Muslims Almost Totally Dependent on Others, Says Mahathir
By Umi Hani Sharani
Currently, the chairman of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Dr. Mahathir said that even in the extraction of the wealth and resources that Allah has blessed the Muslims with, they are still dependent on others.
"We hire other people to do everything for us," he said in a recent address. "The whole Muslim Ummah of 1.5 billion is one huge consumer society, procuring all our needs from outside our community, including our defense and security requirements. We produce practically nothing on our own, we can do almost nothing for ourselves, we cannot even manage our wealth," he added.
Mahathir said the Islamic world today is full of paradoxes and contradictions. In spite of a number of Muslim nations being extremely wealthy, there is not a single one of them that can be classified as "developed" by any criteria.
"Certainly there is no Muslim world power ... for much of the past 1,300 years. [We are] lagging behind in modern knowledge, financial and technological skills and in many instances, effective governments," he lamented. In addition to poverty, ignorance and instability have become such common features in the Muslim world that its detractors assume these afflictions are the natural consequences of following the teachings of Islam, Mahathir said.
Yet it is a historical fact that Muslims were at one time the world's most advanced people in all fields of human endeavour. When European Christians were wallowing in the Dark Ages and Jews were wandering rootless all over the world, Muslims were the biggest traders, producers of goods, strategists, navigators and defenders of their faith, he said.
Christians and Jews lived freely under the success of the Muslims; many people embraced Islam so that much of the world became Muslim, he said.Muslims were respected and no one dared to to desecrate the Qur'an or insult the Prophet and his teachings. However, the great Islamic civilization went into decline when Muslim scholars interpreted knowledge acquisition, as enjoined by the Qur'an, to mean only knowledge of religion, and that other knowledge was un-Islamic.
As a result, Muslims gave up the study of science, mathematics, medicine and other so-called worldly disciplines. Instead, they spent much time debating on Islamic teachings and interpretations, on Islamic jurisprudence and Islamic practices, which led to a break-up of the Ummah and the founding of numerous sects, cults and schools, Mahathir said.
Such have been the differences between them that they often kill and make war against each other. "To this day, they are blowing up each other's mosques to the delight of their detractors," Mahathir added. While Muslims rejected worldly knowledge, the Europeans gained from the early studies and researches of Muslim scholars, achieved their Renaissance and went on to develop and gain wealth, knowledge and military power.
"We cannot be proud of the decline of the (Muslim) civilization and the sad state of Muslims today. Nor can we believe that this is what Islam would lead us to when we follow its teachings," said Mahathir.
He said Islam promises "hassanah" or the good life in this world and in the next for those who accept the faith's teachings and practice them.
If Muslims do not enjoy hassanah in today's world, it cannot be because of Islamic teachings, he pointed out. "It must be because we are not practicing the injunctions of our religion or that we have misinterpreted them. The fault lies with us and it is incumbent upon us to identify what we do that is wrong and correct it," he advised.
Categories: Malaysia Muslims History
Added: April 15, 2006
KUALA LUMPUR -- Muslims do not seem to have faith in their ability or qualifications, as they are almost totally dependent upon others for almost all their needs in life, says former premier Mahathir Mohamad.Currently, the chairman of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Dr. Mahathir said that even in the extraction of the wealth and resources that Allah has blessed the Muslims with, they are still dependent on others.
"We hire other people to do everything for us," he said in a recent address. "The whole Muslim Ummah of 1.5 billion is one huge consumer society, procuring all our needs from outside our community, including our defense and security requirements. We produce practically nothing on our own, we can do almost nothing for ourselves, we cannot even manage our wealth," he added.
Mahathir said the Islamic world today is full of paradoxes and contradictions. In spite of a number of Muslim nations being extremely wealthy, there is not a single one of them that can be classified as "developed" by any criteria.
"Certainly there is no Muslim world power ... for much of the past 1,300 years. [We are] lagging behind in modern knowledge, financial and technological skills and in many instances, effective governments," he lamented. In addition to poverty, ignorance and instability have become such common features in the Muslim world that its detractors assume these afflictions are the natural consequences of following the teachings of Islam, Mahathir said.
Yet it is a historical fact that Muslims were at one time the world's most advanced people in all fields of human endeavour. When European Christians were wallowing in the Dark Ages and Jews were wandering rootless all over the world, Muslims were the biggest traders, producers of goods, strategists, navigators and defenders of their faith, he said.
Christians and Jews lived freely under the success of the Muslims; many people embraced Islam so that much of the world became Muslim, he said.Muslims were respected and no one dared to to desecrate the Qur'an or insult the Prophet and his teachings. However, the great Islamic civilization went into decline when Muslim scholars interpreted knowledge acquisition, as enjoined by the Qur'an, to mean only knowledge of religion, and that other knowledge was un-Islamic.
As a result, Muslims gave up the study of science, mathematics, medicine and other so-called worldly disciplines. Instead, they spent much time debating on Islamic teachings and interpretations, on Islamic jurisprudence and Islamic practices, which led to a break-up of the Ummah and the founding of numerous sects, cults and schools, Mahathir said.
Such have been the differences between them that they often kill and make war against each other. "To this day, they are blowing up each other's mosques to the delight of their detractors," Mahathir added. While Muslims rejected worldly knowledge, the Europeans gained from the early studies and researches of Muslim scholars, achieved their Renaissance and went on to develop and gain wealth, knowledge and military power.
"We cannot be proud of the decline of the (Muslim) civilization and the sad state of Muslims today. Nor can we believe that this is what Islam would lead us to when we follow its teachings," said Mahathir.
He said Islam promises "hassanah" or the good life in this world and in the next for those who accept the faith's teachings and practice them.
If Muslims do not enjoy hassanah in today's world, it cannot be because of Islamic teachings, he pointed out. "It must be because we are not practicing the injunctions of our religion or that we have misinterpreted them. The fault lies with us and it is incumbent upon us to identify what we do that is wrong and correct it," he advised.