Sunaa’ al-Hayah

- Life Makers -

Episode 26: Our Dreams for Technology and Industry

We previously agreed that we have twenty-three fields for the revival of our nation and we asked you to vote for the suggestions that people offered in these different fields such as agriculture, education, scientific research and women.  Finally, people have started to vote.  As agreed, we will not start implementing any project unless we know what you really want because this project will be for us all; that is the reason behind suggesting the idea of voting.  The implementation of these projects will depend heavily on the voting process.  We have found that voting will help us set our priorities, what is important and what is less important, what will be hard to accomplish and what will be less difficult.  Once the number of votes exceeds a million, we will carry out the projects that people have chosen.

Because the voting process is not yet finished, we will not start implementing any of the projects.  Until now, the total number of votes is 460,000 in five fields (out of the twenty three we have spoken about).  You can continue sending in your votes to the following email: program@amrkhaled.net or you can vote through the website.  To date, the results are encouraging, thanks to Allah (SWT).

I have previously mentioned that we will not start implementing the projects for the revival of our nation unless we agree on what you want because these projects are for all of us and not only for me.  However, to encourage the enthusiastic youth who are keen to start working, we have decided to start a preliminary project that will be suitable for everybody: housewives, girls, children and youth.  This project will act as an introduction to the coming projects.  Our project aims to erase computer and internet illiteracy.  The target is to exceed 10,000 persons if Allah (SWT) permits and, Allah (SWT) willing, we will exceed that number.

Let us now pose this question, why did we start with this project, and why before the completion of the voting process? The answer is that this project has many useful advantages; it suits the nature of our era.  Since the dawning of time, every age has had its own nature, starting from the Stone Age, to the age of science, then the industrial revolution and the age of technology.  The present era is that of information revolution.  Nowadays, we have a flow of easily accessible information.  Being successful depends on collecting a larger amount of information, collating it and analyzing it.  This cannot be realized except through the use of computers and the internet.

The entire universe is moving around us as Allah says what can be translated as, "And the sun runs on its fixed course for a term (appointed).  That is the Decree of the All-Mighty." (TMQ, 36:38)[1].  The sun is running its course, and so are the stars, planets and clouds.  The external universe is not the only thing that moves but also the cells in your body are constantly changing; all your cells are moving.  Everything is moving; the universe, and the cells in your body.  Now, the West is developing and changing.  We are the only ones standing still.  This is the age of information, technology, computers and the internet.

Let us start with this project and deploy all our computer literate youth to teach children, students in schools and universities, housewives and everyone who does not know how to use computers; this way, we all teach one another.  The various goals of the project will enhance our future.  The rate of computer literacy in the Arab world is very distressing; only 0.6% from the total population know how to use computers and the internet.  As for the West, the rate is 88% of the total population.  The really disappointing fact is that most of the 0.6% use computers and the internet to play games and chat with girls; they do not know how to use software such as Word or Excel or any other useful program.  They also, are considered illiterate in computer usage, because they only know the part that does not contribute to the revival and development of our countries.  There is a huge difference between computer and internet users in the Arab world and those in the West.

In relation to our discussion of women’s persecution and illiteracy in the last episode, can you imagine that the rate of computer and internet literacy of women in the Arab world is only 6% out of the 0.6%?  As for the rate of women using computers and internet in the West, it is: 50% in the United States, 45% in India, 38% in Japan.  These rates are very high compared to those in the Arab world.

