A large number of highly talented Muslim professionals live in North America, Australia, Europe, etc., who can assist in transferring science and technology to the Muslim countries. The following solutions are offered to achieve this technology transfer:

A central registry-clearinghouse should be developed under the charge of a reputable Muslim Organization. All Muslim scientists, engineers, health professionals, etc., who are willing to assist in the development of Muslim countries should be invited to register.

All Muslim countries should be informed of the availability of this Muslim Talent Pool. The countries should contact the Clearinghouse, detailing their specific needs. The host country can request the services of certain individual(s) listed in the Talent Pool. All expenses including travel, boarding and lodging should preferably be borne by the host country; in special circumstances the Clearinghouse may subsidize the expenses. It is expected that the Muslim experts would volunteer their time and will not accept any fee, honorarium or salary for their services.

The Clearinghouse should be funded by wealthy Muslim nations to defray the set-up costs and operating expenses.

Programs to assist developing countries are in existence; these include: The International Atomic Energy Agency, located in Vienna, Austria; TOKTEN (Transfer of Technology Through Expatriate Nationals)-a Program financed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), WHO (World Health Organization) and other U.N. branches. OIC (Organization of Islamic Conference), IDB (Islamic Development Bank), ISESCO (Islamic Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization) and other philanthropic Islamic organizations at the International level can actively participate and cooperate in achieving Science and Technology Transfer to the developing Muslim countries.


INTRODUCTION

The rise of the Muslims to the zenith of civilization in a period of four decades was based on Al-Islam's emphasis on learning. This is obvious when one takes a look at the Qur'an and the traditions of Prophet Muhammad (SAS) which are filled with references to learning, education, observation, and the use of reason. The very first verse of the Qur'an revealed to the Prophet of Al-Islam (SAS) on the night of power (Laylathul Qadr) in the month of Ramadan in 611 A.D. reads:

"Read: In the name of thy Lord who created man from a clot. Read: And they Lord is the Most Generous Who taught by the pen, taught man that which he knew not." Surah Al-Alaq, 96:1-5


"And they shall say had we but listened or used reason, we would not among the inmates of the burning fire." Al Mulk, 67:10

"Are those who have knowledge and those who have no knowledge alike? Only the men of understanding are mindful." Al Zumar, 39:9.

The Qur'an exhorts the Muslims to scientific research:

" And whoso bringeth the truth and believeth therein such are the dutiful." Surah Al Zumar, 39:33

Every Muslim man's and every Muslim woman's prayer should be:

"My Lord! Enrich me with knowledge." Surah TA HA, 20:114.

The pursuit of knowledge and the use of reason, based on sense of observation is made obligatory on every Muslim man and woman.

The following traditions of the Prophet (SAS) supplement the foregoing teachings of the Qur'an in the following way:

(1) Seek knowledge "even though it be in China."

(2) "The acquisition of knowledge is compulsory for every Muslim, whether male or female."

(3) "The ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr."

(4) "Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave."

(5) "God has revealed to me, 'Whoever walks in the pursuit of Knowledge I facilitate for him the way to heaven.'

(6) "The best form of worship is the pursuit of knowledge."

(7) "Scholars should endeavor to spread knowledge and provide education to people who have been deprived of it. For, where knowledge is hidden it disappears."

(8) Some one asked the Prophet (SAS): "Who is the biggest scholar?" He replied: "He who is constantly trying to learn from others, for a scholar is every hungry for more knowledge."

(9) "Seek for knowledge and wisdom, for whatever the vessel from which it flows, you will never be the loser."

(10) "Thinking deep for one hour (with sincerity) is better than 70 years of (mechanical) worship."

(11) "Worship without knowledge, has no goodness in it and knowledge without understanding has no goodness in it. And the recitation of the Qur'an, which is not thoughtful

has no goodness in it."

(12) "To listen to the words of the learned and to instill unto others the lessons of science is better than religious exercises."

(13) "Acquire knowledge: it enables its possessor to distinguish right from the wrong, it lights the way to heaven; it is our friend in the desert, our society in solitude, our companion when friendless; it guides us to happiness; it sustains us in misery; it is an ornament among friends and an armor against enemies."


