This paper seeks to define human resources development (HRD) as a necessary, if not a sufficient, tool for bringing about societal change in less developed countries &DC‘s), and reflects upon different concepts of ”development,” including the Islamic view of it. Then, it reviews the status of education in the Muslim World and moves on to describe the TALIM model of HRD. In the end, a few salient features of the mechanism of this model are suggested. Also, an HRD policy plan that needs to be implemented by the Muslim Ummah is included as an appendix.

An ingenious combination of the latest video, computer, and satellite technologies has brought about an unprecedented telecommunication revolution. This phenomenal progress, and the resultant power it gives one person over millions of others (and one nation over many others), has apparently generated myriad opportunities for humanity. Williams (1982, 195-9) states: “Just as the international political order up to the 19th century was highly influenced by control of sea lanes, and in the 20th century by airplane and missile capabilities, so too may we expect international politics to be tied to control of the powerful new worldwide communication networks (already in place). Those who control the networks could control the world.”

Instructional/Communication Technology has come to mean, in a narrow sense, media hardware or a set of tools enabling human beings to overcome their physical limitations. Etymologically, it means one or more techniques, both concrete and abstract, that help human beings solve problems. By extension, instructional technology (IT) means all tools at our disposal for facilitating learning. Tickton (1971) defines the purpose of IT as making "education more productive and more individual, to give instruction a more scientific base, and to make instruction more powerful, learning more immediate, and access more equal." While the technology itself might be neutral as a medium and as a means of instructional communication, it is the nature of its use, in terms of timely and appropriate messages, that is the key to understanding its consequences. It is this final factor upon which society needs to focus.