In our project, the youth who know how to use computers and the internet can start working immediately by training others.  If we commence the project and succeed in promoting computer literacy for 10,000 persons, others will find this project easy and simple.  Consequently, the project will spread between people until elderly women and housewives are able to surf the internet and benefit from it.  The following are the effects of this preliminary project on the revival projects:

1.      Education: Imagine if all our children become excellent in using computers, to the point where a child would not be accepted into the second or the third primary grade unless he/she can surf the internet.  You previously mentioned in your suggestions on the topic of education that the main problem is that children do not think any more; their minds are similar to a storage dump where information enters their brains only to be poured out in exams.  You also mentioned that the best means of education is to let students think and get them to carry out research, but how can they carry out such research without computers or internet access?  In your suggestions on education you mentioned that you want the students to be able to research because this is the only means of developing their minds,  so they would not turn into a mere storage dump.  This preliminary project will change the education system to help students use their minds well.

2.      Interrelations between our countries: you suggested in this field to strengthen our countries' interrelations.  There may be political circumstances that prevent that from happening, so why don't we start doing it ourselves? What if each one of us befriends (through the internet) five people from five Arab countries, corresponds with them, keeps in permanent contact with them, and gets to know their ideas and habits? They will also come to know your ideas and habits and hence we can build a unity between our countries through this project.

3.      Interactive dialogue among civilizations: Islam is a great civilization that teaches us how to interact with other civilizations and enables us to do so through conferences and forums.  Until we do that, we can play this role through the internet by talking to the people in the West and instead of chatting with girls to gain girlfriends, we can chat with the West to present our civilization, our values and our morals.  Consequently, we will call people to Allah, “And We sent not a Messenger except with the language of his people." (TMQ, 14:4).  In five years’ time, the internet will become the language of our era.  How will we be able to call the West to Islam without speaking that language?

4.      Scientific research: many among you have suggested reviving scientific research, but how could a revival in scientific research happen without using the internet? When MA and PhD students need to research any given subject, they ask an internet expert to do the work for them because they are unable to surf the internet.  Hence, an internet expert, with no scientific research background, leads the inexperienced student even though the latter is the specialist in scientific research.  There is another problem in the scientific research field.  Imagine for example that the library of a given faculty contains a thousand books; consequently all research done in this faculty for a hundred years will be based only on the ideas of these 1,000 books.  On the contrary, if these students were to surf the internet, they would gain access to a far bigger library, spanning the whole world.

5.      Women: Women and housewives must realise that their minds will develop if they learn to use the internet.  They will know what is going on around them in the world in various fields.

Thus this issue, though easy and simple as it seems, affects all the other fields which you voted for.  It affects the field of scientific research, it affects the field of women's affairs and allows women to occupy their free time at home so that they can open up to the world, and develop their intellectual abilities and express their thoughts to the whole world.  It will also change the way children think and the way they are educated.  It will further affect the unity of our countries and how, as Muslims, we get to know each other.  Finally, it will affect the dialogue among civilizations and the way we call others to Allah (SWT).  This project is not among the revival projects but it will certainly lead to it since it will affect all the other fields.  Among its advantages:

• It paves the way leading to all the other fields of revival.
• It consumes all the capacities of the youth.

How will we accomplish this project?  In this project, people are divided into these two groups:

1. A group that knows how to deal with computers and the internet.
2. A group that knows nothing about computers and the internet.

During this coming month, those who know will teach those who do not know.  Both groups will seek each other out.  The group that knows should gather their parents, neighbours, friends and relatives and start teaching them all about computers and the internet.  In brief, this project needs four aspects:

1. A trainer (someone who knows), and we have many of them.
2. A trainee (someone who doesn’t know), and I’m telling them now that they will benefit greatly from this experience.  They will also benefit Islam by what they will learn.
3. A computer; I think that two or three can learn on one PC, so I would like to call on those who have any extra PCs to give them to others as charity or at least to use their own PC to teach others.
4. A place; it could be the building you live in, a mosque or a club.  Why not the mosques? We are now in the era of technology and information revolution.  Girls should also do the same, if not in the mosques, then in the clubs.

This project does not require teaching institutions.  If you access the internet you will find a statistical study showing the number of those who learned how to use computers by themselves or learned it from others, in comparison to those who learned it at an institution.  The study shows that those who went to institutions constitute no more than 3% of the total number, so what we are suggesting is indeed possible.

