No Excellence With Self-doubt

Yes, we find some excellence in many different fields. But then we don’t find it to the desired extent. We don’t find Ibn Sina anymore. We don’t come across az-Zahrawi. We haven’t seen al-Ghazzali for long. In fact, Ibn Sina, az-Zahrawi and al-Ghazzali are more expected now than they were earlier – looking at the tools and facilities available. Why don’t we find them? Because of the self-doubt (of the modern educated) on one hand and inapplicability (of what is taught in the traditional institutions) on the other. Because the modern educated are only ‘modern educated’. They do not pursue the ‘sciences’ with the higher goals considering it as an act of ‘ibaadah. Because, if we consider it an act of ‘ibaadah it is not modern. And it is not traditional either. It is all Islamic as long as it submits to the laws of nature and aims at discovering them.

We have to decide if we want to change the statistics or we don’t. The statistics will not change unless we correct some of the things. Unless we channelize our energies better. Unless we plan for things a bit more. Unless we decide some goals. Unless we take everybody along. It will require creating a momentum. If it means bringing about a change then we need to debate about the price of change.