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EDUCATIONAL REFORMS FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

BEING THE SECOND SERMON FOR THE MONTH OF JUMAADAL AKHIRAH DATED, 11TH JUMAADAL AKHIRAH, 1443 (14TH JANUARY, 2022)

EDUCATIONAL REFORMS FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

All Praises belong to Allaah who made the pursuit of knowledge an important thing in Islaam, and put it ahead of all other cornerstone of this pristine religion. He taught our father, the father of all humans, Aadam (‘alayhi salaam) the names of everything and instructed his progeny to read: “Recite in the name of your Lord Who created (96:2) Created man from a clot of congealed blood (96:3) Recite: and your Lord is the Most Generous, (96:4) Who taught by the pen (96:5) He taught man what he did not know”. The most perfect benediction and peace on the one that was raised and sent as a mercy to the entire universe, Muhammad (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and upon all his family and companions, and those who followed them in goodness until the day of Resurrection.

The Messenger (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) says: “Times will come close together and knowledge will diminish, tribulations would arise, scarcity will occur, and Haraj will become much”, So they ask “what is Haraj”? He replied, “Killings” (Muslim).

He also said: “Allah does not take away knowledge by taking it away from the people (who have it), but He takes away knowledge by taking away the scholars, until there is no scholar left and then the people will take ignorant ones as their leaders, and they would be asked about rulings of the religion and they would issue give rulings (fatwa) without knowledge, and they would go astray and lead others astray.” (Ahmad)

Servants of Allah, fear Allah and and be mindful of His dos and don’ts so that you will be successful in the two abodes: a good life in the world, and then eternity in al-Jannah in the hereafter. Allah Ta’alah says: “As for those who believe and do good, We will admit them into Gardens under which rivers flow, to stay there for ever and ever. There they will have pure spouses,1 and We will place them under a vast shade.” (An-Nisaa:57).

And He also said: “If you avoid the major sins forbidden to you, We will absolve you of your ˹lesser˺ misdeeds and admit you into a place of honour.” (An-Nisaa:31).

The Importance of Education in Islaam

Servants of Allah, when Allah created Aadam, He taught him the names of all things, and made the angels prostrate to him, and all of these happened before Allh even spoke about the necessities of his life like where he would live, marriage, food, drinks, and all his other basic needs, Allah put knowledge ahead because he would be able to obtain the rest of his needs through knowledge.

Person that has knowledge has an exalted rank with Allah and a huge preference/favour in the two abodes of this life and the hereafter, in consonnance to te Words o Allah Ta’alah: “O believers! When you are told to make room in gatherings, then do so. Allah will make room for you ˹in His grace˺. And if you are told to rise, then do so. Allah will elevate those of you who are faithful, and ˹raise˺ those gifted with knowledge in rank. And Allah is All-Aware of what you do.” (Mujaadilah:11). And the Messenger of Allah(Peace and Blessing of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever follows a path in search of knowledge, Allah will make easy for him, with that effort, a path to Al-Jannah.” (Abu Daawud and Tirmidhi).

Knowledge and learning is a great act of worship if it is in obedience to Allah, and for the benefit of Allah’s servants. When a student studies, he exerts a great effort to attain his ambition. And after acquiring knowledge, he’s able,a s a result the education, to benefit his society by instilling ideas and upholding values.

Education is one of the most important things that must be taken care of in order to have a generation that leads the society in the future on the correct path, and it is one of the things that parents, guardians and other custodians of affairs should look after most. Education is the one thing that makes the learner feel distinguished from others. And the more a person advances in his level of education, the more his self-confidence and social status increases..

Old and Modern Ways of Education

Servants of Allah, we are witnessing an time that suffers from a bad standard of education, and bad interaction/relationship between the teacher and the student. Education in the past was aimed at teaching the student all kinds of knowledge with all its details. In the past, there was a strong desire on the part of the student to receive knowledge. In the past, the teacher was the father, the teacher, and the guardian. He is the final commander in the life of the student. The teacher’s word used to be sacred to the student and they would not dare to transgress it. And all of these are the thrust of Aarun Raseeid’s words to his son’s teacher: “And do not let an hour pass you by except that you take advantage of a benefit that will be useful for him, without making him sad, and deadening his mind. And don’t over-indulge or be too permissive of him, because he would appropriate it and become used to it. And straighten him as much as you can by closeness and gentleness, and if those two do not yield, then you must be harsh and strict.

As for the female-teacher, she was the teacher and the mother, and she is the source of knowledge and advice that all girls resort to. Previously, education was built on the foundation love and respect between the student and his teacher. In the past, the teacher had his prestige and value. He carried a powerful and heavy message on his shoulders, striving with effort to deliver it to the student with every precision. Education in the past was based on knowledge and bequeathing, its tools were simple and did not have many of the possibilities that we see today, yet there were many scholars and geniuses that everybody benefited from.

As for the standard of education in the present, we can say that we are witnessing an era that is almost free of education. We find the teachers getting into the field of education for the money. We find many teachers who are not competent with their duty knowledge-wise and experience-wise in the classrooms. You find teachers discussing with the students a lot of inappropriate and irrelevant matters, which makes the teacher lose his prestige among the students. This leads to poor education. We also find a lot of modern tools/possibilities that enable students to find solutions to arithmetic problems without having to think, and this makes the student’s brain unable to think and grow. We also find severe neglect on the home front by many parents not paying attention to directing the student to school, or not paying attention to what the student does outside the home, and this is one of the most dangerous things that cause poor education in our country Nigeria in particular and African countries in general.

The Role of the Governments and Scholars in the development of Education

Our nation needs to restore the glory of knowledge and education so that it can groom future leaders, and the government at all levels must play its role by dedicating a substantial percentage of its annual budget to education, just as the nation’s institutions must support the government in the process of this great endeavor And there is a need for teachers to fear Allah in the performance of their duties and use modern techniques and positive methodologies in their teaching. And those that are well to do should support the government, in this noble cause, with funding from what Allah has blessed them with.

THE SECOND SERMON

All praises are due to Allah, Who ordered us to pray for the deceased as He said: “And [there is a share
for] those who come after them, saying, “Our Lord, forgive us and our brothers who preceded us in faith and put not in our hearts [any] resentment toward those who have believed. Our Lord, indeed You are Kind and Merciful.” May the peace and blessings be upon the messenger of guidance and light, Muhammad, his household, and all his companions.

O people, the disruption of security in our country is a great and unfortunate danger. This problem is due to many reasons, including political, economic, intellectual, social, cultural, moral and religious reasons. Therefore, it needs efforts and cooperation of everyone in providing it, and fighting the enemies and eliminating its causes. In addition to that, it needs supplication to Allah, for Allah is powerful over all things, and the most deserving to answer the prayer, there is no might or power except with Allah.

During the past week, we mourned the death of two prominent Muslims in Nigeria, Professor Abdulkarim Hussain, a renowned Islamic activist, and Dr. Ahmad Datti in Kaduna, who was before his death the former head of the Sharia Council in Nigeria. We also received the news of the death of Alhaji Bashir Tofa, the well-known Kano politician. May Allah forgive them all.

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