| Why Are Muslims So Backward And Powerless? – By Dr Farrukh Saleem (17/9/12) |  |
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| Dr Farrukh Saleem |
| Sunday, 16 September 2012 21:10 |
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The writer is the Pakistani Executive Director of the Centre for Research and Security Studies, a think tank established in 2007 and an Islamabad-based freelance columnist. We Muslims must wonder why is it that only Muslim States like Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya are being attacked by the Christian West. Why do we get pushed around by them with the former President of the US George Bush calling it a crusade? Why is it that Muslim States often depend on the West for survival, even Saudi Arabia, the epi-centre for Islamic fundamentalism (i.e. Wahabism) is dependent on American largesse for their survival? While they preach Wahhabi Islam all over the world, they allow American bases within a few hundred kilometres from the Holiest Shrines of Islam. There are an estimated 1,476,233,470 Muslims on the face of the planet: one billion in Asia, 400 million in Africa, 44 million in Europe and six million in the Americas. Every fifth human being is a Muslim. For every single Hindu there are two Muslims, For every Jew there are one hundred Muslims. Ever wondered why Muslims are so powerless? Here is why: There are 57 member-countries of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), and all of them put together have around 500 universities; one university for every three million Muslims. The United States has 5,758 universities and India has 8,407. In 2004, Shanghai Jiao Tong University compiled an ‘Academic Ranking of World Universities’ and intriguingly, not one university from Muslim-majority states was in the top-500. As per data collected by the UNDP, literacy in the Christian world stands at nearly 90 per cent and 15 Christian-majority states have a literacy rate of 100 per cent. A Muslim-majority state, as a sharp contrast, has an average literacy rate of around 40 per cent and there is no Muslim-majority state with a literacy rate of 100 per cent. Some 98 per cent of the ‘literates’ in the Christian world had completed primary school, while less than 50 per cent of the ‘literates’ in the Muslim world did the same. Around 40 per cent of the ‘literates’ in the Christian world attended university while no more than two per cent of the ‘literates’ in the Muslim world did the same. Muslim-majority countries have 230 scientists per one million Muslims. The US has 4,000 scientists per million and Japan has 5,000 per million. In the entire Arab world, the total number of full-time researchers is 35,000 and there are only 50 technicians per one million Arabs. (in the Christian world there are up to 1,000 technicians per one million). Furthermore, the Muslim world spends 0.2 per cent of its GDP on research and development, while the Christian world spends around five per cent of its GDP. Conclusion: The Muslim world lacks the capacity to produce knowledge! Daily newspapers per 1,000 people and number of book titles per million are two indicators of whether knowledge is being diffused in a society. In Pakistan, there are 23 daily newspapers per 1,000 Pakistanis while the same ratio in Singapore is 360. In the UK, the number of book titles per million stands at 2,000 while the same in Egypt is 20. Conclusion: The Muslim world is failing to diffuse knowledge. Exports of high technology products as a percentage of total exports are an important indicator of knowledge application. Pakistan’s export of high technology products as a percentage of total exports stands at one per cent. The same for Saudi Arabia is 0.3 per cent; Kuwait, Morocco, and Algeria are all at 0.3 per cent, while Singapore is at 58 per cent. Conclusion: The Muslim world is failing to apply knowledge. Why are Muslims powerless? …..Because we aren’t producing knowledge, …..Because we aren’t diffusing knowledge, …..Because we aren’t applying knowledge. And, the future belongs to knowledge-based societies. Interestingly, the combined annual GDP of 57 OIC-countries is under $2 trillion. America, just by herself, produces goods and services worth $12 trillion; China $8 trillion, Japan $3.8 trillion and Germany $2.4 trillion (purchasing power parity basis). Oil rich Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait and Qatar collectively produce goods and services (mostly oil) worth $500 billion; Spain alone produces goods and services worth over $1 trillion, Catholic Poland $489 billion and Buddhist Thailand $545 billion. Muslim GDP as a percentage of world’s GDP is fast declining. So, why are Muslims so powerless? *Answer: Lack of education. All we do is shout Allah the whole day and blame everyone else for our multiple failures! |
2 responses to “Why Are Muslims So Backward And Powerless? – By Dr Farrukh Saleem (17/9/12)”
As salaam alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,
In my opinion, it is not lack of worldly knowledge that has been declining Muslim societies but lack of spiritual knowledge and faith.
There’s the Christian story about the apple being the fruit from the tree of knowledge which Adam and Eve ate, aleyhum salaam. If they had just obeyed Allah in the first place we would still be in paradise (obviously I am not putting blame upon our parents, no disrespect intended).
Through disobedience history repeats itself regardless to whether or not your are doing your salaat.
