''You are the best nation brought forth from mankind, enjoining the good, forbidding the evil and believing in Allah''
[ Ale-Imran: 110]
Indeed if we look to the Muslim Ummah today we can see that she has great potential; she accounts for almost 1.5 billion people; about a quarter of the world's population. The Muslim lands have been blessed with a multitude of resources and wealth; it is our lands that are rich in oil, in minerals, and in other commodities. The Muslim Ummah occupies the most strategic locations in the world, including the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The Muslims also have a glittering heritage which included leading the world for over a 1000 years when the Islamic State was the flower of the globe and the rising sun amongst nations; Islam was at the zenith of innovation, science, technology and creativity. In addition to all of these facts no one can deny that the most important resource that the Muslim's have is the fact that Allah (swt) gave them the greatest message for humanity; the deen of Islam.
Allah (swt) said
''Verily we have made you an Ummah in equilibrium, so that you may witness the affairs of mankind, and the Messenger is a witness over you''
[ Al-Baqarah: 143]
Despite having been blessed with all of these things; a massive population, plentiful resources, strategic locations, a glorious heritage and the Islamic ideology we find that Muslim Ummah is in a weak position intellectually, politically, militarily and economically. I could bring many examples to illustrate this point;
Intellectual weakness;
Many Muslims call for solutions built on a very superficial type of thought e.g. peace process in the Middle East.
Political weakness;
The Muslims are not consulted over any issue of global importance or even regional importance; decisions are taken for them not by them.
Military weakness;
recent situation in Iraq, F-15 planes and Pakistan, maintenance contracts.
Economic weakness; value of currency in Pakistan, economic crises in Far East, massive debts of Gulf countries even though they are so rich in resources (oil price fixing).
I do not need to bring any more examples to illustrate the simple point that the Ummah is simply not fulfilling the potential that you would expect of her given the factors I have already mentioned. At the other end of the spectrum the Western world has made many spectacular discoveries such as nuclear fusion, silicon chips, in-vitro fertilisation and genetic cloning. Indeed these discoveries and inventions have had a massive impact on life as we know it; the world has become a much smaller place to traverse by air travel, communication occurs by e-mail and satellite and complex tasks are performed by computers.
The problem however arises when the people look to the West and feel that only the West deserves to lead mankind since she controls ''nature''.
What I want to consider today is the effect such discoveries that the West has made has had on the Muslims, and especially those of special expertise (professionals), why such advances have not occurred in the Muslim World, and what the future holds for Muslim professionals.
The effect of Western advances on the Muslim mindset
It is the feeling of many Muslims, especially the professionals, that the West is moving ahead at lightning speed and inventing new technologies and discovering new phenomena. When they pick up any journal whether from medicine, biochemistry or chemical engineering, they see that it is the West who is at the forefront of the research and that little research takes place in the Muslim World.
There is a real feeling amongst the professionals that the West is leaving us behind in the era of camels, and the abacus. This has led many of our great minds to come to the West in order to seek an education, or to work for a Western company or government. At worst it has led to the call to westernise the Muslim world in order to move forward. The call for modernisation has become intertwined with the notion of Westernisation.
So it is no surprise that many of the people who work for NASA are Muslim. The team that designed stealth technology was Muslim. Many doctors in the Western countries are Muslim. Muslim engineers work on defence contracts and petroleum projects. There is indeed no doubt whatsoever that Muslims have the ability and the expertise to undertake such actions.
The problem however is that the dominance of the West has led many Muslims to feel that Islam is somehow out of place in the 21Th century or that to follow Islam will lead to backwardness.
It is almost as if Allah (swt) sent his Messenger (saw) unaware of a phenomena called the 21Th century, and processes such as genetic cloning. Islam is equated with the camel as a mode of transport and the bow and arrow in military strategy; how could the laws of 1400 years ago be applicable in the era of semiconductors and chromosome mapping.
