Eight Letter to Tahira
Tahira you are so naive. You are surprised over Saeeda who is about to be twenty and
still talks like child. This means that you think that a child's mind becomes mature as
his or her body grows with age. This notion is absolutely wrong and against the facts. If
the mind, too, matures automatically like the body then our society would be of a
different (nature) altogether. All the troubles that you see in the world are mostly due
to the people whose bodies have matured, but their minds are still immature. The world
would still be safe if with the mind, the body, too, remains like that of a child, because
if a child's mind is immature, then his bodily strength and its potential of wielding
power is quite limited, too. He then cannot cause much destruction and bloodshed. But just
think, if a body has the strength of a young man and we, considering him to be an adult,
give all the responsibilities in his care although mentally he is immature, then what
would the result be?
Body and Mind
The result would be the same which you saw in the movie "Frankenstein": The
body of a giant and the brain of a mad man, with the difference that in this case
everybody considered that he was really mad. But nobody considered a young man with an
immature mind, as mad. He is considered to be a fully conscious and a rational person.
With this thought in mind he is given important responsibilities. Afterwards, when he
behaves like a child, we get upset. This condition is the first spark that disturbs our
peace of mind and tranquillity. This then leads to difference of opinion, which develops
into conflicts and conflict develops into strife. That child with a mature body neither
wants to change his position, nor does he want to change his attitude. In fact, changing
his attitude is something he cannot do. If we have given him powers which we cannot easily
withdraw, then our helplessness poisons our whole system. We sulk and cannot do anything
about it. But if we, too, have equal power, a head-on collision occurs, which then makes
our society a hell. Consequently, this state of affairs turns itself into a world war.
These day to day conflicts, feuds, riots and acts of barbarism, what else are they other
than the outcome of the same mature body having an immature mind. If a child keeps on
getting proper food then his body develops on its own, but we forget that the mind does
not automatically develop along with the body. A lot of hard work is needed to nurture a
mind. It requires special attention towards the education of the child. Dear Tahira, this
is the reason why I keep on telling this to you, although sometimes I do feel that you may
be minding my repetition.
Education of the Child
But this is of such importance, that I will keep on repeating that you do a lot to look
after Javed's bodily needs, (May God keep him safe from all evil!) but you do not do much
to train his mind. At the most you will say, "I do not let him play with bad-mannered
children". This is true, he would be saved from developing bad habits. But do you
believe that if a child does not get bad habits, he instinctively develops good habits?
You may not admit it, but I think you believe that if a child is being kept away from bad
habits then the development of his head and heart would take place quite
"instinctively". And that way he would become the embodiment of all the good
habits in the world. This is a wrong notion. I have written in detail about
"instinct" in one of the letters to Saleem, (ref. Parwez, G.A. "letters to
Saleem", 17th letter). Perhaps you have read that letter. Since it was somewhat
philosophical, you might not have understood it fully. Let me make you understand the same
in another way. You have observed other children, but Javed's each and every antic must be
fixed and vivid in your mind. Just think over the fact that when (after his birth) he was
still oblivious of the world around him, what was his 'nature'? He was an absolute
"goof" (ignorant of everything)?
Child's Nature!
He had as much knowledge as, for example, a goat's kid has. It sucks milk when hungry
and then goes off to sleep. It starts bleating if the milk is delayed. Even one stage
forward, when the child starts flailing his arms and legs, he still falls short of
knowledge, when compared to a kid. A kid would die of hunger but would not touch a heap of
green chilies lying nearby. But a child would put a chilly in his mouth if he could lay
his hand upon it, or for that matter anything that he could get. A piece of rock salt, or
earth, or ashes, or lime, or coal, you name it and he will put it in his mouth. Do you
remember your son swallowing that coin? What a predicament we all were in, including he
himself. Have you ever seen a kid swallowing a coin? Our worries increase when the child
becomes a toddler. He will touch fire, and if you save him from there, then he will plunge
into the water tub. It was just that God wanted him to live and be a source of pleasure to
us. However, Rani saw him otherwise......(My daughter, I do not want to repeat the bygone.
May God save everybody from unheard of troubles).
A step ahead: when he learns to walk and run, he runs into trouble all the more. He
would either himself fall of the terrace or shove his friend off. Whatever he lays his
hands upon, he throws; like breaking this saucer or that cup. The moment he sees anything
in somebody's hand, he attempts to snatch it. If that person does not want to part with
it, then he is in for a bite with from the child's teeth or scratches from his nails. That
sweeperss's son could barely save his eye. Destroying, snatching, beating, slapping, is a
child's 'nature' which he does not learn from anybody. It oozes out of him by itself.
