Dewesternization and Islamization: Their Epistemic Framework and Final Purpose *

By Prof. Dr Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud Principal Research Fellow Institute of the Malay World and Civilization (ATMA) National University of Malaysia (UKM) ([email protected])

Abstract Starting from a brief discussion on the increasing awareness among scholars from many parts of the world on the limits of Western knowledge framework and its epistemology, and through their discourses on the interconnected processes of dewesternization, decolonization, and indigenization, this paper argues that the Islamization of present-day knowledge project (IPDK) is a natural attempt by Muslim thinkers and their communities not only to retain their identity in the age of globalization but also to offer a more comprehensive alternative to the decolonization discourse on knowledge and human development. Hence it offers an elucidation of the epistemic framework of Islam and its concept of human capital development, being the highest end of the Islamization process, particularly in relation to the purpose of higher education, including the university. It explicates the concept of a truly civilized man (a man of adab) as the central purpose of higher education. It hopes that better civilisational bridges can be enhanced when the movement of ideas---particularly at the higher educational levels and beyond--should not be from one dominant civilization to other less dominant ones, but rather, there should be a mutual change of ideas, creating, thereby, the possibility not only of real dialogue, mutual respect and understanding, but more importantly, of tolerance, compassion, and generosity of spirit leading to justice and happiness for many people. Introduction The qualitative success of the development of a nations human capital rests on the strength of its knowledge framework, which forms the foundation of the nations ethical-moral and cultural character. Since the 15th century of the Common Era onward, there has been only one dominant knowledge framework, which has been transported on bridges between the worlds civilizations, which projects the worldview of one culture and civilization. These cultural bridges are uni* A Paper presented at The International Conference on Islamic University Education in Russia and Its Surrounding Areas, Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia 27-30 Sept 2009, organized by Russian Islamic University (RIU-Kazan) and the Institute of Islamic Culture (IIC-Moscow) in Cooperation with the Federation the Universities of the Islamic World (FUIC) and ISESCO. This paper is a major extension of my earlier paper entitled, Bridging Civilization: The th Human Capital Dimension and the Role of Higher Learning Institutions which presented at the 20 International Conference on Higher Education (ICHE), organized by ICHE and the National University of Malaysia (UKM), at Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia, on the 23rd August 2008.

polar: from the Western European and North American Caucasian center to all other regions where previously, great civilizations used to flourish. From this centre, cultural bridges are built to transport and transform ideas dealing with man and his destinyhis development, progress, and happiness; and the ways of their attainment such as knowledge, education, and governancethat are now globally infused into the consciousness and institutions of most educated peoples, and that reflect the worldview, experiences, and dreams of the Western culture and civilization. This paper argues that the Islamization of present-day knowledge project (IPDK) is a natural attempt by Muslim thinkers and their communities not only to retain their identity in the age of globalization but also to offer a more comprehensive alternative to the decolonization discourse on knowledge and human development. Hence it offers an elucidation of the epistemic framework of Islam and its concept of human capital development, particularly in relation to the purpose of higher education, including the university. However, we need first to offer a general background of why Islamic conceptions, just like all other non-western epistemic frameworks, have been sidelined, even within their own mainstream national human development and educational debates and planning. From Imperialism to Neo-Colonization Globalization, the one which started in Europe, began with the voyages of discovery in late 15th century was followed by imperialism, which was characterized by conquest and direct political control from the European metropolis. From the 17 th century onwards, this imperialism was succeeded by the colonizationwith the establishment of immigrant communities in colonized territories, mimicking the metropolis, and supported by slavery and indentured laborresulting in colonialisma condition that refers to the systematic subjection of colonized people. 1 These interrelated developments, which were made possible by a Eurocentric worldview that projected a certain epistemic perspective, had perpetrated great sufferings and political, economic as well as socio-cultural losses on the indigenous populations. Western domination became intensifiedwith the participation of the USA from the mid20th century in the form of neocolonialismespecially through the concepts of modernization and development, and later, through the concepts of democracy and human rights. 2 Throughout these centuries, globalization has become, in reality, fundamentally linked to the spreading out, and inculcation of a particular view of truth and reality of the world, or in the words of sociologists, the universalisation of a set of assumptions and narratives, through informal and formal channels of education and communication, to all parts of the globe. Globalization now,
1 Peter Cox, Globalization of What? Power, Knowledge and Neo-Colonialism. Paper for Implications for Globalisation: Present Imperfect, Future Tense. 17-19 December 2003. Annual Conference. Department of Social and Communication Studies, University College Chester. P. 5. Downloaded 6/14/2005) 2 Ramon Grosfuguel, Decolonizing Political -Economy and Post Colonial Studies:Transmodernity, Border Thinking, and Global Coloniality . In Ramon Grosfuguel, Jose David Saldivar and Nelson Maldonado Torres (eds) Unsettling Postcoloniality: Coloniality, Transmodernity and Border Thinking (Duke University Press, 2007) Internet version . pp. 7-8

