CIE1 Islamization of Knowledge

(bit.ly/cie1iok) Starting with this post, we will go through my paper entitled: (CIE) “The Crisis in Islamic Economics: Diagnosis & Prescriptions” section-by-section, in brief video-summaries. The first section of the paper is about the Islamization of Knowledge, and is summarized below. The next post in this sequence is: CIE2 Crisis in 2nd Generation Islamic Economics. Slides for the video below are available from https://bit.ly/SS3GIE1

The central question facing the Ummah today is the following. The teachings of Islam, the final message of God to mankind, revealed 14 centuries ago, led the ignorant and backwards Bedouin to world leadership. How is it the Muslims today are once again wrapped in ignorance and darkness? We will argue that the central problem is one of “knowledge”. Islam came as a stranger, and has become a stranger. The critical need of today is to re-learn the teachings of Islam, and how we can use them to solve our modern problems. The introduction to CIE describes the problem in a little more detail. For a sequence of lectures which discusses this problem in depth and detail, see my online course on “How to Launch an Islamic Revival?”

The future of the Ummah is shaped by the education we give our children. All over the Islamic world, there are two separate systems of education in place. One is a traditional education, which teaches our children about Quran, Hadeeth, and essential aspect of the fourteen centuries of Islamic intellectual heritage. Unfortunately, this education does not prepare our children to deal with modern realities. By far more popular is the Western education, which teaches the knowledge developed in the West over the past three centuries or so. A western education contains many elements directly in conflict with Islamic teachings. For one thing, it asserts that the most valuable knowledge known to mankind was developed in Europe over the past few centuries. This immediately implies that the teachings of the Quran are not very valuable. This creates a dramatic conflict between a Western education and a traditional Islamic education. (See Conflicting WorldViews: Western & Islamic

Recognition of this problem leads to the project of “Islamization of Knowledge”. We cannot deal with the modern world without a Western education, so it is essential to “Islamize” Western knowledge. We must remove the elements in conflict with Islam from Western knowledge, and accept those elements which are in harmony with Islam. This is called the “Islamization of Knowledge”. Based on this concept, two universities were launched by the OIC in the 1980’s. Both of the International Islamic Universities (Malaysia and Islamabad) were meant to produce a model of education where the Western and the Islamic models of education would be taught together, to produce a synthesis of both forms of education.(See Experiences of IIIE:1983 to 2007, paper presented at 7th International Conference on Islamic Economics, Jeddah, Apr 2008

In my judgement, despite partial successes, this project has been a failure. Analyzing the reasons for this failure will provide us with the understanding of how to launch this project correctly, so that it can succeed. Instead of looking at the full scope of the project – the Islamization of all types of Western knowledge – we will look at the restricted domain of Economics. The question is: Why has Islamic Economics failed to provide a radical alternative to capitalist economics? Understanding the answer to this will allow us to find a solution: rebuilding Islamic Economics on the revolutionary principles of Islam, which provide guidance to all of mankind for all times to come.

Shortlink for THIS post: bit.ly/cie1iok. The next post in this sequence is: CIE2 Crisis in 2nd Generation Islamic Economics. Links to related materials:

1. “How to Launch an Islamic Revival?”: 9 Lectures – http://bit.ly/isrv00
2. Conflicting Worldviews: Western & Islamic: http://bit.ly/AZCWWI
3. Experiences of IIIE: 1983-2007: http://bit.ly/ExpIIIE
4. Discussion of “Crisis in IE”, with comments and rejoinder, in JKAU: IE