THERE are not enough model Muslims to bring Islamic civilisation back to
its former "Golden Age", the chairman of the Institute of Islamic
Understanding of Malaysia (IKIM) said yesterday.
Speaking during the joint SOASCIS
(Sultan Omar 'Ali Saifuddien Centre of Islamic Studies) and the IKIM seminar,
Tun Abdullah Hj Ahmad Badawi said that while their numbers were lacking, many
of these model individuals Muslims who were also experts in such areas as
research and science tended to live not in Islamic countries but attend
universities in the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan.
They are not ready to offer their
services to their own countries because our local universities have yet to
reach the academic level of these higher education establishments, he said.
In addition, it is widely
perceived that local universities lack satisfactory research facilities, he
said.
"In its former glory, Islam
placed the highest value on education, research and science, replete with a lot
of experts in order to mete out influential progress," he said.
It is important therefore that we
first elevate educational standards in our schools, he added.
"If we make this effort,
insyaAllah we can improve and increase the number of quality model
individuals," he said, adding that Islam was "still behind" in
terms of science and technology.
In its former glory, Islamic
civilisation had enlightened all aspects of daily life, he said. Now, Muslims
have the choice of becoming active participants in this or to ride on the
innovations developed by the Western world instead.
"I have high confidence that
when Muslims can fully understand Islam, they will be able to eventually
elevate Islamic civilisation to its true position ... because Islam can offer
solutions to various aspects of modern life, whether it be financial,
political, administrative or societal."
However, to realise this, he said
leaders must make serious efforts to develop knowledge in various fields and to
explore strategic fields such as biotechnology, food and cosmetics, which
correspond to the availability of certain natural resources in their respective
countries.
He added that this had huge
potential for promoting the development of a civilisation, in creating a new
industry in the future that could not be found in other countries.
Tun Abdullah presented his
keynote address, entitled "Memahami Islam Membina Peradaban"
(Understanding Islam, Developing Civilisation), at the Universiti Brunei
Darussalam's Chancellor Hall yesterday.
DIYANA IBRAHIM
The Brunei Times
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