Why Do Others Progress?

A question raised since the Renaissance in the middle of the nineteenth century, a question worthy of standing and answer it with the aim of moving the Arab societies to the global civilization.

 No doubt that this question was raised by the pioneers of the Arab Renaissance, where the focus is on the production of knowledge, Here is the need to focus on the tools, concepts and educational curricula, which are able to bring about the change required through its role in the formulation of creative and productive mind.

The progress of any society stems from the element or actors and this is the case of ancient and modern societies.

Philosophy was the essential element of the Greek experience, And science and experimentation were the essential element of the Western cognitive field. Galileo and Descartes brought European culture from the theology to the age of physics and chemistry, from dealing with the supernatural to research in nature itself.

If the two main elements of Greek and European culture are philosophy, science and experimentation, the analysis of the Arab cultural mind indicates that it focuses primarily on rhetoric, literature, jurisprudence and grammar, which means that the main element in the field of Arabic knowledge is language, statement, jurisprudence or language sciences.

A great difference between the Arab cultural output and the Western one , this deals with nature and the universe and that deals with the statement and the verbal formula and explain the tone and create them without doubt.

Dealing with the texts is quite different from dealing with nature and the universe because the texts are characterized by their steadiness and serenity, unlike nature, where it characterized by change and depth.

Science, knowledge and experience are the basis of  Western societies, which explains their progress and success while we find the opposite in Arab and Islamic societies, where political power dominated the reality of economic, social and intellectual life.

Therefore, in order to achieve real renaissance we need to free minds and societies from all the mistakes of the past and to move into a society of knowledge and innovation and to deal with the present and the culture of science, knowledge and respect for man as a human and culturally productive.

Dr.Khalaf al-Miftah

E&T: Lama Razzok