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The archangel Gabriel commanded Muhammed, the prophet of Islam in Quran 96:1. But the Prophet was unlettered and could not possibly read.
Despite that the Quran calls upon Muslims to learn and to seek knowledge. And once upon a time, in a glorious era known as the Islamic Golden Age several centuries ago, Muslims of all schools of thought did exactly that and helped advance knowledge for humanity.
Consider the following historical figures, both polymaths (experts in many fields):
Ibn Sina (or Avicenna)
This man was a physician, philosopher, astronomer, Islamic scholar and theologian, a paleontologist, poet, physicist, psychologist and scientist. He wrote several books, important among them the Canon of Medicine – which was used as text at universities. He is considered the father of modern medicine, the father of the concept of momentum and the father of geology. He introduced the concept of inertia which formed the basis of Newton’s theories of motion.
Abu Rayhan Biruni
A physicist, anthropologist, comparative sociologist, astronomer, chemist, encyclopedist, historian, traveler, geologist, mathematician, pharmacist, psychologist, philosopher, theologian, scholar and teacher.
A leading exponent of the experimental scientific method, he also developed comparative sociology and experimentation in psychology. And he was the first to conduct experiments related to astronomical phenomena. He is considered as one of the greatest scientists of all history by some.
There are many more from this era when the Muslim world was flourishing with the power of knowledge. Their influence on modern science is undeniable and their work has had the greatest influence on human advancement known to this day. In fact, how many people can boast having a crater on the moon named after them? The above two eminent Islamic intellectuals certainly can.
The Muslim World Today
In comparison the Islamic world today leaves much to be desired in the department of intellectuals, great thinkers and scientists.
How many prominent Muslim scientists and individuals of exemplary intellectual caliber can we name? Not one actually. So to find out I looked at a publication called the 500 Most Influential Muslims (2009).
The top 50 positions of the list is taken up by kings, tyrants, corrupt dictators, religious scholars and mullahs. No surprises there as the Muslim world as it is today is ripe for the reaping by greedy men in costumes. Sadly, the number of Muslim scientists listed is a pathetic 14. And among them is listed the famous anti-evolutionist (and now incarcerated criminal) Harun Yahya (curiously he is listed under this pet-name and not his real name: Adnan Oktar).
In fact, aside from his Excellency Dr. Abdul Kalam of India, Yahya is probably the only prominent person on the list – and the scientific community would have a hard time considering the latter as one of them (or naming a crater on the moon after him).
One gets the feeling that the authors of this publication tried really hard to compile 500 influential Muslims because apart from the kings and dictators in flashy regalia (whose influence is solely their dominion over their minions) it is a list of people who run NGOs and religious organisations. The inclusion of the name of one Osama bin Laden just goes to show how bleak the turnout was.
Given the state of the Muslims world what can we expect?
A recent Pew Forum report on the size of the global Muslim population says that there are 1.57 billion Muslims living in the world today. That is, 1 in every 4 people in the world is a Muslim. It is a staggeringly large number.
According to the report, the highest concentrations of Muslims are to be found in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia. Combined they make up 43.6% of the global total. Combined with the numbers from Sub-Saharan Africa, this translates into over 50% of Muslims worldwide living in poverty stricken, uneducated and backward regions in the world. Pakistan and Bangladesh both claim dismal literacy rates that are below 50%. And in India, where literacy rates hover around the 60 percent mark, the plight of the Muslim population has been a cause for concern ever since the country partitioned in the early 50s.
In all the 56 Islamic states around the world not one has a university in the top 100 universities in the world. Compare this to the past when Islamic institutions ruled the world. For the 1.5 billion Muslims today, that is a miserable statistic.
Yes, indeed, Muslims maybe numerous and numbers maybe increasing but so is the expansion of the void of knowledge and the poverty-stricken Muslim ghetto state. These facts are certainly nothing to sing about.
