Unawareness and Ignorance in Arab World

The Arab world has got a lot of conflicts since one cared to remember. Most of those conflicts, wars, and disasters could've been prevented by having an essential powerful thing, which is Education. Unfortunately, the Arab world got a lot of dangerous problems because of that issue. Nowadays, Ignorance is one of the major challenges that the Arab world face. Ignorance, and unawareness, absolutely leads to cultural backwardness. The lack of knowledge, focusing on silly matters, and the reluctance to read, for instance, reflect tremendously bad effects on people's lives, societies, and eventually, countries. One can easily notice how a lot of Arabs reacted to the global pandemic. It's a shame how ignorant people give bad images about their cultures through their idiocy and cluelessness on what's going on, giving unreasonable excuses, which is, of course, a result of their ignorance. Illiteracy is one of the results of bad situation that caused by Ignorance. Through simple search on Google, one can easily find out the miserable reality. "According to Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO), 21% of the Arabs, or about 96 million people, are illiterate. This is such a huge proportion comparing to 13. 6% as a global average. " (Al-Ahmad, 2018). In Iraq, for instance, one in every five people is illiterate, which is a real disaster, if you ask me. Someone may argue that illiterate people aren't necessarily enjoyed that situation, rather than considering them as victims of inconvenient circumstances. This is partially true in some cases. However, those excuses are unacceptable, because Palestine, for instance, has gotten war and unstable situation for more than 70 years, yet the illiterate proportion is only 2%. So, there's no excuse! Everyone should at least get basic knowledge as long as he's alive. Also, there were those genius writers and authors who were blind, yet they left a lot of magnificent books. In addition, there are organisations and schools which offer programs to teach illiterate people. Ignorance may lead to destructive disasters, like wars, especially Civil Wars. Being unaware and ignorant about someone's beliefs, language, and points of view, leads you, of course, to be fearful of them. This is the real danger of Ignorance since it leads ignorant people to create certain images about others based on their illusions, not on facts, which lead eventually to a lot of misconceptions that probably lead to critical dangerous issues, like hatred and wars. "In 2003, the UNESCO Human Development Report indicated that every eighty Arabs read one book, while the European citizen read 35 books a year. In this context, the Human Development Report in 2011, issued by the Arab Thought Foundation, shows that the Arab citizen reads an equivalent of six minutes annually, while the European citizen reads two hundred hours annually" (Al-Ahmad, 2018). The very shocking truth is that the majority of the Arab world is Muslims who is supposed to read frequently since God's first order is to do so, as it is clear in chapter 96 of the Holy Qur'an: "Read in the name of your Lord Who created" (Qur'an 96: 1). The saying "Ignorance is a bliss" is wrong in many ways. I believe that all people should be aware about everything in their lives as much as they can. At least, ignorant people shouldn't be offended if someone called them "Ignorant", since it is true, and they should stay away from taking any serious decisions that affect the society. Instead, they should be followers, and try to understand others opinions and situations. So, ignorance leads to idiocy, wrong decisions, and weakness. The Egyptian poet, Hafiz Ibrahim, said: "Learn! Cause knowledge is the key of success, which opens all the doors towards happiness. Then, make it the source of your power! To be majestic is to be powerful by knowledge". Thus, being armored by Knowledge may solve all people's issues, or most of them. I see that Arabs or people in general could stave off the danger of Ignorance through simple significantly important habit in their lives which is Reading. Ignorance is an essential dangerous issue to be considered, especially in this century. It affects not only our present but also the coming generations. So, people should read, as much as they can. And for those illiterates, go to school or try to educate yourself. It doesn't matter what you read, when you read, or where you read. What matters is you read. Keep reading, using as much possible knowledge as you can get in order to make this world, or at least your world or your nation, better place to live.