The Cultural Problems of the Ummah:
The Responsibility of the Muslim Intellectuals Shah Abdul Halim
Pen is a weapon when the need calls for laying the foundation of a new culture.
- Mao Tse-tung
The Muslim ummah today is passing through the most critical period of its
history. They are now divided into some fifty or more nation-states and the
Super Empire is planning to divide them further. Muslims are humiliated. They
are deceived, defeated, massacred, and proselytized. They are victims of
oppression, aggression and injustice. The Muslim community now is being
identified and stereotyped as bloodthirsty terrorists, fundamentalists and
uncivilized. Muslims are being exploited and their resources plundered.
Economically they are backward, largely depending on western technology.
Muslims are now being identified as sick man of the world. They still depend on
western armament to defend their borders. The large numbers of the members of
the ummah are illiterate.
How did a people who once led the world in science, technology, and military
skill, and were trustees of God's ultimate revelation, fall into such an abject state?
The refusal to critically analyze the massive legacy of intellectual scholarships
and customs that have been passed down is the crux of the problem. Muslims
have intellectually paralyzed themselves by making the great body of thought
they inherited into a kind of intellectual hoard, a safe haven of ideas that must
not be disturbed and where necessary are walled out to protect from critical
investigation and analysis. The greatest crisis affecting Muslims today is a crisis
of thought, a refusal to think critically about what Islam really demands. The
rejection of reason in favor of traditions and conventions has incapacitated the
community. Muslims must therefore critically examine, review and evaluate
conventional Muslim thought and practices.
The question is: What is the most important reason that is responsible for the
current state of affairs of the Muslim World. There may be many reasons, but
what are the major reasons? What are the reasons we should address on a
priority basis? Here in this article, I shall concentrate on some of the key reasons
affecting the destiny of the Muslim ummah.
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One of the important problems for the current state of affairs of the Muslim
community is its failure in identifying the core cultural issues and giving undue
emphasis on the marginal issues.
It is important that Muslims always re-examine their customs and traditions to
distinguish those that are and are not fundamental to religion. Those opinions
and practices which are considered non-essential and injurious for the health of
the community and progress of Islam should and must be given up.
Accommodations should be made for those who choose not to follow a particular
practice when such a practice is within permissible limits. We should not and
must not unnecessarily create cultural complexity by branding optional practices
as obligatory, for that could become unnecessary burden. We must not surrender
to rules and beliefs only vaguely linked to Islam.
Muslims must also be careful not to insist on the fundamentality of something
that may not be so, for when this is done, it creates unnecessary barrier and the
truth becomes obscure. Muslims should not neglect a religious fundamental, at
the same time they should be on guard not to drive people from the religion by
insisting something that is not required by Islam as Islamic. This is most
important for when we claim that something is demanded by the religion
without clear proof, we are in fact associating with God that which is not of God,
and in truth we invent a lie against God
Al Quran states: Say: Have you considered what provision God has sent down
for you, and how you made some of it haram (unlawful) and halal (lawful)? Say:
Has God indeed permitted you, or do you invent a lie concerning God? [10: 59].
In another verse Al Quran states: And say not, for any false thing your tongues
put forth: "This is halal (lawful) and this is haram (unlawful)," so that you invent
a lie against God [16: 116].
Another important problem affecting the destiny of the ummah its failure in
understanding what is bidah (innovation) and what is not. In this connection
eminent Islamic scholar Prof. Dr. Yusuf Al Qaradawi, Dean of the Faculty of
Shariah and Islamic Studies, Qatar University pointed out: "It is wrong to think
that Islam stands against anything new or invented classifying it under the name
of bidah. In fact, bidah is what is invented in matters of a purely religious nature,
such as creed and worship and their branches; while the changing matters of life
such as norms, traditions, customs and administrative, social, cultural and
political practices are not to be regarded at all as bidah" [Prof. Dr. Yusuf Al
Qaradawi, Priorities of the Islamic Movement in the Coming Phase, Awakening
Publications, U. K., pp158-159].
