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" We are also taught by our ulema (religious instructors) that their teachings must not be questioned. Islam is a faith. It must be believed.
Logic and reason play no part in it. But what is it that we must believe when each branch of Islam thinks the other one is wrong? The Koran, after all, is one book, not two or three, or a thousand.
**According to the Koran, a Muslim is anyone who bears witness that "there is no God (Allah) but Allah, and that Muhammad is his Rasul (Messenger)."** If no other qualification is added, then all those who subscribe to these precepts must be regarded as Muslims. But because we Muslims like to add qualifications that often derive from sources other than the Koran, our religion's unity has been broken. But perhaps the greatest problem is the progressive isolation of Islamic scholarship and much of Islamic life — from the rest of the modern world. We live in an age of science in which people can see around corners, hear and see things happening in outer space and clone animals. And all of these things seem to contradict our belief in the Koran. "
Mahathir Mohamed
A thought provoking article on the Present state of Islam
by Mahathir bin Mohamed
Former Prime Minister of Malaysia
Children often play a game where they sit in a circle. One whispers something to his neighbour, who then whispers that information to the next child, and so on, around the circle. By the time the last child whispers the information to the first, it is totally different from what was originally said. Something like that seems to have happened within Islam. The Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, brought one and only one religion. Yet today we have perhaps a thousand religions that all claim to be Islam.
Divided by their different interpretations, Muslims do not play the role
they once did in the world; instead, they are weakened and victimized.
The Shi’a-Sunni schism is so deep that each side condemns followers of
the other as apostates kafir. The belief that the other's religion is
not Islam, and its followers not Muslim, has underpinned internecine
wars in which millions have died — and continue to die. Even among the
Sunnis and Shi’as there are further divisions. The Sunnis have four
imams and the Shi’as have 12; their teachings all differ. Then there are
other factions, including the Druze, the Alawites, and the Wahhabis.
We are also taught by our ulema (religious instructors) that their
teachings must not be questioned. Islam is a faith. It must be believed.
Logic and reason play no part in it. But what is it that we must believe
when each branch of Islam thinks the other one is wrong? The Koran,
after all, is one book, not two or three, or a thousand.
**According to the Koran, a Muslim is anyone who bears witness that
"there is no God (Allah) but Allah, and that Muhammad is his Rasul
(Messenger)."** If no other qualification is added, then all those who
subscribe to these precepts must be regarded as Muslims. But because we
Muslims like to add qualifications that often derive from sources other
than the Koran, our religion's unity has been broken. But perhaps the
greatest problem is the progressive isolation of Islamic scholarship
and much of Islamic life — from the rest of the modern world. We live in
an age of science in which people can see around corners, hear and see
things happening in outer space and clone animals. And all of these
things seem to contradict our belief in the Koran.
This is so because those who interpret the Koran are learned only in
religion, in its laws and practices, and thus are usually unable to
understand today's scientific miracles. The fatwas (legal opinions
concerning Islamic law) that they issue appear unreasonable and those
with scientific knowledge cannot accept them. One learned religious
teacher, for example, refused to believe that a man had landed on the
moon. Others assert that the world was created 2,000 years ago. The age
of the universe and its size measured in light years –are things the
ulema trained only in religion cannot comprehend.
This failure is largely responsible for the sad plight of so many
Muslims. Today's oppression, the killings and the humiliations of
Muslims, occur because we are weak, unlike the Muslims of the past. We
can feel victimized and criticize the oppressors, but to stop them we
need to look at ourselves. For our own good, we must change. We cannot
ask our detractors to change, so that Muslims benefit. What do we need
to do? In the past, Muslims were strong because they were learned.
Muhammad's injunction was to read, but the Koran does not say what to
read. Indeed, there was no "Muslim scholarship" at the time, so to read
meant to read whatever was available. The early Muslims read the works
of the great Greek scientists, mathematicians, and philosophers. They
also studied the works of the Persians, the Indians, and the Chinese.
The result was a flowering of science and mathematics. Muslim scholars
added to the body of knowledge and developed new disciplines, such as
astronomy, geography, and new branches of mathematics. They introduced
Arabic numerals, enabling simple and limitless calculations.
But around the 15th century, the learned in Islam began to curb
scientific study. They began to study religion alone, insisting that
only those who study religion particularly Islamic jurisprudence
gain merit in the afterlife. The result was intellectual regression at
the very moment that Europe began embracing scientific and mathematical
knowledge. And so, as Muslims were intellectually regressing, Europeans
began their renaissance, developing improved ways of meeting their
needs, including the manufacture of weapons that eventually allowed them
to dominate the world.
*By contrast, Muslims fatally weakened their ability to defend
themselves by neglecting, even rejecting, the study of allegedly secular
science and mathematics. This myopia remains a fundamental source of the
oppression suffered by Muslims today. Many Muslims still condemn the
founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kamal, because he tried to modernize
his country. But would Turkey be Muslim today without Ataturk? Mustafa
Kamal's clear-sightedness saved Islam in Turkey and saved Turkey for Islam.
Failure to understand and interpret the true and fundamental message of
the Koran has brought only misfortune to Muslims. By limiting our
reading to religious works and neglecting modern science, we destroyed
Islamic civilization and lost our way in the world. The Koran says,
"Allah will not change our unfortunate situation unless we make the
effort to change it."** Many Muslims continue to ignore this and,
instead, merely pray to Allah to save us, to bring back our lost glory.
**But the Koran is not a talisman to be hung around the neck for
protection against evil. Allah helps those who improve their minds.
Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad was prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to2003/
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