An eye opener

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In the name of Allah The Merciful, The Compassionate

  10.                                An eye opener :. an article by Mahfooz ur Rahman

The other day, I received an email from Jeddah through one of my relatives in Islamabad showing a comparison between the Jews (14 million) and the Muslims(1.6 billion ) , who are numerically fewer than the Muslims . The solitary purpose of Mr.Tanvir Ahmed Khan (not the DG , Institute of Strategic Studies) in sending was to emphasize on Muslims over the world to acquire better education. A wake up for all Muslims. Attached to this was a list of prominent Jews who are renowned in various fields of life eg. Science , Technology , Medicine etc. But this list is by no means exhaustive. I took the topic, which is appropriate to express my disappointment at the lack of education and educational facilities in the Muslim world. While it is true, governments of Muslims countries have established schools, colleges and universities , much needs to be done. In Pakistan most of the boys and girls particularly those coming from well off families have scant interest in their studies . The only desire is to get well paid jobs and by virtue of the parents influence they manage to get them. Others take pride to clear the examinations by parts. Computers are the latest craze. Seldom a student goes for basic sciences. As a matter of fact very few Pakistanis know what the term ‘basic sciences’ means.

There are two types of schools and colleges in Pakistan : one for the elite and one for the general public. In the school for the elite , if a teacher admonishes some pupil , the parents of the student rushes to meet the principal. There is a time when one or two cadet colleges were established in Pakistan .Now there is virtual juma bazar of these colleges. While the state is trying to set up new schools, scant regard is being paid on the standards of education and discipline. Tuition, cheating, approaching and bribing the examiners and using one’s influence have become a norm. One of my section officers openly admitted that he qualified Masters in Economics by cheating .

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I quote Dr. Pervaiz Hoodbuoy ‘Let me put the problem in its baldest and ugliest form – today’s Pakistan just does not have the people needed to run a system of universities. Extreme intellectual poverty is our Issue Number One. Sadly, while recently commissioned reports have indeed generated much admirable English prose, not a single one has confronted the core issue with the seriousness and honesty it deserves.
‘In this country of 150 million people, there are perhaps fewer than 20 computer scientists of sufficient caliber who could possibly get tenure-track positions at some moderately good US university. In physics, even if one roped in every competent physicist in the country, that would be insufficient to staff one single good department of physics. As for mathematics: to say that there are even 5 real mathematicians in Pakistan would be exaggerating their numbers. This is for a country with 26 public, and an almost equal number of private universities!

Even official statistics bear witness to a horrific state of affairs. In year 2000, Pakistani scientists – in all universities and research institutes combined – published a miserable total of 670 scientific papers. This is less than the number annually published by the faculty of one single medium-sized US university. Much more importantly, most Pakistani publications are of little worth and never cited. They could just as well have not been written.

It is not just research which is the problem, but teaching as well. Most university teachers never consult a textbook, choosing to dictate from notes they saved from the time when they were students in the same department. Their professional quality, and that of their students, is alarmingly evident. Principals of elite private schools frequently complain that graduates from Pakistani universities, including those with Ph.Ds, are generally unable to solve even “A” level questions of the Cambridge or London examination boards. Although such questions are designed for 17–18 year olds, they are conceptual in nature and therefore pose serious difficulties to those who have grown up in a system based upon rote learning.’

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Sadly these views were endorsed 8 years later by Dr. Abdul Qadir Khan , the eminent scientist of Pakistan in his article published in ‘The News’ the other day.

Returning to the comparison with Jews. In every field of life, the Jews have established their supremacy. I have no reason to dispute the comparisons of the author of this email. It is not enough to say that the Americans are responsible for this phenomenon. People in Muslim countries are hoping that with the arrival of Barack Obama things will get better for them. But they have no idea of the working of the US administration. In the USA , the think tanks prepare policy papers for the President , the State Department and the Defence Department including the Pentagon. And also the media which plays an important role in defining US policy

Before his inauguration as US President, Israel has launched an offensive against Palestine to force Obama to follow the path laid down by Israel and American Jews. Incidentally ,Obama did not condemn Israel for its action in Gaza. His Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, was a Senator representing New York . New York is a city in which many wealthy Jews live and they had donated heavily for her  and by inference Obama. Therefore, neither Hillary nor Obama can turn against the Jews and Israel. In fact , a Jewish Rabbi of Israel said in an interview that it is not the United States that is helping Israel but it is the other way round i.e. that Israel is helping the United States because of their financial clout. .