Cain killed his brother Abel aleyhi salaam, the Children of Israel worshipped the calf, the Jews martyred the Prophets aleyhum salaam. Finally, the Muslim world was almost annihilated by the Mongols but by the Mercy of Allah the religion moves on.
So what is real knowledge greater than spiritual knowledge? Prophet Muhammad salallahu alyehi wa salaam could not read or write and he was the greatest person to have ever walked the face of the earth. His knowledge came from our Creator, not books written by man.
Human pursuit in technology is the anti-thesis of Islam, once again my opinion. That’s not to say all technology is bad, Allah told Nuh aleyhi salaam to build the ark. He taught Dawud aleyhi salaam how to create chain mail, etc. But take the simplest invention and you can see in what direction human kind is heading.
The clock. No longer do we go outside and look at the sun to determine time of prayer, I do it myself, guilty as charged.
The refrigerator, we no longer rely on Allah as disposer of affairs; for example, Allah tells of the Children of Israel who were sent manna and salwa every day, but they didn’t want it. We are told we should be like the birds, who wake up in the morning and rely on Allah for their daily bread.
The camera. Not only does it create false idols, but promotes the love for the world by storing memories of things that do not and should no matter. It also promotes vanity in this age of technology through social networking.
The television, biggest brainwashing tool on the planet. Liars and magicians peddling nonsense while smiling, “Smile, it’s Sunnah.”
The iphone is probably one of the worst travesties to ever hit mankind. Cameras, games, music, and it even has accessories that allow you to swipe credit cards! There’s even a nice apple on the back (As I type this from an apple laptop, astaghfirullah.)
Vaccinations. If Allah wants you to be sick you will be sick. Prophet Ayyub aleyhi salaam had maggots eating his rotting flesh and he stuck it out.
Where does scientific knowledge such as abortions fit into Islam?
Or war? Tell that to Maryam radi allahu anha, who said: “But no man hath touched me….”
Where does economic knowledge fit into Islam? If we live for Allah, then we should give and give and give just as He does.
Did not Allah give us the sun and the moon to tell the time and date? Did He not give us the animals to use for work, transportation, food, and companionship? Did He not give us plants with medicinal uses? Were we not created from this earth?
I believe true knowledge is spiritual knowledge. Allah has given us everything we need here, and He does not change. It is us who always want something else. It’s the disobedience that gets us into hot water. Some rightly guided scholars in the scientific community (of the modern western era) have only began to see and use the Qur’an as a book of science in the past 30 years, Dr. Keith L. Moore probably being the most famous.
Is not Prophet Muhammad salallahu aleyhi wa salaam the pinacle of human spiritual evolution? Obedient, kind, compassionate, truthful, just, pious, righteous, merciful, brave, patient, humble etc etc etc…where is his PHD?
He didn’t sleep on a bed, didn’t have a mercedes, didn’t have bluetooth. He didn’t perform organ transplants, he didn’t buy and sell stocks on wall street, he didn’t work in a fast food restaurant.
The knowledge we have today is completely useless if it goes one iota from the Qur’an or Sunnah. Not to mention Prophet Suleyman aleyhi salaam who was granted an amazing gift of wealth and knowledge that no man will ever have after him. If he had the best of the best, and he still submitted to Allah, then what are we doing?
We must be obedient, unite, and have faith. Dawud aleyhi salaam threw a stone that killed Jalut. Ibrahim aleyhi salaam turned down the help of Jibrail aleyhi salaam and was saved by the fire. Maryam radiallahu anha asked for food and it was given to her. Zakariyah aleyhi salaam asked for an heir and his barren wife was cured. Isa aleyhi salaam walked on water. Prophet Muhammad salallahu aleyhi wa salaam once threw a hand full of sand in a battle and it blinded the entire army: “And you threw not, [O Muhammad], when you threw, but it was Allah who threw that He might test the believers with a good test. Indeed, Allah is Hearing and Knowing.”
All problems can be solved through faith in Allah subhanna wa ta’ala. Muslims have to stop assimilating into places where we do not belong…which is almost every single area of life in this dajjal system. The dajjal system is a fear based system driven to enslave us, but most importantly, make every single one of us commit shirk.
This response is based on personal opinion, and I understand the hypocrisy that comes along with the typing. Inshallah, Allah will guide us all to the point where we can speak and hear with our hearts, ask for rain and get it, and maintain the innocence state if a child; Love and be loved.
He (jesus) said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
As salaam alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa barakatuh
Salaam,
Agreed. Well said, yet it is balance and synthesis of knowledge that must be achieved and maintained. We are to ‘act’ as vicegerents not just have faith that we are, and this requires the proper approach-to and utilization-of of all knowledge granted to us. May Allah grant us refuge and wisdom. Dr. Omar