A Lifelong Passion
Iqbal believes that the Islamic political system has
sufficient adaptability to meet contemporary exigencies
By Zubair Masood
Dr Parveen Shaukat Ali is an accomplished scholar and educationist,
and a prolific writer. She has served as professor and
vice-principal in two of
(1986-90). She was born in
grandfather Syed Faizul
Hassan Shah was
grandfather Hakim Ahmad Shuja was a
famous playwright. Parveen's father Feroze Hassan Shah was an
alumni and her uncle Syed Fida Hassan has the honour of being the longest serving chief secretary of
Following in the footsteps of such distinguished
forebears, Parveen has had a lifelong passion for
learning. She did her
graduation from St Anne's College,
Master of Arts in Political
Science. Thereafter, she joined
the academia as faculty, to which profession she is still
associated as part-time teacher at the Women and Gender
Studies Department,
Parveen's quest for knowledge has taken her to far off
places across the globe. Soon after joining the academia, she got a
Fulbright scholarship to pursue
postgraduate studies in Political Science at the
landed a Commonwealth scholarship to do Master of
Literature from
seminal work on Allama Iqbal's political thought and was awarded a PhD degree by
University of the
her academic pursuit did not end there and, in 1972,
she did Barrister at Law from
Parveen has all along been a prolific writer. In addition
to countless articles in newspapers and journals, she has authored
eight books. Her first book, entitled Political
Philosophy of Iqbal, is based on her doctoral
dissertation and gives the
reader a soulful insight into the poet philosopher's deep
felt concern for the Muslim Umma's plight. Her latest
book deals
with the life and dark times of Gen Ziaul
Haq. Her other books -- Pillars of British
Imperialism, Legal Status of Women in
the
and The Prophet as the World's Great Law Giver -- as their titles suggest, deal with subjects
of singular relevance to the
Muslims.
Her books -- a testament to her reverence for Islam
-- won her the Presidential Seerah Award in 1987.
Moreover, because of
her work for the betterment of women, she was made a
member of the Women Rights Committee in 1976. In 1980,
Institute declared her woman of the year. She was
recently in
follow:
The News on Sunday: Would you like to tell us
something about Allama Iqbalís
political philosophy?
Parveen Shaukat Ali: Allama Iqbal derived his
political philosophy from Quranic precepts that were
lying under the debris of
centuries of superimposed interpretations of jurists,
mystics and commentators. Iqbal cleared this debris
to rediscover the
basic principles. He then examined these principles, analysed them in the light of latest upsurge of human
knowledge,
synthesised them through ijtihad
(independent reasoning) and finally transformed them into something more
workable for the
present times.
TNS: Is Iqbal's political
philosophy relevant for Muslims in the post-9/11 world?
PSA: While believing in Islam's fundamental values,
Iqbal advocates the importance of ijtihad
to restructure Islamic thought
according to evolving socio-political conditions. He
believes that the Islamic political system has sufficient adaptability
to meet contemporary exigencies.
TNS: Is Iqbal's political
philosophy of any use in the modern pluralistic societies?
PSA: Iqbal was not a
narrow-minded theologian and his ideas on politics are useful for modern
pluralistic societies. He was
fully conversant with Eastern and Western philosophies
and he approached Islam's basic principles with clarity of vision. His
unbiased attitude offers a contrast to the narrow sectarian
interpretations of the priestly classes. Iqbal
regarded rigidity
and stagnation as contrary to the spirit of Islam.
TNS: We claim that Islam has given due rights to
women, but Muslim communities are notorious for maltreating their womenfolk.
What are the causes of this outrageous situation?
PSA: Islamic egalitarianism should ordinarily leave
no room for discrimination between the sexes. However, due mainly to
illiteracy and ignorance, women are not aware of their legal
rights. Moreover, most societies in the Muslim world are
patriarchal and, due to male chauvinism, women are maltreated
and exploited. The women are getting a raw deal because of
prevalence of indigenous tribal customs in backward Muslim
societies. Islam does not support barbaric customs like karo
kari,
vani and honour killings.
TNS: Most developing countries currently have
little to offer their women by way of legal status. How can we make life easier
for women in these countries?
PSA: In the developing countries, women do need
legal protection against the constraints of customs and male notions of
superiority. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human
Rights must be strictly implemented in all countries to enable
women to have equality of opportunity in education,
professions, and all spheres of social, economic and political life.
TNS: Do you support separate schools, colleges and
universities for girls?
