Islam, past present and future

Islam- Past
& Present
Way to future

5 Time periods in this Ummah
Hadith reported by Hudhaifa (RA) in Musnad Ahmad

Period of Khilafah
• The Prophet (may Allah bless him) said: “The Khilafah in my Ummah after me will
be for thirty years. Then there will be Mulkan ‘aduudan (hereditary rule) after that.”
[Tirmidhi]
1. The First khilafah Abu Bakr (radiallaahu anhu) his rule lasted for two years.
2. The second khilafah of Umar ibn al Khatab (radiallaahu anhu) lasted for ten years
3. The third khilafah of Uthmaan Ibn Affan (radiallaahu anhu) lasted for twelve
years
4. The fourth khilafah of Ali Ibn Abi Talib (radiallaahu anhu) laste six years.
• That is a total of 30 years and these are
• The four who ruled according to the sunnah of the prophet and the entire Muslim
world loved them for it.

Kingship
• The Kingship were the various Muslim dynasties that were
established throughout history beginning with the Umayyad Khalifa
• Last one to exist was the Ottoman Turks in 1924.
• Although each of these rulers was called a Khalifa, similar to the first
four, when he died one of his descendants took his place hence it was
a kingship.
• Some of these rulers where good others where bad,

12 Good kings or Khalifahs
• The Prophet said "The affair of this nation will continue to remain
upright and it will continue to be victorious over its enemy until it
goes through twelve Khalifahs, all of whom are from the Quraysh."
[Tribe of the Prophet]
• The Companions asked, "Then what will happen?"
• He, said, "Then there will be Faraj (holes and gaps through which seep
factors that lead to division and weakness in the ranks and in souls).”
• This means troubles that will affect people’s Iman, these are not the
first twelve who came after each other in history but twelve rulers in
the general sense similar to saying in 1300 years of Khilafah, twelve of
its rulers will be exceptionally good.

Dynasties and the period of their rule
Umayyads
7th–8th
centuries:
One of the
largest unitary
states in
history and
one of the few
states to ever
extend direct
rule over
three
continents
(Africa,
Europe, and
Asia).
Abbasids
8th–13th
centuries :
The
Umayyad
dynasty was
toppled by
the
Abbasids, in
750 AD.
Fatimids
10th-12th
centuries:
It was an Arab
Shi’a dynasty
that ruled
over areas of
the Maghreb,
Egypt, Sicily,
Malta and the
Levant
(909 -1171)
They existed
alongside the
Sunni
Khalifah.
Mamluk
Sultanate
13th–16th
centuries.
The Ottoman
Empire
Defeated the
Mamluk
Sultanate in
1517 and took
control of most
Arab lands.
It was defeated
by the end of
World War one,
1918.

Ottomans Caliphate
• Ottomans, 16th-20th century: The Ottoman Caliphate [whose capital was
Constantinople in modern day turkey] inherited the Caliphate from the
Mamluks of Egypt.
• The Ottoman Empire defeated the Mamluk Sultanate in 1517 and took
control of most Arab lands.
• The demise of the Ottoman Caliphate took place in part because of a slow
erosion of power in relation to Europe and an end of the state came in
• Ottoman Empire was divided into smaller countries by the Allies [United
Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire ] who defeated them by the end
of World War one, 1918.
Sokoto, 19th century: The Sokoto Caliphate was an Islamic spiritual
community in Nigeria.

1924, END OF CALIPHATE
• On March 3, 1924, the first President of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa
Kemal Atatürk [supported by the Allied nations] abolished the
institution of the Caliphate.
• Its powers within Turkey were transferred to the Grand National
Assembly of Turkey, the parliament of the newly formed Turkish
Republic.
• A summit was convened at Cairo in 1926 to discuss the revival of the
Caliphate.
• Most Muslim countries did not participate, and no action was taken
to implement the summit's resolutions.
• All the Muslim countries by then were under the power of the Allied
nations and hence powerless to act.