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The tendency on the part of some Muslims to equate religion with local culture
cause adopt behaviors and views that are not religiously necessary and in some
cases alien to the ever lasting principles of Islam. I can briefly narrate here the
story of Afghan couple who went to Saudi Arabia to perform hajj. When the
Jeddah Immigration Officials as a matter of identifying the passport holder asked
the lady to uncover her face covered by nikab, her husband objected to it and
then followed the instruction saying in his country if someone would have asked
his wife for such compliance, such officials would have to cross a sword before
demanding such compliance, but he would follow Immigration Officials
instruction since he has come to perform hajj. Such attitudes and practices do not
represent Islam but peculiar practices of Afghan tribal culture. What is however
needed is the real application of the principles of Islam as against local customs
and ancestral traditions and traditional prejudice.
Another important problem of the Muslim community is its failure to assimilate
positive local cultural elements. The prevailing cultural mentality has created
obstacles to progress of the ummah. When Muslims were superpowers as during
Umayyad and Abbasid periods, they had a pluralistic attitude and always ready
to accept new cultural elements. Western colonization has created in the mind of
the ummah a defeated mentality. They now doubt everything new. This has
created barriers to social transformation and change.
Arabs and Muslim culture and tradition are deeply intertwined. Prophet
Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was an Arab. The Quran, was
revealed to him in Arabic, the only language that he and the people surrounding
him knew. In Prophet Muhammad's day, Arabic language was restricted to the
Arabian Peninsula, and the term Arab referred to a person who lived there. But
as the united tribes of the Arabian Peninsula conquered Syria, the Lebanon,
Palestine, and Iraq to create the Muslim East, and North Africa and Spain to form
the Muslim West, they brought the Arabic language and Islam with them. Most
of the people in these countries who adopted Islam also adopted Arabic. While
there were a few exceptions, like the Berbers in Morocco and Algeria, the other
peoples of the region took Arabic names, married Arabs, and, in short, became
what is commonly identified as Arab. By contrast, when Islam spread beyond the
boundaries of North Africa and Iraq, people became Muslims without adopting
Arab language and identity. Persia became Muslim but preserved its language,
literature, culture and tradition. Turkic peoples kept their lifestyle, culture and
languages; Afghan theirs. Sub-Saharan Africans who became Muslims also
typically maintained their own languages and traditions. Further in Indonesia,
Malaysia and Bangladesh, and as far away as the Philippines, Islam reached
many people without transforming them into Arabs either.
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When a Muslim society moves forward and makes progress, it absorb, it
assimilates new elements which is not in conflict with the core principles of Islam
and Muslim identity. When the society declines, it excludes, creates walls and
barriers and rejects new elements.
Muslims should not uphold or create cultural barriers where none exist. This is
one of the most important implications of the Quran's prohibition of associating
man made constructs with God, for when this is done truth is covered and
religious thought and practice is unnecessarily constrained.
Another most important problem confronting the ummah is the prevailing
mentality that the new generation has nothing to add to what the predecessors,
the earlier generations in the golden era have done, old is gold. Whereas in the
Farewell Pilgrimage Prophet Muhammad said: "All those who listen to me shall
pass on my words to others and those to others again; and may the last ones
understand my words better than those who listen to me directly" [Prof. Syed Ali
Ahsan, Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets, Dhaka, Bangladesh, September 2002, p
345]. Therefore there is no question of undermining the intellectual competence
of the current generation.
Islam is the solution is a unifying slogan, it, nonetheless, remains an empty
slogan. Muslims however need to work intelligently, constructively and
cooperatively to bring about reform in their countries and whole world.
The largely held view that ijma of the golden era is binding on the succeeding
generations has created problems in the area of muamalat (day to day activities
and dealings – social affairs) because the situation has changed to a large extent
that demands newer solutions. We have to distinguish between Muslim practices
and ideas that are essential to Islam and those that are time or place bound
adaptations or interpretations. Those ijmas that deal with muamalat need to be
thoroughly scrutinized.
Accepting ijma (consensus of the earlier generations) that deals with muamalat
(day to day activities and dealings – social affairs) in today's situation without
question is taqlid, blind imitation or the blind acceptation of juridical precedent.
