Mahdi Elmandjra and the Future of the Muslim World

Abstract

Mahdi Elmandjra, a prominent sociologist and futurist, is one of the Muslim scholars who consistently discuss about the future of the Muslims and the Muslim world. Elmandjra was born in Rabat in 1933. He graduated from Cornell University and obtained his doctorate from the London School of Economics. He was the Director General of the Moroccan Broadcasting Service and Counselor of the Moroccan Mission to the United Nation. Between 1961 to 1981, he occupied various functions in the United Nation System including the Assistant Director General of UNESCO for Social Sciences, Human Sciences and Culture and the Coordinator of the Conference on Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (UNDP) (http://www.elmandjra.org/summary.htm). He was also the President of the World Future Studies Federation and of Futuribles International of Paris as well as the Founding President of the Moroccan Association of Futures Studies and the Moroccan Organization for Human Rights. He has been a Visiting Professor of Tokyo University (1998) and a Visiting Scholar of the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) at the Tokyo Keizai University (1999) (http://www.elmandjra.org/summary.htm).Elmandjra has published over 400 articles in the fields of the human and social sciences. He is a co-author of No Limits to Learning (Report to the Club of Rome 1979) and the author of several books including The United Nations System, Maghreb et Francophonie, Premiere Guerre Civilisationnelle, Retrospective des Futurs, Nord-Sud, Prelude a l'Ere Postcoloniale, Cultural Diversity Key to Survival, Dialogue about Communication, Decolonisation Culturelle: Defimajeur du 21e Siele, Al-Quds Al-Arabi, Path of a Mind, Reglobalization of Globalization, and Intifadate, to name a few (http://www.elmandjra.org/summary.htm).Throughout his intellectual and professional life, he has been designated to various important positions for his outstanding scholarship, such as the President of the World Future Studies Federation (WFSF) (1977-1981), the President of the Futuribles International (1981-1990), and the President of the Club of Rome (resigned in 1988). He was also members of various institutions such as the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco, the World Academy of Art and Science, the World Academy of Social Prospective, the Moroccan Association of Economists, the Moroccan Association of Philosophy, and the Moroccan Association of Historians. He was also the Founding President of the Moroccan Association of Futures Studies, the Moroccan Organization for Human Rights and the Founding Member and the Vice President of the Morocco-Japan Association. He was also the Executive Committee of the African Academy of Sciences and the Pugwash Movement and Council for the Society for International Development between 1982 to 1988 and its Executive Committee between 1985 until 1988. With all these significant contributions to the world society, he was chosen by the International Biographical Center as one of the 2000 Outstanding Scholars of the 20th Century (http://www.elmandjra.org/summary.htm).Islam and the FutureThe source of Elmandjra's thought derived from the Islamic sources when he refers to the Quranic verses2 and conception of future in claiming the importance of futures thinking. He emphasizes that in Islamic discourse on the future, there are a few concepts that should be understood correctly. Such concepts, as he discusses them briefly, is the concept of 'al-ghayb' (unknown) which he believes within the realm of God and 'mustaqbal' (future) which for him implies the anticipation of developments arising from people's action or inaction. He also asserts the difference between the concept of 'bid'ah' (heresy) and 'ibdaa' (innovation) in which, ...the first is an opinion or attitude which is in violation of the basic tenets of Islam..., whereas ...the second is, on the contrary, an invitation to introduce changes and innovations in order to stimulate the community's development and vitality (Elmandjra 1990: 3). …