6/17/2021 A catastrophic crisis for the Muslim Ummah: Modern challenges want modern solutions

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A catastro phic crisis fo r the Muslim Um m ah: Mo der n challenges want

m o der n so lutio ns

Se pte mbe r 20, 2020 / MuslimMirror / 14 Comme nts

By Maqbool Ahm ad Siraj

The Muslim Ummah is in a tr agic cr isis.  Per haps ther e is no pr ecedent for such a cr isis in histor y.  Its pr oblems

seem insur mountable.  The nation as a nation has never suffer ed so much humiliation, humiliation and insult

as it is facing today.  Today, the number of Muslims in the wor ld exceeds one and a half billion.  Fifty-seven (57)

countr ies ar e wher e they can decide their own destiny.  In addition, about one-thir d of the nation’s population

lives in the democr acies of India, the United States, Russia and Eur ope.  But the Muslim nation as a whole has

never been so weightless and disr espectful.  In the last half-centur y, about half a dozen countr ies – Lebanon,

Afghanistan, Ir aq, Libya, Syr ia and Yemen – have been completely destr oyed.  This catastr ophe was sometimes

the r esult of war s, sometimes of civil war, and sometimes of inconsistent alignment against the wor ld’s

super power s.  Instead of r ebuilding the nation, the oil wealth of the Ar abs is being spent on the pur chase of

r usty weapons fr om the West, which cannot defend itself against a cur ved state like Isr ael.  Eighty per cent of

the wor ld’s homeless people and r efugees ar e Muslims.  It would be futile to mention how helpless this gr eat

nation is in India.

Some of the wor ld’s development standar ds ar e inter nationally r ecognized.  Muslim countr ies ar e at the

bottom of all these standar ds.  Pover ty is common in these countr ies.  With the exception of Tur key, almost all

Muslim countr ies ar e developing.  However, despite the fact that the oil-r ich Gulf countr ies ar e developing, they
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ar e still r ich.  It is because of their r elentless exploitation of natur al r esour ces, not because of the ear nings of

their hands and br ains.  Until about ten year s ago today, the total value of the gr oss national pr oduct (GDP) of

Muslim countr ies alone was half of the GDP of Fr ance.  The flow of all the ideas that organize and shape science

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and technology and human society in the wor ld has been towar ds Muslim countr ies fr om the West and the Far

East.  The Muslim wor ld is dependent on these countr ies for all new tools and techniques.  The shar e of Muslim

countr ies in the pr oduction of knowledge in the wor ld has been zer o.  Many Muslim countr ies such as Chad,

Er itr ea, Somalia and Sudan ar e called Failed States.  Many other Muslim states ar e among the Failing States. 

Non-State Militant For ces ar e fighting in many states, such as Pakistan, Somalia, Lebanon, the Kur dish r egions,

Yemen and Syr ia.  In no Muslim countr y except Tur key and Malaysia can the bur eaucr acy be held accountable. 

Cor r uption is high in most countr ies, r uler s ar e dictator ial and the r elationship between the people and the

administr ation is ver y weak.  Univer sities fr om the UK ar e r anked by Her ber s TLS.  Most of these include only

univer sities in Muslim countr ies (usually fr om Tur key).

In the last 500 year s, Muslims and Muslim nations have not done any invention or cr eative wor k.  Finding a

Muslim-owned multinational company or br anded pr oduct anywher e in the wor ld would be pointless.  Except

for Al Jazeer a, ther e is no media house or TV channel in the Muslim wor ld that is consider ed cr edible.  Only

two per cent of the wor ld’s books ar e published by Her ber s, and these books ar e r elated to r eligion, histor y and

liter atur e, not economics, science and technology, or sciences such as science and physiology.  Ther e ar e about

800 univer sities in the entir e Muslim wor ld, while 8,000 univer sities in the United States alone pr oduce

60,000 Ph.Ds each year.  In this situation, the fer tile minds of Muslim countr ies (scientists, thinker s, wr iter s)

seem to move fr om their countr ies to the West and the pr oducts and ideas of the West ar e impor ted to Muslim

countr ies.

