Undoubtedly, the Muslim world is at the lowest ehb of prosperity, nowadays. For centur the Muslims ruled the world and excelled in the fields of science and arts. In every sphere of he they had set new trends. Muslim populace as a whole was contended and prosperous. But with the passage of time, Muslim world had to face declination. This fall was due to the faults and shortcomings of the Muslim world as they had indulged themselves in frivolous activities Present condition of the Muslims all over the world has not changed for the better. Rather, it has tumed worse. The Muslim world is facing a plethora of predicaments, both the old and the new ones
These problems include economic, political, socio-cultural and ideological challenges s need of the hour for Muslims to apprehend imminent dangers which are posed by their problems They have to risk the occasion and adjust themselves in order to properly cope with the problems Iqbal had aptly described situation of the present-day Muslims as:
You are the least competent in knowledge with respect to the world
You love your motherland least among nations of the world.
Muslim world faces political predicaments on two fronts: internal and external problems Internally, the Muslim world is divided on various sects. These dividing fissures include sectarian, ethnic, regional and national division. Abraham Lincoln had rightly remarked. “A divided house cannot stand.” Similarly, it is impossible for the Muslim world to progress and develop in a divided form. This division leads to disunity in issues of mutual concerns. Division and disunity have always harmed the Muslim world. Colonial powers after the Industrial Revolution exploited this weakness and managed to conquer vast stretches of the Muslim lands During World War I, once again Allied powers managed to break down last caliphate of Muslims into different smaller states-on ethnic and tribal lines. This problem is still badly affecting the Muslim world and this is why the Muslim world is in perpetual state of doldrums.
Domestic political structure of the Muslim world is flawed in many respects. Most of the Muslim countries have not adopted principles of democracy, freedom of opinion and accountability. According to an American political scientist Francis Fukuyama, a country can develop only if it is stable. He further explains that stability requires three conditions which are modernity, rule of law and accountability. Even cursory examination of the Muslim world lead to the fact that Muslims are conventionalist in approach and chaos rules in the Muslim countries Leaders of those countries are tyrannical and unaccountable. They oppress and persecur common people rather than giving them freedom to express their opinion. Most of the Muslim states with the exception of Turkey and Malaysia continuously score low in the ratings of Hu Development Index (HDI) and good governance. Mahatir Mohammad during an OIC summit had rightly pointed out, one of the main problems of the Muslim world.
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“Every common Muslim has a quest to positively contribute towards the Muslim Ummah but unfortunately our political system not only discourages him but admonishes him
The Muslim world faces a plethora of political predicaments at the hands of extermal forces. There are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world while there are total 57 states that have Muslim panty population. Despite being strong numerically, they are exploited by the foreign powETS West has specifically exploited and damaged the Muslim world. Firstly, they ruled over the Muslims as colonial powers, then after World War II they constituted such a world order that is prejudiced to the Muslims. Muslims have no permanent representation in Security Council of the UN, despite representing the second largest population of the world. Muslim countries are being attacked by the Western powers under the excuse of war on terrorism and humanitarian ervention. In 1956, when Egypt nationalized Suez Canal, Britain and France attacked Egypt to take control of Suez. It is now open secret that the 2003 invasion on Iraq by USA was based on al interests rather than any threat by weapons of mass destruction. Moreover, globalization and bery of “Clash of Civilization” are some other threats that are faced by the Muslim world. These developments are furthering Western hegemonic agenda by enslaving Muslim population mentally. Severity of this threat was explained by Victor Hugo as “Invading armies can be resisted but not the invading ideas.”
The Muslim world is facing myriad economic challenges. Debt trap and begging bow wyndrome’ are among the worst challenges. According to the latest World Bank report, 75% of the Muslim countries are presently indebted to the foreign lenders. Pakistan is an unfortunate example which is in the debt trap from head to toe. Foreign debts often come with conditions which effectively curb freedom of the indebted countries. In this way, indebted countries become colonies of the debtors. Adam Smith had said: “There are two ways to enslave a nation, through weapons or through debts.” This quotation sits well with the present precarious situation of the Muslim world. Therefore, most of the Muslim countries are still colonies of the western powers.
Fortunately, the Muslim world is rich in natural resources but unfortunately, they do not capitalize on them. According to the latest estimates, 70% of energy resources and 40% of total ral resources are present in the Muslim countries. Common sense dictates that Muslim world should be prosperous as it has most of the natural resources. But reality is quite opposite as onomies of the Muslim countries are in shambles. Muslims are 25% of the world populat but their collective GDP just amount to 5% of global GDP. This stark imbalance is result of ous causes. Illiteracy, lack of technology, undeveloped human capital, much reliance on West and poor governance are few of the many factors that damage the economy of the Muslim world.
One of the most prominent problems faced by the Muslim world is its intellectual ness and ideological backwardness. When knowledge used to be the crowning feature of he Muslims, they produced greatest scientists, philosophers, poets, logicians and literary monalities of those days. But now situation is diametrically opposite where education is not Need for the sake of knowledge but for mere degrees and jobs. Depth in intellectual pursuit vanished. Ijtehad has been abandoned which has resulted in rise of extremism and
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intolerance. Iqbal in his philosophical work, “The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam” called “jtehad as an indispensible tool for Muslim intelligentsia, which should used by them in areas of contention.”
“Azan still sounds, but without spirit of Bilal
Philosophy is still taught, but without depth of Ghazali.”-Iqbal
Last set of the Muslim world’s perils is related to the socio-cultural predicaments. In the recent years, growing extremism and intolerance has bedevilled the Muslim world. Islam is a religion of peace, harmony and plurality as Quran says “There is no compulsion in religion.” But, unfortunately.