The targeted clients for this project are housewives, children, high school students and university students.  It is shameful to have university students who do not know how to use a computer!  This project is also for graduates and mature people.  There is a big difference between a university professor who knows how to use the computer and another who has no idea.  There is a big difference between a businessman who can use a computer and another one who cannot; between a housewife who knows and another one who does not.  We will help you in this by providing those who can teach you through the internet and television.

I would like to say something to those who can teach others, I would like to tell you the saying of the Prophet (SAWS[2]), “Allah, his angels and those who inhabit the heavens and the earth, even the ant under the earth and the whales in the deep seas, are praying on those who teach the good to others.”  Praying here means that they are calling Allah (SWT) for them, asking the forgiveness of Allah (SWT) for them.  The Prophet (SAWS) also says, “If any of you withholds his knowledge from others, when asked for it, then Allah will withhold him with a shackle of fire on the Day of Judgment.” 

Right now, we are asking you for your knowledge; we are asking you to be benevolent and teach others.  Let the husband teach his wife what she does not know to strengthen the ties of their relationship with each other.  It is not shameful if you ask your son to teach you, because you cannot be a successful doctor or engineer if you cannot use the internet.  If you are a professor, how can you teach students who know how to use a computer while you do not?  There should be no embarrassment if you ask one of your students to teach you.  Nobody is too good to learn.  As for the thawab (reward) you will get, listen to this saying of the Prophet (SAWS), “He who leads a way seeking for knowledge, Allah will forward for him a way that leads to paradise.”  Every time you sit at your PC to learn, this is a way to paradise.  This Hadith is not just for religious teachings (Shari’a) but for all sciences in general; any science that would benefit our countries and revive the Muslims.

We will help those who know how to use computers but do not know how to train others.  We will get you a computer specialist to give you a course via the website (www.amrkhaled.net).  He will explain to you how to get through this mission.  The whole of next week will be dedicated to this job and this specialized person will show you how to train others.

As for those who need to be trained but cannot find anyone to train them, we will also broadcast a program for them on Iqra’ TV Channel.  To use this program in learning, you need to have a PC first.  The same specialist will teach you to use your PC on this program.  Just remember that this program is only for those who could find no one to teach them; the best way is to get someone to teach you.

This specialist is Engineer Ahmad Samy whom we had mentioned in a previous episode.  He started a computer training centre with a group of friends, since the very first episodes of this program.  He works for a very large computer company and he decided to dedicate his free time in the evening to teach hundreds of other youth how to use a computer.  We asked him to help us in this project; to help us in teaching the youth how to teach others and to teach those who know nothing about computers, via the TV program.  I present Engineer Ahmad Samy.  He will talk to you and tell you about the steps required to teach and train others.

Eng. Ahmad Samy:  "In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.  Blessings and salutations be upon His Messenger.  Today, we will talk about our project, its details and how it works.  We have a month to achieve the target of this project, which is to teach 10,000 people how to use a computer and the internet in a useful way.  Let us first explain what is meant by computer illiteracy.  Computer illiteracy differs from one field to another, from an age group to another, and from one stage to another, for instance, it is impossible to erase the computer illiteracy of a person who has an MA once he learns ‘Word’ and ‘Excel.’  It is assumed that this person’s knowledge of computers must be much more than that.  On the other hand, if we are talking about a seven year old child, we find that he needs only simple computer knowledge.  Computer illiteracy is very clear when an employee, whose age is about 30 or 40 years old, knows nothing more than the use of pen and paper.

Any person fits within one of three categories:

1.      Does not know how to use computers at all.

2.      Knows how to use the computer but is not qualified.

3.      A computer professional who cannot deliver the information to others.

The steps that we will take are as follows:

1.      Starting Saturday and for a whole week, we will present daily episodes from 10 AM to 11 AM Cairo time, on the site www.amrkhaled.net.  In these episodes we will help you to teach others.

