Akindele: The education of mankind

OUR own Anthony Asiwaju is a world renowned historian whose favourite quote is “History is the witness of the times, the light of truth.” An Emeritus Professor of history at the University of Lagos, the septuagenarian never fails to emphasize the importance of history. Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat its mistakes. Professor Wale Omole, an Agricultural Scientist and former Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, enlightened a gathering about the imperative of humanities in a well-rounded curriculum for all university students. He explained why Chelsea Clinton majored in history at Stanford University though she intended to study medicine. These examples illustrate the imperative of being enlightened about the past. History is indeed the chronicler of the times, the compendium of facts.

   These two eminent educators provide the inspiration for harnessing ruminations on the education of mankind today. The messages being hammered into the human psyche are so powerful that they cannot be willfully wished away. There is a compulsory enlightenment of mankind on “religion” and the catalyst for this is the catalogue of barbaric acts being perpetrated ostensibly in the name of religion. Are we approaching the end of mankind’s placid tolerance of any form of inhumane behaviour as “the religion” of the perpetrators?

    A gentleman who was released recently from the grip of terrorists in Syria told the world that “these people are not driven by religion.” Is this not the consistent message from September 11, 2001 to this day? Whenever the extremists and terrorists are reminded that their actions are different from the ways of God, clearly stated in all Sacred Books, the sense of their response is that they carry out only what they are taught in their sects and by their self-appointed leaders. The origin of each sect is accurately and indelibly recorded in the pages of history, the impartial chronicler of events “as they occurred.” 

    We can now understand Asiwaju’s hearty embrace of that description of history. The true meaning of “in the light of truth” is: “as it is” or “going by the truth” or “according to truth.” The scholar came into his life’s work in the way existence operates, having being born in a part of Nigeria where “we use the frontier markers (demarcating Nigeria from People’s Republic of Benin) for playing football. One of his many books is called Frontierres Articiels (Artificial Boundaries)). He knows firsthand the neglect of tangential areas and borderline peoples. They are victims of arbitrary colonial demarcation though they ought to be beneficiaries of the confluence of cultures and traditions. Therefore, he emphasizes that borders and borderline areas must henceforth be considered not as “barriers” but bridges, “as linchpins for regional integration in Africa.” He epitomizes the true meaning of the words of Joubert: ‘La direction de notre esprit est plus important que son progress.’ Your material and spiritual progress depends on your choice of predominant focus. Yes, we have the history of how each country came to be; named by languages, landmarks or by the peculiar common experience. 

    The Professor of Agricultural Sciences, Omole, a consistent advocate for the development of the mind of man, explained to a gathering the meaning of admission into the Doctor of Philosophy. Having gone through the rigorous rites of passage, in the preparation and defence of his thesis, such a person would have risen above emotion in discussions and must apply this discipline to every facet of his life. A contributor narrated the experience of someone who dismissed as asinine the idea of “life after death” but who changed his attitude (and started reading books on the subject) when he was told that a truly educated man does not dismiss as non-existent what he does not yet know. Martin Luther King once said: “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” The dangerous zeal of extremists and terrorists is hammering this fact into all of us on earth today. Could it be an act of stupidity for one to speak about what one does not know?

    There is also the accurate history of all religions and sects in the world. From these archives of human existence on earth, it is clear that the enlightenment in sacred books is one thing, while the religions started by human beings are another matter all together. A human being may choose to ignore this fact but we are now compelled to ask questions about the origin of what we call “our religion,” and the advent of the sects we profess. Our usual indolence as human beings is being jolted by the viciousness and barbarity taking place in the world today and which are shoved into our faces by the social media. We cannot help shedding tears. We are sickened to our stomachs by the sheer primitive savagery. 

   We are then compelled to ask if, perchance, individually, one is also a sectarian, riveted to the handed-down interpretations of the founder of our sect. We are awakened from our usual stupor to pick up our Sacred Book, to examine it on our own and decipher if the human practices we call “our doctrines” are really in harmony with the contents of the Sacred Book. This exercise must go further. What really and truly is the Message of Jesus? Are the sects of Christianity the same as the contents of what Jesus taught? Are the practices of the various sects within Islam in compliance with the teachings in The Quran? History has the answers to these questions. 

    We will discover that we had ignored the irrefutable facts of history. How could we forget that the greatest opponents of every extension to existing enlightenment were the religious leaders of each age? We will realise that, despite our vaunted civilisation and enlightenment, we have the same incorrect attitudes which prevented them from accepting new revelations of truth, at the time of the Prophet in their midst. We will ask ourselves if our expectations today are valid. If we apply the lessons of history in the right way, we will not repeat the mistakes made at the time of every fulfillment.

   There is, however, a wonderful thing about this compulsory education of mankind on religion. When The World Trade Towers were brought down by suicide bombers on September 11, 2001, the world heard the words: “a perversion of Islam, a beautiful religion.” After the London terror attacks, we heard: “this is not a religious ideology but insanity.” The great country of Pakistan educated mankind that “extremism is a mindset, terrorism is a crime.” From the terrorists in Nigeria, we got the statement: “we know and carry out only what we are taught in our sects.” From Syria we are learning that the perpetrators are not driven by religion. The ultimate result is the surgical evisceration of religiosity and dangerous zeal from true religion. Paradoxically, the end of religiosity is the beginning of our true devotion and service to God, as human agents of love and goodness. 

• Akindele is a visiting member of The Guardian Editorial Board.