Paper proposed for an Epistemology and Thought workshop held on 23rd May 2008 at the Universitas Islam Negeri Jakarta Indonesia by Dr Omar Hasan Kasule MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard) Professor of Epidemiology and Islamic Medicine at Universiti Brunei Darussalam and Visiting Professor of Epidemiology at Universiti Malaya
1.0 SUGGESTIONS ABOUT THE WORKSHOP
1.1 This will be the first in a series of workshops to be held to discuss issues of epistemology and thought. The first workshop will be very exploratory and it is expected to generate a list of priority issues that will be discussed in more detail at subsequent workshops. Being exploratory the format will be flexible according to the preferences of the organizers at UIN. The workshop is best conducted in Bahasa Indonesia but interventions in Arabic and English can be allowed.
1.2 It is suggested that organizers at UIN modify the working paper as they see fit and could even rewrite it in Bahasa Indonesia leaving out things that are not relevant to the local situation and adding missing things that are national priorities. Discussions at the workshop will be most effective if all participants receive the working paper in advance. Some of them may even be prepared with written remarks for presentation to the workshop.
1.3 For the benefit of future workshops it will be very helpful if the proceedings are carefully recorded and are summarized in a publishable form. This will ensure that there will be basic material for future discussions and avoid revisiting issues that have been clarified.
2.0 OVERVIEW OF THE KNOWLEDGE AND THOUGHT CRISIS
2.1 The problems and the solutions
The paper starts from the assertion that 2 internal factors, an education crisis and a thought crisis, are major causes of ummatic weakness. These 2 factors combine to lead to ummatic malaise manifesting in the religious, social, political, economic, technological, and military dimensions.
The education crisis manifests as the dichotomy between traditional Islamic and imported secular education. It can be resolved by reforming education systems and even more important reforming the epistemology methodology of research in the various disciplines of knowledge so that it conforms to the paradigms of tauhid and objectivity, istiqamat. The disciplines to be covered are: education (pedagogy and andragogy), social sciences and humanities (sociology, anthropology, psychology, political science, historiography, literature etc), natural sciences and technology (medical and health disciplines, engineering, architecture, economics, etc).
The thought crisis manifests as failure to use Qur’anic guidelines to analyze and resolve contemporary problems of the ummah engendered by thought failure. Thought failure started early in the history of the ummah when scholars failed to resolve the imaginary dichotomy between reason, ‘aql, and revelation, naql. This created many intellectual problems that led to disputes and formation of many competing groups. The thought crisis will be resolved by research that identifies and defines problems of the society and then proposed solutions based on the bird-eye view frame-work of the Qur’an, sunnah, and the higher purposes of the Law, maqasid al shariah. Solutions will have to be found for family, community, economic, and political problems.
2.2 The immediate tasks: intellectual clarification
The most immediate task is to make the ummah’s intelligentsia aware of the problems and to involve them in their solution. On the practical level, academic seminars need to be held in many places and involving all Muslim intellectuals to discuss the 2 crises. Two types of seminars can be held. General seminars 1-day will introduce the problem and motivate the intellectuals to make contributions. Specialized 1-day seminars will bring together 3-5 specialists in each discipline at a time to present fully written papers on given topics followed by deep and serious discussion after which the authors can revise the papers and have them published online for wide and immediate access with printed versions being made available later. Books and articles written on epistemology and thought in other parts of the world can be made accessible by local intellectuals writing reviews that incorporate commentaries that reflect local problems. These reviews can also be published online for wider access. A measure of success will be the number of seminars held and the total number of online publications.
2.3 Long term tasks: rebuilding institutions
(a) The traditional sector: The main strategic needs are to upgrade the leadership skills of the ‘ulama and reform the traditional Islamic education systems to respond to the challenges of modern society.
(b) The Modern sector: The main strategic issue is to reform school and university curricula to impart knowledge from the tauhidi integrated paradigm. This will replace the existing curricula that perpetuate the crisis of duality in education that was discussed above.
(c) New institutions: Reform and renewal, tajdid & islah, will succeed if education reforms have produced well educated and motivated citizens who can rebuild Ummatic institutions: educational, economic, political, and social.
