BIIT-Intellectual Discourse Series-1

on
The Crisis of Contemporary Civilization and the Way Out
Speaker:
Professor Emeritus Dr. Abdulhamid A Abusulaiman
Former Rector, IIUM and the President, IIIT, USA
Thanks to Allah almighty, the first lecture of Intellectual Discourse Series was held at IIUM Gombak
Campus on Saturday, 29
th
March 2014 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm under the auspices of the
Bangladesh Institute of Islamic Thought (BIIT) in collaboration with IIIT-East Asia and International
Institute for Muslim Unity (IIMU)-IIUM featuring Emeritus Professor Dr. Abdul Hamid Ahmad
AbuSulayman, Former Rector, IIUM and the President, IIIT. The distinguished speaker spoke on the
topic entitled the Crisis of Contemporary Civilization and the Way Out. This Intellectual Discourse
was solely and exclusively for the Bangladeshi brothers and sisters comprise of students, teachers and
other professionals. Among others, Prof. Dr. Abdul Rashid Moten and Prof. Dr. Ataul Huq Paramanik
were present in the program. The Executive Director of BIIT Muhammad Abdul Aziz gave the vote of
thanks while Dr. Mahmudul Hasan moderated the session.
This program drew huge attention among Bangladeshi scholars and the program venue was too small
compare to the gathering that it was a challenging task for organizer to accommodate all. Moreover,
many people who missed the opportunity to join this important congregation are curious about to
know about the focal point of discussion by our respected speaker. Having observing the mania, BIIT
has decided to prepare a brief note on the lecture encompassing all excellent ideas and points by the
Islamization guru.
A brief biography of Professor Emeritus Dr. Abdulhamid A Abusulaiman:
Abdul Hamid Ahmad AbuSulayman was born in Makkkah,
Saudi Arabia in 1936. He is one of the renowned social thinkers
& intellectual leaders of the Muslim ummah. He is arguably the
introducer of a knowledge movement, Islamization of
Knowledge. He graduated from University of Cairo with a
bachelor degree in Commerce in 1959 and received his Masters
degree from the same university in Political Science in 1963.
Later he completed his PhD studies in International Relations at the University of Pennsylvania, USA
in 1973. He has been involved with many global Muslim Brotherhood affiliations. After completing
his MA degree, he worked as the Secretary of State, Planning Committee, Saudi Arabia for two years
in1963-1964. He was the Secretary General of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY)
since 1973unitl 1979. He was the Chairman of the Department of Political Science at King Saud
University, Riyadh during 1982 -1984 period. AbuSulayman is the founding member of the
Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS, 1972), and its former President (1985-87). He was
also the President of the Child Development Foundation, USA.
He was the Rector of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) during 1989-1999 tenure.
He is a trustee, current president, and founding member of the International Institute of Islamic
Thought (IIIT).
Main Excerpts of the Lecture:
Science Needs Guidance of Faith
The guided knowledge of the Angels led to faith and tranquility. By the virtue of what they already
knew of the nature of man while he was in his animal phase before Allah proportioned him and gave
him soul, intelligence and knowledge; they wondered about his animal traits and capacity to be
mischievous, unjust and aggressive. But the answer given by the Creator, the Possessor of the supreme
power and absolute knowledge allayed their fears, gave them peace of mind, strengthened their faith
and inspired their acceptance. Allah informs us in the Quran:
And (remember) when your Lord said to the angels: "Verily, I am going to place (mankind)
generations after generations on earth." They said: "Will You place therein those who will make
mischief therein and shed blood, - while we glorify You with praises and thanks (Exalted be You above
all that they associate with You as partners) and sanctify You." He (Allah) said: "I know that which
you do not know." And He taught Adam all the names (of everything), then He showed them to the
angels and said, "Tell Me the names of these if you are truthful." They (angels) said: "Glory be to You,
we have no knowledge except what You have taught us. Verily, it is You, the All-Knower, the All-
Wise." (Al-Baqarah 2:30-32)
As for the conceited Satan who had been misled by his partial knowledge, blinded from recognizing
his own limits and limitedness of his knowledge and understanding and deceived by the destructive
animalistic nature that Allah had created in man. Here, Satans situation was akin to that of many
ignorant but arrogant and atheist scholars who believed that with little knowledge, they possess the
reality, and encompass all causes in knowledge, thereby allowing themselves to be led to misguidance
