Muslim world through the crystal ball
WITH the phenomenal spread of the Islamic religion in the Arabian Peninsula the world witnessed the reconstitution of broken justice, new concepts and values and a totally different social and political framework never seen before in human history.
Arabian people who had lived in disunity as fragmented tribes in a continuous battle of war and chaos for centuries got united under a new religious concept and with a new social order and a new flag.
Today there are about 54 Muslim countries in the world and ironically the sad reality is that the entire Muslim world is way behind in all fields of human endeavour and have failed miserably to come up to the required standards of human development.
All the Muslim countries of the world have been under colonial rule for many years but even after the end of colonialism they have not really developed as modern nation states. Economically most of the Muslim countries are still heavily dependent on the western European countries, USA or now recently China and some on the Russian Federation.
The most affluent and oil rich Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq are dependent on western corporations and companies to develop their vast oil and gas fields.
Many African Muslim states are in serious economic trouble and their economies would collapse without massive financial help and assistance from western democracies.
Pakistan, a leading Muslim state and the only nuclear power in the Muslim world, is still dependent on Western support economically, socially and politically. Even seventy four years after independence the country is still struggling to develop a self-sustaining economy.
We are still under the yoke of the IMF and the World Bank that provide financial assistance with a lot of strings attached and our economic managers are very happy to dance to their tune. Our next door Muslim neighbour Afghanistan is another sad example of complete dependence on foreign countries for its survival.
With just a few exceptions most Muslim countries have failed to develop democratic institutions. Democracy does not exist in the Muslim world. Most Muslim nations are dictatorships, absolute monarchies, single party rule or military dictatorships.
Countries like Libya and Egypt have seen dictators ruling for over forty years and consequently they are way behind the developed nations with a suffering and economically deprived population. Countries like Pakistan, Indonesia and even Turkey have been in the vicious grip of military dictatorships many times in their short history since independence.
Another major factor for human development is education and sadly enough Muslim countries have not shown any progress in this field also specially in the field of science and technology.
During the last 120 years only nine Muslims have been awarded the Nobel Prize with only two in any scientific discipline.
Today all the top universities of the world are located in Europe or the USA and not a single university in a Muslim country has any significant place in the university rankings of the world. Rulers of Muslim countries deliberately deny their people world class education because this makes them think and demand their human and democratic rights.
Fabulously rich oil economies of the Middle East have built huge cities, massive harbours, airports and many impressive monuments to self-glory but they have failed to build a single world class university or research centre. Pakistan has an education system that leaves a lot to be desired.
Even today over 30% of Pakistanis cannot read or write and yet the present government is again experimenting with a new Single National Curriculum which is again a step backwards taking the nation back to the dark ages. Earnest efforts are being made at the national level to convert our education system into the madrassa type of system.
Science and technology subjects are being neglected and an over dose of religious injunctions is being introduced that will have some very damaging and serious long-term consequences.
What’s wrong with the Muslim nations? Why all this mushroom growth of religious zealots? Why this intolerance and bigotry? Disregard for human values? Crushing intolerance? Murder of non-Muslims? Killing and burning people alive in the name of religion? Rise of Islamic organizations rooted in terrorism? Sectarian killings? Suppression of independent thought and feelings? These questions haunt the Muslim world from Iran to Syria, from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan.
There is no short answer to these troubling questions but if history is any judge the panacea for all the problems of the Muslim nations lies in two words that is Education and Democracy. The first antidote to the problems of the Muslim world is a return to a system of governance based on free secular democracy and a complete separation of state and religion.
Secondly, more emphasis on education and development of world class universities and research centres. The Muslim countries must keep pace with the new developments in the world on their own and drastically reduce their dependence on others help and assistance.
—The writer is Professor of History, based in Islamabad.