Why and how did Muslims r each this place?  Did you think  The only r eason for this is that cr eativity,

innovation and new thinking and thinking ar e discour aged among Muslims.  Gener ally, most Muslim

organizations insist on keeping the nation in a status quo. The gener al pr emise is that Muslims do not need to

bor r ow anything fr om other nations.  Our ideals and the sour ces of divine guidance between us ar e sufficient

for us.  Ther e is no denying that we have hear d so many wor ds and ser mons in the last few months that the

two-year Br itish r ule (other Muslim countr ies ar e also paying tr ibute to Fr ance, Italy, Denmar k, the

Nether lands and other colonial power s) and then the wor ld’s super power s.  The war s of the past continued to

defeat us.  But the most impor tant r eason is the lack of intr ospection.  By the end of Wor ld War II, Japan and

Ger many had been bombar ded by Allied bombings.  But in 70 year s, they have not only become self-sufficient,

but also made their name in the wor ld’s ten largest economies.  Today, Japan is the wor ld’s thir d largest

economy and has not allowed its cultur al identity to be sacr ificed.  It has maintained its number one position

in electr onics, automotive, r obotics and computer technology.  Today, Ger many is the leader of all kinds of

heavy technology.  Ger many and Fr ance ar e the two main pillar s of the EU economy.  Ger many not only

shelter ed one million Syr ian r efugees in the countr y, but also decided to gr ant them citizenship, despite a

campaign of hatr ed against for eigner s at home.  In addition, 3 million Tur kish wor ker s and pr ofessionals have

alr eady been employed in Ger many for year s.  In addition, Italy and Tur key r ebuilt themselves fr om the r avages

of Wor ld War II.  Isn’t Tur key an example for other Muslim countr ies wher e 98% of the population is Muslim

but the r egime is secular democr acy, which is a NATO member but has been depr ived of EU member ship.  So

we need to ask our selves why Muslim countr ies ar e unable to follow this model.  Haven’t all these countr ies

empower ed themselves with all moder n ideologies like democr acy, secular ism, r eligious fr eedom and women’s

r ights?

We should not hesitate to say today that all r adical movements and organizations have joined hands with the

heavens and the ear th in glor ifying the past.  Pr esenting the gr eatness in a r omantic way seeks to r evive that

er a.  Some organizations make Ram Rajya their ideal.  Other s set the goal of r eviving the Khilafah.  Other s, like

Solomon’s kingdom, ar e str uggling to r etur n to the past.  These ar e dr eams that will never be embar r assingly

inter pr eted.  Yes, they can be a necessity in fr ont of the eyes of the nations which will obscur e the gr ound

r ealities of the pr esent day.

The str ength of individuals and nations is a mixtur e of two elements: fir st knowledge and second values. 

Muslims ar e depr ived of both.  Muslims ar e fond of only a few selected sciences.  They ar e r eluctant to accept

donations fr om other nations.  However, they do not hesitate to adopt the pr oducts and techniques cr eated by
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these sciences.  They do not shy away fr om getting all the mater ial benefits r elated to these sciences.  They need

all the tools, mater ials and pr oducts that br ing them the comfor ts of life, but they have nothing to do with all

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the exper ience, r esear ch, explor ation and dedication that has been expended in acquir ing this knowledge.  It is

impor tant to keep in mind that r adical conser vatives use moder n means to achieve their goals, while Or thodox

flies on the old style in ter ms of both their aims and ob jectives and the means.

The foundations of knowledge ar e r ooted in r esear ch.  Unless new questions ar e r aised and histor ical

assumptions ar e challenged, new discover ies do not emerge.  The Muslim wor ld and the scholar s stopped

r aising new questions and stopped challenging the old assumptions.  Opposition and r esistance to new

inventions blocked the path of pr ogr ess.  Gutenberg developed the pr inting pr ess in Ger many in 1454.  It

r evolutionized the spr ead of knowledge in Eur ope.  But its ar r ival in the Islamic wor ld had to wait 400 year s. 

In 1800, the liter acy r ate in Eur ope was 31%, while in the Ottoman Empir e of Tur key, the liter acy r ate was only

1%.  When the pr inting pr ess enter ed Tur key, the pr inting of the Qur’an on it was banned.  The Obser vator y in

Istanbul was destr oyed dur ing the plague at the beginning of the last centur y by people blinded by

super stitions who blamed it on the plague.  Inventions in Eur ope – Camer a, Photogr aphy, Cinematogr aphy,

Musical Instr uments, Human Organ Donation, Blood Tr ansfusion, Bir th Contr ol, Bir th Contr ol, Post Mor tem

(Cr iminal Investigation), Banking, Insur ance, Micr ophone Use, Feminism  Ever y invention, discover y and

ideology, such as the pr ohibition of, had to go thr ough var ious per iods of opposition, r esistance, condemnation,

boycott, and gr adually their limited use, r elaxation of boycott and finally acceptance.  It plunged Muslims into

centur ies of degr adation and made them dependent on the West for new luxur ies.  The situation was that all

beneficial pr oducts and techniques would be impor ted, but opposition and r esistance to the discover y, r esear ch

and explor ation that gave r ise to them would r emain.