The Need for Better Role-Models
The most famous personalities of the Muslim world today are the so-called Islamic scholars: sheikhs, mullahs and other showmen and televangelists. They propagate a narrow world-view that is devoid of any knowledge about the world or the sciences. They do not advocate or call upon Muslims to go and gain knowledge, to do research, to advance the Islamic Ummah (if not humanity) in every possible way. They completely ignore the Quranic injunctions to seek knowledge.
They never mention the Islamic greats as Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd or Biruni and only mention the Islamic Golden age when challenged to explain the despicable state of Muslims today as if the glories of centuries past can sustain a billion out of destitution.
It won’t.
They propagate a concept of the victimized Muslim world; a view that is utterly detrimental to the progress of Muslims.
Religious sermons and edicts have become the norm in the Islamic world so much so that sheikhs and mullahs have gained almost prophetic status among Muslims. Unquestioned and unchallenged they seek to allude to the movement that could be attributed to the downfall of the Golden Age: the strict return to the teachings of Quran and hadith as the only source of knowledge. Scholars such as ibn Al Wahab – associated with Wahabism – advocated this view. This is what we are witnessing today in Maldives as well.
Muslims need better role-models to look up to and aspire to and emulate. Although Prophet Muhammed is considered to be the best role-model for Muslims there is no denying that he was unlettered. In today’s world being illiterate is a failure because how many Muslims can claim to receive messages directly from God? The Prophet was and is beyond compare.
Instead, Muslims need modern Ibn Sinas and Birunis. Not bin Ladens and sheikh Shaheems and sheikh Fareeds. Who are these people compared to the greatness of the historic Islamic scientists and philosophers?
The Maldives government must look into the possibilities of inspiring Dhivehin to achieve higher; bring in Muslims scientists, sociologists, philosophers and entrepreneurs. The government must put an immediate stop to the popularization of single-minded religious absolutism spread by organisations such as Adhaalathu and the Salaf.
And Muslims in general must realize that no one is coming to help them unless they help themselves. They must get out of the victim-mentality because it is Muslims themselves, despite their great numbers, who have put this curse over their world.
Muslims of the world need to have a good long look in the mirror then examine the profiles of people like Ibn Sina, al-Khwārizmī, Ibn Rushd, and Biruni. Surely, it must make every Muslim, man or woman, hang their head in shame today.
References:
sadly have to agree with you, like the prophet said;
قال : يوشك أن تداعى عليكم الأمم كما تداعى الأكلة على قصعتها قيل يا رسول الله أمن قلة بنا؟ قال لا ولكنكم غثاء كغثاء السيل تنزع المهابة من قلوب عدوكم منكم ويوضع في قلوبكم الوهن قالوا يا رسول الله وما الوهن؟ قال حب الدنيا وكراهية الموت
he said: “it will come, when the nations will come upon you like coming on food” the companions asked is it cause we would be a minority? he said: “no, you will be more, like scum, the scum of stream, plucking Prestige out of your hearts and filling it with “vahn” they asked what is vahn, “vahn is love of worldly materials and the fear of death.
the reason for this is explained in the hadith, the love of worldly materials and fear of death.
i think you need to research a bit cause the main figh book in Madina university is bidhayathul mujthahid written by ibn rushd and there are islamic universities teaching books of ibn sina in the middle east. what you see and what you read is the western media, i suggest you take a trip through the world and try to understand. the main reason for this lack of great man is the dictators the westerners brought on the Muslim states after the commercialization.
You get a beard? or getting weary and old perhaps hehe
Perhaps when all said and done adopting a softer approach to the ‘Moslem Question’ is all that’s left eh. The conventional methodology of drugging youth masses into delinquency and in general anti-God-ism (often assumed to equate anti-dogmatism) has left a populous that in haste retreat has crammed itself into the very bowels of religious orthodoxy and Islamophilia (?). Interspersed is friendly collateral, generations laid to waste on the shores of intoxicants and sexual frustration.
Mazel tov.