and error, disbelief, haughtiness; Just like
Satan. In the following verses, Allah tells us more about Satans intransigence:
[So mention] when your Lord said to the angels, "Indeed, I am going to create a human being from
clay. So when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My [created] soul, then fall down to
him in prostration."So the angels prostrated all of them entirely. Except Iblis (Satan); he was
arrogant and became among the disbelievers.[Allah] said, "O Iblis, what prevented you from
prostrating to that which I created with My hands? Were you arrogant [then], or were you [already]
among the haughty?" He said, I am better than him. You created me from fire and created him from
clay. (Sad 38:71-76)
In another place in the Quran, He tells us further:
(Allh) said: "What prevented you (O Ibls) that you did not prostrate yourself, when I commanded
you?" Ibls said: "I am better than him (Adam), You created me from fire, and him You created from
clay." (Allh) said: "(O Ibls) get down from this (Paradise), it is not for you to be arrogant here. Get
out, for you are of those humiliated and disgraced." (Al-Araf 7:12-13)
Muslims should realize that they are weakened by the absence values of freedom, Shura (mutual
consultation), tolerance, Islamic brotherhood, human brotherliness and values of freedom of religion,
conscience and opinion among them. As a result, human rights and honor are lost, only to be replaced
by traits of tyranny, injustice, racism, tribalism, nationalism and sectarianism that plunged the Ummah
into abysses of disintegration, infighting, mutual perpetration of injustice and backwardness. Thus, the
Ummahs culture was polluted; its scholarly mentality destroyed and was overwhelmed by superstition
and charlatanism. Feelings of fear and cowardice became entrenched in its psyche and it was afflicted
with the disease of slave mentality out of fear, terror, submission and weakness. Therefore, the
Ummah should rise up and restructure itself; taking guidance from the principles of Tawhid and from
the Ummahs being the successive authority, within the framework of justice and human unity. That is
by reviving the values of freedom, Shura, tolerance, and brotherliness; and qualities of courage,
initiative taking, truthfulness and honesty, so that it can reclaim its strength, unity and stability and
play its role as the guide unto and leaders in goodness and peace through good example, wisdom,
gentle admonition and calling unto the way of light, security and peace in the best manner. This should
be supported by the power and strength to defend the land, actualize the truth and defend the weak.
Conclusively, I hope that we will not postpone laying down principles and foundations for ending
decades and centuries of dependency and backwardness, and taking along with all intellectual,
educational and media institutions serious scientific steps towards achieving intellectual
independence, reclaiming our identity and bringing back our performance vitality so that the Ummah
can take up its deserved position that matches its message and mission and fits its potentialities in the
course of human civilization.
This Ummah has been beset by weakness, disunity and ignominy it has never experienced before
throughout its history. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the enlightened Muslim scholars, thinkers,
educators and educated elite to seriously feel a sense of responsibility. This is because; the
presentational approach directed towards the Ummah, is not up to the required standard. The
presentation is supposed to be accurate and effective diagnosis of the Ummahs situation and serve as
a guide to the remedy for its diseases, and as an illuminating hope for its future and the future of its
coming generations. As long as this presentation has not risen up to this desired standard, it will
remain in its substance mere idle talk that has contributed immensely to the degeneration,
weakness and backwardness of the Ummah.
Members of this Ummah are not bound together by a single race, colour, region or language, yet they
share in common the misfortune of backwardness, disunity, corruption, weakness and downfall of
public institutions. The only interpretation for this sorry situation is the common culture shared by
peoples of this Ummah and the way this culture addresses members of this Ummah and its
generations.
The Islamic Universal Vision is the Key to Solution:
Indeed, this situation indicates that modern Islamic presentational approach has not really overcome its
crisis of distorted vision and the creedal and civilizational foundation of that vision. This
presentational approach should have, in the first place, drawn its vision from the primary source, the
noble Quran, which transcends all times and places. It is the Quran that lays out the general
civilizational vision for man since the beginning of his creation until the end of this worldly life.
