Muslims Need To Restore Islam To Its Glory Days

By Ainul Huda Mohamed Saaid KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 (Bernama) -- The glory of Islamic civilisation seven centuries ago is, today, nothing but history. All that is left is a legacy of knowledge that is being benefited by other communities. Muslims today are no longer regarded as agents of knowledge or prosperity, never mind a symbol of political power. In the rare event Muslims are linked to political power, it is usually not in a positive context. A potent formula to restore the former glory of Muslim civilisation has yet to be found. And if going by the numerous issues of disunity, tribalism and differing school of thoughts which Muslims today are fraught with, the idea seems almost impossible. However, the founder and Director of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Dr Farhan Ahmad Nizami, believed that as a Muslim, a person must always remain optimistic of his prospects and carry on despite the difficulty of his journey. LOW SELF ESTEEM He opined that the regression of Muslim society today is due to the lack of confidence and self-esteem. During the heydays of Islamic civilisation, Muslims believed in the perfection of their religion. This had made them open to new ideas from the Greek, Persian and Indian civilisations. In fact, they adapted into Islam the collective knowledge and philosophies of all civilisations, believing that the religion is holistic and capable of incorporating all positive values. "While we memorialise the legacy of the Islamic past when naming public institutions or presenting past glories in books and museums, we should remember that this legacy was built on the Muslims' confidence in Islam. This confidence was sustained by material prosperity, combined with sufficient degree of political and legal stability", he said recently. However, the political instability of Islamic governments towards the end of the era inevitably sent Muslim societies into poverty and colonisation. This indirectly weakened their confidence. The lack of funds for education also ultimately led to the division between the secular sciences and Islamic sciences. Islamic science, such as the knowledge of fiqh and shariah, was given precedence through the building of religious schools. Those who wished to study secular sciences had to leave the country to do so. The knowledge of science and engineering within Islamic civilisations, which was pioneered by Muslim scholars like Al-Khwarizmi, Al-Kindi and Ibnu Sina, died a slow death as a result. "A division became established between religious and secular education, between old and modern, with Islam on the side of the old. That division is at the heart of the present challenges facing Muslims in every part of the world," he said. BILATERAL RELATIONS AND ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT To return Muslims to the golden era of Islam, Dr Farhan proposed for more institutions and forums to be held to identify the challenges faced by Muslim societies today. Such discussions must be followed up with solutions and resolutions as well as realistic means of achieving it. "Among the general objectives, the most inclusive is to build commercial, financial trade and cultural ties between Muslim societies," he said. He also stressed upon the importance of tolerance and transparency between Muslim nations. Dr Farhan said Muslim nations should forge more bilateral relations among themselves, particularly in the fields of business and economy, education and culture. As Muslims, he said, the effort to build economic strength is a responsibility not only for the individual and his family, but also for his society and nation. In fact, Muslims should work towards encouraging and propagating Islamic values in global economic activities, making them fair, charitable and free of usury and debts. "More Muslims need to join, with each other, and with non-Muslims, in the urgent need to balance the creation and distribution of wealth so that the good life is available to all, including future generations. "The Muslims' ongoing efforts to develop techniques of financing and investment that are free of usury and uncertainty (speculation) are pertinent to the wider concerns about ethical investment, fair and genuinely free trade, and abolishing the export through debt-slavery, of poverty, instability and pollution to the poorest and weakest on this earth", he said. He acknowledged that one of the reasons for the lack of investment by Muslim companies in Muslims nations was due to the conflicts within the country. "A reason why Muslims do not invest their wealth and talents in Muslim countries is that those countries are unstable, unsafe and unproductive to work in. This vicious cycle is not a function of those countries being Muslim; similar socio-economic conditions elsewhere have similar effects, (resulting in) an exodus of energy, talent and money", he said. EMPOWERING THE MUSLIM IDENTITY To associate the Muslim identity with something more positive, Dr Farhan said fairness and equality must be made the main policy in every business dealing at every level of administration of a Muslim government. "This means allowing independent centres of authority to emerge and recognising their concerns and aspirations. It means a redistribution of opportunities to acquire wealth and influence, so that decision making is not concentrated in the same few hands," he said. The Muslim identity should also be free from any form of politics or tribalism. "The Quran emphatically censures those among the Israelites who claimed salvation on the basis of tribal belonging. The cornerstone of Islamic civilisation is its understanding that values, like knowledge and skill and virtue, are by no means a monopoly of the Muslims", he explained. According to Dr Farhan, the Quran has also dubbed the Muslims as "ummatan wasatan", which can be interpreted as "the middle or moderate Community" or "the anti extreme or mainstream". "It must be inclusive and assimilative, go East and West and learning as well as teaching. That is an ideal worthy of presentation to all the peoples of the world. It is certainly the one that Muslims consciously sought to achieve in the past. "The aim is not to have people identified as Muslims; the vast majority already do that. Rather, the aim is to enable them to prosper in the world in ways that express and test, inform and improve, their identity as Muslims", he said. On that note, he urged Muslim states to preserve the rights of women, particularly in getting education. MALAYSIA AS AN EXAMPLE Dr Farhan said Muslims in Malaysia had proven that they could build their lives among other communities without sacrificing their religious and cultural beliefs. The political stability and economic development in the country was also an example for other Muslim nations. Dr Farhan said the main reason why this was possible in Malaysia was because Malaysian Muslims believed and practiced true Islamic teachings, which advocates tolerance and neighbourliness. "Malaysia is a thriving nation where Muslims remain, through their embrace of modernity, true to what is universal in their cultural and religious values. I know there are tensions, and there are ways of peace. Differences intelligently managed have been converted into the advantages of diversity and moderation. "It is very pleasing to be able to say that, it is Malaysia which took the lead in setting up the World Islamic Economic Forum. This initiative carries forward years of effort to improve economic cooperation between Muslim countries", he said. Malaysia has also, through its tertiary education programmes, encouraged the dissemination of knowledge among its students and academicians from Islamic countries. So it is no wonder that Dr Farhan, during the press conference, described Malaysia’s potential in inspiring Muslim unity across the world. "Malaysia could act as catalyst in the region as well as other parts of the world in the effort to overcome sectarianism by creating an environment for economic relationship and education", he said. --BERNAMA