Whilst the Dar-ul-Ulooms based in our villages are doing fantastic work to help educate our young men especially and a growing number of our young women to serve the Muslim community we feel there is a very urgent need to provide all Dar-ul-Uloom students with more awareness about the new and emerging needs of our SURTI SUNNI VOHRA people and all our Muslim brothers and sisters. We feel and our readers will agree with us that in the absence of any formal or informal organisations to help us live as practising Muslims in a very fast changing world we need guidance from our learned persons who have the education to help us to stay close to the expectations of our religion.
The religious education that our Ulema have is invaluable but with it we feel they also need to be acquainted with all or most of the issues that help make up the challenges we all face. We feel we need Ulema who have the awareness and the knowledge that will allow them to engage with our people and provide us with information, advice and guidance to help us steer clear of those things which will harm our religious beliefs and take us away from our religion.
Besides enabling the students to acquire religious education we feel Dar-ul-Uloom students must be helped to become aware of and familiar with the issues we VOHRAS as well as all Muslims face. We all as Muslims need to admit that we as Muslims need help to know of the changes taking place around us and how these are affecting us and weakening our religious beliefs. We feel we Muslims must not be left on our own to steer clear of those issues that will take us away from our religious beliefs. We need information, guidance as well as support to help us give up the bad habits or practices we have fallen for and we need assistance as well as monitoring to move on to what is expected of us and stay firmly committed to it.
Our Dar-ul-ulooms have over the years taken some of their students' learning as well as skills acquiring needs into consideration. To help their students some of the Dar-ul-Ulooms made provisions to help the students acquire tailoring skills. Some employed those with knitting skills to teach students to learn to knit Topis. Many of our Dar-ul-Ulooms employed teachers to help their students to acquire English language speaking skill. In recent years many of our Dar-ul-Ulooms have invested heavily in buying computers to enable their students to acquire computing skills. Whilst all these efforts on the part of those in charge of organising and managing Dar-ul-Ulooms are to be appreciated, we feel we should turn our attention to the needs we Muslims now face and try to equip our Dar-ul-Ulooms students to deal with these.
The needs of our VOHRA brothers and sisters and all other Muslims are many which we feel need to be attended to with some urgency. We feel most our VOHRA brothers and sisters as well as other Muslims are faced with many dilemmas brought about by the modernisation and Westernisation of our surroundings. Our VOHRA brothers and sisters as well as all Muslims are exposed to the influences of people with different religious beliefs, different lifestyles and different ways of earning their livings. All of us are exposed to what the film making industry and television channels churn out and all of us are exposed to what the newspapers say and what the mobile phone helps convey.
We are not trying to say or insinuate that our Muslim brothers and sisters do not understand or do not have the ability to understand. Like others our people do have the ability to understand but we feel many a times our religious expectations are put a side to make place for what the outside world tells us or expects of us. We feel as Muslims we need to have a lot of awareness, information, understanding and knowledge and commitment to our religion to help us from succumbing to whatever we see, hear or whatever we are told. We feel we need ongoing help from our learned persons to help us ward off practices which do not conform to our religious expectations.
There is a need we feel to equip our Dr-ul-Uloom students, both males and females with a better understanding of changes and challenges that we Muslims face and there is a need to equip the students with information and awareness to help communicate better and in meaningful ways with fellow Muslims as well as with those who are not Muslims. We feel that the needs of our Muslims are many and all of these cannot be met by teaching Madressa and Dar-ul-uloom students or by some graduates serving as Imams and by delivering Bayaans.
The religious education our young men and women acquire from Dar-ul-Ulooms we feel could be used in different ways to get our fellow Muslims to understand their religion better and become better at practising their religion. We feel our young men who graduate from Dar-ul-Ulooms must not be tied down to teaching in Madressas and Dar-ul-ulooms and serving as Imaams. Similarly, our young women with Dar-ul-Uloom education must not be tied down to teaching in Madressas and Dar-ul-Ulooms. We feel we need to help create new opportunities for our Dar-ul-Uloom
We feel our Dar-ul-Uloom students should be helped to leave their institutions of learning with a firm commitment to serve people, Muslims as well as those who are not Muslims as expected by our religion. A firm commitment on the part of the students will help them learn about people and their needs and how they see the changes and challenges they face. The information they pick up from those they meet with will help the students to put forth what ISLAM expects of its followers.
