OCTOBER 12

The Cause

It is a fact that Indian Muslims are lagging behind Hindus in education and economic advancement. In explaining this a Hindu intellectual wrote:

‘Hindus have prospered in independent India because their religion adopted the road to modernity and progress, while Muslims remained backward because their religion turned its gaze towards the past’

(The Times of India, February 27, 1994).

It is true that Muslims are lagging behind Hindus, but this explanation is far from the truth. Islam never leads one to turn one’s gaze towards the past and overlook matters of progress. The real cause of Muslims’ backwardness in modern times is traceable to wrong guidance by incompetent leaders, not to Islam.

The truth of the matter is that in modern times along with the emergence of science and technology, Muslims were beginning to lose their political power and cultural superiority. The western nations who had brought progress and advancement to the world were also those who had overpowered the Muslims all over the world and brought them under their own political and cultural domination.

Our leaders of this period, launched political movements all over the world against western nations. They hated the western nations and taught Muslims to hate them.

It was this hatred which came in the way of Muslims’ advancement in the field of modern science and technology. The reason for Muslims’ backwardness in modern times is not Islam, but that artificial hatred which our unwise leaders had fostered among Muslims. This hatred obstructed Muslims from looking at the western nations without prejudice, and prevented them from accepting the developments the west had given to the world.