Normally, this does not run in contrary to the Prophetic presentational approach in the wisdom of its
applications during his time and in the light of the circumstances of time and place of the people of
that time and age.
The Islamic thought must also rise above the problems of the earlier Muslims whose time was
dedicated to theologies and superstitions as a result of the influence of the extinct Greek civilization or
the influence of the Israelite superstitions and tales or as a result of the influence of nations that
embraced Islam and brought along with them many of their tribal bigotries and superstitions. This
factor has left until our present day huge negative impacts in the Ummahs thought and practices,
as we can clearly see; and the impacts of that reflect on the Ummahs general way of looking at things.
Muslim thinkers must take note of the nature of Islamic creedal, cultural and civilizational set-up, as
they need to pay attention to the setups of other nations to avoid getting lost and wander about
haphazardly as a result of blind imitation the price of which we have paid in the past as a result of the
impacts of Greek civilization and which we are still paying today as a result of our being overwhelmed
by the modern Western materialistic civilization which is an antithesis of Islams excellent spiritual
and vicegerency civilization. As a result of our ideological and sentimental problem, we have
remained stupid students and ideologically and civilizationally dependent upon Western culture for
more than two centuries now.
It is incumbent upon us to abandon in our thinking and speeches the mistakes of creating confusion
in the Islamic presentational approach. We should be aware that such confused thinking and orations
are, in many cases, tend to make us methodologically undisciplined, and it creates lack of
understanding of the factors of time and place in development of nations and in building of societies
and civilizations.
We really need to bring back the excellent Islamic vision that is civilizational, universal, monotheistic
and prosperous; through which the Muslim can regain his leadership and civilizational impetus, his
noble and universal message, his monotheistic ideological methodology and his culture that is free
from all diseases of racialism, deception and superstition. It is through this vision that the Ummah can
build an Islamic social order that unequivocally rejects employment of religion and its sanctity in the
service of the ruling elite; an order that will be based on Shura (Mutual Consultation) and that will
strengthen a Muslims faith in the Islamic principles of brotherhood, justice, mercy and peace.
The noble Quran is the Divine Message to man; and Allah has undertaken its preservation against any
alteration. It is still with us; and it is the primary and the most comprehensive source for Islamic
general and universal vision that transcends all times and places. We need to always go back to it and
consider it before everything else. We should seek from it the vision, the methodology, the values and
the fundamentals that we need to consciously and convincingly employ in order to build our lives,
societies, our Ummah and our universal human civilization while taking the applications of the
Prophetic era in judgment and building of the nations as our guiding principle. We should learn from
the wisdom of these applications as manifested in its consideration for times and places, thereby
turning primitive Arab tribes into a nation bearing a message of guidance and light through which the
human civilization got reformed and before which horizons of monotheistic knowledge were opened.
This message has strongly affirmed the foundation of all the scientific and technological progress that
the humanity has made and is still making.
However, it is unfortunate that the contemporary civilization has failed to draw inspiration from the
noble and humane Islamic civilization that is built upon principle of right is might derived from
Islamic monotheism and universality and Islams gracious and humane vicegerency that promote the
principles of justice, kindness, compassion, brotherhood and peace.
Undoubtedly, the racist, materialistic and oppressive modern civilization has created sufferings. It has
led the world to bloodshed and injustice, which are the natural result of its being emanated from a
principle that is an antithesis to Islamic law of justice and fairness. This civilization emanated from a
principle of might is right which is the law of the jungle and a symbol of animalistic mutual
oppression as represented in the ideology of nationalism, power politics, colonial racial oppressions,
perpetration of aggression against weak nations and shedding of the blood of their children and
enslaving them, and stealing the wealth of their lands.
The modern civilization has also led to the disintegration of family and spread of moral decadence in
societies in which its materialistic ideologies are prevalent. This is because; in the jungle world, there
is no place for seeking moral and family values.
