|
|
  
COMMON SENSE By: Hassan Al-Haifi In looking at Islam within the context of the Five Pillars of Islam, we can see that Islam is more than just a few worship rites here and there or some do’s and don’ts, that lack any spiritual connotations or for that matter any meaning to life itself. The Five pillars of Islam are: the attestation that “There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is the Prophet of Allah; the Five Daily Prayers; Fasting the Month of Ramadhan, the Zakat, or religious duty tax; and the Pilgrimage to Mecca. It is the five pillars of Islam which represent the basic foundations that guide the Moslem to the fulfillment of the worshipper of all his life long obligations to the Al-Mighty and in essence provide that checklist of necessities, which the Moslem must fulfill to make his life meaningful in the Islamic sense and which provide the grounds for being beneficiary for the mercy of Allah in this life and in the hereafter. Of course these should not be taken to be the only criteria, by which the faithful is adjudicated in the Heavens, but they do represent the groundwork for a full spiritual attachment to the faith and serve to open the door to spiritual salvation and happiness. The five pillars are the firm ties that bind the faithful Moslem to his Creator, God Al-Mighty and represent the principal rites and commitments that are obligatory, and by which the believer is expected to manifest his faith in Allah (Allah, one of the ninety- nine names of the Al-Mighty found in the Holy Qur’an, is synonymous with God and accordingly used by Christian and Jewish Arabs to mean God, as well). These form the fundamental obligations of the Moslem and accordingly enter the worshipper among the faithful, which assure the Moslem that his rights and duties have become equal to the rights and obligations of all the worshippers. Some of these are compulsory and there is no excuse from being unable to fulfill them, namely the First, Second and Third Pillar. However, the Third Pillar allows for deferment in the event of illness or travel or compensatory alms, in the event that the year following Ramadhan should pass and the believer is still under severe physical stress. In looking at the first Pillar – the testimonial of the believer that “there is no god but Allah and Mohammed is the Prophet of Allah, we find the pre-requisite to the entry among the faithful, without which all the other pillars and the ancillary duties and commitments expected of a Moslem, would be meaningless, with respect to weighing the relationship between the believer and the Lord, Al-Mighty. It is a declaration that must be viewed not just merely as a verbal statement that is uttered every now and then, but a commitment of the heart that insists that the authority of Allah rules supreme in the mind and the soul of the believer, and to which no compromises can be allowed to dispute the absolute authority of the Lord, in guiding the worshipper’s life, in its mundane as well as spiritual context. This declaration is not a matter of convenience only for the entry pass to the fold of the faithful, or the citizenship of the Nation of Islam – the nation that does not recognize race, color or ethnic background of its believers, or even the boundaries or artificial borders that serve to cut the Nation, in present times, to the fake jigsaw puzzle, that seem to serve as a convenience for the majority of the despots that oversee the affairs of Moslem States, in their various forms and constitutions. Thus the declaration must be viewed in a universal context and the current international political map of the Moslem World has no significance as far as this declarations is concerned, for the Moslem is bound to work towards the elimination of such boundaries and to insist that every Moslem is a bona-fide citizen of every Moslem state, no matter what the international new order insists or no matter what the authoritarian regimes that rule over the Moslem states insist on as “national” affiliations. In Islam, there is only one nation, indivisible, under God with liberty and justice for all. If we cannot come to this kind of assumption about the allegiances of the faithful, then the blood of all those who died for the cause of Islam for 15 centuries would have gone in vain. The declaration implies more than a political, economic and social affiliation of the worshipper, for it means that the declarer has pledged his allegiance to the service of the Lord, who is indeed entitled to this pledge, and which can never be broken by its maker. While this declaration is broken down into two parts, both still serve to emphasize the Oneness of the Divine and insist that there can be no partnership in the Divinity. Moreover as great and pious as the Prophet Mohammed (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was, he is still never to be attributed to be of any part of the Divine, but rather as a product and miracle of His own work, As Adam, Jesus Christ and Moses were before him – mortals assigned to carry out a blessed mission for their Lord and Maker. This declaration not only assures the unity of the Divine Creator, but also educates the Moslem to comprehend that mortals, in all their status and forms are also of a one humble status, in the eyes of the Lord and in the eyes of the believers as well. Thus any human beings that insist on claiming excessive power and force over the believers that is without mandate of the rest of the faithful is acting theoretically against this declaration, and does not have any blessings from the Lord Al-Mighty whatsoever. This is the fundamental principle that underlies the spiritual as well as the political implications of Islam. Thus, any mortals that seek to be glorified and deified beyond reasonable cause and in difference to this declaration should be considered as vying for quasi-spiritual status that no man has a right to even seek or claim. It is in this that the magnificence of Islam should be really viewed and anything that seeks to alter this is heresy and is damned by the Al-Mighty and all true faithful Moslems. Islam came to underscore several modern concepts in human relations as well as the principles by which the relationships