Transforming Economies into Knowledge Based in the Islamic Countries

Foreword: The most two important issues that face the Islamic countries at the present time

are: globalization and the emergence of knowledge-based economy. Globalization represents a huge challenge due to the incapacity of the Islamic countries to meet international competition and achieve higher rates of sustainable development. Besides, the economic scene in today’s world is governed by the philosophy of shift from reliance on financial resources as a basis for development to knowledge-based resources, the ways of their investment and their consideration as a source of national income, where economic values basically rely on the intellectual capital which benefited from new technologies, rather than merely on natural resources such as agriculture, minerals, and low-cost workforce. Now the dominant philosophy is the shift from money concentrated in the hands of a tiny minority to information and knowledge shared by the majority.

This document is made up of three parts:

The first part explores the reality of globalization and knowledge as an economic basis in the Islamic countries, and the context of the attempts seeking to define the main developmental challenges.

The second part is an attempt to track the impact of the existing relation between knowledge and economic and social development, including the political aspects and social justice, education within society, and the social capital.

The third part debates the challenges facing development, especially in the fields of human resources, information and communication technologies, establishment of micro-and-medium projects, and cooperation between the public and private sectors.

/mh

Introduction: The Islamic countries face the unprecedented challenge of the need to shift their

economies into knowledge-based economies. The scientific progress and speedy development of information and communication technologies have made of knowledge a main factor in economic competitiveness. Contrary to the traditional economic model which rests on the assumption of scarcity as an indicator of the market price based on offer and supply, the knowledge resource does not obey this principle. The greater the quantity of knowledge is, the greater its value becomes, and the quicker information and communication technologies are restructured and tuned to the latest changes, thence increase the competence of interaction between the governmental organs and the decease in the cost of services offered to the public. Furthermore, this makes room for the re-organization of administrative and political institutions of countries. Therefore, the three major challenges that will face the developing Islamic countries, when crafting their future development strategy, are: 1) the increase of macro-productivity of the economy; 2) liberalizing trade and encouraging foreign investments; 3) under the dynamics of knowledge revolution and net economy, there will be a need to reformulate the role of governments, which contributed and still need to contribute a major share in the shift towards knowledge-based economy, in such a way as to keep away from the policy of direct intervention in the market.

Therein lies the importance of the document drafted to be a starting point to link the economies of Islamic countries with knowledge, and to set guidelines for this linkage.

Axis one: The reality of globalization and knowledge as an economic basis in the Islamic countries

1. The structure of the knowledge base, the concept and the framework

The Arab Human Development Report 2003 defines knowledge society as (one that) “is organised around the dissemination and production of knowledge and its efficient utilisation in all societal activities: the economy, civil society, politics, and private life, in a continuous quest to advance human development”. 1

Maybe the most salient aspect of this transformation is the global trend toward an electronic, wireless world dominated by multi-form systems, information systems, social systems, economic, political, intellectual, cultural and educational systems, legal

1 The Arab Human Development Report 2003: Building a Knowledge Society- United Nations Development Programme- Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development- page 39 (in Arabic).

2

systems, as well as other systems that control Man and predict his future, just as nanotechnology and robots dominate every walks of life.

The shift of Islamic countries towards the knowledge base is dictated by the reality of modern life as well as by the various challenges facing these countries in terms of religion, thought, politics, economy and human development:

At the level of religion: The Islamic thought is subjected to fierce, consecutive attacks that seek to question the relevance of this thought to modern life, and view this thought as one that tends to the past and cannot catch up with the spirit of our times, in addition to being an expression of forms of terrorism, oppression and abuse. Unfortunately, these misconceptions have heightened following the events broadcast by the media, starting by the 9/11 events in the US, the other terrorist attacks and other attacks that portray the Islamic thought as being fanatic. All this should provide a good reason to initiate as soon as possible the establishment of a knowledge base that unravels the positive values of Islam and its global call to peace with the soul and with others.

