on March 1, 2011.
Preparing for the 21st Century
Speech by Dr. Mahathir Mohammad, Ex. Prime Minister of Malaysia at the Oxford Islamic Forum on the Islamic World and Global Cooperation
I feel honoured to be here today to speak at this Oxford Islamic Forum on ' The Islamic World and Global Cooperation: Preparing for the 21st Century '. I hope the topic will generate a lot of interest and discussions, as currently there are many contrary views and debate on this subject.
Let me start by looking at the Islamic World itself. There are at the moment not less than 56 countries, which are members of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC). Not all these countries have Muslim majorities and fewer still officially accept Islam as the state religion. But Muslims are sufficiently influential as to cause the Governments of these countries to seek membership of the Islamic community of nations. All told, Muslims make up for more than one billion of the world's population.
But they are far from being a monolithic group, being broken up as much by their own loyalty to their countries as they are by the differences in the interpretations of Islam or indeed allegedly by the degree of commitment to the faith. They certainly do not make up one cohesive Islamic civilisation, which can pose a meaningful threat to other civilisations or indeed anyone. They are too busy fighting and undermining each other to be a threat.
There is also not a single Muslim country that can be classified as developed. A number of them are very wealthy being well endowed with natural resources. But almost all are lagging in modern knowledge, technological skills and in many instances effective Government. In fact in quite a few countries a state of near-anarchy prevails. By no criteria can any of these countries be classified as developed.
Poverty, ignorance and instability have become such a common feature in the Muslim nations that it is assumed this is a natural consequence of following the teachings of Islam. It is therefore not surprising that today the world associates Islam with backwardness. This angers many Muslims. They think that it is an unfair judgement. They are right of course. It is unfair. It is not due to the teachings of Islam. But the fact remains that the Muslim nations are poor, backward, weak, disunited, dependent on non-Muslims for all kinds of things including their own security and the continued existence of Islam itself. With the powerful weapons in the hands of the non-Mulims it is entirely possible for them to wipe out the Muslims from the face of this earth. It is only by the Grace of Allah and His mercy that those whom we labelled as the enemies of Islam have not done so. But the Muslims themselves have done nothing to help themselves. If at all they have weakened themselves more and more by their constant feuding among themselves, by their confusing and contradictory interpretations of Islam and by their failure to obey the injunctions to help themselves even as they pray to Allah for His protection.
The Qur'an is very clear on this. Verse 79 Sura An Nisaa states that "Whatever good happens to thee is from God but whatever evil happens to thee is from thy soul".
That Muslims were at one time the most advanced people in all fields is a fact of history. Apart from being the best strategists and warriors, they were the most learned and enlightened and the most liberal of people in the world then. It is difficult now to think of Muslims as being enlightened and liberal. But consider the situation and the civilisation of Europe in the middle ages. What we now call the West was then one of the most backward communities of nations in the world. They were hopelessly so superstitious that they banned the sciences as witchcraft, and books were kept locked because
Knowledge was feared. They regularly burnt witches at the stake. Only the priests may know about their religion and other subjects. Since knowledge meant power the priests ruled directly or indirectly and they imposed a reign of terror through the Inquisition for centuries. Such was the oppression by the priests that many migrated, seeking freedom from Christian intolerance.
By comparison with the Muslims of the period, the Europeans were indeed primitive, superstitious and anything but liberal. They were certainly feudal and oppressive. Their oppressive Governments led their own Christian subjects to welcome conquests by Muslims, going so far as to abet these conquests. Even the Jews preferred to live under Muslim rule and left Spain together with the Muslims to settle in North Africa.
All these must indicate the tolerance and liberalism of Muslims and their Governments in the past in the great days of the Muslim Empire. Everything was not rosy of course. There were oppressive Muslim rulers too. But for long periods non-Muslims in Muslim Countries were free to go about their business and practice their own religions.
