I have a dream that every Muslim be an expert in science and
technology. That will save us from obliteration, and the wrath of decline.
Of course , Iman is a prerequisite to all this but that does not mean we
have to sit down and wait for things to happen. Science and Technology
are our saviours(God willing) and we should turn to them as soon as
possible.. Debating Milad, Rafayadain and Aameen-bil-jahar etc. is
foolishness and those people are fools who do this. If every Muslim
becomes competent enough to understand the intricacies of technology,
we would have our problem solved in months if not days.
I have analysed all the reasons why we are on a decline. This is the
single and the strongest reason of our decline. Our masses are apathic to
Science and Technology. Our masses do not know our problems. How
come can they solve them? Nowadays you need not to go to a college
for getting knowledge. You can use the Internet. Billions of files are
available on Youtube , Wikipedia and elsewhere on the Internet about
almost everything. The only thing to be given is time.
One more problem in this direction is the fact that in most of the Muslim
countries, there is no or poor Internet connectivity. In Pakistan , Youtube
is banned. How can a population solve its problems when it does not
know its problems and when it s unaware of what is going on around the
world. Efforts should be made to improve the Internet connectivity of
Muslim population. Trusts should be created for this. No doubt the
Internet has some disadvantages but it has become a necessary evil these
days and no moral or logical argument can be presented to totally ban its
use. That will be a disaster to the Muslim world. Modifications like
government censoring of unwanted material would solve this problem.
The damage done by Internet to the Muslims is too small compared with
the damage that will be done to the Muslim ummah if we do not use it.
It should be remembered that an expert comes into existence by
consulting a lot of literature, graphics, photos and real world
embodiments of the concepts regarding a particular topic that he wants
to master. This can be done satisfactorily on the Internet if you have a
fast connection. Nowadays, there are virtual universities the services of
which you can also take. No doubt, an exclusive Internetist cannot be
like the professional expert in a field but he is far better than the illiterate
log of wood lying in his home and doing nothing for the Muslim world.
When we have a huge population of Internetists, they can then learn
from each other and this way the learning will be magnified. That is how
learning takes place. Learning from each other and a learned population
leads to exponential development. A million minds will solve a problem
faster than a few thousand ones.
Last but not the least, a man is blind if he does not know a language.
English is a must for knowing the world today. In this respect , again
help can be taken from the Internet but you can also take a short course
in speaking and comprehension. All this said, if you do not know the
English language, you can still read anything on Wikipedia in any
language that you are able to read. Wikipedia is now available in Urdu,
Arabic, Turkish and any language that you can think of . There is no
excuse left for the masses not to study. The only problem is their will not
to do so. Otherwise virtually everything is a click away in the 21st
century. When technology is available, why should not we use it?
It makes me very sad when i see that I live in a society where the
majority is illiterate and where the majority will not understand a
technical aspect that you are keen to discuss. The biggest enemy of
muslims is illiteracy, not anything else. Said the Glorious Prophet pbuh;
'Seeking knowledge is an obligation( farz) on every Muslim. "
FACTORS AFFECTING DEVELOPMENT
Development is a slow process and will only occur if we begin
somewhere. The only things development needs are:
time
political stability
education
sound economyAND
the will to learn and work.
Time is the most critical factor of all of these. America developed
because it got 230 years of peace and repose. The Islamic Golden Age
prospered in Science and Technology because it got enough time to do
so. Spain was a fountain of knowledge in the Muslim world, as it had a
huge time span of 800 years. Europe developed because it had enough
time to do so. Political stability is the next most important factor. The
African and Asian countries did not develop much because they were
not free, unlike the western countries. These are the cases where political
instability led to stalling to development process. If we have a look on
any of the developing or underdeveloped countries, we will notice that
they have been a subject of colonialism, imperialism and political
instability at some time in the course of their recent history. America
was also underdeveloped when the British had colonized it.
Eurpoe was in Dark Ages during the Islamic Golden age, because of
illiteracy at that time. At the time Muslim Spain had some 800, 000
volumes of books, France had only 50, 45 of which were Bibles.
Development follows literacy. Initially,the Indian Civilization was
developed as it was educated while the rest of the world was not.
Aryabhatta lived in this time. Then this knowledge was transferred to the
Greeks who developed into the Greek Civilisation. The Indian
civilisation then declined due to wars and forsaking the knowledge. The
rest of the world was undeveloped at this time. After the Greeks, the
Muslims were the most advanced in Science and Technology, because
they translated all the books of the Greeks and set up many seats of
knowledge. This was the Islamic Golden Age. The Greeks declined ,
again due to political instability and apathy to knowledge. Lastly, the
Muslims also declined due to the Crusades and the following laziness of
Muslims.
A poor country does not develop even if the will of its people is strong .
An example is Afghanistan. In contrast, a rich country does not develop
if the will of working and learning is not present. Examples are the Arab
countries. A very strong will, for the Muslims, depends upon the
strength of Iman in their hearts. Loss of Iman leads to pleasure seeking
and an amotivational syndrome. The most learned muslims have been
from the period of highest Iman. Bukhari, Abu hanifa, Khwarizmi, Ibni
Sina, Al Beruni and others all were from the period of best Iman.
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