Jameel Theyabi, writing for Beruit-based Dar Al-Hayat, makes an impassioned plea to the Middle East to keep up with the times. His shining example of how great success can come from humble roots is Google.

He writes:

The rest of the world innovates in creating and applying knowledge to the best needs of times while we are busy applying it in excommunicating and attacking one another, as well as in condemning each other from behind the comfort of devilish aliases….

So stark is the contrast between the success story of the Google students and what they have offered to humanity in the service of science, knowledge, and intellect on the one hand, and the contributions of Mullah Omar’s students, the Taliban, or Al-Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden in terms of murder, destruction, terrorism, and defamation of Islam.

Theyabi’s appeal seems directed at Muslim youth, often tapped for extremist actions. Instead, Theyabi says they should be applying their minds to new technologies and new ways of thinking to right their course in history.

It must be bittersweet, then, that another article proves his point: The wrong side is using said technology to further its cause. Supporters of Al-Qaeda leader Abu Sayyaf have successfully raised funds via a YouTube campaign, according an article published at MonstersAndCritics.com.

Manila police say Sayyaf enjoyed a spike in funding shortly after the Internet campaign, and police are on high alert against the threat of "bomb attacks ‘to inflict mass casualties.’"

Theyabi’s plea may be late in coming, but few would argue that it is too late.