Some scholars think: "Each Muslim must submit to God alone and take the
responsibility for his own life. Anything else was idolatrous and a perversion of
Islam, turning it into a lifeless observance of a set rules" [Karen Armstrong, The
Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism, The Random House Publishing
Group, New York, 2000. p 254]. Erudite Islamic scholar Moulana Abul Kalam
Azad also is of the view that blind imitation tantamount to idolatry. To quote
Moulana Azad: "Taqlid or taking everything on trust unquestioningly, thus
barring from every side the exercise of common-sense and straightforward
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reasoning, and freely opening the door to every from of vagary in thought and
action, proceeding from the exploiters of religion. Indeed this tendency in
religion assumed in due course such a hideous aspect, that it impelled the
ignorant masses to hail, some of them as demi-gods and even peers to God Himself in
practice" (emphasis added) [Moulana Abdul Kalam Azad, The Tarjuman Al-
Quran, English rendering by Syed Abdul Latif, Kitab Bhavan, New Delhi –
110002, 1990, Vol. 3, p 91]. Prof. Dr. Tariq Ramadan puts it: "Muslims do not
consider the Messenger of Islam as mediator between God and people. Each
individual is invited to address God directly … he often insisted on each
believer's responsibility in his or her dialogue and relationship with the One"
[Tariq Ramadan, In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of
Muhammad, Oxford University Press, New York, 2007, pp ix-x].
Identifying tradition as sacrosanct is the most common means by which manmade
policies, which may or may not have been appropriate in a particular
historical and cultural context, become associated with religion and
universalized; and as such, sometimes preference is given to tradition even
though revelation does not endorse the practice.
In the Islamic seminaries, madrassas, generation after generation, Muslims
student are instructed in the revival of Traditionalist orthodoxy, emphasizing
static, literalist interpretation of the Quran. We must not however turn our backs
to the contemporary social reality.
It needs to be realized that with the exception of the Quran and authentic and
well established Traditions of the Prophet (Prophets are directly guided by God
through revelations), every other single source of Islamic law was the result of
human, not divine, effort. The early scholars understood this and were
constantly adapting to contemporary situations, and the law itself was
continually reinterpreted as and when necessary. None of the legal decisions
made by any of the madhab, schools of law were binding on individual Muslims.
In fact, until the modern period, it was common for the believers to switch their
allegiance from one school to another at their pleasure, and there was nothing
expressly prohibiting a Muslim from accepting Hanafi doctrine on some issues
and Maliki doctrine on others.
In any modern Islamic society we have to blend the traditional values of the
shariah with the contemporary social reality, principles of democracy and
human rights through a comprehensive reform methodology if we are to make
progress.
Another vital problem confronting the ummah is the thinking that the door of
ijtihad is closed although there is no proof or evidence of it in the revealed Text
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and the Traditions in support of this proposition. No one has the right to close
the doors of ijtihad which were opened by the Prophet Muhammad for the
whole ummah.
The static thinking that Muslims can face any problem without intellectual
exercise of ijtihad so long the Quran and sunnah is in their hand is a wishful
thinking. By thinking in this line they have failed to relate the revealed Text with
real world and lost the ability to actualize the faith.
Rescuing the religion from centuries of burdensome accretion is widely seen by
the contemporary Muslim intellectuals and thinkers as most vital. If we shrink
from this intellectual exercise we simply surrender to convention, we play the
role of yes man or woman in the face of Muslim traditions. Muslims must
remember that their self-surrender is to God, not to community, organization
and establishment or to the dogma of any particular culture.
Islam requires self-surrender to God alone, even if this puts him or her at odds
with the Muslim establishment of particular country or time. We must not
blindly surrender to Muslim beliefs and customs which have no basis in the
Texts of the Quran and authentic and well established Traditions of the Prophet.
What may suit a given society in a given stage of history may prove quite
unsuitable for another. Things new in a certain historical period may become old
in another one. Indeed all previous intellectual exercises are limited to a certain
place with a certain history.
We have to exercise ijtihad in order to draw nearer to what is truer. Every
generation has a right to understand the revelation in its own way, even if it
differs from that of previous generations. The door of ijtihad should remain open
rather than be restricted to a particular generation, person, or age. Our ancestors
were wonderful in applying religion to their life but the complexity of modern
life is beyond our ancestors' imagination. Applying shariah rulings to modern
life requires that they be built on the realities of modern life for the old rulings
cannot provide solution to the problem in the present situation prevailing in the
Muslim World.