especially when linked to a knowledge framework, has transcended its socio-geographic, cultural, and economic processes and becomes an excuse and a justification for the continuation of some very destructive forms of exploitation. 3 Neo-colonialismvia its hegemony of the project of modernitydeepens the myth of the superior West in all dimensions of economic, cultural, scientific, and social-political arrangement.4 The hegemonic hold reaches even the religious interpretations of the non-Western societies, whereby the nature or limits of religious tolerance, moderation, pluralism, human rights, etc., are all determined from the Western perspective. Due to its global technological, scientific, military, and economic dominance for the last two centuries, it is understandable, though not necessarily desirable, for the West to regard the rest of the world as lagging behind it in all the major criteria of human progress and development that it has selected, and where all others must undergo a similar sequence of spiritual, social, and political developments as that of the West in order to catch up with, and to be a part of the developed community of mankind. 5 The linear and evolutionary conception of history and human progress from the Western center would tolerate no dissenting and contesting notions from others, without these notions being either 1) dismissed as reactionary, anti-modern, anachronistic, traditional, un-reasonable, radical, anti-human, or 2) packaged into idioms and categories that are acceptable to the dominant views and interests of the center. Non-Western forms and perspectives of knowledge are regarded as local and particular, and hence devoid of universality. 6 Thus, humanity will face no future except that which is conceived within the worldview and knowledge framework of the Northern liberal democracy. 7 In fact, the Protagorean call which underlines the secular humanistic framework since the Hellenic age A Man is the measure of all things., 8 has now been specifically and effectively modified: Western Man is the measure of all things, things that are that they are; things that are not, that they are not. Hence the languages, societies, cultures, economies, and technologies of China and the Far East, India and the Sub Continent, the Malay World and the Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa have been significantly changed, in some cases, irretrievably. To be modern and to be accepted as a Western equal, is essentially to be westernized, a dubious requirement which many non-Western and Muslim nations have apparently accepted. Hence, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who passed away on Aug 3rd 2008, is perhaps correct when he observed, in his Convocation Address at Harvard University in 1978, that even if Japan still retains some of its
3 Cox, p. 3. 4 Cox, p. 6. 5 Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, Islam and Secularism, First Impression 1978. 2nd impression( Kualu Lumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization, 1993) p. 25. 6 Ninay Lal, Empire of Knowledge: Culture and Plurality in the Global Economy . New and Expanded Edition. New Delhi, 2005. 7 ibid 8 James L Jarrett, Educational Philosophy of the Sophists (New York: Teachers College/Columbia University Press, 1965).

Eastern features, it is, nevertheless, becoming no longer a Far East, but rather a Far West ( A World Split Apart).9

Decolonization and Dewesternization Since the 1950s, some scholars in various nations such as Franz Fannon, in Black Skin, White Masks (1952), Jalal Ale Ahmad, in The Occidentosis: Plague from the West (1952), Aime Cesaire, in Discourse on Colonialism (1955), Albert Memmi, in The Colonizer and the Colonized (1957), to cite just four, have documented how the rise of Western perspectives have simultaneously impoverished others, and thereby doing a disservice to overall human progress and development in various parts of the world. The worst aspect of these effects is what the late Syed Husin Alattas has aptly described as the captive mind. 10 Since 1970s there have been much serious discussions to de-westernize, and in former colonies of the West Latin America, India, Africa and the Muslim world as a whole to decolonize, a process which is still in its infancy. Since the 1970s, the Indigenous knowledge movement, especially in North America, that attempted to create an alternative system of knowing and educating to that of the European ones received international recognition and validation. In 1990s, this movement has generated a decolonizing discourse and rethinking of education for Indigenous peoples. Conceptually, Indigenous knowledge underlines the theoretical and methodological orientations of the Eurocentric framework and re-conceptualizes the resilience and self-reliance of Indigenous peoples, gives due importance to their own religious, philosophical, and educational orientations. Thus it fills the ethical and knowledge gaps in Eurocentric education, research, and scholarship on the one hand, and creates a new, balanced centre and a fresh vantage point from which to analyze Eurocentric education and its pedagogies on the other. 11 Among the First Nations people in Canada at least, this has played a significant role in shared capacities that can alleviate poverty and create sustainable development.12 Many scholars in the 1990s such as the Subaltern Study Group (SSG) on Latin America developed intellectual critiques of the Western-centric view of knowledge and all that goes with it, but their framework is still essentially taken from, and influenced by the poststructuralist and postmodern analysis which are intellectual products of the West, while another influential group,
9 Alexandr I Solzhenitsyn, A World Split Apart (London: Harper and Row, 1978). 10 Syed Husin Alatas, The Captive Mind and Creative Development. International Social Science Journal (36) 4: 691-700. 1974. His other works, The Myth of the Lazy Native (1977), and Intellectuals in Developing Societies (1977) are equally relevant. 11 Marie Battiste, Indigenous Knowledge: Foundations for First Nations, 2005 p. 2-3 . See also Evangelia Papoutsaki, De-Westernizing Research Methodologies: Alternative Approaches to Research for Higher Education Curricula in Developing Countries. Presented at Global Colloquim of the UNESCO Forum on Higher Education, Research and Knowledge. 29 Nov-1 Dec 2006. Paris. 12 Marie Battiste, Indigenous Knowledge: Foundations for First Nations, p. 3; See also McConaghy, Cathryn, Rethinking Indigenous Education: Culturalism, Colonialism and the Politics of Knowing . Flaxton, Qld: Post Pressed, 2000).

which is influenced by the works of Ranujit Guha, tries to critique the Western knowledge perspective from a non-Western and largely Indian perspective, by providing a postcolonial critique. By post modern critique the SSG meant a Eurocentric critique of Eurocentrism, and by postcolonial critique they mean a critique of Eurocentrism from subalterized, and silenced knowledge frameworks. However, there are still voices such as that of Ramon Grosfuguel who calls for the need to decolonize not only the Subaltern studies but also Postcolonial studies. 13 Others, such as Nelson Maldonado-Torres, calls for a radical diversality and a decolonial geopolitics of knowledge, while some, such as Vinay Lal, proposes a Gandhian perspective in dealing with intellectual dissent against the West. 14 African scholars and philosophers have been actively engaging these subjects for some time, as can been see from the works of, for example, Okot pBitek, Thingo, Chinwenzu and Wiredu. Wiredu, since 1980, for example, has been advocating a program he calls a conceptual decolonization of African philosophy which involves domestication of disciplines.15 It has been correctly argued that it is important for the citizens of the liberal democracies of the North to understand the alternative and even dissenting voices from the others which will not only slow down the wheels of neo-colonialism, but more importantly, will make the Western man understand how the myth of our superiority has damaged usso that as we seek to make a better world we may start addressing our own profligacy, question our own institutions and lifestyles, before deciding on the proper course of action for others.16 It is understandable that much of the critiques of Western epistemic structure are because of its historical linkage with European colonialism since the 16 th century, its suppressions of dissenting positions even within their own midst viz the Jews, the Gypsies, and the Muslims in Europe and the present global neo-colonialism. But it is possible that such critiques may fall into a trend of forgetfulness of certain degree of universality in the European epistemic structure that is neither possible nor desirable to entirely reject. On the other hand, it must be said that so far, efforts at dewesternizing and decolonizing the captive mind is far from successful, even when religion has been ostensibly employed, which makes Albert Memmi in his recent book,17 takes the line of an intellectual and secular imperialist, when he categorically proclaims that (a)ll religions are intolerant, exclusive, restrictive, and sometimes violent. The conception of moderate Islamis misguided: there is no such thing as a moderate religion. He then calls for the so -called independent minds in the
13 Grosfuguel, p.3. 14 Nelson Maldonado-Torres, The Topology of being and the geopolitics of knowledge: modernity, empire, coloniality CITY, vol 8, no 1 April 2004; Ninay Lal, Empire of Knowledge: Culture and Plurality in the Global Economy. New and Expanded Edition. New Delhi, 2005. 15 Kwasi Wiredu, Toward Decolonizing African Philosphy and Religion. In African Strudies Q uarterly.The Online Journal for African Studiesmhtml:file://G:\Decolonizing%20African%20Philosophy %20and%20Religion.mht. downloaded 21 July 2008. 16 Peter Cox, Globalization of What? Power, Knowledge and Neo-Colonialism. Paper for Implications for Globalisation: Present Imperfect, Future Tense. 17-19 December 2003. Annual Conference. Department of Social and Communication Studies, University College Chester. Download 6/14/2005. 17 Albert Memmi, Decolonization and the Decolonized (Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press, 2006)