At the intellectual level: It has become clear that global thought inevitably relates to the concepts of technology, comprehensive measurement and quality systems. These concepts the entire world believes are far away from the Islamic thought, which makes it necessary to build a knowledge base that unveils the progressive aspects in the Islamic thought, the potentials for keeping pace with that thought and its relevance to every time and every place- something that is known by Muslims alone.

At the political level: It is unanimously held that the political systems, laws and theories have made enormous strides in the organization of societies, especially under the context of separation between religion and state in the political sense. There is also a widely held belief that associating religion and state constitutes an obstacle to the political progress. Attesting to that are the daily evidences that need to establish an awareness, both internal and external, to unravel the Islamic political theories and the possibilities of their development and their integration of modern age systems, not in the sense of looking for developing systems and finding Islamic roots therein, but in the sense of developing Islamic political theories in line with modern political evidences and trends. This is a fact well known to any meticulous researcher in Islamic political thought, throughout its different stages ever since the times of the Prophet (peace be upon him), his companions (may Allah be pleased with them), their followers and the followers of their followers, who all were open to change in political thought to the extent that they would even suspend some ruling of the Holy Quran, to the advantage of the Sharia goals (Maqasid) and for the benefit of the community. 2

2 See Al-islam wa Oussoulu Al Hukm, by Ali Abderrazak, Cairo

3

At the economic level: The economic groupings, the transcontinental companies, the economic theories and systems, the shift in strength concepts in global trade from reliance on material products to reliance on intellectual and informatics products, all have made it necessary for the Islamic economic thought to seek development, restructuring and standardization of the multiple concepts concerning the crucial issues in the Islamic economy, especially the issues related to banks, the financial obligations towards women, international trade, usurious interest (Riba), and others. All these issues need to be solved both internally within the Islamic countries and externally at the level of international relations they have with other countries.

At the level of human development: There is no doubt that all Islamic countries are beset with many problems concerning the human development of individuals, especially at the level of education, women issues, political participation, human welfare, health, poverty and other issues that constitute a real obstacle to development, let alone the relationship of consumption and production with technology. These facts have been amply highlighted in international reports3. In short, the Islamic countries direly need to promptly engage in raising awareness about these issues, and to highlight the Islamic vision of Man, upholding human advancement. Such truth is little known among some individuals in the Islamic countries, let alone among other peoples and nations that impose their hegemony claiming to have provided the highest model in human development.

2- Positive and negative aspects of the knowledge structure

The change brought to life by the dominant knowledge structure is both a bad and good omen for mankind. It may be seen as a modern necessity, an aspect of strength, a mechanism for production and a way conducive to human welfare. Yet it is still feared to be a factor that effaces identities and borders, and grants limitless freedoms, while setting new criteria for measuring the strength of communities and new rules for capital accumulation. Ultimately change is inevitable so long as knowledge and informatics are the dominant forces in almost every walk of life, the source of economy and a symbol of prowess at the global level.

3- Knowledge and economic development

The motto espoused by knowledge-based societies is the shift from money being in the hands of a tiny minority to knowledge being shared by the majority. Also knowledge and informatics become the surest way conducive to power and economic progress. Many peoples hardly remembered by history have turned thanks to knowledge and technological production into economic forces to be reckoned with and gained an economic prowess that grows day after day.

3 See the UNDP Human Development Reports, the Arab Human Development Reports, and particularly the 2005 report entitled “Towards the rise of women in the Arab World”.

4

The question to put in this context is about knowledge, its nature, its forms, its sources. In other words, is it about the convictions of the Islamic countries as regards the concepts of knowledge and their undeniable relationship with economic progress, or the restoration of the Islamic model in economic knowledge, which used to fit the spirit of the early centuries of Islamic thought, especially during the 3rd and 4th centuries of the Hijra, or does it still mean an attempt to draw Islamic knowledge throughout its evolution and link it to the economic issues of the modern age, especially the intellectual and cognitive concepts?

Shaping a knowledge base that makes of information a commodity and stresses that the concepts of Islamic economic blocs has become an absolute necessity.

