By Akbar Jamal
One of our respected teachers used to say…
This goes back to a time when, especially in societies like Pakistan, those who admired Britain and the West would often repeat the same argument:
“If you truly believe Britain, the West, America, and their civilization are evil, then why do you use their mobile phones, their cars, their technology, Facebook, YouTube, and all the other social media platforms they created?”
They would say it with sarcasm:
“If you claim to be the enemy of the British while using what they produce, then that is proof of your hypocrisy.”
Our teacher would answer like this:
If Islam and disbelief, or Eastern and Western civilizations, are compared honestly, many Western historians, researchers, and scholars themselves admit that the development of both software and hardware rests in part on the scientific achievements of the Islamic world, especially the great centers of learning in Baghdad and Andalusia.
Take the great Muslim physician and surgeon Al-Zahrawi. He designed and refined dozens of surgical instruments, many of which still form the basis of modern surgery today.
The Muslim geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi produced the most accurate world maps of his age, maps that later generations of geographers and explorers relied upon. Al-Jazari built automatic machines, water-lifting devices, and mechanical systems that are now recognized as some of the earliest foundations of mechanical engineering and robotics.
That is simply how this world works. Nothing reaches maturity overnight. A child enters the world today but needs nearly twenty years before becoming capable of carrying great responsibilities. Scientific discoveries follow the same path. The inventions made by Muslim scholars eight or nine centuries ago also grew step by step.
They appeared, developed, and gradually advanced. The real tragedy began when the political decline of the Islamic world set in.
As governments weakened, collapsed, and broke apart, the greatest damage fell upon the knowledge, science, and craftsmanship that had been flourishing under their protection. When governments can no longer support their scholars or provide the means to preserve and expand their discoveries, scientific progress naturally slows and eventually stalls.
The great centers of learning lost the resources needed to sustain research.
Instead of thinking about new discoveries, many scholars became occupied with something much simpler: finding enough food to survive. Their talents were no longer spent on invention but on earning a living. Under such conditions, scientific progress inevitably comes to a halt, leaving behind a vacuum.
That vacuum was later filled by the British, who invested in scientists, expanded technology, and strengthened scientific institutions. Yet they themselves had studied the intellectual legacy whose foundations had been laid by Muslim scholars. In the end, the crown of scientific and technological leadership passed to those capable students, and the world came to associate technological progress with them.
But Muslims have never sat mocking those British students by saying, “The inventions and technology you boast about today are really the product of the labor and sacrifices of our forefathers.”
The reason is simple. Ability and talent are gifts from Allah Almighty, and only Allah knows whom He grants those gifts so they may be used for the benefit of humanity.
Once we understand that divine reality, it becomes easier to accept that technology, developed through the abilities Allah has given people over generations, belongs to humanity as a whole. If it is a shared inheritance, then no one has the right to shame others for using it.
The early inventions of Muslim scholars were later advanced through the abilities Allah granted to Europeans and the British. To claim that one part belongs exclusively to us and another exclusively to them is nothing more than ignorance. It reflects a failure to understand the wisdom behind Allah’s decree and the Quranic philosophy of gratitude.
If anyone deserves blame, it is we ourselves.
Muslims should ask why they allowed division to replace unity. Why did they tear apart the shelter that protected them? Why did they loosen their hold on obedience to Allah Almighty and His Messenger (PBUH)?
Because of that neglect, the winds of knowledge shifted from the East to Europe. There, discoveries found new wings. Cities and ports flourished, and people’s lives improved through progress and prosperity.
This is the essence of the matter.
First, those who defend Britain or the West have no moral right to mock Muslims for using technology.
Second, Muslims must honestly reflect on the causes of their own decline: internal division, political conflict, and neglect of obedience to Allah Almighty and His Messenger (PBUH). They must restore their unity, rebuild their political strength and stability, and gather once more under the guidance of Allah Almighty and His Messenger (PBUH).
Since the discussion has reached this point, it is worth looking at the present relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan through the same lens.
Some people in Pakistan argue:
“Afghans studied in Pakistan, worked there, earned their livelihoods there, and received religious education in Pakistani madrasas. If Afghanistan considers Pakistan so bad, then it should return everything it received from Pakistan and abandon the knowledge gained in our schools and seminaries.”
Afghans reply:
“Afghans fought both the Soviet Union and America, drove invading powers from the region, and protected Pakistan first from the Soviet threat and later from the American one. If Pakistan considers Afghanistan so bad, then it should stop naming its missiles and military equipment after Ghori and Abdali and choose different names.”
The reality is that the knowledge taught in Pakistan’s schools and religious institutions is not Pakistan’s private property. Like all beneficial knowledge, it is part of the shared inheritance of humanity bestowed by Allah Almighty and His Messenger (PBUH). Speaking of returning it therefore has no real meaning.
The same is true of figures such as Ghori, Abdali, Shihab al-Din, and Mahmud Ghaznawi. They belong to the shared historical heritage of the Islamic Ummah, especially the Muslims of Afghanistan and the Indian subcontinent. Every Muslim has the right to honor and use their names for lawful and legitimate purposes.
For that reason, neither the knowledge acquired in Pakistan nor the prestige Pakistan derives from names such as Ghori and Abdali in its rivalry with India can simply be returned or reclaimed. They are not anyone’s personal property brought into this world at birth.
If there is anything that should be returned, it is the atmosphere of division, political conflict, and mistrust.
The political tensions that now define relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan can largely be traced back to the events after 9/11, when Pakistan joined the American-led coalition. Had Pakistan not chosen that path, it is quite possible that the deep mistrust, confrontation, and hostility now dividing the two Muslim countries would never have reached today’s level.
So if anything from the West should be rejected or returned, it is not technology.
It is the destructive plans that spread conflict and discord.
In other words:
O clever politicians and schemers of America and the West, we welcome every technology that benefits humanity. But we will never accept the projects that bring destruction, war, and corruption to human beings.
Your plans of ruin and discord belong to you.
The technology that serves mankind, a shared inheritance of humanity, belongs to all people.
