The first and perhaps the only answer to the pressing question of the renaissance in our Arab societies is education. A civilizational renaissance cannot be established and sustained except on the foundation of knowledge and education. It's not merely a temporary stage that youth must go through to obtain certificates that neither nourish nor alleviate hunger. Instead, it should be a vital methodology and ethical values upon which generations are nurtured and raised to acquire and possess throughout their lives.

The scientific approach advocated by the Quran in orders to contemplate and reflect upon the heavens and the earth, to draw lessons from previous generations and the laws of the universe, along with ethics that honour humanity as the being that leads the universe and elevates its status through intellect and faith, are the basis of knowledge in the Quran.

Education Encompasses a Number of Issues and Considerations that Must be Taken into Account for Building a Strong RenaissanceTop of Form

Education encompasses a number of issues and considerations that must be taken into account for building a strong renaissance. Education refers primarily to the scientific methodology and scientific mentality that elevate the status of knowledge as a social, cultural, and civilizational component. It serves as a method for upbringing and education, a methodology for thinking, and a pathway for social, professional, and intellectual advancement. This includes education in its general, vocational, and religious forms, at all levels including higher education and scientific research, as well as the pre-school stage which plays a crucial role in shaping children's personalities and forming scientific mindsets from an early age.

On the other hand, relying solely on education without ethical constraints to guide it towards what benefits humanity, preserves human diversity, and ensures environmental sustainability, which is crucial to prevent corruption, chaos, and destruction. The dominance of unethical materialism over scientific development and practical discoveries has brought the world to the brink of environmental collapse, natural disasters, destruction, death, and wars, without any ethical or religious restraint.

Therefore, consideration must be given to the unique blend witnessed in Islamic civilization between religion/morality and intellect/science. It produced a cultural and civilizational legacy that illuminated the world and spread the noble Islamic values. Its civilizational products, scientific discoveries, and virtues, which surpass those of subsequent civilizations, are preserved and acknowledged.

Education: A Practical Methodology Instilling a Set of Values and Principles in the Minds and Hearts of Youth

The Scientific Methodology

Education relies on a practical methodology that instils a set of values and principles in the minds and hearts of youth, enabling them to build a better future for their nation. Among the most important principles of the scientific methodology are:

• Upholding the value of reason as the advantage with which God has favoured humanity over all other creatures in the universe, by encouraging critical thinking, reflection, and promoting rational thought.
• Scientific discipline ensures the adherence to agreed-upon steps and principles among scientists and specialists to organize scientific innovation in a manner suitable for each field, regulating and controlling scientific research.
• Sequential, organized logical thinking capable of induction, deduction, linking premises to conclusions, and progressing from the specific to the general and vice versa.
• Practical experimentation involves the ability to subject observed hypotheses to experimental testing to confirm the results reached. It includes the possibility of obtaining contradictory results, which requires intellectual openness on the part of the researcher to accept results even if they contradict their expectations or beliefs.

Advancing scientific mentality requires the promotion of a set of values that support the status of knowledge in minds.

Advancing scientific mentality requires instilling a set of values that uphold the status of knowledge in the minds of the nation's youth. These values address each of the diseases of social and cultural backwardness, preventing these cultural diseases from infiltrating the arenas of science and learning. Among the most important values that promote a scientific mentality are:

• Freedom: Scientific creativity cannot thrive under constraints, narrowness, or limitations. Scientific mentality necessitates the freedom of thought, research, understanding, access to information, thinking, and expression.
• Objectivity: Focusing on the subject matter rather than personalization and subjectivity, employing issues and ideas in a non-scientific manner to prove preconceived biases. Objectivity is the opposite of blind bias, the politicization of ideas, or subjecting facts to manipulation rather than objective study and neutral understanding.
• Openness: Scientific openness addresses the rigidity and closure prevalent in scientifically and culturally lagging societies. These societies refuse to explore or understand ideas that contradict their beliefs and value systems, fearing the collapse of their structure. This leads backward societies to fall behind in keeping up with the progress of other nations, positioning themselves in a stagnant place that glorifies self and demonizes others. Achieving a scientific renaissance and fostering a strong mentality requires openness to the achievements and discoveries of other civilizations, studying them carefully and fairly without preconceived biases or ideological or doctrinal closure.
• Collaboration: The nature of diverse scientific disciplines requires comprehensive, systematic collaboration and integration between scientific branches within the same scientific field, as well as between different scientific fields. This necessitates promoting the value of scientific cooperation to combat serious social and cultural diseases that have turned elites into isolated islands among scholars and researchers from various scientific fields.

Restoring the Status of Science Requires Political and Societal Will to Overcome Challenges and Obstacles Hindering its Progress

• Discipline: Scientific discipline contributes to promoting values of organization, coordination, review, and rigorous scientific monitoring through established rules by professors, scientists, and specialists in all branches of science. This ensures prevention of scientific theft, plagiarism, superficiality, bias, and other issues.

Restoring the Status of Science

If we aim to restore the rightful place of science in society and the state, political and societal will must be present to remove all obstacles hindering its reinstatement as the leader of society. This can be achieved through several steps:

• Treating education as a continuous process that individuals follow throughout their lives, through self-education, skill development, acquiring knowledge, and considering it a way of life and a sustainable goal that does not end at a certain stage or age.
• Reigniting the passion for reading among younger generations, as the culture of reading has declined in favour of engagement in social media platforms that do not cultivate culture or impart knowledge, contributing to the shallowness of the new generations.
• Restoring the value of science not just as slogans on school walls and notebook covers, but as an appreciation from authorities and governments for the talented and gifted individuals, considering scientific and practical competence as the sole criterion for professional and social advancement.
• Shedding light on cultural and scientific icons instead of exporting celebrities from the fields of art, singing, and dancing as elite figures. Responsible media should recognize the danger of shaping and educating generations who emulate leaders and celebrities in societies who have now become confined to certain categories far removed from science and culture.

Finally, scientific renaissance requires concerted efforts from all specialists and scientists in the nation through comprehensive dialogue that examines the root causes of the problem, acknowledges and addresses the problems, discusses the importance of overcoming them and methods of doing so. Addressing the societal diseases that hinder the renaissance of learning, perpetuate ignorance, and resist change requires, above all, genuine political will to support and financially and morally sponsor the revival of education.

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