4. Modern world changes in knowledge society

Informatics and the knowledge evolution

It is unanimously held that every phenomenon involves an aspect related to informatics, and that any scientific knowledge that excludes computer processing is bound to fade away. Futurist studies point that the knowledge advancement in the knowledge society lead to quantum leap that in bringing closer different knowledge fields, crossing barriers between disciplines and sciences, and confirm the integration and unity of human knowledge. This in turn will require new approaches of human thought that rid it of the negative effects resulting from scattered forms of knowledge and fragmented sciences, as well as of the diverse cultural dualities. As informatics copes essentially with codes, it will be within its reach to tackle all problematic issues related to knowledge at the level of abstract concepts and partial analyses. For instance, informatics managed to bring closer linguistic sciences, humanities and natural sciences, starting from the belief that every scientific phenomenon has a linguistic component and that language is an essential component for understanding and deciphering the codes of any science or discipline.

Genetic technology

Research in human creatures and human brain has drawn much scientific and forensic interest. For the huge advances in the different walks of life, much of the biology of humans and the language they created is still untapped. Interest in brain biology has produced studies on brain maps and genetic maps, cloning, human genome, protenome, and so forth, with the aim of examining the effective reality of the genetic language, which has been translated into a concrete equivalent of proteins and enzymes seen today as the secret of life and the surest way to achieve the ultimate goal of life happiness.

From this starting point, particle biology is likely to become one the keys to knowledge progress in the knowledge society, being as it is the most convenient prelude to finding solutions to the future complicated problems and a means to purge human

5

knowledge from the negative effects brought by the “physics civilization” and its ensuing, dubious determinism.

Energy technology

The Islamic civilization possesses sources of energy that constitute alternative sources in a time marked by a shift from conventional sources of energy, such as oil and gas and their derivatives which face the threat of depletion in the future. For example, the Islamic countries have many sunny days throughout the year, but do not have the means, systems and mechanisms to think about exploiting this wealth of energy. Rather than seeing this solar wealth as a bounty, these countries look at it as a curse to be ridden of. The question here is how to exploit this energy and to orient it in the most optimum manner towards serving the Islamic countries and giving them some sources of strength in a time witnessing a fierce competition to dominate the sources and components of energy. Add in the attempts to produce energy using agriculture and crops, something which is already available in the Islamic countries which have large arable areas. But the whole situation hinges on the knowledge edification of the Islamic nations and raising awareness of the value of the resources available in these nations.

Statistics point that there are more than 1.6 billion people who are denied access to electricity, while they live under sunny days and temperature that may reach degrees which even kill some forms of life. Yet they do not know how to invest this energy and may even see it as a curse rather than an exploitable source.

All this happens in a context where the entire world is shifting from utter reliance on oil to the quest for alternative sources, which implies control of the existing natural resources for future use. This sort of issues requires first and foremost raising awareness about the energy sources available in the Islamic countries, and the ways to invest them to overcome deficit and to benefit the Islamic economy of all these countries.

Materials technology

There is no doubt that the development and use of materials have become governed by technology throughout its stages. Nano-technology has become an integral part of the industrialization of almost every materials, not only in electronic industries, but in the industries of energy, informatics, medicine, engineering, construction, chemistry, physics, natural resources (potable water and food). Proof to that is the emergence of more than 400 consumable commodities that somehow involve the use of nano-technology. To that end, Islamic countries and peoples need at the earliest to study their potentials in natural and industrial materials and to examine the ways of industrializing them through the use of this micro technology.

6

Brain technology

Brain forensics, mapping and research in the ways the brain works have become issues of great interest to scientists, thinkers and research centres. In this regard, mankind has made significant progress, especially through discovery of brain centres and their function, the ways they receive, store and invoke information, and monitoring of the limitless potentials of the human brain.

Progress in the field of computing and programming has had a great impact on the development of brain research. With the changes brought by technology and the treatment of its data, it has become possible to subject the human brain to physical forensics, programming and re-programming just as it is the case with floppy disks, hard disks, mother boards, and all components of the computer and the sophisticated technological machines. As a result, new terms start to appear, such as artificial intelligence, brain programming, neuro-programming, and other terms related to the technology data.