If we reflect on the noble Quran, we would realize the connection between the reality of human
nature and the reality of the Quranic illustration of man and his general view that emanates from his
nature. This may help in making his efforts being properly guided and his path being illuminated so
that he could attain the noble goals unto which his nature yearns. It may also support his inherent spirit
of goodness and strengthen his impulse to be righteous, generous and productive.
Man, as it is known, is a vicegerent on the earth. Allah gave him power over it and subjected it to his
needs. He endowed him with the necessary abilities to work on the earth through the power of
understanding and perception He blessed him with. He blessed him with senses of hearing, seeing and
speaking; and assigned to every human being the responsibility of making the earth prosperous. He
gave man will and power to choose, and make this will and power a trust1 for building civilization and
making use of the good things of the earth as a provision and adornment. The gift of beauty and
creativity which He endowed man with are meant to be used to promote truth, justice, compassion,
peace, superiority of Allahs Law.
That is the way of Allah and manifestation of the principle of right is might. On the contrary, man is
obliged not follow the path of aggression, corruption and jungle justice where might is right for that
is the way of Satan.
The changes and development continued until man was able to explore the atmosphere and the planets,
fly along with birds in the space and swim with fishes in the depth of the seas; and only Allah knows
what the new inventions the technology is going to bring out in the future.
The example of humanity in this is like that of an individual human being. His mission in life comes to
an end as soon as he has exhausted all that has been destined for him. In the same vein, the existence
of humanity comes to an end as soon as its functions and obligation of bringing settlement to the earth
come are completed.
The human nature is prepared for life, work, creativity, construction, positive manipulation and
enjoyment of good things of this world; without causing mischief, improper usage or wastage. This is
what the Quran explained to man. It is the secrets of which Allah revealed to him in order to
strengthen his resolve, and to encourage him to work and be creative, and to construct, manipulate and
enjoy but all that upon guidance and knowledge. This is in order to actualize the nature of mans
gracious spiritual being, to implement the Divine Will in making him a vicegerent on earth, to make
him bear the trust, to examine congenial souls and put them in the proper position of honour in the
world of spiritual.
As for the souls that are mischievous and evil in reality and in goal, they are also put where they
belong. Precious things are put in places of honour and reverence while the place for filthy things is
the waste bin. This is to avoid the pure souls being soiled.
Therefore, the Islamic universal and civilizational vision and creed, as taught by the Quran, is neither
a nuisance nor a burden. Rather, it is for the purpose of achieving natural goals and self-actualization
of man and the essence of his existence. It is meant to guide his inclinations in his endeavours,
creativity, exploitation of what he is endowed with and his settlement on the earth. All this will be on
the way of truth, and upon the guidance of Islamic law of righteousness, justice, kindness and
perfection in response to the inclinations of light and spirituality, inherent in his nature.
Therefore, every action, every accomplishment, every creativity, every proper use of resources, every
act of making the earth prosperous and every facilitation that are done in the way of righteousness,
justice and reform, and done in order to actualize the expectations of humans spirit of searching for
all that is good and love of truth, justice, compassion and peace that are attributes of Allah are parts
of the traits of the believers. The believers endeavor to have these qualities and they attain self
actualization through them. Not only do they reap and enjoy the fruits of these qualities in the life of
this world, they will also enjoy them and have them as companions in the eternal life pure and free
of all filthiness of the soil.
A Muslims universal vision is monotheistic, indicative of his status as a vicegerent on the earth,
civilizational and gracious a vision that does not oppose human self and nature but rather actualizes
them. It is a vision that calls to action and encourages endeavoring and construction with all efforts,
sincerity and perfection as a way of seeking facilitation, goodness and reform. This is what the
nature calls unto; and this is what can be about self-actualization.
The Muslims current situation of being disunited, backward and marginalized could only be as a
result of their distorted presentational approach and vision, their warped methodology and culture,
decline of their sentiment, disintegration of their institutions, their loss of sense of responsibility and
general rupture of their contemporary identity. Al this has led them as we can see to their inability
to live an exemplary life and their weakened civilizational impetus with which Allah endowed man
and the purpose of which He created them.
