By Mowahid Hussain Shah
US President John F. Kennedy, when asked to identify his greatest strength, replied, “My curiosity.”
The other day, I fell into conversation with a 15-year-old boy, whose parents are both professionals and earned graduate degrees abroad. The boy has attended top-notch schools and has been expensively tutored. Having said all that, the boy did not know when Pakistan came into being and had only a hazy notion of who Allama Iqbal was. He does not regularly follow the news and, despite having traveled abroad extensively, did not seem to know much about the places where he had been. He is passionate about playing sports, but not at all curious about the world around him.
How to kindle the spark of inquiry is a question to which there are few easy answers.
One of the foundations of meaningful living is to sustain intellectual curiosity. Syed Amjad Ali, Pakistan’s envoy to the US and the UN during the 1950’s was one such example. Even into his 90’s, he maintained an acute and observant mind till the very end.
In today’s world, there is an information glut. But overflow of information does not necessarily bring insight or perceptiveness. As compared to this boy of privilege, I have found some children reared in rural environs and studying in ramshackle schools having an unquenchable thirst for learning.
The bigger the odds, the more tenaciously they have striven to overcome them and achieve.
The case of Rao Rashid, the late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s police-cum-security chief, springs to mind. Born in impecunious circumstances in Rohlak, India, Rao fought off the crippling burdens of ill-health, poverty, and being an orphan to reach the heights of his profession. At the age of 77 today, he has learned computer skills to compose his memoirs and to date retains his intellectual acuteness and written mastery of the English language.
In striking contrast, many endowed with material advantages and privileged lineage have not risen to the occasion. Perhaps the softness of their surrounding environs has not raised their resolve to be mentally tough to face obstacles and has failed to inculcate in them a desire to know more and ask “Why?” The 18th century English writer Samuel Johnson once wrote, “Even supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to acquire it.”
The aforementioned, of course, smacks of generalization. I can also think of children of distinguished parents who appear destined to become distinguished themselves, children who excel in their studies and show a maturity and curiosity about the world about them well beyond their years. Perhaps it is the backbone of the individual himself, not his economic circumstances or family background, that determines whether he is complacent in knowing little or strives incessantly to know more.
Islamic teachings stress the value of seeking knowledge and in seeking out new areas to explore. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) advised to seek knowledge even if it be in China.
Albert Einstein put it well, when he said: “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. Never lose a holy curiosity about the mysteries of life.”
