«A secure pluralistic society requires communities that are educated and confident both in the identity and depth of their own traditions and in those of their neighbours. Democracies must be educated if they are to express themselves competently, and their electorates are to reach informed opinions about the great issues at stake. Perhaps the greatest obstacle to pluralism and democracy, however, is the lacuna in the general education of the populations involved.
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Humanities curricula in many educational institutions in the West, rarely feature great Muslim philosophers, scientists, astronomers and writers of the classical age of Islam, such as Avicenna, Farabi and al-Kindi, Nasir Khusraw and Tusi. This lack of knowledge and appreciation of the civilisations of the Muslim world is a major factor that colors media stereotypes, by concentrating on political hotspots in the Muslim world.
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Intellectual honesty and greater knowledge are essential if current explosive situations are to be understood as inherited conflicts and - rather than being specific to the Muslim world—driven by ethnic and demographic difference, economic inequity and unresolved political situations.»
Link to full speech: https://www.akdn.org/speech/his-highness-aga-khan/leadership-and-diversi...
