Vice-President Mohammed Hamid Ansari on Wednesday exhorted the Muslim community to embrace modern education so as to be in sync with the changing times and also overcome their social and economic backwardness.
Inaugurating a two-day Muslim Education Conference organised by the Maulana Azad Vichar Manch (MAVM) here, Ansari said: “Education is the most important socio-economic challenge for the Muslim community. Its deficit is the biggest impediment to the Muslims’ progress, prosperity and empowerment.”
He said although Islam puts great importance on education and learning, many Muslim communities in India have not been stressing enough on the need to acquire education, and through it, knowledge.
Quoting a scholar, Ansari said: “The modern period of Islamic history begins with decadence from within and intrusion and menace from without. The quest for knowledge has been replaced by apologetics.”
According to him, the Muslims of India have been deprived of several benefits available to others owing to their educational backwardness.
He observed that the lack of education “has led to higher unemployment, rampant underemployment, confinement to traditional, low-paying professions, and under-representation in the modern organised business sector” among Muslims.