Islamization of Knowledge: Literature Review (Draft) Imran H Khan Suddahazai Bis Millah Ir Rahman Ir Rahim Allah will raise

up to (suitable) ranks (and degrees) those of you who believe and who have been granted knowledge. 1 Of knowledge, we have none, save what You have taught us.2 Introduction This chapter of the study has been arranged to critically analyse 'contemporary Islamic thought' as conceived and propagated by the scholars and institutions of the 'Islamization of Knowledge' (IoK) phenomena. Therefore, this chapter both introduces and critiques the fundamental concepts of the 'Islamization of Knowledge' as delineated by its proponents and critics to decipher its viability and pertinence to the overarching objective of the study. The chapter has been organised to define the concept of 'Islamization of Knowledge' within the introductory section of the chapter. Thus at inception it must be acknowledged that the phenomena commonly referred to as the 'Islamization of Knowledge' is not a monolithic school of thought nor is it a standardised homogenous theory. At best it is an evolving collective intellectual response to the unprecedented superiority of Western ideals and influences in the dissemination of knowledge. The 'Islamization of Knowledge' seeks to challenge the anachronistic, antiquated and apologetic nature of traditional Islamic scholarship by embracing 'modern knowledge' and then 'Islamising' it.3 The adherents and propagators of the 'Islamization of Knowledge' recognise and attribute the dearth or the 'malaise of the Ummah4' to be directly related to the inept and impetuous patronisation of western secularised knowledge and education in the Muslim world. Therefore, 'Islamization of Knowledge' is primarily a diagnosis and identification of the problem with initial recommendations that seek for greater interaction, engagement and dialogue within the Muslim world. However, its proponents do not advocate that knowledge itself is a problem, but the ignorance associated with the manner in which it has been interpreted through a western 'weltanschauung' and developed through methodologies that do not fall within the purview of the Islamic worldview and its epistemological foundations.5 The main body begins by analysing the major scholars and treatise composed on the subject, thus examining the rational and existence of the Islamization of Knowledge project as conceived by its proponents. Therefore, the major works of principle exponents and visionaries of the movement AlAttas and Al-Faruqi will be explicated so that the original conception of the term can deciphered for its fundamental foundry and comprehension. The reviewing of respective literature as produced by various scholars will demonstrate that it was al-Attas who coined the term 'Islamization of Knowledge' as early as the mid sixties and al- Faruqi who expounded upon it at a latter time after the First World Conference on Muslim Education in Mecca, 1977. However, for inexplicable reasons there materialised an incongruent split at inception between the
1 The Quran 58:11 2 The Qur'n 2:32 3 This is an overarching definition of 'Islamization of Knowledge' as discussed by Syed Muhammad Naquib al- Attas in 'Islam and Secularism'. 4 A term coined by Ismail Raji al Faruqi in his: 'Islamization of Knowledge: The Problem, Principle and the Workplan. 5 Haneef p. 3:2009

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Islamization of Knowledge: Literature Review (Draft) Imran H Khan Suddahazai two major thinkers of the movement. This diluted and confused the entire essence of the 'Islamization of Knowledge' philosophy and thus bifurcated the energy and focus of the project. AlAttas, based in Malaysia was relatively unread by a wider audience, whilst al-Faruqi, a celebrated neo pan-Arabian scholar teaching in the United States, naturally garnered more attention from Western academies and scholars. Thus, his propositions, conceptual ideas and influence has pervaded the analysis of the Islamization of Knowledge' (IoK) movement under a greater burden of scrutiny. The intense attention and analysis apportioned to Faruqi's purview was also attained as a direct result of the establishment of a distinct entity that was conceptualised to disseminate his perspectives; the 'International Institute of Islamic Thought' (IIIT) based in Herndon, Virginia in 1981. The institute had by its virtue of primary prominence already defined and introduced the concept of IoK as espoused by Faruqi long before the advent of the 'International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation (ISTAC) in 1988, by al-Attas. IIIT orientated by al-Faruqi's vision introduced the '12 point Workplan' and process to 'Islamise Knowledge' through the production of Islamic centred textbooks and the introduction of mandatory Islamic lessons to undergraduates. An approach that critics bemoan as 'secularist', contrary to the IoK spirit and of 'having failed miserably'. In contrast al-Attas's continued promulgation of