2.      On the site, we will put the books and notes that we will work with.  Moreover, we will put all the free books and references we can collect from the internet. You can take all these and distribute them to the people you will teach.  If you do not know anything about computers, what are the basic things you need in order to be able to learn? You have to have a computer in front of you.  It will be of no use if you follow our programs as if you are watching a TV series.  You have to try things out yourself and we will assume that you apply the lessons hands-on. Our role is to show you the beginning of the path, so you must have a computer in front of you.  Also, those who will train others have to be aware of the fact that when we start teaching someone, we first have to eliminate the barrier of fear barrier this person and the computer.  There are some people who are afraid to press a key, so you have to start with the principles first, until the person feels more comfortable with the computer.

3.      After that, we will teach you ‘Windows’ and how to use it.  Then we will move on to the applications, ‘Word’ and ‘Excel’ as these are the applications that are most needed.

“As for the internet, we do not want to teach people how to chat and the like.  What we will teach them is how to search the internet to find required information, what the best sites through which they can get information are and how to use search engines.  It is important as well not to wait for one another; whoever can start today should do so, and we will continue with him next week.  Do not wait for anybody, start immediately.  We have from the middle of August until September; a sufficient time to teach whoever we want.

“I suggest that, after this episode, you write down a list of the names of persons you want to teach.  After we finish the training period, we will offer you (on the website) the topics which people can search for on the internet.  This will be a practical experiment to show them whether they have actually learned how to search on the internet or not.  They can return to their tutors and ask them for help until they get all the information they need. They will record this information using ‘Word’ and ‘Excel.’ The trainee will write a simplified report on ‘Word’ about the information he found in addition to some simple statistics on ‘Excel.’

“These researches and reports will be the means through which we can determine if we reached the required stage or not.  After completing the research you will send it to the site www.amrkhaled.net.  We will evaluate these researches and there will be a prize for the best one.  As for the tutors, they will send the researches of the people they trained and by evaluating this research we will evaluate the tutor by calculating the average grade of the persons he or she trained.  The best one or two tutors will join our work group to enlarge it monthly.  The objective is to train 10,000 people every month until we totally eliminate computer illiteracy.

To sum up what I have said:

1. The subjects we will learn

·        Windows as an operating system

·        Word

·        Excel

·        Internet search

2. Duration: 20 hours for one month
3. The participants will be evaluated through selecting some search topics for them.  Then they will write reports about these topics on ‘Word’ and ‘Excel’ in order to evaluate the level they have reached.”

Back to Mr. Amr Khaled:  Now brothers and sisters, you have a great deal of work to do.  The number of voters for the dreams has to reach a million, and you have to start on the computer project to help eliminate the computer illiteracy of 10,000 people.

Today we will talk about another field out of the 23 fields, and then you will vote for it on the site.  This field is very tough; it is the field of ‘industry.’  Many people have sent their suggestions regarding this topic.  There are many rich and different suggestions. Therefore I have divided this field into many sections which are:

1.      Industrial ethics; this is summed up into three suggestions:

·        The most important thing in industry is ‘making people.’  If people are ‘made’ properly, products will be made and, thus, civilization will be made.  A 22 year old man wrote that suggestion.  This is our target; we are the life makers and we are not able to make life except by making people.

·        Industrialists should love Allah, because the Prophet (SAWS) said “Allah loves people, who, when they perform a deed, perform it with excellence.”  If the men of industry put this Hadith in front of them and they excel in what they do, they will become lovers of Allah.

·        The third suggestion is the result of the two previous suggestions; it is to have an Arabic International Quality Standard, better than that of the ISO.  There would be a seal of approval (written in Arabic) on qualifying products in Europe and America,; and though they cannot read it in the West, yet after 20 years’ time, there will be no higher standard of approval, because it will be the seal of international quality and all manufacturers will need it.