MUSLIM HERITAGE IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Prophet Muhammad(SAS) was able to unite the Arab tribes who had been torn by revenge, rivalry, and internal fights, and produced a strong nation, that acquired and ruled simultaneously the two known empires at that time, namely the Persian and Byzantine Empires. The Islamic Empire extended from the Atlantic Ocean on the West to the borders of China on the East. Only 80 years after the death of their Prophet the Muslims crossed to Europe to rule Spain for more than 700 years. The Muslims preserved the cultures of the conquered lands.

The Islamic Empire for more than 1,000 years remained the most advanced and civilized nation in the world. This is because Al-Islam stressed the importance and respect of learning, forbade destruction, developed in Muslims the respect for authority, discipline, and tolerance for other religions. The Muslims recognized excellence and hungered intellectually. The teachings of Qur'an and Sunnah drove many Muslims to their accomplishments in sciences and medicine.

By the tenth century their zeal and enthusiasms for learning resulted in all essential Greek medical and scientific writings being translated into Arabic in Damascus, Cairo, and Baghdad. Arabic became the international language of learning and diplomacy. The center of scientific knowledge and activity shifted eastward, and Baghdad emerged as the capitol of the scientific world. The Muslims became scientific innovators with originality and productivity. The rise of Muslims to the zenith of civilization lasted over a thousand years. During this millennium Muslims contributed vastly to the enhancements of arts, science and cultural growth of mankind.

For example Islamic medicine is one of the most famous and best known facets of Islamic civilization, and in which the Muslims most excelled. The Muslims were the great torchbearers of international scientific research. Some of the best and most eloquent praises of science ever written came from the pens of Muslim scientists who considered their work to be acts of worship. The same motives led to the establishment of Al-Azhar(800 A.D.) the first university in the world. They hit the "source ball of knowledge" over the fence to Europe. In the words of Campbell, "The European medical system is Arabian not only in origin but also in its structure. The Arabs are the intellectual forbearers of the Europeans." In fact the Muslims are directly responsible for the European Renaissance.

At the apex of its glory around the tenth century Cordoba, the capital of Muslim Spain, had pavements, street lighting, three hundred public baths, parks, palaces, one hundred thousand houses and seventy libraries. There were close to half a million books in a single library whereas the whole of France contained much less than this figure. The Muslim physicians performed complicated eye surgery 600 years earlier than in Europe. The Muslim scientists used paper 200 years before Europe, they had paper mills, banks, police stations and invented spherical trigonometry(indispensable for space sciences) in the late 10th century, solved equations of the third and fourth degree, binomials to the nth degree, and developed differential and integral mathematics. They discovered the force of gravitation, blood circulation, laws of motion, and even developed they theory of evolution and taught it in their universities. They measured the circumferences of the earth and value for specific gravities correct to three decimal places almost a thousand years ago. There is hardly a field of knowledge where Muslims did not research, think, or investigate and explore or

invent something exemplary.


PRESENT STATUS OF MUSLIM UMMAH

The status of the Muslim Ummah is of great concern to all the Muslim intellectuals. No one can deny that the Muslim Ummah occupies a position which is at the lowest rung of the ladder in the world. The share of the Muslims in Nobel Prizes and the Olympic Games is close to nothing. Muslims' contributions to literature both general and scientific is marginal at the best. It is very sad to see the status of Muslims in the present world at the bottom. Muslims have been economically exploited and politically subjugated. Economically, Muslims are poor; in education they are backward; and in science and technology they are marginal. Even very small countries export arms, medicine and technology to the Muslim countries. The average literacy rate is around 38 percent and in rural areas in Muslim countries, the illiteracy rate among Muslim women is 93 to 97 percent. This is contradictory to the message of the Qur'an and Prophet Muhammad(SAS) as mentioned earlier. The Muslims educated in the western world know about western books and western scholars but they know very little about Muslims books and the intellectual achievements of the Muslims (Fig. 1). The data presented in Table 1 show the Muslims to be at the bottom of the three measures identified. Inspite of the comparable levels of development the mean rate for literacy for the Muslims is 35 per cent lower than that for the Third World, and 40 percent below the world's average. The data suggests that almost two-thirds of the Muslims worldwide are illiterate. This low level of literacy, evidently, is responsible for the grinding poverty, the backwardness, and the deplorable conditions under which the vast majority of the Muslims live at present( 1). Table 2 gives the literacy rates for the most populous nations. Pakistan is the most advanced Muslim country in science and technology among Muslim nations. However, the literacy rate for Pakistan, home to the second largest Muslim ummah in the world, ranks the lowest among the most populous nations, is even below the average for the Muslim nations. What is shocking is India the second most populous nation in the world, has a significantly higher rate of literacy than Pakistan and Bangladesh. At one time the three countries constituted a single country(British India) with a literacy rate of 12 percent on the eve of the partition in 1947(1).