These novelties are still beyond the reach of the Islamic countries. Even worse, they are little known not only by the grassroots, but also by the elite of intellectuals working in fields other than applied sciences.

Therefore, it is necessary to form a knowledge base that streamlines the results and studies of the research conducted in the field of brain, and pave the way for the thinkers of the Islamic countries to contribute to drawing improving these results, and particularly to analysing the patterns of the Arab brain structure under the current circumstances and with an eye to the future.

Environment technology

Pollution, desertification, drought, looming wars over water, alternative energy, the rise of temperature and other current and future environmental problems constitute crucial issues in the structure of world knowledge and its concerns. Thence the strenuous efforts to study these issues and find alternatives and solutions that might influence the taking of strategic decisions for the future. The whole matter depends on knowledge and the findings of environmental studies and research.

Of course the Islamic countries have centres and bodies that are active in the field of the environment. These centres and bodies have accumulated studies and findings that need to be translated into productive knowledge rather than passive knowledge, in order to benefit other Islamic countries and enable individuals, bodies and institutions to address environmental problems, such as nuclear waste, factories waste, chemical waste in water, dropping waste nearby inhabited areas, pollution

7

resulting from burning or from the use of pesticides, and other problems that get even worse day in day out, and which result only from a lack of awareness of these harmful practices.

Axis two: the impact of the relationship between knowledge and economic and social development

1. Economies of the Islamic countries and the need for change

The current situation of the economies of the Islamic countries, present and future problems and proposed solutions

The Islamic countries are faced with numerous difficulties at the economic level. Some of these difficulties are related to the concepts of economic development, while others have to do with the unflinching attempts to find realistic solutions to the problems of unemployment, poverty, famine and other problems that hinder the progress of Islamic economies.

“Towards a strategy for employment-oriented education to employment in the Islamic world”, a strategy conducted by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, has revealed the weaknesses in the economies of Islamic countries, which it describes as conventional economies (as opposed to modern economy) which is characterized by weak agricultural and industrial productivity, low living conditions in some areas, and unemployment which is the major problem linked to development.

The study also showed that the Islamic countries suffer a deficit in the investment of resources and potentials, lack of economic integration, inequalities in wages, living conditions and income among individuals of the same country, in addition to weak transfer of modern technology and reliance on planning methods, and vulnerable organs.

In this respect, the Islamic countries should adopt the components of modern economy and study its foundations in order to overcome this crisis. These components consist foremost in the reliance on technology, increase in production rate, investment of resources, developing human capacities in accordance with the new roles imposed by the capitalist global economic reality which is technology-oriented and in which technology governs material and immaterial production.

Economic and political thought has changed. Huge production of knowledge and information has become an alternative to huge production of material commodities, knowledge and information turned to be the basic resources of today’s world, and

8

because they constitute a completely different sort of the resources known throughout human history, they re-order the pattern of economic and political values.

Information technologies and its related software have become the most important pillars of economic changes. What we witness now is a revolution that started early in the 90’s with the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the explosion of electronic revolution, privatizations, liberalization of the market, economic reconstruction, the inception of the World Trade Organization in 19944. The world also saw significant economic changes which consisted in the integration of trade exchanges, the mobility of capitals, the development of the factors of production and commodities, including modern technologies in economic and political leaderships, rural, national and regional economies into one global economy. 5

Indicators of economic changes

The most important indicators within the economic changes at the global level which should be taken into consideration when it comes to establishing a knowledge basis for Islamic countries may be summarized as follows:

- Withdrawal of volume of State intervention as an economic institution to the advantage of the private sector (privatization).

- Increasing role of multinationals, continuous mergers among them, their dominance over the global economy6 and over a large share of the global market, changing the concepts of economy, by pursuing a pattern of short term investment with quick interest without consideration of ethics, public interests and local development, at the expense of long term and direct investments. This has enlarged the circle and opened wide the door for international money laundering as well as other illicit operations.

