Issues on Islamization of Knowledge

Lecture by Assoc. Prof. Muhammad Mumtaz Ali

Presented by
Syed Muhammad Naquib Al- Iwan
Attas on Islamization of Knowledge
Aminurrahman

G1218499
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The Contents
Basic Ideas, Exploration & Elaboration
The Nature of Man
The Nature of Knowledge
The Western Civilization
The Islamization of Knowledge
The key concepts of Islamic University
Definition and aims of education
Criticism and Suggestion
Bibliography
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Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas

Born at Bogor, September 5, 1931.

Received education at:
Royal Military Academy, UK
University of Malaya
MA, McGill University, Montreal
Ph.D, SOAS, University of London
Founder and Former Director of Institute of
Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC)
Holder of Al-Ghazali Chair

Works
(1959) Rangkaian Ruba'iyat
(1963) Some Aspects of Sufism as
Understood and Practised among the
Malays
(1969) Raniri and the Wujudiyyah of the
17th Century Acheh
(1970) The Mysticism of Hamzah Fansuri
(1970) The Correct Date of the Terengganu
Inscription
(1972) Islam dalam Sejarah dan
Kebudayaan Melayu
(1975) Comments on the Re-Examination of
Al-Raniris Hujjatul Siddiq: A Refutation
(1978) Islam and Secularism
(1980) The Concept of Education in Islam
(1986) A Commentary on the Hujjat al-
Siddiq of Nur al-Din al-Raniri: Being an
Exposition the Salient Points of Distinction
between the Positions of the Theologians,
the Philosophers, the Sufis and the Pseudo-
Sufis on the Ontological Relationship
between God and the World and Related
Questions
4
(1988) The Oldest Known Malay
Manuscript: A 16th Century Malay
Translation of the `Aqaid of al-Nasafi
(1989) Islam and the Philosophy of
Science
(1990) The Nature of Man and the
Psychology of the Human Soul
(1990) On Quiddity and Essence
(1990) The Intuition of Existence
(1992) Islam: The Concept of Religion and
the Foundation of Ethics and Morality
(1993) The Meaning and Experience of
Happiness in Islam
(1994) The Degrees of Existence
(1995) Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of
Islam: An Exposition of the Fundamental
Elements of the Worldview of Islam
(2001) Risalah untuk Kaum Muslimin
(2007) Tinjauan Ringkas Peri Ilmu dan
Pandangan Alam
(2011) Historical Fact and Fiction
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The Nature of Man

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THE NATURE OF MAN

Knowledge
Spiritual
Forgetfulness
Man Nature
(Nisyan)
Physical
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THE ESSENTIAL SUBSTANCE
Created but Immortal*

Not measured in
Entity time/space

Known through intellect

Essential
substance (
Heart

Soul
States
Spirit

Intellect
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THE ESSENTIAL SUBSTANCE

receives intuitive
Heart
illumination

Soul governs the body

States
reverts to its
Spirit
abstract entity

involved in
Intellect intellection and
apprehension
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THE NATURE OF MANS SOUL
Active
Rational
Cognitive

Arouser of
Movement
Motive
Actuator

Soul Animal
External
Senses
Perceptive
Internal
Senses
Nutritive

Vegetative Growth

Reproduction
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The Nature of Knowledge

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NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE

Accidents ()

Gods Attributes ()

Knowledge
Sensible
Man Encompasses
()

Intelligible
()

Limited
knowledge e.g.
spirit, self, etc.
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Origin God

Knowledge Value-laden, not

neutral by itself

Nature Able to be classified

to be applied to as
system of order in
the educational
system in the mans
scope.
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CLASSIFICATION OF KNOWLEDGE IN
THE MATTERS OF HUMANS ACTION

Spiritual The First Given through

Nature Knowledge the revelation

Knowledge
Acquired
Physical The Second through
experience,
nature Knowledge observation
and research.
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FIRST KNOWLEDGE
Revealed

Unveils the mystery

of Being and
Existence

First Reveals the true

relationship between
Knowledge self and his Lord

Prerequisite

Fard ayn (obligatory

for all Muslims)
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SECOND KNOWLEDGE
Acquired

Having pragmatic
ends

Second Reveals the

worldly life
Knowledge aspects.

Secondary

Fard kifayah
(obligatory only for
some Muslims)
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The Secular Western

Perspective
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THE WESTERN CIVILIZATION
Christiani
ty

Celtic Judaism

Slavic Rome

Western

Nordic Greece

Germanic Latin
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SECULAR WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Knowledge

Nature Man Values

Belief
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INFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE

Even it is known that knowledge origins is Divine,

mans knowledge is not itself neutral. It can be
infused with a nature and content which
masquerades as knowledge.
The worldview, the intellectual vision and
psychological perception plays the key role in its
formulation and dissemination.
Knowledge is infused with the character and
personality of that civilization.
Knowledge presented and conveyed as knowledge in
that guise so subtly fused together with the real so
that others take it unawares to what real knowledge
is.
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THE WESTERNIZED KNOWLEDGE