Last week an English newspaper of Islamabad printed an editorial on Neocons (Neo-conservatives) that their influence has diminished with the departure of the former President Bush . I differ with this theory . The Neocons are gaining strength. With the new administration ,new people will join replacing old ones like Richard Perle , Paul Wolfowitz , Douglas Feith etc. Obama’s Chief of Staff is a Zionist whose father is a prominent leader of Israel. . Obama’s inauguration was conducted by Dianne Feinstein , a California Senator, herself a Jew. Jews are holding important positions in government, in finance, medicine, in the media and in education. In education , Jews are Presidents or deans or professors in universities in the United States. But USA has no dearth of

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highly educated people including Jews.. The enrollment in US universities is in hundred thousands as is the endowment .In the field of education, USA tops, out 100 hundred leading universities in USA and Canada, 95 % are American. In 1966, 150000 boys and girls did their PhD s from US universities (World Almanac 1967). A large majority of Americans holding high posts are PhDs and are experts in their field.

The Jews not only dominate American politics . A large majority of the Russian Communist Party were Jews . Karl Marx was a Jew himself . Lenin , Stalin’s wife , Trotsky were Jews. In modern times Andropov, the General Secretary , USSR Communist Party. Everywhere they dominate by virtue of their education, intellect and finance.

Nations take advantage of weaker people: The English ruled India for two hundred years; the Americans subjugated the natives of America ; the Australians took advantage of the native aborigines Countries win wars and battles through the supremacy of superior technology : The English destroyed the Spanish Armada, England defeated the army of Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo , the American of Independence, the English defeated Nawab Sirajuddoulah in the Battle of Plassey because of their superior weapons and through deceit , the two World Wars , the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.

There is a quotation which says both optimists and pessimists are useful to society .The optimist developed an aeroplane and the pessimist developed a parachute. Jews have developed weapons of mass destruction eg atom bomb and lately the mother of all bombs (MOAB) which weighs 21000 tons. But , simultaneously , they have developed antibiotics which saved the lives of hundred thousand sick people the world over. When I needed an eye operation for cataract , I went to an eye surgeon qualified in England , whose clinic was similar to those in the west , who used machines made in the west and gave me eye lens imported from the USA. In Pakistan alone ,many people regained their sight through eye operations.

Allama Iqbal had portrayed the predicament of the Muslims in Jawab Shikwa. Iqbal was an universal poet. His works encompass every generation and every era. In Jawab Shikwa , Iqbal writes :-

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‘Jin ko aata nahin dunya mein koi huner who tum ho’(Muslims do not have any skill). But I will come to it later in the article.

If you look around your room and your house, none of things visible were invented by any Muslim . India had been invaded and ruled by the Aryans, the Pathans and the Moghuls. No ruler of India had established an educational institute of repute like Oxford and Cambridge Universities of Britain, Harvard and M.I.T in the USA. The university at Krakow boasts of its pride as the first seat of learning in Europe.. In the USA , three thousand new inventions are patented in an hour. If the west had invented arms and horrible weapons, they have also made things which give ease and comfort to mankind.

When I was a Deputy Secretary in the Cabinet Division looking the civil awards , we used to receive citations of scientists ,doctors and engineers for awards. It was a great pity that the doctors and engineers had not submitted any research for publication in international journal of repute.

When I was in the 9^th and 10^th in the Cadet College ,Hasan Abdal , my English teacher often gave us an essay to write. The topic was related to women education. I would invariably defend the rights of women to acquire education. That was 1957-59 .Now women of Pakistan are competing with men in science , in mathematics , medicine ,, engineering ,economics, law , architecture. It is pleasing to see young boys and girls studying on the campuses of universities and colleges of Pakistan.

There was a time in the country when doctors , especially lady doctors, were few even in the major towns of Pakistan .Women . even in the towns , hesitated to discuss their sickness with the result that their troubles would aggravate . But with the opening of new medical colleges and young girls qualifying in female diseases , the rate of mortality in mother and child cases has come down considerably . It is also heartening to note that female doctors are now doing Ultra-sound , MRI, CT Scan, Oncology etc. and writing observations on them previously the domain of the males . Previously , there was no treatment in Pakistan for Thalassemmia which is a disease of the blood .In the west the treatment

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is very expensive .Now Bone marrow Transplant have been introduced in two hospitals of Islamabad and Rawalpindi namely C.M.H, Rawalpindi and PIMS ,Islamabad.

However , much needs to be done if the Muslims are to compete with the advanced societies .I was browsing on the internet about the world’s leading universities A few universities amongst the Muslims countries appear in the ranking of World Universities numbering 4000 (Ranking web of World Universities) . Only two Pakistani Universities viz LUMS (ranking 2062) and Aga Khan (ranking 3709). I cannot describe my agony. It was a feeling of total revulsion. The literacy rate of Pakistan is dismally low.