- Increasing economic bonds and deconstruction of political bonds, especially in the case of multinationals which have no exact place, nor definite officials but multinational officials and indefinite policies, except for the primacy of profit. This is one apparent impact of communication technologies and globalization on the economic and political aspects.

4 See Hazim Al Bablaoui’s book on the contemporary international economic system from the end the WWII to the end of the Cold World - Series of Alam al-maarifa, issue N 257, Kuwait, May 2000.

5 See Martin, Hans-Petter & Harald Schumann (1998) The Global Trap: Globalization and. the Assault on Prosperity and Democracy, translation by Adnan Abbass Ali, Revision and foreword by Ramzi Zaki- Series of Alam al-maarifa, issue N 238, Kuwait, October 1998.

6 The number of these companies was 30.000, and their overall business was more than half of the existing global product. The assets of these companies are estimated at 92 trillion dollars, and their staff at 35 million persons. According to the World Bank’s reports, the business volume of 5 major multinationals exceeded in 1996 the GDP of the countries of South Asia and Sub Sahara and the poorest countries of the world combined- Saleh Arraqb: Globalization (Economic Objectives and Effects). www.aliman.org

9

- Change in the concepts of war, terrorism and the culture of peace. Economic interests seek primarily to make profits and to fend off future problems. Therefore economy has become a major factor in the outbreak of wars against resources-rich countries. Economy has also become the key factor in obtaining the rights of respect, loyalty, subjugation of others, and preservation of interests and individuals. Peace and terrorism are no longer a strategic option under the hegemony of economics, but a result of economic strength in its modern concepts. Terrorism has grown and become a threat not restricted within geographical borders. It now represents a new threat to global community as a whole, due to the precarious social conditions such as poverty and unemployment which reached dangerous proportions in the last decade of the 20th century. This in part explains the call by international organizations to peace and the dissemination of the culture of peace as a cornerstone for contemporary societies and the knowledge society.

2. Knowledge and economic development

The main characteristics of the knowledge society and their relation with the shaping of a knowledge base

The knowledge society is a society with defining interrelated systems, links and aspects, though they revolve around the production culture, nature and those in charge of it, as well as the systems governing this production and post production plans and policies.

The major characteristics of the knowledge society that may contribute to the shaping of the knowledge base are summarized as follows:

- Informatics and its relation with the study of human, natural and scientific phenomena. For every phenomenon involves an aspect of informatics. The question is how this information is circulated, how it may be displayed and how to deal with it.

- Adopting knowledge as a key factor to production, considering that knowledge has become commonly known as the fourth economy, replacing land in agricultural economy and the capital in industrial economy.

- Technology. Any knowledge that excludes computer processing is bound to fade away. It is well known that technological machines dominate every aspect of the daily life, which makes it necessary to promptly engage in combating technological illiteracy, and adopting technology in the running of businesses and the production components in the Islamic countries.

- Merger of the various fields of knowledge, eliminating the frontiers between the forms of knowledge, and abolishing determinism in human knowledge in particular to the advantage of probabilities and the possibilities

10

of convergence and integration. Frontiers of knowledge have disappeared, and unilateral views ceased to exist, as they cannot produce individuals capable of dealing with the present and future ideas of the world.

- Diversifying the sources of knowledge and information, instead of relying on unilateral sources. Suffice it to refer here to the human development report of 2004 which is entitled “cultural liberty in today’s diverse world”, which suggests conducting surveys on the recruitment of staff in education based on quite similar sources which can be dubbed as indispensable reference sources. Dangerous still is the way some deal with these references, that are not open to debate or disagreement, which in turn affects the Islamic mentality and the ways of its thinking.

- Emergence of new methods of international distribution of work in which technology replaces ideology in the shaping of the new world order and definition of the form of international relations under this order in the different, political, cultural, educational fields.

- Emergence of new class inequalities among the individuals of the same society, among those who possess and control knowledge and those who are denied this knowledge. These inequalities will become even more acute and deeper than any other inequalities produced by the privileges of the financial wealth.

