Malaysia's leader chastises Muslims for being 'backward'

[dArKeR]

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday urged Muslim countries to equip themselves with modern knowledge and weapons to fight oppression by world powers and restore their civilization to its former glory.

In a speech opening an international conference of Islamic scholars, Mr. Mahathir chastised Muslims for their "weakness and backwardness" and said they are being humiliated in the U.S.-led international fight against terrorism.

Muslims were once a global force in fields as diverse as military conquest, scholarship and architecture, but they failed to keep up with the development of Europeans, Mr. Mahathir said.

http://theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030710.wmalaysia0710/BNStory/International/

http://darkerxdarker.tripod.com/

[AnnabelLee]

1. Dr. M is stepping down soon

& is really speaking his mind before he does.

[Character Assassin]

2. I applaud him for it.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday urged Muslim countries to equip themselves with modern knowledge and weapons to fight oppression by world powers and restore their civilization to its former glory.

Excellent idea. However, intellectual advancement has tended to go hand-in-hand with intellectual freedom and prosperity. The Caliphate years of a millennium past had these attributes in places like Eygpt and Bagdad. Later on, a similar golden age happened in Muslim Spain where the intellectual fevor was increased by the synbiosis of the Muslim, Christian and Jewish cultures.

When religion starts to trump intellectual freedom, as happened in both Islam and Renaissance Catholicism, the fertile ground becomes barren. The Islamic countries, for whatever reason, never have re-developed a societal culture that encourages intellectual freedom.

It's noble, but a mighty tall order.

[maxsolomon]

3. "military conquest" is a field of endeavor?

muslims should strive to catch up in the field of "military conquest"? may i make the humble suggestion that they concentrate on something constructive, like architecture & women's rights, before they start more wars?

[Julien Sorel]

4. Architecture and women's rights didn't put muslims where

they are, and architecture and women's rights won't get them out of the position they are in. They have been subjugated by warfare, and until they have at least the ability to make war on the same basis as the West, that position of subjugation will not change.

[Character Assassin]

5. Huh?

They have been subjugated by warfare, and until they have at least the ability to make war on the same basis as the West, that position of subjugation will not change.

I'm sorry, it's not clear from your post if you mean that they are subjugated now militarily by the West or if they are militarily subjugating themselves.

Please clarify.

[maxsolomon]

6. yeah, clarify

seems they got their asses subjugated militarily in ww1. that's a LOONG time ago.

i have no wish to see more war, period.

ending the whole no driver's license, burka & female genital excision thing would go a long way for me personally.