which develop to their maximum level with their physical growth without much conscious effort on their part or on the part of their parents. Not so with man . his intellectual growth depends on many outside factors and cannot attain maturity without long and deliberate effort on his part and on the part of his well wisher. a forest can grow by itself naturally but a garden can not . there is a highly thought-stimulating dialogue in Iqbals PIYAM-I-MASHRIQ .. (message of the East), in which God accuses man of having spoiled Nature by his divisive and destructive enterprises and man retorts by quoting examples how he has improved upon God’scrude creation:-
*POEM WRITEN IN URDU and its paraphrasing given below:
GOD
I created the entire world from the same water and clay , but you have created Iran, Tartary and Negro Land . I created pure steel from Dust and you have created the sword, the arrow and the musket.
You have created the axe to mow down the garden trees and have built up the cage for confining the singing birds.
MAN
You created the night, I created the lamp ; you created the clay, I created the cup. You created deserts, hills and meadows; I have created avenues, flower-beds and gardens.
I fashion a mirror from stone and I prepare an antidote from poison.
From these examples, it appears that Nature by itself does not perfect everything.
A flower is pretty by itself but a diamond requires a lot of cutting and polishing before it will sparkle and scintillate into thousand colours . Man is like a rough diamond and requires filing and polishing before all his faculties can function fully. Education is just this filing and polishing of the human personality so that it reaches its full development. It enables one to lead a better life physically, mentally and spiritually.
Now a man possess a mind , a spirit and a body . so education has a three-fold purpose. It aims at his physical , mental and spiritual well-being . it keeps the body fit and healthy , the mind sound and vigorous and the spirit fine and sensitive . As the health of the body is the first requisite of all human activities and is indispensable for all progress, so education must first of all enable a person who live hygienically and to earn an honest living. This basic education is most often neglected is our country and is in fact, the cause of most of troubles. The man who cannot support himself and his family is only half-educated. The man who does not know the rules of hygiene and cleanliness is even worse . He is a menace to society itself.
A knowledge of the laws of health and their faithful observance are integral part of physical education .Appropriate food and clothing and clean ways of living play an important part in building up one’s health. Physical exercise is essential to true education . it gives a healthy tone to the different organs of our body and makes them thoroughly strong and fit for doing their duty . Bodily strength is as much needed as intellectual activity is ensuring success in life . physical exercise is, therefore, an essential requisite which every man and woman should cultivate . if we want to be strong , healthy and free from disease , we should take regular exercise. Those who use their brain great deal,should not neglect to take part in some kind of athletic sport, if they want to free from disease that are contracted by sedentary habits .there are different kinds of physical exercise such as walking , riding , gymnastics and games .Walking is the easiest of all kinds of healthful exercises and is suited to alike. The Western games which are popular in our country are cricket ,football, hocky,and tennis. They are very useful in making our limbs strong and in uniting us together by bonds of friendship and fellow co-ordination . the advantages of physical exercise are manifold . it increases our appetite and enables us to digest our food properly. It enables us to bear fatigues and exposure without any trouble. It prevents us from falling a victim to many fell diseases and thus makes us not only healthy but also happy and cheerful .
Then education should also sharpen our mental faculties and develop them fully. It should remove superstition , prejudice and bigotry. The mind should be able to seek truth in everything and to see things as they are, impartially and objectively . the first and last thing that is demanded of man is love of truth. Nothing great in science has ever been achieved by men ,whatever their powers,in whom the divine inspiration of the truth-seeker was wanting. G.E Lessing, the great German philosopher, has beautifully said: “ if God held enclosed in His right hand all truth, and in His left simply the ever-moving impulse towards truth, and said to me ,”Choose!” I would humbly bow before His left hand, and say, “ Father , give! Pure truth is for thee alone. “we should be able to perceive the distinction between right and wrong , between true and false . if fact, this power of discrimination is the highest function of the mind and can come only to those who are really educated . This also includes the ability to distinguish between the essential and the inessential, between the fundamental and accidental. Above all , education should enable a person to think for himself and decide for himself , This free in our educated classes .their minds are galley-slaves that can only move in fixed grooves and accept slavishly the thoughts and opinions of others.
The third aspect of education concerns the spirit. Even if a person is healthy in body and sound in mind , something is missing . even if one can live decently and can think logically and reasonably, his education is not complete. One must be able to feel humanely and to act rightly. A well-educated man must be refined in his thoughts and kind in his intentions. His will should be fashioned according to the highest principles of conduct and feeling . if vulgarity and cruelty survive education , it is not worth the name . if a man is gross in his thoughts and dull and beastly in his feelings, he is uneducated.