The ummah reached its present deplorable state only after its member's
discontinued intellectual exercise. Islam does not require the Muslims shield the
ignorant, but to instruct and enlighten them. Our vision must not be cloudy and
we must not loose the sight of truth. We must understand the current social
reality and combine the experience past and present so that we can intelligently
chart future course and only then ijtihad will provide the way out of the current
morass.
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Another major cultural problem facing the ummah is its failure to be critical
although we can debate anything and everything except the essence (dhat) of
God, as eminent Islamic scholar Prof. Dr. Ismail Rajhi al-Faruqi puts it: "The only
thing which Islam has said is not within the capacity of the human mind to
question is the essence (dhat) of God" [Prof. Dr. Ismail Rajhi al-Faruqi, Why
Islam? in Riza Mohammad and Dilwar Hussain ed. Islam: The Way of Revival,
Revival Publications, Markfield, U. K., 2003, p 45].
Islam is the religion of rational and critical mind. The greatest thing in the world
is to be able to see things from two perspectives, two sides of the subject – listen
to the other side. It is more important to be able to see different sides. Agree to
disagree has to be an accepted principle of social discourse. However dissent is
rarely appreciated by the members of the ummah because unity for the sake of
unity is much more cherished than truth.
We must not stop from critically probing and examining and challenging the
suspect, doubtful and controversial practices and dogmas for otherwise we could
persist in jahili cultural practices. A religious justification for a practice is not
enough to prove it essential to the faith; the evidence, premises and inferences
built need to be critically examined, and counter-evidence, counter-arguments
and counter-considerations need to be measured and weighed.
Muslim need to examine what Islam demands on different issues hitherto
considered a taboo in the society. If there is a room within the religion to make
accommodation then we must shun the existing practice that is misleading
millions of Muslims away from their religion. The use of cap during prayer is
one such practice which keeping away many males from mosque. We must
discontinue this nonessential practice if we are to make mosque the intellectual
nucleus of the community.
U lil amr min kum - follow your leaders or those in authority - has become a sort
of subservient surrender and taqlid, blind following of the leaders in every
respect. This should not be the case. Muslims should always remain open to
arguments.
In some cases divine sanction to interpretations is at most vague and indirect
support in the Textual sources. It needs an intellectual environment that
promotes dialogue and free speech and that doesn't shy away from controversy,
others perspectives need to be heard. Intellectual freedom implies the right to
question, to openly scrutinize, to critically examine and evaluate.
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A critical and thorough re-examination of traditional Muslim thought and
practice is most vital, not only to distinguish the truly essential in religion but
also to better understand the interpretations of past scholars that may not be
essential but nevertheless legitimate and perhaps appropriate today. The goal
should not be to filter out the strictly essential and then completely discard all
the rest, but to build on the past efforts. The better grasp Muslims have of the
thought processes of the past scholars, the better they will be able to measure
how much room there is for interpretation and adaptation.
But who is going to perform this in-depth analysis of traditional Muslim thought.
Some Muslims are not only very resistant to questioning established religious
views but they display definite uneasiness with and sometimes a disdain for
rational deliberation on religious proposition. Some other people prefer to
follow conjecture, their desire or tradition of their forefathers while the Quran
emphasizes critical reasoning that exposes falsehood and illuminates truth.
Al Quran states: When it is said to them, 'Follow what God revealed', they say,
'We follow that wherein we found our fathers.' What! Even though their fathers were
devoid of wisdom and guidance [2: 170].
Rigorous analysis must be part of Islamic culture. Keeping silent is tantamount
to being an accomplice; it is betraying God, His Prophet and all the Believers
Reading fifty years or so old literature and reading no contemporary literature,
and therefore remaining ignorant of contemporary development, is another
major problem facing the ummah. Readers are studying only one set of sectarian
literature and not giving ear to others view.
