Summary of the Speech of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad

Global Peace Crisis In The Muslim World (16th February 2008)


First of all I would like to say that I really enjoyed the speech because it had really logical points towards the problems that Muslims have today. Content of the speech was really good, really impressive.
I have taken some notes from the speech and wanted to share it;

Global Peace Crisis in the Muslim World

-We are supposed to look at the mistakes that we make rather than to blame others’ mistakes.
-Crisis are not happening only today but we have been having crisis since 500 years
-Old scholars studied science that we call secular (worldly) knowledge with the revealed knowledge together and they became the best scientist, best mathematician…
-Once we started to think like as if the first command “Ikra” refers to the study on religion only, we, Muslims, no longer studied worldly knowledge.
-Finally Muslims found themselves very far behind the Europeans.
-Europeans achieved their renaissance but Muslims fell down to their dark age.
-Today there are thousands of different views on religion. Muslims today follow more than 1000 religion not only one “Islam”. They are divided with the different teachings and understandings of Islam like Shi’a, Wahhabi, Sunni…
-More Muslims are killed by the Muslims than they are killed by others today. Why because one doesn’t like other, each idea holder claims that the real Muslim is himself but the rest is none.
-The very main reasons why we are in this dark age today are; poverty, illiteracy and breaking up the ties with the ummah.
-“Yes we can effort any equipments and weapons today but do you think our enemies would sell us the weapons that can kill them?”
-“We are asking others to defend us!”
-“When we know what’s the cause we will also find the solutions!”
-“To them (pointing the non-Muslim powers behind peace conversations), global peace means getting rid off Muslims.”
-“Peace is not for us”
-“Today there is more than 1.3 billion Muslim in the world but no power. Because we are divided.” (He also mentioned how they divided us to nation states.)
-We have so much loyalty to the nation but not to the religion
-On the other hand most powerful countries can ignore even UN.
-“We are the people to be blamed.”
-Solution is Return to the fundamental Islam.
-We have left the Qur’an behind that’s the reason we have crisis today.
-Suicide bombers, did we gain anything with that?? Muslims today merely reacting and behave with the emotions. We are told to go to the heaven when we such things but we can’t be sure plus we destroy other Muslims’ image. Being angry and acting with anger didn’t work.
-We are supposed to plan the future and protect the honor of our religion.
-In fact we are in control of others but not ours.
-There are many things that we can do. There are many resources that we have at our disposal. What is needed is merely-the will to do it, As Muslims, we must be grateful for the guidance of our religion, we must do what needs to be done, willingly and with determination. Allah has not raised us, the leaders, above the others so we may enjoy power for ourselves only. The power we wield is for our people, for the ummah, for Islam. We must have the will to make use of this power judiciously, prudently, concertedly. InsyaAllah we will triumph in the end.