PSA: There is nothing wrong with coeducation per
se, except that at school and college levels it might distract young boys
and girls. Moreover, some conservative families are
reluctant to send their girls to coeducational institutions, thus
depriving them of benefits of education. It is, therefore, better if the students and their parents have
a choice between
coeducational and segregated institutions. But, resources being
limited, this may not always be possible especially at the
university level, in which case resort can be had to
coeducational institutions.
TNS: Are you satisfied with the state of higher
education in
PSA: No. I am not satisfied with the state of
higher education in
standards all across the country. Most university teachers
come unprepared to the classes and they often dish out a rehash of
their class notes written years back. Their knowledge is
hopelessly outdated. University libraries do not have the latest
works of eminent modern scholars in the arts and
sciences. The emphasis, unfortunately, is more on rote memory than on
critical thinking and independent research.
TNS: How can we improve the standard of higher
education in
PSA: For that, we need a stringent quality control
over both teachers and students. More often than not, a majority of people
joining the teaching profession are those who could not
get into more lucrative and prestigious professions like the civil
service. There should be a careful search for people with
genuine love for learning. Similar sifting process should be
applied to students aspiring for higher education at the
postgraduate level. The teaching methodology should also be changed
to include active learning with greater participation
of students in classroom discussions and the learning process. The
examination system should also be upgraded to the semester
system, because it ensures year round commitment from students.
TNS: What are your views on the mushrooming of
private schools, colleges, universities and tuition centres
in the country?
PSA: Education is what civilisation
is all about, but our successive governments have not accorded due priority to
it. They
have never spent enough on this important state function.
Thus failure on the part of the government to provide adequate
schools and colleges for an ever-growing population has
resulted in a mushrooming of sub-standard private educational
institutions in the country. Some private institutions are good,
but they are very expensive and not within reach of even the
so called well-to-do. The government has also not
evolved any foolproof method to regulate and monitor the working of private
institutions. This does not mean that we have any proper monitoring
system for government-run schools. Tuition centres, I
think, are real anathema. They are increasing because
most teachers are unwilling to do any meaningful teaching during normal
classes, due mainly to financial reasons.
TNS: During the last four decades, there has been
an ever-increasing emphasis on technological education at the cost of
liberal education in the humanities. How do you view this
development?
PSA: The emphasis on technological education is
understandable. It has greater potential to provide livelihood in the present
world and more and more people are, therefore, viewing
liberal education in the humanities as a luxury. But this is an
unhealthy trend and must be arrested; and even while
imparting technological education, the students must be exposed to some
bare minimum instruction in humanities to sensitise them about human values and the beauty and splendour of life.
TNS: Should we Islamise
education in the Muslim world?
PSA: Giving our students some knowledge about
Islamic ideology and practices should be helpful in creating a more law-abiding
and more civic-minded society. Islam teaches that all
human beings being equal should get equal opportunities and those who
are deprived amongst us should receive the highest
priority. Islam states that all human beings should be treated with
dignity. If these abiding values are made part of our
curriculum, it shall help students achieve a higher moral character.
TNS: How do you view madrassa
education in
PSA: Madrassa education
in its present state has serious flaws. It is confined to rather orthodox type
of religious
instruction, giving birth to narrow-mindedness and ethnic
bias. But we can improve madrassa education by
bringing it in line
with mainstream education, by reforming its curricula
to include subjects like mathematics, modern sciences and literature in
addition to Islamic Studies. This shall give madrassa students a multi-disciplinary knowledge and help
them understand the
modern world they are living in. This shall also make
them more relevant and acceptable to the present day job market.
TNS:
PSA:
average spent less than two percent of GNP on education.
In order to improve literacy, the government shall have to commit
itself to this all important task. Moreover, I feel that
well-to-do families should voluntarily come forward and set up
literacy centres in the country
on self-help basis. They should also run schools for poor children.
TNS: You have been a student of political science
almost all your life. What exactly is wrong with the political situation in
PSA: The political system in
which only serve to divide and confuse the people.
Feudalism is another curse faced by our poor nation. Democracy can never
function properly in a feudal system, where the rich and
influential waderas treat their tenants as no better
than slaves.
Voting in such a system becomes meaningless,
because it throws up the same self-seekers and unscrupulous opportunists in the
assemblies. Drastic land reforms are, therefore, needed to
restructure the political system in the country. Moreover, our
army top brass -- through repeated interventions, coups
and takeovers -- has created a political vacuum, which is becoming
hard to fill.
Courtesy: The News