The r ole of the Muslim Ummah in the matter of social values ​

is even mor e shameful even though Islam in its

ear liest days laid the foundations of the pr inciples of politics and the state and the Holy Pr ophet and the

Righteous Caliphate adher ed to them.  Today most Muslim states ar e subor dinate to kings, dictator s, sheikhs

and amir s and militar y r uler s.  Wher e the administr ation of the state is gover ned by r oyal decr ees or militar y

laws.  The public consultation system is pur ely for mal.  Nasser / Sadat / Mubar ak, Jafar Namir i / Omar al-

Bashir, Ali Abdullah Saleh, Gaddafi, Saddam, Suhar to, Nazar bayev have been in power for decades.  Even a

bloody r evolution or militar y coup did not upr oot them.  With the exception of Tur key, Ir an, Pakistan,

Indonesia and Malaysia, all other Muslim countr ies follow the whims of differ ent super power s and their

sover eignty in inter nal affair s is also in doubt.  Usually their r uler s ar e afr aid of the people and unawar e of the

wishes and intentions of the people.  The media can only say what the r uler s want.

Cor r uption is r ampant.  Wester ner s ar e mor e familiar with the details of the lavish expenditur es of sheikhs

and kings.  The r uler s of the West make deals with them to buy and sell large ar ms in exchange for the secr ets of

their assets and pr ivate lives, and the Muslim masses ar e unawar e of this.  In Tr anspar ency Inter national’s

annual Cor r uption Per ceptions Index, Muslim countr ies ar e at the top and at the bottom in ter ms of

tr anspar ency.  Wor ds like human r ights, women’s r ights, fr eedom of expr ession, plur alistic society cannot be

hear d by Muslim r uler s.  Even in the above-mentioned democr acies, the institutions that str engthen the

democr atic str uctur e, such as the judiciar y, the office of the Auditor Gener al, the bur eaucr acy, the Election

Commission, ar e not autonomous.  Many Muslim countr ies ar e not even familiar with an organization like the

Public Ser vice Commission for the selection of bur eaucr ats.  Ther e is no system of public citizenship tr aining. 

The Gulf states have not even bother ed to dr aft a constitution for the countr y.  Religious minor ities in Muslim

countr ies live in fear.  Repor ts of violence against them ar e r ar e, but legal pr otections ar e r ar e.  In Pakistan, they

can be dr agged to the cour ts on false charges of blasphemy.  Muslims can build mosques in Eur ope, USA,

Canada, Austr alia, New Zealand, South Afr ica.  Can join the ar my with bear d and hijab.  Request a longer lunch

br eak for Fr iday.  Halal may insist on slaughter and may sue for r eligious discr imination, but non-Muslim

minor ities in Muslim countr ies ar e depr ived of such facilities.  But when the Hagia Sophia Museum in Tur key

is conver ted into a mosque, ther e is a wave of r ejoicing among Muslims and the Tur kish gover nment’s move is

justified.  Other s defend the argument that the mosques that wer e conver ted into chur ches and theater s in the

Middle Ages in Gr eece, Spain and Por tugal r emain untouched.  In almost all Muslim countr ies, tr ade is

monopolized by a few individuals or families.  Saudi Ar abia, Egypt, Ir an, Indonesia and all Centr al Asian

countr ies topped the Oligar chy list.  Of cour se, this tr end is even mor e pr onounced in all the super power 
countr ies of the wor ld.  Among them, wealth in the United States, China and Russia is in the hands of only a

few.

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Given this gener al state of affair s in the Islamic wor ld and society, it would be a misunder standing to assume

that the wor ld and non-Muslims would consider Islam and Muslims as r ole models.  Joey thinks they ar e

happy.  The r eality is quite the opposite.  Today, Muslims need to lear n fr om other societies and nations.  We

need to know what ar e the pr oblems and expectations of the people?  How to stimulate and use their

cr eativity?  How to build an economy based on public welfar e?  But how to make the gover nment people

fr iendly in Muslim countr ies and societies?  But ther e is mor e emphasis in Muslim countr ies and societies that

the West has a lot to lear n fr om Muslims.  Muslims seem oblivious to their collective weaknesses and the

shor tcomings and injustices of their society and look pr oud of their individual r eligious r ites and customs.  No

new political thinking has emerged in the Muslim Ummah after the glor ious er a of the Righteous Caliphate.  In

the r ealm of economics and economics, we ar e unable to go beyond the inter est-fr ee system.  We have not been

able to make any contr ibution on pr oductivity, taxation, inter national tr ade, emissions due to industr ial

expansion, consumer ism and so on.

