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مراقب عام المنتدى
 |  موضوع: Principles of Self Development in Islam  الخميس فبراير 21, 2013 1:35 am | |
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Description: Islam’s perspective on self development. Part 1: Inspiration from divine guidance nurtures human development.
By Syed Imtiaz Ahmad
Published on 18 Feb 2013 - Last modified on 18 Feb 2013
Development carries
the notion of enhancement of one’s capabilities and potentials. It implies a
forward movement from a given position to a position of greater achievement,
opportunity and benefit. In order to develop, individually or collectively, it
is necessary to define the goals one wishes to achieve, factors that influence
development, and the process of achieving the desired goals for development. Each
human being is born with some basic faculties. How these faculties are molded
depends on inherent capacities, nurturing environment and other external
influences.
Islam places a great deal of emphasis on ‘self-development’
where an individual takes the responsibility for understanding the purpose of
human life, and for shaping that life in the best possible manner, for one’s
own benefit and the benefit of the society at large; Islam also provides
comprehensive guidance to achieve this goal.
Human development consists of processes of growth and
change that takes place from birth to the end of life. The development process
is externally influenced from sensory inputs through the organs, and it is
internally self-propelled from things which happen within the human body and
mind. Our focus here is the development of the human mind, which takes place
through sensory inputs and internal mental processes. This development
includes learning through the senses and cognition that occurs when learning is
abstracted into knowledge for subsequent use.
Islam identifies two sources which play the roles of
nurturing or corrupting human development. Inspiration from divine guidance
nurtures human development. Not paying attention to divine guidance and
succumbing to conspiracies, arising from within or externally environment,
corrupts human development.
Human development may be looked at from different
perspectives, both as a basic human interest and as formalized disciplines of
studies such as psychology, science, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and
so on. Contemporary studies on human development often engage in analysis and
remedies when human development is impeded due to temperament, problems with
identification or one’s identity, parenting, society, chance, and other factors.
Here, we will focus primarily on basic principles of human development-aiming
at covering the factors that may impede proper development. Keeping in mind
that people have varying human capacities, what should be done in order to
ensure that they all develop into the best possible capabilities for achieving
the desired goals? While there are many factors that are essential for human
development, we will first highlight those that may be more fundamental. The
foremost factors playing a seminal role are those of being aware of self, being
ever mindful of doing the right thing, and to avoid acting on mere impulses.
How does one bring these factors into play? It is
through a process called identification or ‘constructing an identity’ (i.e. finding
principles that help develop the best possible human potential, and role models
that vivify those principles). It may be viewed as an anchoring process which
gives us a sense of belonging to something distinct and valuable. Rather than
simply and haphazardly adopting the practices we notice around us, it may often
be easier to look at a good role model and then simply emulate that person. However,
finding good role models in our contemporary living environment may not be easy
and at times confusing, particularly if these so-called role models are going
through life changes themselves and the consequences of following their life
style may only become known much later. Furthermore, one role model, no matter
how good, may not be able to exemplify everything in life. Even if that were
to be true, the principles that the role model exemplifies may not be obvious.
Principles can only be derived through repeated observations and
experimentation. History helps us here. We can look at several role models
from history and we can look at lessons drawn from the history of civilizations.
Coming back now to identification, the single most important factor in human
development, we need to identify with some infallible source of guidance, the
unquestionable principles for human development, and carefully select some role
models. Most will accept God as the infallible source of guidance, the
knowledge that God sent down to us on the good and bad in human civilization,
and the Prophets who acted as role models for achieving excellence in human
potential. Being mindful of God, therefore, gives one an identification of
what is best for developing human potential. It prevents alienation. One can
always find solace in the presence of God; literally converse with God in
prosperity and adversity, keeping one’s personality in harmonious balance,
avoiding excesses on oneself or others in prosperity, and avoiding harm from
stress in adversity. Of course, one may find it easier to identify with
someone more physical than God in trying to achieve the same goals. However,
God’s presence can be felt by anyone who reaches out to Him[1].
That is what God has assured us. The other important factors that may emerge
from this process of identification are being truthful and upright, and seeking
individual and collective well being in our affairs. In order to achieve these
goals, the quest for knowledge that exists and participation in deriving new
knowledge from what exists are essential pre-requisites.
Footnotes:
[1] IslamReligion.com: Muslims
believe that God is not present everywhere (incarnate), rather He is separate
from His creation and is above the seven heavens. He Sees and Hears everything
and is the All-Powerful.
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