Decline of Muslims: Nothing to do with neglect of Science and Technology Submitted by admin6 on 2 November 2011 - 5:41pm ArticlesIndian Muslim

By Soroor Ahmed, TwoCircles.net, Over 150 years after the First War of Independence in 1857, almost 90 years afte r the fall of Khilafat in Turkey, about 65 years after the partition of the Indi an sub-continent and two decades after the collapse of another great power-the C ommunist Soviet Union-should the Muslims interpret history in the same old way t oday in 2011, as they had been doing in the past? Unfortunately, many Muslim intellectuals the world over, are doing the same. Be it during the time of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan or the era of Saiyid Hamid, the commun ity leaders had been blaming the neglect of science and technology as the factor responsible for their decline. The recent book Muslim Societies: Rise and Fall by Dr. Mohammad Iqtedar Husain Farooqi provides another opportunity to re-visit history. TwoCircles.net recently published one of the chapters of that book in which the author tried to explain that the utter disregard shown to science and technology led to the decline of Muslims. To substantiate his point, he quoted several Mus lim scholars, reformers, educationists and leaders. The truth is that the fall of any great power has little, or one can go on to th e extent of saying, nothing, to do with the neglect of science and technology. T his assertion may sound somewhat blasphemous, nevertheless it is a historical fa ct which Muslims keep denying. If in the last 150 to 200 years, various Muslim scholars have been blaming the n egligence of science and technology as the factor behind the decline of the comm unity because they witnessed the rout of Mughals at the hands of British; the co llapse of Ottoman Khilafat in Turkeyobviously under the huge western impact. As i f that was not enough, came the traumatic partition of India for which the commu nity leaders, are no less responsible than others. But the matter of concern is that Muslim intelligentsia of 21st century are parr oting the same old view, when there is absolutely no scope for it now. They need to be asked one very simple question: Why the Great Communist Empire of Soviet Union collapsed in matter of months in 1989-90, when it was scientifically, tech nologically, educationally and even militarily the most advance country in the w orldperhaps only second to the United States. The school enrollment was among hig hest in the world, in science it was almost on par with the United States and in the space science it had an initial edge over Uncle Sam, the country was a Supe r Power whose influence ran large over the world. Not only the Soviet Union got dismembered, all those countries which followed th e Russian-brand Communist ideology withered away. Several of them now do not eve n exist. Herein lies the crux of the problem. The fall of Mughals and Ottomans h ad demoralized the leading lights of the Muslims so much that their community le aders lost the very understanding of history. It was out of sheer frustration, h opelessness and despondency that they started blaming the negligence of science and technology from 15th centuryor some say 16th centuryas the factor responsible for their fall from grace. Muslim leaders are not aware that in 18th century Tipus army fired rockets and in 1857 Akbar Khan of Bahadur Shah Zafars army even attempted to fire projectiles t o counter the British in Delhi. They are not aware that till early 19th century, the first thing many allopath doctors from Europe would do after reaching India , was to abandon their pathy and switch over to much advanced Unani medicine pra cticed mostly by Muslims.