the lost virtue of 'adab', and argument for a reformulation of language and epistemology has gained much ground in the renewed interpretation of IoK. Commentators are in agreement that an explicit construction and comprehension of an Islamic weltanschauung is of monumental pertinence before any physical process can be conceived. The review will examine the aforementioned assertions via the variegated breadth of opinions on how the 'Islamization of Knowledge' concept and project has been comprehended, imbibed, and proselytised. By critically comparing the divergent perspectives on how best to Islamise knowledge the processes that are involved can be identified and conversely parlayed. This can be contrasted to the staunch view of critics and commentators who either disagree with the methodology of implementation or perceive the entire project to be placating upon contemporary Western thought an Islamic garb. Thus altering and presenting modern knowledge within the veneer of Islam without discovery, originality and fundamentally failing to define and quantify the terminology employed. The review will conclude by acknowledging that the available 'literature' on the subject matter is vast and scrupulous in its analysis, however the subjective degree of partisanship and nonconciliatory dialogue that has marked the implementation of the IoK as conceived by IIIT and Faruqi at inception has now begun to mature. IIIT has modified Faruqi's work-plan's and begun to redefine its own perceptions in lieu of the precursors presented by al- Attas. An increasing conflation of ideas by scholars from IoK influenced universities such as the International Islamic University of Malaysia has initiated a new approach for the conception and dissemination of genuine Islamic thought in congruence with the contemporary epoch. Main Body The 'Islamization of Knowledge' project was officially sanctioned into the physical psyche of the Muslim world as a bona-fide gesture following the First World Conference on Muslim Education held in Makkah in 1977. Here it was acknowledged by the most eminent Muslim scholars of the day that the education system of Muslim nations was in dire need for reform and the concept of 'Islamising Knowledge' would allow Muslims to regenerate Islamic thought and practice in lieu of contemporary knowledge. Thus one major outcome of the conference was the establishment of 'Islamic Universities,' International Islamic University Islamabad (1981) and the International Islamic University Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur (1983). However, 'Islamization of Knowledge' as an intellectual concept cannot be circumscribed to the Makkah conference of 1977 alone, as the conceptual academic formulations can be traced back to the mid-sixties6 with the foundations for the movement born out of the experience of the revivalist
6 Wan Mohd. Nor Wan Daud (1998), pp. 291. 305-311

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Islamization of Knowledge: Literature Review (Draft) Imran H Khan Suddahazai Islamic movements pre and post colonial periods. The desire for an intrinsic Islamic solution to the initial political struggles for independence was in the post-colonial Muslim world replaced by the necessity to initiate social and economic reforms that would stabilise the fledgling nascent states. With the discovery of abundant natural resources in some Muslim nations, wealth now provided a means for the attainment of the historically inherent notion of Islamic revival for the Muslim peoples and thus the First International Conference on Islamic Economics held in Makkah in 1976 preceded that of education as a recognition of its significance . A multitude of domestic and international agencies were conceived and instituted within the Muslim world such as the Organisation of Islamic Conference and the Islamic Development Bank, a sign of the growing realisation by the Muslims of the prerequisites required to eventually fulfil the revivalist dream. However, for the Muslims to conceive, implement and maintain these institutions, a specific orientation of knowledge was required that would allow for the creation of Islamic institutes that espoused and catered for Islamic virtues as opposed to the hegemony of the Eurocentric secularist approach that dominates and pervades every facet of implemented knowledge. Thus, a formal approach was institutionalised with the consecration of the term 'Islamisation of Knowledge' at the First World Conference on Muslim Education in Makkah, a defiant step towards the evolutionary revivification of Islamic thought, as this event infused and practically articulated the cardinal Muslim perspective. However as stated earlier it was Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas the founder and director of ISTAC in Malaysia who can be accredited with the conceptual development of the term 'Islamization' in the late sixties.7 Attas provides a diligent and definite elucidation for the term Islamisation: '...liberation of