Political Islam is failing in the face of its nemesis- Capital Atheism. But only from the POV of the Capitalist, because so far as the fundamentalist towel-head can see scriptural Islam flourishes as does its derivative doctrines. What neither sees is that it is for the same and one root reason- the opposition of opinions.
Look at the Maldives now- the pursuit of happiness has become sour and subjugated areligiosity to the status of social refuse. The problem being Capitalism has no more abjured violence anymore than political Islam succeeding in flaming the passions of culturally Islamized societies. The violence of Capitalism and Islamophobia is electronic.
So long as the ‘westerner’ seeks to characterize what is actually a Social Class (The Moslem) as a Race in it’s own (as perhaps inspired the early Islamic Reigns) in the mission to civilize or rather marketize it, its disciples such as you, will see the false argumentative benefits it reaps.
In other words, the Moslem class described on a statistical projection is no different from the African-American or the Hispanic or the third world for that matter. The common undermining logic behind every such insinuation is that the amassing of Capital (wealth) scores higher on human development indices than being the manure or compost for the Industrial machine; obviously it would. The rich man is rich because he knew how to acquire that wealth, not because he believes in this God or that Dog.
What then does it have to do with Islam the religion or the Muslim who subscribes to that particular scripture. Is there such a low-magnification on Christians?? If there were, the conclusion would once again be misleading because the majority are in developed and near developed geographies. Is it because they are Christians? And then again is ‘The African’ Moslem? Why then is the entire continent destitute?
Being Moslem has little (little is a significant acknowledgment from which accurate conclusions can be derived) to do with being poor or uneducated. It has much to do with being poor. Poor has to do with being uneducated. Stay uneducated and expect the rich statistician to attribute everything to itself.
Moslem Leadership is a cross-cultural burden and while it may rest heavy on individual identity, has little to with national identity and social vigor. Health & wealth must now be earned or ‘pursued’ maliciously in a world that has tipped the measure & balance of human dignity on a white scale.
Any study of our development indices need to be made by us, if it is to be objective to the goals of ameliorating the stark realities of being the bottom-feeders. We cannot ‘bank’ it all on those who own the banks.
The scripture is not the real threat to leadership and development( or for the lack of a better word, Advancement). Political systems that squabble over Western Platters is the framework of dialogue that needs to be changed. If Somalia becomes the next Marshall Plan instead of receiving UN Food Rations & Peacekeeping Forces, will extremist Islam become the great hinderence to development? Africa is in the process of being fenced before it natives dispora (scattered across the expanse of the continent irrespective of UN borders) knows its being sucked dry. While we are busy raping scripture these details may have escaped our understanding; the only way religion factors is that it is extremely flammable and as effective and probably more convenient than political and Racial divisions in fomenting social turmoil.
Human passion responds just as vigorously to God or Religions as it does to Desire.
It is always easier to point fingers from the top, looking down at those who couldn’t reach that top before you. Easy & condescending. When the bottom feeders however start becoming spokespersons for the top-feeders and lecture among themselves with Top-Feeder vernaculum, it does everything for the Top-feeder.
Religion as Politicized cross-cultural pandering is a weapon that equips the non-issues. It is Marriott & Heritage Table chatter for the Cigar and Cognac CEO’s and Political elite who scheme over that third world oil field and that strategic economic zone somewhere. The well fed European naturally despises anything that does not resemble its own signature underwear. “Islam? Yuck! Dude, you seen my dildo?”
Any dialogue that we must have here, on ground zero must denounce western-ism without denying one the right to a life of health & wealth. Such an edifice would be delectable and delightful to engage the Uneducated Fundamentalist. Beating down them towel-heads would then be not only original & personal, but also my right.
Dheenee vaswaas has become as big a Problem Category as lawlessness & deviancy. Only a generation which recognizes the duality of this social scourge can take it on. Balancing both without Maldives becoming an Amsterdam is easy.