Psychologically a child is quite jealous. You often write in your letters that poor
little Baby is quite often slapped by Javed. It is the same emotion of jealousy at work.
Before the baby girl was born, Javed was the sole recipient of everybody's love. There was
nobody sharing it. With the arrival of the new baby, he had to share his domain. Now he
wants to expel the poor girl from her limelight. A child wants to be the sole centre of
everybody's attention. He wants to remain 'self-centered'.
Now you will see that when the little girl grows up, she would generally remain unwell. Do
you know why such a thing should happen? She would not be able to compete with Javed in
strength, therefore she will remain weak and sick to get everybody's attention. The same
emotion of being 'self-centered' manifests itself. This is dear Tahira, the pattern of a
human child which has been sheltered from surrounding influences and has been left to grow
by itself. You say that you are very careful not to let Javed play with ill-mannered
children so that he may not pick bad habits. I say, even if you bring up your child in a
'thermos' (flask), he would still have those habits I have mentioned above. Are these any
less bad-habits? Now just think. If these children are saved (according to you) from bad
habits and they grow up with the above mentioned mentality what kind of young men would
they make for our society? I do not think any other word than "criminal" fits
this description. Dear daughter, these are the people who generally make up our society.
Those adults (men and women) whose bodies have matured with age but whose mentality (or
mind) is like children. Out of these a few grab the chair to power, some grace the
religious cushions, some meddle with commerce, some dominate the industrial centres, some
become the law formulators, some become the admirers of posterity and the world starts
taking them as heroes and leaders. Whereas generally they are the same: with an adult body
and an immature mind. An adult body with a mature mind is a rarity.
You will also say that we do not leave our children as they are. We educate them. But just
think what kind of education we give them. It is generally taken for granted that a
child's education begins when we send him to school. But this is wrong. A child has learnt
many things by that age. Do you notice that Javed speaks a language which you speak at
home and the neighbour's child speaks the language of his home. You have never made Javed
sit with a book and table to learn Urdu. He has learned your Urdu without being taught. Do
you believe that when he was quietly picking up the Urdu language, he was not learning
anything else? He was in fact subtly learning all the things happening at your home day
and night. This was the education which he had acquired before going to school; and the
main portion of this education consisted of what you call ethics and beliefs.
Animals do not have moral laws. Humans are the only ones who have this distinction. But
just think Tahira, what is the basis of this significant distinction? Of course, it is
this education which is subtly absorbed by the child, (as I have written to you in an
earlier letter of mine). A Jain child would vomit even to think of meat, while a Muslim
child sucks at a bone like his mother's milk. A Hindu shudders to think of beef, but a
Muslim thinks that the tastiest 'kababs' are made with beef. People consider it a sin even
to kill an ant in our houses, but a thug would not think much of murdering a human. This
is the basic education which a child acquires before he goes to school.
What kind of education do these schools impart? Before you think about it, bring to
your mind your earlier letter in which you had written that although you take great care
of Javed's food, he is not getting the corresponding strength and vigour. I had told you
that you give him everything he wants to eat, but do you ever care whether he digests and
absorbs it or not. If the food is not absorbed by the body then it could be harmful rather
than beneficial. The same is true of our education, too. Our educational system renders
information to the children but disregards the fact whether it can become a part of their
character or not. Character building is not done by our educational system. It only
renders information. Therefore, our young people tend to present a personality which
consists of an able body, grown-up according to age, with a child's mind and carrying a
whole load of information. Now it is obvious how a young man with this mentality uses his
power and wealth in the same way he would use his stored information which has been loaded
on to him in schools and colleges. Now upon analysing this young man's personality what
you will find is as follows: (i) Age-wise, by our estimate, a mature person, ready to
shoulder all kinds of responsibilities. (ii) Mind-wise, like a child who just does not
know what a responsibility is (iii) Education-wise, like a porter at a station who carries
a lot of load but owns nothing of it (iv) Beliefs and concepts which he has unconsciously
acquired at home, but which does not understand and cannot defend by reason or argument.
Such concepts are harmful, instead of being useful. This reason is that these concepts
neither come out of the depth of heart, nor grow in a rational mind. He remains
unconsciously faithful to them, and whenever he is confronted with the realities of life
or arguments that do not tally with them, he at once takes off his mask and abhors them or
revolts against them. If he is not courageous enough to show his revolt openly then he
becomes bigoted. His heart turns into a permanent beat of hypocrisy, whose destructive
consequences can be quite far reaching.
