ME AND MY LEADER IN THE 21st CENTURY

Tariq Mehmood, Islamabad

Who Is A Good Muslim Leader?

Muslim leader is the trustworthy vicegerent of God almighty on earth. Muslim leader is the most just, enlightened and knowledgeable person among other Muslim brothers that is why he is a leader. Islam, without any doubt is the greatest religion of the world. Islam deals almost all walks of life and shows the right path to the believers. Islam believes in knowledge, moral standards, and merit of a Muslim leader. Muslim leader is the KHADIM of the led and is responsible for the security of life and property of the people. As Prophet (May Peace Be Upon Him) delivered on the occasion of the Farewell Hajj, he said:
"Your lives and properties are forbidden to one another till you meet your Lord on the Day of Resurrection".
It is therefore, the responsibility of a Muslim leader to protect the religious sentiments, honor, sanctity and security of private life and personal freedom of all the citizens.
What should be the Norms of Social Behavior of a Muslim Leader? When we look at the Muslim leaders of the past or of early Islamic era, we find that they were the people of wisdom, high character and having high social and moral values. To me a true Muslim leader today, is one who possesses the knowledge of Quran and Hadith at length but in its true essence. Is the one who is scrupulous, trustworthy, just, intelligent, honest, sincere and educated in real terms with great moral values. In this troublesome world, most importantly, he is capable to promote cordial relationship of brotherhood and fraternity among different sects of the Muslims. As the Holy Quran declares in unequivocal terms;
�Believers are but brothers, so set things right between your brothers and heed God so you may find mercy�. (49:10)
It is the foremost duty of the Muslim leader to Intervene and reconcile fairly in case of any hostility among different factions of Islam as it is clearly in the Holy Quran:
�Whenever two factions of believers fall out with one another, then try to reconcile them. If one of them should oppress the other, then fight with the one who acts oppressively until he complies with God�s command. If he complies, then set things right again between them in all justice, and act fairly. God loves those who act fairly�. (49:9)
In today�s world, a true Muslim leader is one who believes in freedom of expression. In Islam, all power and authority belongs to God, with man there is only delegated power which becomes a trust; everyone who becomes a recipient or a donee of such a power has to stand in awful reverence before his people towards whom and for whose sake he will be called upon to use these powers. This was acknowledged by Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (May Allah be Pleased with him) who said in his very first address: "Cooperate with me when I am right but correct me when I commit error; obey me so long as I follow the commandments of Allah and His Prophet (May Peace Be Upon Him); but turn away from me when I deviate".
The leader must protect religious sentiments of the led, as ordained in the Holy Quran;
�Do not insult by using nickname. Do not backbite or speak ill of one another� (49:11-12)

Lets Meet My Leader!
To know me and my leader�s worth you needed not to struggle much. A two liner statement from Maulana Abdur Rehman, my worthy leader in Provincial Assembly, which appeared in local onlines on 17 February, should be an eye opener for all the conscious minds, what my leader thinks and does? No sane individual can find any logic behind such a religiously provocative and irresponsible statement from a responsible public representative. Me �the public� though well conscious of the future needs of our generations, but pays no heed towards the means of educational development.

What Our Generation Requires Today?
What to talk of urban and relatively developed areas, even remote and far flung areas, like Gilgit and Baltistan, realizing the fact that prosperous future of generations lies in better education, graciously accepted every kind of help in this field extended by anyone without discrimination of cast, creed and sects. Today they have more opportunities of quality education for the children as compared to Chitral. The people of Northern Areas have accepted high challenges and strived for goal oriented studies. They have established institutions like Karakuram International University, Cadet College Skardu, Army Public Schools and Colleges at Gilgit, Skardu and Astor, Public School and College at Gilgit and Skardu, Aga Khan Higher Secondary Schools at Gilgit and Gahkuch, and above all the world renowned Professional Development Centre of Aga Khan University in Gilgit city, that has contributed positively to groom up their teaching community irrespective of sects or public and private sector discrimination. Resultantly you find people from Northern Areas in very high positions in all fields. But the situation is contradictory in Chitral where a small group of politically motivated people have always created hurdles in the way of educational progress of the area. It is mandatory on each and every person of Chitral in general and that of politicians in particular to take keen interest to boost up the academic institutions. All the leaders, irrespective of their political games, must work for establishment of a Cadet College, Government supported public schools like the one working in Jutial Gilgit and Skardu for the last many years, post-graduate degree colleges and above all the Professional Development Centre to provide extensive training facilities to our teaching community who are devoid of such exposure. Without providing solid educational foundations in the form of quality educational institutions we should not expect to live gracefully in the Twenty First Century.
Do the learned readers find the expression of my leader in consonance with the hard realities faced by my generation and that of tomorrow? Your views are highly valued. For the knowledge of general readers, I will highlight salient features of Professional Development Centre in some other article.
 

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AKU, Chitral, forward step torwards success

Hazrat Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) says, "Seeking knowledge is the duty of every man and women"
Knowledge has a great importance in Islam and teachers plays a vital role in spread of knowledge and education. However if we are looking to the sayings of our Holy Prophet (PBUH) more emphasis has been given on "Acquiring knowledge"

Keeping in view the Islamic teachings and way of life it would be easier to say "acquiring knowledge is one of the basic/fundamental rights of every citizen". Thus teaching is a prophetic profession and a teacher plays an important role in imparting knowledge and education.

There has been occurred a big difference in modern style of teaching, thus it is necessary that every teacher should be aware of such changes. To tackle all these problems in the context of Chitral the establishment of AKU is a forward step toward success.

The Aga Khan University in Chitral is committed to improve the quality education across the district since its establishment. As it is clear from the mission and vision of the said Institution as "To improve the quality of teaching and learning through professional development and associated research and evaluation activities"

To fulfill these objectives comprehensive teacher trainings and workshops are being offered and conducted by the said institution to uplift the educational standards across the district irrespective of ethnicity, race and language.

Keeping in view all these facts and figures we have to take the opportunity and to extend our cooperation in the establishment of AKU in Chitral.



Thank you

Sagar Ali
Chitral