When the data for the three category of nations is examined, shown in Table 3 , the Muslim nations once again occupy the lower most position. The rate of enrollment in higher education for Muslim is fully 45 percent lower than that for the Third World countries, a state of affairs that could be regarded stunning. The data presented in Table 3 suggests that the pool for the selection of intellectual manpower, needed for development and leadership positions, is so small that the forward momentum in the Muslim countries, at this critical stage of industrial expansion would be seriously jeopardized unless corrective steps are taken in the very near future. The experience of the developed countries indicate that the provision of advanced education and training to large numbers of young people is the only way in which modern scientific knowledge can be introduced in a society and the state of the art technology implemented, essential both for raising productivity and enhancing developmental growth Examination of Table 4 shows that Pakistan, of all the large countries, has the lowest level of enrollment in higher education. Surprisingly, the three largest Muslim countries have higher education enrollment rates below the average for the Muslim nations. They are also uniformly below the rates for the Third World counterparts such as China(6 percent), India(9 percent), Brazil (12 percent), particularly the Asian ones, even though all are at similar levels of economic development. Interestingly the two Muslim countries with the highest levels of participation in higher education are the small nations, shown in Table 4, of Jordan and Lebanon, whose combined population is less than that of the city of Karachi in Pakistan(1).

A country needs to spend between 0.7 and 3.5 percent of its

GNP on R and D(Research and Development) and achieve a target of 4000 scientists and engineers per million of inhabitants working on R and D (2). The developing Muslim countries are spending about 0.5 percent whereas, in contrast, the developed countries are allocating between 2 and 5 percent of their GNP on R and D (2). Per capita expenditure in all the OIC or Muslim countries, with the exception of Kuwait and Tunisia has been estimated to be less than 27 US dollars as against 80 to 966 US dollars in the case of the developed countries(Table 5). The annual average expenditure per R & D scientist or engineer for the Muslim countries ranged between 4,800 to 76,000 US dollars (except Brunei, Kuwait and Tunisia), as against 15,000 to 250,000 US dollars for the developed countries.


The total expenditure on R & D in the Muslim countries ranges between 600,000 to 316 million US dollars as against 11.1 to 29.24 trillion dollars in the case of developed countries(2).

In the case of the developed countries, about one-half to two-third of R & D expenditure is found to be concentrated in production sector, with the minimum allocation for the general services sector. In case of the Muslim countries, the percentage distribution of the R & D funds between the sectors in respect of Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Sudan however seems relatively better(2).



COMPARISON OF R AND D MANPOWER

Four tables have been constructed for this purpose. In the Table 6, R and D scientists and engineers, and technicians per million of population and number of technicians per scientist and engineer had been estimated. The number of scientists and engineers per million of population for Muslim countries ranged between 16 to 924 as against 3,800 to 11,000 for the developed countries(3). The disparity between the Third World and Muslim nations in the number of scientists and engineers is quite striking. Despite similar levels of development, there are more than twice as many scientists and engineers in the Third World as in the Muslim countries, and almost eleven times as many in the Industrialized nations. The pool of scientific manpower engaged in meaningful economic activity in the Muslim world is simply too small to make the kind of contribution needed by industrializing societies on the verge of take-off. The lower level of scientific capability among the Muslims is borne out by their inability to produce sophisticated technological goods. On the other hand Third World countries such as South Korea, Brazil, India, Taiwan manufacture such high technology products as T.Vs, VCRs, aircrafts, missiles, satellites, and computers which none of the Muslim countries do.

The availability of technicians per million of population for the Muslim countries varied between 7 to 493 as against 800 to 5,000 for the developed countries. Data from the State Science and Technology Commission(SSTC) show that China had 640,000 full-time R&D personnel in 1993, including 418,000 scientists and engineers. Half of them work at Government-run R&D institutions, with a third at universities and the rest at companies(4). In the United States, by comparison, about 80% of the country's roughly 960,000 scientists and engineers in R&D work in private industry, with about 12% at universities.