When lslam came to the Arabs over 1400 years ago they were wallowing in superstition and ignorance. Living in the arid and inhospitable desert, forced to wander in search of water and meagre pasture for their animals and food for themselves, they had broken up into a number of feuding warring tribes. Such were their feuds that for generations they would fight their sworn tribal enemies even when the cause of their enmity had long been forgotten.
They developed their own codes of honour which were at once
Gracious and cruel. They would be the most considerate of hosts to strangers who seek shelter from them and yet if they believe they had been slighted they would take revenge in the most cruel and unforgiving manner.
For these Arab tribes, the main cause of shame was always their women. They regarded women as mere chattel, as property to use in exchange for alliances, as the objects of their lusts. Yet in their wars they always feared capture of their women by the enemy. This they regarded most dishonorable and shameful to their family and their tribe. But in order to avoid this possibility they would rather kill their daughters or sisters, who may dishonour them or were likely to cause shame to them. And so it was their custom to bury alive their infant girls, to commit infanticide in order that the chances of being dishonored later would be less.
They were inordinately fond of praise for themselves. And so the beggars could always expect the rich or the prominent to throw their coins if their praises were sung. Flattery was the best way to win them over always.
Their superstitions lead them to attribute godly powers to various objects of stone and wood. And they would regularly visit the places where these objects were kept in order to offer sacrifices including human sacrifices for their salvation, for protection from the unkind elements, which buffeted them. And when the feuding tribes met during their pilgrimage they would fight and kill each other.
There were among them a few who professed the Christian or the Jewish faith, who believed in one Almighty God, who were people of the book. But the ignorant Arabs preferred to believe in the Gods of their ancestors. They rejected the messages of the apostles who
came before Muhammad (Peace be upon him) although it is clear that they knew of them. That they knew of the Christian faith is clearly shown when the Christian Waraqah was consulted about the voices heard by Mohammad (Peace be upon him).
This then was the primitive, superstitious, feuding people and tribes to whom Muhammad (peace be upon him), was sent with the message of Islam. It is no wonder that he found difficulty in convincing them to give up their beliefs and custom, to honour and save their women, to reject lust and the taking of innumerable wives, limiting them to only four and even then only if they could do justice to all four, which he pointed out they never could. "Ye are never able to be fair and just as between women" (Sura IV Verse 129). And so they should take only one
Knowing their fondness for alcohol and the difficulty in giving up this vice, they were enjoined to forego alcohol little by little until it was forbidden altogether. A sudden injunction to stop alcohol would not have been accepted by them.
They were instructed to befriend their enemies if the latter accepted the faith. And under the leadership of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) they became United, forgetting their feuds and their tribes. This is clear from Verse 103 in Sura III Al-Imran "Be not divided among yourselves. And remember with gratitude God's favour on you; For Ye were enemies and He joined your hearts in love so that by His Grace, Ye became brethren".
In Madinah their society was finally organized with proper laws detailing crimes, the methods of judgement and the punishments. Always justice and quality of mercy was stressed. Those who repented should be pardoned.
The feuding, barbaric tribes, which accepted Islam, united and became a nation under the Madinah constitution, the first written constitution in the Islamic world. Thus was the core of the first Muslim nation created. From Madinah the Prophet (Peace be upon him) sent envoys to neighbouring countries urging the rulers of these countries to accept Islam. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) followed scrupulously the teachings of Islam in peace and in war. No one should be forced to accept Islam. This is made clear in Verse 256 of Sura II Al Baqarah "Let there be no compulsion in religion".
Unfortunately his followers were not so patient and ready to tolerate the taunts and the opposition of those who rejected the teachings of the Prophet (PBUH). While the Prophet (Peace be upon him) fought only defensive wars and was ever ready to make peace and enter into treaties to settle disputes, his disciples were more aggressive believing in spreading the faith through force of arms. And so within the first century of the Hijrah the definitive Muslim Empire was conquered largely through force of arms. While the conquests resulted in the spread of Islam and the enlargement of the Muslim Empire, they also presaged the trend towards disregard for the teachings of Islam.
