THE capacity of reflection is a gift bestowed upon man that enables him to transform himself and society.

In fact, a meaningful process of reflection leads individuals and nations towards self/collective consciousness and helps to develop the capacity to respond to the emerging challenges creatively.

The importance of self/collective reflection is highlighted significantly in the teachings of Islam. The Holy Quran has repeatedly stressed the use of the human intellect to improve society. For example, the Holy Book has clearly highlighted that God would not change the condition of people until they change themselves (13:11). This indicates that a deeper reflection is crucial for the realisation of change in an individual or nation’s life.

In the formative period of Islam, Muslims were relatively more reflective and engaged themselves with the prevailing knowledge of the time. It is because of this engagement that Muslim societies of that time were able to contribute significantly to different aspects of human knowledge such as philosophy, science, theology, art, literature etc.

Today, many Muslim countries, including Pakistan, are facing a range of challenges such as poor governance, poverty, ignorance, health issues, violence, etc. However, it has been observed that at times, external forces are viewed as being solely responsible for our woes instead of us taking the responsibility of responding to the issues.

This kind of approach obviously hinders societies in finding realistic responses to their challenges. Historically, it is evident that with the evolution of human society new challenges emerge. Therefore, societies need to find creative responses to face the emerging challenges. Hence, Muslim societies today need to re-examine the challenges they face as well as their approaches to responding to these daunting challenges.

Firstly, today, several Muslim societies are encountering challenges of governance in terms of political confrontation, social injustice, corruption etc. Due to the fragile political situation people in numerous Muslim states are suffering in many ways. The situation of polarisation and conflict has weakened the fabric of society to engage collectively on issues.

At present, societies are increasingly becoming complex as diverse views are emerging with the growing interaction of people around the world through information technology. Today people are more aware about their rights and want to be engaged in the decision-making process of their respective societies.

In this situation the demands of governance have changed. The governance system needs to have the capacity to provide the citizens with maximum opportunity to participate in the process of political and social decision-making. Space needs to be provided to the diverse voices emerging from within society. Hence, an inclusive approach is required to reduce the sense of exclusion in society, which leads towards polarisation.

A very quick glance over the Muslim world reveals that many of the countries are governed by dictators or hereditary monarchs. Democracy has not been able to take root in many countries. Except for a few countries, even democratic governments are not able to adopt an inclusive approach to accommodate diverse views. Rather, they try to implement their agenda by force.

As a result, democratic governments face resistance from their population. Democracy is not just about securing a majority and imposing the views of the majority. Rather, it is the kind of government which respects and accommodates diverse voices of society.

Secondly, we are living in a world where knowledge plays a vital role in determining the position of a society. Nations are judged on the basis of how they value and contribute knowledge to the larger society. However, unfortunately, for the last couple of centuries Muslim societies have not been able to contribute significantly to human knowledge.

Today many Muslim countries are facing acute challenges in educating their younger generation. For example, according to estimates, Pakistan has millions of children unable to attend school.

Universities are generally viewed as places where knowledge is produced and contributed to the larger society. However, data shows that there are very few universities from the Muslim world that have made it to the top 500 universities of the world.

Thirdly, poverty is another big issue in Muslim societies. For example, in Pakistan a considerable number of people live under the poverty line. It has also been observed that society is divided between the extremely poor and the extremely rich because of the unjust distribution of resources and opportunities.

Fourthly, violence has badly affected several Muslim societies, including Pakistan. Thousands of innocent people are killed by different kinds of violence for no reason. At times considering it an ‘external conspiracy’, no serious action is taken to respond to this serious issue.

Many other issues faced by the Muslim world can be mentioned here. The above-mentioned examples are enough to get a picture of the challenges that Muslim societies face today.

To understand the issues and respond to the challenges effectively, Muslim societies need to be more reflective. They need to comprehend the demands of modern times and devise some creative responses to deal with emerging challenges.

They must understand that without taking collective responsibility, responding to the considerable challenges would be very difficult.

The writer is an educator.

muhammad.ali075@yahoo.com