3.0 THE KNOWLEDGE and EDUCATION CRISIS
3.1 Crisis of Knowledge
The most important manifestation of the knowledge crisis is dichotomy in the education system: traditional Islamic vs. imported European. Integration of the 2 systems has failed. Secularization of education eliminated the moral dimension and violated the aim of Islamic education to produce an integrated and perfect individual, insan kaamil. The ummatic malaise due to the knowledge crisis that started with the fall of the khilafat rashidah when the authentic ‘ulama were marginalized. Society became ‘secularized’ because the rulers were in one valley and the scholars in another valley. This dichotomy between the sources of Islamic guidance and the political leadership of society eventually led to and nurtured the knowledge crisis we have today.
3.2 The Need for a New Knowledge Strategy
Educational and knowledge reform are a pre requisite for tajdid because tajdiid = idea + action. The vision of the knowledge strategy is an upright balanced person who understands the creator, knows his place, his roles, his rights, and his responsibilities in the cosmic order. The mission of the knowledge strategy is conceptual transformation of the education system from kindergarten to post graduate studies to reflect tauhid, positive moral values, objectivity, universality, and serving the larger causes of humanity.
3.3 Reform of Research Methodology
Modern research is based on the empirical method that unfortunately has Euro-centric biases. There is no contradiction among sources of knowledge: wahy, ‘aql, and kaun. The Qur’anic provides guiding principles for knowledge and building civilization. Muslims taught the empirical methodology to Europeans in the 15th and 6th centuries but forgot it during the era of decline. It is now coming back to them in a new context that reflects the European and not the Islamic world view. Muslims accept the empirical methods but reject concepts added by Europeans that reflect the European and the Muslim world view. A tauhidi universal, objective and unbiased methodology must replace the Euro-centric and philosophically biased context but not the practical experimental methods. The precepts of tauhidi science are: unity of knowledge, comprehensiveness; causality as the basis for human action, limitation of human knowledge, constant and fixed natural laws, harmony between the seen and the unseen, 3 sources of knowledge (wahy, aql, & empirical observation; khilafat; moral accountability; creation and existence have a purpose, truth is both absolute and relative, human free will is the basis of accountability, and tawakkul.
3.4 Reform of Disciplines of Knowledge
Reform has to start with reforming the epistemology, methodology, and corpus of knowledge of each discipline. It must be pro-active, academic, methodological, objective, and practical. Its vision is objective, universal, and beneficial knowledge in the context of a harmonious interaction of humans with their physical, social, and spiritual environment. Its practical mission is transformation of the paradigms, methodologies, and uses of disciplines of knowledge to conform to tauhid. Its immediate goals are: (a) de-Europeanizing paradigms of existing disciplines to change them from parochiality to universal objectivity, (b) reconstruction of the paradigms using Islamic universal guidelines, (c) re-classifying disciplines to reflect universal tauhidi values, (d) reforming research methodology to become objective, purposeful, and comprehensive (e) growth of knowledge by research, and (f) inculcating morally correct application of knowledge. The Qur’an gives general principles that establish objectivity and protect against biased research methodology. It creates a world-view that encourages research to extend the frontiers of knowledge and its use for the benefit of the whole universe. Scientists are encouraged to work within these Qur’anic parameters to expand the frontiers of knowledge through research, basic and applied.
3.5 Practical Steps / Tasks of the Reform Process:
The first step is a good grounding in Islamic methodological sciences of of usul al fiqh, ulum al Qur’an, ulum al hadith, and 'uluum al llughat. This is followed by reading the Qur’an and sunnat with understanding of the changing time-space dimensions. This is followed by clarification of basic epistemological issues and relations: wahy and aql, ghaib and shahada, ‘ilm and iman. This is followed by an Islamic critique of basic paradigms, basic assumptions, and basic concepts of various disciplines using criteria of Islamic methodology and Islamic epistemology. Islamic reviews of existing text-books and teaching materials are then undertaken to identify deviations from the tauhidi episteme and the Islamic methodology. The initial output of the Islamization process will be Islamic introductions to disciplines, muqaddimat al ‘uluum, establishing basic Islamic principles and paradigms that determine and regulate the methodology, content, and teaching of disciplines. This parallels Ibn Khaldun’s Introduction to History, muqaddimat presented generalizing and methodological concepts on historical events. Publication and testing of new text-books and other teaching materials is a necessary step towards reform by putting into the hands of teachers and students reformed material. Developing applied knowledge in science and technology from basic knowledge will be the last stage of the reform process. This is because in the end it is science and technology that actually lead to changes in society.
