Patience the Road to Success

In the name of Allah the most Merciful Beneficent

Patience the Road to Success

"O you who believe! be patient and excel in patience and remain steadfast, and be careful of (your duty to) Allah, that you may be successful. "(Holy Quran. 3:200)

Patience is the sine qua non of remaining faithful and following righteous ways. It's the life  blood of faith and source of energy and a necessary condition for striving ones on the long path of life hoping success and reaching destination.
For some the patience is passive bearing of unpleasant and torturous circumstances. This view of patience favors inaction and passivity against the onslaught of corruption and exploitation. Those having this view by being patient mean silently bearing the persecution of the unjust one. They think any kind of struggle or striving is against patience and thus they surrender before what they think is their destiny. Those who have submitted before persecution or exploitation are disliked by holy Quran. If they do not have strength to resist , they should migrate but never accept subjugation as their destiny: "When angels take the souls of those who die in sin against their souls, they say: "In what (plight) Were ye?" They reply: "Weak and oppressed Were we in the earth." They say: "Was not the earth of Allah spacious enough for you to move yourselves away (From evil)?" Such men will find their abode in Hell,- What an evil refuge! - . Except the feeble among men, and the women, and the children, who are unable to devise a plan and are not shown a way. "(Holy Quran, 4:97-98)

On the other hand patience in Islam is struggle and striving against the corruption, tyranny and decadence. It's onward movement towards a higher goal-the goal of achieving what is just and right. It's active and full of life. It's not hopeless submission before obstacles or impediments but it's a perpetual and incessant progress towards perfection. It's overcoming the internal and external hurdles. It means to stand up against all obstacles in the way and to overcome them with enthusiasm and determination. The traditions from infallibles say "Patience out of faith is like a head to a body." The head has a very active role to play. It controls the whole functioning of nervous system, in the same way patience, controls and determines the actions of a Muslim.The great patience demonstrated by early Muslims in the early period of Islam made later success of Islam possible. Had they surrendered and given up, the message of Islam would not have seen the ultimate victory. In the words of Ayatullah Sayed Ali Khamenei : " patience may be defined as a means of achieving
perfection, excellence, and exaltedness, where man endeavours and makes sincere efforts for the ultimate goal of creation, to become a real servant of Allah. His personality ultimately becomes manifestation of all the hidden Potential of human talents and characteristics. In other words achieving the status of a perfect human being...Patience means resistance against all three types of barriers, and providing moral courage and necessary momentum for the traveller to continue his forward journey on the road of perfection. It offers resistance against those desires and tendencies which discourage man
from performing compulsory obligations, resists the desires for indulging in sinful forbidden acts, and provides zeal and strength to be able to tolerate the unforeseen and unhappy occurrences, which threaten to break his determination."
The success comes with patience only, without patience we cannot see success. Imam Ali(AS), the Commander of the faithful, says
"A steadfast patient person would never be denied success, however it may materialise after a long time." (Nahj-ul-Balagha)
And he also says in another quotation:
"Whoever mounts the horse of patience would definitely find his path to the field of
victory." (Nahj-ul-Balagha) In the battle of Siffin he inspires his followers to excercise patience to receive victory : "Make your supports upon righteousness and patience (stability); because it is only after patience (stability) that victory shall be bestowed upon you"  Patience kills hopelessness and despair, while lack of it will result in dispair in life. Imam Sadiq(AS) says "Any one who has not prepared for himself logistics of patience to meet every tragedy will find himself in a state of despair and helplessness". The holy Quran promises assistance and victory for the patient ones. Despite being less in number and lacking in means the patient ones will overcome:""If there are twenty patient (steadfast) ones among you, they will overcome two hundred (of the infidels) and if there are a hundred (such ones), they will overcome a thousands" (holy Quran,8:65)"
Let's recite the prayer from holy Quran before we end our discussion :
"Our Lord! Bestow on us endurance, make our foothold sure and give us help against the disbelieving folk. " (holy Quran,2:250)