Muslims ar e r epr esented globally by da’wah organizations, which have no liter atur e other than intr oductor y

liter atur e on Islam, painting one’s per sonal life as r eligious, and defending against cer tain assumptions. 

Muslims gener ally use the ongoing r eligious customs and r estr ictions in individual lives to measur e the Islamic

str uctur e of society.  For example, Islamic style of dr essing (sher wani, Ar abic abaya, hijab), Islamic acts of

wor ship (pr ayer, fasting, obser vance of Hajj and Zakat), Islamic style of conver sation (for example, the use of

insha’Allah, Alhamdulillah, Subhan Allah between sentences), halal  Edible (meat and slaughter of halal

animals), separ ation of males in gather ings, etc.  But beyond them, the Islamic r ules which have been

constantly emphasized in the Qur’an and Hadith, such as justice, tr uthfulness, honesty, tr anspar ency, the

element of their pr otection in the use of natur al r esour ces, etc., ar e neglected by the Islamic society.  No scale of

their application has been developed in the collective life, while they ar e the basis for the healthy upliftment of

societies and nations.

In this r egar d, the r esear ch paper by two r esear cher s fr om George Washington Univer sity, Shehr zad S. Rehman

and Hussain Askar i, is a guide for us in which they have examined which countr ies in the wor ld adher e to

which pr inciples of Islam.  The title of his study was “How Islamic Islamic Countr ies Ar e”, published in Global

Economic Jour nal, Volume 10 (Vol.10) in 2017.  The study sur veyed 203 countr ies and looked at wher e justice,

equality, public r epr esentation, economic and social well-being and pr osper ity stand.  Among the countr ies

included in the list, New Zealand and Luxembourg wer e r anked fir st and second in adher ing to the pr inciples

of Islam.  Inter estingly, the top 37 places on the list go to countr ies wher e Muslims ar e either in the minor ity or

not at all.  Accor ding to this study, nowher e in the social, political, economic, financial, legal and

administr ative affair s of Muslim countr ies ar e these basic pr inciples of Islam r eflected. He visited Ames, Iowa,

USA on Islamic pr inciples.  However, ther e was no pr ovision of halal food in the r estaur ants and the women

wer e not bound by the pr inciples of Islamic hijab.

Some da’wah organizations also fall pr ey to misleading pr opaganda such as “Islam is the fastest gr owing

r eligion in the wor ld”.  They do not under stand the implications behind it, nor ar e they awar e of the motives of

such pr opaganda agencies.  It is just that the gr owth r ate of Muslims is higher than other nations due to which

the pr opor tion of population gr owth is higher.  On the other hand, due to war s, civil war s and common

pr ostitution in Muslim countr ies, large number s of people fr om Afr ica and the Middle East ar e enter ing Eur ope

as r efugees and their migr ation to Eur opean cities is becoming mor e visible.  Emergency boats fr om Libya and

Alger ia have sunk in the Mediter r anean, causing media headlines.  All this does not r epr esent a positive tr end,

but a shar p commentar y on the pr ostitutes of Muslim countr ies.  On the other hand, these lame, homeless

people become a talking pictur e of our miser y in Eur ope.

An incr ease in number s is not a welcome tr end.  Today’s wor ld measur es nations by their abilities, cr eativity,

innovation and pr oductivity.  In this r egar d, small countr ies such as Isr ael, Sweden, Switzer land, Finland,

Denmar k, Japan, Taiwan, South Kor ea ar e ahead of many mor e populous countr ies.

Human r esour ce capital is the r eal wealth of nations, not a large number of illiter ate, unskilled and untr ained

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people.  The r uler s of Muslim countr ies, due to their wr ong policies, pr ohibition of r esear ch and r estr ictions on

fr eedom of expr ession, dig up their talented people who migr ate to the West and become the sour ce of their

mater ial development.  Students and scientists fr om oil-r ich nations ar e r eluctant to r etur n to their homeland. 