Muslim world to follow Voltaire or Nietzsche and criticize traditional Muslim thinkers or even the Quran. Islamization of Present-Day Knowledge (IPDK): A Non Fundamentalist, Non-Ethnocentric, and Non Hegemonic Universality Clark Kerrs observation, made some 40 years ago, is only partly correct that modern universities no longer reflect their eponymous origin as understood by Cardinal John Henry Newman, and hence should be called multiversities as they reflect multiple perspectives united only by certain bureaucratic and economic procedures. 18 The apparent multiple perspectives in most non-Western universities, if not all, still mask the most dominant worldview and epistemic framework of the West even those in developing nations. This can be easily discerned from their aims and objectives, faculty and discipline organization, course offerings and contents and analytical methods, as well as the criteria for academic and professional excellence. For Muslims, the most natural, comprehensive, and perennial response to foreign colonization, and inner spiritual weaknesses is through the process called Islamization which encompasses different but interrelated personal, societal and institutional aspects. In the context of our present discussion, this project of Islamization of present day knowledge (IPDK), which involves a process of dewesternization, was first conceptualised by a contemporary Malay thinker, Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, in the second part of the 1970s: Islamization is the liberation of man first from magical, mythological, animistic, national-cultural tradition opposed to Islam, and then from secular control over his reason and his language.19 This project was later popularized by the late Ismail Ragi al-Faruqi and the Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (IIIT) with a very different interpretation and programs 20. This IPDK project, in its more original conception, is neither a religious fundamentalism, nor a narrow form of ethno-centricism or indigenization, nor a matter of identity politics. On the contrary, it is arguably an offer of a comprehensive alternative to the current discourse and practice on alternatives to Eurocentrism, one that deeply recognizes plurality, while unapologetically and sincerely affirms its universality. It is also an attempt that should be taken seriously in enriching the discourses on decolonization, post-coloniality, and coloniality, which could offer a non-hegemonic, non-ethnocentric, non-gendered, and non-fundamentalist claim to epistemic universality. It is a more comprehensive and enriching perspective because it not only provides an intellectual critique but also offers a prescription based on a worldview and
18 See Craig Howard, Theories of General Education. Basingstoke / London: Macmillan, 1991.pp 64-74. 19 Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, Islam and Secularism, p. 44. A chapter in this work is entitled, 'Dewesternization of knowledge'. This chapter was later included in Powerful Ideas: Perspectives on the Good Society 2 vols, edited by Jennifer M. Webb, published by the Cranlana Programme, Victoria, Australia, 2002: 2: 229-241. 20 For an elaboration of the relationship between al-Attas and al-Faruqi concerning this project, see Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud, The Educational Philosophy and Practice of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas: An Exposition on the Original Concept of Islamization (Kuala Lumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization, 1998), chapter 7.

epistemic framework that are largely intact, even if they are not currently dominant. It should be taken seriously because the largest majority of the world Muslim population of about 1.5 billion share a profoundly common worldview projecting an epistemic framework that is based on the religion of Islam, even if a certain segment of its adherents, albeit a rather influential one, is still deeply colonized, externally and internally. The Concept of Knowledge in Islam Human capital development in Islam, in a fundamental sense, hinges on the inculcation of the worldview, the epistemic framework, and ethical-legal principles of Islam. Islam regards knowledge as sine qua non as being human, having Adam, the first historic man and Prophet, been taught the names of all things by God Himself, making him, thereby, even superior to angels. This epistemologically positive attribute of man in Islam is a direct reflection of mans raison d etre as Gods Servant and Vicegerent on Earth, which necessitates mans having the possibility of attaining sufficient knowledge of himself, God, and the universe. Hence in the Creed of the Muslims, which is derived from the Holy Quran and teachings of the last Prophet, Muhammad, the possibility of attaining certain knowledge as opposed to mere opinions ( ray), doubts (shakk), and conjectures (zann), are deeply ingrained. The Creed of Islam also clearly states the various channels through which knowledge can be established and which reflect the unitary view, namely sense-perception, sound reason, and trustworthy reports. Certainty ( yaqin) can be attained; that is, by reason (ilmul yaqin), by sight (ainul yaqin) and by experience (haqqul yaqin).21 In Islam, the purpose of knowledge is really to enable each human being to carry out that dual role of being the servant of God and His vicegerent on earththe latter being more fundamental than, and a requisite for, the former. To reflect this dual role, Muslim scholars have creatively categorized all knowledge and skills into Fardu ain (required for all Muslims) and Kifayah (required for some segment of society), although they have created other schemes of categorizations based on different criteria. 22

The Universal and Particular in Knowledge We stated earlier that Islam claims a non-hegemonic, non-ethnocentric, non-gendered, and nonfundamentalist epistemic universality. Islam obviously regards human knowledge as being possessed by a particular person who is gendered, socio-historically located and with certain spiritual strengths and weaknesses, as the case may be. However, this does not necessarily imply a relativity of knowledge according to a specific gender, socio-historical condition, and spirituality, which denies any possibility of universality that crosses gender, socio-historical, and spiritual boundaries. This point is fundamental and must be adequately appreciated, because in
21 For further discussion and the various references from the Qur'an and other sources, see Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud, The Concept of Knowledge in Islam: Its Implications for Education in a Developing Country (London and New York: Mansell, 1989), esp chaps. 2, 3 and 4. 22 See Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud, The Educational Philosophy and Practice of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, pp 312, 417..

