Voice of British Muslim Women

Iffat Mirza Rashid, Bentley 

When I saw that it would be International Day of Education on January 24^th – not something I was aware of before – I didn’t know that by the time I’d come around to writing this blog post, a ceasefire in Gaza would have been reached by now.  

The disbelief is still somewhat there. Since the beginning of the aggression, I thought that the day we heard of a ceasefire agreement I’d feel relief, but as the destruction continued, I think that promise of feeling relief, which I probably never really had any right to feel anyway, was also destroyed somewhere. Despite the disbelief, and even suspicion still, seeing the videos of children celebrating the ceasefire in Gaza was the greatest privilege to be able to witness.  

But I fear that what has been taken away from these children can never be given back. The tears that should only ever be evinced from scraping a knee on a school playground, or the stress that should only ever be triggered by difficult homework, or the heartache from a minor squabble with friends, was instead replaced with severed limbs, post-traumatic stress disorder, and broken families.  

So, as you can imagine, on International Day of Education, I cannot help but think of the children from whom education was ripped away. A most basic right has been stripped from society’s most vulnerable, all while powerful leaders with their degrees from fancy institutions lay claim to the innocents’ lives. A grave injustice indeed. 

With education, new possibilities can be dreamt of. There is a profound lesson at the heart of all knowledge acquired: the world is capable of changing. And of course, not all education takes place in the classroom – in fact, in comparison to all the knowledge and experience we amass during our lifetimes, I imagine it’s actually a very small percentage that we learn in the classroom. Some of my favourite thinkers, and most inspirational figures had been denied formal education during their lives and yet they changed the world, because of their willingness to find knowledge wherever they looked. Indeed, the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) stated: “The word of wisdom is the lost property of a Muslim, so that, wherever he finds it, he should take it, as he is most entitled to it.” (Tirmidhi). 

Domitila Barrios de Chungara was a Bolivian labour leader and activist – she campaigned for better labour laws for both men and women and fairer pay in the 1970s. The campaign ended up having influence in lots of countries, particularly in the Global South, from India to South Africa. She explained the reasoning for eventually agreeing to writing her experiences down: 

“Finally, I want to clarify that this account of my personal experience of my people, who are fighting for their liberation—and to whom I owe my existence—well, I want it to reach the poorest people, the people who don’t have any money, but who need some orientation, some example which can serve them in their future life. It’s for them that I agreed that what I am going to tell be written down. It doesn’t matter what kind of paper it’s put down on, but it does matter that it be useful for the working class and not only for intellectual people or for people who only make a business of this kind of thing.” (Let Me Speak!, Domitila Barrios de Chungara, 50-51) 

Her acknowledgement that the education she has acquired, whether formally or not, must be passed on to others in order to create a more just world. Her desire to educate and to learn is rooted in love for community and justice – and is also wary of ‘people who only make a business of this kind of thing.’ 

As I mentioned earlier, sometimes a good education can land you in a place where you are given the chance to carry out injustices – does this make education bad? Of course not. But it is a gross misuse of that education and that privilege to learn. In contrast, comparing this to Domitila’s approach is what’s most important to note – education driven and enacted by love will always be a force for good in this world.  

In 2013, His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad (may Allah be his Helper) addressed the girls at the Waqfe-nau Ijtema*, stating:  

“Most of you have been brought up and educated here and so you understand this society and recognise its ills and vices. Utilise this knowledge to not only save yourselves from its ill effects but also to guide your children so that they avoid the moral pitfalls and traps that await them as they grow and develop.” 

And so, it is evident how pertinent it is to not just educate ourselves for the sake of knowing more, but, more importantly, to spread good in the world, to teach stronger morals of justice and societal harmony and thus to ensure that the rights and dues of all of society are observed and met. 

This International Day of Education, as destruction continues to wage in other parts of the world, including Congo and Sudan, it is vital, that we do not let our access to education merely become another superficial privilege – rather something that propels us to seek and implement justice. 

*Waqf-e-Nau scheme in the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is when parents dedicate their children for the propagation of Islam