The most important reason that the contemporary cultural workers are poorly
equipped and not well trained is that they are not up-to-date of the latest
developments in the field of knowledge. They are not aware about the most
recent ijtihad, whatever little research is being done by the eminent Muslim
scholars in various fields throughout the world. The cultural leadership is mostly
happy with the past heritage. Self-glorification for the past achievement and
success has blinded Muslim leadership to the need to examine their history in a
critical and analytical manner with a view to exploring the points of weakness. In
actual fact the Muslim legacy is not adequate enough to provide solutions of our
contemporary crisis. Cultural and intellectual leadership still measure
themselves by the past models and ignore time and distinctive features, and yet
expect identical results. The right perspective and perception needs to be
invoked. In this way, a fair interaction with the past can be made instead of
vainly trying to revive it. The study materials for the workers of the cultural
movements do not empower them with sufficient knowledge and ideas for
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meeting the changing needs of the age. The cultural workers, the cadres of the
cultural movement, are forced to read substandard books as rightly pointed out
by Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy, Professor of Physics, Quaid-e-Azam University,
Islamabad, Pakistan. He said: "In fact many individuals make huge profits by
producing substandard and badly written books filled with conceptual,
pedagogical, and printing mistakes". Shoddy books are included in the
compulsory study materials of the workers of the cultural movement for the
financial benefit in terms of royalty of the so-called elite writers of the movement.
Consequently cultural workers have lost sight of the comprehensive totality of
the Quran and thus losing the opportunity to relate to reality and control the
inevitable changes in time and circumstances as the Quran behooves Islamic
cultural workers to do. The Muslim intellectual leadership rather is now
behaving in a way that circumstance dictates their thinking. Muslim leadership is
not the master of the circumstance rather circumstances dictate them.
Books in Bangladesh are now being written by such persons who have no
authority on the subject they are dwelling on. It so happens that someone reads a
book on certain subject published outside Bangladesh and then he rewrites the
same book, adds here and there and produces a book in his name. Then another
person reads this locally produced book and again rewrites it, adds here and
there and thus produces a new book in his name, so on and so forth. Thus second
and third rate substandard books are being produced.
The readers will never get from such plagiarized books the sprit and flavor of the
original books. Such books are likely to misguide the readers and will in no way
play positive and meaningful role for the onward march and progress of the
ummah, the Muslim community. Some of the books are below standard; these
are likely to raise unnecessary debate and will only confuse the readers.
Interested readers who want to study this point further may read 'Islamic
Movement: An Overview' and 'Quality Work: How Important It Is', available at
www.shahfoundationbd.org.
Another pivotal problem confronting the Muslim community is rigid and
inflexible attitude of the cultural workers when other easy options are available.
In fact such attitudes only create obstacles in our day to day life and further
complicates social environment. Creating such hindrances is against the very
sprit of Islam for Al Quran states: God intends for you ease, He does not want to
make things difficult for you [2:185]. Al Quran in another verse states: God
wishes to lighten your burdens for man was created weak [4:28]. Prophet
Muhammad is reported to have said: Facilitate matters to people and do not
make things difficult [Authenticated by all authorities. Quoted in Prof. Dr. Yusuf
Al Qaradawi's book Islamic Awakening between Rejection and Extremism, I. I. I.
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T., Herdon, Virginia, U. S. A., 1995, p 26]. Al Quran further states: He … has not
laid upon you in religion any hardship [22: 78]. We must therefore concentrate
more on avoiding the listed forbidden (haram) practices for what is not
forbidden (haram) is permissible (halal) [Prof. Dr. Yusuf Al Qaradawi, The
Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam, American Trust Publications, Indianapolis, U.
S. A., p 14]. God in His Infinite Marcy and Wisdom has listed only those that are
forbidden (haram) and we must not unnecessarily poke and raise questions
whether something is forbidden (haram) when not listed as forbidden (haram)
and make our lifestyle, culture and society difficult. We must not create
unnecessary burden on man for God created man weak.
The failure to develop filter to screen the munker (evil) elements of predominant
culture is another pivotal problem of the Muslim community. Such filter may
include a long list but emphasis should be given on tawheed and shirk. Shah
Waliullah puts it: Islam was not determined to extirpate fully the jahiliyyah
Arab culture and civilization. It is not after demolishing each and everything.
