Taken from the compilaton of Dr Mahathir’s speeches entitled Islam, Knowledge and Other Affairs. Page #44.
We shall all be well-equipped with the knowledge and the skills to administer and develop our countries, to strengthen thm with the defence capability that we are enjoined by our religion to have, and to dedicate ourselves to the service of Islam and the ummah. We should fine common grounds between our different sects and diregard or tolerate the differences so that we could be united again and strong.
All these may sound very idealistic. It is easy to talk about doing what Islam enjoins upon us but it is not going to be easy considering the nature of human race whatever may be the religion. But it must be remembered that even the Prophet, the messenger of Allah did not convert three quarters of the known world of his time in one day, or even in the 23 years of his prophethood. He suffered many failures and setbacks for years. Even when he succeeded he did not live to see the full extent of the spread od Islam. He saw only a minute fraction of the Islamic world he intiated. His successors worked for centuries to build glorious Islamic civilization.
If the Prophet cannot do it in his lifetime, can we expect to do better than him? Only the most arrogant among ourselves would dare to say they can.
