By IINA,
Kuala Lumpur : Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said that emphasis must be placed on education to ensure that Muslims remain dynamic and vigilant in the defense of truth. “Education was the vehicle through which human capital development could have a positive impact on the development of Muslim civilization,” he said adding Muslim rulers had always insisted that mistakes be understood as examples that should not be repeated.
“Sadly, however, we still find ourselves mired in confusion and ignorance which have left an indelible imprint of difficulty and despair over much of the Muslim world.” Badawi made these remarks while launching “The Encyclopedia of Islam and Iran: Dynamics of Culture and The Living Civilization,” written by Dr. Ali Akbar Velayati, adviser on international affairs to Iran’s Supreme Leader, at the Islamic Arts Museum in Kuala Lumpur.
Abdullah Badawi said history had showed that human capital development was an integral element in the rise and fall of civilizations. “Whenever individual thought has been threatened by corruption and decay, so too has civilization. The same is true for institutionalized thought.
Whenever the institutions of thought become weak and insignificant, the dependent civilization also suffers a similar fate,” New Straits Times reported quoting him as saying.
The encyclopedia, published by MPH Group Publishing, provides a comprehensive reference to the history of Islamic civilization and its contribution to science, literature, technology and cultural practices. Velayati, who served as Iran’s foreign minister between 1981 and 1997, also discusses the relevance of Islamic civilization and the revival of Islamic culture in the book. Also present were Abdullah’s wife Jeanne Abdullah, Iranian ambassador to Malaysia Mahdi Khandagh Abadi, Yayasan Albukhary chairman Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary and its executive vice-chairman, Datuk Ismail Yusof.