DIVISION OF CALIPHATE LAND
• Lands of the Ottoman Khilafah were divided up among the allied
nations.
• Countries like Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia virtually
all the Muslim countries you see in the world today were created
after the first world war
• Allied nations [United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire ]
installed in them tyrannical rulers who they could manipulate to rule
the local populations on their behalf.

Islam, past present and future

Today’s situation of the Ummah
• Abu Hurairah said, I heard the Prophet saying to Thawban, O Thawban,
what will you do when the nations call one another to invade you as
people call one another to come and eat from one bowl?
• Thawban said, May my father and my mother be sacrificed for you. O
Messenger of Allah! Is it because we are so few
• The Prophet said, No, on that day you (Muslims) will be many, but
Allah will put weakness (wahn) in your hearts.
• The people asked, What is that weakness, O Messenger of Allah? He
said, It is love for this world and dislike of fighting. (Ahmad.)

What brings humiliation?
Prophet (SAW) said:
• "When you involve in 'eena and
• you are pleased (engrossed) with agriculture and
• you abandon Jihad in Allah's way
then Allah will descend upon you humiliation which He
will not remove from you until you return
to your religion.”

Prophet (SAW) was given 5 unique gifts

Removal of Awe from the hearts of opponents
• The Prophet (SAW) said: "I have been given five (things) which no one
else before me has been given. I have been aided with fear - a
distance of one month's traveling ... "Related by Bukhari (1/436) and
Muslim (5/3-4) from Jabir ibn 'Abdullah radhiallahu 'anhu
• ْ‫ش‬َ‫أ‬ ‫ا‬َ‫م‬ِ‫ب‬ َ‫ب‬ْ‫ع‬ُّ‫الر‬ ‫وا‬ُ‫ر‬َ‫ف‬َ‫ك‬ َ‫ين‬ِ‫ذ‬َّ‫ال‬ ِ‫ب‬‫و‬ُ‫ل‬ُ‫ق‬ ‫ي‬ِ‫ف‬ ‫ي‬ِ‫ق‬ْ‫ل‬ُ‫ن‬َ‫س‬ْ‫ل‬ُ‫س‬ ِ‫ه‬ِ‫ب‬ ْ‫ل‬ ِ‫َز‬‫ن‬ُ‫ي‬ ْ‫م‬َ‫ل‬ ‫ا‬َ‫م‬ ِ َّ‫اَّلل‬ِ‫ب‬ ‫وا‬ُ‫ك‬َ‫ر‬ۖ ‫ا‬ً‫ن‬‫ا‬َ‫ط‬
ۚ ُ‫ار‬َّ‫ن‬‫ال‬ ُ‫م‬ُ‫ه‬‫ا‬ َ‫و‬ْ‫أ‬َ‫م‬ َ‫و‬َ‫ين‬ِ‫م‬ِ‫ل‬‫ا‬َّ‫الظ‬ ‫ى‬ َ‫و‬ْ‫ث‬َ‫م‬ َ‫س‬ْ‫ئ‬ِ‫ب‬ َ‫و‬-3:151
• Allah the - the Most High - states: "Soon We shall cast awe into the
hearts of the disbelievers, for that, they made shirk, for which He
had sent no authority." [Al-Qur'an 3:151]

President Obama mentioned Muslim’s
contributions to modern science in Cairo 6/4/2009
• It was Islam that carried the light of learning through so many
centuries, paving the way for Europe’s Renaissance and
Enlightenment.
• It was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order
of algebra; our magnetic compass and tools of navigation; our
mastery of pens and printing; our understanding of how disease
spreads and how it can be healed.