Anything and everything was accepted as legitimate if the perpetrators invoke the interests of Islam. And so today the Greatness of Allah is often proclaimed, as some dastardly act is committed often against other Muslims. Sura II Al-Baqarah-Verse 41 "Nor sell my signs for a small price". Again in Verse 224 "And make not God's (name) an excuse." Sura III Aal-e-Imran "They will not sell the Signs of God for a miserable sum."
Only angels and the Prophet (Peace be upon him) could not be corrupted by the success of the Islamic enterprise. Of the four enlightened Caliphs (May Allah be pleased with them) who succeeded to the leadership of the Muslim Ummah, only ABuBakar (Peace be upon him) died a natural death. The other three, companions of the Prophet (May Allah be pleased with them) were killed by those envious of their position. Clearly there were members of the Muslim ummah who did not respect authority as enjoined by Islam. They were prepared to assassinate their own leaders, something the Qur'an forbids.
By the time of the fourth Caliph Ali (May Allah be pleased with him), the warring had become as serious as the tribal feuds of the old pre-Islamic Arabs. The Muslim ummah was split permanently into two. The opponents of Ali(May Allah be pleased with him) followed Muawiyah (May Allah be pleased with him) and became known as the upholders of the traditions of the Prophet-Ahlul Sunnah Wal Jamaah.The followers of Ali (May Allah be pleased with him) probably against the wishes of Ali (May Allah be pleased with him) himself, split off to from the Shia Muslims, venerating Ali (May Allah be pleased with him) as the true successor of the Prophet (Peace be upon him)
From then on each sect not only sought to justify itself through numerous and contradictory interpretations of the teachings of Islam, but they invented many traditions or Sunnah of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) in order to justify the frequently unIslamic practices in which they indulged. So many were the traditions that by the time Imam Bukhari studied them in order to verify their authenticity there were said to be 600,000 of them. Of these Bukhari verified only 7,000. Other scholars verified an even smaller number including a few which had been rejected by Bukhari. Obviously there were more than 590,000
While these practices were approved and even encouraged by the religious authorities, attempts at modernizing the armed forces were opposed as un-Islamic. When proposals were made to change the baggy trousers for less clumsy pants and the fez replaced by peak caps, there was mutiny in the armed forces.
In the end the formerly invincible Turkish army was armed with obsolete weapons and no match for the disciplined, professional European forces, equipped with ever more effective weapons. Beginning with the failure to capture Vienna, the Turkish Empire began to decline. The process seemed inexorable. By the end of the First World War the Turkish Empire had broken up into a multiplicity of little states all of which came under French or British over lordship. Turkey itself was almost lost to the Greeks but for Mustafa Kamal.
The Muslims who emerged from the Arabian Peninsula were initially true adherents of the teachings of Islam. They were tolerant of the people of the books, and were broadminded and willing enough to learn the skills, the sciences, mathematics and the arts of the non Muslims, particularly those of the ancient Greeks. They did their own research and contributed greatly to the body of knowledge in many fields. They became technologically advanced as a result.
Unfortunately, with the advent of the Muslim jurists and the so-called reformists, studies other than those specifically related to religion and its practices were frowned upon and eventually proscribed. With this the Muslims regressed. True, it was the abuses and deviations from the teachings and practices of Islam, particularly by the elite, which brought about the reform, and the ascendancy of the Muslims jurists. But what was achieved was not a return to the true teachings of Islam. The reforming fanatics and jurists simply wanted an Islam that was more rigid in the observation of certain rituals while precluding anything that they considered as un-Islamic. And so not only did they proscribe so-called non-Islamic knowledge, but they considered anything that did not seem to have originated in the Muslim past as un-Islamic as well. Thus the modernization of the Turkish army was considered un-Islamic. They ignored the injunction in the Qur'an that the Muslims must always be prepared to defend themselves. Instead they clung to the form rather than the substance of the teachings. It was more important to relive the past than to consider the present.
The Qur'an speaks in parables, the real meaning of which must be interpreted in the context of the situation faced by the Ummah through the ages. But most interpreters insist on the literal meaning of the words in the Qur'an. And so the defence of the Ummah lost its importance to the need for 'steeds of war' as stated in Sura Anfal, verse 60 "Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including 'steeds of war', to strike terror in the enemies".
