Muslims need urgent economic, social reforms

12/23/2004 9:00:00 AM GMT

Source: The Star Online

Muslims urgently need social and economic reforms to develop their nations and restore the image and the glory of Islam, said the Raja Muda or the “Crown Prince” of the sultanate of Perak.

Dr. Nazrin Shah also said that the Islamic ummah or community is viewed by many today as a backward society that is fragile, enfeebled, dominated by poverty and deprivation and lacks all forms of cohesion and leadership.

Raja Nazrin stressed that there was an urgent need to solve Muslims’ problems in the 21st century and plan for an economic resurgence that combines the international dynamics of the current century with the fixed tenets of Islam, its eternal beliefs and the principles of Islamic justice.

"Many Muslim countries are still underachievers, falling even further behind in an increasingly competitive and sophisticated world,” he said on Wednesday in his speech entitled: The Ummah: Challenges of the New Realities during the International Conference of Islamic Scholars in Jakarta.

Raja Nazrin noted that the Industrial Revolution had completely resulted in disastrous consequences for many Muslim nations.

For example, he said, South-East Asia enjoyed a wealth of natural resources such as rubber, tin, minerals, oil, sugar and rice. “Ironically, whilst our commodities were in great demand, we ourselves failed to capitalize on them fully. Asia served only as the backyard to the newly industrialized countries of the West,” he added.

The Crown Prince also said that the World Development Report 2005 said that about 46% of the Organization of the Islamic Conference countries could be classified as low-income economies.

However, he praised Malaysia and Indonesia, saying that they are role models of development and that they had proven that economic development, modernization and technology were not incompatible with Islam.

“The Muslim world must allocate greater priority and resources to its educational needs as the major drivers of economic growth in this era of knowledge, technology and innovation. He said.

“The transformation of commodity-based economies into knowledge-based economies requires the commitment of governments and all other stakeholders to place relevant education and up-to-date skills training at the apex of national development agendas.” He added.