Man's Word Vs God's Word

Back in 2004, when my son’s school decided to have separate branches for boys and girls, they wrote letters to all the parents explaining their reasons based on research carried out in the UK. I didn’t pay much attention to it at the time as an all boys environment for my son was more than fine for me. A few weeks ago, however, I again stumbled upon hints from similar researches, and this time my curiosity got the better of me. I went online to look at what all the fuss was about.

I came across a multitude of studies carried out by various institutions on the subject of gender-separate classrooms. University of Cambridge, for example, has concluded after a four year study of gender differences in education, that single-sex classroom format is remarkably effective at boosting student performance. Similarly, The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) compared performance of students at single-sex and coeducational schools. Their analysis, based on six years of study of over 270,000 students, in 53 academic subjects, demonstrated that both boys and girls who were educated in single-sex classrooms scored on average 15 to 22 percentile ranks higher than did boys and girls in coeducational settings. Universities of Michigan, Virginia and the Stetson University in Florida have determined the same. The list of institutions that have either completed or are still undergoing research on the matter is too long for me to go on. Thus, for those of you, who may be shaking their heads at this (most probably in disbelief), here is the link to the Fifth International conference of NASSPE V, held in Atlanta (Georgia), October of this year (2009), which pretty much covers reports from around the globe.

http://www.singlesexschools.org/research-singlesexvscoed.htm

And so I wondered; that it is exactly what Allah has intended for us. Intermingling of the sexes is highly discouraged in Islam and we are given clear instructions regarding male relations we can freely interact with. Then how is it that we (Muslims) weren’t the ones to figure it out sooner. Why do we need others to tell us what we’ve already been told? Allah says in the Quran, that only He has a complete knowledge of all things and has but given only a minute part of it to man. Should not the Quran and its precise explanation by our Prophet (SAW) suffice? Instead, we toil and we struggle, we research and analyze, and we come up with what we think is best… at least for the time being. Remember when margarine was recommended by doctors as being heart healthier than butter. But now they’re telling us, ‘go back to having butter’, for margarine is terribly unwholesome with all the Trans fat… oops!

Science, technology, research, theories; nothing can be entirely reliable. Why would we not then listen to our Allah? Allah, who already knows everything and has been kind enough to share some of that knowledge with us. Yet, we’re stuck in our own insecurities, too easily impressed, forever influenced, trying to modernize ourselves according to the standards set by today’s world, not realizing that we already have a very up to date, advanced religion which, if followed precisely, would ultimately render us as progressive and enlightened.

Allah encourages learning, gaining knowledge and being constantly in pursuit of advancement through all means available, however, along the way we must not forget to refer to the Quran; a manual put together by our creator for the effective and most efficient running of every aspect of our lives.

It’s strange how we always take man’s word, try to understand it, trust it and endeavor to act upon it while we almost always ignore the word of Allah, neglect it, doubt it and ultimately reject it.