The road to modernity is long and the Muslim world still does not have the will to travel it.

The road to modernity is long and the Muslim world still does not have the will to travel it. Importing fast food restaurants will not make you modern. Traveling in an airplane instead of a camel does not make you modern. Modernity is a number of values that Muslims need to adopt in order to formulate a culture that will make them productive.

You can’t buy or import modernity; it comes as a result of a cultural change. Muslims need a new culture based on a contemporary understanding of the Quran where one’s religious practice is personal while the social values are communal and the state is civil, just like the society of Madinah under the leadership of our beloved Prophet.

Pluralism, education, and open markets: These were once Muslim values, and they could be so again.