Golden age of Islam
8th-13th Century
• The disparity between the intellectual achievements of the Middle East
then and now — particularly relative to the rest of the world — is
staggering indeed. (Why the Arab World turned away from science? By
Hillel Ofek in New Atlantis, winter 2011)
• “For many centuries the world of Islam was in the forefront of human
civilization and achievement.”( In his 2002 book What Went Wrong?,
historian Bernard Lewis wrote this)
• “Nothing in Europe,” notes Jamil Ragep, a professor of the history of
science at the University of Oklahoma, “could hold a candle to what was
going on in the Islamic world until about 1600.”
• Algebra, algorithm, alchemy, alcohol, alkali, nadir, zenith, coffee, and
lemon: these words all derive from Arabic, reflecting Islam’s contribution to
the West.

Contribution of Muslim and Arabic scientists
• Scholarly revival in Abbasid Baghdad (751-1258) that resulted in the
translation of almost all the scientific works of the classical Greeks into
Arabic is nothing to scoff at.
• Arabic thinkers made original contributions, both through writing and
methodical experimentation, in such fields as philosophy, astronomy,
medicine, chemistry, geography, physics, optics, and mathematics.
• Muslims invented algebra. Initially inspired by Greek and Indian works, the
Persian al-Khwarizmi (died 850) wrote a book from whose title we get the
term algebra.
• The Golden Age also saw advances in medicine. One of the most famous
thinkers in the history of Arabic science, and considered among the
greatest of all medieval physicians, was Rhazes (also known as al-Razi).

FEW OTHER GREAT MUSLIM SCIENTISTS
• Physician and philosopher Avicenna (also known as Ibn-Sina; died 1037),
whom some consider the most important physician since Hippocrates.
• He authored the Canon of Medicine, a multi-volume medical survey that
became the authoritative reference book for doctors in the region, and —
once translated into Latin — a staple in the West for six centuries.
• Al-Farabi (also known as Alpharabius, died ca. 950), a Baghdadi thinker
who, in addition to his prolific writing on many aspects of Platonic and
Aristotelian philosophy, also wrote on physics, psychology, alchemy,
cosmology, music, and much else. So esteemed was he that he came to be
known as the “Second Teacher” — second greatest, that is, after Aristotle.
• Another great polymath was al-Biruni (died 1048), who wrote 146
treatises totaling 13,000 pages in virtually every scientific field.

RENOWED MUSLIM SCIENTISTS AND AUTHORS
• Alhazen (also known as Ibn al-Haytham; died 1040). Although his
greatest legacy is in optics — he showed the flaws in the theory of
extra- mission, which held that our eyes emit energy that makes it
possible for us to see — he also did work in astronomy, mathematics,
and engineering.
• Perhaps the most renowned scholar of the late Golden Age was
Averroës (also known as Ibn Rushd; died 1198), a philosopher,
theologian, physician, and jurist best known for his commentaries on
Aristotle. The 20,000 pages he wrote over his lifetime included works
in philosophy, medicine, biology, physics, and astronomy.

The spirit of science in the Muslim world today
is dry as the desert
• Muslim countries have nine scientists, engineers, and technicians per
thousand people, compared with a world average of forty-one.
• In these nations, there are approximately 1,800 universities, but only
312 of those universities have scholars who have published journal
articles.
• Of the fifty most-published of these universities, twenty-six are in
Turkey, nine are in Iran, three each are in Malaysia and Egypt, Pakistan
has two, and Uganda, the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Kuwait,
Jordan, and Azerbaijan each have one.
• Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy ( A Pakistani physicist) laid out the grim
statistics in a 2007 Physics Today article.

Scientific contribution of Muslims today
• There are roughly 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, but only two
scientists from Muslim countries have won Nobel Prizes in science (one
for physics in 1979, the other for chemistry in 1999).
• Forty-six Muslim countries combined contribute just 1 percent of the
world’s scientific literature;
• Spain and India each contribute more of the world’s scientific literature
than those countries taken together.
• In fact, although Spain is hardly an intellectual superpower, it translates
more books in a single year than the entire Arab world has in the past
thousand years.
• “Though there are talented scientists of Muslim origin working
productively in the West,” Nobel laureate physicist Steven Weinberg has
observed, “for forty years I have not seen a single paper by a physicist or
astronomer working in a Muslim country that was worth reading.”