man first from magical, mythological, animistic, national-cultural tradition (opposed to Islam), and then from secular control over his reason and language.' (1978) In his perspective contemporary knowledge, is not partial or neutral but a direct reflection of the culture in which it has been conceived. Thus, the process of Islamisation is: The deliverance of knowledge from its interpretations based on secular ideology; and from meaning and expressions of the secular. (p. 18) Al-Attas promulgated the point that 'modern science' sought to define and categorise things as simply 'things' and thus had convoluted the examination of the worldly phenomena as an end in itself. This naturally has lead to the exploitation of nature devoid of any spiritual gist with the net result being a garnering of material success and leading mankind to believe that they are either Gods or His co-partners.8 Therefore for al- Attas the contemporary 'Muslim dilemma' is the viable rational for initiation of the Islamisation of Knowledge. This dilemma is instigated by internal and external causes. The internal cause is a self-inflicted loss of 'adab' that encompasses the inappropriate 'levelling' or reduction of great historical scholars and a 'loss of justice', which begets an intrinsic confusion of knowledge. A failure on behalf of the Muslims to acknowledge that contemporary knowledge is partial. Al-Attas devotes a significant proportion of his major writings in comparing the development of contemporary Christian theology and its infusion into Muslim thought. This then for him is the internal effectuating external cause that centres on the misappropriation of
7 He introduces this term his book: Preliminary Statement on a General Theory of the Islamisation of the Malay Indonesian Archipelago. 8 The concept of Education in Islam: a framework of an Islamic Philosophy of Education- (Islam and Secularism 1978 p. 36)

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Islamization of Knowledge: Literature Review (Draft) Imran H Khan Suddahazai knowledge as shaped by the West in that 'revelation' is classified as a natural phenomena, that consequently embodies secularism; a conciliatory gesture that Christianity has sanctioned through the separation of church and state. Haneef poignantly construes that a greater emphasis is given to the latter as secularism is not caused by corrupt leadership but corrupt knowledge.9 Thus al-Attas staunchly advocates that it was inevitable for Muslims saturated within the expansiveness of Eurocentric philosophy to imbue and conversely promote the virtues and inner tensions of Western civilisations.10 Our real challenge is the problem of the corruption of knowledge. This has come about due to our own state of confusion as well as the influences coming from the philosophical, sciences, and ideology of modern Western culture and civilisation. 11 Thus forth, al-Attas emphasises the imperative incumbency upon Muslims to rescind upon the fundamental ethos of contemporary knowledge as endorsed and purveyed by Western Civilisation. He lists amongst the many who seek for an Islamic educational ethos that can be communicated and imbibed into the psyche of the Muslim weltanschauung. However, most pertinently al- Attas phrases the conceptual term 'Islamization of contemporary knowledge' as opposed to 'Islamisation of Knowledge'. This implies knowledge with specificity and reference to the current dissemination of Western knowledge in particular. I venture to maintain that the the greatest challenge that has surreptitiously arisen in our age is the challenge of knowledge, indeed, not as against ignorance; but knowledge as conceived and disseminated throughout the world by Western civilisation... It seems to me important to emphasise that knowledge is not neutral... but its interpretation through the prism, as it were, the worldview , the intellectual vision and psychological perception of the civilisation that now plays the key role in its formulation and dissemination12 Al Attas asserts that it not only the social sciences but the natural sciences that must also undergo a process Islamisation of knowledge and it must encompass: A critical examination of the methods of modern science; its concepts, presuppositions, and symbols; its empirical and rational aspects, and those impinging on values and ethics; its interpretations of origins; its theory of knowledge; its pre-suppositions on the existence of an external world, of the uniformity of nature, and of the rationality of the natural processes, its theory of the universe; its classifications of the sciences; its limitations and inter-relations with one another of the sciences and its social relations.13 In support of Attas's position, Wan Mohd Nor's14 analysis of al-Attas's writings discusses the identification of the 'feeble- minded' whom have identified 'Islamisation' as a mechanical process working outside the mind or soul, who then start talking about 'Islamic bicycles, Islamic trains and Islamic bombs' or give higher priority to the creation of physical institutions, without realising that IoK requires first and foremost, great intellects. 15 Although al-Attas is the first major proponent of the 'Islamisation of Knowledge', the other principle thinker on the subject is Ismail Raji al-Faruqi. He identifies the 'malaise of the Ummah', the