Islam, all knowledge (ulum), although it is located in a particular human soul, is not a human product: it is a gift, a light, from the God Almighty, as evidenced from these verses from the holy Quran: (God teaches Man that which he knows not; God taught Adam names of all things; Prophets prayers: Lord, increase me in knowledge). Hence it is a universally accepted position among all Muslim scholarsbefore the impact of certain Western teaching, especially of postmodernism and post-structuralismto reject epistemological relativism. From its inception, Islamic epistemology recognizes that knowledgestripped of the faulty opinions, doubts, and conjectures, as well as the negative influences of various human interests, generally termed as hawais indeed universal. 23 Hence, Muslims were commanded by the Prophet himself to seek knowledge even in nonMuslim lands, such as China. Muslims showed great interest in and appreciation for the intellectual and scientific achievements of other cultures and civilizations, contemporary or ancient, as witnessed, for example, in the work of the 11 th century Andalusian Said al-Andalusi (d. 1070CE), Tabaqat al-Umam, in which he summarizes the various achievements of these other ancient and contemporary civilizations such as the Indian, the Persian, the Chaldean, the Greek, the Roman, the Egyptian, the Arab and the Jewish. 24 Even al- Ghazzalis far-reaching critique, in 11th century, of Greek philosophy in his Tahafut al-Falasifah (The Incoherence of the Philosophers) was limited only to a few fundamental metaphysical aspects. Therein he also praised the ethical qualities of the Greek philosophers, and in other works, such as in his Nasihatul Mulk, he cited, with great approval, the examples of many great Pre-Islamic Iranian rulers.25 Its confident claim to various levels of certainty (by reason, sight, and experience) does not negate its understanding of human frailty which, inter alia, makes him tend to abuse and suppress dissenting and, sometimes more valid, opinions. Hence, in traditional Muslim higher learning activities, tahzibul akhlak (refinement of character) dan tazkiyatul nafs (purification of the soul) were integrally included. 26 Yet, and more significantly, as has been argued above, the Islamic conception of man is utterly positive, whether such a man is a Muslim or otherwise.
23 On the rejection of relativism, see Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud, The Educational Philosophy and Practice, pp 8496; and on hawa as one of the antonyms of knowledge in Islam, see Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud, The Concept of Knowledge in Islam, chap. 4. 24 Said al-Andalusi, Tabaqat al-Umam. Science in the Medieval World. Translated and edited by S. I. Salem and A. Kumar (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991). 25 Abu Hamid al-Ghazzali, Tahafut al-Falasifah. The Incoherence of the Philosophers. Translated by S. A. Kamali (Lahore: Pakistan Historical Society, 1958); idem, Nasihatul Muluk. Counsel for Kings. Trnaslated from Persian by F.R.C Bagley (London: Oxford University Press, 1964). 26 Ahmad ibn Muhammad Miskawayh, Tahdhib al-Akhlaq wa Tathir al-Araq. The Refinement of Character. Translated by Constantin K Zurayk (Beirut: Centennial Publication, 1968); al-Ghazzali, Ihya Ulum al-Din. Chap on Kitab Riyadat al-Nafs & Kitab Kasr al-Shahwatayn. Translation and introduction and notes by T. J. Winter. Al-Ghazzali on Disciplining the Soul and The Btreaking the Two Desires: Books XXII and XXIII of the Revival of the Religious Sciences (Cambridge: The Islamic Text Society, 1995); See also Burhanuddin alZarnuji, Talim al-Mutallim Tariq al-Taallum. Translated with introduction by G.E. von Grunebaum and T. M. Abel (new York: Kings Crown Press, 1947), and Ibn Jamaah, Tazkirat as-Sami wal- Mutakallim fil Adab wal Mutaallim. Translated, introduction and annotation by Noor Muhammad Ghifari. The Memoir of the Listener and the Speaker in the Training of the Teacher and Student (New Delhi-2: Adama Publishers, 2006).

Islams claims to having a more superior conception of the Truth have not allowed Muslims, as commanded in the Quran, to compel others to accept its vision of truth and reality. Objectively, it has long been recognized that Muslim communities and leaders have consistently allowed other religions to have full freedom not only to organize religious practice, but also to have parallel legal systems. Serious attempts at exposing the various dimensions of post-colonial issues and of coloniality have made significant contributions in showing the repressive elements of the Western epistemic framework; especially in its project of modernity. Our arguments for Islamization, while they may share certain similarities with these worthwhile efforts, transcend cultural and ideological frameworks in identifying elements that promote and hinder, as the case maybe, human epistemological, ethical, and societal developments. Islamization does not look only into the external other as possible sources of good and evil, but also into the negative forces of the individual inner self. Islam talks about how whims and desires, and so on, can affect ones judgment. The greater struggle (jihad akbar) as the Prophet used to remind Muslims, is not against the external other but the internal one, against ones fancies and desires. In this sense we can agree with Memmi and many others that some failures in Muslim nations are not necessarily due to external, colonial, and neo-colonial factors, but also and perhaps of equal significance, to inner intellectual-spiritual problemsthe roughness of character, the unrefined soulof many of our leaders of various institutions. It is quite possible that the mind may be free from Western colonial and neo-colonial frameworks and ideas but may be deeply infected by dishonesty, greed, envy, and lack of wisdom, courage, and justice. 27

The Purpose of University Education Most discourses on Islamization of knowledge since the 1970s talk about the writing of textbooks, reforming academic disciplines and creating or reforming social-cultural and economic institutions. They seem to forget that the very purpose of the Islamization and dewesternization of present-day knowledge centers wholly on the creating the right kind of human being. Human capital development in Islam is centrally rooted in education, whose purpose is not merely to produce a good citizen, nor a good worker, but a good man. This is aptly articulated in the modern sense by Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas that: it is mans value as a real man, as the dweller in his selfs city, as citizen in his own microcosmic kingdom, as a spirit, that is stressed, rather than his value as a physical entity measured in terms of a pragmatic or utilitarian sense of his usefulness to state, society and the world.28

27 For a discussion on how these matters affect ethical integrity, see Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas and Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud, The ICLIF Leadership Competency Model: An Islamic Alternative (Kuala Lumpur: International Centre for Leadership in Finance, 2007), chaps.2 and 7. 28 S.M.N al-Attas, Islam and Secularism (Petaling Jaya: Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia, 1978), p. 141, hereafter cited as IS.