Scientific books and articles from Arab world
• Arabs comprise 5 percent of the world’s population, but publish just 1.1
percent of its books, according to the U.N.’s 2003 Arab Human
Development Report.
• Between 1980 and 2000, Korea granted 16,328 patents, while nine Arab
countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the U.A.E., granted a
combined total of only 370, many of them registered by foreigners.
• A study in 1989 found that in one year, the United States published 10,481
scientific papers that were frequently cited, while the entire Arab world
published only four.
• Nature magazine published a sketch of science in the Arab world in 2002.
Its reporter identified just three scientific areas in which Islamic countries
excel: desalination, falconry, and camel reproduction.

Why the Golden Age Faded
• “The Renaissance, the Reformation, even the scientific revolution
and the Enlightenment, passed unnoticed in the Muslim world,”
Bernard Lewis remarks in Islam and the West (1993).
• Lewis notes in What Went Wrong? that “The relationship between
Christendom and Islam in the sciences was now reversed.
• Those who had been disciples now became teachers; those who had
been masters became pupils, often reluctant and resentful pupils.”
• The Muslim societies became closed, resentful, violent, and hostile
to discourse and innovation.

IMPORTANT QUESTION
• Sayyid Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, an influential figure in contemporary
pan-Islamism, said in the late nineteenth century:
• “It is permissible ... to ask oneself why Arab civilization, after
having thrown such a live light on the world, suddenly became
extinguished?
• Why this torch has not been relit since; and why the Arab world still
remains buried in profound darkness?”

Ibn Khaldun's theory of development and decline
It can be summarized into eight points:
1. The strength of the sovereign does not materialize except through the
implementation of the Shariah.
2. The Shariah cannot be implemented except by the sovereign.
3. The sovereign cannot gain strength except through the people.
4. The people cannot be sustained except by wealth.
5. Wealth cannot be acquired except through development.
6. Development cannot be attained except through justice.
7. Justice is the criterion by which God will evaluate mankind.
8. The sovereign is charged with the responsibility of actualizing justice.
• Trigger mechanism was the failure of the political authority which,
unfortunately, continues in most Muslim countries until the present time…,
and has led to the misuse of public resources and their non-availability for
the realization of justice, development and general well-being."

8 STAGES OF RISE AND FALL OF CIVILIZATIONS
Ted Flynn’s book The Great Transformation
SPIRITUAL GROWTH
GREAT COURAGE
LIBERTY
ABUNDANCE
COMPLACENCY
APATHY
DEPENDENCE
BONDAGE

TYTLER CYCLE
Named for 18th century writer Alexander Fraser Tytler,

MAJOR FACTORS FOR DECLINE OF ISLAM’S
GOLDEN AGE
EXTERNAL
FACTOR
INTERNAL
FACTORS:
DIVINE
DECREE
LOVE OF
DUNYA
DISUNITY
Struggle
between
rationalist and
traditionalists
Separation of
religion and
state
TURNING
AWAY FROM
SCIENTIFIC
RESEARCH

EXTERNAL FACTORS
1. The Crusaders and their occupation (11th Century),
2. Mongol Invasions and Conquests (13th Century),
3. European Colonization (19th/20th Century)
4. Post Colonization influence of world powers through:
a) Interest based loans from world financial institutions like IMF
b) Media
c) Multinational companies and their heavy marketing
d) Weapon sales through interest-based loans.
e) Direct military interventions

A-EXTERNAL FACTORS
• A significant factor was physical and geopolitical.
• As early as the tenth or eleventh century, the Abbasid empire began
to factionalize and fragment due to increased provincial autonomy
and frequent uprisings.
• By 1258, the little that was left of the Abbasid state was swept away
by the Mongol invasion.
• In Spain, Christians re-conquered Córdoba in 1236 and Seville in 1248.