Till then its War thafaathukurumehnethi. To the Hobo’s (what i call as ekanimaja laadheenee nukiyavathibi rundinthah) and the goats ( the thauleemudhiyana black buruga clad nukiyavaathibi dhaththamen) stare your twin in the mirror and make sweet love with swords & words. When the dust settles hopefully some will remain who could say “pfft”….
Man you and you anti-Islam rhetoric is becoming a real bore. It not only bland but counter-productive.
What a little masquerade Maldives is eh.
cheers
@Mukhamed
I’d have to say it is the softer approach. Hehe.
I didn’t think I was pouring out anti-Islamic rhetoric here. On the contrary; I feel almost positive, the cynicism waning as it were. You see, I did make this new year one resolution: to stop being such a cynical hardass; perhaps this is what you perceive as blandness. But it being counter-productive? I hope otherwise.
In any case, bland or not, it didn’t stop you from penning down over 10 paragraphs worth (as effortlessly as it maybe), did it?
:D
Seemed like a good enough place to take in intellectual dump hehe
‘Goidhoo nukurumaai gadhahedhun’ is an innate human quality, so when you ranter on and on, on Islam this or that in their faces, they go buy more Hadith OTC literature. Why I say it is counter-productive.
Also, im not agreeing or disagreeing with anyone or anything either way, just making comments & replying so and so forth. My views are more in the lines of pogroms for dhivehin- Hobo’s, Goats or otherwise.
These scientists harbored heretical ideas and were condemned by the Orthodox theologians of the day. Mystics and philosophers and “scholars” of unorthodox sects cannot be taken as examples.
“There is no philosophy in Islam and there are no philosophers among Muslims in this deviant sense. Rather in Islam there is certain knowledge and prominent scholars who examine matters. Among the most famous philosophers who were NOMINALLY Muslims were al-Kindi, al-Faraabi, Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and Ibn Rushd (Averroes). End quote. ” – S. Munajjid
The Quran says that Muhammed and Ibrahim are two of the best examples for Muslims. It also says the wife of Pharoah and Maryam are good examples for Muslimahs. While we have the 3 generations of the Salaf, the giants of Orthodox Islam like Ibn Taymiah, Ibn Qayyim, Ahmad bin Hanbal, ash-Shaafi, Malik etc why should we take heretical scholars, perverted poets like Rumi and ibn Khayyam, or Sufis like ibn Arabi and Mulla Sadr as examples?
There are enough examples for Muslim girls in Fatimah and Aaisha and the other wives of the Prophet who married and lived devout, virtuous lives. There are enough examples for Muslim boys in Khalid bin Walid,, Salahuddin and Amr bin al Aas who fought for Islam and expanded its borders.
“Natural sciences, some of which go against sharee’ah, Islam and truth, so it is ignorance, not knowledge that may be mentioned alongside the other branches of knowledge. Some of it involves the discussion of the attributes of different elements and how one can be changed to another. This is similar to the way in which doctors examine the human body in particular, from the point of view of what makes it sick and what makes it healthy. They look at all the elements to see how they change and move. But medicine has an edge over the physical body in that it is needed, but there is no need for the study of nature” – al-Ghazali
We must be careful of what knowledge is and what is allowed to study and what is not allowed to study. What confirms Islam is right and what goes against it is wrong, whether it comes from a nominal Muslim like ibn Rushd, a Jew like Einstein, a Christian like Newton or an atheist like Darwin. However the weak and impressionable should not take these people as examples because of some of their deviant ideas. Their books must be censored or refuted before being given to the young, impressionable Muslim of weak faith.
Listen to you dear. Must have had an erection when you wrote this. Muslim dynasties censuring “scientific reasoning & knowledge”? I have seen enough literature saying otherwise with just as many quotations from same-wise Islamic scholars. This manner of hate cries is intended not to educate moslems to a greater truth but to misinform, and that is its beauty. Why arguing with a loaded quotation is just as futile as trying to convince a moslem that some of the understanding of his sacred religion maybe wrong just as maybe the cleric who narrates it for him.
