PowerPoint Presentation

IISLAMIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE: PROBLEMS, PRINCIPLES AND PROSPECTIVE

AYSHA MOHD SHARIF FIRST PRINCIPLES OF ISLAMIC METHODOLOGY

Islamization of knowledge ought to observe a number of principles constitute the essence of Islam. To recase the disciplines under the framework of Islam means subjection of their theory and method, their principles and goals to the following:-

The unity of Allah (swt):- It is the first principle of Islam and it is the principle that Allah is indeed Allah that no other being is Allah ; and that He is absolutely One, absolutely transcendent , metaphysically ultimate. Islamic knowledge regards every object of knowledge as fulfilling an end willed by Allah. Islamic knowledge recognizes that there is neither being, nor truth, nor value outside the chains and complexes of same in which Allah (swt)is cause and end. To be a Muslim is to have Allah constantly present in ones consciousness. And since He is the creator and the judge , to be a Muslim means to do all and everything as He has directed and for His sake. He is the first and the ultimate cause and end of everything . His being and activity and activity are the first and the constitutive and regulative principles of all knowledge.2. The unity of creation:-From the unity of Allah (swt), the unity of His creation follows with logical necessity. A s He said in the Holy Quran, If they were in heaven and the earth other gods than Allah, both heaven and earth would have fallen into chaos.(21:22) Creation is the integral whole precisely because it is the work of the Creator Whose order and design has infused every part of it.

Cosmic order:-Cosmic order consists of the law of nature. All laws are the patterns of Allah in his creation. Everything in cosmos and every event that takes place are so by his commands.

Creation :A kingdom of ends:-Allah (swt) created everything and did so with precise measure.(25:2). This measure assigns to everything its nature, its relations to other beings , and the course of existence. Everything has a purpose which is being served. That all things in creation serve a purpose and that purposes are inter-related which makes the earth one telic system, full of meaning.

Taskhir (Subservience) of Creation to man:-Allah has granted the world as a temporary gift and a theater to man. He has made everything subservient to him . Man has made capable of being used for his nourishment, enjoyment and comfort the creations. The subservience to Man has no limits as Allah has willed it so. 3. The unity of truth and knowledge:- The light of faith is epistemological and comes as the consequence of reasonableness . In Islam, unlike other religions faith is never irrational in its role and contribution.

The Unity of truth prescribes that no claim on behalf of revelation may be made which goes to the corner to reality. The statements of Allah given expressly guide and instruct and does not oppose reality. It also prescribes that no contradiction , difference or variation between reason and revelation is ultimate. It rejects discrepancies as illusory. And lastly unity of the truth prescribes that no of inquiry into the nature. The patterns of god in creation are infinite.

The theory of knowledge in Islam has the position of the unity of the truth. The truth which is the object of reason embodied in the laws of the nature. The logical equivalence of reason, truth and reality with the facts of revelation is the most critical principle epistemology has ever known. These principles are equivalent based on the Islamic knowledge.4. The Unity of life:-The Divine Amanah:-The divine will is of two kinds, a kind that is realized necessarily, and the divine patterns on the basis of which creation runs. These patterns are the law of nature. And the others are the moral laws. They co-exist with the laws of nature. Devoid of such will, heaven and earth and mountains were incapable of carrying the Divine Amanah (trust). The higher part of the Divine will does not enter history and become real unless human beings chose to realize it in freedom.

The Khalifah:- Mans carrying of the Divine Amanah constitutes his Khalifah. His Khalifah consists in the fulfillment of moral laws. Muslim understands Khalifah as predominantly political. The Quran repeatedly associated Khalifah with establishment of political power. The content of the Divine Amanah and therefore Khalifah , is the development of culture and civilization.

Comprehensiveness:- The will of culture and civilization is comprehensive and must be taken seriously. This comprehensiveness is at the foundation of the comprehensiveness of the shariah.5. The unity of humanity:- The divine unity stands absolutely the same as the creator created relation to all humans. All humans are one and same and on this ground universalism of Islam is based. All humans are same in the eyes of Allah (swt) except their deeds distinguish them in moral virtue , in cultural or civilizational achievement..Man was defined by the thinkers as a function of facts, faculties and forces which spring and nourish themselves from land mythically conceived, from race or people or blood mysteriously standing in an infinite dimension of time , and from a tradition whose roots run infinitely as to depth and extension in both space and time.

