If every Muslim wants to know the reality of technology in his country and nation, let him look around at the means of transportation and communication, at the weapons, factories, notebooks, and pens he writes with, and at the glasses through which he sees. If he does that, he will find that they are—most of the time—made by foreign hands, in foreign factories and countries. This alone is more eloquent than any description and more telling than any number!

If we want some details about the state of technology, we can infer it through a few limited figures and indicators. For example, scientists and technicians constitute only a negligible percentage of the total population: in Bangladesh, there are 20 per million people; in Egypt, 190 per million; whereas in North America and Europe, they number 4,300 per million, and in the Eastern Bloc, 8,200 per million. This means that the ratio of scientists and technicians in a nation like the United States is a hundred times greater than in a large Islamic country like Egypt—though Egypt is one of the richest Islamic nations and one of the most abundant in the numbers of scientists and technicians.

The fundamental poverty in Islamic industries is concentrated in two critical areas:

• The field of heavy industries.
• The field of electronics and advanced industries.

This is simply because both types of industries require enormous capital, along with advanced scientific research and studies—both of which are scarce in most Islamic countries.

If we want to understand what technology can do in a country, let us look at a developed nation like Germany, which has only 61 million people—similar to Egypt—but with only a quarter of Egypt’s area (250,000 km²). This medium-sized country had a national income of about 1,327 billion dollars in 1987, and its exports were worth about 324 billion dollars, most of which were industrial products. Meanwhile, Egypt’s national income that year was about 25 billion dollars—meaning 1 to 50 compared with Germany!

Is there a way out?
The tremendous developments in global technology are a double-edged sword: if we shut our eyes to them, the result will be disastrous in every sense of the word. But if we open our eyes and learn how to benefit from them, we can shorten much of the time and effort needed to bridge the gap between us and the industrial world. We present here some points that may help in this regard:

1. Reorganizing scientific research, focusing on applied research aimed at solving production problems, improving products, or creating new types of industry. This means reducing or even rejecting support for research that has no practical use or addresses marginal issues unrelated to our urgent needs.

This recalls Japan’s story with its technological leap, sparked by one student, Takeo Osahira, whom his government sent to Germany to pursue a doctorate in mechanics. Instead of being lured by degrees and meaningless research, he learned to dismantle and reassemble an engine, and then to manufacture every part of it almost independently. After eight years, he returned to Japan with a complete engine factory, financed by the emperor. Nine years later, he had established a full engine factory, and the first Japanese-made engines were presented to the Emperor—who considered their roar the sweetest sound he had ever heard.

Had Osahira acted like many students from Islamic countries who study engineering in the West, Japan’s engine industry might have been delayed for decades. This confirms the necessity of establishing bodies in each Islamic country to supervise and coordinate scientific research, support priority studies, and discourage irrelevant projects.

2. Controlling the influx of modern devices. New technologies are increasingly complex due to commercial and technical motives. Their uncontrolled importation makes it impossible to understand, repair, or reproduce them. Some thinkers advocate limiting imports of advanced technologies to encourage maintaining existing ones and producing spare parts. Evidence shows that poor countries like Bangladesh and Indonesia, through local workshops and self-taught mechanics, have managed to extend the lifespan of vehicles three to four times longer than in rich countries. Some industrialists even suggest importing used machines—they are cheaper, easier to understand, require more labor, and provide valuable training in maintenance and spare-part production.
3. Supporting local industry through protective policies. Industrial development requires huge investments and protection by customs and taxes, as local products cannot initially compete with foreign goods in price or quality. States must therefore impose suitable taxes on imports—especially luxury goods—while exempting raw materials used in production. This shifts societies from trade dependence to industry and self-reliance.
4. Learning from Japan, Korea, and the Asian Tigers. Their rapid progress lay in mastering imitation (“reverse engineering”) as an entry point to innovation. History records that when European arms traders visited the Malay Muslims in the 19th century, they kept buying weapons every year. But when the traders visited Japan, the Japanese bought weapons once—then never again. They had copied and manufactured them themselves! Reverse engineering—dismantling products to study their design, materials, and interconnections—proved to be one of the most effective ways to build technological capability.

This process is not mere imitation but creativity within an existing framework, paving the way for independent innovation. However, it requires governments to obligate large factories to establish R&D centers and gradually increase the percentage of locally manufactured parts instead of mere assembly. Without coordination between research and industry, science will remain a soul without a body, and industry a body without a soul.

Today, we are entering a new age, dominated by advanced communication, information technologies, new materials, and precise engineering. We must define our stance toward these issues before bridging the gap with others becomes a subject of ridicule.