To engage meaning fully with people of various walks of life students will need good language and communication skills. Besides these the students will need some awareness of history, geography, psychology and other subjects to allow them to put forth meaningful suggestions to those they meet with. |
It is very unfortunate that deadly and harmful social evils are speedily pouring in our community. In fact these social evils have developed into institutions. The carriers of these social evils are none but human beings. Bribery and corruption are ruling every-where. These curse-like social evils have put a stop to true progress, equality, development and hope for a better future.
Bribery is a way of life with our public and many government functionaries. This critical and serious situation has caud the world agencies to rank Pakistan as one of the most corrupt countries. Hoarding and black-marketing are the twin evils that cause abnormal rise in prices and suffering of the people.
Smulling is also a social evil that is extremely harmful to the country’s economy. When goreign goods are smuggled into the country on a large scale, the local industry, business and agriculture suffer. Further more the government of the country cannot collect taxes and duties on the smuggled goods.
Before Islam was spread on the earth, the women were subjected to social evils. The Arabs used to bury their daughter alive so that they do not have to bent down before their going-to-be son-in-law. But in case of Pakistan, this tradition seems to be operative in other ways.
‘Karo-Kari’ is an old tradition prevailing in the Sindh province accordingto which when a man and woman are found suspected to have relations, the tribal ‘jurga’ may give the verdict to kill them both even if the suspected crime could not be proved, which is against the morality and humanity.
Due to poverty and to supplement household income, children are forced to work. As the father cannot afford another social evil that is ‘Jahez’, the poor daughter remains unmarried. At times, the situation becomes so horrible for the girl that she has no course left but to commit suicide by taking poison or burning herself. Unfortunately even if she gets married, she is ridiculed and tortured for the rest of her life for doings she never committed in her life.
Injustice is one of the most harmful social evils that wrong all of society. If an officer in a department, a judge in a court of law, a manager in a factory or any person in authority is unjust, he corrupts the very fabric of the society.
It is unfortunate that even after more than half a century of independence; we are still gripped by a number of deadly and harmful social evils. Since these ugly and unwarranted evils are engraved in our culture and destroying the atmosphere of peaceful living.
Man and woman are the two wheels of the social cart. Both of them must be equally strong. But in our society women are illiterate. They are denied their due rights. Illieracy is most wide-spread among women. Special attention should be paid towards female education. This will remove many evils from the society. Women will become equal partness with men in the work of the development of the society.
Our marriage customs must be reformed. Child-marriage and early marriage have no place in social life today. Boys and girls must be given some say in the selection of their partners. A law which make dowry haunting a legal officence should be passed. No business in the form of marriage be allowed as this is a great social curse.
Now a days, we do not get the necessities of life in pure form. Milk, ghee,butter,oil etc all are sold adulterated. Not only food stuffs, but medicines, toilet goods and their articles also are mixed with inferior and cheaper substances. This amounts to cheating of the people. This is a social crime. All possible efforts to curb this nefarious trade be made. The people will be ensured of supply of pure and unadulterated goods.
The World Memon Organization, in his pursuit to discourage these deadly social evils, is making every possible effort along with other social organization for eradication of these evils as far as possible. How ever, it will be only through effective moral and social education of the people and the establishment of true political and social system, based on high moral principles, we can eradicate and bring social evils to an end.
For promotion of social justice and eradication of social evils, efforts at high level be made to promote, with special care, the educational and economic interests of backward areas. Remove illiteracy and provide free and compulsary secondary education within minimum possible period. Make technical and professional education generally available and higher education equally accessible to all on merit basis.
It is high time that immediate measures are taken on high level so that social justice is promoted. At the same time, it will help in eradication of these unwarranted and harmful social evils from the community.
Social reforms are urgently needed. There can be no second opinion about this. Others have made efforts. But the results have not been very encouraging. Top priority should be given to social reforms. Effective laws should be framed. Public laws in support of this be created. Administration should be made strict. Then alone will success be archieved.
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