He argues that a good citizen or worker in a secular state may not necessarily be a good man; but a good man, however, will definitely be a good worker and citizen. 29 It is obvious that if the employer or state is good as defined from the holistic Islamic framework, then being a good worker and citizen may be synonymous with being a good man. But an Islamic state presupposes the existence and active involvement of a critical mass of Islamically-minded men and women. In a later work, al-Attas emphasizes that stressing the individual is not only a matter of principle, but also a matter of correct strategy in our times and under the present circumstances.30 He further argues that stressing the individual implies knowledge about intelligence, virtue, and the spirit, and about the ultimate destiny and purpose. This is so because intelligence, virtue, and the spirit are elements inherent in the individual, whereas stressing society and state opens the door to legalism and politics. 31 However, al-Attas asserts that Islam accepts the idea of good citizenship as the object of education, only that we mean by citizen a Citizen of that other Kingdom, so that he acts as such even here and now as a good man. 32 The primary focus on the individual is so fundamental because the ultimate purpose and end of ethics in Islam is the individual. 33 It is because of this notion of individual accountability as a moral agent that in Islam it is the individual that shall be rewarded or punished on the Day of Judgement. A Man of Adab An educated man is a good man, and by good we mean a man possessing adab in its full inclusive sense. A man of adab (insan adabi) is defined as: the one who is sincerely conscious of his responsibilities towards the true God; who understands and fulfills his obligations to himself and others in his society with justice, and who constantly strives to improve every aspect of himself towards perfection as a man of adab [insan adabi].34

29 S.M.N. al-Attas, Risalah Untuk Kaum Muslimin (Message to Muslims). A long manuscript dictated to his secretary in March 1973. para. 14, pp. 51-52; idem, Islam: The Meaning of Religion and the Foundation of Ethics and Morality (Petaling Jaya: Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia, 1976), pp. 33-34, hereafter cited as IFOEM; idem, editor. Aims and Objectives of Islamic Education (London: Hodder & Stoughton/King A. Aziz University, 1979) pp. 32-33, also idem, The Concept of Education in Islam (Petaling Jaya: Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia, 1980) p. 25, cited hereafter as CEII. I have elaborated this idea of al-Attas in my article, Insan Baik Teras Kewarganegaraan (The Good Man as the Core of the Good Citizen), Pemikir, January-March 1996, pp. 1-24. 30 Aims and Objectives, p. 6 31 Ibid. 32 Aims and Objectives, pp. 32-33. 33 IS, p. 70; cf. a hadith of the Prophet: Whosoever sees an evil action (munkar), he should change it with his hand, if not with his tongue, if not with his heart, and the latter is the weakest in faith. 34 Risalah, para. 15, p. 54.

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Education, is thus tadib: 35 the instilling and inculcation of adab in man. The Quran testifies that the Holy Prophet is the Ideal who is the best example of such a man, whom some scholars have called the Prophet the Perfect or Universal man ( al-insan al-kulliyy).36 Thus the organization of administration and of knowledge in an Islamic educational system should reflect the Perfect Man. 37 The concept of tadib, if properly understood and competently explicated, is the correct concept of education in Islam, and not talim or tarbiyah, which are currently in vogue among Muslims all over the world, because tadib already includes within its conceptual structure the elements of knowledge (ilm), instruction (talim), and good breeding (tarbiyah).38 Although the Quran does not use the word adab or any of its derivatives, the word itself and some of its derivatives are mentioned in the traditions of the Holy Prophet, of the Companions, in poetry and in the works of later scholars. 39 Adab had a wider and more profound meaning before it became restricted to only a few of its many significations, namely belles-lettres and professional and social etiquette.40 The content (maudu) of tadib, according to early scholars, is akhlaq (ethics and morality). 41 From the earliest Islamic times, adab was conceptually fused with right knowledge (ilm) and proper and sincere action (amal), and became significantly involved in the intelligent emulation of the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet.42 Adab can be defined as follows: Recognition and acknowledgement of the reality that knowledge and being are ordered hierarchically according to their various grades and degrees of rank, and of ones proper
35 Aims and Objectives, p. 37. 36 Cf. the most honourable, al-Hujurat (49): 13; the beautiful model for conduct, al-Ahzab (33): 21; and alQalam (68): 4; a (universal) messenger to all mankind, Saba (34): 28. 37 CEII, p. 39; also Risalah, para. 47, p. 157. 38 CEII, p. 34. 13 There are at least 18 entries on tadib, addaba, and adab, many of which occur in more than one adth collection. See A. J. Wensinck and J. P. Mensing, Concordance et Indices de la Tradition Musulmane. 7 vols. (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1943), 1: 26; Nasrat Abdel Rahman, The Semantics of Adab in Arabic, Al-Shajarah, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1997, pp. 189-207. In this paper Prof. Abdel Rahman painstakingly analysed the various shades of meanings of the term adab and its various derivatives, especially tadib, from about 50 major Arab authorities, and has generally confirmed the interpretation of al-Attas. 14 CEII, p. 36. F. Gabrieli, in his brief yet succinct exposition of adab, explains that in the first century of the hijrah, adab carried within it an intellectual, ethical and social meaning. Later it came to mean a sum of knowledge which makes a man courteous and urbane, and by the time of al -Hariri in the 10th century C.E., in the meaning of adab had become much restricted to a discipline of knowledge, namely adabiyat or literature. See Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1986) s.v. adab. 15 CEII, pp. 24-25; also IS, pp. 142-143. 16 Op. cit., pp. 24-25. 41 Mahmud Qambar, Dirasat turathiyyah fi l-tarbiyah al-islamiyyah, 2 vols. (Dhoha, Qatar: Dar al-Thaqafah, 1985), 1: 406. 42 CEII, p. 35; cf. Nasrat Abdel Rahman, The Semantics of Adab, pp. 2-18.

