Religious Prejudice And Obsession Of Pakistanis With Religion Have Been The Biggest Hindrance In Their Scientific Progress
By S.
Arshad, New Age Islam
24 January
2022
Pakistanis
Have Given Less Importance To Science Since The Beginning
Main
Points:
1. 1.Pakistan
Academy of Science has not contributed much to scientific progress in the
country.
2. 2.Pakistanis
do not get inspiration from non-Muslims scientists.
3. 3.The holy
Prophet pbuh asked Muslims to learn even from the Chinese.
4. 5.Pakistani
scientist Dr Abdus Salam is ignored in Pakistan due to his religious
affiliation.
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Aversion of
Muslims to science is known worldwide. In Pakistan it is witnessed more
prominently. Though the country boasts of being a truly Islamic country, it has
not appreciated scientific efforts or achievements by citizens or contributed
appropriately to the promotion of
science. A religious community that has produced great scientists in the
Middle Ages, is now empty-handed so far as scientific achievements in Pakistan
are concerned. Muslims as a whole have lagged behind in scientific endeavour
throughout the world because of their wrong perception of knowledge and because
of wrong interpretation of Quranic verses. The Quran time and again asks
Muslims to do research work on the creations, on animals, on birds, on stones,
on astronomy but the Muslim scholars have made Muslims believe that scientific
knowledge is corruptive and it makes Muslims materialistic. Therefore, Muslims
in the world collectively drifted away from science in the modern ages.
Pakistan
could have made some difference in the field of science as it boasts of some
high profile scientists who were educated in the Western universities and
educational institutions. It produced some scientists like Abdus Salam,
Hargobind Khorana and Chandrashekhar but Pakistanis do not consider them role
models because of their religious ideology. Hargobind Khurana and Chandrasekhar
were educated in Pakistan but were Hindus. Dr Abdus Salam is not considered a
Muslim because he belonged to the Ahmadiyya community. Here too, Pakistani
mentality is not in accordance with the Islamic spirit as in the initial stages
of Islam, the prophet pbuh asked captive Jews to teach one Muslim each for
being freed.
Islam does
not prevent Muslims from learning or obtaining knowledge from non-Muslims. A
famous hadiths enjoins Muslims to go as far as China to acquire knowledge. Now
in those days China was not a Muslim country but was known as a centre of
knowledge and wisdom.
Al Beruni,
the famous Iranian scientist came to India and learned Indian language to
acquire knowledge about sciences. He knew Arabic, Persian, Greek, Hebrew and is
known as an Indologist. He known as one of the greatest Muslim scientists and
researchers for his zeal to earn knowledge from whatever sources it could be
acquired and in this endeavour he truly imbibed the Islamic spirit of pursuing
knowledge.
According
to a nationwide survey of scientific aptitude of primary and middle classes of
Pakistan conducted in January 2022, 90 percent of students have very weak
understanding of Mathematics and Sciences. This speaks of the poor state of
sciences in Pakistan. Though Pakistan Academy of Sciences has been established
for the purpose of promoting sciences in Pakistan, it exists only in name and
has not contributed much to the promotion of sciences in Pakistan. Prominent
Pakistani scientist goes to the extent of saying that PAS should be dissolved
because it is good for nothing.
The main
reason for Pakistan’s backwardness in the field of science and technology is
its thrust on religion since its inception. Pakistan was founded on religious
lines and Pakistanis boasted in this fact. But soon after its formation,
religious scholars and organizations put stress on making Pakistan a
Shariah-ruled nation. Since any state claiming to be Islamic cannot ignore the
sectarian challenges, Pakistan also became a centre of sectarian violence and
different sects within the Muslim community became acrimonious to others. This
is the reason, Pakistan could not prosper in the field of science.
Today, the
common Pakistani Muslim does not have deep interest in sciences. The government
also does not have any ambitious programme to promote interest in sciences.
Leave alone, appreciating Hindu scientists of Pakistan, they do not appreciate
Muslim scientists of India like APJ Abdul Kalam because he was an Indian. Dr
Kalam could have been a role model for Pakistani students but for their
political bias. In an interview with the BBC, the famous Pakistani scientist Dr
Abdul Qadeer had said that Dr APJ Abdul Kalam was an ‘average’ scientist. This
political bias of Pakistanis has done them a lot of damage as they cannot take
inspiration from anyone who does not ‘belong’ to them.
One reason
for the backwardness of Pakistan in the field of science is their obsession
with religion. There are extremist religious organizations but not private
organizations trying to promote scientific thinking and temperament among
Pakistanis. Sectarian differences have done the most of the damage as violence,
terrorist attacks and sectarian violence have become a daily routine.
Despite
completing 70 years of its existence, Pakistan has not been able to produce any
great scientist worth mention except Dr Abdus Salam while India has made many
achievements during this period. The reason for this is that India got brains
like Maulana Abul Kalam Azad who formed the initial infrastructure and policy
for the promotion of science and technology. India encouraged every one with
scientific abilities irrespective of religion and caste to work for the nation.
The result was that Muslim scientists like APJ Abdul Kalam made big
contributions in the scientific progress of the country.
This is not
the case with Pakistan. Right from the beginning, religion became the driving
force of the national polity and sectarian bias was at the forefront of any
policymaking process. Because of the unprofessional attitude of Pakistani
bureaucrats, a great Islamic scholar like Muhammad Asad decided to leave
Pakistan though he wanted Pakistan to be a truly Islamic country in word and
spirit.
That
Pakistani leaders are more obsessed with religion and with its protection is
evident from the new imposed in schools which make it mandatory for students to
learn the holy Quran in schools. The law was enforced in huff without any
pre-planning. It has left students confused. There are millions of madrasas in
Pakistan where Quran, hadith and jurisprudence is taught. And almost all the
students studying in modern schools, get education of Quran at home. So, even
if the Quran reading was made mandatory, a similar programme for the promotion
of interests in sciences among the school students could have been adopted by
the government.
A study on
the poor state of science education in Pakistan revealed that “the examination
system emphasized memorisation and ignored the application of concepts. The
science course content was lengthy and irrelevant and did not meet
international standards.
A nation
can collectively do research on science and take long term projects only when
its society is stable and has a collective scientific and rational temperament.
In Pakistani, opposing forces and ideologies pull the nation in opposing
directions.
Overall,
religious, social and political factors have hindered the progress of science
and technology in Pakistan. Religious prejudices and bias are at the root of
scientific backwardness of Pakistan. Pakistan will need to overcome their
religious prejudices and adopt the Quranic attitude of research and inquiry to
become a truly modern and scientific society.
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