DHAKA,
Bangladesh, December 21 (IslamOnline.net) - Muslims are lagging behind
largely because of misinterpretation of Islamic rules and not paying
enough attention to modern sciences, according to former Malaysian
Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the architect of turning a Muslim
country into a modern state exploiting all the state-of-art
innovations of science and technology.
“Ikra
does not mean the reading of holy Quran only, but also all branches of
education, including science and technology,” said Mahathir, while
being adorned with honorary Doctor of Laws by Dhaka University,
according to the New Nation daily Sunday, December 19.
He
was speaking at the 42nd Convocation of Dhaka University, attended by
President Prof. Iajuddin Ahmed, Judges, DU Vice-chancellor Prof. SMA
Faiz, ministers, diplomats and academics.
Mahathir,
who commands deep respect in the Muslim world for his acumen as well
as his thoughts on how to ensure welfare of the Muslim Ummah (Nation),
said many Muslim countries enforce Shari`ah laws which aim at ensuring
justice.
But,
there is a tendency of giving more importance to punishment than
establishing justice under Shari`ah, the New Nation quoted him
as saying.
Accepting
the honorary degree, Mahathir presented a comparative study between
God’s laws and man-made laws.
He
said, “Man-made laws are far from being perfect and that is why we
need to keep on amending the laws.”
On
the other hand, he said, divine laws are perfect, “but unfortunately
these laws are interpreted by mere men -- and interpretation by them
may be wrong”.
“On
each of God’s laws there are many interpretations which are contrary
to each other. It is difficult to determine which interpretation is
right and which wrong. So, we don’t get full benefit of God’s
laws.”
Stressing
the establishment of the rule of law, he said, “We are ruled by
whims and fancies of individuals. Man-made laws are far from being
perfect when bad laws obviously rule on us.”
Fair
Justice
On
the independence of the judiciary, Mahathir said judges should, of
course, be independent.
“It
is assumed that they would not be influenced by anybody and they would
be able to apply the rules with impartiality.”
But,
he said, “Judges are also human beings. They have their feelings,
they may have political leanings, which impact the impartiality in
dispensation of justice. Independence of judges does not mean justice.
We cannot call it the rule of law.”
Citing
examples of advanced countries, he said presidents select judges and,
as a result, it becomes difficult for the judges to deliver fair
justice.
On
the contempt-of-court law, he said this “scares the people
criticizing the court. As a result, the result can be poor. It is
possible of course to impeach judges.”
Better
world
Addressing
students of Dhaka University, he hoped they would be going to the
wider world equipped with better knowledge and would be better able to
contribute to the improvement of the society they live in.
Referring
to the Convocation, he said, “This is not the end for the quest of
knowledge. The process of acquisition of knowledge never ends -- it
goes on throughout the life.”
Making
a flashback on Islamic civilization, Mahathir said, “We see how a
great civilization was built initiated by the formerly ignorant
Jaheliat Arab, which embraced Islam.”
He
said Muslims in early Islamic era went to Greece to acquire knowledge;
they translated and studied the world of Greeks, Persians and Indians.
He
noted that Europeans had access to Greek libraries of Muslims in order
to learn the teachings of great philosophers, scientists and
mathematicians. With that effort, he reminded the audience, the dark
ages of Europeans ended and they began building their present
civilizations.
