The Age of Alternatives

with the fact that he has a better option in terms of the peaceful method. One such example is modern Turkey. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Turkey was part of the Ottoman Empire, which comprised about thirty present-day countries. But during the First World War, the Ottoman Empire disintegrated and Turkey’s political expansion was brought to an end. However, in the wake of the dissolution of their empire, the leaders of modern Turkey took some drastic measures and searched for an alternative to political expansion— that is, the development of science and technology in their country. As a result of this, within a short period, Turkey emerged as the most developed country of the Muslim world. The coming of the age of alternatives is a very positive sign. It means that history is moving from war to peace. Present-day Muslims are living in a political dichotomy, that is, in a condition in which there is the ruler and the ruled. They have found themselves reduced to the ruled category, which they find unacceptable. So they are trying to change this state of affairs and to bring themselves back into the ruler category. But this dichotomous thinking is totally unrealistic. They are unaware of the fact that there exists a third option for