Influences of ‘Allāma Muḥammad Iqbāl on Thoughts of Dr. Isrār Aḥmad
Dr. Isrār Aḥmad(d:1431A. H/2010A. D) admits this fact that his personality is deeply influenced by Dr. ‘Allāma Muḥammad Iqbāl(d:1357A. H/1938A. D). In his book titled Da‘vat Rujū‘ ilā al-Qur’ān kā Manẓar-o-Pasmanẓar, he writes:
“The foremost and the deepest imprint on my mind is that of late ‘Allāma Iqbāl’s Urdu Poetry as I spent my high school life (1941-1947A. D) in reading and humming of bāng-e-darā, bāl-e-Jibra’īl, zarb-e-Kalīm and verses of armughān-e-Ḥijāz. This aroused in me a national passion so I, in that era, found the only like-minded group of the Muslim League, associated myself as per my little ability with the Muslim Students Federation- a body of the Muslim League movement. [1]
At another point in the same book, he further writes:
“No denying the fact that like howal awwalo wal ākhiro, my thoughts and vision have the initial and final impact of late ‘Allāma Iqbāl; the former mostly being ‘passionate’ with the outcome of ‘Passion for the Community’ whereas the latter is purely ‘Conceptual’; thus, my concept has the objectivity of “Studying the Qur’ān in the background of Modern Concepts” or “Analysis and Review of the Modern Thoughts in the Light of the Qur’ān”. [2]
The above lines explain that the vision of Dr. Isrār Aḥmad(d:1431A. H/2010A. D) had the initial impact on ‘Allāma Iqbāl’s personality. The thoughts propounded by Dr. Isrār Aḥmad all his life have the footprints leading to the poetry of Iqbāl.
Political System in Islām
Politically, ‘Allāma Iqbāl was strictly against a democratic government as he says:
tou nay kiā dekhā nahi maghrib kā Jamhōri...
Today’s world is a global village. Societies affect each other far deeper and faster than ever. New problems are sprouting with every coming day. We feel that the cultural issues are the most significant ones in this context. The question is how we should deal with these problems. To us, the solution lies in the concept of Sadd al-Dharā’i‘(prevention), one of the instruments of Sharī‘ah (Islamic Law). Such is its importance as all the four schools of thought are of the same opinion about its scope. A cultural change if drives Muslims away from the objectives of Sharī‘ah, it will have to be stopped or altered to suit the objectives, but if it leads to something good without damaging the objectives of Sharī‘ah, it will be accepted. New problems are multifarious. We need to bring ijtihād into practice and solve such problems. This research article discusses the concept of Sadd al-Dharā’i‘(prevention.), its meaning, definition, and scope. It also discusses different opinions of scholars. The author of this paper, then, deliberates its use for its applications to solve the new problems being faced by the Muslims across the world.
Asking questions is central to intellectual effort. The questions which one asks play a significant role in bridging the gap between the known and unknown. Teachers in Pakistan use questioning as a major strategy to teach science in the primary classroom. However, most of these questions check the memory of their students, keep them on task, or check the instructions the teachers have given usually for class work or homework. Science teachers are the sole owners of questions and therefore students in Pakistani science classrooms have been positioned as the people who answer questions which have been posed by the teacher. The growing dominance of active learning environments in the developed world has done much to challenge this positioning but in our context, still, there remains an immensely strong institutional presumption that being a successful student is tested by the capacity to answer questions. This study was conducted to try out different strategies a teacher can use in a primary science classroom to promote students' questioning skills. The study revealed that a variety of 'hands-on, minds- on' activities with an appropriate level of difficulty can help to promote students' questioning skills. A gradual increase in the level of difficulty of stimulating activities, a friendly environment and acceptance of students' ideas helped them to overcome their fear of 'being wrong' and instead nurtured their innate curiosity. This resulted in the students' ability to create their own learning strategies which were all used as part of the science lesson. Several challenges to this approach in the learning of science were identified. They include completion of syllabus, time allocated for science lessons, product oriented assessment, school culture, individual accountability in the classroom and creativity on the part of teacher. Growing evidence from existing literature and my study seem to suggest that, primary science teachers in Pakistan need to review their role in the teaching/learning process. Any attempt to change the educational policy regarding the teaching of science would be useless if the implementers (teachers) of the policy do not realise their changing role. They are on the cutting edge and responsible for promoting students' curiosity, to help students to be autonomous learners.