It is a fact that once upon a time there was a great Muslim empire. It is also a fact that, that empire is no more. Defeats in the fields of battle and in the conduct of diplomatic relations had not only whittled the empire down but had broken up the Empire into ineffective Muslim states which for a period of time became colonies of Western powers. The fragmentation and colonization of the Muslim world is no doubt due to the machinations of the Europeans and their military power. It was the Europeans who manoeuvred the Arabs into fighting against the Turks for their independence.
Muslims all over the world often talk longingly of the Empire they had lost, of their past greatness, of their domination of the world . They had ruled Spain for 800 years and much of Eastern Europe for almost 400 years. They even talk of their past mastery of the sciences,
They forget that for all their brilliance they cannot answer the question "why ". They cannot answer why there is life in the world, why there is a universe, why matter acts in the way it does, why oxygen and hydrogen form water and a myriad other chemical and physical reactions.
They may know how all those things happen but never why. They are not the genius they think they are.
And because the human race is becoming more and more arrogant, religion and spiritual values are needed even more.
And Islam can provide the spiritual values, to those who believe and to those who don't. The Islam that can provide these values is fundamental Islam, the truly fundamental Islam which advocates peace, charity and caring, not the Islam which commits crimes and calls out the name of Allah to justify it.
The 21st Century is not relevant to the Muslims. It is just a period in time. But the 21st Century will see many changes and the Muslims will be a part of these changes whether they like it or not. It is better for them to face the 21st Century with their eyes wide open and with a clear vision of what they want to do and the role they wish to play. And if they chose to play a constructive role while retaining their faith, as well as their spiritual values and their true brotherhood, they would be able to contribute positively to the development of mankind, to put it on an even keel again and to prevent the self-destruct course which the human race appears to be heading for. The Muslims can be a force for human good in the 21st Century.
http://www.islamicvoice.com/june.99/features1.htm
Preparing for the 21st Century
Speech by Dr. Mahathir Mohammad, Ex. Prime Minister of Malaysia at the Oxford Islamic Forum on the Islamic World and Global Cooperation
I feel honoured to be here today to speak at this Oxford Islamic Forum on ' The Islamic World and Global Cooperation: Preparing for the 21st Century '. I hope the topic will generate a lot of interest and discussions, as currently there are many contrary views and debate on this subject.
Let me start by looking at the Islamic World itself. There are at the moment not less than 56 countries, which are members of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC). Not all these countries have Muslim majorities and fewer still officially accept Islam as the state religion. But Muslims are sufficiently influential as to cause the Governments of these countries to seek membership of the Islamic community of nations. All told, Muslims make up for more than one billion of the world's population.
But they are far from being a monolithic group, being broken up as much by their own loyalty to their countries as they are by the differences in the interpretations of Islam or indeed allegedly by the degree of commitment to the faith. They certainly do not make up one cohesive Islamic civilisation, which can pose a meaningful threat to other civilisations or indeed anyone. They are too busy fighting and undermining each other to be a threat.
There is also not a single Muslim country that can be classified as developed. A number of them are very wealthy being well endowed with natural resources. But almost all are lagging in modern knowledge, technological skills and in many instances effective Government. In fact in quite a few countries a state of near-anarchy prevails. By no criteria can any of these countries be classified as developed.
Poverty, ignorance and instability have become such a common feature in the Muslim nations that it is assumed this is a natural consequence of following the teachings of Islam. It is therefore not surprising that today the world associates Islam with backwardness. This angers many Muslims. They think that it is an unfair judgement. They are right of course. It is unfair. It is not due to the teachings of Islam. But the fact remains that the Muslim nations are poor, backward, weak, disunited, dependent on non-Muslims for all kinds of things including their own security and the continued existence of Islam itself. With the powerful weapons in the hands of the non-Mulims it is entirely possible for them to wipe out the Muslims from the face of this earth. It is only by the Grace of Allah and His mercy that those whom we labelled as the enemies of Islam have not done so. But the Muslims themselves have done nothing to help themselves. If at all they have weakened themselves more and more by their constant feuding among themselves, by their confusing and contradictory interpretations of Islam and by their failure to obey the injunctions to help themselves even as they pray to Allah for His protection.
