We should be free of acquisitiveness, the tendency of being attached literally to what is related to work methods, the tendency that some of us have reached its climax. This acquisitiveness makes us live with an expired, dead, and old nation of old circumstances and associations. It became another nation with new ideas, orientation, circumstances, and associations. Then, it’s normal not to succeed in working because of dealing with a dead nation insteading of an active one. Therefore, whatever the impact is, it will be negative because the work topic doesn’t exist outside and we’re not dealing with what really exists there.
It should be clear for us that we should deal with the active human being who exists outside, that of flesh and blood. We should also know that this human being changes and develops; his circumstances and associations change too. Because we should deal with this human being, we should think about methods that agree with him.
From the First Martyr until the Present Scholars
The first martyr, may God be pleased with him, centuries and centuries ago, thought about organizing the affairs of religion and reference in some way. He changed the religious entity from a phase into another. But, is it possible for the hundreds of scholars that existed after the first martyr and still, the real ones and the hundreds who will follow them, to think about improving the methods of the first martyr and purifying them? Is it possible?
As long as we believe that methods change even if the theory is fixed, we should open a door for thinking in these methods! This is a part of our duties because we study to apply, not to keep knowledge in our brains. We should think that we are scholars to work through our knowledge, not just to gain knowledge. By that, one of our duties will be to ask ourselves, our teachers, and our colleagues the following questions:
-What is work? How do we work? What are the methods of working? How can we renew these methods in a way that agrees with the nation today? We are dealing with today’s world, not with that of the Mamluk Sultanate, so how do we deal with it?
The answers of these questions may appear difficult at the beginning because there is no reading and intellectual habituation to answer them. These questions are precise and related to the level of a human’s knowledge, experience, and awareness of the world’s circumstances. Therefore, we may face a difficulty in answering these questions. But this difficulty should be eliminated by researching, thinking, and the continuity of that.
Therefore, it is a must to make it a part of our duty to think in the way of changing the work methods, and how to agree with our world and environment.
Nations’ Affliction, Al Maaref Islamic and Cultural Instituition
source:english.almaaref