Why does a massive gulf exist between the West and the Muslim World?
So why is it that the Muslims seem to be the most backward nation on the planet? Why are our professionals scattered all over the globe working for non-Muslim capitalist ventures? Have the Muslims always been the most backward nation on earth? Is the phenomena of technology unique to the West and the phenomena of the Muslim Ummah backwardness? These are the questions which we must grapple with and explore and answer in order to understand the future role of Muslim professionals in the Islamic world. Are our great thinkers, great physicians, engineers and scientists destined to stay in the heartlands of kufr while their countries remain stooped in poverty and squalid conditions?
Anyone who looks objectively at the questions I have raised would realise the following
The technology that has characterised the West in the last century is not a unique phenomena; the leading nations of the past have been the pioneers of many inventions; the Romans, Persians and Egyptians led the world for many years with their discoveries.
The Islamic State for over 1000 years was at the technological zenith of the world; many of the leading works in medicine, surgery, astronomy, mathematics and science were written by the Muslims; the Islamic State was the centre of scientific advancement.
So it is clear that in the past the Muslims were not backward but were the leaders of humanity in all fields. Even the non-Muslim historians realise this;
''The feeling of inferiority with which Western Europe confronted Islamic civilisation had various facets. Islamic technology was superior to European at many points and more luxuries were available to Muslims...... Militarily the Saracens had been feared in the past, but now the Norman knights were proving a match for them. The extent of Islamic rule, however, was formidable. In the early twelfth century, men regarded the world as consisting of three parts, Asia, Africa and Europe. The largest of these, Asia, was thought to be almost entirely Muslim, and so was much of Africa, while not the whole of Europe was Christian. In this way it was supposed that nearly two-thirds of the world was Muslim. For any Christian who had come in contact with Muslims, too, their unshakable sense of superiority must have been disturbing. In general the feelings of western Europeans against Islam were not unlike those of an underprivileged class in a great state.''
[Montgomery Watt, The Influence of Islam on Europe]
The Islamic state was a centre of learning; the universities of Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo were the leading educational institutions; people from the West used to come there to study (look how the situation is opposite today) So why as the situation changed today?
What is different about the 21Th century? Surely if Islam was able to transform a people of fighting tribes into the leading nation on earth then Islam must be able to transform our situation today? Even more importantly, didn't Allah (swt) oblige us to live according to his rules and laws in all spheres of life, not just in the mosque?
If Islam is compatible with modern day life and the technological world we live in then what is the future of Muslim professionals and how is it that the Muslim nation would regain the position she once had?
In order to answer these most important questions I want to give certain scenarios as examples in order to show the future of Muslim professionals in the Islamic world.
Case Study 1
Every year we see that when the rains come to Bangladesh there is widespread flooding. This year two-thirds of the country was under water. Alongside the flooding comes other problems such as famine, lack of housing and water-borne illnesses. Why is it that such problems occur every year, year in, year out? How does Islam deal with such problems and what would be the future role of Muslim professionals in dealing with this problem?
Bangladesh does not solve her problems according to Islam. She rather imitates the Western countries in their policies and relies heavily on them. She has embraced the NGOs and the idea of population control. She spends large amounts servicing the interest on her debts. She spends money buying American rice while growing cash crops. The rulers can see no material benefits in preventing flooding.
How would Islam deal with these issues?
Muhammad (saw) said
''The Imam (ruler) is a shepherd and he will be asked about his subjects''
A Sahabi (ra) came to the Prophet (saw) complaining about his hunger and showed him (saw) one rock which he had tied against his stomach to suppress the pain from the hunger. Then the Prophet (saw) displayed his stomach, he (saw) had two rocks tied. This incident exemplifies the nature and the attitude a statesman should have regarding his people.