of the faithful with their Creator are based upon. Thus, it can be seen that there is just no room for authoritarian or despotic rule in Islam, just by looking in-depth at this declaration, and as firmly established by the Prophet Mohammed (P) and all the other messengers before him, as well as his early disciples, who insisted that any responsible official is to consider himself accountable to the believers, as well as to the Lord Al-Mighty for how they carry out the trust they have been burdened with. Authority in Islam is based on severe criteria, which include that the official must understand that his declaration of this testimonial is the guiding principle by which he carries out his responsibility and if he fails to understand that any effort to turn that office into a private ego trip is in defiance of this declaration and worthy of the resistance of the faithful and the wrath of the Al-Mighty together. Any Moslem failing to see this has deprived himself of the sense of freedom and liberty that the worshipper enjoys as a member of the faithful and surely brings upon himself great suffering and deprivation, both in a material and spiritual sense. It is hard to believe that very few Moslems truly understand Islam along these lines, and if they do, they lack the courage to insist that they are either given these freedoms and rights or else they are getting what they deserve! Therefore, it is imperative that Moslems understand what their faith in Islam means and what is the outcome of uttering this fundamental declaration. God is supreme and all authority must be based on what He has clearly ordained in the Qur’an, and it is up to the Moslem worshipper to safeguard the sanctity of this declaration and to prevent any mortal from overstepping the boundaries, which this declaration truly implies, and the rights and freedoms that this declaration truly give the believer in Allah. Islam is a dynamic revolutionary religion that insists on a high degree of activism by the believers to ensure that no one defies the underlying principles of the monotheism that is emphasized by this declaration, and how this declaration was manifested by the Prophet Mohammed and the four orthodox caliphs and other pious Moslem leaders that came and went over the ages. We will deal with the other Pillars of Islam in the forthcoming articles. A Bane Permeating into Society Mohammed Al-Hakimi Yemen Times Taiz Office We would like to discuss one of the most significant issues that has disastrous consequences on society. It is inactivity which stands firmly as a barrier before any forward step made by any society. Our society is no exception. The other day, I read an interview by YT with a number of people at the helm and high brow pundits. The theme of the interview was highlighting the recent-day position of the Yemeni intellectual. In fact, I was deeply impressed by such strenuous efforts by YT to focus on issues concerning culture and society. It is culture and intellectuals who determine the destiny of a country and contribute to the advancement of the civilization. In the endeavor, civilized people create a great number of intellectuals who participate in creating stepping stones for a decent life. However, it is distressing to note that the Yemeni intellectual remains withdrawn in the corridor of ignorance. These things are wrongfully practiced against him by king-pins and persons who are in positions of responsibility who ignore his terrible sufferings, show a lack of concern, overlook the need for support for fulfillment of his aspiration of shifting from the recent dark position into a richer life through more effective and efficient performance. The people concerned in the government have been talking about their financial problems, especially those in the Ministry of Culture, giving hollow excuses and making no practical solutions. Thus, we are confronted with the sordid reality that we are not preparing our youngsters for tomorrow and thus our potential and faculties remain dormant. I wonder how the intellectual can pursue knowledge, perusing standard books and authors in the absence of libraries containing the storehouse of human wisdom. In addition to this it’s very difficult for the intellectual to get his work published and thus lots of creative pundits and talents are kept confined. If we reckon the recent cultural scene to be full of positive improvements, especially creative writings, we should pave the way for the intellectual to become established. Recently, private cultural institutions have shown too much prejudice. The fall-out is that the desired role of those private institutions in improving the local cultural scene doesn’t prove to be effective, and thus the future prospects of most intellectuals are mortgaged to a dark future. In conclusion, I hope this investigation initiated by YT will succeed in achieving the goals it had aimed at. I would like to receive feedback on the issue from our readers, both inside and outside the country. You are most welcome to share with us your suggestions and views which would certainly make the end-result of such investigation worth-while. It’s true that civilization is only made by enlightened and high-brow individuals. Yet, many people choose clinging to ignorance and inactivity. Oh sparks of moon, for thee I seek Oh starts of noon, dust off thy reek Stand by thee, get sight of light Defame incult, discard that sleek Abdul-Hakim Afaqih abdulhakim73@hotmail.com As far as kidnapping is concerned, it can be said that it is an indication of the wild form in a community. Kidnapping has its historical root in any community which still suffers from. Our history is full of evidences and events that kidnapping is a vital phenomenon. Even the best modern Yemeni literary masterpiece is the novel of Mr. Zaid Damag which is entitled “The Hostage.” Kidnapping is a sign of the ill exercise of law and government and the absence of the modern state. However, in Yemen, it has become a form of a joke. One starts to be skeptical and thinks that the government itself stands behind the kidnapping and perhaps in the near future there will be the Ministry of Kidnapping and Tourism. Factually, it seems that the government itself gets benefits from kidnapping. These benefits appear in the following points; 1. It is a distraction for the international media from the actual crises of political or economical shortcomings. 