Mirza Yawar Baig – Living Islam – Raising a Muslim Child #09
AI: Summary ©
The importance of learning to read and write in school is crucial for children to gain practical knowledge and gain practical values. The responsibility of parents and educators is raised, and the importance of ethics and values is emphasized. The importance of trusting oneself and empowering others to contribute to society is emphasized, as well as the need for schools to reach only three things, namely literacy, reading, and writing. The importance of sharing one's wealth and empowering others to contribute to society is emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa Salatu was Salam ala shortfilm ba well mousseline Muhammad Rasul Allah is Allah Allah Allah, Allah Allah, he was having to sell them to Steven cathedra and cathedra from Abbado sisters in this living Islam series, and raising of children, something that I have said for a long time. And I want to say it again. Today, seriously speaking, given artificial intelligence, given the internet, and given open source,
open source
data.
The reason for sending children to school
to acquire subject knowledge about certain subjects has become completely redundant.
The only thing that children need to do today is to be literate and numerate, they should be able to read and write and they shouldn't be able to know numbers.
After that,
formal schooling, formal teaching, especially textbook teaching, which is really the Pittsburgher the textbook attempts to dumb down knowledge and give it at a level where somebody in their ivory tower and in their arrogance believes that it is simple enough for children to understand.
And the way it is taught, of discrete discrete subjects,
completely unrelated to each other, makes it even worse. So
to some extent, or the other, to the greater extent, or lesser extent,
the way that children have learned, and we went through the same same messy system
is to memorize
understanding of knowledge, assimilating of knowledge, digesting of knowledge, using that knowledge in practical experiences, and gaining some hands on experience, hands on,
you know, hands on understanding of that all of these are redundant, as long as you memorize and regurgitate. At the time, which is called exams, which also only test random recall memory.
This is the absolute rarity, this is our schooling is so redundant and so, so pathetic, that I have I mean, I'm sick and tired of talking about it. But that is a reality. Anyway, that's something to think about. So basically, children don't need schools. So what the schools really teach if you really want to have schools.
And I believe that schools need to reach only three things. One is literacy, reading and writing number two, which is language, whichever language you're teaching or languages, ideally languages, because you want them to be able to be able to communicate across cultures, and you understand a culture only when you understand the language. So languages. Number two is numbers. And I'm not talking about advanced mathematics and trigonometry and calculus I'm talking about is understanding numbers, how the numbers work. And the third thing that children need and really that is the number one thing that we should we start with that is ethics and values. And in those ethics and values
that to which are absolutely critical is truthfulness and kindness.
There is nothing that supersedes this truthfulness and kindness and I really hold parents responsible for this is not schools. Today, we have gone to a stage where we have outsourced parenting to schools. Right. And schools that we are very good at inventing terminologies, they call it pastoral teaching, as if the teachers are pastors and the and these people are our congregants of that church.
It is not the job of schools to raise your child, it is your job to raise your child
schools and mothers and Imams and Muslims and whoever
can add some value as a bonus as a, you know, whatever gifts special outside.
But the primary responsibility for which you will be held accountable as the mother and the father is the raising of your children. So today in today's world, as I said, not we don't need those schools, we, in all knowledge, including massive databases of global universities, like MIT, for example, are are on open source. You can just go and you can study. You can sit in any MIT class, just if you have an internet connection, no money, nothing. They won't give you a degree at the end of that a piece of paper but you as far as the knowledge is concerned. It's available
If you go and not only one is Udemy, there are multiple
websites and multiple apps and multiple organizations,
which
where your children can study practically everything on the face of the earth.
I'm talking about basic school knowledge. I'm not saying you can learn cardiac surgery on the internet, but you know,
you can, almost to the point you get there, you can learn, you can learn this on your own on the Internet for free. There's no cost involved.
Except what you pay for your internet connection.
So what most schools teach, and what was parents teach values, truthfulness, and kindness is a two very, very critical things are the most critical things truthfulness, and kindness. Now
the reason for this is as we raise children, so we create the society that we live in.
And we have succeeded in creating a society that is rich in resources, and poor in the willingness to share. As I speak to you today, Russia has invaded Ukraine.
And the whole hoo ha, is about a gas pipeline between Russia and Germany that passes through okay.
Now, I'm not this is not a political discussion. Yes. I'm not going into the politics of this whole thing. But my point is that 2022
Did you indeed you think that a country could just walk into another country with its military and take it over?
It's happening before our eyes.
Why? Because of the lack of these two things, truthfulness and kindness, lack of that, and that's why we have hunger and we have poverty.
People have sometimes you see a hungry person, a poor person begging, so why doesn't God do something God did something God created you.