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place in relation to that reality and to ones physical, intellectual and spiritual capacities and potentials. 43 Recognition can be understood as knowing again (to re-cognize) ones Primordial Covenant with the Lord and everything that follows from it.44 It also means that matters and things are already in their respective proper places in the various orders of being and existence, but that man, out of ignorance or arrogance, makes alterations and confuses the places of things such that injustice occurs.45 Acknowledgement is requisite action in conformity with what is recognized. It is affirmation and confirmation or realization and actualization in ones self of what is recognized. Without acknowledgement, education is nothing but mere learning (taallum).46 The significance of the above meanings of adab as they relate to the education of a good man is further underlined when it is realized that the recognition, which involves knowledge, and acknowledgement, which involves action, of proper places explained in the section above, are related to other key terms in the Islamic worldview, such as wisdom ( hikmah) and justice (adl), and reality and truth (haqq). Reality and truth (haqq) is defined as both the correspondence and coherence with the right and proper place. 47 Several examples of how the notion of adab is manifested in the various levels of human existence can be cited. Adab towards ones self starts when one acknowledges ones dual nature, namely the rational and the animal. When the former subdues the latter and renders it under control, then one has put both of them in their proper places, thereby placing ones se lf in the right place. 48 Such a state is justice to ones self; otherwise it is injustice ( ulm al-nafs). When adab is referred to human relationship, it means that the ethical norms which are applied to social behaviour would follow certain requirements based on ones standing in say, the family and society. Ones standing is not formulated by the human criteria of power, wealth, and lineage, but by the Quranic criteria of knowledge, intelligence and virtue. 49 If one displays sincere humility, love, respect, care, charity, etc., to ones parents, elders and children, neighbours and community leaders, it shows that one knows ones proper place in relation to them. Referring to the domain of knowledge, adab means an intellectual discipline (ketertiban
43 CEII., p. 27. Based on this definition of adab, al-Attas ingeniously elaborates on the statement of the Holy Prophet quoted above (God has educated me) in this manner: My Lord made me recognize and acknowled ge, by what [i.e., adab] He progressively instilled into me, the proper places of things in the order of creation, such that it led to my recognition and acknowledgement of His proper place in the order of being and existence; and by virtue of this He made my education most excellent. Ibid., pp. 27-28. 44 The Primordial Covenant which is cited by all Sufis is derived from the Qur'an 7:172: "When thy Lord drew forth from the Children of Adam---from their loins---their decendents, and made them testify concerning themselves (saying): "Am I not your lord?"---they all said:"Yea! We do testify!". 45 CEII., p. 21. 46 Ibid.. 47 Risalah, para. 55, pp. 186-188; idem, Islam and the Philosophy of Science (Kuala Lumpur: ISTAC, 1989), p. 22. 48 Al-Attas, "Address of Acceptance of Appointment to the al-Ghazzali Chair of Islamic Thought", in Commemorative Volume on the Conferment of the al-Ghazzali Chair (Kuala Lumpur: ISTAC, 1994) p. 31. Hereafter cited as Acceptance Speech. 49 Ibid., p. 30.

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budi) which recognizes and acknowledges the hierarchy of knowledge based on the criteria of degrees of perfection (keluhuran) and priority (keutamaan), such that the ones that are based on revelation are recognized and acknowledged as more perfect and of a higher priority than those based on the intellect; those that are fard ayn are above fard kifayah; those that provide guidance (hidayah) to life are more superior to those that are practically useful ( kegunaan amali). Adab towards knowledge would result in the proper and correct ways of learning and applying the different sciences. In conjunction with this, respect towards scholars and teachers is one manifestation of the adab towards knowledge. The purpose of seeking knowledge and of education ultimately is such that the self will attain happiness in this world and in the hereafter. For the natural world, adab means the discipline of the practical intellect ( akal amali) in dealing with the hierarchical program that characterizes the world of nature such that a person can make a proper judgement concerning the true value of things, as Gods signs, as sources of knowledge, and things useful for the spiritual and physical development of man. In addition, adab towards nature and the natural environment means that one should put trees and stones, mountains, rivers, valleys and lakes, animals, and their habitat in their proper places. And adab towards language means the recognition and acknowledgement of the rightful and proper place of every word in a written or uttered sentence so as not to produce a dissonance in meaning, sound and concept. Literature is called adabiyat in Islam precisely because it is seen as the keeper of a civilization and the collector of teachings and statements that educate the self and society with adab such that both are elevated to the rank of the cultured man ( insan adabi) and society. For the spiritual world, adab means the recognition and acknowledgement of the degrees of perfection (darajat keluhuran) that characterize the world of spirits; the recognition and acknowledgement of the various spiritual stations (makam keruhanian) based on acts of devotion and worship; the spiritual discipline which rightly submits the physical or animal self to the spiritual or rational self. 50 No wonder then, that adab is also the spectacle of justice (adl) as it is reflected by wisdom (hikmah).51 Therefore, by synthesising the meaning of knowledge, meaning and adab, the complete definition of Islamic education is given the process of instilling the right adab, which includes the ultimate purpose, content, and method of education: the recognition and acknowledgement, progressively instilled into man, of the proper places of things in the order of creation, such that it leads to the recognition and acknowledgement of God in the order of being and existence. 52 It is thus clear that education as tadib is different from mere instruction or training. The distinction between education and training is being made also by many serious educationists in the West. They seem worried that modern education is more concerned and effective in the training of students for different professions but not in their education. While training can be performed on man and animals, education, properly speaking, can only be carried out for human
50 Risalah, para. 47, pp. 155157. Cf., Acceptance Speech, p. 31. 51 CEII, p. 23. 52 Ibid., p. 27.