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South Asian pr ofessionals ar e inclined to go to the Gulf states to escape their pover ty and ar e anxious to find

some economic pr osper ity for themselves and their new gener ation in the West.  Ther e ar e also some who ar e

br ought back to the Gulf countr ies by the lur e of wealth after acquir ing Wester n citizenship.  The migr ation

map of Muslims is an indication that the new gener ation, educated and outsider s, either consider the

conditions of their mother land ir r ever sible or pr efer pr ivate economic development to national r efor m.  This

tendency r epr esents despair, fear, lust and gr eed of the wor ld and as a nation demands r eflection.

Dr. Jeffr ey Long, an Amer ican pr ofessor who is a new Muslim, has wr itten sever al books.  They ar e influenced by

the many vir tues of Islam but do not fail to point out the shor tcomings of the Muslims.  In his thir d book,

Losing My Religion, A Call for Help, he wr ites, “Amer ican Muslims ar e ver y happy with the conver sion of a few,

but they ar e oblivious to the fact that Muslims who have emigr ated to the United States  The second or thir d

gener ation is har dly a Muslim.  Jeffr ey Long was a pr ofessor of mathematics at the Univer sity of Wisconsin at

the time of wr iting this book.  Accor ding to him, ther e wer e about 300 Muslim families in the city, but har dly

50 people attended Fr iday pr ayer s.  He tr ied to find out the r eason and found that the gr ip of r eligion was

loosened till the second gener ation and it r emained only nominal till the thir d gener ation.  Commenting on

the situation, he wr ites: In my univer sity many students whose names ar e Ahmed, Zaid, Bakr come for

admission, when I tr y to find out if they ar e Muslims, their answer is usually  It would be that “their par ents or

their gr andpar ents used to be Muslims.”

In shor t, the gr owing number of Muslims is nothing to be pr oud of.  In the spir it of faith, ever y soul should be

welcomed in Islam, but it is not appr opr iate to be pr oud of the number per soul.  Instead, effor ts should be

made to make people who ar e ethnically Muslim Hwan talented, vir tuous, outgoing and mor al.  The economic

welfar e of Muslim societies and nations, political organization, social r efor m and ever yone should be bound by

the national constitution and constitution.  The cur r ent situation is that talented and pr ofessional Muslims,

distur bed by the lawlessness of their mother land, ar e longing and longing for emigr ation to the West.  The

incr ease in the number of Muslims is a welcome tr ap that deviates Muslims fr om the basic pur pose of social

r efor m and organization of society and leads them to pr each and pr each.  Ther e is a need for

constitutionalization in Muslim countr ies, adher ence to the r ule of law, elimination of cor r uption, incr ease

pr oductivity for economic well-being, encour agement of cr eativity and innovation, and  Encour age new

thinking and thinking.

It is common in Muslim societies to discour age the supr emacy of style and innovation.  In English, this

appr oach can be summed up in the following sentences: “Old is pious, New is Pr ofane”.  It is common in those

cir cles of ever y r eligion which consider s the old style as r eligiously authentic and attr ibutes it to piety and

consider s the new way as cor r uption.  Such people ar e called conser vatives.  Instead, ever y method must be

weighed on the scales of r eason and all customs and tr aditions must be seen in their context.  Tur ning away

fr om innovation tur ns nations into ancient r uins.  When adopting new methods, be car eful not to go against

the mor al and human boundar ies.  It should always be bor ne in mind that what we consider to be a r eligious

tr adition must have been a new initiative for the time and place when it was founded.  The Holy Pr ophet dug a

tr ench in the tr ench war far e on the advice of Hazr at Salman Far si and saved the people of Madinah fr om a war

because the Holy Pr ophet knew that the Islamic for ces would not be able to compete with the militar y str ength

and capability of the Qur aysh.  Similar ly, Hazr at Omar postponed the punishment of cutting off the hand for

stealing dur ing the time of famine.  He took another step against the pr actice of slaver y by deciding to give

equal r ights to the childr en of captives.

Changes in time and place have also cr eated new r equir ements.  In the time of the Holy Pr ophet, the r ights and

status of the dhimmis wer e deter mined.  This was the attitude of Islam towar ds fr eedom of r eligion.  But in

today’s situation, it should be noted that if Muslims themselves ar e in a position of dhimmi, that is, they ar e a

r eligious minor ity.  So what edits need to be made?  It was not absolutely necessar y in the ear ly days of Islam. 

