EVERY PERSON IS YOUR POTENTIAL FRIEND

of his action will be totally negative. He will not be able to obtain any positive result. You give great stress on a deep understanding of the age. Have Muslim scholars before you said the same sort of thing? Yes, there are examples of this among the ulema (Islamic scholars) in earlier times. For instance, in the first quarter of the 8th century, Wahab ibn Munabbih says that one of the pieces of wisdom from the family of the Prophet David is that it is incumbent on a wise person to be aware of his times. Likewise, Ibn al-Hajib al-Kurdi al-Maliki (d. AD 1248) says that among the characteristics of a scholar is that he should be aware of his times. The same point is made by Ibn Abd al-Barr (d. AD 1071) in his book al-Kafi fi Fiqh Ahl al-Madinah. Ibn Kathir (d. AD 1373) says about his teacher Burhanuddin al-Fazari that he was a scholar who was aware of his age. In the well-known book of Hanafi jurisprudence al-Durr alMukhtar, there is a very meaningful statement in this regard, according to which a person who does not have knowledge about his times is ignorant. The famous Hanafi jurisprudent Ibn Abidin Shami (d. 1889) commented that he who is unaware of the traditions of the people of his age is ignorant. In the light of all this, you can see that I have here only repeated something that numerous Muslim scholars in the past have said. In the light of your experiences of a life of 96 years so far, could you please tell us on what principles you think people should lead their lives? To ignore the problems and to discover opportunities and avail of them in a wise, planned manner. How do you view the overall conditions of Muslims in the context of modern times? Many Muslim thinkers imagine that modern thought is a challenge that is against them. But if one analyzes the matter properly, one will learn that modern thought, in terms of its essence, is not against Islam. It is not anti-Islamic, as many Muslim thinkers think it is. In fact, it is conducive to Islam when rightly understood. The fact is that the modern mind and modern culture are completely compatible with Islam if these are understood properly. In terms of their essence or reality, there is no clash between Islam and modern thought. So, the real problem, the actual problem, is not of changing modern thought, but rather, of changing the thinking of Muslims. And after this