It goes without saying that the distortion, muddling and Superficialization are the natural consequence
of the Muslims present state of weakness, disunity, humiliation and irrelevance.
Among the manifestations of ideological, intellectual and educational disease that confuses the wise
ones concerning the mentality of a Muslim and that must be treated and healed by the Islamic
presentational approach is that contradiction that shows the extent of deepness to which the Muslim
psychological and sentimental distortion has reached as a result of confused presentational approach,
exaggerations in intimidation and misuse of religious sanctity.
We certainly know that an individual Muslim throughout ages of backwardness and decline till
today does fear Allah; all he knows about Him is no more than an eye that watches his actions and
inactions, as well as his mistakes done publicly and privately. A person whose feeling is always
overwhelmed by fear does not know love.
Such a person always isolates himself and performs with minimum dedication. That is why we find
that a contemporary Muslim seems not to know the meaning of loving Allah and the essence of being
devoted to Him.
Definitely, this is not the correct understanding of this problem. All that this meaning indicates is that
the Muslim suffers from an ideological problem the depth of which he must endeavor to understand
and solve so that he could achieve self-actualization as he would love and desire. The fact of the
matter is that members of this Ummah are believers and that there is an Ummah that strongly yearns to
love Allah. This is because; the Muslim in reality and without his knowing loves Allah because he
naturally loves righteousness, truth, justice, mercy and peace. And these qualities are Allahs attributes
in a Muslims consciousness.
On the other hand, the Muslim hates evil, falsehood, injustice, cruelty and aggression; and these are
traits of Satan. But as a result of orations mixed with intimidation and threats, this Ummah has been
without a guide to the correct vision and action, and without sailing compass and roadmap. It no
longer recognizes itself or finds its way.
This is because the presentational approach being used does not longer differentiate between a
believer, on one hand, and a denier and obstinate rejecter of the truth on the other, thereby categorizing
the Muslims among most people who do not understand, who are not righteous and who are sinful
and causing mischief!!!
Many of these orations aimed at the Muslims and believers, and even at minors, indicate ignorance
and confusion in presentational approach as they point to negative use of the religion and sanctity. The
intimidations of such discourses have led to creating a slave mentality in the minds of the Muslims a
mentality characterized by individualism, negativism and fear. This had made the Ummahs leadership
subservient, corrupted and marginalized, and the Ummah itself lagging behind among the comity of
nations, in terms of performance, strength and honor.
We need to know with certainty that a Muslim individual, in his essence, is a gracious human being
and a congenial power, if activated and properly addressed. He loves righteousness, truth, justice,
compassion peace, which are attributes of Allah.
Therefore, in the real sense of the word, he loves Allah while he is oblivious of that. An individual
Muslim hates evil, injustice, cruelty and aggression; he hates Satan and his ways in a real sense of
the word, without him knowing that.
Allah, High and Exalted, knows what is inherent in human nature of the struggle between light of the
spirit and darkness of the soil. He forgives and shows mercy to whoever loved Him and strives to
please Him. He erases the mistakes of such a person, forgives his misdeeds and rewards his good
deeds in manifold. He is always happy with his return to Him in repentance like a person who was in
the desert and lost his camel with his provision on it and then found it. The Prophet, (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him) said: By Him in Whose Hand is Muhammads soul! If you did not
commit mistakes, Allah would bring a people who would commit mistakes and then ask Allah for
forgiveness and He would forgive them.
If a Muslim had been aware of the reality of his affair, his feelings and essence of his life, if he had
been taken along by the presentational approach in a gentle manner, and with love, enlightening and
facilitation, he would have made efforts, reformed, perfected his deeds and played his role in bringing
prosperity to the earth, and he would have attained self-actualization. He would have done all that as
they are inherent in his nature; seeking the pleasure of the One he loves and fearing His wrath a
positive fear that brings him closer to Allah and not keep him away from Him.
This is because the fear is not that of terror that leads man to despair and keeps him away from his
Lord2 and from his religion and that kills in man all encouragements for good deeds, perfection and a
love for bringing prosperity to the earth, thereby turning him into a selfish individual whose goals in
this life are self-centered. A person with such a negative fear takes and gives driven by his depressing
and egoistic mind and not by positive intention to bring prosperity to the earth, though it is this
positive intention that could make him discover himself and actualize his goal in a practical way. But
he is, in reality, a marginalized dead being in the robe of the living!
