In a November 22, 2010 article in the Saudi daily Al-Riyadh, Saudi columnist 'Abdallah bin Bakhit criticized Arab culture for glorifying war and warlords, and called on Arabs to instead learn from Western culture, which venerates scientists.
The following are excerpts:
Arab Culture Defines Progress by Missile Production
"The West produces airplanes and missiles, while we cannot produce [even] a needle. This is a common saying in our culture. I thought about it and it occurred to me... that this saying captures our basic approach to the world. The story of the missiles is an old one. In my childhood, we used to listen raptly to our teacher's monologue... about the sad state of the [Islamic] ummah in comparison to the West, which was producing powerful missiles. Even the man on the street, whenever he spoke of the backwardness of his ummah, the first sentence out of his mouth, accompanied by mournful sighs, would be: 'Look, the world is producing missiles and we can't produce [even] a needle.'
"Nowadays we hear about Iran producing its own missiles, and [in the past] we also heard the late Egyptian president, Gamal 'Abd Al-Nasser, announcing that Egypt was close to producing missiles. And we know for certain that Pakistan is producing the most powerful missiles in the world.
"This cylindrical device has left its impression on [our] notions of culture and power... We have found nothing in Western culture to impress us other than missiles. We revere them, weep over their absence, and their memory arouses our emotions. [As if] we lacked nothing of modern culture but missiles. We want to restore ourselves to the former glory of Saladin[1]... Muhammad the Conqueror,[2] Tariq Ibn Ziyad,[3] and also Caliph Harun Al-Rashid[4]... who would make a pilgrimage one year and lead raids the next..."
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"The History that Western Children Learn has No Connection Whatsoever to Missiles or Warlords"
"It doesn't enter our minds to move forward. We have even undone the progress the Muslims made in the course of their history. We do not see happiness as the loftiest human goal. We are not part of the world. Our aspirations are limited to fighting the other and triumphing over him. Nothing has motivated us to fight diseases, to conquer nature, or to decipher the secrets of the universe. A quick glance through our history textbooks reveals [passages about] various missiles, not even in their modern form. [On the other hand,] the history that Western children learn has no connection whatsoever to missiles or warlords. The names of the people [they hold] important [come from] a different realm: Darwin, Newton, Pasteur. None of these names have anything to do with war or politics. We are [all] familiar with a man named Einstein... When we speak of Einstein's greatness, we immediately mention the Theory of Relativity, science, and man's glory as man.
"Great Britain crossed the sea with its war fleet and conquered the four corners of the earth. Time has passed... [and today,] when you ask the English student which figures brought glory to his people, he gives you an endless list [of names]: Darwin, Newton, Russell, Shakespeare, and Edison [sic]. His list does not contain Richard the Lionhearted, Montgomery, or Churchill. The Spanish student does not praise Isabella, who expelled the Muslims from Andalusia; he praises the adventurer who crossed the Atlantic to discover America for his people.
"What do the young pupils in our schools or the older students know about Ibn Rushd?[5] Not a thing. The [average child's] brain is so full of [information about] powerful missiles that it has no room for [anything else]."
[1] Saladin (1137-1193) led the Muslims against the Crusaders and defeated them at the Battle of Hattin in 1187.
[2] Muhammad II (1429-1481), sultan of the Ottoman Empire, famous for his numerous military campaigns, among them the conquest of Constantinople in 1453.
[3] Tariq Ibn Ziyad (670-720), head of the army of Umayyad Caliph Walid I, led the conquest of Spain in 711.
[4] Harun Al-Rashid (763-809), the fifth Abbasid caliph, famous for his extensive campaigns against the Byzantines.
[5] Ibn Rushd, or Averroes (1126-1198), an Andalusian Muslim polymath, is considered by some to be one of the founding fathers of secular thought in Western Europe.