Practically, not practically. In reality, anyone who's watching this video has the ability to feed one hungry person every day of their life. Anyone watching this video has the ability to send one child to school or to make one child literate.
Because you're watching this video, either on your smartphone or on your computer, there is no other way of watching it.
Which means that you are at that economic level where you can afford this.
So why Why can't you feed one hungry person every day, make this make this a goal of your life and say, I will feed one hungry person every single day.
Do that this will be the route to your janma agenda as well.
So instead of blaming Allah subhanaw taala and saying why doesn't God do something, he did something great with you.
But you decided to remove kindness of your heart. So you can you can look at a hungry person, that person is still starving, and you can make some remark and walk away.
Seriously, we have to question ourselves.
The reason people are hungry is because people who have far more than what they what they need, are unwilling to share that
result as a result, I'm said except for what is the only what you are is a closed for example, except for what is essential for you. Give away everything else he said, because otherwise Allah will question you for it.
So I must, I'm saying this very, very clearly now. Our society therefore is rich in material and poor in morals and spirit. And that is why we have evil and sin. Our society is rich in information, but poor in wisdom.
We are bombarded with information. But we don't know what to do that we don't know how to assimilate that we don't know how to understand digest that.
And that's why very interestingly, the most educated nations among us are the most barbaric.
That is why we have people in some countries starving to death.
While the UK Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs report says
we throw away 7.2 million tonnes of food and drink from our homes every year. 7.2 million tons of food and drink is thrown away garbage. In the United Kingdom alone one little country like that. This is this costs us 12 billion a year harms the environment and waste risks wastes resources in the UK food industry. Waste is estimated to cost 5 billion per year and I'm reading too from the
Report of the UK Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs.
Now add the two and which is 12 billion and 5 billion pounds. That is not dollar. This is pound sterling. You have 17 billion of food waste in Britain alone.
And in case you think this is a, this is a case of the bad British. Here is what Washington Post says about food waste in America. Yeah, I'm with the I've given you the links of that. And I quote from this article, The Washington Post says in 2012, the most recent year for which estimates are available, Americans threw out roughly 35 million tons of food, according to the environment, Environmental Protection Agency, and that is 20% more food than the United States tossed out into in the year 2,050% More than 9090 and nearly three times what is what Americans discarded in 1960 when the country threw out what now looks like a paltry amount of 12 point 2 million tons. That's a food
waste is going up.
It food waste is going up Why is starvation also going up? Why is poverty also going up? Why is hunger also wake up?
Because the food is wasted. It is not distributed.
It's okay if you don't need to eat it, but you can give it to somebody who needs it. But we don't have kindness we don't teach kindness. We don't teach collaboration. We don't teach sharing. We don't teach you know, thinking about others.
Our whole focus is grab grab grab.
The report also say States every year consumers in rich countries waste almost as much food which is 222 million tonnes as the entire net for production of Sub Saharan Africa which is 230 million tonnes.
So is it a issue of
food production and distribution or is it an issue of lack of concern for others?
In India, for example, in 23rd figure in 2013, and this is a one of the poorest countries in the world.
We wasted 44,000 crores worth of food every year, wasted fruits and vegetables 13,000 crops 15 to 20% of cooked food at weddings and in restaurants is also trashed. India produces 250 million tons of food grain but consumes
to 22 to 25,000,200 50 million people go to bed go to bed hungry every night. 250 million is roughly one quarter of the population of India. They go to bed hungry every night. Why?
The report released by again I'm quoting only from official government sources
report released by the Ministry of statistics and program development. 2012 states that 48% of children are stunted, indicating that half the country's children suffer from chronic malnutrition.
We have created a society that has concentrated power and wealth in the hands of a few and this is a very, very few.
The top
point 00 1%
is eight people eight men
in a world which has a population of what now.
7 billion subsisting right, the equator a society that has concentrated power and wealth in the hands of a few who have no concern for others. These are the people who have the resources to actually create a world without hunger, educated, and proper medical aid, where there are no homeless and which is free from a world incidentally, which will be far better off materially with a much stronger market demand and the ability to pay for goods and services. being charitable and concern for others is not only morally sound, but makes good business sense
that you read seakeeper last book, it's called the Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, the Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid by seek a professor CK prologue did his book.
However, instead of this, these smart people have created a world that has the capacity of destroying itself. They say 40 times over. Nobody stops to ask how this will happen the second time, let alone another 38 times.
Dr. David Romae says look at how one spends his money and you will know his priorities. So with people so with nations
what you spend your money on shows your priorities
Now, how does all this
relate to the raising of children, but every one of those, taking those decisions, the decisions of where to spend, what to do, whether to go to war or not. And they told you as I'm speaking now, to you, we are looking at the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. And guess what?