It is disheartening that, in the course of confused oration being presented to a Muslim and by
extension, his dazed consciousness the Name of Allah is associated with depravity, and happiness
and delight are aligned with Satan as if a Muslim is necessarily in the group of Satan whenever he tries
to actualize self and discover his own nature, and should necessarily kill his own self and subdue his
nature if he wants to be in the group of the Most Merciful Lord. Whereas, Allah says in His glorious
Book, while addressing His believing servants and the entire mankind:
The Case
The Ummah was built on the foundation of tawhid,istikhlaf, the pursuit of knowledge, and personal
and communal responsibility. Although it was once a leading creator of and contributor to human
civilization, over the last few centuries it has become weak and backward to the point of crisis. The
awareness of the Ummahs regression is almost 1,000 years old, dating back far beyond the challenges
of European colonization and westernization.
We can trace this back to Abu Hamid al-al-Din Ghazalis Ihya `Ulum Falasifa(Rhevival of the
Knowledge and Sciences of Religion) and Tahafat al- (The Incoherence of the Philosophers). Since
then, the Ummah has produced dozens of revivalist personalities and movements, such as Ibn Hazm,
Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn Abd al-Salam, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, the
Muwahiddun, the Murabitun, the Mahdis of Sudan, the Sanusis of Libya, the Ottoman sultan Salim III,
Khayr al-Din al-Tunisi, Muhammad Ali, Jamal al-Din al-Afgani, Rashid Rida, Muhammad Abdu of
Egypt, Shah Waliullah and Muhammad Iqbal of India, Amir Abd al-Qadir and Ben Badis of Algeria,
and many others.
All of these individual efforts and movements helped minimize and slow down the Ummahs
deterioration, and without them the Ummahs condition and chances of survival could have been much
worse. Despite these benefits, however, the Ummahs desired successful revival, confrontation with
the western challenge, and progress as a creator of and contributor to civilization has not been fully
achieved. We must ask why the goals were not achieved. What was missing? How can we restore the
Ummah to its role as a creator of and contributor to a spiritually, morally, and materially balanced
civilization? From the spiritual and moral standpoint, Muslims cannot confront the challenge of a
contemporary materialistic and atheistic civilization until they can deal with its scientific and
technological challenges. Although there are many ways to do this, the priority is to discover the real
reason for our civilizational crisis and poor performance. Again, what is missing? Why are we unable
to revive and motivate the Ummah, to confront and successfully deal with these challenges, and to
rebuild our public institutions and achieve excellence in economic performance, science, and
technology? The most vital task is to concentrate on the real reason, for dealing with symptoms and
side-effects will not resolve the problem. Only after determining the real reason can we lay sound
plans and order our priorities. If we are serious, we should not simplify issues and answer our
questions with other questions, such as saying that our failure is a result of neglecting our religion. The
question remains: Why have we neglected our religion, even though outwardly we profess our
adherence to it and accept it as the source and reason for our success? We have to search for the basic
reasons of what has happened, as well as why and how it happened. As usual, we can guess and
continue guessing the answers. However, if we want an accurate answer we must begin from the facts
and the real issues facing us. Simply put, we are in a crisis because the Ummah has failed to deal
successfully with western science and technology. This leads to the real question: Why, since the
eighteenth century, has the Ummah failed to confront this challenge and acquire the knowledge and
mastery of science and technology? Our technical and academic institutions strive for scientific and
technological excellence, import machines and factories, and open their countries to foreign
companies and investors in order to build and use their knowledge in their imported factories. The
Muslim worlds urban upper classes know and use modern machinery. But most Muslims do not
participate in mastering and developing them, and so they remain strangers to these concepts and
facilities. This explains why our rich Ummah of 1.2 billion people produces only one-fourth of what
Japan produces. We produce raw materials and establish assembly plants. For example, one ton of iron
may be worth several thousand dollars.
