Words of Wisdom, I must say!
**It is a well-known fact that Muslim societies had a glorious legacy of pluralism, cultural, art and scientific and educational advancement during times when Europe was immersed in the dark ages. After the defeat of the Muslim empires one by one, the clergy called for the closure of door on Ijtehad. **
Despite exponential advances in science and technology all over the developed world, the current Islamic world seems unable to respond both culturally and educationally to the popular western development. There are a few reasons for this isolationist approach. The encroachment of the western powers in Muslim indigenous cultures and their insistence on creating systems of governments, where religion had only secondary importance in daily life, was a first blow to the Muslim identity and the very nature of existence.
Second was the resolve of European colonialists to impose their version of education on the masses and create such conditions that without obtaining European version of secular education one had little chance of social mobility within the system. Religious education found means to exist but only on the fringes.
By the turn of the 20th century, **most Muslim countries encouraged only those belonging to an upper class to obtain Western education since they had a vital interest in preserving the newly encountered Western culture. After the fall of imperialism, only those Muslim leaders came to power that had gained riches during the colonial time and thus were committed to sustaining the western models of development. The time had reversed and the Muslim masses, searching for religious identity, started living in dark ages. **
The blame, however, does not exclusively lie on the Westerners. The isolation is the creation of a reactionary, rather than precautionary stance. Closing the doors to wider aspects of learning, which were the hallmark of advanced Muslim civilization, has backfired significantly. When faced with utter defeat and disgust, Muslim leaders have often called for aggressive means of making their point.
**Instead of finding ways and means where Islam and secularization would go hand-in-hand for an advanced society, such as experienced by earlier Muslim empires, the new cadre of ulema insist on nothing less than total adherence to their version of Islam which, to a vast majority of moderate Muslims, is unacceptable. The classic example of this unfettered exclusivist attitude is the modus operandi of the Taliban government in Afghanistan during 1996-2001. **
If the ulema really wanted to show the world a good model of what an Islamic state should really look like, they should have guided the Taliban in creating a just society based on true principles of Islam. Instead, what the world and local Afghans witnessed was utterly brutal regime for which personal freedom of any kind was an anathema.
Overall reforms in the Muslim countries are also necessary for sustainable changes to take place in Islamic societies.
**DR UZMA ANZAR
Arlington, USA**