Author:
Publication: Zenit.org
Date: November 15, 2003
Reforms Outlined to Help Islamic
Culture Open Up to the Modern World
On Oct. 20 the United Nations Development
Program published its second Arab Human Development Report. Subtitled "Building
a Knowledge Society," the report revealed that Arab countries urgently
need to invest in education and foment intellectual activity if they want
to avoid worsening a growing knowledge gap.
The UNDP emphasized that scholars
from the Arab world prepared the report. Preparation involved a cooperative
process involving nearly 40 authors and 30 advisers and peer reviewers,
from a diversity of backgrounds in the Arab countries.
The report revealed a series of
factors contributing to the knowledge deficit facing Arab countries.
-- Many children still do not have
access to basic education, and the report notes, "Higher education is characterized
by decreasing enrollment, and public spending on education has actually
declined since 1985." The report added: "The most important challenge facing
Arab education is its declining quality."
-- Fewer than one in 20 Arab university
students are pursuing scientific disciplines, while South Korea the figure
is one in five.
-- There is an almost total absence
of advanced research in fields such as information technology and molecular
biology. Moreover, state spending on research and development does not
exceed 0.2% of gross national product.
-- Arab countries have an estimated
371 research scientists and engineers per million citizens, compared with
a global rate of 979 per million.
-- Arab nations also suffer a continual
brain drain, as large numbers of professionals emigrate to the West. Between
1998 and 2000, for example, more than 15,000 Arab doctors migrated abroad.
-- Access to digital media is among
the lowest in the world. There are just 18 computers per 1,000 people in
the region, compared with the global average of 78.3 computers. Only 1.6%
of the Arab population has Internet access, compared with 68% in the United
Kingdom and 79% in the United States.
-- As for traditional media, there
are fewer than 53 newspapers sold per 1,000 Arab citizens, compared with
285 papers per 1,000 people in developed countries. In most Arab countries
the media operate in an environment that sharply restricts freedom of expression.
"Journalists face illegal harassment, intimidation and even physical threats,
censorship is rife, and newspapers and television channels are sometimes
arbitrarily closed down," stated the report. Moreover, most radio and television
stations are state-owned.
-- The number of books translated,
an important factor behind the transfer of knowledge, is extremely low.
No more than 10,000 books were translated into Arabic over the entire past
millennium, a sum equivalent to the number translated into Spanish each
year.
-- Indigenous book production is
also scanty. Arabs constitute 5% of the world population, yet they produce
only 1% of the world's books, and 17% of this production is accounted for
by religious books, compared with 5% in the rest of the world. In 1996,
for example, Arab countries produced no more than 1,945 literary and artistic
books -- 0.8% of world production -- despite a readership of 280 million
in the 22 Arab countries.
-- The report also identified a
"severe crisis" in the teaching of Arabic. This involves a growing neglect
of the functional aspects, with a deterioration of language skills. According
to the report, Arabic language classes are often restricted to writing
at the expense of reading. And classical Arabic "has in effect ceased to
be a spoken language."
Hostile to modern culture
Apart from economic and political
causes that hinder education in Arab countries, the report also deals with
the hostility of some elements in Islam to modernity that have led to rejection
of contemporary knowledge and progress.
In the past, Arab countries were
home to a flourishing intellectual culture, the report observes. Arab intellectuals
were instrumental in preserving and translating many works of classical
Greek scholarship, which would otherwise have been lost to Europe. Then,
at the beginning of the 19th century, the Arab world opened itself up to
science and literature coming from the Western world.
But more recently, the report comments,
"political developments in the region and the absence of peaceful and effective
political channels for dealing with injustices in the Arab world have pushed
some Islamic clerics to give precedence to political aims over the cultural
or social objectives of Islam."
As well, some countries have witnessed
an alliance between repressive political regimes and conservative religious
scholars that "has resulted in some interpretations of Islam that are inimical
to free enquiry and the pursuit of rational knowledge."
The authors of the report consider
that such groups are "not representative of the authentic Arab culture."
And the report calls for religion and education "to be freed from political
influence and that of radical movements."
The report also had criticism for
Western countries. It noted that following the terrorist attacks of Sept.
11, 2001, a number of countries have adopted security measures that have
often made it difficult for Arabs and Muslims to study and travel abroad.
Cultural exchanges were also interrupted. The report cited data from Arab
missions that indicate the number of Arab students in the United Stated
in 2002 had fallen 30% since 1999.
The five pillars
The report calls for overcoming
both the closing off by the West and the tendency of some elements within
Arab countries to reject all foreign culture. "The truth is that Arab culture
has no choice but to engage again in a new global experiment," the report
says.
As part of the solution to the knowledge
deficit the report proposes a reform based on "the five pillars of an Arab
knowledge society." They are:
-- Guaranteeing the key freedoms
of opinion, speech and assembly through good governance bounded by the
law. The report affirms that a climate of freedom is an essential prerequisite
of the knowledge society.
-- The full dissemination of high
quality education. The report calls for basic education to be universal
and extended to 10 years. It recommends that special attention be paid
to early childhood learning and to creating a system for lifelong learning.
-- Promoting homegrown science and
research and development, and joining the Information Revolution. The report
calls for research to be encouraged through funding and institutions. Arab
governments should also establish networks linking public, private and
international sectors.
-- Shifting rapidly toward knowledge-based
and value-added production. This means developing knowledge and technological
capabilities and diversifying economic structures and markets.
-- Developing an authentic, broad-minded
and enlightened Arab knowledge model. The report calls for "delivering
pure religion from political exploitation and respecting independent scholarship."
It also recommends reclaiming the intellectual strengths of Arab cultural
heritage; promoting cultural diversity in the region; and opening up to
other cultures abroad.
Putting into practice these goals
will not be easy in the current political context. After independence,
notes the report, "most Arab countries came under national political regimes
that represented little advance on the autocratic style of ancient and
more recent history." As a result, social and individual freedoms have
been restricted. Moreover, with many economies dependent on oil production
and exportation, little value is given to culture and education.
The report concludes by calling
for an opening up, based on "an intelligent and generous exchange with
non-Arab cultures and civilizations." As the world has learned the hard
way in recent years, success or failure in this task will affect both Arab
and non-Arab countries.