The problem with history is that it is written and interpreted in many ways. The historic interpretation made of an event by a victorious nation would be entire ly different from those of defeated one. And then there is official history. Fin ally there is objective history often written much later keeping in mind all the aspects into mind. The objective truth, which can be ascertained from any real historical researchno t the stories and fables on which many of our intellectuals make our argumentis t hat till 18th century Mughal India and Ottoman Turks were scientifically and tec hnologically superior to their European counterparts. It was not with lathis and swords, that the Turks reached Vienna in the heart of Europe by 1683. And it wa s not with spears and bows and arrows that the same Ottomans in the First World War (1915-16) single-handedly defeated Admiral Winston Churchill-led mammoth com bined army of Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada at Gallipoli leaving ov er one lakh Allied soldiers dead. The British took the help of huge amount of armed personnel from British India t oo. Coming back to Indian context one needs to understand that Mughal India was a great manufacturing as well as agricultural country, and the products of the I ndian loom supplied the markets of Asia and Europe. This happened till 19th cent ury. To say that Mughals or Ottomans simply collapsed because they neglected sci ence and technology is travesty of history. The truth is that great powers often collapse after reaching the pinnacle of the ir glory. It takes much time and labor to reach at the top of a mountain, but no time to fall down. In fact Mughals and Ottomans took much longer time than Sovi et Union, which collapsed like a house of cards. A huge majority of those born a fter 1990 are not even aware that till 20 years back it was a great power. Hardl y anyone now knows the name of, for example, Nobel Laureate Andrei Sakharov, the greatest Physicist of his time and the Father of Russian Hydrogen Bomb, who die d only in 1989. If the contributions of the entire Russian science can be forgotten and buried d eep into the history in no time, how can one expect demoralized Muslims of post1857 era to know their own scientific achievements of early 19th century? It was in the interest of the official British or European historians to propagate to the world that the Muslims collapsed because they ignored science and technology . It is only objective historians of that time and even today, who highlighted t hat Muslims were intellectually still in much advanced state even as late as mid -19th century. If Soviet Union collapsed, it was because the commitment to the Communist ideolo gy and the post-World War-II Russian nationalism got weakened. The machinery, in cluding the institution of Army became corrupt. As a political ideology Communis m failed to attract people. Similarly, if the Mughals or Ottomans failed it was not just because the rulers got weakened but because the entire ruling elite became corrupt, dishonest, plea sure-loving and even licentious. The society, notwithstanding some great qualiti es, became stagnant. The ruling cliqueor even for that matter the Muslims in gener alhad nothing good or positive to offer to the humanity in general. There was no m otivating factor to keep the people united for any cause. The concept of equality, justice and peace taught in Islam was seldom found amon g Muslims. Instead of teaching the world the moral values, they indulged in all sorts of social crimes. The ruling class, all over the country, was completely d ivided paving the way for the British to just make an inroad, without fighting a ny real big battle. If the United States would cease to remain the world power in futureas is being p

redicted by many western writers themselvesit would not be because it is ignoring science and technology. In fact it would collapse because of too much developme nt in science and technology. The Information Technology Revolution is proving a boon as well as bane for it as millions of jobs have been outsourced to people outside rendering huge army of jobless in the country. The truth is that be it the Mughals or Ottomansor any other powersthey lost becaus e they failed to understand history, the changing politics, economics and sociol ogy of the world rather than ignoring science and technology. Between 1707, that is after the death of Aurangzeb till 1757, that is Battle of Plassey, India was literally without any central power. The British literally lost the 1757 Battle but then they took the help of treachery to get rid of Siraj-ud-daulah. After t hat they just got a cakewalk in North and East India as they took full advantage of the growing disunity in the rank and file of the ruling elite here. It was a fter the conquest of parts of India that the British started growing rich and su bsequently became a big scientific, technological and industrial power in 19th c entury. It is after 1857 that the defeated Muslim community got dividedone took to pure r eligious education while the other started talking about modern scientific educa tion. Before the mid-19th century Muslims, in general, would not make such disti nction. Muslims intellectuals who love to write the same old platitudes on the f all of community should at least read Colonel William Sleemans work written not n ow, but just before 1857. He wrote that the Muslims of India were intellectually the most well-read community of the world. They would not make any distinction in imparting education to anyone, rich or poor. William Dalrymple in The Last Mughal (2006) quoted him extensively: Even Colonel William Sleeman, famous for his suppression of thugs and leading critic of the a dministration of Indian courts had to admit that the madarsa education given in Delhi was something quite remarkable: Perhaps there are a few communities in the world among whom education is more generally diffused than among Mohammadans in India, he wrote on a visit to Mughal capital. Sleeman writes further about Muslims zeal for educationmodern as well as religious . Regarding average Muslim he writes: He holds an office worth twenty rupees a mo nth, commonly gives his sons; an education equal to that of a Prime Minister. Th ey learn through the medium of Arabic and Persian languages. What young men in o ur colleges learn through those of Greek plus Latinthat is, grammar, rhetoric and logic. After his seven years of study the young Mohammadans binds his turban upo n a head almost as well filled with things which appertain to these branches of knowledge. As the young man raw from Oxfordhe will talk as fluently about Socrates and Aristotle, Plato and Hippocrates, Galen and Avicena; and what is much to hi s advantage in India the languages in which he has learnt what he knows are thos e which he most requires through life. Mind it this was the time in mid-19th century when Italian and German Unificatio ns were going on. Some nationalists tried to unite Italy into one. They gave the country the name Italia. But the people were so ignorant and illiterate that th ey thought that Italia was the name of some Princess or Queen. A couple of decad es later these two countries emerged as colonial powers. Similarly, the French s ociety was so illiterate at the time of 1789 Revolution that the revolutionaries had to take help of photos and symbols instead of written posters as the people in general were not able to read and write. That was the time when Tipu Sultan got developed rocket technology. But his army failed to defeat the British because this brave man was betrayed. Similarly, th e Mughals lost in 1857 because their army had not fought any real battle for las t one century. Not only the rulers but the entire machinery had become soft and immoral.

