Islamization of Knowledge and the Future of the Ummah
(Mahathir Muhammad)
The last
four centuries have done us, the Muslim ummah, little credit. We have not
reflected the essence of Islam which was once the pacesetter of humanity. Our
future must reflect a new approach; we must have clearly crystallized ideas and
well-articulated goals. We can carry out orderly and recognized and acceptable
goals. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Muslims, including intellectuals and
those involved in the Islamic movements, have overlooked what to most builders
is obvious. They know they must go somewhere but they do not know exactly where
to go. We must therefore plan for the future and this means we need to analyze
the past and take stock of the present.
It is clear
that man's survival is dependent on new patterns of mutual partnership and
cooperation, independence and symbiosis. This will not be possible without
long-term planning for the next twenty to forty years. We also need to
understand Islam within the context of the contemporary world, with the changed
conditions of life. We cannot recreate the world of the early years of Islam.
The changes that have occurred ion recent decades are fundamentally the biggest
changes human society has ever experienced, but in practical and intellectual
terms, we Muslims have not been able even to conceive of how to reorganize our
political, social and economic lives to take in the changes that have taken
place. We should reorganize our political, social and economic lives in a way
that fully incorporates the injunctions of Islam to ensure that a socially
healthy, politically coherent, and economically efficient and vigorous ummah
will emerge, able to face all challenges.
Consider,
for example, the concept of Shura as applied to economics and politics. These
values laid down by the Quran and Sunnah tell us how the prophet formulated
them, and how early Muslim society institutionalized them. The question is, how
we can realize them in our lives in the new fifteenth century [A.H]. What
pattern of human relationships would best realize the values of cooperation and
lead to the most efficient system of economy? What institutional arrangements
would secure a distribution of wealth and income, both during and after its production,
consistent with the value of "cooperation for the good"? Obviously it
is not enough to ask the Muslims to co-operate. This request has repeatedly
been made, and the end product is in front of us. Islamic injunctions must be
given practical content and their implications explained in concrete terms
before they can become operational in the economic organization of Muslim or
any other countries. The large numbers of those involved in the process of
production, the many dimensions in which co-operation must be conceived, the
complex technicalities involved in production, relevant knowledge of the actual
needs of consumers the priorities of government, the intention as well as the
circumstances of the other producers, the circumstances of the workers, and
their entrepreneurial participation in the firm or farm where they work, all
these factors have turned the simple
question of how to co-operate into a highly complex one. What is required now,
if anything is a gigantic intellectual and imaginative effort involving deep
insight into the objectives and scope of these injunctions. It is only by
solving the problems mentioned above that we can know what co-operation is and
how it can be adopted as a way of economic life in the contemporary situation.
Then and then only can Islam be said to be a way of life. To retreat and
withdraw from modern society is to deny that Islam is for all times.
Examination
of other injunctions of Islam convinces us of the same conclusions. One may
ask, what significance does all this have? If we are unable to understand these
injunctions of Islam with reference to contemporary reality, we have failed to
understand Islam itself; we fail to understand
the social conduct desired of us by Allah(SWT) if we fail to
operationalize the injunctions with reference to contemporary reality, and we
will not be able to plan effectively for the future.
This is
painful admission. And this is the root cause of the present predicament of
Muslims. Not only have we failed to live up to Islam, but we have also, to a
large extent, failed to appreciate its universality. It follows therefore that
to understand the underlying dynamic relevance of the injunctions of Islam in
contemporary society and to work out the process of their implication in practice
is an acute spiritual need of the Muslim ummah.
An Islamic Future:
Our
understanding of Islam will not increase overnight with the beginning of the
fifteenth century of the Hijrah. A better future for the Muslim ummah requires
much more effort and strength. The Quran promises the eternal survival of Islam
but this promise does not extend to Muslims automatically. Allah (SWT) does not
change the fate of a society unless they make an effort to change it
themselves. History offers no support for the idea that simply by the passage
of time Muslims will suddenly undergo a miraculous revival. We, the Muslim
ummah, have to make a conscious decision whether to remain in a constant state
of tension, between living in the past and only superficially coming to terms
contemporary world, or to opt for an Islamic future, thereby redirecting
ourselves to the original path of Islam. Remember always that when Islam came,
it was a modernizing force that brought greatness to the early followers of
faith; greatness in the fields of economy, industry, the sciences, the arts and
military prowess.