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beings.53 Many parties have neglected the fundamental distinction between education and mere training because they have consciously or unconsciously erased the ontological boundary between man and animal, a condition which is at cross purposes with the Islamic worldview. The creative reintroduction of tadib as the comprehensive concept of Islamic education in the integrated and systematic manner by al-Attas is of great significance not only for the fact that it appears for the first time in the contemporary Muslim world, but more significantly, it provides an authentic, integrated, and comprehensive concept and powerful framework for our educational thinking and practice. Modern Western scholars who try to understand the great educational ideas of several civilizations concur that the Greek notion of paideia or cultural education and their understanding of an educated man remain among the most comprehensive and profound ever developed by the human race; yet the meanings contained in the concept of paideia clearly lacked the much needed spiritual element. It has been observed that Christian educational philosophy does have a clear spiritual root, but as evidenced in a larger part of its intellectual history, it did not show widespread and consistent inclination toward the non-religious sciences. Modern scholars have found a better integration of the religious and the so-called secular sciences in the Muslim conception and practice of adab. Some have even suggested that the many advantages of adab as education par excellance can help solve some of the crises in modern education.54 Societal Development The educational philosophy of Islam clearly emphasizes the development of the individual; yet it is inseparably social in the manner and context of its fulfillment. The inseparability between the individual and society and of human brotherhood, is derived not only from any historically documented social contract, but more fundamentally, from the Primordial Covenant ( surat alAraf (7): 172) and from the meanings inherent in the concept of din. The first person plural employed therein (bala shahidna! Yea! We do bear witness!) means that each soul realizes its individuality as well as its relationship to each other and to their Lord. 55 That the purpose of knowledge in Islam is to produce a good man, does not necessarily imply that it does not give importance to the production of a good society; for since society is composed of people, making everyone or most of them good produces a good society. A good individual is the fabric of society. 56 An individual is only so when he realizes simultaneously his unique individuality and the commonality between him and other persons close to him and surrounding him. An individual is
Delight and the Common Good (Milton Keyes, U.K.: The Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press, 1988), pp. 2-3. 55 Risalah, para. 13, p. 40, and para. 29, pp. 195-106; IS, pp. 69-70. 56 CEII, p. 25.

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meaningless in isolation, because in such a context he is no longer an individual, he is everything. As seen from our brief exposition of the meaning of adab, it is clear now that a man of adab (insan adabi) is an individual who is fully conscious of his individuality and of his proper relationship with himself, his Creator, his society and other visible and invisible creatures of God. Therefore, in the Islamic sense, a good individual or a good man must naturally be a good servant to his Lord and Creator, a good father to his children, a good husband to his wife, a good son to his parents, a good neighbour to his neighbours, and a good citizen to his country. It is instructive to note that another term for civilization in the Malay language, beside tamadun, is peradaban, which denotes the comprehensive and multi-generational contributions of men and women of adab. Although a society consists of individuals, the education of society cannot happen unless sufficient individuals are educated. Yet society, which is the whole, is greater than the sum of its parts.57 Having said this, no Muslim who understands even a general worldview of the Quran would negate or neglect his societal duties, for he knows that even though Gods judgement in the Hereafter is strictly individual in nature,58 yet His judgement in history is societal. This judgement of God in history generally does not affect the good men and women, except as trials, but sometimes even they may have to suffer if they do not perform their duty as required. 59 Without doubt, such an integration of the spiritual and ethical qualities is the highest end of the meaning of citizenship and vocation. 60 Furthermore, the proper understanding and implementation of fard ayn (obligation towards the Self) and fard kifayah (obligation towards Society) categories of knowledge, would ensure the realization of personal and societal welfare. While it is obvious that the latter category of knowledge is socially relevant, the role of the former is generally thought to be significant only in an indirect manner. On the contrary, the mastery and practise of the fard ayn -- which is not the rigid enumeration of disciplines as commonly thought -- will ensure the proper success of fard kifayah sciences, for the former provides the necessary guiding framework and motivating principles for the latter. It has been suggested that the assessment of what courses and areas to be taught and offered under the fard kifayah category must not be a matter of personal choice only, but rather, should involve a just consideration of societal and national needs. 61 In fact,
57 Al-Attas, Comments on the Reexamination of al-Raniris hujjat al-siddiq: A Refutation (Kuala Lumpur: Museum Department, 1975) pp. 104-106. 51 In al-Anam (6): 164, God commanded the Prophet to proclaim: Every soul draws the meed of its acts on none but itself: no bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another. 52 Hd (11): 116. See also Fazlur Rahmans explanation on the Qurans concept of judgement in history, Major Themes of the Quran (Minneapolis and Chicago: Bibliotheca Islamica, 1980), pp. 52-56. 53 J. Douglas Brown, in the concluding paragraph of his book, writes to underline the integral social nature of liberal art education at producing a whole man thus: ...an education aimed at enhancing the understanding of human response, the powers of analysis, judgement, and communication, a sense of history, and intellectual and moral integrity is indeed vocational in the highest sense. The Liberal University: An Institutional Analysis (New York: McGraw Hill, 1969), p. 237. Similarly Tonsor concurs that the best kind of citizenship training I know is that education which enables its holder to perform his function in society well. S.Tonsor, Tradition and Reform in Education (Virginia: Open Court, 1974) p. 105. 54 Aims and Objectives, p. 45. For further discussion on this, see my book, Educational Philosophy, chap. v.

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according to Tibawi, the succinct personal objective of traditional Islamic education, which is the attainment of happiness in this world and the next, is more concrete and more beneficial to individual citizens compared to the vague general goals of society formulated by modern national governments.62

