Paper sent on January 31, 2012 to European associates
on 31st January 2012 by Dr Omar Hasan Kasule MB ChB (MUK), MPH
(Harvard), DrPH (Harvard) Professor of Epidemiology and Bioethics Faculty of
Medicine King Fahad Medical City
Riyadh Saudi Arabia, Visiting Professor of Epidemiology University of Malaya
and University of Brunei Darussalam
SUMMARY
Work in Europe in the next decade
will succeed if it is focused on the core mission of knowledge reform and
thought reform achieved through research followed by publication, seminars and
workshops, and specialized teaching programs. It will have two tracks/targets:
(a) Muslim school curricula and intellectual issues of living in a plural
society for Muslims settled permanently in Europe and will consume 15% of
the effort and resources (b) University epistemological/curriculum reform
for all disciplines of knowledge and intellectual issues relating to Islamic
solutions for contemporary economic, social, and political dilemmas in the
Muslim World these efforts being directed at postgraduate students who are
staying in Europe for a short time and will return and work in the Muslim world
and will consume 85% of the effort and human and financial resources.
The following activities will not have priority rating: (a) solving local
community problems arising out of the social, economic, and political
marginalization/discrimination of Muslims (b) practical solutions of internal
community problems such as social welfare, differences/conflicts (fiqhi and
others) (c) dawa and teaching of basics of Islam to Muslims and non-Muslims.
1.0 OVERVIEW
1.1 The problems
The paper starts from the
assertion that 2 internal factors, a knowledge 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 knowledge crisis 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
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 higher purposes of the Law, maqasid
al shari’at.
1.2 The tasks
On the practical level, teaching
programs and academic seminars need to be held in many places and involving all
Muslim intellectuals to deal with the 2 crises. The academic programs should be
certificate, diploma, or master's level programs undertaken in collaboration
with universities in Europe or the Muslim
World using either the Arabic or the European language mediums. 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. At a later stage
text books will have to be developed to translate all the above programs into permanent
classroom teaching.
2.0 THE KNOWLEDGE and EDUCATION CRISIS
2.1 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.
2.2 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.
2.3 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.
2.4 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) reforming
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.
2.5 PRACTICAL STEPS
/ TASKS OF THE REFORM PROCESS:
The first step is a good
grounding in Islamic methodological sciences 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 reform 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.
3.0 THE THOUGHT CRISIS
3.1 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 analyze 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
is common. Esoteric sects, al
firaq al batiniyyat, claim to have secret agendas or knowledge exposed to a
select few and are 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.
3.2 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.
They are also a cause of failure of Muslims to face the challenges of modern
society. 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 can not 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. There is also a lot of confusion
about the relation of the Muslim with the others. Literal reading and
understanding of the text, nass, without consideration of
spatio-temporal changes and leading to various forms of extremism.
3.3 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.
3.4 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
but still persisting 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 shari’at 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 re-look
at society from a general bird eye view using the higher purposes of the Law, maqasid
al shari’at then we will be able to make some progress. The shari’at was revealed to fulfill 5
higher purposes: religion, hifdh al ddiin;
life, hifdh al nafs; progency, hifdh al nasl; intellect, hifdh al ‘aql; and resources, hifdh al maal.
4.0 ORGANIZATIONAL
ISSUES
4.1 OFFICES
AND REPRESENTATIVES
Conservation
and wise use of limited financial resources dictate that we avoid costly
offices that require rent and salaries. We can have a few anchor offices in
strategic cities to provide a point of personal contact. Most of the work
should be done through academic representatives who should preferably be
academic staff at universities with access to facilities such as an office,
telecommunication, and libraries etc. We can pay them a small allowance to
cover their expenses and they can help gather intellectuals and organize
meetings and other programs for them using university venues or if not
available rented space outside. We need at least one representative in each
country but for bigger countries we can have representatives at a regional
level. Physical offices can be organized in London
(for the UK, Ireland, and Nordic countries), Brussels
(for BENELUX countries and France),
Frankfurt/Berlin for Germany
and Central Europe, Sarajevo for Eastern Europe
and Southern Europe. The main function of
these offices is (a) to provide research resources in the form of books and
journals with concentration on online work (b) provide logistics for academic
seminars and teaching programs that can be held at rented premises for the time
being.
4.2 BUDGETING
As far as possible academic activities should
be self financing but where this is not feasible especially at the beginning
subsidies should be provided. Teaching programs should charge tuition and
reasonable registration fees should be charged for seminars and workshops. Manpower
costs should be minimized by employing a high-caliber director of each regional
office on a part-time basis and relying on part time work of students to run
the administrative work of each office.