Number of Universities in certain countries

USA 4084

Canada 89

UK 132

Germany 250

France 81

Japan 507

India 300

Israel 8

Pakistan about 30

The Prophet of Islam (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon Him) said that it is obligatory on each Muslim , male or female,to seek knowledge. He also said, “ Seek knowledge even if you have go to China”. This emphasis on education was such in the days of the Holy Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him ) that the savages and barbarians of Pre-Islamic days became humane and kind hearted and became envoys

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to the courts of Persian and Byzantine Empires . When the Muslims were victorious in the Battle of Badr , the Holy Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him ) agreed to release captives who knew to read and write in exchange to teach the Muslims to read and write. And within a few years of his death , Islam produced men who excelled in every field viz, science, mathematics, anatomy, medicine , astronomy , astrology etc when Europe was in the dark ages. Ibn Haitham , Al Khwarzimi, ,Jabir ibn Hayyan, Omar al Khayam, al Kindi,al Razi, al Farabi, ibn Sina ,al Masudi to name a few. Some of these names have been inscribed in various educational institutions of repute throughout the western world .For eg. At the entrance of Inner Temple the name of the Holy Prophet(Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) as the greatest law giver has been written down.. Similarly , at the entrance of the IBM headquarters in Chicago , the names of the famous mathematicians have been written down. The first five names are of Muslims.

The Muslims had taught the world how to live by following the principles laid down in the Holy Quran and teachings of the Holy Prophet. They conquered and established their supremacy in a major of Asia, Africa and parts of Europe. They had the light of knowledge. With the fall of Constantinople , this light moved towards Europe and Europe was never dark again However , the parts of the Muslim Empire began to decay .Of course , this process was gradual. Muslims were pushed out from Spain, where they had ruled for

six hundred years , to Africa by the armies of Fredinand and Isabela .In Asia , a scourge in the shape of the Mongols , who invaded Baghdad, the seat of the Caliph. Historians have written that the grand library of the city was burned down and the books thrown in the river .The waters of the river became black through the spreading of the ink in which books were written . And then , the Mongols invaded India . But they were repulsed by the king of India , Balban. After Turkish defeat in the first world war (1914-1918) , the Muslim Caliphate with its seat at Istanbul , was carved into several countries. This happened after 600 years of Muslim domination .The Caliph was sent abroad in exile.

The Holy Quran is a bases of all knowledge and wisdom. In the days of the Holy Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him), there was

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no debate as to whether knowledge was confined to only religious education. Similarly, there was no debate on the Holy Prophet’s (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) saying seeking knowledge even if you have to go to China. Allah says if a person goes to seek knowledge , he will be on the right path till his return home. Allah . in His Infinite Mercy, taught Adam and Eve . Through the reading of the Holy Quran , man can distinguish between good and evil. As Iqbal says :

Who zamane mein muazzaz thay muslaman ho kar

Aur tum khwar huey taarik Quran ho kar.

( The Muslims of the past were honourable )

( But we are miserable because we do not follow the Holy Quran)

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Poor Sir Syed Ahmed Khan spent his life to emphasize the importance of learning English for the Muslims of the Sub Continent if they wished to compete with the Hindus. . Lord Sinha , an Indian , became the Chief Justice of India in those times. Indeed his efforts seems to be futile. Let me give an illustration .Though not very fond of seeing film awards ceremony, I sat through the entire ceremony 2004 telecasted by Zee TV . My sole interest was not in the many glamorous faces of the Indian artistes .As matter of fact in the twilight of one’s life one’s sole interest is in the hereafter and not in pretty faces and their antics and escapades . What impressed the most was that every one from the among the organizers , the producers , the directors , the male artistes and the female artistes spoke English with great fluency as if the mother tongue was English . Only one female artiste from Pakistan, Resham, was invited to the stage to hand over one award and to express her thoughts at the holding up of this ceremony .But she spoke in Urdu. I did my research work and discovered that English has been made compulsory in every class with Hindi under the country’s education policy. The Government of India and the experts has realized the importance of English in the world community. Why cant Pakistan follow the same pattern?

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Aapar Patel writes in his article ‘The Discovery of India by Indian’ printed in ‘The News’ of January 11, 2009 that“ From the 70s, as Indians became educated they began to encounter the nature of their country which they had been brought up thinking of romantically.

Between 1951 and 1981 India’s literacy doubled from 27 per cent to 56 per cent. By 1971, urban literacy was 70 Per cent.

New magazines were published from cities, including two that have had a significant role in crafting the middle-class mindset: ‘India Today’, from Delhi in 1975, and ‘Sunday’, from Calcutta in 1976. At their peak they sold over a half-million (India Today) and 300,000 (Sunday) copies an issue.