However, the 120 million people of resource-poor Japan export the same iron through Sony,
Mitsubishi, and other companies in high-tech and electronic products worth millions of dollars. Our
brilliant civilizations history shows that the Ummah can acquire and master important contemporary
means of `imran and developmental science and technology. In fact, the methodological foundations
of modern science and civilization were developed by Islamic civilization. The question remains: Why
has the Ummah failed to enter the fields of science and technology? What happened to the Ummah to
cause such degeneration and destroy our civilization? What more can we do to master these fields? We
send our young people to study in the West, build modern universities and research centers, and
import all kinds of machines and tools from cars to computers. We hold endless conferences to
discover what more we should imitate and import. What are we missing? We should realize that
science and technology cannot be bought or imitated. Nor do they simply mean tools, machines, and
laboratories. Rather, they are based on mental and psychological qualities and cultural attitudes. Mere
imitation and importing will never help us acquire these qualities. Tools, machines, laboratories, and
factories are products of scientific and technical abilities, and they help in their continuing
development. Mere imitation and memorization is of no help in acquiring and mastering them.
So, do our people have the mental and psychological scientific and creative attitude? Our scholars and
intellectuals know and use scientific procedures in their classes and laboratories. We translate many
books and hold many conferences about creativity, simply because it seems particularly commercial
and sells better than books and other ideas. Yet we know that we are not creative, and so we closely
copy and follow western ways. We should stop imitating and look inward to understand why we are
backward, and then deal with these issues scientifically instead of blindly following and imitating
others. We must understand ourselves, our peoples, and our cultures, as well as other peoples and their
cultures. Peoples and cultures, like all other parts of creation, are systems with rules and limitations
that, if ignored or abused, are likely to bring about collapse and destruction. Our mistake is that we do
not look inward at ourselves. We do not try to understand our inner self, its nature, motivations, and
the sources of our inner power so as to discover what has gone wrong. But doing so is a precondition
for real reform, revival, and change. We need to apply the same strategy to understand others in a
holistic and analytical manner. We need to learn how they deal with their own characteristics so that
we can learn from their experience. Blind imitation and importing could be harmful or even fatal, like
injecting one cubic centimeter of oxygen into a vein instead of breathing it through the lungs. To
develop or reclaim our scientific and creative intellect and attitude, we must establish them in our
culture and then internalize them in our present and future generations. To achieve this, we have to
study carefully our history, culture, psychology, and character to discover what went wrong, where,
when, and how. Only then we will be able to understand the problem and find the right way and means
to deal with it, reverse the process, and cure the disease.
The Causes of the Crisis
To understand our current crisis accurately, we need to return to the revelation of the Quran and its
basic concepts of tawhid, istikhlaf, individual and communal responsibility, `umran, and pursuit of
knowledge. This supreme and civilized message to humanity transformed the early Arab Muslims into
a great people, the bearers of a great religion, and the creators of great civilizations and history. They
sought guidance from the Quran and developed their means through reason and knowledge of Allahs
natural laws (sunan). For the first time in history they developed the foundations of scientific and
experimental methods the same foundations that gave contemporary materialistic civilization its
power of science and technology. However, Islamic civilization was not materialistic, for it was
centered on istikhlaf, responsibility, and action to create a balanced way of life: spiritually, morally,
and materially. Islam and the early generations of Muslims represented a distinguished and dynamic
power in the Ummahs history. This powerful Islamic guidance remains responsible for preserving the
Ummah and most of the goodness in Muslims lives and consciousness.
Unfortunately, the Ummah has retained remnants of old traditions, philosophies, and racial and tribal
practices that continue to impact the lives of its people. Over time, this caused the Ummahs
degeneration and influenced new Muslims, as they did before Islam, thus weakening the religious
enlightenment. Over the centuries, separation and confrontation within the Ummahs intellectual
leadership developed a truly disastrous result. In other words, Muslim scholars and the political and
intellectual ruling elites confronted each other. This development weakened both sides and caused
serious harm to their social roles and to the Ummah. Thinkers and scholars were isolated from the
everyday lives of ordinary people, and their dynamics and concerns became increasingly theoretical.