Look at the share values of the elements, companies.
And you will see there is a spike
in the share value of armaments companies, wars happened, because wars enables some people to make lots of money.
wars happen because wars create profits, they create profit at the expense of loss of life at the expense of destruction of economies at the expense of enormous, unbelievable misery.
But they don't care. Because that doesn't affect that
the people who are making that money at the expense of somebody else's death.
And the destruction of their lives.
Don't live in those places, they live somewhere else. So they can afford to create death and destruction and get wealthy in the process. And they are very happy with that.
I think about that, that all of those people who are taking these decisions today,
whether it's butane, or whether it is whoever it is,
there was a time when that person was a little child.
There was a time when that little person was a toddler, there was a time when that little person was running around in diapers, there was a time when that little person was going up.
And there was a time when that little person's mind was open to being influenced
by the elders around him around.
What was the effect of that influence?
What was that influence? The reason I'm saying this to you is not so that we can
malign whoever is there today.
Or limit them. I'm saying that because as I speak to you today, there are little ones who are in our control and power,
who are susceptible to the influence that we can create for them or for their benefit or their
loss. What do we do?
Do we take intelligent decisions about this and say, I am going to create
a system or I'm going to teach them how to survive how to how to do well. I'm going to teach them how to be concerned about people and so on, or am I going to push them into the same dog eat dog kind of society that we have.
So as I said, some parents at that time,
Putin's parents, Donald Trump's parents, Joe, Joe Biden's parents, my parents, your parents, whoever's parents, they wrote the script for that child.
And that child grew up
reading from that script.
So the parents wrote a script, the individual added to that script. And as a result,
that's why I say the correction has to begin at home. It is this self centered thinking that has given rise to the so called rat race.
So what is their address, and how to beat it?
Because as somebody said, The problem with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat.
A veteran asked me to show him a way out to get out of the rat race. And on the spur of the moment, I said, become a cat.
And then I reflected on the qualities that a cat revel represents, and those which are rat represents. And I tried to see how these can help us to create life quality and satisfaction.
Now what differentiates a rat from a cat, and how does that help us?
That's, that is about that is what this is about. One word of caution, like, like all analogies, this also ends the point. The point being that this is meant for people, not for cats and rats. So please don't get too stuck on the zoology and remain with the concept and the philosophy of how we can power up our own lives.
So rat versus cat. Now what distinguishes the rat from the cat? In my view, it is focus that this differentiates and distinguishes the rat in the
rat race from the cat, which is watching from his perch.
In the rat race, the focus is self aggrandizement and destructive competition.
I must be better than somebody else, this constant comparison with others. This produces dissatisfaction with one's own situation it produces.
In gratitude, it produces the complaining nature and constantly therefore, the stress to beat others to beat the other wheat, others. Naturally, this focus also produces the need to show off because what is the use of game if it can't be fronted,
people don't feel good because they have more, but because they have more than others.
So if everyone had the same or similar if everyone did well developed, the satisfaction would be less. So one feels very satisfied not by being wealthy, but by being more wealthy than one's friends and companions and family and being able to show off that wealth so that others can feel jealous and envious and frustrated.
Since material things are easier to accumulate and display, the focus of the rat race is very materialistic.
People build houses not to create warm and loving homes, but to create edifices to their egos. They filled them with artifacts, bought in antique stores that arrived there, from the houses, other acts, who, in time, from times gone by, to also feel their houses artifacts, from the home of still other acts gone by.
Little do they reflect on the irony of this. For rats, cars are not a means of transportation, but statements of their position in society. Weddings are not about the young people starting a new life. But they are an opportunity for parents to flaunt their wealth.
Victims of the rat race beg to be invited to such high society weddings, and then gaze with longing eyes at all that they are never likely to have, and go home and complain about how wasteful the horse were, and in what bad taste their party was.
That's because that parties are not about meeting friends and looking good
and feeling good. They're not about meeting friends and feeling good, but about looking to see what others wore and feeling bad.
That is why all good feeling of wearing a nice dress or a good piece of jewelry becomes sawdust in the mouth the moment they see another person wearing a huge rocker rope.
And of course in the rat race, there is a great deal of rejoicing in the misfortunes of others.
Nothing is more satisfying than a talk about the robbery in somebody's house where they lost all their jewelry, or the accident in which their Bentley got totaled.
All this is of course spoken off in very pain tones, but one only has to look into the eyes to see the undisguised Glee in the
rat society is a very uncaring places in which personal gain is the only consideration
means fair or foul or not a matter of interest to anyone. Results justify the means. As long as I gain it doesn't matter how I gained it,
it matters even less at whose expense I get moral values, codes of behavior, principles religion are all means to be used in gaining advantage over others.