It is like asking the Jew a moment to piss on a Holocaust memorial by way of doubting it. The right to expression then takes on the back-burner!
The problem I have with bad-mouthing fundamental Islamic viewpoints is people such as this- there is no point in slaying one snake in place of another. It is a massive insult to one’s self to bother agreeing with a loaded opinion, which is like a loaded rectum- it will take a crap no matter how, esp since it had allowed itself to marinate long enough. Since what follows is inevitable it is never agreeable.
This line of argumentation is baloney. You problem is not with science or womens rights etc- you just want to be able to wear bikini’s like Paris and consume alcohol to no end (have a university degree first before looking to get wasted okies) . You would much rather prefer their definition of Joie de vivre. But you see thats the real cliche’. If they don’t allow Buruga’s in europe we will not tolerate Bikini’s.
Any discussion of Rights & reports that follow is just bowel incontinence. Couldn’t wait as intelligence dictated and just pooed in your neighbors backyard!
Balah oriyaamun magmathin hingeynee fagudi alhaigen hingiyas okey veema! enimuny yehnoon- oriyaamun magumathin hingen jeheynee keevegenkkan ves dhakhkhan jeheyyneh! democracy eyy kiyaafa capri pant laigen dhuviyakas nulibeyne thiya minivankameh. Thivatharrah arabeen educate kuran ulhenyaa adaal foment kuraanan. period.
A dhivehi identity can be a subject of debate, but any Anglicization cannot proceed outside the guild of dhivehi values; so long as conservative dhivehi families desire an environment favorable for raising their non-European offspring. This stand will not yield to naked speeches of Democracy & human rights (laughable).
So long as public beheadings do not take place in Maldives the fagudi’s will unfortunately be given the lead.
unfortunately.
:)
Ibn Rushd (Averroes) demolished al-Ghazali’s argument in his book “The incoherence of the incoherence” and defended the Aristotelian view point. Besides, it is those who studied Ibn Rushd (that is the medieval Europeans) who moved from the dark ages to Enlightenment to the scientific revolution to the modern age. While those who read and followed al-Ghazali and ignored Ibn Rushd declined from being the keepers of knowledge to backward infighting barbarians. This alone vindicates Ibn Rush againts those like al-Ghazali. As Simon says the problem with the Muslim world today is that there are plenty of Ghazali’s, i.e. “islamic scholars” (and whether they know it or not, actual intellectual descendants of himself) and not enough Ibn Rushds. Ghazali was just an Islamic jurist while Ibn Rush was that plus a philosopher, scientist and mathematician. The decline of the Islamic empire is due to taking the advice of Ghazali or Ibn Rushd.
error- the word “adaal” is “Adalat “
staggering the amount of Muslims in the world.. but I am guessing about half, more or less would not know about these scientists…
Not to push any buttons but at the end of the day the average Muslim has a very low priority when it comes to worldly success or knowledge… cant be helped now can it? A fundamental belief of a Muslim is that we are here to be punished and/or tested (a belief that we share with a lot of religions), hence some find no need to break out of their routine… anything that happens happens for a reason.. ultimate defense strategy.. and with this belief there is a bonus, a Muslim who can withstand this test gets the gift of heaven.. who would break the cycles of society when they can be poor or hunted or sick or uneducated when at the end of their lives a devout Muslim gets to go to Heaven?
This is a time when it is probably very hard to be a Muslim.. not because we are prosecuted everywhere but like it or not because its inconvenient .. like the veil.. its pretty clear that women have to wear it.. to what extent i will not guess but many would find this comment degrading or in violation with women`s rights.. and in the world we live in now it would be true for a lot of people.. because everything needs a rational explanation. Is that not the main crack between Muslims? People with blind faith and people who want answers to everything?