B- INTERNAL FACTORS
1- DIVINE DECREE-
"َ‫أ‬ ‫وا‬ُ‫ن‬‫و‬ُ‫ك‬َ‫ي‬ َ‫َل‬ َّ‫م‬ُ‫ث‬ ْ‫م‬ُ‫ك‬ َ‫ْر‬‫ي‬َ‫غ‬ ‫ا‬ً‫م‬ ْ‫و‬َ‫ق‬ ْ‫ل‬ِ‫د‬ْ‫ب‬َ‫ت‬ْ‫س‬َ‫ي‬ ‫ا‬ ْ‫و‬َّ‫ل‬ َ‫و‬َ‫ت‬َ‫ت‬ ‫ن‬ِ‫إ‬ َ‫و‬‫م‬ُ‫ك‬َ‫ل‬‫ا‬َ‫ث‬ْ‫م‬"
• If you turn back (from the Path of Allah), He will substitute in your
stead another people; then they would not be like you!) Surah: 47,
Verse: 38.
•
…“ُ‫ع‬َ‫ف‬‫ن‬َ‫ي‬ ‫ا‬َ‫م‬ ‫ا‬َّ‫م‬َ‫أ‬ َ‫و‬َ‫اس‬َّ‫ن‬‫ٱل‬ُ‫ث‬ُ‫ك‬ْ‫م‬َ‫ي‬َ‫ف‬‫ى‬ِ‫ف‬‫ض‬ ْ‫ر‬َ ْ‫ٱْل‬“ …while that which is for the good of
mankind remains on the earth). Surah: 13, Verse: 17.
• "َ‫ْن‬‫ي‬ ِ‫َر‬‫خ‬‫آ‬ ِ‫ه‬ِ‫ب‬ ُ‫ع‬َ‫ض‬َ‫ي‬ َ‫و‬ ً‫ا‬‫وام‬ْ‫ق‬‫أ‬ ِ‫ب‬‫تا‬ِ‫ك‬‫ال‬ ‫ا‬َ‫ذ‬‫ه‬ِ‫ب‬ ُ‫ع‬َ‫ف‬ ْ‫ر‬َ‫ي‬ َ‫اَّلل‬ ‫إن‬"
Allah will give Rise with this book (al-Qur’an al-Karim) some nations;
and He (Allah) will cause Fall of some nations with this book (when
they will abandon its dictates and teachings). Sahih Muslim: Hadith #
817.

2-Love of dunya
• “By Allah, it is not poverty that I fear for you, but I fear that this world
will be spread out in front of you as it was spread out in front of those
before you, and then you will vie for it as they vied for it, and it will
destroy you as it destroyed them” [Riyad as-Salihin (The Meadows of the
Righteous) by Imam Nawawi].

3-Disunity
• ‫و‬‫و‬ُ‫ع‬َ‫َاز‬‫ن‬َ‫ت‬ َ‫َل‬ َ‫و‬ ُ‫ه‬َ‫ل‬‫و‬ُ‫س‬َ‫ر‬ َ‫و‬ َ َّ‫اَّلل‬ ‫وا‬ُ‫ع‬‫ي‬ِ‫ط‬َ‫أ‬ َََ‫ب‬َ‫ه‬ْ‫ذ‬َ‫ت‬ َ‫و‬ ‫وا‬ُ‫ل‬َ‫ش‬ْ‫ف‬َ‫ت‬َ‫ف‬ ‫ا‬
ۖ ْ‫م‬ُ‫ك‬ُ‫ح‬‫ي‬ ِ‫ر‬ۚ ‫وا‬ُ‫ر‬ِ‫ب‬ْ‫ص‬‫ا‬ َ‫و‬َّ‫ص‬‫ال‬ َ‫ع‬َ‫م‬ َ َّ‫اَّلل‬ َّ‫ن‬ِ‫إ‬َ‫ين‬ ِ‫ر‬ِ‫ب‬‫ا‬–
8:46
And obey Allah and His Messenger, and do not dispute and [thus] lose
courage and [then] your strength would depart; and be patient. Indeed,
Allah is with the patient. (Al Anfal:46)