China spent about $7.5 billion in 1993 on science and technology, one third of which is classified as research and development. 6.7% of those R&D funds are used for basic research with 30.5% going to applied research and the rest(62.8%) classified as development. The largest support goes to life science which includes agriculture and receives about 33% of the total and other departments such as physical sciences, chemical science, earth science, materials and engineering science, and information science get from 10 to 18%. About 70% of its funding goes to applied science projects, with the rest classified as basic research. By the end of the decade China will raise research spending from 7% to 10% and eventually reaching 15%.

Table 7 gives number of scientists, engineers, and technicians engaged in research and experimental development in the Muslim countries compared with the developed countries. Muslim countries have one-tenth of scientists, engineers and technicians compared with the developed countries. Russia has 40 times more scientists, engineers, and technicians compared with the Muslim countries.

In Table 8 distribution of R & D scientists and engineers by field of science has been shown. Developed countries have their maximum number of scientists and engineers working in the fields of natural sciences and engineering and technology( about two-thirds of the total) whereas in the case of the Muslim countries, maximum number is concentrated in agriculture, except in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan the former Soviet Union Republics.

The distribution of R & D scientists and engineers by sector of performance is shown in Table 9 . In the case of the developed countries, the highest share( about one-half to two-thirds) goes to the lot of production sector, with general services sector receiving the minimum. However in Muslim countries, general services and higher education sector together account for an overwhelming intake of the R & D scientists and engineers.

If we consider the present enrolment in scientific and technological education in the 18-23 year age group at the universities as an index of high scientific potential, the Muslim countries average 2 % of the relevant age group compared to the norms of around 12% for the developed countries (5).

A similar ratio of 1:6 prevails also in respect of GNP expenditures on scientific and technological research and development as mentioned earlier.

Table 10 gives information on the intellectual property, particularly in the field of Patents. Table 10 gives the number of Patent applications filed by each country, the number granted and the total number of patents in force. Again compared to the industrial countries the Muslim countries have fared very poorly with regard to intellectual property(6).

The Muslim world cannot afford to live without science and technology. As seen earlier the Muslim world as a whole is backward in science and technological development. Countries like India, Israel, Korea, Taiwan, and China had meager natural resources. They started from scratch and their technological advances have surprised the developed nations.

Technological advances are indispensable for a country's national security planning and military strategy. Without scientific and technological development no nation can compete in economics and marketing. For effective utilization of science and technology, the Muslim world must formulate science and technology policy that has goals, priorities, and infrastructure. As stated in the beginning, Islam is not against the acquisition of scientific knowledge and technology that improve Muslims' standard of living and quality of life. Muslim world must stop importing military weapons and start manufacturing the needed weapons including space satellites and their launching vehicles(rockets and missiles), to safeguard their national security.

WHAT CAN BE DONE

To acquire technology optimally, Muslims must undertake a large-scale literary program in all the basic sciences and engineering. They should produce a large cadre of scientists and engineers and skilled workers. All imports should be minimized, and the necessary technical know-how should be developed to produce the imported products internally, and make preparations for exporting quality goods. There are many Muslim countries who purchase billions of dollars of military hardware without any knowledge of how to maintain, develop and adapt it. Whenever a war breaks out, it is revealed they don't know who to operate the imported military hardware. In fact technical illiteracy has made the hardware technical toys. There is no need for Muslim countries to invest 40 to 60 percent of the GNP on military hardware as the developed countries invest only 6 % of the GNP for defense. The Muslim countries should invest not more than 10 percent of the GNP on defense and the rest of the previous defense budget should be invested on education. The budgets of Universities should be increased by ten fold so that they can pay their faculty well and have high quality national laboratories, libraries, and computer facilities. High ranking universities and national academic institutions should be established. Information superhighway through the cybernet should be a top priority with all the universities and research laboratories connected through the internet e-mail and world wide web. Young scientists have a hard time finding good housing. Housing should be a standard part of a scientist's compensation package.