Through time we see the rise and fall of Muslims.. mostly because we fight with each other all the time.. as a small example we fight about how our hands should be during prayer.. some say put it on your stomach, others say heart.. others say put it on your sides.. Why don`t we ever stop to think that it is not just the physical act.. you can pray with your eyes if you cant move your body does that not tell us something? what counts More is whats in our hearts.. not what you say, not what you do..
“They must get out of the victim-mentality because it is Muslims themselves, despite their great numbers, who have put this curse over their world.” Indeed, but most Muslims have no guarantee that they will be not ridiculed, shunted or even prosecuted.. not much difference than being a liberal in Maldives (?)..
We are not at the top of scientific field or business world because the rich Muslims stay rich and have no need for anything else, the poor ones have no chance to have anything more.. and the average Joe Muslims like us, we spend our time fighting amongst ourselves..
good day Simon, reading your blogs have always been a pleasure.
-h-
With this post, you have won the internet over 9001 times.
Now I see why they wanted to block people from reading your blog; it is insightful and chock-full of undeniable data.
you left out Muhammed M. Saggaf (Saudi programmer), the author of Seyon, telecom package for X11.
Interesting read. Holding tight to your new year’s resolutions eh?
Your relationship with Islam amuses me…. deeply.
We all know very well that you’ve left (or may be never believed) in Islam so don’t you think it’s time you got over your ‘break up’ and moved on???
Ok so you are NOT a Muslim (you’ve made that very clear) but I wonder who made you the president of Islam bashing? It’s not like a job you know… you don’t have to blog about your hatred daily (We all get it: you HATE Islam), it’s not like you’re being paid for it, (or are you?)
and its not like most people would be bothered to read your long (and boring) epistles with a variety of colourful titles (Which could actually be published as a book titled “Reasons why I left/ hate Islam) and with the longest words your could find in the English dictionary.
Your love letters to Islam are more like a rejected lover trying to say “Yeah I left Islam but its no big deal Islam sucks anyway” (sour grapes?).
I feel for you, you know…. It’s time you got over your big break up… life’s so much more than sitting at home and writing stuff on your blog you know!
I am glad to be of amusement to you.
Thanks for dropping by.
:)
Yeah you and your ‘free thinking’ lot will always amuse me… you think you are the ones outside the glass bubble and laughing at the rest of them stuck inside…
…didn’t you for once think that you might be the one inside the glass bubble and that you have no way out?
your most welcome by the way.
:)
I don’t think anyone is outside a bubble or anything. I think we are all in it.
The reality is we share the same, well, reality. What affects one affects many. So on and so forth.
This particular post you have commented brings to this shared reality one very important aspect of the Muslim world. It begs the question of where the Muslim world or movement is heading and this question is pertinent whether it is asked by a non-Muslim or not.
By staying clear or ignoring these issues and concentrating on the “author” of this post you too have subscribed to this very detrimental attitude held by many Muslims: the paranoia that they are victims of some kind of a conspiracy to thwart their progress and that people who criticize it must be shown a looking-glass to see the error of their ways. This is counter-productive. I would have liked you to contribute something to the content of this post instead.
It is not with hatred that I have written this post but in the hope that it will make someone, maybe you, think outside the bubble.
I don’t wish to comment on what you have written because I feel that it is pointless. I do read your blog very often but all I get is this attitude about Muslims. Thus my comments on the author.
What right do we have to comment on society or religion so severely? we are just mere beings in a planet full of millions of them. We always tell each other to not “judge books by their covers” but we are constantly doing so.
And what is it in Islam that aggravates you so much? if you have no use for the faith why show disrespect to Islam, the prophets and the basic principles of the faith?
We live here for but mere seconds… the next thing we might have to face is our death and what then? Your meaningless existence would be at an end… in a few years (or days) your strutting around with your head held high, thinking you are a cut higher than the rest of society would be gone to waste. No one would remember you or talk of you… you are no ibni Senna either you know.
Learn to grace this existence with some humility may be? :)
Fair enough.
@Shums :)
@Simon how have you been?