Similar ly, the debates of jur ispr udence r elated to Dar -ul-Islam, Dar -ul-Kufr, Dar -ul-Har b and Dar -ul-Aman do

not apply today because this is the age of nation-states.  Today r eligion and state affair s ar e kept separ ate and

ther e ar e no r estr ictions on r eligious affair s in pr ivate life.  Today’s r uler s ar e called Pr esident, Pr ime Minister
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and Chancellor and the gover nment is bound by the national constitution of any par ty.  Today, ever yone is

involved in civic and state affair s.  In ancient times the loyalty of the inhabitants was towar ds the r uler s and

the inhabitants wer e not sub jects.  Today in any Muslim countr y no jizya is imposed on non-Muslim citizens

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wher eas accor ding to the Qur’an it should be imposed.  Islam does not set a minimum age for mar r iage

between a man and a woman, but most states do today.  Today, legislatur es constantly amend laws and

for mulate new policies.  The development of technology always seems to r equir e new laws and new r estr ictions

and fr eedoms.  If society is changing, the law cannot insist on sticking to the old.

Fr om the above discussion it is clear that Muslims should r econsider their political, economic, educational,

legal and social conditions and r ebuild them in the light of the mor al constr aints of Islam.  It would be a gr eat

mistake to assume that the laws enacted in the ear ly days of Islam will always be applicable.  Ther e is a need for

a new inter pr etation and moder n inter pr etation of the old laws, not for the old laws to be applied in new

cir cumstances.

Almost all moder n-minded wr iter s have sought r efuge in Wester n univer sities or r esear ch institutes in the last

fifty year s due to the veil of negligence on the Muslim wor ld.  His r esear ch books ar e also gener ally available in

English and Fr ench.  Their tr anslation and publication in common Muslim languages ​
such as Ar abic, Ur du,

Per sian, Pashto, Tur kish, etc. is urgently needed today.  Among them ar e Zia-ud-Din Sar dar, Amna Wadud,

Mohammad Koon, Jeffr ey Long, Taha Jabr alwani, Pr of. Fazlur Rehman, Mur ad Hoffman, Saleem Organ,

Ahmadim Soya, Nemat Hafiz Bar zanji, Syed Hussain Nasr, Aqeel Bulgr ami, Qamar ul Hadi, Hisham Nazar, Dr.

Rafiq Zakar ia, Dr. Rafiq Zakir   Ar e impor tant

The above ar e the author s who have wr itten on Islam and Muslims.  Ther e ar e hundr eds of non-Muslim

author s whose books will be necessar y to under stand today’s r equir ements.  Not all of his wr itings ar e

necessar ily compatible with Muslims and Islam.  But studying their point of view will lead to br oader vision

and intellectual matur ity.  They include Roland Miller, Philip Hitty, Godfr ey Johnson, Magnad Desai, Ir fan

Habib, John Mir shmir, Noam Chomsky, Anne Mar ie Schmal, Shashi Thar oor, Paul Fundley, Jimmy Car ter,

Amr ita Sen, Ar un Dhatti Roy, Muhammad Yunus (Bangladesh economist),  Author s such as William Dale

Rimple, Alvin Toffler, will be impor tant.  The wr itings of these author s should not be consider ed in har mony

with Muslims and Islam.  Rather, his wr itings r eflect a desir e for a wor ld based on peace and justice, fr ee fr om

the violence of capitalism, with r espect for differ ent cultur es and cultur es, and with a view to economic

development with the pr otection of the envir onment.

In addition to tr anslating these books into Islamic languages, Muslims themselves need to focus on the

pr epar ation of new liter atur e.  In this r egar d, the fir st task should be to compile the hadith.  In the pr esent (and

pr evalent) style of compilation, the emphasis is on the chain of tr ansmission and the chain of tr ansmission,

r ather than on the authenticity of the text of the hadith.

Taqlid and Ijtihad is another impor tant sub ject that needs attention.  The Ummah is lost in many issues.  The

cur r ent sour ces, which we consider to be the only sour ce of guidance, do not seem to be the solution to the

challenges of the diver se exchange of moder n human life.

The r ole of women and the idea of ​

h ijab also need to be r econsider ed.  Cur r ently, the path of individual

development of Muslim women is completely blocked.  It is impor tant to consider issues such as their r ole in

the economic r ace and r esponsibilities, oppor tunities for political r epr esentation and how to use their

potential among the people, and how to make it healthier.

Epistemology also needs to be consider ed.  The ideological str uctur e of the cur r ent sciences has a tendency

towar ds the West and the desir e for political power in the West is evident.  These sciences insist on making

other r eligions and cultur es subor dinate to the West.  Ther efor e, it is impor tant to consider the cur r ent patter n

of higher education.  Wester n sciences pr ovide an impor tant basis for the cur r ent economic, political and

social system, so consumer ism, mater ial competition, and the r elentless use of natur al r esour ces continue in its

veins.

