Rise and Fall of Knowledge Power: An In-depth Investigation

Abstract

Knowledge falls short of expressing all the aspects of 'ilm. Knowledge in the Western world means information about something, divine or corporeal, while 'ilm is an all-embracing term covering theory, action and education. It may be said that Islam is the path of "knowledge." No other religion or ideology has so much emphasized the importance of 'ilm. There have been many discussions in the media and newspaper about the wonders of the golden age of Islam. The Muslim World held knowledge power for over five hundred years. They dominated in the field of historiography, religious texts, medicine, astronomy, mathematics, sciences, literature, geography and travel and many other areas during 750-950AD in the world history. But the current Muslim World is far behind in knowledge power than the rest of the world despite holding vast sources of economic resources. How Muslim knowledge powers became great and how they declined, is a question before today's researchers. Knowledge power is a much softer type of power, if anything; it forms one of the major foundation stones for great power. In this study, we explore the phenomenon and several factors responsible for the fall of Muslims' knowledge power. However, given the long and varied human history of knowledge and scientific discovery, if Islamic countries want to become knowledge power, Islamic countries should make a realistic action plan for human resources development. In the present study, we also explore the scope of initiative to power the knowledge economy in order to restore the flagging of knowledge powers.