Now ,while the first aspect education is most essential , the other two are more important. When a man has been so educated that he keeps physically fit and can earn a livelihood ,he comes to the level of animals only, who at their very birth are equipped with the means of keeping themselves healthy and finding their food and drink. But man can not rise higher than animals till he first reaches this level. Hence , this aspect of education comes first and is an essential steppingstone to higher attainments. The second aspect is naturally more important than this . the chief distinction between man and animal is the power of thinking .the proper functioning of this makes man a rational being ..but even then he remains a rational animal . it is the third aspect of education , the development of his ethical and spiritual stature that makes man a real man – the roof and crown of things in the words of Tennyson; a being on a higher plane than mere animal , an object of reverence for angels. The neglect of this aspect of education has been the ruin of the West and will be ruin of the East as well, if we slavishly follow in its footsteps. It is the cause of ruthlessly devasting wars and the atrocities that are daily committed by the so called educated men. Education does not merely mean the ability to satisfy our animal needs in a better way than cats and dogs . so far as man caters to his physical needs or provides for his material comfort , e is only a little better than beasts. Surely a man requires something more than material comforts and joys to be a man . you may be living in a sky-scraper , reading the most fascinating novels, hearing the most renowned singers, looking at the most artistic paintings and you may be no better than a crow . for after all a crow builds ahigh nest, is most inquisitive is attracted to bright objects and loves noise. Your heart may be as black as crow , despite education and you may be ten times more dangerous because you possess far more resources and means to minister to the base desires of your carnal nature. Education is not complete till it does not refine the sensibilities , remove the savagery of heart and disciple the wild passions of man . so , in fact , the modern scientifically advanced man is only half-educated . he can read books but his mind is coarse . he sees atoms but his blind. His house is brilliantly lit but his soul gropes in the dark . He makes bombs to destroy his enemy , but has not been able to end his own savagery. Naturally, he cannot be at peace with himself or with the world. When we say this we are not belittling science and scientific achievements. We want to emphasise the important of ethical and spiritual values side by side with the advancement of scientific knowledge and research . science is absolutely the pivot on which civilization turns today. The more we probe into nature , the more we realize the infinitude of God’s creative power. The purposiveness of the universe is a recurring theme of the holy Quran. This coordination of the scientific spirit with faith in God is the special glory of islam and rescue us from the cruel clutches of gross materialism and rapacity dominating the so-called civilized countries of the West.
This gloomy picture of the modern man need not lead us to despair . education means the individual and collective shaping of man through eternal struggle and hardship. Life on his earth cannot always be fair weather and smooth sailing . Farid-ud-din Attar in his Bird parliament has elaborated the quranic precept of hopefulness and progress when he says:
“ for like a child sent with fluttering light
To feel his way along a gusty night
Man walks the world :again and yet again
The lamp shall be by fits of passion slain
But shall not He who sent him from the door
Relight the lamp once more and yet once more?
*POEM WRITEN IN URDU and its paraphrasing given below:
GOD
I created the entire world from the same water and clay , but you have created Iran, Tartary and Negro Land . I created pure steel from Dust and you have created the sword, the arrow and the musket.
You have created the axe to mow down the garden trees and have built up the cage for confining the singing birds.
MAN
You created the night, I created the lamp ; you created the clay, I created the cup. You created deserts, hills and meadows; I have created avenues, flower-beds and gardens.
I fashion a mirror from stone and I prepare an antidote from poison.
From these examples, it appears that Nature by itself does not perfect everything.
A flower is pretty by itself but a diamond requires a lot of cutting and polishing before it will sparkle and scintillate into thousand colours . Man is like a rough diamond and requires filing and polishing before all his faculties can function fully. Education is just this filing and polishing of the human personality so that it reaches its full development. It enables one to lead a better life physically, mentally and spiritually.
Now a man possess a mind , a spirit and a body . so education has a three-fold purpose. It aims at his physical , mental and spiritual well-being . it keeps the body fit and healthy , the mind sound and vigorous and the spirit fine and sensitive . As the health of the body is the first requisite of all human activities and is indispensable for all progress, so education must first of all enable a person who live hygienically and to earn an honest living. This basic education is most often neglected is our country and is in fact, the cause of most of troubles. The man who cannot support himself and his family is only half-educated. The man who does not know the rules of hygiene and cleanliness is even worse . He is a menace to society itself.
A knowledge of the laws of health and their faithful observance are integral part of physical education .Appropriate food and clothing and clean ways of living play an important part in building up one’s health. Physical exercise is essential to true education . it gives a healthy tone to the different organs of our body and makes them thoroughly strong and fit for doing their duty . Bodily strength is as much needed as intellectual activity is ensuring success in life . physical exercise is, therefore, an essential requisite which every man and woman should cultivate . if we want to be strong , healthy and free from disease , we should take regular exercise. Those who use their brain great deal,should not neglect to take part in some kind of athletic sport, if they want to free from disease that are contracted by sedentary habits .there are different kinds of physical exercise such as walking , riding , gymnastics and games .Walking is the easiest of all kinds of healthful exercises and is suited to alike. The Western games which are popular in our country are cricket ,football, hocky,and tennis. They are very useful in making our limbs strong and in uniting us together by bonds of friendship and fellow co-ordination . the advantages of physical exercise are manifold . it increases our appetite and enables us to digest our food properly. It enables us to bear fatigues and exposure without any trouble. It prevents us from falling a victim to many fell diseases and thus makes us not only healthy but also happy and cheerful .
