Prof. G.M.Athar
INTRODUCTION:-Human progress without research, education and training is impossible. According to Dr Sir Mohammad Iqbal, “Javidan, paihum rawan, hardam jawan hai zindagi”. He has rightly said that the ‘jamood’, (stagnation) is equivalent to death. Humanity needs to keep track of reason, logic and evidence based knowledge.Those who are lost in superstition, fear and bias cause a big demage to the scientific knowledge and therefore hinder the human enlightenment and progress.The human audible limit and the limited vision is augmented by the technology to enlarge the knowable universe for knowing the unknown through research.The scientific knowledge created and the improvement made in the practice of an art through research becomes useful for humanity only when these are imparted to the new generation through education and training.
The Muslim World in which three most ancient civilisations, namely the Mesopotamian Civilisation dating back to 6.0 millennia before the present, Nile Valley Civilisation which existed 5.5 millennia ago and the Indus Valley Civilisation which was there at least 4.5 millennia ago, have flourished in the river valleys of Euraphrates and Tigris, Nile, and Indus respectively.The establishment of the Madina State in Arabia by Muhammad-e-Arabi in 622 A.D. which during the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) attained its greatest extent, as it covered 13,400,000 square kilometres, making it the largest empire the world had yet seen and the seventh largest ever to exist in history. The Islamic Caliphate finally took the form of the Ottoman Empire.The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Mehmed II. Under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, 1520–1566, the Ottoman Empire marked the peak of its power and prosperity, as well as the highest development of its governmental, social, and economic systems.The rise of nationalism within Europe in the nineteenth century and also because of the Western conspiracy led to the disintegration of Ottoman Empire into different nation-states in1923.
During the Mediaeval period different branches of knowledge such as Astronomy, Algebra, Medicine, History, Geography, Philosophy, Jurisprudence, Navigation etc. developed in the Muslim World within the confines of religion but where the Muslim scholars clashed with religious scriptures they were harshly punished by the intolerant rulers much like what was done by the Church with the Christian scholars during the European Dark Age. As a result of the religiosity in the Muslim World to the extent of defying reason and logic, the development of Science and Technology has been a big casualty in almost all Muslim countries of the contemporary world.
The Mashrique University of Science and Technology (MUST) has been envisioned to be the Oxford University and the Cambridge University of the Muslim World, where Science and Technology has to flourish without any interference of the state and religious clergymen. The main goals of the Muslim University of Science and Technology ( MUST)will be to have knowledge empowerment of the Greater Middle East which is at present inhabited mostly by the people having a traditional outlook and an orthodox mindset. Therefore the development of science and technology for the promotion of scientific temperament among the people of Greater Middle East and to have their socio-economic development and political empowerment are the fundamental objectives of the proposed Mashrique University of Science and Technology.
The like minded persons are accordingly requested to come forward to contribute to this joint mission as per their intellectual and material resources to translate the dream into a reality.The Mashrique University of Science and Technology will be established in Kashmir by 2030 if the people of Kashmir and the Government of Jammu and Kashmir co-operate in this regard. However, it is not necessary to establish the Mashrique University of Science and Technology only in Kashmir. It can be established anywhere in the Muslim World from Kazakhstan in the north to Tanzania in south and from Morocco in the west to Kashmir in the east.
Prof. G.A.Athar can be reached at ghathar@yahoo.co.in