2. Kidnapping offers an opportunity for the government media to change local and international opinion against the opposition by accusing them of kidnapping the guests of the generous Yemeni people. 3. Kidnapping creates a chance for the government to train its staff in the art of negotiating. 4. Kidnapping in some provinces creates a chance for the government to train the soldiers how to use weapons in live battles instead of practice ones. 5. Kidnapping creates a chance for the government to claim that its educational plan is succeeding because they give the learners in tribal areas a chance to practice languages with native speakers and to instruct the faculty of the languages of using kidnapping instead of scholarships. 6. Since very rare cases end by killing hostages, kidnapping is a nice successful propaganda for attracting tourists to visit Yemen and live the experience of being kidnapped in happy accommodation circumstances. So the government supports kidnapping, does it not? Is it not the government of the “Republic of Kidnapping?” Will it cooperate with the Parliament in establishing the Law of Kidnapping. Dr P.N.Ramani, Associate Professor of English, Faculty of Education, Sana’a University, Sana’a In my earlier article,“Whither In-Service Training?”(Yemen Times, dt. Nov.20,2000), I had observed that the organizers of in-service programs expect the participant teachers to begin to use the materials and methods ‘recommended’ on these programs by ‘specialists’. However, our common experience is that some teachers may try to adopt the ‘new’ methods and materials for a while after the training, but a large number of them, sooner or later, tend to slide back into their ‘normal’ routines and practices without the training program having had any impact on them. My contention is that such a situation is inevitable because the conventional teacher training programs tend to emphasize ‘new knowledge’ – the aim is often to help the teachers to improve their knowledge and expertise in the subjects they teach. Besides, these programs adopt an advisory mode; that is, professional advice is given by a subject specialist and the teachers are merely required to take the advice. In other words, the approach is ‘top-down’ in that the recommendations for improving the classroom practices, principally based on theory, are handed down by the specialists (and through them by the policy makers and administrators) to the teachers for implementation. Teaching is often treated as if it were an industry where those higher up in the power structure (or authority) make all the policy decisions and the workers lower down the hierarchy merely carry out those decisions. An alternative approach worth trying is ‘bottom-up’ in nature – that is, the process of teacher development starts from the bottom rung of the hierarchy, namely the teachers and their learners. It starts from the actual site of the action, the classroom. The pressure to change comes from the teachers and the learners who actually feel the need to change. The emphasis is on the teacher’s learning through personal enquiry rather than through transmitted advice. If language teaching is to be a genuinely professional enterprise, which it ought to be, it calls for continual experimentation and evaluation. In seeking to be more effective in their teaching, the teachers can, at the same time, and in that process, provide for their own continuing education and development. Teachers must have the honesty to examine critically their own practices and experience, and confront their failures as well as successes. They must also have the courage to try out new solutions to problems in the classroom, to take risks, and to learn from taking risks. The professional development of teachers depends upon their capacity to adopt a research stance towards their teaching. Such a stance involves teachers producing accounts (even first person narrative) of their classroom practices and their own reflections on those practices. Through such an exercise, teachers will have a clearer understanding of their own classroom experiences. This approach will also make teachers understand that they have a responsibility for their own development. Teachers should be encouraged to collaborate in classroom research on a common theme or issue. Development may be limited if the teachers have only their own experience to draw on when reflecting about practical problems. Collaborative research would also help the teachers build a more supportive and trusting relationship with their colleagues, and to realize the mutual benefits that would accrue from this. Teacher-based research should penetrate the theme or issue so deeply as to draw out its implications for educational policy. The idea is that improvements in educational practice should be grounded in insights generated by the teachers themselves. It is in this context that the concept of Action Research is appealing. Action Research aims to contribute to the practical concerns of people in an immediate problematic situation. It encourages systematic attempts to improve educational practice by groups of teachers by means of their own practical actions and by means of their own reflections upon the effects of those actions. It involves trying out an idea in practice with a view to improving or changing the present situation, trying to have a real effect on the situation. Thus, the teachers can organize the conditions under which they can learn from their own experience. The stages of Action Research are: reflecting, planning, acting, observing, and reflecting again. Critical enquiry by the teachers themselves becomes the basis for effective action. Through this process, the teachers become self-reflective, self-monitoring,self-evaluating individuals. And this is the true meaning of Teacher Development. |
Advertise | Subscribe | Feedback | Discussion
Yemenis Abroad | Weather | Classified
Postcards | Links | Newsletter
Opinion Poll
Any comments or suggestions should be emailed to Yemen Times Webmaster