Then education should also sharpen our mental faculties and develop them fully. It should remove superstition , prejudice and bigotry. The mind should be able to seek truth in everything and to see things as they are, impartially and objectively . the first and last thing that is demanded of man is love of truth. Nothing great in science has ever been achieved by men ,whatever their powers,in whom the divine inspiration of the truth-seeker was wanting. G.E Lessing, the great German philosopher, has beautifully said: “ if God held enclosed in His right hand all truth, and in His left simply the ever-moving impulse towards truth, and said to me ,”Choose!” I would humbly bow before His left hand, and say, “ Father , give! Pure truth is for thee alone. “we should be able to perceive the distinction between right and wrong , between true and false . if fact, this power of discrimination is the highest function of the mind and can come only to those who are really educated . This also includes the ability to distinguish between the essential and the inessential, between the fundamental and accidental. Above all , education should enable a person to think for himself and decide for himself , This free in our educated classes .their minds are galley-slaves that can only move in fixed grooves and accept slavishly the thoughts and opinions of others.
The third aspect of education concerns the spirit. Even if a person is healthy in body and sound in mind , something is missing . even if one can live decently and can think logically and reasonably, his education is not complete. One must be able to feel humanely and to act rightly. A well-educated man must be refined in his thoughts and kind in his intentions. His will should be fashioned according to the highest principles of conduct and feeling . if vulgarity and cruelty survive education , it is not worth the name . if a man is gross in his thoughts and dull and beastly in his feelings, he is uneducated.
Now ,while the first aspect education is most essential , the other two are more important. When a man has been so educated that he keeps physically fit and can earn a livelihood ,he comes to the level of animals only, who at their very birth are equipped with the means of keeping themselves healthy and finding their food and drink. But man can not rise higher than animals till he first reaches this level. Hence , this aspect of education comes first and is an essential steppingstone to higher attainments. The second aspect is naturally more important than this . the chief distinction between man and animal is the power of thinking .the proper functioning of this makes man a rational being ..but even then he remains a rational animal . it is the third aspect of education , the development of his ethical and spiritual stature that makes man a real man – the roof and crown of things in the words of Tennyson; a being on a higher plane than mere animal , an object of reverence for angels. The neglect of this aspect of education has been the ruin of the West and will be ruin of the East as well, if we slavishly follow in its footsteps. It is the cause of ruthlessly devasting wars and the atrocities that are daily committed by the so called educated men. Education does not merely mean the ability to satisfy our animal needs in a better way than cats and dogs . so far as man caters to his physical needs or provides for his material comfort , e is only a little better than beasts. Surely a man requires something more than material comforts and joys to be a man . you may be living in a sky-scraper , reading the most fascinating novels, hearing the most renowned singers, looking at the most artistic paintings and you may be no better than a crow . for after all a crow builds ahigh nest, is most inquisitive is attracted to bright objects and loves noise. Your heart may be as black as crow , despite education and you may be ten times more dangerous because you possess far more resources and means to minister to the base desires of your carnal nature. Education is not complete till it does not refine the sensibilities , remove the savagery of heart and disciple the wild passions of man . so , in fact , the modern scientifically advanced man is only half-educated . he can read books but his mind is coarse . he sees atoms but his blind. His house is brilliantly lit but his soul gropes in the dark . He makes bombs to destroy his enemy , but has not been able to end his own savagery. Naturally, he cannot be at peace with himself or with the world. When we say this we are not belittling science and scientific achievements. We want to emphasise the important of ethical and spiritual values side by side with the advancement of scientific knowledge and research . science is absolutely the pivot on which civilization turns today. The more we probe into nature , the more we realize the infinitude of God’s creative power. The purposiveness of the universe is a recurring theme of the holy Quran. This coordination of the scientific spirit with faith in God is the special glory of islam and rescue us from the cruel clutches of gross materialism and rapacity dominating the so-called civilized countries of the West.
This gloomy picture of the modern man need not lead us to despair . education means the individual and collective shaping of man through eternal struggle and hardship. Life on his earth cannot always be fair weather and smooth sailing . Farid-ud-din Attar in his Bird parliament has elaborated the quranic precept of hopefulness and progress when he says:
“ for like a child sent with fluttering light
To feel his way along a gusty night
Man walks the world :again and yet again
The lamp shall be by fits of passion slain
But shall not He who sent him from the door
Relight the lamp once more and yet once more?
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