"Technology" , a writer recently observed, "is like fire. As long as it is under control, you can derive benefit from it. Let it get out of hand, and you will be the first one it will destroy. And then the trees, and then the woods. And finally the earth itself." Whether modern technology is under control or out of hand or whether it has benefited more than it has destroyed may be contestable. What is certainly not contestable is the dramatic transformation it has brought in our contemporary human societies in the last few decades. Recent advances in transport and communication have literally reduced the whole world into one small village. Satellite communication made it possible for the residents of Tudun Wada here in Zaria to watch the screening of Clarence Thomas and hear the evidences of Anita Hill simultaneously with viewers in Chicago, London, Paris and Bangkok. Advances in medicine made the test-tube baby possible and we have now become familiar with the problems of surrogate motherhood. We now have to be prepared to put up with virgin birth. For right now there is a row in the Great Britain, perhaps the most traditional of western societies, over a young virgin who is bent on having artificial insemination so that she also could give a virgin birth. While some churches are understandably against it, those in support point to the fact that 60% of all children born in Britain today are born out of wedlock. We must not of course forget that advances in computer technology which allow us to put all the Qur'an and the Hadith in a database is what in fact has gathered us here today. Such is the paradox of modern technology! This paradox has its roots in the very genesis of modern science, and western scientist of conscience have always admitted this paradox and lamented over its consequences. Einstein, the father of quantum mechanics, has put it succinctly, when he said, "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." Ravetz, in whose days the paradoxes of modern science had assumed alarming proportions, took this complaint further, leading a movement in the early seventies for the criticism of science. Ravert's argument was that the basic assumptions of modern science, that reason is supreme, nature is there to be fought and dominated, the purpose of science is to solve all problems, are arrogantly frightening. These assumptions, as Arnold Toynbee, the renowned British historian, observed, are the embodiments, of the 'post Christian' Western actions and intellectual traditions that developed in seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth century Europe and were stimulated by the rabid anticlericalism that arose after the French revolution. In other words modern science developed inspite of the Christian religion which had neither place for science nor was it ready to tolerate scientific investigations. Having to rebel against the Church to be able to survive and develop, modern science understandably placed its highest premium on reason and became suspicious, indeed allergic to anything religious. Thus modern science was from its inception bound to have problems. For while modern science became capable of controlling the forces of nature and generated a formidable technology which radically transformed the living conditions of people, it never thought it necessary to ask itself the purpose and merits of these inventions nor was it able to address the colossal social problems which these invention generated. "It must be remembered," Abdullahi Smith reminds us, "that the most advanced technology is of no use to any one unless it can be effectively used for the achievements of desirable ends; and these desirable ends cannot be determined by the study of technology itself, either ancient or modern, but only by the study of ideals." But the study of ideals is in the province of religion, and having turned its back against religion, though not without good reasons, modern science was condemned to remain lame in the era of Einstein and destined to become a monster in the era of Ravetz. The Muslim scientists, unlike their Western Christian counterparts, never had to turn their backs against their religion to succeed as scientists nor nurse the kinds of worries and apprehensions of Einstein nor put up with torments Ravetz seemed to have gone through. This was not because they studied any less science than the later day scientists of the West. In fact they were the masters who taught science to the West and whose textbooks were translated and used in Western universities as late as the last century. Historians of science know too well that if not for these Muslim scientist Galileo would not have held tenaciously to his principles nor would have Columbus undertaking his voyage of discovery and the world would have today been much smaller than it has become. Rather, this is because they got the very impetus as well as the inspiration to study science from Islam itself. For science was ab initio an integral part of Islam and scientific investigations are as good as any act of worship. The Qur'an is replete with scientific information which contemporary science is only recently discovering, and along with Hadith has extolled the virtues of learning and urged the Muslims in very strong terms to explore the universe. Science under Islam was not studied for the sake of science but for a greater sake, the cause of Allah, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, precisely to discover the laws and therefore the greatness of this Lord and to harvest the benefits He had generously provided for mankind. Here in lies the real difference. For this gave science a sense of purpose and direction and set for it standards and measures without limiting it scope or curtailing its curiosity. My brothers and sisters, what I have so far attempted to say may be too familiar to warrant recounting to this enlightened audience, my only excuse for this indulgence is that it seems to me that (and I hope I am wrong) we are all too obvious of the dangers of living under a science and technology which has neither direction nor purpose nor conscience to provide it a sense of right and wrong. Already 80% of the total scientific research undertaken today are in the field of defense, the production of weapons of mass destruction. The destruction of our ecology and the pollution of our environment had gone on decades before we discovered the depletion of the ozone layer. The emergence of Aids may well be a preliminary to some more devastating ailment against which we may find it difficult to shield ourselves, not only because the whole world is now one village but also because our technology does not really solve all problems. My brothers and sisters, I don't mean to raise an alarm, I only wish to stress the fairly obvious point that science has never been in need of religion like today. And the only religion that can tame science give it purpose and direction and ensure that it serves