- The drastic change in the concept of work, its fields, mechanisms and skills. This has contributed to the emergence of new sets of business and functions related to knowledge and information. The most profitable trade turned to be the knowledge-based trade and the most fortunate traders are those involved in information trade. All this has palpable implications on the social organization and work relations. Contrary to the customary separation between the house and the work relations, employers may thanks to information industry perform their functions from their homes, which affects the centrality of work towards more decentralization. The concept and form of administrative structure have changed due to the withdrawal of the hierarchical structure, thus paving the way for network structure and changes in the concept of power as well as the mechanisms for decision making.

The various requirements of the knowledge society

For any nation to make significant progress, it has to give priority to the requirements for the knowledge society, namely:

- Giving priority to education and scientific research in national policies, as well as to applied sciences and humanities. It has become necessary to

11

associate what is applied to what is human, which constitutes a retreat in human thought after long years of separation between them.

- Reliance on digital information and technology as an alternative to quantified knowledge and conventional forms of knowledge.

- Developing and producing human resources capable of dealing with technology and information, knowledge production, unlocking of their energies, and opening ways for their creativity.

- Continuous development of the competence of individuals and sustainable professional development. Informatics has paved the way for constant change in the volume of information, and a continuous increase in the volume of knowledge, which requires continuous training and sustainable professional development that allow individuals to become apt for assuming their roles in the knowledge society.

- Interaction and integration of institutions with the sites of work and production through adoption of multiple versions, models and systems, and creation of new structures at the different disciplines and business branches.

Economic development in the Islamic countries and the pattern of their transfer

- Forming economic groupings among the Islamic countries and allocating the largest share of their economies for the benefit of scientific research, professional development and technological production.

- Adopting knowledge as a key pattern of production as well as an alternative to material conventional production.

- Addressing the problems that hinder the movement of development, especially human development, such as the issues of education, women, awareness-raising, and others.

Patterns of national and international cooperation among the Islamic countries

Individual success has no place in today’s world. Globalization does not allow small institutions to grow, but opens the door before groupings, and mergers of large and small institutions. The same holds for countries as globalization imposes on them one road for development, that is the road of cooperation of their internal sectors, and cooperation between one country and other countries. Witness the case of the European Union in that regard.

Therefore it is necessary for the Islamic countries to seek avenues for internal and external cooperation. Maybe the best and surest way is the knowledge basis, for it is the mechanism likelier to bring about the need communication.

12

Axis three: the challenges facing development

1. Human forces

Indicators and norms of human forces

Human forces represent the major source of wealth for two interrelated reasons. First, humans constitute a source with unwavering income and one that is capable to brave the negative effects and positively influence the surrounding environment.

The factor of human forces is linked to major issues that either hinder or support the progress of economy at any country. These issues are:

- Education and its relation with the labour market and the concepts of global quality, as well as its position at the standardizing levels.

- Health and its relation with access to sanitary services, physical and mental security, and the possibilities of contribution to the progress of any sort of production.

- The issues of women and their related rights, fight against discrimination, their engagement in the different political, economic and social forms of life, and their assuming roles that contribute to human development.

- The right of children, prevention of child labour, illicit child trade, securing natural future for them, and equipping them to participate positively to life and to future development, based on the fact that development is nor restricted to the present alone.

Contemporary global changes of human forces in the knowledge society

The various developmental changes affecting human forces in modern age under the knowledge society and the dominance of global patterns include the following:

New developmental concepts:

Globalization has brought new concepts of human development, which added to the conventional themes such as education, health and poverty, new issues that become the centrepiece of bringing about human development. These new issues include:

- Human development and globalization.

- Human security and globalization.

13

- Security in a changing world.

- Combating new forms of crimes committed by humans, such as piracy of information, as well as computer and internet crimes.

- International cooperation against terrorism, especially with the increase of terrorism rates at the global level and undermining of national security and security of individuals.

- Information war, considering that information is produced by humans who are responsible of managing, generating and circulating it.

- Digital communities and shift from conventional forms in information industry to modern digital forms.

Issues of population, environment and the impact of population growth:

Population growth is one of the major obstacles to human development. When it is not invested in production and active participation in life, it becomes a heavy burden on countries and a hindrance of development therein.