Western civilization, it is to say, has recast the

knowledge and rational and scientific spirit to fit the
crucible of Western culture so they have become
fused and amalgamated with all the other
elements that form the character and the
personality of Western civilization.
But the fusion and amalgamation thus evolved
produced a characteristic dualism in the
worldview and values of Western culture and
civilization; a dualism that cannot be resolved into a
harmonious unity, for it is formed a conflicting
ideas, values, cultures, beliefs, philosophies,
altogether locked in despairing combat.
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KNOWLEDGE AND WORLDVIEW

Worldview

Knowledge
Interpretation
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SECULAR WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Pretending to be real

Creating confusion

Knowledge Skepticism

Elevating doubt and

conjucture to be a
valid epistemological
tool

Dualistic
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The Islamization of Knowledge

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ISLAMIZATION
Islamization is the liberation of man first from magical,
mythological, animistic, national-cultural tradition and then from
secular control over his reason and his language. The man of Islam
is he whose reason and language are no longer controlled by magic,
mythology, animism, his own national and cultural traditions and
secularism.
Since what is formulated and disseminated in and through
universities and other institutions in fact knowledge infused with the
characteristic and personality of Western culture and civilization and
molded in the crucible of Western culture, the task will be first to
isolate the elements including key concepts which make up that
culture and civilization.
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ISLAMIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE

1.Isolation of the elements which make up the culture and

civilization.
2.Infusion of the Islamic elements and key concepts which in
view of their fundamental nature as defining the fitrah, in
fact imbue the knowledge with the quality of its natural
function and purpose thus make it true knowledge
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THE KEY CONCEPTS TO ISLAMIC
UNIVERSITY Purpose

The
Concept of
Religion
Form of ()
The Scope
Implementation The
concept of
Concept of
the
Man
University

The
concept
The of God The
concept of
Right () Concept of
Knowledge Content
Action

Method

The The
concept of Concept of
Justice Wisdom

Deployment
Criteria
Definition and Aim of
Education
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Wisdom means the knowledge of the right place for a

thing or a being to be.
It enables the one in whom the knowledge subsists to
apply the knowledge in such wise that it causes the
occurrence of justice.
Justice is then the existential condition of wisdom
manifested in the sensibilia and intelligibilia and in the
spiritual realm in respect of the two souls of man.
The external manifestation of justice in life and society is
none other than the occurrence within it of adab.
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Adab means to discipline the mind and soul; it is acquisition of
the good qualities and attributes of mind and soul; it is to perform
the correct against the erroneous action, of right against wrong; it
is preserving from disgrace.
As the purpose for seeking knowledge in Islam is therefore to
produce good man. Good man meant man, in the
manifestation of inculcated adab, which encompass the
spiritual and material life of man that instills the quality of
goodness that is sought after.
Education is the instilling and inculcation of adab in man, it is
tadib.
Precisely, adab is what applies to man if he must acquit himself
successfully and well in this life and the hereafter.
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The Schemes
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MAN

Various faculties,
spiritual and physical

Inner being [ruh-nafs-

qalb-aql]
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MANS KNOWLEDGE

Fard Kifayah
According to priorities to
service to self, state and
society in Muslim Community

Fard
ayn
Integrated
form of core
knowledge for
individuals
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The Islamic University

Knowledge
of
Sciences**

Knowledg
e of
Prerequisit
es*

*Must reflect inner being of man and his spiritual senses. Must contains
specialization.
**Its various faculties and departements corresponding to mans physical
faculties and senses.
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God
Knowledge Al-Ilm

The Holy Quran

The Sunnah

Man
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Man

The University

The Revealed The wisdom

Law and spiritual

The knowledge The knowledge

of Prerequisites of Sciences
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The Criticism, Suggestions and

Conclusion
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CRITICISM AND SUGGESTIONS

From the expositions before, some points may be detailed:
1. Al-Attass philosophy is apparent to be subtle and sophisticated,
thus misunderstanding may occur to inadequate readers in
common.
2. Despite of the subtlety, his way to expose the ideas is obviously
clear and thorough. Through deep analyses and complex details,
aims of his works can be said to be sound and clear.
3. The advanced learners are consider the works of Al-Attas as one
of the pioneers of the recent days, which brings the perspective
of Islam to a distinguished way, a closer and deeper approach to
rationality and mans natural inclination.
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CONCLUSION
Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas can be considered as one
of the pioneer of Islamization of Knowledge. His original
ideas was derived from predecessor Muslim scholars
elaborated with contemporary philosophies and sciences,
therefore enable him to encompass between the both side,
Islam and Western civilization.
The task of future scholars is to cover both fard ayn and
fard kifayah knowledge due to their respective ability and
specialty, to develop a better contribution for the Ummah.
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CONCLUSION
The aim of education in Islam is to produce a good man, i.e.
the man of adab, after the process of tadib -instillation of
adab into oneself- which covers both spiritual and material
aspect of his life, based on wisdom, justice and adab.
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Bibliography
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Muhammad Mumtaz Ali, The History and philosophy of
Islamization of Knowledge, 3rd ed. (Selangor: IIUM Press,2013).
Syed Muhammad Naquib al- Attas, Islam and secularism, 2nd
ed. (Kuala Lumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and
Civilisation (ISTAC), 1993).
______, Prolegomena to The Metaphysics of Islam. (Kuala
Lumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and
Civilisation (ISTAC), 1995).