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 A critical survey of Islamisation of Knowledge: P. 102 Islam and Secularism 1978 Al Attas 1995, p.15 1978, p. 127 Attas: 1995 Wan Mohd Nor: 1997 Cited: Haneef 2009

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Islamization of Knowledge: Literature Review (Draft) Imran H Khan Suddahazai benighted and obsolescent state of the the Ummah politically, economically and socio-culturally.16 Faruqi's premise centres on the rational that the experienced 'malaise' in the Muslim world is due to the 'state of their contemporary educational systems'. These are antithetically bifurcated systems that seek to operate a 'dualistic' platform upon which a contorted synchronisation of replicated secular models imbuing the ethos of western philosophy compete with the inherently endogenous theocratic and traditional models. Faruqi refers to this as a 'lack of Islamic vision' in the development of the education system as it harbours the innate mediocrity among both teachers and students as they are 'unable to confront the alien ideologies faced in universities' and thus promote a system of thought that is both incompatible and incongruent with the Islamic philosophy.17 These are the 'internal' factors that both al-Faruqi and al-Attas identify. They perceive the western social sciences to be 'incomplete' since they ignore and reject revelation as a source of knowledge. They accord the predominantly 'Eurocentric' perspective to its development within the experience of Western Europe during the last three centuries. This rejection of revelation they cite,18 'violates a crucial requirement of Islamic methodology, hence the need for the Islamization of Knowledge'. Abu Sulayman thus states that there is a dire need to 'rectify this 'revelation-reason' relationship, redefine the scope of knowledge and establish an Islamic infrastructure of education (including the system).'19 This pertinent point formulates the crux of the Islamization of Knowledge argument and is again supported by Al-Alwani who advocates the centrality of the thesis that: 'Contemporary social sciences and humanities are products of the western mind and have methodologies, subject matter, results, aims, explanations of human behaviour and outlook of life and the universe that in conflict with the Islamic perspective. Only a a 'two-book reading' will provide a balanced understanding of reality. Failure to do so will not produce truly educated people but mere 'clerks and officials' .20 Al Alwani reaffirms and clarifies the aforementioned statement by citing modern knowledge to be a 'positivistic,' 'one-book' reading (universe only), hence inadequate from an Islamic perspective that requires a 'two book reading' (revelation and universe).21 There are a plethora of scholars whom advocate the justification for the Islamization of Knowledge in that they view modern or contemporary knowledge as being based on a framework that is inconsistent with the Islamic weltanschauung such as Brohi and Khalil who delineate that humanity is existing within a 'value-bounded intellectual and moral framework or Grand Theory of society' 22 and 'the conceptual framework of modern sciences in modern societies' 23as being unacceptable from an Islamic perspective'. Commentators whom can be designated as proponents of IoK unilaterally reiterate their observations of modern knowledge as being based on 'false assumptions of materialistic atheistic philosophy' 24, thus its philosophical basis is 'profane and secular, hence unacceptable for Muslims'.25 They argue that modern knowledge is not equally effective within an Islamic framework since the basic assumptions of the two systems are different26 and the 'anomalies created by
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 'Islamization of Knowledge: The Problem, Principle and the Workplan p.1-6, 1981, 1982 See Al- Attas: Islam and Secularism; Al- Faruqi: Islamisation of Knowledge Citation Needed! 1989, p. 233 1995 1993 1991 Idris: Cited: Haneef (1987) Hadi: Cited: Haneef (1984) Kazi: Cited: Haneef (1993)

