REVIVING THE MUSLIM MIND: THE PURSUIT OF SCIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE

There is a plethora of threats and problems facing Muslims today. The occupation of Muslim lands, islamophobia, terrorism, brutal dictators, cultural baggage to name a few. 

Israel is reported to have 300 nuclear weapons that can annihilate the entire Muslim and Christian populations of the Middle East. The American arsenal of destruction is even a bigger threat to the existence of so many Muslims and non Muslims around the world.

What is the root cause behind the decline of Muslims that they are unable to recognise and defend themselves against this threat?

There are a lot of factors that have contributed to this decline, including decades of colonialism, corruption, cultural baggage, dictatorships, disunity etc.

The current state of affairs is only symptomatic of a deeper problem, which stems from poor education.

Good education is a catalyst for progress, intellectual enlightenment and prosperity. No wonder the first word in the Quran is Iqra which means read and seek knowledge. Islam prescribes a significant responsibility on every Muslim to seek knowledge and contribute to the progress and enlightenment of humanity. Every Muslim has a responsibility to fulfil his and her Islamic duty to pursue science, knowledge and intellect. 

Dictatorships are a primary cause for the decline of education in a lot of Muslim countries, as education was turned into a tool to create submissive docile populations. This corrupt education was intended to suffocate critical thinking, creativity and innovation. 

Wealthy Muslim nations haven’t made significant breakthroughs in science, technology and progress. These Muslim nations almost depend on revenues from oil which will run out in a few decades.

If the enemies of Muslims stop the oppression of Muslims, Muslims will still have poverty, dictatorships, corruption and backwardness to deal with. The next super power, whoever that will be, will exploit Muslims because they have become psychologically defeated, disorganized and disunified. 

The Monguls (the people of Genghis Khan) massacred hundreds of thousands of Muslims and invaded various Muslim countries. History gives a very stark picture: The great libraries of Baghdad, including the House of Wisdom, were totally destroyed by Monguls. The waters of the Tigris ran black with ink from the enormous quantities of books flung into the river and red from the blood of the scientists and philosophers killed. 

Yet, those same Mongols who defeated Muslims militarily ended up embracing Islam. Their descendants live now in Titarstan which is a Muslim country. It is true that the Monguls defeated Muslim armies, but they couldn't defeat the enlightened Muslim mind. 

This is another tiny piece of evidence to debunk the Islamophobic fallacy claiming that Islam was spread by the sword. Did any of the 1.6 Billion Muslims in the world today actually embrace Islam under the threat of the sword? 


Further reading:

Scientific role of Muslims

Jihad: Pursuit of knowledge