Population scientists point that the number of world population grows by 1.33% per year, i.e. 80 million persons per year, the equivalent of an increase by 219000 people per day. Population scientists also expect the average growth of population to be in the order of 0.34% per year during the period from 2045 to 2050.

In this respect, the data of the United Nations have shown that after twelve and half years from now, the population of the world will reach 7 billion people, 8 billion people after 15 years, and 9 billion people after 26 years.

It has become clear that the population growth and the use of the different technologies and the market economy policy would produce a state of dissatisfaction with the existing products, and would pave the way for new products with new criteria that presumably meet the needs of consumers. With the increase of production and consumption rates, there is a growing deterioration of the environment, and pollution of water and air, in addition to the cutting of forests and rotation of crops, which all cause a rise in the temperature of earth (green house effect). Analysts of earth temperature in the last and current centuries found that there was a steady rise in temperature. Forecasts predict a rise of 1 to 4 degrees in the temperature of the earth in the coming century. There are even tens of examples of the changes that might occur in the environment and their dangerous impact on the world.

Combating growing poverty in the world:

Poverty is a stumbling block to communication with the knowledge production and mechanisms which require a minimum of means beyond the basic needs of food,

14

water and clothing. These means include mastery of technology and communication. Lack of such means due to poverty condemns society to economic and intellectual backwardness. The poorest communities, as it has been established, are the most ignorant and backward, and poverty only leads to higher crime rates, thence to destabilization of security of individuals and nations as a whole.

In this respect, the statistics of the World Bank in 2006 point that 1.5 billion people live in abject poverty in different parts of the world, earning less than one dollar a day. Projective statistics indicate that this number will reach 1.9 billion people by 2015, if the current economic conditions remain unchanged, which requires confrontation of the multiple social impact of poverty on individuals and communities in terms of deterioration of health and sanitary services in the long term.

According to the reports of the WHO, some diseases believed to retreat such as plague, diphtheria, yellow fever, pulmonary tuberculosis, have started to appear afresh in many countries. For the first time, more than 30 diseases are defined to be difficult to prevent or cure. The relation between poverty and health is manifest through the low expenditure by governments in many developing countries, which means low services to the poor.

Catering for women and their related issues:

The last quarter of the elapsed century witnessed a growing interest in women issues, through the organization of many conferences and symposia, such as the 4th international conference on women, which was held in Beijing and attended by representatives of 189 countries who debated the issues and priorities to improve the living conditions of women and children in the world.

In 2000, an international conference on women was held in New York under the theme of “women of the year 2000”. It tackled the issues of gender, equality, development and peace in the 21st century.

These conferences provided an occasion for propounding key issues of women, particularly:

Women and poverty- women and economics- women and health- violence against women- women in armed conflicts- role of women in power and decision making- institutional role of the development of women’s conditions and rights- women and the media- women and the environment.

Challenges facing Islamic communities in the cultural and value context, and the way to compromise contradictions

The cultural and value context in the world is facing challenges linked to the degradation of the ethical system and the emergence of new human practices brought by

15

globalization, the opening movements, economic groupings and global trade. Limitless freedom was granted and actions went uncensored. The crisis takes dangerous proportions in the Islamic countries, where doctrinal conflicts dominate relations and practices, thus preventing agreement over specific goals and union in the face of the looming dangers. A knowledge basis of Islamic countries would reverse this course, for the Internet greatly contributes to redressing many groundless misconceptions about the different Muslim doctrines.

Striking balance between heritage and modernity

Though extremely important, heritage constitutes a knowledge that cannot stand without a natural extension that espouses modernity, either positively or negatively. Islamic heritage involves many civilizational patterns as well as attitudes that may do harm rather than good to the image of the Islamic thought, especially in history books written under specific political circumstances and sometimes with mere flights of fancy. Therefore there is need to adopt an Islamic programme to treat heritage and its issues, and to project it in a manner that fits the requirements of modern Muslims and their worldly and after lives, and makes them desirable.