4- Struggle between rationalists and traditionalists
began with Al Mamun and Mutazilism
• Abbasid caliph al-Mamun picked up the pro-science torch lit
by the second caliph, al-Mansur, and ran with it.
• He attempted to undermine traditionalist religious
scholars while actively sponsoring a doctrine called
Mu’tazilism that was deeply influenced by Greek
rationalism, particularly Aristotelianism.
• To those who refused to profess their allegiance to
Mu’tazilism were punished by flogging, imprisonment, or
beheading.

Struggle between rationalists and traditionalists
• But the caliphs who followed al-Mamun upheld the
doctrine with less fervor, and within a few decades,
adherence to it became a punishable offense.
• The backlash against Mu’tazilism was tremendously
successful: by 885, a half century after al-Mamun’s death, it
even became a crime to copy books of philosophy.
• By the twelfth or thirteenth century, the influence of
Mu’tazilism was nearly completely marginalized.

Ashari school
• Ash’ari school which is anti-rationalist arose, whose increasing
dominance is linked to the decline of Arabic science.
• With the rise of the Ash’arites, the ethos in the Islamic world was
increasingly opposed to original scholarship and any scientific inquiry
that did not directly aid in religious regulation of private and public life.
• While the Mu’tazilites had contended that the Quran was created and so
God’s purpose for man must be interpreted through reason, the Ash’arites
believed the QUran to be coeval with God — and therefore
unchallengeable.
• Ash’arites believed that God is the only cause, so that the world is a series
of discrete physical events each willed by God.

Al Ghazali’s influence
• Most influential voice of the Ash’arites was Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (also known as Algazel; died 1111).
• In his book The Incoherence of the Philosophers, al-Ghazali vigorously attacked philosophy and
philosophers — both the Greek philosophers themselves and their followers in the Muslim world (such as
al-Farabi and Avicenna).
• Al-Ghazali was worried that when people become favorably influenced by philosophical arguments, they will
also come to trust the philosophers on matters of religion.
• While al-Ghazali did defend logic, he did so only to the extent that it could be used to ask theological
questions and wielded as a tool to undermine philosophy.
• Sunnis embraced al-Ghazali as the winner of the debate with the Hellenistic rationalists, and opposition to
philosophy gradually ossified, even to the extent that independent inquiry became a tainted enterprise,
sometimes to the point of criminality.
• It is an exaggeration to say, as Steven Weinberg claimed in the Times of London, that after al-Ghazali “there
was no more science worth mentioning in Islamic countries”; in some places, especially Central Asia, Arabic
work in science continued for some time, and philosophy was still studied somewhat under Shi’ite rule. (In
the Sunni world, philosophy turned into mysticism.)
• But the fact is, Arab contributions to science became increasingly sporadic as the anti-rationalism sank in.

5- TURNING AWAY FROM SHCOLARSHIP,
REASEARCH AND SCIENTIFIC INNOVATIONS
•Islamic turn away from scholarship can be
traced back to the rise of the anti-philosophical
Ash’arism school among Sunni Muslims, who
comprise the vast majority of the Muslim world.

Gates of ijtihad closed
• The first four centuries of Islam saw vigorous discussion and flexibility regarding
legal issues.
• This was the tradition of ijtihad, or independent judgment and critical thinking.
• But by the end of the eleventh century, discordant ideas were increasingly seen
as a problem, and autocratic rulers worried about dissent
• ijtihad was seen as no longer necessary, since all important legal questions were
regarded as already answered.
• All that was left to do was to submit to the instructions of religious authorities;
to understand morality, one needed only to read legal decrees.
• Thinkers who resisted the closing came to be seen as nefarious dissidents.
(Averroës, for example, was banished for heresy and his books were burned.)