A new foundation of first principles should be given to them which are concordant with the universalism of Islam and they ought to receive from the Islamic thinkers , Islamic values and ends as ultimate objectives for guiding social research.

THE WORK PLANThe objectives of the work plan are the following:-

To master the modern principles

2. To master the Islamic legacy

3. To establish the specific relevance of Islam to each area of modern knowledge.

4. To seek way for creative synthesis between the legacy and the modern language.

5. To launch Islamic thought on the trajectory which leads it to the fulfillment of the Divine patterns of Allah (swt).

To realize these objectives , a number of steps must be taken. Their logical order defines the order of priority belonging to each step.

THE NECESSARY STEPS LEADIN TO SLAMIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE

STEP 1:-Mastery of the modern discipline: Categories Breakdown.The disciplines in the west must be broken down into categories, principles , methodologies , problems and themes.

STEP 2:- Discipline surveyEvery discipline ought to be surveyed and essays written on it to lay bare the broad outlines of its genesis and historical development , the growth of its methodology.

STEP 3:-Master of the Islamic legacy: The AnthologyThe legacy of the ancestors must remain for us the starting point of the relevance of Islam. This step involves the preparation of several volumes of anthologies of selected reading from the legacy for each modern principle arranged according to the categories of that discipline.

STEP 4:-Mastery of the Islamic legacy :The AnalysisIn order to bring the achievements of the Islamic legacy closer to the understanding of the western trained Muslim scholars and their crystallization of the Islamic vision,their works must need to be analyzed against their historical background and the relations with the problem issues. STEP 5:-Establishment of the specific relevance of Islam to the disciplinesIn this regard, the nature of the modern discipline, its constituent methods , principles , problems, objectives and hope, its achievements and shortcomings-All of this should be related to Islamic legacy.

STEP 6:-Critical assessment of the modern discipline-The state of artThis is a major step in Islamization of knowledge. Its methodology, problems , principles should be analyzed and tested for adequacy, reasonableness, and the consistency with the five fold unities of Islam.

STEP 7:- Critical assessment of the Islamic legacy- The state of artBy the Islamic legacy we first mean the Holy Quran, the word of Allah, and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H). These are not the objects of criticism and assessment but in terms of principles which these sources provide.

STEP 8:- Survey of the Ummahs major problemOur attention must be devoted to the main problems of affecting the Ummahs political, social , economic, intellectual, cultural , moral and spiritual problems.

STEP 9:-Survey of the problems of HumankindIslamic thinker is call upon to confront the problems facing the world today and to contend for their solution according to Islam.STEP 10:-Creative analysis and synthesisA creative synthesis must be struck between the Islamic legacy and the modern disciplines which would bridge over the gap of centuries of non-development. It must maintain its relevance to the Ummahs reality by addressing itself to its problems.

STEP 11 :-Recasting the disciplines under the framework of Islam: The university textbookWe need scores of diverse critical analysis by the Islamically committed and modern disciplined in order to enrich the Ummahs consciousness of its own goals. More books are needed to satisfy the Muslim needs which are infinite and to project the crystalize the vision of Islam which id equally infinite.

STEP 12:-Dissemination of Islamized knowledgeThe fact that is produced for the sake of Allah imposes upon it always to remain available to whomsoever wishes to invest in the paper, ink and binding necessary to carry it.That is why The Work Plan calls for measures to place everyone of the works produced in the hand of the Muslim university of the academician free of charge. The products should be available officially to the universities and colleges.

OTHER NECESSARY AIDS FOR ISLAMIZATION OF KOWLEDGE

Conferences and Seminars:- A series of conferences and seminars should be held between experts in the relevant fields designed to solve an problems transcending any principle.

Classroom workshops and faculty training:-Once the textbook have been produced, the faculty must be trained in their use. The experts who produce these works should be given the opportunity to meet the faculty and discuss with them the unwritten presuppositions , the projected effects of the theories, principles or solutions they have included in their essays and books.FURTHER RULES OF IMPLEMENTATION:-Big work should be divided in to parts and commissioned to different scholars.Taking funding from every Muslim country.Only greatest scholars should be allowed to produce works.Honoraria proportionate to effort and addition to their regular salaries should be instituted as incentives and rewards for production and quality.