Access to Education

In the name of Allah the most Merciful Beneficent

Access to Education

The education is one of the most indispensable issue for all social reformers and policy makers. No break through is possible without educating the man and making him capable of acquiring basic cognitive and non cognitive skills necessary to think logically. The objective of school education is to equip people with the range of competencies including both cognitive and non-cognitive skills, knowledge and attitudes which are necessary to lead productive, fulfilling lives fully integrated into their societies and communities. The lack of education is a global challenge which is a failure to master the many distinct competencies-decoding, cognitive skills, factual information, socialization which is necessary to mingle with society and take advantage of available opportunities. So in this context the basic schooling is a means to acquiring the skills and competencies that contribute to a fuller, more humane, and productive human existence and remedying a lack of education implies that each individual has sufficient exposure to learning opportunities to achieve mastery of the basic competencies needed in her society and economy.  A report by World Bank on Education in  Middle East/North Africa counts the benefits of education in the words:  "Education is a powerful force that can speed up economic growth, improve income distribution, facilitate social mobility, and reduce poverty. It can also improve the quality of life for citizens by contributing to longer life expectancy, lower fertility and infant mortality rates, and a more cohesive national identity"
Lets have a brief overview of scenario of education at global level particularly in developing countries where access to education is a serious issue, as we advance we'll discuss the scenario in Muslim countries. Official data on enrollment rates in primary schooling show a varying magnitude of “out of school” children across countries and regions of the world. Sub-Saharan Africa lags all other regions of the world with only 56 percent of primary school-aged children enrolled in school.
South Asia and the Middle East/North Africa also have well less than 100 percent net enrollment
ratios. In Middle East/North Africa the net enrollment is around 84% while that for South Asia, East Asia, Latin America, and East Europe is 83, 93, 97,88 per cent respectively. After enrollment comes the issue of persistence. The available data show a significant drop out rates. In Middle East and South Asia deficit from universal grade 5 completion due to "drop out " and deficit from universal grade 9 completion due to "drop out "is 21 %, 16 % and 57% , 39% respectively.
The completion of primary schooling or higher in itself, however, does not guarantee that
a child has mastered the needed skills and competencies. There is tremendous gap with respect to  attainment levels between developed and developing countries. In developing countries the levels of learning achievement are strikingly low.  In most developing countries relative to the
curriculum objectives learning achievement is low. The reasons for low attainment are lack of infrastructure, lack of basic instructional material and unavailability of adequately trained and qualified teachers.
(For detailed information please refer to "Towards A New Consensus for Addressing the Global Challenge of the Lack of Education", Lant Pritchett ,Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University)

A World Bank report on Middle East and North Africa(MENA) region shows that the region invested about 5 percent of GDP and 20 percent of government budgets in education over the past
40 years, and made tremendous gains as a result. Currently, most children benefit from compulsory schooling; quite a few have opportunities to continue their formal education; and learning outcomes are much better than they were before. The region also saw significant improvements in fertility and infant mortality rates as well as in life expectancy, as education spread widely among the population. Despite these improvements, however:
 The region has produced fewer educational outcomes than many competitors, as measured by years of educational attainment in the adult population. The educational achievements are compromised in
part by high dropout rates, and by relatively low scores on international tests. Literacy rates remain low and the education systems produce more graduates in humanities than in science.
 The region has not made the best use of its accumulated human capital. Unemployment is particularly high among graduates, and a large segment of the educated labor force is employed by governments.
Not surprisingly, the link between human capital accumulation and economic growth, income distribution, and poverty reduction in the region is weak.
 The education systems of the region are not yet fully equipped to produce graduates with the skills and expertise necessary to compete in a world where knowledge is essential to making progress.

In recent years there is good progress in attaining education MENA. Most of MENA countries have enshrined in their constitutions the right to education. The Islamic Republic of Iran has two articles on education:

Article 3. The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has the duty of directing all its resources to the
 following goals:… (3) free education and physical training for everyone at all levels, and the facilitation and
expansion of higher education.
Article 30. The government must provide all citizens with free education up to secondary school, and must
expand free higher education to the extent required by the country for attaining self-sufficiency.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is among the top nations making tremendous progress in expanding education. Iran also comes on the top in university students adopting engineering subjects(around 38%) in whole MENA region.

For more information please refer to ""The Road Not Traveled Education Reform in the Middle East and North Africa"  by World Bank.

