Oleh/By : DATO SERI DR MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : SHERATON IMPERIAL, KUALA LUMPUR
Tarikh/Date : 19/07/2002
Tajuk/Title : THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON
ISLAM (KALIF 2002)
Versi : ENGLISH
Penyampai : PM
"The State of the Muslim World Today :
Knowledge as a tool of Muslim Political Empowerment"
I would like to thank the organisers of this
International Forum on Islam for inviting me to speak
on "The State of the Muslim World Today: Knowledge as a
tool of Muslim Political Empowerment."
2. What is the state of the Muslim World Today? I
don't think it would be wrong to state that the Muslim
world is at its lowest ebb, and is probably continuing
to decline and to fall. Ever since the Turkish Muslim
Empire fell before the onslaught of the European
nations, not only was the Muslim world broken up into
small and ineffective nation-states but it has never
been able to stage a recovery, much less to re-
establish itself on the world stage. Individually the
Muslim states have not been able to make any progress
or impact.
3. In fact for many of the peoples of the Turkish
Empire, their cooperation with the Europeans in order
to free themselves from Turkish rule, only resulted in
a change of colonial masters from Turkish to British
and French. It was only after a long time and with
great difficulty that they managed to extricate
themselves from European colonial rule.
4. Independence has not enabled them to develop and
to regain the political clout of the old Muslim
empires. Instead they have been faced with internal
problems which prevent them from making any progress.
Even when they are richly endowed they have not been
able to make any real progress in terms of their
influence in international affairs. Not a single
Muslim country is to be found among the developed
nations of the world.
5. When the Industrial Revolution took place the
Muslim World was still relatively undivided. But
Muslims as a whole were either unaware of the
Revolution or rejected it. For a long time much of the
results of the Industrial Revolution whether in terms
of material gains or systems were rejected by Muslims
as unIslamic.
6. Electricity for example was not used by the
Muslims because for some unknown reason it was
considered to be against Islam. Mosques could not be
lighted with electricity. It was haram according to
the Muslim learned ones. Only about 30 years ago there
was at least one Muslim country which insisted on using
oil lamps instead of electricity.
7. Mechanised vehicles were also considered as haram
and may not be used to carry the coffin of the dead.
Paintings of human and animal figures were prohibited,
as was the wearing of non-baggy trousers and peak-caps.
The progress in weaponry in the West was not duplicated
in the Muslim world. Instead when finally a change of
weapons was allowed they had to be sourced basically
from the enemy.
8. We may think that it is unrealistic if not silly
to label industrial products as haram, but in those
days they were fanatically serious in considering them
as haram. Indeed the Turkish Yanisari revolted when
western-style uniforms were introduced. The ulamas had
condemned these western things and Governments must
obey these injunction or risk being labelled unIslamic.
And so we lost valuable time as the Industrial
Revolution passed by us.
9. Not only did we miss the Industrial Revolution but
we also missed the developments which followed which we
also looked upon with suspicion. Not so very long ago
in Malaysia television sets were thrown into the river
because some religious teachers declared them to be
haram. It sounds silly now but it is amazing how many
people believed these ignorant teachers.
10. Today and rightly so we are even more concerned about
what is haram and halal but unfortunately we often go
overboard. Thus in Afghanistan so powerful is the belief
that no part of a woman may be seen by strangers that the
women themselves refuse to take off the burqa even when
they are allowed to. Yet in other parts of the Muslim
world it is permissible to leave the face and the hands
uncovered. Who decreed these dress codes which so
occupy the minds of Muslims that they neglect those
injunctions of Islam which are so important for their
safety and security?
11. Thus the injunctions of Islam on more important
matters are ignored with impunity. Thus brotherhood
of Muslims is openly disregarded. Muslims who declare
themselves as brothers in Islam often make it their
duty to fight and kill other Muslims. They would in
the name of Islam condemn these Muslims as infidels in
order to justify their enmity towards them. If we go
by their criteria for being Muslim then there are
probably no Muslims in the world. In any case Islam
forbids the frivolous labelling of other Muslims as
infidels.
12. Similarly we are enjoined by Islam to seek
knowledge. A well-known hadith states that we must
seek knowledge even from China. At the time of the
Prophet what was the knowledge available in China?
Certainly not about Islam. China had at that time
already developed a good system of Government, great
scientific knowledge, a high level of agriculture.
They had produced paper and ink and explosives and a
variety of scientific instruments.