2.      Suggestions about achievements in the field of industry:

·        To make the local product better than the imported one and if it is not, then we buy the local product until it becomes the best.

·        To manufacture all our basic products; this way we solve the problem of unemployment.

·        To locally manufacture all electronic circuits used in mobile phones, computers, television sets and video recorders.

·        To build toy factories, as this is a very simple industry and we spend a huge sum of money on importing toys.

·        To have fashion designs for men and women which suit our values and ethics.

·        To produce a local beverage to be spread across the entire Arabic world instead of the carbonated beverages which adversely affect our health.  This product would be sold in all the Arab countries.

·        Each Arab country would excel in manufacturing one or two products and would exert all efforts to reach the highest level of success in manufacturing these products, very much like those countries known for certain products all over the world; for instance Swiss watches, French perfumes and German machines.

·        That media specialists present programs that encourage national industries, perfection and quality.

·        To manufacture medicine in our countries; this way we stop importing pharmaceuticals which destroy our health, kill our youth and cause abortion or sterility in women.

·        To locally manufacture veterinary medicines.

3.      Strategies for industry:

·        To stop exporting raw materials.  We export raw materials for meagre amounts of money and import them as products for thousands of dollars. There is a brilliant practice in Malaysia.  Malaysia is rich in forests; people there used to cut the wood and export it as a raw material for a few cents,  but in the beginning of the age of revival in Malaysia they started to export products made of wood. As a result, the price of the exported product increased 16 fold.  There are many examples of this in the Arab world.  In Egypt for instance, they export sand for 12 dollars per ton, then they import it in the form of different products like bottles, TV screens, vases and antiques whose prices exceed a thousand dollars.  Also, the perfumes; we import perfumes, especially the gulf area, for about 550 million dollars.  These perfumes are actually made of resources mainly from our countries.  The Jasmine paste, for instance, is imported from Egypt and the roses of al-Ta’ef, which is a very superior kind of rose, from Saudi Arabia.  Then these perfumes come back to us and we buy the bottle for 50 dollars.

·        To have a yearly prize sponsored by a large businessman or a country for the best industrial invention in the Arab world.

·        To avoid power waste in factories.  This can be controlled by not issuing new factory licenses before making sure that the power in all the other factories has been fully used up.

·        Waste recycling.  One of the members of the forum said that we import thousands of tons of paper for millions of dollars instead of recycling paper waste.  Newspapers, for instance, can be repressed, whitened and re-used.  In our countries we use paper waste as egg cartons, despite the fact that the revenue would be higher if it were turned into paper.

·        To locally produce all our defence requirements.

·        To reinstate the concept of the productive family, to make home-made jams, pies, and yoghurt.  Now, homes do not produce anything and everything is bought ready made from the supermarket.  In China, for instance, the cars pass by people’s homes and give them the materials for making toys.  The whole family participates in making toys from these materials.  Then the car passes by, the following day, to collect the toys after they have been made.  This strengthens family ties and saves manufacturing and transportation costs.

·        The ‘Pound’ or ‘Dinar’ project; this entails setting up a project in each country in which all people are shareholders. Take for instance, people buying the companies offered for privatization and developing them instead of allowing them to be bought by foreigners.

·        Every businessman would build a training centre for his industry.  These training centres would mainly be for unemployed youth, where they would be trained in various crafts, instead of remaining idle without work.  If every businessman were to open a small training centre, call the youth to start training and promise to employ the best trainees in his factory, this would help them, as well as the society.  Moreover, it would contribute to solving the problem of unemployment.

Now you can visit the site www.amrkhaled.net to vote for the suggestions in the field of industry so that we can identify the projects that should be executed.  Then we will be able to start executing our revival project.  However, this week, we have a preliminary project, namely the elimination of computer and internet illiteracy for 10,000 people, and inshallah (Allah willing) we will exceed this number.

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