Umar bin al-Khattab said ,
''If an animal, in the land of Iraq, trips, I would be afraid that Allah would question me for it, why did I not fix the road for it''
So the Muslim civil engineers, architects and planners would not be allowed to overlook the problem of flooding because there was no immediate material benefit. Rather they would deal with it and the state would have to provide them with the resources to use their expertise.
Look to the Netherlands which are mainly under sea level; not only do they not suffer from such problems but they have ''reclaimed'' land from the sea and built cities upon it. The problems of famine are nothing new and the Muslim professionals have the skills and expertise to deal with such problems if the motivation existed like it existed for Muhammad (saw) and the Sahaba (ra) and the Khulafa'a. During the time of Umar bin al-Khattab canals were dug such as the Abu Musa Canal from the Tigris to Basra and the Amriul Mumimun canal was dug from the Nile to the Red Sea. During the famine of 639 AD grain was brought from Egypt to Madina via these routes.
The example of Bangladesh shows the importance of having the Islamic system in place in order to solve the problems of the Muslims; we need the education system to produce people of the calibre of statesman and to produce engineers and doctors and scientists. We need the economy in place in order to ensure that we are self-sufficient and can initiate the projects that we desire. The health care system needs to exist in order to treat the sick which ultimately result from ''natural'' disasters; I will expand on some of these points in the next example.
Case Study 2
I know someone who once met a Pakistani working for the Saudi air force travelling between Makkah and Madinah. He said that when a fuse blows in the American supplied planes or ground systems that the Saudis had to call the Americans.
There are certain problems that are widespread in our lands;
Our countries do not produce aircraft, the latest missiles or large aircraft carriers, so this makes us very reliant on others. When we buy such equipment off the Western nations we usually buy their rejects, give them the maintenance agreements and allow them to have intimate knowledge of our weaponry (e.g. of F-16 jets ordered by Pakistan from USA; money refunded).So how is it that Islam would deal with the problem of military reliance on other nations? From the outset Islam does not look to this problem as a solely military problem requiring attention from army men and strategists only. Indeed the order to produce weaponry came in the Qur'an when Allah (swt) said:
''Make ready for them all you can of (armed) force and of horses tethered, that thereby you may dismay the enemy of Allah and your enemy, and others beside them whom you know not. Allah knows them. Whatsoever you spend in the way of Allah it will be repaid to you in full, and you will not be wronged.''
[ Al-Anfal:60]
The Muslims of the past responded to this command without any reluctance in their hearts at all; they heard and obeyed. The Muslims didn't just restrict themselves to horses in order to fulfil the command of Allah. Muhammad (saw) adopted the ditch from the Persians and used it in the battle of al-Ahzab. The Muslims adopted the catapult and Umar bin al-Khattab used the Dabbabah, a wooden tower of several storeys which moved on wheels, and was useful in penetrating forts under siege. During the time of Umar (ra) the navy was started. Tariq bin Ziyad later used such technology to open up Spain to Islam after crossing the sea.
How was all of this possible over 1000 years ago is a question which many Muslims may ask.
The answer to this question is very simple indeed; the Muslims were motivated by Islam alone, and responded to Allah's command in this ayah; they did not buy weaponry to support the economies of the enemy like our rulers today but rather invented weaponry and strategies of war since their fate in the hereafter depended on it. In essence the Islamic State provided the infrastructure required to produce such military advances; the economic system, the education system, the industry of the state and the health care system were all geared towards fulfilling this ayah.
So the economy was geared towards developing new weapons and acquiring weapons. Capital was injected into these things. Muhammad (saw) used to use the war booty to improve the army. The Khulafa'a used the money of the Islamic State in order to make the Islamic army a formidable enemy. Salahuddin established a massive shipyard in Beirut in order to defeat the Crusaders.
The education system was geared towards generating people who were statesman; the likes of Salahudin, Sulayman al-Qanuni, Muhammad al-Fatih, Muhammad bin Qasim, Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal, just to name a few; The Muslims were not the best in astronomy because they had affection for the stars but rather because they were obliged to pray towards Makkah so they determined the direction using the stars. They also used the stars to navigate themselves towards the enemy territories (cf. Radar and satellite systems). The best people in the military were also great Islamic thinkers; indeed you want the people with the best Islamic culture at the forefront of the battle.
