Friday, May 29, 2020

Why Can't Muslims Think?

Muslims are often criticized for not contributing intellectually to the modern world. Rather they are avid consumers of ideas, products and services from others. They fail to contribute with respect to the shear weight of the numbers. What are the factors that make it difficult for Muslims to innovate holistically for the greater good of humanity?

To consider this issue, we need to understand the legacy of the series of Muslim capitulations since the failure of the Siege of Vienna, which eventually relegated them and thus their worldview as the non dominant global paradigm. Colonialism and the New World Order consolidated this position. It was not the deficiency in the Islamic worldview which led to their defeat but rather its lack of understanding and hence the laxity in its implementation, which weakened them. This fact is evident when we consider that subsequent Islamic revival movements in different parts of the world were successful when they adhered to this pristine worldview even if they were short-lived. The truth is that Muslim groups practicing Islam properly from the sources continue to exist in one part of the world or another till today.

Thus, it is no wonder that Muslims of today seem so backwards in terms of education. Their education system is based on rote memorization. Their education system does not teach to think rather it develops students to only pass exams. Studying is seldom equated with enlightenment and development of the thought process. Rather it is meant to provide jobs, socio-economic uplift and gender equality.

Since the Islamic worldview permeates all aspects of life, the average Muslim is confused. On the one hand they attempt to stay faithful to Islamic values, but on the other hand he realizes that the modern world is based on a secular worldview which is in many ways diametrically opposed to Islam. Thus the average contemporary Muslim suffers from conflicting juxtaposed personal worldview which makes it impossible to develop any original thoughts as they do not have any sound personal system of intellectual reference to base it on. Thus, Muslims, in general, relegate thinking to other civilizations and just focus on personal socio-economic improvement. This is the hallmark of an enslaved mentality which can only instinctively do what it is habituated in doing and incapable of intellectual breakthroughs. Even when such people become professors or other intellectuals professionally, they only do it as a means to earn a paycheck, seeking to be engaged in the apparent process of innovation based on established theories in their fields - never actually making an intellectual breakthrough themselves.

On one end of the spectrum of Muslim society are people who are only entrenched in the traditional worldview. Among them there are some whose sources and methodology are not Islamic. Also among them are many who do not understand the modern world. This leaves very few intellectuals who have a pure and monolithic mental frame of thought to impact the global thought.

On the other end of the spectrum of Muslim society are the secularist who have all but completely discarded the Islamic worldview. They have freed themselves of the mental confusion and can make progress in intellectual endeavors completely immersed in secular values and not shackled by and contracting Islamic values. Thus, to innovate such individuals from Muslims societies are forced to leave the realm of Islam.

In order for Muslims to really think, they need to simultaneously and continuously seek Islamic and worldly education with the right intentions. These include holistic learning, deep contemplation, self-reform, doing legacy building projects and teaching others.