The scene of education among Muslims in South Asia which has the largest Muslim  population concentration is really abysmal. For example in India which is house to second largest Muslim population a report revealed that 65 percent of Muslims are living below the poverty line( i.e., whose income is below Rs.1000/- per month) The literacy rate among Muslim Minority is 18%.The lowest literacy rate is observed among Muslim women and is only 8%. In South India which is hub of IT industry I saw the similar picture. In Bangalore I used to go office by taxi. Often the taxi drivers used to be Muslim. I would ask them where they belonged to, they would say to Bangalore. I would take a sigh that people like me have come from thousands of KM far to take advantage of Bangalore's IT boom, and the local Muslim population lacks in proper education to receive any benefits. Sadly I noticed the same waywardness among the local Muslim youths. The most they would think of would be to take a job in a call center. The condition is worse in Hyderabad and Lucknow which have large pockets of Muslim and particularly Shia population. Encouragingly in both of these cities sincere organizations are working toi uplift educational status of shia community. In Hyderabad Imam Zamana Mission is running schools which targets shias living below poverty line and in Lucknow Unity Mission School is providing free education facilities to very poor students.
Given the so much emphasis of Prophetic traditions and Hadiths from Ahlul Bayt(AS) on attaining education ,the condition of Muslims is really sorry. We'll end our discussion with quoting of some traditions from holy Prophet(S) and his chaste Ahlul Bayt(AS):
‘Seeking knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim. Let it be known that Allah loves those who seek knowledge."- Holy Prophet(S)
"Seeking knowledge is obligatory." -abu ‘Abdallah (a.s.)
"If only people knew how much reward there is for seeking knowledge, they would have sought it even if they would have had to shed their blood for it or dive in large waves. Allah the Blessed and Most High revealed to Daniel saying, ‘The most hated among my creatures are the ignorant ones who disrespect the scholars and do not follow them. The Most beloved to Me in My servants are the pious ones who work hard to become entitled for greater rewards, who always stay close to the scholars, follow the fore-bearing people and accept (the advise of) people of wisdom."-- Imam Ali ibn al-Husayn (a.s.)

Ramadan : The Spring Season of Hearts

In the name of Allah the most Merciful Beneficent

Ramadan : The Spring Season of Hearts

"O you who believe! fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may guard (against evil). "(2:183)

The blessed month of mercy and forgiveness is once again back in our life. The purpose of this great month and fasting which is prescribed in it is to make us guard against evil and receive guidance from Allah. This glorious month is the period when holy Quran was revealed. Fasting makes our hearts pliant and soft which become capable to receive the guidance. As the different seasons have different effects on the fertility of the soil, so is case of our souls. We see that soil become most fertile and most productive in the spring season. The water which falls from the sky revive the earth and make it fertile. The spring time is the best time to sow seeds as due to greater fertility and producing capacity of earth we'll get good results. Likewise our hearts show different moods in different periods of a year. Some times we feel dead from inside, no word of guidance however may be very wise seem to affect us. Our hearts simply do not incline to listening truth. Sometimes we perceive a little softness and we response to guidance. But the period of holy month of Ramadan in the spring time of our hearts, we incline more towards Our Creator, and response best to guidance. The holy Quran compares the condition of hearts to that of rocks: "Then your hearts hardened after that, so that they were like rocks, rather worse in hardness; and surely there are some rocks from which streams burst forth, and surely there are some of them which split asunder so water issues out of them, and surely there are some of them which fall down for fear of Allah, and Allah is not at all heedless of what you do. "(Holy Quran, 2:74) The human heart which is capable of receiving divine guidance sometimes become header than rocks that even rocks shake in the fear of Allah but sometimes human heart become harder. The holy month of Ramadan creates an environment of spirituality in which even the most deviated ones return to remembrance of Allah and their hearts become pliant to listening to few words of guidance.

This great month is one of the roads to Allah. Man the weary traveler when treads on this road finds peace and tranquility and is drawn near to His Creator. The month revives his soul and reconnects him with His Maker Lord. Imam Sajjad beautifully recites in Sahifa Sajjadia:

"And praise belongs to God who
showed favour to us through His religion,
singled us out for His creed,
and directed us onto the roads of His beneficence,
in order that through His kindness we might travel upon them
to His good pleasure,
a praise which He will accept from us
and through which He will be pleased with us!

And praise belongs to God who appointed among those roads His month,
the month of Ramadan,
the month of fasting,
the month of submission,
the month of purity,
the month of putting to test,
the month of standing in prayer,
in which the Qur'an was sent down as guidance to the people,
and as clear signs of the Guidance and the Separator! "

The holy Quran says "And seek assistance through patience and prayer, and most surely it is a hard thing except for the humble ones (2:45)" According to several traditions the patience in this verse refers to fasting. In this way the fasting becomes a medium to receive His assistance. Because fasting purifies from inside and creates piety. The Holy Prophet (s) says "If people understood what good there was in the month of Ramadhan, they would have liked that it last for a year."

The guidance and peity is core of fasting and if we are failing in this then we are deserving for this statement of Imam Ali(AS) :"Many persons get nothing out of their fasts but hunger and thirst, many more get nothing out of their night prayers but exertions and sleepless nights. "

Definitely the blessings of this month exceed our understandings and the utmost of them is revival of souls to receive guidance.

May Allah make us receive the blessings of this great month and guide us on the right path!