Adherence to compartmenta-lisation of knowledge, why?

Why do we adhere fanatically to the compartmentalisation of knowledge – secular or canonical? Those who write secular literature – fiction or non-fiction – dread being declared orthodox if they quote from the scriptures and clerical contents. Similarly, the clergy deem all the non-clerical repositories of knowledge downright inferior and unworthy to be quoted in their religious treatises. Both schools of thought gravitate towards extremism without offering any receptive space to the opposite extreme and without assaying it on the touchstone of rationality.

This polarisation of knowledge becomes more poignant in the content of newspapers, particularly English ones. An English writer assumes the avatar of a secularist and avoids quoting references from the revealed books and the sayings of the prophets. S/he resorts to the Western thinkers because the more referenced the latter are, the more scholarly, scholastic in reality, the former appears to be. It's quite misleading that being believers in the revealed books, we hesitate to tap into the authentic sources of knowledge lest we be declared orthodox and puritanistic.

The write-ups, op-eds and the articles of English dailies are supersaturated with quotes and aphorisms of Western thinkers. Only once in a blue moon, an article that appears on Fridays sounds ecclesiastical from its title, and if we just scan it, we note holy references abundant enough to declare it sacerdotal. The reservation of Fridays for religious articles categorically reeks of the bifurcation between two disciplines of knowledge.

We had better have a swatch. A public speaker prescribes people must have a last look in the mirror before going to any social event in order to carry an aura of aplomb and elegance. On the other hand, a puritan at the pulpit teaches his followers to recite a prayer whenever they have a look at themselves in the vanity mirror. The wording of the prayer also alludes to reviving one's oomph and élan: "Allahumma anta hassanta khalqii fahassan khuulqii." Translation: "O Allah, you have made my outward appearance good; make my character good too." The reciter is given the assurance that he has been created physically beautiful. What he has to strive for is moral excellence. In this example, both the streams of knowledge lay stress on the inner beauty being complementary to the outer beauty.

The divide is so stark that it has even deepened down to the common people. The scrap dealers are ready to purchase old English newspapers at a price double to that of the Urdu newspapers. The naive reason they offer is that the English newspapers don't carry Arabic text or holy names. The old English newspapers are used in packaging or building shuttering without any moral heaviness on the mind.

Another manifestation of intellectual polarity is the fast conversion of retired sportsmen into religious preachers. Instead of paying back to their country in the same field, they embark upon the missions of religious preaching as if they had spent their lives in the regrettable pursuits. They build masjids and madrassas instead of building free sports academies to serve the sport and the fans who have given them worth and value. The vast experience and expertise of their respective sports go in vain. Actually, they are conditioned on the schism between worldly and religious pursuits. Is serving the country through sports not a religious obligation?

Francis Bacon advises his readers in his essay Of Studies to tap into multiple disciplines of knowledge to gain holistic mental growth: "Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend."

Both the denominations should run like the waters of the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, which, on the surface, look different, but deep down, they mingle and mix well with each other. It is possible only if they give leeway to intellectual tolerance, beauty and humanism. All good, beautiful and rational things, irrespective of any caste, creed or credo, are reflections of nature. Both ought to observe the golden mean, the pursuit of moderation, if they want to follow the spirit of nature – the summum bonum of any religion or secular doctrine.