If Muslims really want to understand the root of their defeat they must abandon the old interpretation and re-visit history. Great powers often collapse to scie ntifically and militarily inferior but emerging powers. The victors often have o ther good qualities, such as, they are far more motivated, and have sense of pur pose and certain goal to achieve. They become scientific, technological and mili tary power much later. The vanquished, be it the Greeks, the Romans, the Persian s, the Chinese, or even the Muslims, all sank into oblivion because of common in herent deficiencies. The social awakening in Europe in 17th, 18th and 19th centuries helped overthrew the corrupt and weak ancient regimes of the respective countries. That did not happen in Turkey or Mughal India where the old order got eroded and collapsed on its own thus paving the way for the entry of bystanders. The need of the hour for Muslims is to understand historynot just read it as stor y book. After all when the same ignorant Arabs got motivated by the Universal me ssage of Islam they became world power in no time. Years later the same Arabs be came scientists, navigators, geographers, philosophers, sociologists, physicians , physicists, chemists, mathematicians and what not. ShareComment viewing options Flat list - collapsedFlat list - expandedThreaded list - collapsedThreaded lis t - expanded Date - newest firstDate - oldest first 10 comments per page30 comme nts per page50 comments per page70 comments per page90 comments per page150 comm ents per page200 comments per page250 comments per page300 comments per page Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to a ctivate your changes. We can re-visit history and Submitted by tasnimfaruqi (not verified) on 3 November 2011 - 8:50pm. We can re-visit history and take lessons from them. Phir wohi sher.. "Khuda ney aaj-tak us qaum ki halat nahin badli, jisey khayal na ho apni halat ke badalney ka." Why not also take lessons / examples from Chinese and cousins Israelees. In present commercialised world, the best and outstanding survives and we are not less than anyone. So it is the first step that matters and success will follow. I have to write.. I again started my life with just Rs.30 in pocket and faith/tr ust in God in 1972 and thank Allah that I have two defence Officer children and say Sukr Alhamdo Lillah. faruqi - photojournalist replyShareThank god! Finally someone Submitted by Anwar (not verified) on 3 November 2011 - 2:41pm. Thank god! Finally someone came with the description of real desease of this umm ah. These nonsense so called intelectuals are always baffling abt science, techn ology and accussing islamic education as the main reason behind our plight. They are always talking abt symptoms but never know wht is the cause. Well written b rother suroor ahmad. We are all contaminated with "Al-Wahn". The love of this Du niya, and Fear of Death. Strengthening Imaan is the only answer of all our probl ems. replyShareHUBBUL DUNYA & KARAHATHUL MOUTH Submitted by S.M.PASHA (not verified) on 3 November 2011 - 8:12pm. YOUR COMMENT REMINDS ME OF A HADITH IN WHICH IT IS STATED THAT THE HOLY PROPHET (puh) WARNED THE SAHABAH (R) THAT IN THE LAST DAYS KAFIRS WILL POUNCE ON MUSLIMS LIKE STARVING MEN ON A LOAF OF BREAD. THE BLESSED COMPANIONS (R) ASKED HIM WHET HER MUSLIMS WILL BE IN A MINORITY.TO THIS THE MESSENGER OF ALLAH (s.a.w.s) REPLI ED IN THE NEGATIVE AND SAID FURTHER THAT THEY WILL SUFFER FROM TWO DISEASES VIZ. , (1) HUBBUL DUNYA ( LOVE FOR THIS WORLD) AND (2) KARAHATHUL MOUTH (FEAR OF DEAT H}. HENCE, THE STRONGER THE EEMAN, THE SAFER WILL BE MUSLIMS S.M.PASHA