13. But Muslims ignore this important injunction to
seek knowledge. At the beginning, yes, they did seek
knowledge. And so there were great Muslim physicians,
scientists, mathematicians, astronomers, geographers
etc during the great days of the Muslim empire and
civilisation. In fact the great empire and
civilisation was partly the result of these scholars,
these seekers of knowledge. But later knowledge was
interpreted as religious knowledge only and the study
of other kinds of knowledge was regarded as either
sinful or as lacking in merit, as not contributing to
the afterlife. And so the pursuit of knowledge other
than the specifically religious was neglected. To this
day we neglect such knowledge and Muslim students
studying these non-religious subjects feel guilty and
try to make up by devoting as much of their time as
possible to various so-called Islamic activities in
order to earn merit. The result is that Muslim
students hardly ever achieve excellence in the sciences
etc, including in the research so necessary in order to
compete with the rest of the non-Muslim world. Later
in life these graduates are not able to contribute to
the recovery of the past glory of the Muslims. Worse
still they are not even motivated to do so.
14. One of the important fundamental teachings of
Islam is the need to be equipped with the weapons and
defense capability in order to instill fear in the
enemy and to defend the ummah. This teaching is
obviously neglected for even a race with just 13
million people in the whole world can defeat the forces
of 1.3 billion Muslims. In fact just about anyone can
oppress any Muslim country and there is nothing the
Muslim countries can do beyond crying and appealing for
justice.
15. Because of all these and many more the Muslim
World of Today is hopelessly weak and backward. Can
knowledge empower the Muslims Politically? It can of
course. But one has to remember that there is no
single cause for anything that happens in the world.
Lack of knowledge alone is not the cause and acquiring
knowledge alone will not empower the Muslims.
Certainly knowledge that is not applied will benefit
the Muslims not at all.
16. Together with the acquisition of knowledge there
must be also a change in attitude, a change in the
mindset and values which always hold us back whenever
we seek to empower ourselves. The majority of the
Muslims of today do not believe in worldly well-being,
including worldly security. They do not believe that
Muslims can ever be as advanced as the developed
countries. Instead they believe there is already a
Muslim renaissance as evidenced by the obvious piety of
more Muslims and their return to the dress codes which
are considered Muslim.
17. I spoke about our attitude towards the Industrial
Revolution. The suspicions of the products of
Industrial Revolution is the result of the wrong
interpretations of the teachings of Islam. Thus when
we are enjoined to seek knowledge we defined it as
knowledge about religion only. When we are asked to
defend ourselves, we stress instead the weapons of the
armies of the Prophet, considering riding skills and
the use of bows and arrows as important and not the
capacity to defend. Even when Islam enjoins upon us to
be just, we ignore justice but uphold the procedures
only. Clearly our teachings do not emphasise the real
priority in Islam. We are taught to uphold the forms
rather than the substance of the religion we believe
in.
18. Before we can pursue knowledge we have to
understand the teachings of Islam regarding the reasons
and the need to acquire knowledge. Frequently we are
told that we must not seek knowledge for the sake of
knowledge. But we must know that at some stage the
knowledge we acquire may come in useful. Why study the
structure of an atom when it does not promise anything
that can be useful to us? But we know now that our
failure to study the structure and the forces contained
in the atom has made us vulnerable to total destruction
by the nuclear devices developed through the knowledge
of the elements and basic structure of materials and
their properties.
19. We must also banish this idea that the only
knowledge that we need acquire is about Islam. Neglect
of other knowledge has lead to our lack of industrial
capacity, our capacity to invent and produce weapons to
instill fear in the enemy and to defend ourselves. We
must stop thinking that the acquisition of knowledge
other than religious knowledge gives no merit in
afterlife. Surely if the knowledge we pursue can
contribute to the fulfilment of the Quranic injunction
to defend ourselves such knowledge must give us merit
in the afterlife. There is no need to feel guilty when
we study these other subjects. We should indeed
consider that it is an important ibadat, an Islamic
injunction that is no less meritorious than the study
of religion. Indeed our ability to study religion
depends on our capacity to defend ourselves.
20. It is only if we succeed in changing our mindset
regarding the acquisition of non-religious knowledge
that we can seriously pursue knowledge to a level that
has been achieved in the countries of our detractors.
And when that is achieved and is followed by the
application of the knowledge then it can be a tool for
our empowerment. The correct interpretation of what is
enjoined by Islam with regard to the acquisition of
knowledge is therefore crucial. We must not allow
ourselves to be again side-tracked by the skewed
interpretations of Islam which had lead us to miss the
Industrial Revolution, to reject electricity and
mechanical products, and to reduce our capacity to
defend our faith and ourselves. We must accept the
reality of life today. We cannot anymore reject those
things which have come to be used universally. Islam
is not just a religion for the 7th Century of the
Christian Era. It is a religion for all times. With
time things change. After 1400 years of Islam we
cannot expect to live in the same environment and under
the same conditions as were found in the 7th Century.