When Muslims launch war on her enemies there will undoubtedly be casualties and injured people who require treatment. This means that the Islamic state must have an excellent health care system. In the past Muhammad (saw) was given two physicians by another ruler, but Muhammad (saw) made them open to the public. When the army of Jihad used to go out under the Khulafa'a Rashidun it was accompanied by physicians and surgeons to treat the injured and sick. Muslims did not become the leading physicians, surgeons and scientists just for the sake of academia. Rather they were responding to the command of Muhammad (saw) when he said:
"Allah has created the illness and the cure, so seek the cure''.
So the Muslim doctors of yesteryear were not motivated by massive multinational drug companies who were looking just for material benefit (e.g. Viagra). Rather they understood the need to use their expertise in order to fulfil the command of Allah. So the challenge that faces the Muslim professionals in the future is to rise to the command of Allah (swt) when he ordered us to prepare our weaponry as mentioned in the ayah above. Anyone of us can see that it is impossible just to organise the professionals in this room to establish such technology; what is required is the Islamic state which implements the Islamic systems in their entirety and which ensures that the infrastructure exists to make the Islamic State the leading nation in the world.
Conclusion
Islam is capable of solving the problems of the twentieth century in the same manner in which it solved problems for over 1000 years; Islam is capable of transforming the Muslim Ummah from the state she is in to the leading nation just like it transformed from one ayah in a cave in Makkah most of the world, and made a group of fighting tribes into the leading nation.
The Muslims used to lead the world in all fields when the Islamic State existed since the motivation was the Islamic Aqeeda alone; our backwardness today is a reflection of our non-adherence to Islam rather than our adherence to Islam. E.g. Turkey used to be a part of the Islamic State which was the leading nation in the world. Mustafa Kemal destroyed the Islamic State and adopted Westernisation while the people remained Muslim; he hoped that maybe by imitating the West we would reap the same fruits that they had; Turkey is still a declined nation, under the control of the Western nations even though she was once the leader of humanity.
The future of Muslim professionals must be seen in the same way as the Sahaba viewed the future (narration about Abdullah bin Masud); technology was not used in order to establish the Islamic State and nor was it focused upon over and above the issue of the Islamic rule; however when the Islamic State was established the Muslims immediately excelled in this area.
Even in the West they have realised that a nation's ideas about life are much more important than a piece of silicon or an aircraft; professor Samuel Huntington, a leading Western political thinker, states in an essay entitled, The West: Unique, not Universal, ''Western civilization emerged in the 8th and 9th centuries... developed its distinct characteristics in the centuries that followed... and modernized in the 18th century. The West was western long before it was modern.''
So the Muslim professionals of today must realise that the Islamic ideas are much more important than any invention or discovery; the Muslims of the past held the Shahada much more dearly than street lights or the catapult; Americans hang on to the idea of liberty much more than smart weapon technology or the Internet.
The future of Muslim professionals in the Islamic world is intrinsically linked to the issue of the Islamic State; in the continual absence of the Islamic state, not only do we remain sinful, but we continue to enforce the Western hegemony over our lands; we allow our resources to be used to line their pockets; we accepts our thinkers and professionals to work for the enemy; we allow our countries to remain stooped in backwardness and deprivation.
Allah (swt) said;
''We sent foretime our apostles with Clear Signs and sent down with them the Book and the Balance (of Right and Wrong) that men may stand forth in justice; and We sent down Iron in which is (material for) mighty war as well as many benefits for mankind that Allah may test who it is that will help Him and His apostles, though unseen; for Allah is Full of Strength exalted in Might (and able to enforce His will).''
[ Al-Hadid:25]
