The Arab civilization, like many other civilizations, once reigned at a cultural and intellectual apogee, but subsequently lost this position and found itself close to the lowest rungs of the civilizational hierarchy. However, the civilization has not completely lost the spirit that once made it indisputably great. If the region has lost its bearings in the turbulent contemporary world of technological unfamiliarity and moral ambiguity, then it needs to reach out to its past and bring back the principles of free enquiry and tolerance advocated by its faith, and find its way once again to the shore.

The achievements garnered under the auspices of Islam are testimony to the fact that this religion has contributed momentously on the path to contemporary civilization. Muslims were once writing sophisticated commentaries on Aristotle and Plato when Europe was submerged in the Dark Ages, and creating vast libraries when the West was writing on stone tablets. The role played by the Arab and Islamic civilizations in the centuries following the advent of Islam were giant steps for mankind in the sciences and arts, in transmitting the knowledge of antiquity to the West, in establishing forerunners of modern educational systems, and in forming pluralistic cosmopolitan states and societies. Today, it is the West that is hailed as the shining star of civilizations, while the Muslim lands are seen as degenerate societies wallowing in self-pity. An espousal of the ideas of Islam, however, will engender a renaissance in the Arab and other Islamic lands, that can effectively marry the traditional and cultural past of Islam with modern knowledge advances to create new, dynamic, well-equipped Islamic societies with creative solutions to contemporary problems.

The loss of glory and intellectual power in the Islamic Middle East brought on for the Arabs an era of comparative backwardness, diffidence and frustration enhanced by the stark contrast of progress and technological sophistication of the West. We can see this frustration bursting through in episodes of what we consider terrorism, what the terrorists delude themselves into seeing as acts of bravado, acts that might fool the world into believing that they are not as weak and unimpressive as they are perceived to be. In truth, crumbling buildings, shattered glass and the mournful cries of humanity cannot be seen as anything but cowardice and cruelty. True bravado would be in fixing the fundamental problem, the intellectual corrosion of the region.

The axis of power in today’s world lies between two poles, those of intellect and money. Although the Middle Eastern region is today lacking in intellectual power, it continues to have, in the gift of natural resources, considerable financial clout. The contemporary globalized world with its various and sundry technological advantages, such as the information superhighway, presents the region with the perfect setting to make hay while the black gold shines. Before this avenue of power is rendered negligible by depleting oil resources or innovation of alternate sources of power, the Middle East needs to invest in its intellectual resources thus securing for itself a sound foundation on which its society and economy can continue to flourish.

For the region to halt its decline and steer itself into prominence is going to require vast amounts of effort, patience and perseverance, and for leaders and the masses to work with mutual trust and understanding. It cannot be the effort of a few men but that of every individual in the entity. It cannot be a short-term effort or sporadic initiatives. It will require unity and coherence. Good leaders across the Arab world are essential to will the nation (the pan-Arab nation) in a new direction. The Muslim ummah is today a bitterly divided entity. The pluralistic diversity of yesteryears is frayed along lines of economic and ideological differences, hardened by ignorance. The brawls of the Shia versus the Sunni, the modern versus the orthodox, the democratic versus the theocratic, the rich versus the poor, the intellectual versus the uneducated, and faith versus reason have worn the brotherhood of Islam down to shreds.

Leaders across the region need to work in tandem to awake the masses to the sheer necessity of a renaissance. The right kind of guidance and leadership will ignite the dream to change the fate of their nation and spread like fire within the collective bosom of the people. This fire needs to be spread by whatever means available at the disposal of the leaders: pan-Arab media, information technology, educational institutions, religious institutions, international diplomatic relations, and scholar and professional exchange programs. The fire also needs also to be stoked, by financial resources. Nations having a surplus of finances must be willing to invest in development in those that are not as fortunate. Only when the Arab world unites to work together as one, as it did once under the Caliphate to produce a Golden Age, will the great civilization be reborn.

Educational excellence is an essential pathway to regain the cultural admiration, dignity and prestige that the Islamic world warrants. A renaissance that will lift the region to surpass its former glory has now begun. With the tools of education and technology, the Golden Age of Islamic civilization is now ready to be reincarnated.