At different times in the history of mankind,
manual labor has been looked down upon and the manual worker treated as an
inferior being. Most of the ancient kingdoms were based upon slavery, and -even
the Greek city states which—taught-the world the lesson of political freedom
and self-government, consisted only of ‘small number of free citizens, who
devoted themselves to the higher arts and professions, leaving all manual work
to slaves. In modern times, slavery has been abolished in all civilized
countries, though less than a hundred
years ago slavery still existed as a recognized institution and the working
classes in Europe and America have pushed themselves up to a position of power,
influence and comparative comfort.
Manual labor is recognized to day. At least in
theory, as being worthy of free citizens and no stigma attaches to a man
because he works with his hands rather than his head. And yet the leisured
classes still look down on the working classes (whom they call the ‘lower class
:‘ and many a young man of the middle class would rather wear lack coat and sit
on an office stool on a paltry salary, than soil his half’s and earn double the
money as an artisan.
This supercilious contempt of manual work is absurd
and wrong, and the distinction between mental and manual labor is misleading,
for all manual work, even so called unskilled labor, requires some though, and
the skilled work of the engineer, the carpenter, the potter and the builder is
really more mental than manual. It takes more intelligence to be an expert
electrician, or even mistri, than to be an office clerk copying letters all day.
But what we still have to learn is that all honest
work is dignified and worthy of respect. In Pakistan even the humble sweeper. Who
does unpleasant hut absolutely necessary work, ought to be respected, instead of
being regarded with contempt as unclean and thrust down into the lowest caste.
The only things we should be ashamed of are idleness and trying to live “by
one’s wits” without labor. “Work is worship” and to” work is to pray”.
This is a lesson which a Pakistani needs today. We
are turning out thousands of young men from our universities as Bachelors of
Arts every year, most of who seem to have been spoil for manual work by their
education, and whose ambition are to be clerks and government officials. If these
would devote their intelligence to industry, it would be the better for the
country. It would bring them pleasure, prosperity and progress. On one should
be shy of doing manual work because our Prophet (PB UH) also did the source work
and he set an example for the coming generation. Now it is unto us to follow these
great examples.