4.0 THE THOUGHT CRISIS IN RESOLVING SOCIETAL PROBLEMS
4.1 Thought Failure
Thought failure in the ummah could manifests as intellectual stagnation, syncretism, lack of vision, superficiality, rituality, esoterism, sterile argumentation, and use of un-Islamic intellectual tools. Intellectual stagnation is suppression of the freedom of thought, closure of ijtihad, blind following, taqlid, and fanaticism for a madh’hab. Syncretism, talfiq, is juxtaposition of ideas that are incompatible without attempting to analyse them critically to arrive at a synthesis or favor one of them, tarjiih. There is lack of vision as a guide vision for the present and the future, ru'uyat mustaqbaliyyat. Superficiality, satahiyyat, is concern with minor inconsequential issues. False outward manifestations of religious rituals, shakliyaat, with a dead core are common. Esoteric sects, al firaq al batiniyyat, claim to have secret agendas or knowledge exposed to a select few and is a cause of social disruption. Sterile arguments, jadal, lead to no purpose or goal of practical utility. Intellectual analysis using un-islamic terminology and concepts compounds the intellectual confusion.
4.2 Unresolved Issues from the Past
Thought failure is responsible for the following issues that started in the past and are not yet resolved up to today. These issues are still causes of controversy when they should not be. The role of human free will, qadriyyat, versus that of pre-determination, al jabriyah, in human actions is still not fully understood. Acceptance of repentance, taubah, or faith, iman, for persons who commit major sins is still being debated when the texts are clear on it. Discussions of the essence of Allah, dhaat al llaah, and attributes of Allah, sifaat al llaah, are still leading many astray when it is clear that human intellect cannot grasp the nature of Allah and should not be engaged in such an endeavor. Many still do not understand the scope of knowledge through reason, ‘aql, and that of transmitted knowledge, naql, as well as the relation between the two. There are still many who do not understand pre-determination, qadar, and causality, sababiyyat, and how they interact in human actions.
4.3 Unresolved Contemporary Issues
Thought failure is also responsible for the following major contemporary intellectual issues still unresolved. The woman; her nature, role, rights, and responsibilities; are still being debated. Plurality of opinion and practice is a cause of unnecessary controversy. Leadership, imamat, its qualifications, selection, roles, and scope of responsibility are not fully defined. Shura is presented as theoretical concept but its practical application is not properly worked out. Application of Islamic teachings to today’s realities: economy, education, politics, and international relations are still being discussed.
4.4 Fiqh as the Cause and as the Solution
Problems of thought in the past were mainly centered on misunderstanding ‘aqidat. Fortunately most of these ‘aqidat issues were either resolved or are no longer a major cause of controversy being discussed in a marginal way. Few Muslim intellectuals today are aware of qadriyyat, jabriyyat, maturdiyyat, ‘ash’ariyyat, ittihadiyyat, hululiyat, jahmiyyat, kilaabiyyat, druze, khawarij, mu’utazilat, ruwandiyyat, baatiniyyat, dahriyyah, & marji’at. The persisting problems arise from a narrow and literal understanding of the shariah and differences on fiqh have divided the ummat in the recent past on many issues. If the cause is fiqh the solution will also be found in fiqh. We need to relook at society from a general bird eye view using the higher purposes of the Law, maqasid al shariah then we will be able to make some progress. The shariah was revealed to fulfill 5 higher purposes: religion, hifdh al ddiin; life, hifdh al nafs; progeny, hifdh al nasl; intellect, hifdh al ‘aql; and resources, hifdh al maal.
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© Professor Omar Hasan Kasule May 2008
© Professor Omar Hasan Kasule May 2008