Lack of scientific curricula and independent
universities
• Lack of a scientific curriculum in medieval madrassas reflects a deeper absence of a
capacity or willingness to build legally autonomous institutions.
• Madrassas were established under the law of waqf, or pious endowments, which
meant they were legally obligated to follow the religious commitments of their founders.
• Legally autonomous institutions were utterly absent in the Islamic world until the late
nineteenth century.
• Madrassas nearly always excluded study of anything besides the subjects that aid in
understanding Islam: Arabic grammar, the Koran, the hadith, and the principles of sharia.
• These were often referred to as the “Islamic sciences,” in contrast to Greek sciences,
which were widely referred to as the “foreign” or “alien” sciences (indeed, the term
“philosopher” in Arabic — faylasuf — was often used pejoratively).
• Furthermore, the rigidity of the religious curriculum in madrassas contributed to the
educational method of learning by rote; even today, repetition, drill, and imitation —
with chastisement for questioning or innovating — are habituated at an early age in
many parts of the Arab world.

Quran’s Law of change
• The Quran says: ٍ‫م‬ ْ‫و‬َ‫ق‬ِ‫ب‬ ‫ا‬َ‫م‬ ُ‫ر‬ِ‫ي‬َ‫غ‬ُ‫ي‬ َ‫َل‬ َ‫ه‬‫ـ‬َّ‫الل‬ َّ‫ن‬ِ‫إ‬‫ى‬َّ‫ت‬َ‫ح‬‫و‬ُ‫ر‬ِ‫ي‬َ‫غ‬ُ‫ي‬ْ‫م‬ِ‫ه‬ِ‫س‬ُ‫ف‬‫ن‬َ‫أ‬ِ‫ب‬ ‫ا‬َ‫م‬ ‫ا‬
Allah does not change the condition of a people unless they change their
inner selves.(13:11)
• People going through a period of downfall suffer from slavish mentality:
• ۖ ِ‫نس‬ِ ْ‫اْل‬ َ‫و‬ ِ‫ن‬ ِ‫ج‬ْ‫ال‬ َ‫ن‬ِ‫م‬ ‫ا‬ً‫ير‬ِ‫ث‬َ‫ك‬ َ‫م‬َّ‫ن‬َ‫ه‬َ‫ج‬ِ‫ل‬ ‫َا‬‫ن‬ْ‫أ‬َ‫ر‬َ‫ذ‬ ْ‫د‬َ‫ق‬َ‫ل‬ َ‫و‬ُ‫ق‬ ْ‫م‬ُ‫ه‬َ‫ل‬ُ‫ي‬ َّ‫َل‬ ٌ‫ن‬ُ‫ي‬ْ‫ع‬َ‫أ‬ ْ‫م‬ُ‫ه‬َ‫ل‬ َ‫و‬ ‫ا‬َ‫ه‬ِ‫ب‬ َ‫ون‬ُ‫ه‬َ‫ق‬ْ‫ف‬َ‫ي‬ َّ‫َل‬ ٌ‫وب‬ُ‫ل‬‫ا‬َ‫ه‬ِ‫ب‬ َ‫ون‬ُ‫ر‬ ِ‫ْص‬‫ب‬
ۚ ‫ا‬َ‫ه‬ِ‫ب‬ َ‫ون‬ُ‫ع‬َ‫م‬ْ‫س‬َ‫ي‬ َّ‫َل‬ ٌ‫ان‬َ‫ذ‬‫آ‬ ْ‫م‬ُ‫ه‬َ‫ل‬ َ‫و‬َ‫ك‬ِ‫ئ‬َ‫ل‬‫و‬ُ‫أ‬َ‫أ‬ ْ‫م‬ُ‫ه‬ ْ‫ل‬َ‫ب‬ ِ‫ام‬َ‫ع‬ْ‫ن‬َ ْ‫اْل‬َ‫ك‬ۚ ُّ‫ل‬َ‫ض‬َ‫ك‬ِ‫ئ‬َ‫ل‬‫و‬ُ‫أ‬َ‫ون‬ُ‫ل‬ِ‫ف‬‫َا‬‫غ‬ْ‫ال‬ ُ‫م‬ُ‫ه‬-
“They have hearts wherewith they understand not, eyes wherewith they
see not, and ears wherewith they hear not. They are like cattle, – nay
more misguided: for they are heedless (of warning).” (7:179)

