Naquib Al Attas Islamization Of Knowledge

The concept of the Islamization of knowledge was introduced by Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas in the late 1970s. It aimed to detach knowledge from Western culture and civilization in order to replace it with Islamic concepts, frameworks and values. The Islamization of knowledge was to occur in the fields of education and culture, manifesting in changes to the syllabus in institutions of higher learning and niche areas of interest in selected research institutes. In the field of culture, however, it resulted in an unintended consequence of Malay literature being heavily characterized by Islamic elements. Over the years, proponents of the Islamization of knowledge in Malaysia have moved beyond the fields of education and culture. They have entered the mainstream and become part of the state machinery, thus possibly impacting national policies. The concept has also evolved and arguably led to the strengthening of Islamic conservatism among Malaysian intellectual and cultural elites. More specifically, its exclusivist thinking does not augur well for intra- and intercommunal relations in the country.

This book, originally presented as a paper to the Second World Conference on Muslim Education in 1980, for the first time in contemporary Islamic thinking and in a clear and coherent manner, elaborates new and originally conceived ideas and definitions. Key concepts such as religion (din), man (insan), knowledge (ma'rifah and `ilm), wisdom (hikmah), justice (`adl), right action (`amal and adab) are discussed, elaborated and formulated into a framework for an Islamic philosophy of education. The concept of methodology of scientific research and the study of nature along the lines of Quranic interpretation (tafsir and ta'wil), the islamization of languages and its relation to the Muslim mind and worldview, and the differences between tarbiyyah, ta'dib and ta'lim are all discussed. This is a book of definitions relating to the essential elements in the concept of education and the educational process as envisaged in Islam. Essential reading for Muslim educators and all those interested in Islamic philosophy and islamization of knowledge Syed Muhammad Naquib Al Attas is a world renowned scholar with over twenty books to his name, as well as many articles in both English and Malay on Islam in various fields - Islamic philosophy, theology and metaphysics, history, literature, art and civilization, religion and education. Some of his works have been translated into Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Urdu, French, German, Russian, Bosnian, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Malayalam and Indonesian. Professor Al-Attas is Founder Director of the International Institute of Islamic thought and Civilization (ISTAC) which was founded in Kuala Lumpur in 1987 and which began operation officially in 1991. As a research and post graduate institution of higher learning, ISTAC was conceived by Professor al-Attas as a way to realisze this seminal ideas for the creation of true Islamic University providing proper Islamic education through the incoporation of his original ideas and methods for the Islamization of knowledge.

The topic of Islamization of contemporary knowledge and education of the Muslims was debated at the First World Conference on Muslim Education in Mecca in 1977, but no serious attempt has been made to trace the history of the ideas and to study and evaluate some these matters in practice.

Written 40 years ago, Islam and Secularism is one of the most creative and original works of a Muslim thinker in the contemporary Muslim world. The author deals with fundamental problems faced by contemporary Muslims and provides real solutions, beginning with a discussion on 'The Contemporary Western Christian Background' in Chapter (I), followed by his analysis of the concepts (which he newly defines) of 'secular', 'secularization', and 'secularism' in Chapter (II). All this is then contrasted in Chapter (IV) of the book entitled 'Islam: The Concept of Religion and the Foundation of Ethics and Morality'. Based on all the preceding explanation, the author proceeds to analyze the Muslim 'dilemma' by declaring that it should be resolved primarily through what he calls the "dewesternization of knowledge" or, conversely, the "islamization of contemporary knowledge", an original concept conceived and elucidated by the author for the past five decades. Numerous original and profound ideas are contained in this book-arrived at chiefly through critical study of the Muslim tradition-such as the concepts of dīn, 'adl, ḥikmah, adab, ma'nā, and ta'dīb, and their significance in the development of an Islamic system of education. The rationale for the Islamization of contemporary knowledge and the establishment of a truly Islamic university was in fact provided for the first time in contemporary Muslim thought by this author long before the appearance of the present book, which explains these interconnected subjects more concisely. Further, the appendix entitled, 'On Islamization: The Case of the Malay-Indonesian Archipelago' is an actual explanation and application of the seminal ideas discussed in the book. This is a must-read for all Muslims and those concerned with the problems and effects of secularization in our world today. Islam and Secularism is a development of ideas contained in the many paragraphs of another book in Malay entitled: Risalah Untuk Kaum Muslimin, which the author wrote and completed during the first few months of 1974. Due to many circumstances which demanded the author's attention at home and ahmad, however, the Risalah has not yet been sent to the press. In this book, what is contained in Chapter III was composed and completed during the month of Ramaḍān of 1395 (1975), and delivered as a Lecture under the same title to the International Islamic Conference held in April 1976 at the Royal Commonwealth Society, London, in conjunction with the World of Islam Festival celebrated there that year. It was published as a monograph in the same year by the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (ABIM), Kuala Lumpur, and in 1978 it appeared, together with other Lectures delivered on the same occasion by various Muslim scholars, in a book of one volume entitled: The Challenge of Islam, edited by Altaf Gauhar and published by the Islamic Council of Europe, London. All the other Chapters of the book were begun in March 1977 and completed in April of the same year, during my appointment as Visiting Scholar and Professor of Islamics at the Department of Religion, Temple University, Philadelphia, U.S.A., in the Winter and Spring of 1976-1977. What is contained in Chapter V was presented as a Paper entitled: "Preliminary Thoughts on the Nature of Knowledge and the Definition and Aims of Education", addressed to the First World Conference on Muslim Education held at Mecca in April 1977. It will appear, together with other selected Papers of the Conference, in a book entitled: Aims and Objectives of Islamic Education, edited with an introduction by the author and published by King Abdulaziz University and Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1979, as one of a series of seven books.

Section 1; Introduction -- Section 2; Scope -- Section 3; Sources and categories of IOK -- Section 4; Rationale for IOK -- Section 5; The meaning of IOK -- Section 6; What does IOK involve -- Section 7; Reviewer and critics.

This paper offers a number of valuable insights gained from a long engagement with Islamic as well as global issues, with traditional as well as contemporary concerns. It not only surveys the field along with the powers and challenges at work, but also charts a way out of the present impasse. More immediately, it offers an updated review of the progress of the Islamization of Knowledge project and a timely clarification of the very concept itself. Clearly, that concept, though responsible for generating worldwide debate and action, has been so often misinterpreted and/or inflated. The gradational nature of the Islamizing project is all too obvious, and was never far from the minds of the authors of the 1982 declaration. It would certainly have been juvenile to think otherwise. And yet there is a need now to stress, as the present paper does, the ambitious (but also imperative) nature of the enterprise. For, despite the highly commendable effort invested in further elaboration and, in some brave instances, attempted implementation of the concept, the process of the Islamization of Knowledge remains at an intial, some might even say, prenatal stage. Much work needs to be done, many talents galvanized and resources pooled, institutions set up or reorganized, etc., before a truly genuine and sustainable realization of the concept can be said to have begun. Such a realistic vision needs to accompany and inform every stage of the way. To be lulled into a false or premature sense of achievement is a costly setback at a time when standing idly by for a day may have serious consequences for decades to come.