Mother's Duties
Tahira, I hope now you understand what responsibilities the mother of a child has to
shoulder. I doubt if those mothers who get a tin of powdered milk for his food; hire an
uncouth hand to look after; and send him to a nursery school for education, would be able
to understand these responsibilities. As for themselves, they whisk off to the clubs, on
the plea that they come to kill their unoccupied time. Or else (in line with the latest
mood), enroll themselves as a member of some social welfare society and start lecturing
about the moral degradation of the nation. A dutiful mother of even one child has so much
to do about her child's caring, training and education that she just cannot spare anytime
to attend to anything else. When the Quran enjoined that according to natural division of
labour bread-winning is the responsibility of the man, and it is his duty to ensure that
all his wife's needs are fulfilled, it did not mean that the woman was reduced into a
handicapped person or a financial slave of the man. It said this because it knew that a
conscientious mother would have no time to earn her bread. Therefore, my daughter, you
have to watch it daily that his mind and body develop at the same pace. If it is not
happening this way, then be assured that when he grows up he would be a problem for
himself and a terror to the society. Remember, a human child has countless potentialities
and there is no limit for their fulfillment. If we keep on nourishing them then they shall
keep on developing throughout the life. Just imagine, if a child's potential capabilities
remain suppressed, who knows what priceless gems society is deprived of.
Immature Mind
Now you will ask, how do we know that so and so man (or woman) has an immature mind? It
is not very difficult to find out:
- When you see somebody solving a problem like children, then surmise that he has a
child's mind in an adult body. If you look at it from this angle, you will find that men
and women whom you consider adults are in fact children. They are the same
"children" who cause a large number of social problems in the society.
- If you see a man or woman who feels quite satisfied that at a certain age he or she has
required enough knowledge and does not need any more, then, too, surmise that mentally
that person is child. A child, at every stage, considers his knowledge complete.
- A child is unaware of law and does not want to be restricted. 'Law' does not mean the
law of a court. This law defines that every human act has a certain consequence. In
English they call it "what follows what". In the terminology of the Quran it is
called the law of retribution. In this world it is the method to arrive at true
conclusions. It is generally known as the scientific method. A child does not know this
method. He does not know what the consequences of his action would be. That is why there
is no logical sequence in his discussions and no organization in his actions. If you
observe the same phenomenon in an adult then surmise that he has (involuntarily) grown up
chronologically age wise, but mentally he is far behind.
- Human beings are defined as rational animals. Rational means one having ratio, and ratio
means correct proportion and balance. Therefore, human quality should be that anything you
say or do, should carry correct proportion and have balance. A child has no notion of
proportion or balance. Hence whenever you see a man or woman whose life does not express
proportion and balance, this person would mentally be a child.
- You must have observed when you talk to some people, that after listening carefully for
two or three minutes, they will be fed up and start looking here and there. They would be
wishing for the topic to end and would want another interesting one to start. It is not
that the subject does not hold interest for them after two or three minutes, or that it is
not beneficial to them. The subject was just as interesting and beneficial to them, but is
just that their span of attention is so short that they cannot concentrate on anything for
long. You will watch that they never finish any work. Today they start something and get
so absorbed in it that onlookers would think that they would even miss a meal to finish
it. But after two or three days, it is observed that they have left that work unfinished
and are pursuing something else. They spend their whole life without success and without
achieving anything. If you see their varied occupations, some here, some there, one
half-done, another three quarters done, but none complete. Sometimes they have fine
ability and you can se their special skill in their work, but their disposition is such
that they cannot complete any programme.
Be quite sure that this aged person is "an aged minor". Absolutely like a
child, because children cannot concentrate on one thing for long. One moment they are
doing one thing, next they are indulging in something else. One minute they are playing
one game, after sometime, another. If along with the body the mind does not mature, he
will manifest this trend all his life.
Here do understand one more thing. It is not necessary that all of a person's mental
faculties would have remained immature. It is possible that one of his faculties may have
become matured while another one may still be immature. This type of people are all the
more difficult to handle. On seeing their mature faculty people liken them for mature
persons but when their immaturity is revealed in other aspects of life, then one is at
one's wits' end as to what to say or take them for.
- You must have seen children who cry themselves hoarse when their clay toy-horses break,
but if somebody brings a balloon for them, they start jumping with joy. Their measures of
happiness and sadness are quite small. It is the same with those who are immature in mind.
Anything, however slight, that goes against them or they imagine to be so, is enough to
make them feel the sky has fallen. They are gloomy themselves and make others sad, too.
The slightest pretext is enough to bring them to tears. On the other hand the smallest
good news makes them jubilant. If you do not behave like them then they accuse you of
being jealous.