There is no real loyalty to any of these things. There are tools to use ruthlessly and without apology. And we cast aside when they are no longer useful. In the end, worship is only of the self and of personal desire.
And that is why I lost my editor is it our ita money Takada, ILAHA of Antetokounmpo Allah He works in Surah, Allah smarter, etc, etc. Was a seller. He said, Have you not seen those who have taken their own desire as an object of worship? Their desire that God is desire? is not Allah subhanaw taala and, and Allah smart as * are you going to intercede for them?
Are you going to be there to kill the advocate? Meaning do not intercede for them?
In the law, when you're
in the rat race, since accumulation of material possessions is essential,
that's become stingy and hoard resources. They won't share what they have with others, because it will reduce their own store. Even when some things that they have maybe time sensitive and can get spoiled or redundant unless they're used
rats will still hoard them, and will not give them to others or allow others to use their resources. Rats will also not share knowledge to ensure that others never have a chance to succeed.
Rat societies are characterized by a lack of education and disparity, the learning and capability. Safety becomes a key driver. Risk taking disappears. Fear of losing possessions dominates all thinking, and various means are sought to prevent that. Security agencies do very good business in rat societies. Rats are unwilling to face the fact that societies in which disparities between people are less or non existent, crime automatically disappears. rats don't like to face this fact because in order for disparities to disappear, wealthy rats must share their wealth.
But this goes against the very grain of rightness, especially since the source of all satisfaction is to see others have less than you.
So there's a vested interest in rat societies to ensure that disparities remain.
Interestingly, this focus on the other also produces complacency, when you have more than others and when everyone else is staring at you in envy, then there is no need to strive for.
So enterprise dies, once a certain amount of stuff has been accumulated, as there is nobody left to impress, or there is too much to protect. Real progress, be it knowledge or power,
stops, as rats don't like to take risk. Risk is essential to stretch the boundaries of the unknown,
and explore ways of dealing with the unknown. Risk is essential to learn how much one can achieve how much more one can achieve, but risk has within it the possibility of failure. Since rats are afraid of failure, as this can result in, they're losing some of their possessions, they hate risk, and God's will be they seek safety.
So progress stops, since satisfaction, comes only in comparison with others. Rats in power are despotic and tyrannical. It is from seeing others countering and bind to them, that they get a sense of well being.
Loyalty to the king that becomes the primary virtue, questioning of those in power, or of whatever they stand for is a cardinal sin.
Rat societies become inward looking and lose perspective and vision.
The boundary between the ruler and the state disappears. And the ruler says I am the state
difference of opinion is seen as opposition and disagreement with or disapproval of those in power becomes treason.
Rat societies equate the government with the country and disagreement with one is seen as disloyalty to the other district disagreement with the government is seen as disloyal to the as disloyalty to the country. And that is why in the rat race, even if you win, you're still a rat.
Ask yourself
how many rats do
and is one of them. The one you see in the mirror?
Next class inshallah we'll talk about cats.
But just reflect on this, reflect on this and say ask yourself, am I right? And am I raising little rats?
What am I doing my children
it is so critically important, my brothers sisters,
to
understand this, and to ensure that we
we live lives which are
positive
and which are full of contribution.
If our life is just consumption and more consumption, then indeed we are at.
We need to change from that to being contributors. And as I told you, one of the biggest problems today is the way charity and sharing has been portrayed and presented.
It is bought and presented as net loss. Charity is something I have I'm giving away.
We don't realize that when you are giving when you are sharing, you are actually
creating wealth.
You are creating wealth, you are enabling
somebody else to become a productive and contributing member of society.
Just asked us a very simple question which society is more powerful in society, where
people are struggling to make ends meet
are a society where people have a considerable amount of disposable income?
Which is more which society and which economy is more powerful? Dumb question, right?
How will that happen? If you concentrate wealth in the hands of a few, then you will end up with a society where the vast majority is deprived. They're struggling for a living.
On the other hand, if you share that wealth
and I'm not saying stand on the street, corner and handout, no, create system where people can, where it's easy for people to earn, empower them, give them the education or the technical skills that give them the the financial backing to be able to start, start new start their work, whether it's businesses or services or whatever. And you will end up with a society which is full of people who are capable of contributing and they will contribute. And obviously then they have more disposable incomes and they are spending more money which means your economy is getting boosted.
This is what I need.
Ask Allah Subhana Allah to enable us to raise children who will be a credit to us and who will be a means of South Africa Nigeria for us. So Allah Allah Allah will carry while he was Soviet member I have to get my solo alinco Morocco