Imam Malik’s advice
• Whoever invents in Islam a bid'a (innovation) and considers it
hasanah (good), then he has assumed that Muhammad
(SAW) betrayed the message. Allah (SWT) says:
"This day I have perfected your religion for you and completed
my favours upon you and I'm pleased with Islam as your
religion.'"
Thus, whatsoever was not on that day part of the Religion
cannot today become part of the Religion.
• And nothing will reform the latter generation of his Ummah
except what reformed its earlier generation.'

How best to reacquire the lost honor
• Muslim world tried, and failed, to reverse its decline by borrowing
Western technology and sociopolitical ideas, including secularization
and nationalism.
• These tastes of “modernization” turned many Muslims away from
modernity.
• This raises a question: Can and should Islam’s past achievements serve
as a standard for Islam’s future?
• After all, it is quite common to imply, as President Obama did, that
knowledge of the Golden Age of Arabic science will somehow exhort
the Islamic world to improve itself and to hate the West less.

We need less self pride and more self criticism
• It is not enough to only be nostalgic about the great scientists of the glorious Islamic
civilization.
• Today, self-criticism in Islam is valued only insofar as it is made as an appeal to be
more pious and less spiritually corrupt.
• Yet most criticism in the Muslim world is directed outward, at the West.
• Inquiry into the history of Arabic science, and the recovery and research of
manuscripts of the era, may have a beneficial effect — so long as it is pursued in an
analytical spirit.
• Muslims would then use it as a resource within their own tradition
to critically engage with their philosophical, political, and founding flaws.
• That will occur due to Muslims’ own determination, creativity, and wisdom — very
traits ascribed to the Muslims of the Golden Age.
• The Muslims of today seem to have lost the ability to master knowledge, let
alone to create new knowledge, specially the scientific knowledge.

Five main barriers to scientific advance for Muslims-
Late Prof Ahmed Zewail, a Muslim Nobel laureate from Egypt
• 1-High rate of illiteracy in many Muslim communities and countries due to failure of the
educational system
• 2-Limited use of human resources due to hierarchical dominance, strong seniority
systems, beurocracy’s red tape, corruption and the centralization of power
• 3-Some people regard science as “worldly knowledge” and therefore, un-Islamic. This
results in the dichotomy between Islam and science, which leads to Muslims being
backward and left behind.
• 4-Foreign experts and consultants are often relied on when, in fact, there is local
expertise to provide insights, inputs and suggestions to plan and navigate the vision for
indigenous S&T.
• 5-Lack of implementation of plans. While planning may look nice on paper, lack of
proper monitoring results in failure in implementation. When a plan is not implemented
properly, resources – financial, manpower and time – are wasted.

3 Steps to overcome these problems
• 1-Eliminate illiteracy and enhance interest among young people to
pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) for
their studies and career.
• 2- Allow freedom of thought, minimize bureaucracy and develop a
merit system to encourage scientific innovation
• 3- Build a sound science base by investing in special education for the
scientifically gifted, establishing centers of excellence in science, and
providing opportunities to apply knowledge in industry and the
markets.

Islam, past present and future

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