Rather, it opted for the middle way by way of reforming, adapting, restoring and
reconstructing the existing order. The Prophet reformed such Arab social
practices which were injurious to morals, health and faith. Yet he retained noble
traditions and introduced, keeping in mind the changing needs, new practices,
rites and rituals and deeds [Shah Waliullah, Hujjatullah al-Balaghah 1, 124-125
quoted in Muhammad Yasin Mazhar Siddiqi's The Prophet Muhammad: A Role
Model for Muslim Minorities, The Islamic Foundation, Markfield, U. K., 2006, p
173].
One of the first duties is to purge customs and traditions, and moral and social
codes from destructive impurities and useless bits and pieces, in order to clear
the way for the lively and life-promoting factors to come in. This purification is
not possible except with a new thinking that can destroy the system inherited
from the stage of decline and in turn assist in the search for a new system, that is,
reform and renewal.
I shall narrate here one of my personal experience. Sixteen months back one of
my cousin died of cancer at a hospital in capital Dhaka. We carried the dead
body to our village home at Katiadi, Kishoregonj approximately 100 kilometer
north of Dhaka for burial. We took with us cloths necessary for the burial. But
surprisingly, at the village home another cousin asked where the cloth of the
deceased's wife is. I pointed out that our brother has passed away not his wife
and there is no need for cloth for our sister-in-law. But my cousin insisted that
she must take a bath and wear white shari, a long cloth.
The communication technology has made great stride. We are now using verses
of the Quran as ring-tone in the mobile phones which is always abruptly
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disconnected in the middle of the recitation while receiving mobile phones. How
far this is acceptable? Should we allow such practice or should we discontinue
such cultural practice. We need to screen past cultural practices and new
additions to our culture. We must remain ever vigilant to preserve the purity of
our culture.
Another foremost problem confronting the ummah is the intolerant attitude of
the cultural workers to accept others ideas and views. Any unnecessarily hostile
and unfriendly stance is bound to mar the intellectual environment and greatly
impair the stride and advancement of the ummah. I shall narrate here an
example which will establish the intellectual hollowness of our writers. On 18
February 2005 Bangladesh newspaper the Naya Diganta published my article
'Muslim Society: Reasons for Backwardness'. In fact the article was a translated
version of my article in English published sometimes in 2004 in The New Nation,
The Bangladesh Observer and monthly the Shaurav. Writer N. N (actual name
withheld) responded to my article in Naya Diganta saying that my views
'contradict with shariah' for the simple reason that I do not see eye to eye with her
on the question of using nikab and for my opinion that wife on modest dress can
receive male guest of husband provided she has the permission of husband
although in support of my opinion I quoted Prof. Dr. Yusuf Al Qaradawi,
eminent jurist and ideologue of Sudanese Islamic Movement Dr. Hasan Turabi
and opinion of Imam Malik in addition to Hadiths from Bukhari and Muslim.
Such sweeping comment is intellectual terrorism and in no way serve the
purpose of Islam rather creates hurdle and obstruction on the onward march and
progress of the Muslim community. Such intellectual terrorism is as terrifying as
physical terrorism. Interested readers may read my article available at
www.shahfoundationbd.org
It so happens that enthusiastic Muslims fail in their evaluation of the problems
around them. They often think that what they lack at the present is nuclear
bombs, missiles, tanks and guns to help them to fight against the unjust powers.
Here, their conscience is erring (by this I don't mean that we do not need
sophisticated weaponry to defend our rights against intruders) because they find
themselves in a world wherein they are helpless. Their diagnosis of the problem
is incorrect. What they really lack is ideas. We should constantly emphasize that
the deep-rooted crisis of the Muslim World has never been a consequence of its
lack of means, but of ideas. Unless the Muslim World clearly realizes this fact,
the malady of the Muslims will remain incurable, and it will be forever lagging
behind the advance world. We have to realize that ummah's existing crisis of
thought can be solved only by restructuring its cultural model and reordering its
priorities. #
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[Author is the Chairman Islamic Information Bureau Bangladesh. A summary of
the article has earlier been presented at the moot of Bangla Shahittay Kendraa,
Kanchan, Rupgonj on 07. 12. 2007. Email: sah1947@yahoo.com Web:
shahfoundationbd.org]
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