Loss of Adab The discussion thus far indicates the comprehensive nature of human capital development centering on the inculcation of adab, producing thereby a truly civilized man, as opposed to a barbarian. The rise of barbarism in Europe and the West, or rather, its newer form according to Ortega Y Gasset, is due largely to the profusion of narrow specialization in higher education. Even Christian thinkers such as the Catholic Jacques Maritain ( Education at the Crossroads) seems to concur with this when he characterised modern specialized education as animalistic. 63 From the Islamic point of view, the rise of barbarism ( kebiadaban) among the Muslims is due to two factors; external and internal. The external ones are caused by the religio-cultural and socio-political challenges from Western culture and civilization 64 while the internal ones are manifested in three interrelated phenomena; namely, epistemic confusion ( kekeliruan serta kesilapan mengenai faham ilmu), the loss of adab (keruntuhan adab), and the rise of unqualified and false leaders (tiada layak memikul tanggungjawab pimpinan yang sah) in all fields. 65 However, it is the loss of adab that must be effectively checked and corrected if Muslims are to solve the confusion and error in knowledge and the rise of false leadership in all fields. It is necessary that the problem of the loss of adab must first be addressed because knowledge cannot be taught to, or inculcated in, the learner unless he shows proper adab towards knowledge, its various categories and its legitimate authorities. 66 Since adab is an integral part of wisdom and justice, the loss of adab would naturally entail the prevalence of injustice, stupidity, and even madness. 67 Injustice is of course a condition where things are not in their right places. Stupidity ( humq), is the deployment of wrong methods to arrive at right goals or ends, while madness ( junun) is the struggle to attain false or wrong aims or goals.68 It is indeed madness if the very purpose of seeking knowledge is other than the
62 A. L. Tibawi, Islamic Education: Its Tradition and Modernization into the Arab National Systems (London: Luzac & Co., 1972), p. 207. 63 Jose Ortega Y Gasset, Mission of the University . Translated and edited by Howard L Nostrand (New York: W.W.Norton, 1944), pp. 38-39; Jacques Maritain, Education at the Crossroad. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1943. 64 Risalah, paras. 7-9, pp. 12-27. 65 Ibid., para. 153, pp. 178-180. 66 Ibid., para. 53, pp. 180-183; Aims and Objectives, p. 3. 67 Op. cit., para. 55, pp. 186-187. 68 Cited by Muhammad Umaruddin, The Ethical Philosophy of Al-Ghazzali. Reprint of 1962 edition (Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf, 1970) p. 166.

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attainment of true happiness or the love of God ( mahabbah) in this world according to the dictates of the true religion, and the attainment of His vision ( ruyatullah) in the Hereafter.69 Similarly, it is utter stupidity to attempt to attain happiness in this world and in the next without the right kind of knowledge and practice. Al-Attas elaborates on some other negative effects of the pervasive loss of adab: Authentic definitions become undone, and in their stead we are left with vague slogans disguised as concepts. The inability to define, to identify and isolate problems, and hence to provide for right solutions; the creation of pseudo-problems; the reduction of problems to merely political, socio-economic and legal factors become evident. It is not surprising if such a situation provides a fertile breeding ground for the emergence of extremists of many kinds who make ignorance their capital. 70 It is a truism that the world is increasingly functioning like a global village where education for intrinsically good men and women, i.e., men and women of adab, will be definitely more useful than education merely for useful citizenship. This is because most important projects, whether economic, educational, or political, are increasingly international in nature and significance, while narrow nationalistic agenda of multinational participants will undermine the proper success of such projects. Fast and efficient international travel have enabled good citizens of unjust regimes or organizations to extend their pernicious activities with greater speed and scope, and with more efficient ability to escape. Exciting developments in information technology have rendered national boundaries meaningless, conveying a virtually limitless amount of information of various degrees of utility--good and evil. The potentially useful information explosion and its almost instantaneous global reverberations have caused innumerable confusion, not to mention the ethically, culturally, and socially harmful contents. These developments require, more than ever before, that individual men and women be intrinsically good in the sense of adab. The intricately intertwining nature of the global economy would destroy the economies and millions of lives if citizens of powerful and influential economies sought mainly to profit from their own short-term personal or national interests.71 A truly educated person--an adabic person (a person of adab)is in this sense a universal person who understands and practices right adab in himself, in his family, in his environment and in the world community. A person of adab can deal successfully with a plural universe without losing his identity; nor deprive the due rights of others despite differences in worldviews and epistemic frameworks. Dealing with various levels of realities in the right and proper manner would enable him to attain the spiritual and permanent state of happiness here as well as in the Hereafter. This implies that the planning, contents, and methods of education should reflect a strong and consistent emphasis on the right adab towards the various orders of realities. To realize this objective, a new system of education must be formulated and implemented in the Muslim community, which must focus on the university.
69 Al-Attas, The Meaning and Experience of Happiness in Islam (Kuala Lumpur: ISTAC, 1993) p. 1. 70 Al-Attas, Acceptance Speech, p. 31. 71 For further elaboration on this subject see my article, Insan Baik Teras Kewarganegaraan, pp. 1 -24.

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Conclusion It is obvious to even casual observers that so far efforts at dewesternizing and decolonizing the captive mind is far from successfuleven when religion, including Islamhas been ostensibly employed. The numerous problems reflect the weak human capital development in formerly colonized countries, directly and indirectly. The discourse on Islamization, and its various attempts at the implementation of Islam in the Subcontinent, Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia seem to be more problematic than ever. This makes Albert Memmi in his recent book, Decolonization and the Decolonized (Minnesota University Press, 2006) take the line of an intellectual and secular imperialist when he categorically proclaimed: All religions are intolerant, exclusive, restrictive, and sometimes violent. The conception of moderate Islamis misguided: there is no such thing as a moderate religion. He calls for the so -called independent minds in the Muslim world to follow Voltaire or Nietzsche and criticize traditional Muslim thinkers or even the Quran. Obviously Memmis proclamations are not essentially true; but they do pose a tremendous challenge for not only Muslims but for intellectuals from other religions worldwide as well. Memmis position projects his geo-political worldview and epistemic perspective. Universities of all nations ought to educate firstly, the most qualified of their own citizens with the epistemological framework that reflect their own worldview and historical experiences, and secondly the increasingly numerous numbers of foreign students therein who will tremendously benefit from this comparative experiences. The evaluation of the qualitative worth of universities, therefore, should not be based on the so-called universal set of criteria, but rather on those that truly reflect the worldview and epistemological framework of a nation as reflected in the cognitive, social, and ethical qualities of their graduates, and of their academic and administrative personnel. Human capital that is developed by the universities and that are in the universitiestruly civilized human beingsadabic individuals (manusia beradab)are among the most crucial in ensuring that the bridges that link various cultures and civilizations are fortified with wisdom and justice, and real respect for difference; for the largest majority of humanity, both in the North and the South; both Muslims and Non-Muslims; and both the West and the rest.

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