Education in “Muslim” Countries

Asking questions is discouraged

I have been linked with Education; for sometime now I have noticed several things regarding the attitudes in education as well as general attitudes in life.

The Muslim countries of the world are at the bottom of the list when it comes to education and development. Many people have tried to blame the west for the backward Muslim attitude. However, this problem is not an external problem, but an internal one. There are other countries in the world, which are poorer than some Muslim countries, but when it comes to education they are far ahead of Muslim nations.

India is one example. They were also under colonial rule like Pakistan and are among the poorest countries in the world. However, their education system is better than any Muslim country in the world. They produce more world class scientists and researchers than all the Muslims countries combined . If you go to any major

university in the world, you are bound to find Indian professors in the faculty.

What is their secret? This question had been on my mind several years ago and I did some research on that.  I noticed several differences in ATTITUDE and no major differences in content of what was being taught at their universities compared to Muslim Universities.

The main difference was that Indian education system encourages QUESTIONING old Masters, whereas, the Muslim countries' education system DISCOURAGES asking new questions and it encourages following what people in the past did. This attitude is not limited to universities but is also prevalent in other social things, including religion.
Questioning oneself and others is the first and the most important aspect of intellectual and spiritual growth. The growth of a person or a nation depends on how much they are ready for self-criticism. This aspect has

been totally missing from the Muslim attitude of late. In fact, the Muslims get upset and angry at the very suggestion of self-criticism. They are happy to blame others for their own shortcomings.

However, now after more than 1400 years it is quite clear that the Muslim intellect is behind the rest of the world; the freethinkers are very few. The only people visible are those who follow authority and do not question (both at an academic level as well as a spiritual level).

We should look at history, and learn from it. It has always been very important to be able to look at previous ideas and question them. If those ideas or theories were true, then questioning them would not change anything as the truth can stand any questions. Galileo came up with the truth because he questioned the ideas of authority.

Cont’d on page 2