Islam has provided for this change, if only we
interprete Islam properly. Islam is not a rigid
religion. There are many provisions in Islam to take
care of all situations.
21. There is a story of a Malaysian lady who went to a
European country. It was time for midday prayer and
she was in a restaurant. She insisted on not missing
prayer time and prayed in the toilet of the restaurant.
Apparently she had not been taught that when a Muslim
is away from home he or she may pray ahead or after a
particular prayer time, may shorten the prayer and pray
for two prayer times together. Allah has given us this
facility so as not to burden us. It is we who chose
not to avail ourselves of Allah's bounty. It is not
Islam which obstructs our progress. It is the wrong
and rigid interpretations which we are taught which
hinders progress.
22. Similarly in education, in the search for
knowledge, Islam is not to blame but it is the narrow
interpretation of Islam that has resulted in Muslims
being so backward in many fields of knowledge crucial
to their own well-being.
23. Of course knowledge can be a tool to empower us
politically. But pure knowledge will get us nowhere
unless we learn how to apply that knowledge to our own
advantage and for the betterment of our life.
24. If knowledge is to be for our empowerment then it
must contribute towards our economic, social and
security needs. Knowledge is not static. It is
accumulating and expanding all the time. The quest for
knowledge must therefore be continuous. There has to
be specialists who are experts in particular fields.
In the quest for knowledge there must be a division of
labour. Some must master the sciences and the
different branches of science, mathematics, medicine,
etc. Within the Muslim community which number 1.3
billion every field of knowledge can be pursued. And
new fields must be uncovered all the time. And
certainly there must always be an adequate number who
pursue religious knowledge. This division of labour
within the ummah will result not only in an empowered
society but a balanced one.
25. The discovery of new knowledge must not be left to
others. In the past it was knowledge pioneered by
Muslims which was acquired by the Europeans to enable
them to power their industrial development. To this
day the knowledge pioneered by Muslims such as
Algorithm developed by Al Khwarizmi is being used in
the design of the circuits on the microchip. It is
Algorithm which makes IT hardware and software
possible. But Muslims themselves have not used the
knowledge pioneered by the Muslims. In many cases we
don't even learn them.
26. While we can learn to apply such knowledge there
is no reason why we cannot pioneer new knowledge and
the applications. If we are able to do this then once
again we can gain an edge over the others as we once
did when Muslims pioneered and dominated the many
fields of knowledge. Muslim migrants to other
countries are pioneering new knowledge simply because
their own countries provide them with no facilities or
opportunities.
27. Clearly when we reach the stage of pioneers,
knowledge literally means power. But even before that
the mastery of knowledge will enable us to compete on
equal footing with others. We would certainly be
empowered and we would be able to lift ourselves up out
of the very inferior position that we are in.
28. The pursuit of knowledge and following that the
acquisition of the skills to apply the knowledge will
take a considerable period of time. We have to
remember that knowledge is not static. It is moving
all the time and today the speed of discovery and
development of new knowledge is exponential. It will
take time to acquire knowledge. We have to accept the
need to be patient. It may take a decade or even a
century. Remember when we were at the peak during the
great days of our Islamic Civilisation, it took the
Europeans several hundred years to catch up. But
catch up they did and then they passed us completely.
We will have to accept the need to struggle for a
considerable length of time. But fortunately knowledge
is much less hidden now than it was before. Most of
the knowledge there is is well documented and easily
available. Modern technology makes all knowledge,
except a few which are concerned with defence
applications, easily accessible.
29. The next problem is the vastness of the field. We
have to divide our manpower, within the country and
between the countries in order to be able to cover the
knowledge in all fields.
30. If we are prepared to overcome all the problems
which can hamper our acquisition of knowledge and we
are patient enough then God willing, Insyaallah,
knowledge can empower us. There is no quick fix. One
particular people waited for 2000 years. We will not
have to wait that long if we understand the need for
knowledge and we learn the lessons of history.
31. I hope your conference will be realistic about
this. It is easy to agree that knowledge is a tool for
our political empowerment. But mere agreement is not
going to lead us anywhere. We really do not need more
seminars and conferences which will end up with the
obvious conclusions. We need to act and how we should
act to implement the obvious is what should occupy our
minds and our time now.
Sumber : Pejabat Perdana Menteri
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