Another ar ea that needs to be r esear ched is the r elationship between scientific inventions and ethics which we

can call Bio ethies.  Science has cr eated numer ous pr oblems that negate the pr evailing mor al constr aints. 

These include sur r ogacy, cloning of humans and animals, donation of living and dead human organs, in-vitr o

fer tilization, and mor e.

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Muslim organizations can move for war d with solutions to cur r ent challenges thr ough r esear ch on these

topics.  If a new gener ation of thinker s is to be cr eated, r esear ch on this and thousands of similar issues will be

necessar y.

(The author is a Bangalor e-based jour nalist. He holds a postgr aduate degr ee in jour nalism fr om the Univer sity

of Madr as and began his jour nalistic car eer with the Indian Expr ess Madr as in 1979. He has wor ked for sever al

newspaper s, magazines and the BBC Wor ld Ser vice.)  He is cur r ently a r egular contr ibutor to The Hindu and

Deccan Her ald in Bangalor e.

Tag s: Muslim Ummah, Muslim World

14 tho ughts o n “A catastro phic crisis fo r the Muslim Um m ah: Mo der n

challenges want m o der n so lutio ns”

si mone says:

September 20, 2020 at 4:13 pm

stay safe

si mone says:

September 21, 2020 at 12:39 am

wester ner s will agr ee- muslims will not

i think you have done a br illiant job.

a nonymou s says:

September 21, 2020 at 12:36 pm

ar e u fr om wester n U.P?

si mone says:

September 21, 2020 at 3:44 pm

live in west eur ope- ok

scandinavia

Isl a m i s The Tr u t h says:

September 20, 2020 at 4:20 pm

Bar r ing a few excellent points, the ar ticle is a complete tr ash. The author is subtly calling for the r efor m

of Islam in line with moder n deviant ideologies, which have devastated the societies acr oss the

wor ld(cur iously, the author doesn’t mention that).

The author, patently, lacks a good under standing of Islamic Jur ispr udence and var ious other Islamic

sciences. He is, as is appar ent, par r oting the same cliches of moder nists calling for r efor m of Islam. Ver y

unacademic amd unscholar ly.

The author is ver y unawar e of Islamic histor y. He thinks Muslims haven’t done anything in last 500

year s. This is ver y incor r ect. Author needs to r econsider his histor ical knowledge, r espectfully.

Finally, Islam doesn’t need r efor m. What is needed is the REFORM OF MUSLIMS acr oss the wor ld IN

ACCORDANCE ISLAM. The wor ld today is need of guidance that can lift them out of dar kness despite

gr eat technological advances. And Islam is that guidance that the Wor ld needs. We need to pr esent

Islam to the wor ld in it’s PRISTINE for m and see the wonder s of it. The wor ld will r un towar ds it, Insha

Allah.

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si mone says:

September 21, 2020 at 11:23 am

jn shor t.wester ner s look down on islam and muslims.

however despite all muslims ar e pr esent in huge number s in west. eur opeans have banned mor e

muslims and want to depor t many. wor ld does not need guidance fr om people like you. absolute

r ubbish.

its you who ar e thor oghly dependent on west for near ly ever ything- – all moder n devices, medicines,

tr anspor t. and will r emain so for a long time.

your r efusal to accept basic r eality is anazeing. west has no need of people like you. in fact your kind of

people ar e most unwelcome in the west- your pr etence of guideing the west is laughable.

ar abs ar e wiser than people like you- they ar e makeing peace with the west- know its impor tant for

their lives

Isl a m i s t he t r u t h says:

September 20, 2020 at 4:35 pm

The author is making a ver y inaccur ate and unsubstantiated (unsubstantiable) link between

technological and scientific pr ogr ess with the MODERN ideologies. The scientific and technological

pr ogr ess in any age comes fr om PURSUING natur al sciences with zeal and passion. And Islam

encour ages just that. So, we had ISLAMIC GOLDEN AGE because of it. The developed wor ld pur sued

natur al sciences with gr eat zeal and enthusiasm and it is wher e it is because of it and not because of

what the author thinks. If Muslims want to pr ogr ess scientifically and technologically, they need to

lear n Islam and it’s values WHICH PASSIONATELY ENCOURAGES studying natur al science, albeit to

appr eciate Allah’s majesty. Muslims need to passionately and zealously pur sue natur al sciences,

encour aged by Islam.

