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Dear Respected Members:

Please allow me to list below some of the problems and

proposed solutions as I have been able to put together in my
humble way. I may be wrong in certain (or may be many)
conclusions. More feedback from the learned members will help
in crystallizing some of the ideas.

     
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c.(Lack of a clear direction.

.(Brainstorming on what should be the direction.

c+(Non-fulfilment of civilizational goals.

+(Deep realization of the need for having some civilizational

goals in the first place.
c/(Confusion (at best) about the definition of knowledge.

 /( Popularizing (especially among University students) that

true knowledge is: ³Developing a coherent body of ideas and creatively
reaching out to the unknown´ (and not just knowing the known).

c0(Lack of consensus on the objective of education.

 0( Considering the ³promotion of scientific and critical

thinking and leadership qualities´ as the objective of education.

c 1( Not being able to see the full picture and getting lost in
partial aspects of our collective life.

 1( Exerting our utmost to see the bigger picture (a veritable
ijtihaad).

c-(Less tolerance in our ranks and inflated egos.

-(Discussing about the reasons for intolerance and inculcating

humbleness as the hallmark of a Faithful.

c 2( Rampant emotionalism as shown in our reactions to a

variety of situations.

 2( Creating a culture of more analysis of issues prior to

concluding and reacting. Finding out the reasons of emotionalism and
deliberating on how to curb it.
c3(Communal outlook and blaming others for our ills.

 3( Remembering that we are µsalespersons¶ , Islam is the

µproduct¶ and the rest of the humanity is our µcustomers¶. Also, trying to
find out from the more informed among us about how the fellow
countrymen have been to us and who has exacerbated the situation.

c,(Only reacting to situations.

 ,( Developing a culture of proactiveness rather than only

reacting to a situation.

c.4(Ignoring the laws of nature.

.4(Discovering and acting according to the laws of nature.

c..(Not being able to look beyond the immediate.

 ..( Having a higher goal behind all our efforts ± beyond the
worldly gain (which does and will automatically come).

c .+( A serious (and unjustified) division between deen and

dunyaa.

.+(Reflecting more about the fact that if deen is forsaken only

deen is gone, dunyaa is still there. But if dunyaa is given up the deen
and dunyaa both are gone. Knowing more deeply that it is the intention
that determines the value of an action and makes the difference.
c./(Undoing our own efforts in a variety of ways.

 ./( Being watchful for the situations where we may be

contradicting ourselves and countering our own efforts.

c .0( Mired into smaller issues and not focusing on the wildly
important (e.g. brainstorming on how to establish more Colleges and
Universities) .

.0(Being watchful of the issues that may be whiling away our

energies, resources and time.

c.1(Marginalization and lamenting on marginalization.

 .1( Creating awareness for the need of coming to the

mainstream with the right kind of qualifications. Analyzing the factors
behind marginalization. Also, trying to figure out which or if any of our
actions reinforce marginalization.

c.-(Unpreparedness for the challenges of 21st Century.

.-(Having an aim of establishing Universities ± proportionate

to our number ± as one of the effective ways to deal with the challenges.

c.2(Working ad hoc on many ± especially educational ± fronts.

.2(Promoting a culture of doing things with utmost planning

and with the ultimate objectives in view ± at the very first step.
c.3(Believing in division and dichotomy of knowledge.

.3(Popularizing the fact that the Islamic concept of knowledge

is vaster than we can imagine of.

c .,( Disdain of traditionally educated and self-doubt of the

modern educated.

 .,( Doing away with the duality of education system and
having a uniform system till High School. Specialization only from the
undergraduate levels onwards.

c+4(Lack of prioritization of issues.

 +4( Deciding how much time, resources and space to be

allocated for which issues and purposes.

c +.( Atomistic approach and looking at each phenomenon

piecemeal.

+.(Imbibing a holistic approach as a culture. Our teachers to

educate our youngsters for this approach for a change in the situation.

c++(Shift of emphasis from individual to community.

 ++( Shifting the emphasis from community to individual by

according her / him more genuine respect and listening to her / him more
patiently.

c+/(Suppressed individualities.

+/( Finding out the ways to spiritually liberate the individual

and empower her / him giving her / him utmost dignity.

c+0(Insufficient dynamism and unclear direction.

 +0( Taking dynamism from Muhammad Iqbal and direction

from Sir Syed Ahmad Khan.

c+1(Differences and disunity.

 +1( Popularizing the slogan: ³Starve the differences and

problems and feed the common grounds and opportunities´ .

c+-(The downfall of Muslims as a people.

+-(Finding out the natural laws that govern the rise and fall of
nations and acting according to those laws.


c+2(Ineffectiveness of our efforts in certain fields and areas.

 +2( Encouraging more women to participate in all our

endeavours.


c+3(The uphill task of establishing 120 Universities and 5250
Colleges as the share of Muslims (i.e. their initiatives) in the overall
national targets.

+3( Persuading the µUlama to upgrade some of the uadrasaahs

with better infrastructural facilities into Colleges and Universities. A
nationwide movement to create awareness about it. (It won¶t be possible
without some adjustments and sacrifices.) A taµleeuee caravan for this
purpose.


c +,( Inapplicability of beautiful Islamic ideals ± capable of
turning the Faithful into leaders in every field of life.

+,( Developing a new scholasticism where the ideals of Islam

are popularized with the same applicability and relevance as is the case
with the instructions in the field of Information Technology, for
example.


c/4(More areas of concern and work not thought of so far.

 /4( Thinking more to find out the areas of work for the
betterment of the situation and adding those areas to this list.

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Many thanks and best regards.

Dr Wasim Ahmad
(AMU aluunus - MA-Arabic 1993-1995)
Department Head of Islamic Studies
Preston University Ajman
PO Box 20488, Ajman ± UAE
Phone: +97167469555
Fax: +97167469955
Cell: +971505363235
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