2. Technological novelties:

Technological novelties and their impact on development in Islamic countries

Today’s world is witnessing a huge technological revolution that subjects every forms of human life to its data. Islamic countries suffer backwardness in technological development that can be felt in different forms, including:

- Education: global education systems are governed by technology from the design of curricula and their reliance on multimedia and systems, while Islamic countries rely on school textbook alone as a source of learning.

- Production and reliance on machine allow for an increase of production rates and quality, while Islamic countries rely on individuals and workforce, which constitutes a yawning gap between technology-based production and production relying on individuals.

- Nanotechnology, biotechnology, hydrokinetics and the design of new generation of technological means. Advanced countries have made great strides in these fields, while Islamic countries still suffer from problems relating to these terms and their meaning. Any quick field studies on these concepts in the Islamic countries will show to what extent they are ignored, even among holders of educational degrees.

Reality of technological consumption in Islamic countries

16

Admittedly, all Islamic countries are technology consumers. And it is commonly held that the economic future of the world will be formed in the few coming years by knowledge and technology production in the first place. Technology and information have become arguably a commodity, which requires all Islamic countries to develop their plans to contribute to the production of information and technology. To achieve that, these countries will have to engage in cooperation and define an integrated project in which each country contributes its share.

Mechanisms of shift from consumption to production

Shift from consumption to production may be achieved through many forms:

- Building a knowledge basis;

- Preparing procedural mechanisms for shift from consumption to production to benefit various sectors of Islamic countries as part of media and awareness-raising programmes.

- Adopting the setting up of various bodies to support Islamic research and studies keeping pace with the latest global developments.

- Supporting the cultural structures in Islamic countries and activating the roles of partnership.

Treatment of heritage to keep pace with knowledge data of modern time and move from:

Information to knowledge.

Theorizing to practice.

Consumption to production.

Quantity of knowledge to knowledge production.

3. Information technology and the revolution of communications

Developing Islamic industries and catering for handicraft heritage as well as all industries that confirm and take pride in the identity of Islamic countries. This requires monitoring and preparing statistics of Islamic arts and industries, saving and listing endangered heritage and promoting it economically and through the media, especially at this time witnessing growing role of handicrafts in the world. Also required is the introduction of technological tools and industry technology to these Islamic industries and arts.

Broadening the scope of businesses and raising awareness of fostering bridges of communication and contact. This requires finding potentials for

17

trade exchange, as well as economic and industrial integration among these sectors at the level of countries.

Summary

“Transfer of the Economies of Islamic Countries into Knowledge Base”

This document explores one of the inevitable necessities of existence, namely knowledge and its limitless potential. It also seeks to monitor the aspects with which to build a knowledge base, through three interrelated axes:

Reviewing the reality of globalization and knowledge as an economic basis in the Islamic countries, the concepts related to the knowledge base, the positive and negative aspects, the relationship with economic progress, current global changes produced by the intervention of technology in new sciences, knowledge and materials.

Monitoring the existing relationship between knowledge and economic and social development, reviewing the current situation of the economies of Islamic countries, the global changes in the concepts of economics, the relationship between the economy and knowledge, the requirements of the knowledge society and the mechanisms for change.

Debating the challenges facing development in the Islamic countries, the ways to confront these challenges and the ways to make the best use of material and human resources.

The present document rests on a philosophy of complentarity between the data of the Islamic countries at the regional and international levels, and pursues general goals, such as entrenching the Islamic identity in the globalization era and helping the Islamic countries to benefit from their heritage and resources to shape a knowledge society capable of facing up to the current and future challenges.

This document constitutes a general framework with fine details, general and subsidiary terms and concepts, which, if they are to be applied concretely, require many procedures, studies and intellectual meetings among experts from the Islamic countries, as well as plans and long-and-short-term alternative plans, to put the countries to the test and achieve the sought goals.

The present document relies on knowledge and economic progress, being as they are two fundamental components that have altered the concepts of force in the entire world and put it to the test of new trends and unprecedented practices. With the novel challenges facing the Islamic countries, the application of the present document becomes a matter of necessity.

18

19