These magazines left the cities to do journalism in the hinterland, and they brought liberalism into middle-class homes, where neo- literates were primed to receive it through English education”.

This is what Dr. Pervaiz Hoodbuoy , Professor of Nuclear Physics at the Quaid I Azam has to say about the educational standards of the country .’India today has the largest reservoir of Ph.D scientists and teachers in the Third World, numbering in the tens of thousands. Institutions such as the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Madras Institute for Mathematical Sciences, and the five Indian Institutes for Technology, and several others, are simply world-class. They have no counterparts in Pakistan’.. (Dr. Pervaiz Hoodbuoy in an article ‘Turning Around Higher Education’ printed by “The Friday Times February 15, 2001)

Both India and Pakistan had been reviewing the educational policy of their respective countries. In India the policy was reviewed only twice: once in 1968 and the second time in 1992. In Pakistan, tinkering with the country’s education policy has been going since independence. After every two years the Government tinkers with it. In India after independence, the important portfolios of education and science and technology were held by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Pandit Nehru while in Pakistan, these two portfolios were not the importance they deserved .The budgetary allocation for education and health in the west

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is trillion of dollars each year whereas the allocation for these two fields is not more than 5% each year .However, from the regime of Gen.Zia ul Haq onwards , the Government of Pakistan used to send outstanding scholars abroad to pursue higher education till it was reduced this year . . That way it was producing a crop of PhDs in Science and Mathematics .But now , the young boys and girls , who are otherwise talented , waiting for the Government’s approval .But because of the shortage of funds they cannot go.

The Muslims as a class will not able to match the people in the west , Japan , Australia , New Zealand and even now India until they acquire education . As Dr. Zakir Naik says

emphasizing on the need for education to enable the Muslims to compete with the world. In the past , Shah Waliullah , Shah Abdul Aziz Muhaddis Dehlive , were challenged by the Christian clergy and the Muslims scholars won .But in UK , the clergy are highly educated and those who occupy seats in the House of Lords are men of letters.

Once two Roman Catholic clergymen were staying in the same church hostel where I stayed for four and a half months in Geneva . One was from the USA and the other was from Malta .At breakfast one morning , the two clergymen were sitting opposite me .The Maltese priest was telling the American priest how the Christian repelled the Arab attacks. I intervened to say that those were not the Arab attacks but the Muslim forces and I corrected his history .I further repeated the incident in which Hazrat Omar Farooq (May Allah be pleased with him), the second Caliph of the Muslamans , was invited to pray inside the Jerusalem by the Archbishop of Jerusalem and how the Caliph refused to pray inside but offered his prayers outside instead . I also told him about the fact when the Caliph Omar (May Allah be pleased with him) went from Medina to Jerusalem accompanied by one slave. They had only one horse and part of the journey the Caliph was riding and part of the journey the slave was riding . And when they entered Jerusalem it was the slave turn to ride .In this fashion , entered the Great Omar , the second Caliph of the Muslims (May Allah be pleased with him for he was a good man ).Turning to the other priest , I said that the Christians claim that their religion was the best .I said how come the American youth is following Rev. Moon or the

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Hindu Maharishi , who have nothing to give .The American priest replied that the youth in the West was not satisfied with their religion . I asked him to repeat what he had said then. I said if that was case ,you must accept Islam.

Again while waiting at Zurich for the train for Vienna , I was joined by a young man ,Tomas Stefenidis, who was studying music at the University of Vienna. Something attracted him to me .When the train came ,we boarded it together though going to different compartments .It was a twenty six hour journey . After half an hour , he came to my compartment .We discussed first the Indo- Pakistan relations , then the trial of Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and then Islam .Early next morning at six , he came again saying that my words had shook him and that he could not sleep at night . Notwithstanding my immaturity (I was thirty three then ) and my lack of experience and learning , I thanked Allah for giving me such powers to convince him about the truth of Islam. He then asked as to what was the difference between Islam and Christianity . I told him that the basic difference was that the Muslims believed in the Unity of God whereas the Christians believed in the Trinity . I asked him how was it possible for one to become three and three to become one. I also told that the concept of  the Holy Ghost is utterly confusing . He could not explain either . I said that we believed that Jesus was lifted to heaven and that he was not hanged whereas the Christians believe that he was hanged . I told him that God would not allow His Chosen Messenger to die in disgrace . I also told him that we believed that Jesus was born through the Will and Mercy of Allah .I said that it was possible for God to make the first man out of nothing i.e Adam had no father or mother .Eve had no mother . And Jesus had no father..

In the end I would like to quote Iqbal again:-

Ki Muhammad sey wafa tu ney tu hum teray hain

Yeh jahan cheez hai kia Luh e Qalam teray hain