For Muslim
civilization to achieve its destiny and experience a second upturn, a balanced
approach to Islam and a certain amount of self-criticism is prerequisite. We
Muslims must learn to be honest with ourselves. We need to apply this balanced
approach to this world and to the hereafter. The concept of the hereafter was
given to man to broaden his outlook and to make him blind to his immediate
environment. We must seek good, both in this world and the next. Modern
scholars must therefore be neither too pre-occupied with this world nor
exclusively entranced by the next. Both must influence their scholarly efforts
and exhortations.
It would
appear to me that many Muslims have accepted and to some extent have taken
pride in their ignorance with unbelievable satisfaction. We are in acute
social, economic and political agony, yet many Muslims have adopted a strangely
false sense of security: reading the Quran will bring them thawab or blessings
even if they do not understand or practice it; going out or propagation will
secure a piece of paradise; writing pamphlets and propaganda sheets will win
support for Islam. But this preoccupation with gaining merit for self is too
narrow. Muslims must establish a thriving and dynamic society because there can
only be a hereafter for us if we survive as Muslims.
If we really
want to establish Islam, we must look for the leading issues of our time and let
people know what rights Allah has given them for which they must fight, what
security Allah offers them for which they must look, and what promise Allah has
for them for which they must work. We must ensure that Islam is responsive to
the immediate requirements and concerns of modern man. If we ask people to
accept a whole set of beliefs and practices, they must run away because they
may not understand what Islam really is. This is perhaps the main problem.
Understanding Islam does not mean only the ability to explain hadith, or outline
the mechanics of certain rituals or recites verses of the Quran. Understanding
Islam also means the capacity to explain and put into practice its dynamic and
vibrant concepts in contemporary society.
At this
point in time, disaster is threatening us, the very future of mankind is at
risk, and the existence of the Muslims as a viable force in the world is in
balance. The problems we face are complex and varying. They are not getting any
simpler. The two great challenges facing Muslims are to recreate a living
civilization of Islam which was once dynamic and thriving, and to make a
positive contribution to the predicament facing mankind. In fact, these two
tasks are the same, because Muslim civilization is the only civilization that
still preserves intact its basic teaching and has the potential to provide an
alternative to what is called the 'modern' world. It is also the only
civilization that can provide the much needed value structure and spiritual
needs that can lead mankind to happiness on this earth. But before Muslims can
do this, there is much work to be done.
The first
thing Muslims have to do is to plan the kind of future they envisage for
themselves. They can have an aimless future or a planned future. Current trends
show that Muslim society is heading toward an aimless future. Unless something
is done now, this trend is likely to continue, putting the Muslims in grave
danger of being separated from their faith.
The Muslim
ummah cannot continue lying inactive like a stagnant lake full of potential
resources yet polluted. The ummah must think about and plan for its future.
Muslims have longed for freedom since they were invaded by the colonial powers
and lost their independence. In some regions the struggle still continues.
Although the Muslims finally achieved victory over their foreign enemies, their
neglect of planning for the post-victory period robbed them of the fruits of
their struggles. They sacrificed their lives for the sake of Islam, but their
sacrifice was made almost in vain because the Islamic order they envisaged did
not emerge. This is due to neglect by those who failed to plan for the
implementation of Islamic systems. The Muslims have spent much of their time
after independence pursuing the various "isms" left behind by the
colonialists.
Planning For the Future:
There is no
escape from planning for the future. If Muslims really want an Islamic social
order, then they must examine every aspect of modern life from perspective of
Islam and make necessary corrections. The comprehensive relevance of Islam to
everything has to be established on a concrete level and many questions must be
researched and examined. A practical blueprint for the implementation of
Islamic systems needs to be worked out taking into account the practical
realities of today's world.
