There is a plethora of examples of people who have never worn a school uniform, but have reached to the heights of success. For instance, Shaukat Thanwi, a well-known humourist and journalist, who authored the famous “Sudeshi Rail”, and several of whose poems are necessary parts of our syllabus books; was not able to clear his matriculation exams. However, he did become a notable literary figure to the extent that he was awarded with the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, one of the top national awards in Pakistan.
Shaukat Thanwi is not alone in this run. There are several other people who did not wear a certain uniform but happily reached their destination without that “uniform”. Mawlana Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi upon his visit to Kashmir gave a lecture at the Kashmir University discussing this need of uniform. He said, “I am not of the view that a person who has not worn a specific uniform, for example, he has not organised a mushaira, or he has not been through a specific-course, that he is not a scholar, or that he is not a literary scholar”. Mawlana Nadwi calls such a behaviour a fallacy and seeks that people end this behaviour and questions people to respect the born scholar and literary figure – for it is not necessary to wear a uniform that designates such people as such.
If we look around us, we come to find quite a number of people, who do not want to become “people of uniforms” but they are desired people of knowledge, and if they are tested, their knowledge fails every second person of uniform. We need to understand their due.
The bunch of degrees carries no relevance before a sip of knowledge and intellect. The eminent scholars Mawlana Qasim Nanautawi, Mawlana Rasheed Ahmad Gangohi, Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanwi and Shaykh al-Hind Mawlana Mahmud Hasan – each of them being a fountain of knowledge and intellect, were found seeking advises from Haji Imdadullah Muhaajir Makki, a man with no uniform like all of them. This made one scholar say that,
ishq aisa tufaaN hai, jiske saamne hamdam,
Ilm ka samandar bhi aaj paani paani hai
The same is true with every other person. If we occupy this noble trait, we can be a reason of hope for a number of people. It is absolutely not necessary that each other person studies as we do – if they are interested to study differently – we must be their support, and not an obstacle. This helps in developing their mental health, otherwise, the bad comments of people can bring the depression and mental fatigue and this should not happen.
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The author is a biographical researcher and scholar… Read More