A bdu l Ga ni k a r i m says:

September 20, 2020 at 4:40 pm

Masha Allah- May the Divine guidance guide us . ” Tr avel to China in sear ch of knowledge .” I

congr atulate Mr. Maqbool Ahmad Sir aj , He sounds a Scholar and an Aalim-

He Speaks dir ect to the Islamic Reser vations and Restr ictions to Pr ogr ess and Develop.

I endor se his views and comments. Muslims need to consider alter nate options to to use its Resour ces

for the Futur e Gener ations to stand Shoulder to shoulder with the Road to Development & pr ogr ess.

Thank you Sir - Islam’s DRAW BACKS ar e Well defined .

I seek the Divine Guidance for ISLAMS Pr ogr ess. Jazak Allah Khair.

Mi k e Ghou se says:

September 20, 2020 at 6:23 pm

STATE OF MUSLIMS

By Maqbool Sir aj Ahmed

MA Sir aj’s ar ticle is the best snapshot of the state of Muslims in the wor ld today.

He has also offer ed suggestions to cor r ect the cour se. We need this kind of boldness in our expr essions.

Sever al year s ago, on Tim Russer t’s Meet the Pr ess show, a nun made one of the wisest statements. She

said ther e ar e only a handful of bullies, like in a given classr oom, but they join together and bar k in

unison and fr ighten the 99% of the good for nothing people.

I’m sur e a few bullies among Muslims will be thr owing fatwa bombs on Sir aj bhai; we all need to stop

and stand up and bar k louder to take a hike.


If you have watched the natur e films, you have witnessed time and again how a tiger (of Wolfe)can chase

the whole her d of buffaloes ( 1 ver sus 100). However, a few buffaloes tur n ar ound and stop and face the

tiger. It scar es the bully, and he backs down.

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Year s ago, in 2003, Dr. Jamil⁩and our gr oup at the Wor ld Muslim Congr ess had discussed cr eating a

Muslim plan in 2003. Dr. Jameel jumped on it and wr ote sever al ar ticles, not sur e if he has published a

book. Buy, I have put together similar ideas and solutions in the book Amer ican Muslim Agenda. Thank

God, no fatwa has been issued yet, and I am glad fellow Muslims ar e open to questioning ever ything

about the Qur an, Islam, and the Pr ophet.

Insha’Allah, I’ll r ewor k the book to Indian Muslim Agenda to r ebuild a cohesive India for peace,

pr osper ity, and secur ity of ever y Indian. Ever y Indian must feel secur e about his/her faith, r ace,

ethnicity, and cultur e. Is anyone willing to tr anslate into Ur du, Hindi, and Bengali?

Thank you, Sir aj Bhai, for this accur ate snapshot of Muslims.

Isl a m says:

September 21, 2020 at 3:38 pm

At least, Fatwas counter act your highly questionable ideas and mythology and don’t allow them to

become mainstr eam muslim psyche. Anyways, IF MUSLIMS WHOLEHEARTEDLY EMBRACE ISLAM,

THEN WORLDLY PROGRESS COMES AS AN AUXILIARY PACKAGE..

si mone says:

September 20, 2020 at 7:55 pm

biggest pr oblem is vast incr ease in wor ld population

india would be ok if its population was say 100 millions-

people of differ ent faiths , identities, would live apar t.

besides this spr ead of r eligions acr oss the wor ld has been a pr oblem.

anyway- its known- people of differ ent r eligionsliveing togather ar e a pr oblem.

muslims liveing in muslim lands would be good. its common sense.

i can not see why muslims did not move to pakistan year s ago. they would be fine ther e.

pakistan is a much better place for muslims than india.

a nonymou s says:

September 20, 2020 at 11:06 pm

Well wr itten analysis Maqbool Ahmad Sir aj sahab.

You have indeed an in depth under standing of Islam and it’s follower s in today’s gener ation.

Your cr itique is r eally painstaking and honest!

Many wouldn’t under stand your wisdom, just let them be, as always.

May Allah give hidayah to this Ummah who has lost the cor r ect path of hope and endeavour to one of

despair, cowar dice, lavish lifestyle and stubbor n iner tia fr om changing for the better.

Syed Il ya s ba sha says:

September 20, 2020 at 11:44 pm

I str ongly believe we have distanced our selves fr om the Almighty and disconnected fr om the divine

guidance available. Tauba and Str engthening of faith, followed by action

Kha njohn says:

November 16, 2020 at 5:43 pm

Cr isis in Islam and muslim is tr ue but in 1923 Islam loose their str onghold over umma. Now muslim

need their Khilafat system again but how.



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