The Qur'an is very clear on this. Verse 79 Sura An Nisaa states that "Whatever good happens to thee is from God but whatever evil happens to thee is from thy soul".
That Muslims were at one time the most advanced people in all fields is a fact of history. Apart from being the best strategists and warriors, they were the most learned and enlightened and the most liberal of people in the world then. It is difficult now to think of Muslims as being enlightened and liberal. But consider the situation and the civilisation of Europe in the middle ages. What we now call the West was then one of the most backward communities of nations in the world. They were hopelessly so superstitious that they banned the sciences as witchcraft, and books were kept locked because
Knowledge was feared. They regularly burnt witches at the stake. Only the priests may know about their religion and other subjects. Since knowledge meant power the priests ruled directly or indirectly and they imposed a reign of terror through the Inquisition for centuries. Such was the oppression by the priests that many migrated, seeking freedom from Christian intolerance.
By comparison with the Muslims of the period, the Europeans were indeed primitive, superstitious and anything but liberal. They were certainly feudal and oppressive. Their oppressive Governments led their own Christian subjects to welcome conquests by Muslims, going so far as to abet these conquests. Even the Jews preferred to live under Muslim rule and left Spain together with the Muslims to settle in North Africa.
All these must indicate the tolerance and liberalism of Muslims and their Governments in the past in the great days of the Muslim Empire. Everything was not rosy of course. There were oppressive Muslim rulers too. But for long periods non-Muslims in Muslim Countries were free to go about their business and practice their own religions.
When lslam came to the Arabs over 1400 years ago they were wallowing in superstition and ignorance. Living in the arid and inhospitable desert, forced to wander in search of water and meagre pasture for their animals and food for themselves, they had broken up into a number of feuding warring tribes. Such were their feuds that for generations they would fight their sworn tribal enemies even when the cause of their enmity had long been forgotten.
They developed their own codes of honour which were at once
Gracious and cruel. They would be the most considerate of hosts to strangers who seek shelter from them and yet if they believe they had been slighted they would take revenge in the most cruel and unforgiving manner.
For these Arab tribes, the main cause of shame was always their women. They regarded women as mere chattel, as property to use in exchange for alliances, as the objects of their lusts. Yet in their wars they always feared capture of their women by the enemy. This they regarded most dishonorable and shameful to their family and their tribe. But in order to avoid this possibility they would rather kill their daughters or sisters, who may dishonour them or were likely to cause shame to them. And so it was their custom to bury alive their infant girls, to commit infanticide in order that the chances of being dishonored later would be less.
They were inordinately fond of praise for themselves. And so the beggars could always expect the rich or the prominent to throw their coins if their praises were sung. Flattery was the best way to win them over always.
Their superstitions lead them to attribute godly powers to various objects of stone and wood. And they would regularly visit the places where these objects were kept in order to offer sacrifices including human sacrifices for their salvation, for protection from the unkind elements, which buffeted them. And when the feuding tribes met during their pilgrimage they would fight and kill each other.
There were among them a few who professed the Christian or the Jewish faith, who believed in one Almighty God, who were people of the book. But the ignorant Arabs preferred to believe in the Gods of their ancestors. They rejected the messages of the apostles who
came before Muhammad (Peace be upon him) although it is clear that they knew of them. That they knew of the Christian faith is clearly shown when the Christian Waraqah was consulted about the voices heard by Mohammad (Peace be upon him).
