How to Lead, Even in Defeat Vol

The selection of AI-Idrisi for the mammoth task of preparing maps of the whole of the known world shows, as the historian J.H. Kramers has pointed out, that at that time the intellectual and academic superiority of Muslims was accepted by one and all. Roger II certainly appreciated the worth of Muslim scholars: he encouraged and sponsored them in their work and—in the words of one historian— “made Sicily a major meeting place for Christian and Arab scholars.” Though defeated on the field of battle, Muslims continued their intellectual and academic dominance, even in the court of their conqueror. This was because at that time Muslims were far and wide the most advanced race in almost every field of knowledge. The legacy of Islam lives on in European languages, which retain many words of Arabic origin. Muslims today complain of their political, economic and military subjection to non-Muslim nations. They think that they can take back, by protest and militancy, what has been seized from them. But the case of Roger II of Sicily—his respect for Muslim scholars and their continued intellectual domination even after military defeat—shows that the solution to the problems of the Muslims in the modern age lies in their cultivating technological capability, and establishing dominance in the field of modern scientific knowledge. This can be achieved—not by protests and militant “fundamentalism,” but by earnest academic endeavour alone; it can be acquired by seeking to give to the world, rather than just take. Phototypeset by The World, Nehru Place, New Delhi. Printed by J. K. Offset Printers, Delhi. Annual Subscription Rates: INLAND Rs 36 Supporting Subscription Rs 200 ABROAD Air Mail US $ 20/£12 Surface Mail US $ 10/£ 6 Supporting Subscription US $ 50/£30 Cheques, drafts, postal orders and money orders should be made payable to: ‘Al-Risala Monthly’