replyShareSo why complain Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on 4 November 2011 - 6:57am. So why complain when Muslims are killed. HADITH by Muhammad itself states that " fear of death" is bad. That must be the reason why Muslims are killing each othe r- SHIAS, SUNNIS, WAHABIS, AHAMMADIYAS- Egypt, Libya, AFPAK, Beharin, Iraq, Iran , Somalia, Sudan, etc etc replyShareThere are many reasons for decline of muslims Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on 3 November 2011 - 9:03am. It is true that there is no motivation or unity among Muslims even now. In the m ean time, we do also need Science and Technology. The Mughals who ruled India fo r many hundred years did nothing for Muslim community.What is the use of constru cting Taj Mahals, Kutub Minars, world famous buildings and Forts, etc. Mughals s hould have spent their money and energy for delivering Allah s Message (ISLAM) t o the people.But they were pleasure seeking,lazy kings. That is the reason 80% o f Indian population are still non-Muslim. Most of Islamic knowledge and books ar e in Urdu apart from Arabic and Persian. Even though the Urdu is Indian language , Now Urdu is almost abandoned in India (because it is associated with Muslims)a fter Indian independence. INDIAN MUSLIMS SHOULD WAKE UP AND SEEK HELP FROM THE C REATOR. replyShareA Must Read Article Submitted by Khalid Ansari (not verified) on 3 November 2011 - 8:55am. JazakAllahuKhair for a very well written article. Articles such as this will hel p us to get out of the inferiority complex and they can start believing in thems elves, obey and seek Allah s (swt)in putting this ummah back on track, Insha All ah.. We need more of these and frequently.. THANK YOU Br. Saroor.. replyShareMore on Muslim Decline Submitted by Ghulam Mohiyuddin (not verified) on 3 November 2011 - 3:20am. Mr. Soroor Ahmed mistakes the decline of Muslims with the fall of the Muslim emp ire. The two are different. We do not need an empire to succeed in business, civ il service exams, medical research, philosophical discourse or political acumen. Our lags in science and technology are just a reflection of our inward orientat ion and are reflective of our turning away from modern education, adaptation and competitiveness. We spend more time in calling each other kafirs than in inspir ing each other to excel in science or business. replySharewhat is the crux of message?? Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on 3 November 2011 - 12:41am. Only 50% I can agree with your point of view by hook and crook. However we faile d to understand the crux of message you are trying to deliver to us. Moghul in India has never put education first as you have mentioned from a less known book otherwise common Muslim wouldn t have been in this situation which we witness now. To make us happy, you can quote some books, but there are 1000 of books on the c ounter point of view. In Islam, there is no concept of cast systems but Mughal had done nothing to min imize it at least let alone to eradicate it. Mughal were under the influence of some culture which encourage this kind of social evil. I 100% agreed with Mr Farooque. replyShareMuslim Condition

Submitted by shahnawaz (not verified) on 3 November 2011 - 12:12am. If Muslims Community wants to develop themselves their IMMAN should be of uppe r level which was the only reason of Arab people to get success in their field w hich will come through filtering of our Selfish and blatant Heart. replyShareIF EEMAN IS LOST, EVERYTHING IS LOST Submitted by S.M.PASHA (not verified) on 3 November 2011 YES. U R RIGHT, HOW RIGHTLY HAS ALLAMA IQBAL DECLARED: " THNAA KEH HAR TAQDEER SAY PEHLAY; KHUDA KHUDH BANDAY SAY AZA KYA HAI" IF POLITICAL POWER IS LOST. NOTHIMG IS LOST; ID ECONOMIC G IS LOST BUR IF EEMAN IS LOST, EVERYTHING IS LOST S.M.PASHA - 9:35am. KHUDEE KOO KAR BULAND I POOCHAY, BATHA TAYREE R POWER IS LOST, SOMETHIN

replySharereally a motivating article. Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on 2 November 2011 - 10:44pm. really a motivating article. Thank you saroor replyShareamazing article. good read. Submitted by muzzamil (not verified) on 2 November 2011 - 7:00pm. amazing article. good read.