- Children are known for their imbalance when taking revenge. If they become cross with
anybody, they attack with full force. They do not realize the proportion between the crime
and punishment. To them punishment means just satisfying their feelings of revenge, and
that is all. The same is the case of those elders with immature minds. They do not have a
sense of justice (that is the ratio between crime and punishment). This is generally known
as 'Regal Disposition'. When they wield power, then whoever differs from them even
slightly they would crush that person with all their might. They do not do justice, they
just take their revenge. They feel very happy and proud over the discomfiture of their
opponent, just like how a child feels triumphant when he has push his adversary away.
- Another childish trait is like that a child for whom, even if has ten toys but sees
another child having something that he does not have, having the ten toys would be of no
satisfaction. He would either want to possess it, or to get another one just like that.
The elders with immature minds also display the same behaviour. They are never satisfied
with what they possess and are always hankering after those things which they do not have,
regardless of whether they need them or not. Since in our present times we have a majority
of such "minor elders", the businessmen trading with them take advantage of this
childishness. Through advertisements these "children" are being told that they
do not have this or that. That is how the bazaar remains humming, due mostly to them.
Today very few things are bought because they are needed. Most of the things bought are
these about which advertisements give you a feeling that you 'don't have this or you do
not have that' You Tahira, bring to your mind the homes of your friends and see how many
things they have which they have never used even once. These things remain lying in their
boxes and drawers. Just like how Javed keeps his multicoloured glasses and ceramic pieces,
a rusty iron bar, a cap's tassel, an empty cigarette pack, a peacock feather, slate,
pencil, a piece of crayon, scraps of paper and a dried sunflower in an empty shoe box; so
carefully and then he forgets all about where he might have kept them. And then starts
collecting his "precious property" all over again!
The above mentioned qualities precisely highlight an immature mind. Those who do not
grow mentally, with age, retain these qualities. And as I have written before, this
phenomenon makes life difficult for both, him and the society. But the hardest part is to
bring about a change when you are grown up, because sub-consciously we derive pleasure
from this irresponsible attitude.
A Child's Training-ground
That is why we call our childhood the best part of our life and keep nursing a wish in
our hearts for the recurring of those lovely days. Therefore, a person can be best trained
in his childhood, and the best training ground is the home of the child. Homes that care
for children's training from this viewpoint produce confident, responsible, sympathetic,
loving, sacrificing, courageous and generous children. In those homes that do not impart
good training the child is made to depend upon others, which results in his lack of
confidence. Alternately he becomes so terrified due to frequent scolding that he cannot
develop courage and truthfulness. In other places, if he is the apple of his mother's eye,
then he is deprived of his masculinity, or if he is the father's pet, then he cannot
comprehend the finer points of life. Sometimes uncertainties and fear of the loss of
father's job or the vacating of a house, makes him a slave of economics right from
childhood. In other cases all his demands are catered to, and he has been made to think
that fulfillment of his material needs is the only aim of life. Some homes tell the child
that his father and his home are the best, thus making him prejudiced against colour,
creed and country. In other places he is told that nothing in the world is good, so he
becomes pessimistic and despairing about the future. At times too many instructions too
often kill his initiative and he behaves like a machine. Some leave the child absolutely
free, so he is unable to respect the law. At times unwholesome surroundings can kill his
fine sentiments for appreciating beauty. Sometimes he is made aware, through such remarks,
that playing with other children would soil his clothes, and he comes to hate others and
starts indulging in self-praise. At other times he is told not "to criticize or
censor the ancestors, it would be wrong". This turns him into a dumb, driven sheep.
At times, an instruction like, "whenever, you have to decide about problems, just
consult your heart", is tantamount to throwing permanent values, revelation and solid
principles to the winds.
You must have seen from this Tahira, that a house plays such an important role in
moulding the character of people. The kind of nation you will be is determined by the kind
of homes you have had. All this would make you understand what the responsibilities of a
mother are. In Iqbal's words, "She builds the character of nations". That is why
the word Ummah in Arabic has been derived from Um which means mother. At birth a child is
absolutely raw material; the mother moulds him by giving knowledge. He is dumb; the mother
makes him talk, gives him language (mother tongue). He is quite irresponsible; the mother
makes him learn to be responsible. He is quite selfish; the mother persuades him to love
his brothers and sisters, and be sympathetic to others. He sees everything in parts; the
mother shows him to view the whole. The child is only like moulding clay at birth, and a
mother can mould him anyway she wants.
This, my dear girl, are your responsibilities. These are responsibilities which you
have been asked to shoulder by humanity. May God give you strength to be able to fulfil
these responsibilities successfully, so that you should be able to say it proudly that you
have added somebody to the teeming millions of the world of whom humanity would be proud!
It is impossible to achieve this without the help of the Quranic guidance, because
humanity could only be achieved within its framework.
Parwez
December 1954
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