mankind is Islam. Those who are in doubt may wish to read the work of the French surgeon, Maurice Bucaille, The Bible, the Qur'an and Science. It is not that Islam has the capacity to do it but that it had done it for some ten centuries, and will be too glad to do it again, indeed this is part and parcel of its mission on earth. The question is, are the Muslims ready? I am certainly not the person, and perhaps this may not be the occasion to answer this question. But I sincerely believe we must raise this question if only to remind ourselves of our responsibility as Muslims to the rest of Mankind. Our lord and creator made us the "the best nation evolved out of mankind" and "placed us as witness over mankind," in other words charged us with the responsibility of taking good care of the rest of mankind. We certainly have to account for this responsibility especially when we have the intrinsic capacity to do so. The torment and humiliation we went through during the recently concluded Gulf Crisis seem to be only part of the price we are beginning to pay for our utter disregard of the command of our Lord the Most High: "Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including streeds of war, to strike terror into the hearts of the enemies, and others besides, whom ye may not know, but whom God doth know. Whatever ye shall spend in the cause of God, shall be repaid unto you, and you shall not be treated unjustly." (Qur'an 8:60) The conduct of the Gulf war brought to the fore the monstrous face of modern science and technology as well as the moral bankruptcy and hypocrisy of those who today control this monster. It also brought to the fore the irresponsibility and treachery of contemporary Muslim leadership, both political and intellectual. The ease and speed with which the allied forces, in the aftermath of the war, unashamedly went about consolidating their gains and imposing their will, must have exposed such international bodies like the United Nation for what they have always been and ought to leave us in no doubt as to where our real hope for justice and equity lies. Our responsibility, to be sure, does not end with the taming of this monster and directing its energy towards the benefits of mankind. There is a more fundamental responsibility, for which the responsibility of taming science is only the first step. This is the responsibility of establishing justice and equity on earth. Indeed our Lord the Most High has left us in no doubt about this responsibility, when he said in the Qur'an; "And why should ye not fight in the cause of God and of those who, being weak, are ill-treated (and oppressed)? - Men, women, and children, whose cry is: "Our Lord! rescue us from this town, whose people are oppressors;; and raise for us from Thee one who will protect; and raise for us from Thee one who will help!" "Those who believe fight in the cause of God, and those who reject faith fight in the cause of evil: So fight ye against the friends of Satan: feeble indeed is the cunning of Satan." (Qur'an 4:75-6) For the avoidance of doubt this responsibility is not limited to the Muslim world only but extends and covers the whole world, indeed the constituency of the Muslim is made up of the whole earth. And modern science and technology has indeed perverted this constituency and made the fulfillment of this responsibility only more urgent. Attempting to summarize these perversions, professor Abdullahi Smith observed. "Now in the West, of course the new industrial age, though it has witnessed a remarkable rise in the material standards of living of the people of Western Europe and North America, has also been the development of social evil on a scale previously unknown in the recorded history of mankind. The new materialistic individualism, armed with the formidable technology which it has created, has not only generated material development in society, but, because of it essentially competitive nature, has also generated social conflict on an enormous scale. This conflict has shown itself in the unprecedented economic exploitation of the poor and ignorant masses by the rich and clever minority, exploitation involving degrees of human servitude and degradation unparalleled even in the much-publicized horrors of African slavery (for such was the condition of things in the mines and sweat-shops of 19th century Europe); in the compulsive imperialism ;which extended this servitude to the peoples of Africa and Asia; in recurrent warfare arising from the economic competition between nations, warfare now global in extent and ever more destructive in nature." To be able to undertake these responsibilities Muslims must be able to communicate and interact with every segment of this vast constituency. They must be able to communicate their message. They must also collect data and information about literally every aspect of their constituency and learn all that it takes to acquire the means to discharge these responsibilities. Living in a computer age when data collection and processing that could ordinarily take a whole year can now be done in one day, computer literacy has automatically become an indispensable took for the Muslim. Allah the Most High has Himself informed us: "We sent not on apostle except (to teach) the language of his (own) people, in order to make things clear to them." (Qur'an 14:4) Muslims must realize that computer literacy for them is not a luxury but an absolute necessity, for without it, it is difficult to conceive how they can succeed in discharging the enormous responsibilities that rest on their shoulders. Their failure to use the 'language of their own people' may not only result in the failure to achieve their mission as Muslims, but will condemn them to become the perpetual victims of the exploitation, tyranny and oppression of modern science and technology and those that monopolize it. It is not my wish to end this address on a sad note. But one cannot help noting that while as Muslims we have the collective responsibility to address the enormous task ahead of us, those of us in Nigeria, it seems to me, have an extra hurdle to cross. Living in a country which has been economically sapped, morally devastated and which has been lead for the most part by what the Qur'an would unhesitatingly call Asfalas-Safileen, we have first to surmount this Nigerian barrier before we could begin the long journey to accomplish our mission. Our job is further made more difficult by the fact that we have destroyed our centers of learning, humiliated merit and elevated sycophancy. The latter, to be sure, is the only thing that thrives today, doing anything else has become subversive, even the 'watch-dogs' have turned sycophants, they may, of course, argue that this is the only way to survive. We may find solace however in Allah's assurance that "feeble indeed is the cunning of the satan" and inspiration in His promise that "It is incumbent upon us to aid those who believed" (Qur'an 30:47)