This then was the primitive, superstitious, feuding people and tribes to whom Muhammad (peace be upon him), was sent with the message of Islam. It is no wonder that he found difficulty in convincing them to give up their beliefs and custom, to honour and save their women, to reject lust and the taking of innumerable wives, limiting them to only four and even then only if they could do justice to all four, which he pointed out they never could. "Ye are never able to be fair and just as between women" (Sura IV Verse 129). And so they should take only one
Knowing their fondness for alcohol and the difficulty in giving up this vice, they were enjoined to forego alcohol little by little until it was forbidden altogether. A sudden injunction to stop alcohol would not have been accepted by them.
They were instructed to befriend their enemies if the latter accepted the faith. And under the leadership of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) they became United, forgetting their feuds and their tribes. This is clear from Verse 103 in Sura III Al-Imran "Be not divided among yourselves. And remember with gratitude God's favour on you; For Ye were enemies and He joined your hearts in love so that by His Grace, Ye became brethren".
In Madinah their society was finally organized with proper laws detailing crimes, the methods of judgement and the punishments. Always justice and quality of mercy was stressed. Those who repented should be pardoned.
The feuding, barbaric tribes, which accepted Islam, united and became a nation under the Madinah constitution, the first written constitution in the Islamic world. Thus was the core of the first Muslim nation created. From Madinah the Prophet (Peace be upon him) sent envoys to neighbouring countries urging the rulers of these countries to accept Islam. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) followed scrupulously the teachings of Islam in peace and in war. No one should be forced to accept Islam. This is made clear in Verse 256 of Sura II Al Baqarah "Let there be no compulsion in religion".
Unfortunately his followers were not so patient and ready to tolerate the taunts and the opposition of those who rejected the teachings of the Prophet (PBUH). While the Prophet (Peace be upon him) fought only defensive wars and was ever ready to make peace and enter into treaties to settle disputes, his disciples were more aggressive believing in spreading the faith through force of arms. And so within the first century of the Hijrah the definitive Muslim Empire was conquered largely through force of arms. While the conquests resulted in the spread of Islam and the enlargement of the Muslim Empire, they also presaged the trend towards disregard for the teachings of Islam.
Anything and everything was accepted as legitimate if the perpetrators invoke the interests of Islam. And so today the Greatness of Allah is often proclaimed, as some dastardly act is committed often against other Muslims. Sura II Al-Baqarah-Verse 41 "Nor sell my signs for a small price". Again in Verse 224 "And make not God's (name) an excuse." Sura III Aal-e-Imran "They will not sell the Signs of God for a miserable sum."
Only angels and the Prophet (Peace be upon him) could not be corrupted by the success of the Islamic enterprise. Of the four enlightened Caliphs (May Allah be pleased with them) who succeeded to the leadership of the Muslim Ummah, only ABuBakar (Peace be upon him) died a natural death. The other three, companions of the Prophet (May Allah be pleased with them) were killed by those envious of their position. Clearly there were members of the Muslim ummah who did not respect authority as enjoined by Islam. They were prepared to assassinate their own leaders, something the Qur'an forbids.
By the time of the fourth Caliph Ali (May Allah be pleased with him), the warring had become as serious as the tribal feuds of the old pre-Islamic Arabs. The Muslim ummah was split permanently into two. The opponents of Ali(May Allah be pleased with him) followed Muawiyah (May Allah be pleased with him) and became known as the upholders of the traditions of the Prophet-Ahlul Sunnah Wal Jamaah.The followers of Ali (May Allah be pleased with him) probably against the wishes of Ali (May Allah be pleased with him) himself, split off to from the Shia Muslims, venerating Ali (May Allah be pleased with him) as the true successor of the Prophet (Peace be upon him)
From then on each sect not only sought to justify itself through numerous and contradictory interpretations of the teachings of Islam, but they invented many traditions or Sunnah of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) in order to justify the frequently unIslamic practices in which they indulged. So many were the traditions that by the time Imam Bukhari studied them in order to verify their authenticity there were said to be 600,000 of them. Of these Bukhari verified only 7,000. Other scholars verified an even smaller number including a few which had been rejected by Bukhari. Obviously there were more than 590,000
While these practices were approved and even encouraged by the religious authorities, attempts at modernizing the armed forces were opposed as un-Islamic. When proposals were made to change the baggy trousers for less clumsy pants and the fez replaced by peak caps, there was mutiny in the armed forces.
