Divisive Knowledge

By Ayaan Qayyum, Founder and Chief Executive Officer

One of the scariest ayahs in the Quran is Surah Ash-Shuraa, ayah 14. “Those who were granted inheritance of the scripture after them are, concerning it, in disquieting doubt.” But why? What is the meaning of this ayah? What can we do about its significance?

The ayah is talking about firstly, knowledgeable people who received the Divine Revelation who disagreed with each other. Although the Quran and other holy scriptures are sources of absolute knowledge with little confusion, such people inherited the book in a climate of disagreement. There is constant refutation, disagreements, arguments. It seems as though there’s no consensus. (Sound familiar?) This is what Allah (SWT) is saying about the book itself, the same book that’s supposed to unite humanity and the world. Allah (SWT) sent prophets, messengers, and scriptures for this very reason. Yet, one may say, “The most knowledgeable in the book are the most divisive?” How? It seems that the more people who study the book the more they argue about its rulings and declarations. Rather, those people are supposed to use their energy and voice to be calling to unity! SubhanAllah! The problem seems to be that there is too much contradiction. The book itself must be wrong.” It is at this exact moment—the final stop of the train of thought—that the next generation doesn’t bother to study the book. “I don’t want to be like them! I don’t want anything to do with this!”

Then you see these people became antireligious intellectuals. A huge part of the Muslim community around the world who never come to the masjid justifies why. One so-called intellectual may say, “They’re all territorial, they judge you, they think they’re the closest to God. I don’t want anything to do with this stuff.” Their biggest argument becomes, “Those people who represent their religion are the biggest proof that religion is manmade.”

The people of knowledge have successfully been able to turn off the vast majority of Muslims from even becoming curious about Islam. It’s saddening. Absolutely saddening.

These people don't want to come to the masjid because they saw things in their home country that turned them off, ruining what they thought of it. They saw some things that just turned them off from the deen altogether, believing that abandoning religion is the key to achieve “enlightenment” or “freedom”.

Allah (SWT) is saying the cost of arguing and divisiveness is that the next generation is not confident—or even sure—about Islam. It will earn you the loss of an entire generation in this world and Hellfire for you in the next. La Hawla wala quwwata, illah billah.

The people of knowledge’s primary concern is supposed to be spreading the knowledge they gain, essentially making it easy for people to learn the basics, making it easy for people to have a foundation. What did this energy get wasted on? Pushing our own agenda. Expanding our own base. Calling people to us, not to them.

Dakwah is to go to people, invite the people and go to them. You don’t expect them to come to you.

We have become so self-indulgent as groups. “Our program should be the best! Our masjid should always be filled!” When you want to propel yourself, it’s arrogance. When you want to propel your institution in this context, it’s communal arrogance. We took this individual competition and made it an institutional competition. In its essence, it is supposed to be individual cooperation that evolves into institutional cooperation. Keep that in mind. May Allah (SWT) grant us the strength, ability, and time to educate ourselves more to make the next generation a better one.

Sources:

FreeQuranEducation. “Divisive Knowledge - How it impacts Next Generations” YouTube, uploaded by FreeQuranEducation, 21 Jan 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-cyTO1Fm1w.