This situation prevented the growth of the social sciences and gradually drove scholars (ulama) to pure
imitation and memorization. Students of ancient and alien philosophies did not truly benefit from the
early scientific, experimental, and action-oriented Islamic principles and methods, but continued to
follow the theoretical path. This added further harm and confusion to the Ummahs intellectual life. In
their isolation, the ulama developed a distorted view of Islams universal vision, one that was no
longer ummatic and positive. They were no longer concerned with the Ummahs life, and its public
institutions were no longer part of their agenda. This led to the marked deterioration of the Ummah
and its public institutions. The ulama concentrated on Islams ritual (private) aspects (e.g., salah,
siyam, and Quranic recitation), which they called ibadat, although the Quranic terminology refers to
them as dhikr. They called the jihad of life to pursue a halal lifestyle, the jihad to seek knowledge, the
jihad to spread da`wah, and the jihad to defend the Ummah. They focused on mu`amalat, mere
dealings and contracts almost devoid of spiritual value. This distortion of Islams universal vision was
largely responsible for distorting Islamic life and institutions and giving Muslims a negative attitude
toward life and civilization. The Muslim masses and societies were no longer the strong
muwahidinand mustakhlafin, but weak and submissive. In short, the average Muslim was transformed
into a person that concentrated on survival and thus showed little interest in pursuing an important
civilizational role in history.
The isolation of intellectuals and scholars fragmented the sources of Islamic knowledge. The
knowledge was either religious, and therefore based on the Quran and Sunnah and supported with
linguistic tools in a historical context. Or it was human knowledge, and therefore related to foreign
cultures and civilizations, and alien to the Islamic worldview, values, and Muslim psychology and
culture. The opposition and confrontation between Islamic scholars and the corrupt political, tribal,
and aristocratic elites weakened the rulers position in two ways. First, it continually raised doubts
about the legitimacy of their rule. Second, they were deprived and alienated from the intellectual base
that could provide the intellectual support and ability to deal with Ummahs changing circumstances.
As a result, due to the weakened state of the Ummah and the rulers, both the ulama and the rulers
turned to the lesser evil of oppression and violence to control the people in order to avoid political
and social chaos. The rulers and the political elites imprisoned or executed their opponents, while the
ulama threatened spiritual and eternal punishment to suppress intellectual dissatisfaction and revolt
against their arbitrary authority and interpretations of religious text. The crushing of intellectual
expression and the oppression of corrupt rulers polluted the national culture and created a negative and
superstitious mentality that finally influenced the development of the Muslims slave mentality. It is,
therefore, not surprising that Muslims appear to be fearful, negative, and lacking in initiative and
creativity. The end result was a distorted universal Muslim vision, deficient knowledge, a corrupt
public life, a superstitious mentality, and a damaging slave mentality. After losing their scientific and
creative mentality, Muslim scientists turned to memorizing scientific procedures or imitating and
importing scientific and technological tools and systems. In so doing, they hoped to achieve the ability
to carry out research and development that would help the Ummah to catch up with the developed
nations. But we must do more than this we need to correct our mental, cultural, and psychological
distortions; adjust our world vision in order to regain our Ummatic outlook; rectify our
epistemological view in order to reunite religious and human knowledge; cleanse our culture from all
distortions and superstitions in order to restore our Islamic scientific mentality and methodology; and
reform our parental and educational methods.
We need to return to the Prophets methods of child development and education. The Prophet used
love, care, respect, patience, wise guidance, effective communication, and supervision when dealing
with children. For example, when he spoke to children (such as Ibn `Abbas), he did not address them
in the same way that the Quran addresses its enemies, nor did he threaten or frighten them. Instead, he
created an atmosphere of love and mutual support between the children and God, and taught them
courage. For example, he told Ibn `Abbas: Now, boy, care about God, for God cares about you.
Remember God in your good times, for God remembers you in your hard times of need. If everyone
wants to harm you with something that God has not decided would happen to you, they cannot harm
you. Likewise, if they want to benefit you with something that God has not decided for you, they
cannot benefit you. The pens have been dried, and the records have been closed.