Unawareness of the Modern Age

UNAWARENESS OF THE MODERN AGE Rational investigation in the modern age is based on empirical realities that are very useful for Islam based on firmly established truths. Had the Ulama understood Western thought deeply, they would have welcomed it instead of becoming its enemy. I n November 1967, I wrote an article, titled Daur-e Jadeed ko Jaanne ki Zarurat (Need for Understanding the Modern Age), was published in the Urdu weekly alJamiat. In it, I pointed out that: The revolution in thought and action that has overtaken the world has produced many challenges for Islam. However, it is such a tragedy that while the ummah has been faced with this serious situation for a long time, no serious efforts have been made to understand the modern problems. In 1894, the Nadwatul Ulama, Lucknow, appointed a committee consisting of leading Indian Ulama whose task was to suggest sensible reforms in the madrasa curriculum. On this occasion, Maulana Shah Muhammad Husain noted: One fault of the current curriculum [the Dars-eNizami] is that it does not give us any course of