Planning in
the Muslim countries, however, must be more than a projection into the future
of today's dominant trends. It is by no means enough just to produce five-year
development plans, as generally these plans are responses to current situations;
they remain dominated by current events. This is why most developmental
planning in the Muslim countries has not been very successful. Although our
real problems exist on the macro level, we have concentrated our efforts on
cosmetic changes for the sake of appearance. Therefore we need to make a
careful cross impact analysis among various priorities, policies and planning
and various parameters of Muslim thoughts and criteria. Possible greatness in
the years ahead will depend on the greatness of our vision of the future. While
we may fall short of our goals; we must not allow any deficiency in the clarity
and articulation of our vision.
Ibn Khaldun
uses the word 'umran for a dynamic, thriving, operational civilization. The
Muslim world today needs such a viable plan as an alternative and to present to
the Muslim ummah convincing visions of the Muslim civilization of the future.
The Muslim world today needs such a viable plan as an alternative and to
present to the Muslim ummah convincing visions of the Muslim civilization of
the future.
The third
International Conference on Islamic Thought, should plan for reforming and
moving Islamic thought forward in specific areas with proper scale of
priorities as a step toward achieving this planned future. The work plan of the
international Institute of Islamic Thought in making critical examination of
the modern disciplines in the light of vision of Islam is an ambitious one, but
is essential for the future of the ummah. It is indeed true to say, as does the
book
Islamization
of Knowledge published by the Institute, that today non-Muslims are the
undisputed masters of all disciplines. Muslim academicians should master all
the modern disciplines, understand them completely and achieve an absolute
command of all that they have to offer. This is, however, only the first
prerequisite. Then they should integrate the new knowledge into the corpus of
the Islamic legacy by eliminating, amending, reinterpreting and adapting its
components according to the world view Islam and its values. The exact
relevance of Islam to the philosophy of the discipline should be determined. A
new way in which the reformed disciplines can serve the ideas of Islam should
be adopted. Finally; by their example as pioneers, they should teach the new
generation of Muslims and non-Muslims how to follow in their footsteps, push
the frontiers of human knowledge even further forward, discover new layers of
the patterns created by Allah and new ordering of thought in Islamic
disciplines deriving from tawhid, and establish new paths for making his will
and commandments realized in history.
In
developing such a fresh understanding of Islam, in adjusting to change, we need
a number of intellectual tools. We need to develop a tradition of Muslim
scholarship that incorporates modern methods of study and research into the
best techniques of traditional scholarship. We need to analyze what changes are
desirable in Muslim society. The confusion of some Muslim intellectuals is
understandable. They have not seen the injunctions of Islam in an operational
form and hence they become confused when translating these injunctions to meet
the demands of modern society. Furthermore, they are trapped in the conceptual
framework of the west. Fundamental questions need to be asked, but unless the
young Muslim intellectual is proviced
with a university textbook in each discipline that allows him to question
present approaches, he will not be able to ask these questions. The aim of the
Institute to produce textbooks in all the disciplines should be supported.
We must aim to develop an awareness of the
future and an Islamic perception that can relate the teachings of Islam to
current problems and meet the coming challenges of the future. Once we have
become sensitized to this perception, we are equipped to analyze modern
problems in the light of the Quran and Sunnah. What is important is the
problems we face and how to formulate practical Islamic solutions to these
problems. The policies needed to solve these problems require Muslims to go against contemporary fashions
to a great extent, as well as to reexamine some traditions that are seen as
Islamic but are not really so. They also require a bold effort to make an
Islamic stand, as well as intellectual courage and a firm understanding of
Muslim societies and the true culture of Islam. The future of Muslim societies
is with Islam, for without Islam, they have no future.
#islamization #essay #topic #muslim #wordwar
#islamization #essay #topic #muslim #wordwar