We must embrace knowledge if Arab world is to progress

Dubai: It is no longer a secret that the gathering, creating and imparting of knowledge in Arab and Islamic countries is pitiful.

But today, as we embark on a century whose future will be governed by those who produce, manage, and engage in meaningful production of knowledge, the opportunity for the region to be part of this future is still attainable.

How the region deals with knowledge determines where it will stand in the coming decades, and what identity it will assume, to how it relates to itself internally, and how it engages with the rest of the world. In other words, the extent of how we manage our state of knowledge will govern where we stand in the future.

Hasn't the time truly come to address this important aspect of how the Arab and Islamic world treats knowledge?

Perhaps it is within this context that the speech by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai at the opening of the Knowledge Conference, be perceived. The call for a rejuvenation of knowledge by the Arab and Islamic world is serious in its attempt, as much as promising in its call.

Innovation

But why should the region be even slightly concerned with the status of its knowledge? Why should it even be bothered by how its philosophers, writers, poets, scientists, artists, intellectuals, publishers and other producers of knowledge are treated, perceived and dealt with?

It is true that historically the region was capable of contributing to human civilisation only when this particular group of knowledge producers was given the freedom, the trust, and capacity to innovate and participate in the development of their societies. Enabling creativity to thrive has assured the Arab and Islamic world an unprecedented level of achievement in the fields of science, arts, culture and literature.

The region excelled because it was receptive when it came to innovation, welcoming when it came to thought, and experimental when it came to ideas. This approach was applicable to both the knowledge that was produced within its boundaries, as well as to that produced in other regions, cultures, and civilisations.

But is it realistic to call on a revival in seeking knowledge after so long a time of ignorance and underdevelopment? Is the call built on an illusion? Based on the impossible? Could the Arab and Islamic world really be at the forefront once again? And how important is this endeavour?

The bitter truth is that there is no choice except to embrace such an undertaking as modern times compels it to take such a course. This is because the Arab and Islamic world cannot afford to be entrapped with the dangers that are brought about by extremism, with the term being defined as narrowness in looking at different views, perception of life in general, and the development of societies.

Otherwise, is it reasonable that in the Arab world today, there are no less than 65 million illiterates, two-thirds of whom are women? Is it reasonable that no less than 10 million children between the ages of 6 to 15-years-old are out of school? Is it reasonable that a bare 0.6 per cent of the population uses the internet? And is it reasonable that the vast majority of the Muslim world still lives in poverty?