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Read Me, My Teacher
The
knowing “self” of us humans is somehow wrapped in many layers of
modern ways of thinking. The very concept of knowledge and its
attainment is considered a given under modernity; one, and only one,
is the author of his/her own judgments. Against the modern, and
principally Western, mode of learning, all traditional ways of
learning are assumed to be uncritical and irrational.
One
that is bound by will to true and absolute knowledge must step back
and look at the systems of knowledge on hand, yet with inviting new
possibilities. The theory of knowledge (epistemology) and the
existing paradigms of knowledge, falling under scientific
rationality, are all already well-established themes that we do not
need to dwell upon.
With
that, reading--as an individual act to pursue knowledge--can as well
be looked at through alternative eyes.
Individualistic
Reasoning
Among
the main axioms of modernity is the freedom to read a text,
interpret, and judge. That freedom hosts a new dual relation between
the book and its reader. The book here is the text and the
teacher— all at once. Yet, the book, serving as a teacher, merely
discloses its structured message: no room for a two-way discussion
between the book as a teacher and the reader as a student. As a
result, readership gives itself an authority over the authorship.
And in its most overconfident manifestation, interpretation becomes
on par with criticism – a crisis of post-modernity. Perhaps that
form of criticism (mainly destructive, pursued for its own sake) is
a result of individualistic reasoning.
Summarizing,
and breaking away from philosophical argument, there are two values
that accompany the term “reason”: objectivity and freedom. In
the western paradigm of thinking, objectivity became synonymous with
“empirical” and “worldly.” Rationality fenced itself within
the experienced world. All that is beyond that world became out of
the limits of reason, irrational to think of.
As
for freedom, perhaps it can be better understood while looking at
the “causal” development of history. Freedom, which troubled
Europe throughout its dark, feudal and totalitarian phases, and
within the intellectual and religious oligopoly of the
Latin-affluent elite, became the honest evolutionary response to
humanity’s classical existential question. No wonder religious
freedom and freedom of the press, became the main motifs in
Enlightenment, Renaissance, secularism, and the Magna Carta.
Reading
in a Triangle
It
was a radical and doubtful frame of mind that shaped the mode of
learning in the age of enlightenment. It allowed the Western mind to
bypass religious authority and secularize; bypass intellectual
authority and deconstruct; bypass experienced authority and
experiment, and it was all for the sake of not “irritating”
reason.
This
is the basis upon which our reading manner was formed. Yet one can
still “rationally” and “freely” read and neither of these
rights can be violated if one can find a good teacher or
author, per se.
When
it comes to deciphering the Divine message in monotheistic
scriptures, reading takes an altogether different form. Instead of
the chain shaped relationship between the reader and the text,
reading takes place through a triangle; for the teacher becomes the
third party. The teacher here is another “human” figure: either
a prophet or a religious teacher.
Such
a figure is needed to educate and orient the recipient. This
structure has been stressed throughout the monolithic faiths.
Specifically in Islam, the role of the teacher, exemplified in the
functions of Prophet Muhammad – peace be upon him – and the ulama
(scholars) after him, is brought to the forefront in dealing with
the Qur’anic concept of ilm (knowledge).
And
in reading the text, whether religious or not, this triangle proves
itself to be more effective, insightful, and in tune with the
sincerity of learning. It sharpens both the comprehension and the
resulting articulation. It can be further applied to teachers,
professors, writers, or even trainers and coaches. In line with the
need to have a teacher or master to help guide the reader through
the text, Islam specifies this relation in many incidents in the
Qur’an and the stories of the Prophet. The teacher, whether a
religious one or not, must have the right qualifications (i.e.
knowledge and the experience).
As
the first revealed verses in the Noble Qur’an read:
In
the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful;
“Read:
In the name of thy Lord Who createth
Createth man from a clot
Read: And thy Lord is the Most Bounteous
Who teacheth by the pen,
Teacheth man that which he knew not.
Nay, but verily man is rebellious
That he thinketh himself independent!
Lo! unto thy Lord is the return.”
(Pickthal interpretation of the Qur’an, 96:1-8)
Building
on the message of those eloquent and powerful verses we can add the
following contentions; reading with having a higher cause in mind
and where Divine blessing is guaranteed; recognizing human mental
abilities; learning through "writing"—seeing the ideas
written—instead of just building one idea on the other in the head
(as the construction of every full idea and the structure of ideas
is more well-built in writing), writing comments and critique, and
taking extensive notes is an essential part of learning; not
believing in absolute "independence" in attaining
knowledge, where the role of the good teacher always fits.
One
proverb common between traditional fiqh sheikhs and scholars that
brings our triangle to light is the following:
"One
who learns fiqh from books, changes what is haram into halal and
what is halal into haram…
One
who learns astronomy from books, alters day and night…
One
who learns medicine from books, kills people…
And
one who learns fiqh from sheikhs is saved [from mislearning ] and
safe."
*
Tarek
A. Ghanem is an Egyptian freelance writer based in Cairo,
Egypt. He is specialized in comparative politics and is currently
assistant to the English section in Al-Siyassa Al-Dawliya
(International Politics), a quarterly journal published by Al-Ahram
Foundation, Cairo, Egypt. You can reach him at t.ghanem@islam-online.net
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