The Moral Foundation for Progress

by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem

Debate frequently erupts over Arab morals and Western morals and their relationship to progress. Some say that the West has no morals, citing sexual permissiveness and family breakdown as proof; and if it has achieved accomplishments in material fields, that is because it took many of its ethical standards from the Muslims — from us. Another camp says that morality is deeply rooted in Western people, and that what we consider vice is not necessarily vice in Western eyes; they add that their morals led them to excellence, while our own morals have not done the same for us. They have progressed, while we still drag behind us the trailing edge of defeat.

The claims and narratives of mutual enlightenment may not be useful in this area, because nations interact with one another reciprocally and learn from each other’s experiences. Every nation has a share in contributing to world civilization, and its capacity to give oscillates, rising and falling, across time. Just as we benefited the world in our own golden ages, other nations have given to the world during their own periods of ascendance; and just as the people of the West once took from us in ancient times, we are now taking from them.

The argument of those biased toward the superiority of our own morals in the present day collapses before the objective truth that confronts us forcefully. We are defeated before the West militarily, scientifically, and technologically; we cannot exploit our own wealth without Western technology and Western experts, and we cannot secure our daily bread except by importing it from the West. Even many of our internal problems find no solution except through the intervention of Western powers. The examples that reduce us to silence are numerous. This does not mean the West is free of moral problems that have their own impact on life, but the matter cannot be measured only by what pleases me and what does not; it must be measured by the overall trajectory of material and moral progress.

…in various fields.

Progress requires moral values commensurate with ambition. It requires activity, vitality, teamwork, mutual cooperation, care for time, keeping one’s covenant and promise, commitment to trustworthiness, defense of rights, the fulfillment of duty, and the establishment of justice, among other things. It is never achieved where base values prevail, such as lying, laziness, betrayal, gossip, wasted time, dependence on others, monasticism, and clericalism. Nations achieve progress when they decide to rely on the strength of their own sons and to reinforce values of giving, while nations that choose to depend on others and remain on the bed of relaxation and desire stay mired in backwardness, humiliation, and defeat.

The matter can be measured against a person who wants to achieve something scientific. If this person does not arm himself with late nights, perseverance, and continual reading, he will certainly not accomplish what he aspires to. His laziness destroys his ambition and reduces it to mere wishful thinking. The meaning is that scientific achievement requires a clearly defined moral foundation, one that precedes the execution of the project itself. On this basis, one can explain, for example, the failure of the overwhelming majority of Arab economic development projects and plans. Many plans have failed because of a lack of harmony between the aspirations built into them and the ethics of the people who were supposed to carry them out. Large sums of money were stolen, unskilled people were employed who sometimes destroy rather than build, and time was squandered on activities far removed from the interest of the plan or project, among other things. On this basis, too, one can explain the Arab military defeats, even though the Arabs were not lacking in equipment or numbers. This is also true of our scientific institutions, spread densely across the length and breadth of the Arab homeland. Israel, a small statelet, produces far more scientifically than all the Arab countries combined; and what Zionist scientists produce is distinguished by a world-class quality and circulates at the global level, while what we produce mostly remains confined to local circles.

The march of progress requires, first and foremost, moral advancement — meaning morals consistent with our aspirations, commitment to them, and accountability for them. In many of our universities we have focused on the faculties of science, engineering, and pharmacy, hoping to catch up with scientific progress in the natural sciences, while largely neglecting the faculties of letters, political science, education, and Islamic law. Despite this, we have not caught up with the nations that discover and invent. It would have been better to support the humanities faculties, because they are the ones that bring about the moral change required if we want our education to be ethical, and because they are the ones that prepare the fertile ground for the success of our efforts in the natural sciences. But do our governments actually want our education to be ethical? Where would they end up if they wanted that?

Source: Translated from the original Arabic, “الأرضية الأخلاقية للتقدم” by Dr. Abdul-Sattar Kassem.