The brief address the maulana delivered at the recent convocation of the Kashmir University was widely appreciated. Every one here was impressed by it, including the critics, teachers, student and experts in both the ancient and modern sciences. By declaring at the very outset, that knowledge was a unity a single whole that could not be divided into parts; he showed how necessary it was to rise above the ramparts of the ancient and modern branches of study and keep in mind and be regardful of the entire stock of human thought and learning. The Maulana laid stress on the worth and significance of knowledge in Islam by referring in sur-i-iqraa of the Qur’an, and called attention to such action, together with this knowledge that could lead to the welfare of mankind.

The most formidable problem of the modern Age is that while, on the one hand, a tremendous progress has been made in the field of knowledge, and through it man has acquired an astonishing power and ascendancy over the forces of nature, -the advancement of science and technology has not only made it possible for him to plant his feet on the moon, but he is, also, peeping into the boundlessness of space with the help of his instruments-, on the other, in the words of iqbal, “he who enchained the sunbeams,” is proving himself utterly incapable of “unfurling the dawn on life’s dark night”. Despite all the achievements in the mental and material spheres, man is slipping fast into a moral and spiritual vacuum. The Maulans is not opposed to this progress. What he wants is that, side by side with it, we remained alive to the real purpose of life and our ultimate destiny. Vulgar materialism and craze for money are robbing man of his humanity and pushing him into a cesspool of self-seeking, slothfulness and lust for power……

The chief end and purpose of educational institution is character-building and generation of social and moral consciousness through knowledge, but in fact what they are creatures of book, not the masters, literates rather than the educated. There is no genuine thirst for knowledge either in the teachers or in the taught. They simply want to obtain positions of power and wealth through education. Everyone insists on his rights, and cares nothing for his duties. Education has come to be regarded merely as a means of earning one’s livelihood, but even that purpose it is not fulfilling today. The Maulana has made use of an old parable to show how the students are failing to gain the desired coast in the ocean of life. They neither know the art of living nor can accept death with a smile

The Place Of Knowledge And Responsibilities Of Those Who Acquire It