In the end the formerly invincible Turkish army was armed with obsolete weapons and no match for the disciplined, professional European forces, equipped with ever more effective weapons. Beginning with the failure to capture Vienna, the Turkish Empire began to decline. The process seemed inexorable. By the end of the First World War the Turkish Empire had broken up into a multiplicity of little states all of which came under French or British over lordship. Turkey itself was almost lost to the Greeks but for Mustafa Kamal.
The Muslims who emerged from the Arabian Peninsula were initially true adherents of the teachings of Islam. They were tolerant of the people of the books, and were broadminded and willing enough to learn the skills, the sciences, mathematics and the arts of the non Muslims, particularly those of the ancient Greeks. They did their own research and contributed greatly to the body of knowledge in many fields. They became technologically advanced as a result.
Unfortunately, with the advent of the Muslim jurists and the so-called reformists, studies other than those specifically related to religion and its practices were frowned upon and eventually proscribed. With this the Muslims regressed. True, it was the abuses and deviations from the teachings and practices of Islam, particularly by the elite, which brought about the reform, and the ascendancy of the Muslims jurists. But what was achieved was not a return to the true teachings of Islam. The reforming fanatics and jurists simply wanted an Islam that was more rigid in the observation of certain rituals while precluding anything that they considered as un-Islamic. And so not only did they proscribe so-called non-Islamic knowledge, but they considered anything that did not seem to have originated in the Muslim past as un-Islamic as well. Thus the modernization of the Turkish army was considered un-Islamic. They ignored the injunction in the Qur'an that the Muslims must always be prepared to defend themselves. Instead they clung to the form rather than the substance of the teachings. It was more important to relive the past than to consider the present.
The Qur'an speaks in parables, the real meaning of which must be interpreted in the context of the situation faced by the Ummah through the ages. But most interpreters insist on the literal meaning of the words in the Qur'an. And so the defence of the Ummah lost its importance to the need for 'steeds of war' as stated in Sura Anfal, verse 60 "Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including 'steeds of war', to strike terror in the enemies".
It is a fact that once upon a time there was a great Muslim empire. It is also a fact that, that empire is no more. Defeats in the fields of battle and in the conduct of diplomatic relations had not only whittled the empire down but had broken up the Empire into ineffective Muslim states which for a period of time became colonies of Western powers. The fragmentation and colonization of the Muslim world is no doubt due to the machinations of the Europeans and their military power. It was the Europeans who manoeuvred the Arabs into fighting against the Turks for their independence.
Muslims all over the world often talk longingly of the Empire they had lost, of their past greatness, of their domination of the world . They had ruled Spain for 800 years and much of Eastern Europe for almost 400 years. They even talk of their past mastery of the sciences,
They forget that for all their brilliance they cannot answer the question "why ". They cannot answer why there is life in the world, why there is a universe, why matter acts in the way it does, why oxygen and hydrogen form water and a myriad other chemical and physical reactions.
They may know how all those things happen but never why. They are not the genius they think they are.
And because the human race is becoming more and more arrogant, religion and spiritual values are needed even more.
And Islam can provide the spiritual values, to those who believe and to those who don't. The Islam that can provide these values is fundamental Islam, the truly fundamental Islam which advocates peace, charity and caring, not the Islam which commits crimes and calls out the name of Allah to justify it.
The 21st Century is not relevant to the Muslims. It is just a period in time. But the 21st Century will see many changes and the Muslims will be a part of these changes whether they like it or not. It is better for them to face the 21st Century with their eyes wide open and with a clear vision of what they want to do and the role they wish to play. And if they chose to play a constructive role while retaining their faith, as well as their spiritual values and their true brotherhood, they would be able to contribute positively to the development of mankind, to put it on an even keel again and to prevent the self-destruct course which the human race appears to be heading for. The Muslims can be a force for human good in the 21st Century.
http://www.islamicvoice.com/june.99/features1.htm