To become a force to reckon with Muslim countries should enhance R and D both in basic and applied research. The advances made by Japan, China and Germany should be a role model for the Muslim world in transferring newly developed technologies to industry very quickly. Every Muslim country should build flexible technological infrastructure with strong emphasis on state-of-the-art capability.

Muslim countries should join in many International Scientific Unions in the diverse subjects of science. They should establish international centers of scientific research, hold many international scientific conferences and encourage their R & D personnel to attend international scientific conferences in other countries. The renaissance of sciences within the Muslim countries is contingent upon five cardinal preconditions: passionate commitment, generous patronage, provision of security, self-governance, and internationalization of scientific enterprise(5).

Munir Ahmed Khan, former Chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission made the following suggestions(7):


1. Establish an Educational Foundation in USA which will support scholars from developing Muslim countries for short visits as well as for long-term training;

2. Institute joint ventures between educational, scientific and business institutions in US and those in the Muslim countries;

3. Help establish new training institutes in Muslim countries, and support those which already exist through such means as organized exchange visits and provision of technical advice;


4. Cosponsor scientific conferences and seminars in the Muslim world on the pattern of the International Summer College on Physics and Contemporary Needs which is held annually at Nathiagali in Pakistan.

5. Organize short visits of eminent Muslim scientists/engineers to advice their counterparts in Muslim countries.

A large number of highly trained and talented Muslim professionals live in the Western countries, including developed and industrialized countries, such as America, Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, etc., and Japan. These eminent scientists and engineers and physicians are willing to assist in the transfer of science and technology to the Muslim countries. In order to achieve this the following suggestions have to be implemented:

A central registry-clearinghouse should be developed under the charge of a reputable Muslim Organization such as OIC(Organization of Islamic Conference) or its designated agency such as COMSTECH located in Islamabad, Pakistan. All Muslim scientists, engineers, health professionals(including physicians, medical scientists, dentists, etc.) etc., who are willing to assist in the development of the Muslim countries should be invited to register. The entries in the Register should contain items with regard to applicant's educational qualifications, training experience, field of expertise, fluency in languages, period of availability, time of notice required to undertake the project, country of preference, honorarium expected, etc.

OIC should announce during one of its meetings or arrange a meeting inviting all Ministers for science and technology of all the Muslim countries about the Talent Pool Registry of able scientists, Engineers and Health Professionals. The Register should list and have cross references with regard to names of scientists and their field of specialization. This can be easily done in a computer. The Muslim countries who are in need of the services of the professionals listed in the Registry should contact the Clearinghouse Institution detailing their specific needs. The host country can request the services of certain individual(s) listed in the Talent Pool. All expenses including travel, boarding and lodging should preferably be borne by the host country or it should be borne by the Clearinghouse Institution. It is expected that the Muslim experts would volunteer their time and will not accept any fee, honorarium or salary for their services. This they can do in their vacation time or during sabbatical leave if they are in teaching institutions. Those professionals who do not have these privileges should be paid some modest honoraria.

Wealthy Muslim countries who are blessed with natural resources should fund generously to defray the set-up costs and operating expenses.

Programs to assist developing countries are in existence. These include the International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA), located in Vienna, Austria; TOKTEN (Transfer of Technology Through Expatriate Nationals), a Program financed by the United Nations Development Program(UNDP), WHO (World Health Organization) and other United Nations(U.N.) branches. Apart from OIC, IDB(Islamic Development Bank), ISESCO (Islamic Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization) and many other philanthropic Islamic organizations at the International level can actively participate and cooperate in achieving science and technology Transfer to the developing Muslim countries.



CONCLUSIONS:

The Tables presented on the educational levels in Muslim countries, the R and D scientists and engineers, the number of patents applied, obtained and total number in force is a measure of the intellectual properties all indicate that the Muslim countries have a long way to go to catch up with even the average developing countries in the Third World. The Muslim world is not prepared to face the challenges of the 21st century which comes within a short time. Rapid growth in science and technology is essential and even critical for the very survival of Muslim countries. Muslim intellectuals in North America and the West have an added obligation to their home countries with their enriched knowledge, vision, experience and scientific and technological expertise. Their reward is in the pride and pleasure of witnessing the advancement of their home countries in particular and the advancement of the Muslim world in general. Let us work together to put science and technology on the agenda of the Muslim World. This should be tackled as a top priority and even on a War footing.