I read the speech given by Mr. Hafez A.B. Mohammed from Al Baraka Bank. I don't full agree with him. The reason being he is 100% putting the blame on Muslims for the worst conditions they are in and ignoring the hands of foreign powers. I know people who blame the "other hands" are often chided in our communities. It is time that we call a spade a spade.

 

I can assure you that ALL Muslims want a better quality life just like any other human beings in the world. We also want to study in higher education universities and spend our time inventing things or what not. The problem is that what can we  do when we don't have enough primary schools let alone institutions of highest caliber like MIT? There is a shortage of clean drinking water, electricity, paved road, affordable housing and so forth.

 

So, who is responsible for all this?  Yes, our rulers. Most of these tasks fall under the jurisdiction of the rulers. It is their responsibility to control inflation and to build the infrastructure, schools, colleges, universities, roads, water supply system, electricity and availability of other natural resources.

 

These foreign powers do exert influence in Muslim countries. They topple popular governments which don't serve their interests and place oppressive rulers. Such rulers are usually least concerned with the betterment of the public. They rule with iron hand suppressing the voice of dissent and make very little efforts towards self-sufficiency. Most of the impoverished Muslim countries are dependant on the IMF loans which give these loans on very tough terms. They are in the position to exercise their power to increase inflation, taxes, decrease rebates/subsidies and so forth. On top of that they give loans on compound interests which can never be paid off. If any Muslim ruler attempts to form an Islamic economic block or any powerful institution, he is assassinated.

 

Watch the following video: The Great Depression of the 21st Century,

http://pakalert.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/video-the-great-depression-of-the-21st-century/

 

In spite of all these odds, there are Muslims who have made great achievements both inside and outside of their home countries. According to UNESCO; 69.8% of Algerian men and 45.5% of Algerian women were literate by 1990. It must have increased further by now (http://countrystudies.us/algeria/67.htm).

 

Here are some famous Muslims:

 

1)      Dr. Abdul Salam from Pakistan was a theoretical physicist, Astrophysicist and Nobel Laureate in Physics for his work in Electro-Weak Theory.                      

            (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdus_Salam).

2)      Khawaja Hasan Abidi from Pakistan was a founder of Bank of Credit and Commerce international (BCCI Bank).

3)      Niaz Morshed from Bangladesh has the distinction of being the first South Asian Chess Grandmaster.

4)      Fazl-ur-Rahman Khan from Bangladesh , one of the foremost structural engineers of the 20th century; pioneer of tube structure and designer of Sears Tower , the tallest building in the USA

5)      Ahmed Zewail, a Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry in 1999.

6)      Najib Mahfouz, an Egyptian Nobel Prize winner in Literature in 1988    

      (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1988/mahfouz-bio.html)

7)      Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh and his Grameen Bank received the Nobel peace prize for creating microfinance institutions.

            (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Yunus)

8)      Mr. Monis Rehman of Pakistan founded Naseeb.com, a Pakistan-based Muslim social networking website.

            (http://dinarstandard.com/mlm/Naseeb040608.htm)

9)      Mr. Safi Quraishi is a chairman emeritus, cofounder and ex-CEO of AST Research Inc. which Samsung Electronics acquired in 1997. He is currently a CEO of Wireless Video Technology company called, Quartics.

            (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safi_Qureshey)

10)  Mr. Aziz Premji from India , founded WIPRO technology after graduating from Stanford University .

      (http://www.the-south-asian.com/Dec2001/telecom%20&%20software%205.htm)

11)  Abdul Sattar Edhi, a famous Pakistani Philanthropist whose Edhi foundation has many centers in Pakistan and abroad.

 

The list goes on. Nonetheless Muslims are not blame free. Our rich class has not contributed towards science and learning as much. In the olden days, there were kings and nawabs who donated their personal wealth in building universities and research labs. In the west, a sizeable number of rich people and corporations regularly donate money towards different research programs such as Carnegie Foundation which is a philanthropic organization founded in New York in 1911 by Andrew Carnegie for the advancement and diffusion of knowledge (http://www.carnegie.org/).

 

Following is link which list Top 5 philanthropic organizations in USA which contribute enormous funds on different developmental projects. Some of the known names are:

 

• Bill Gates Foundation
• The Ford Foundation
• JP Morgan Chase Foundation
• Harvard University
• Ford Motor Company Fund

 

For more details on the above go to http://www.nptrust.org/philanthropy_top_five

 

It doesn't help us to not recognize the contributions Muslims have made the world over. They may be small but considering all odds against them, it is INDEED remarkable. Hopefully, our private sector will come in action and proactively work towards the advancement of learning. I am pretty sure, in no time, we can outnumber Nobel Prize winnings.

 

Thanks for Reading

Asher Fawad

 

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Extracts of speech: By Hafez A.B Mohamed: Director-General, Al Baraka Bank.

 

Demographics:

World Jewish Population: 14 million

World Muslim Population: 1.5 billion

 

For every Jew there are 107 Muslims. Yet the 14 million Jews are more powerful than the entire 1.5 billion Muslims. Why? Here are some of the reasons.

 

Movers of Current History

 

• Albert Einstein Jewish
• Sigmund Freud Jewish
• Karl Marx Jewish
• Paul Samuelson Jewish
• Milton Friedman Jewish
• Vaccinating Needle: Benjamin Ruben Jewish
• Embryology: Stanley Cohen Jewish
• Kidney Dialysis Willem Kloffcame Jewish
• In the past 105 years, 14 million Jews have won 180 Nobel prizes whilst 1.5 billion Muslims have contributed only 3 Nobel winners
• Video Tape Recorder Charles Ginsburg Jewish
• Baskin & Robbins Irv Robbins Jewish
• Dunkin Donuts Bill Rosenberg Jewish
• Robert Rubin , US Sec of Treasury Jewish
• Walter Annenberg Jewish

 

 

Why are they powerful? Why are Muslims powerless? It is because we have lost the capacity to produce knowledge.

 

• In the entire Muslim World (57 Muslim Countries) there are only 500 universities.
• In USA alone, 5,758 universities
• In India alone, 8,407 universities
• Not one university in the entire Islamic World features in the Top 500 Ranking Universities of the World
• Literacy in the Christian World 90%
• Literacy in the Muslim World 40%
• 15 Christian majority-countries, literacy rate 100%
• Muslim majority - countries , None
• 98% in Christian countries completed primary
• Only 50% in Muslim countries completed primary.
• 40% in Christian countries attended university
• In Muslim countries a dismal 2% attended.
• Muslim majority countries have 230 scientists per one million Muslims
• The USA has 5000 per million
• The Christian world 1000 technicians per million.
• Entire Arab World only 50 technicians per million.
• Muslim World spends on research/development 0.2% of GDP
• Christian World spends 5 % of GDP

 

Conclusion

Please educate yourself and your children, promote education, don't ignore your children's slightest misguidance from education (and please, for God's Sake, don't use your personal contacts or sources to promote your children in their education; if they fail, let them and make them learn to pass; b/c if they can't do it now, they can't ever).

We are World's biggest and strongest nation, all we need is to identify and explore ourselves. Our victory is with our knowledge, our creativity, our literacy...And nothing else.