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Islamization of Knowledge: Literature Review (Draft) Imran H Khan Suddahazai modernity (and modern sciences) that abandoned God/religion'27 provides and immediate justification for the implementation of the Islamization of Knowledge. This point is then expounded upon by Faruqi's successor28 Abu Sulayman29 who identifies the malaise to be the 'Ummah's (mis)conception of knowledge creating a 'crisis of thought' that has led Muslims to be bad imitators of the west.'30 His successor at IIIT, Al-Alwani31 conceives that there has been a 'historical split' in knowledge into Shari'ah sciences and 'other' sciences, 'which led to over concentration and narrow specialisation in the former and a neglect of the latter.' These 'other sciences' encompassing mainly the social sciences were ignored under Islamic education, thus, the development and propagation of these sciences was, and is conducted under the aegis of the western secular system, which imbues its own rationalistic material philosophy in contradiction to the Islamic philosophy. Faruqi ascertains that the IoK process must 'recast knowledge as Islam relates to it.' This encompasses the 'production of university level textbooks redefining disciplines in accordance to the Islamic vision' and mastering modern knowledge as a 'first prerequisite' for IoK. This new knowledge must then be 'integrated into the corpus of the Islamic legacy by eliminating, amending, reinterpreting and adapting its components as the worldview of Islam and its values dictate.'32 These points are then encapsulated by Faruqi into a five point plan which was then expanded into a twelve point plan to produce the university level textbooks.33 Although the position of IIIT and those scholars associated with it has evolved, the majority of criticism aimed at its philosophy has been centred on Faruqi's original twelve points. Louay Safi who was one of a number of principle revisionists of Faruqi's original work-plan deemed it 'overwhelming and exceedingly complicated'34 He argues that the IoK has been too concentrated in the 'substantive knowledge areas' i.e. in the relevant disciplines, without identifying the knowledge needed (methodology). He concurs that there can be no emergence of 'substantive Islamized knowledge' without the emergence and application of Islamic methods first.35 An Islamic methodology has to emerge, at least partially, by appropriating elements of both classical Islamic and modern western methods. A wholesale and a priori rejection of either the two traditions is unscientific.36 Sardar an early critic of the work plan queries with some tenacity and venom the tacit tactic of 'making Islam relevant to modern disciplines, instead of making the modern disciplines relevant to Islam'. It should be Islam that is the standard benchmark not the other way around. What purpose is served by breathing Islamic spirit into disciplines that are shaped by other people's perceptions, concepts, ideologies, languages and paradigms? Does that constitute Islamisation of knowledge or the westernisation of Islam?37 Sardar is severely critical of Faruqi's methodology as being concerned with only 'first principles,' and thus 'mounting to very little.38 For Sardar, Faruqi is deluded as he fails to recognise the formulation of the contemporary epoch by the epistemology of contemporary knowledge. Hence, the IoK agenda should be concentrated on this notion rather than the disciplines it produces. Thus, 'disciplinary divisions' within knowledge as imbued by western epistemology cannot simply be
27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 Aby Fadl: Cited: Haneef (1998) As President of IIIT after the murder of al Faruqi in 1987 1994, p.2 ibid Third President of IIIT Faruqi: 1982 See Faruqi's 'Islamization of Knowledge: The Problem, Principle and the Workplan Appendix Safi: 1993 p. 27 Ibid: p. 28 Ibid: p. 41 Sardar: 1998, p. 100 Ibid: p.9

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Islamization of Knowledge: Literature Review (Draft) Imran H Khan Suddahazai reiterated in Islamic parlance.39 Sardar decisively observes that: The task before the Muslim intelligentsia then, is to develop, using the epistemology of Islam, alternative paradigms of knowledge for both the natural and social sciences and to conceive and mould disciplines most relevant to the needs of contemporary Muslim societies. Only when distinctive Islamic paradigms and associated bodies of knowledge have evolved can Muslim scholars contemplate achieving a synthesis on appropriate footing with knowledge created by western civilisation.40 Butt is in almost complete agreement with Sardar whereby he perceives the current disciplines to be a espousing a 'post-enlightenment materialistic' world view which 'will only serve to relegate Islamized disciplines to the derogatory position of minority sub-disciplines and not really Islamic discipline construction' 41 However, if one begins to analyse the writings of IoK proponents after the death of Faruqi then one can discern that IIIT has consciously re-evaluated its purpose and al-Alwani's reworking of Faruqi's twelve point plan into six discourses that concentrate on the heritage, the epistemological and methodological issues of IoK is a continuing process that Ragab acknowledges to be a 'research and theory building effort, designed to reinvigorate scientific endeavours with specific focus upon the social sciences; this cannot be simple-minded addition and subtraction process but is a serious process of 'creative engagement' with modern social sciences.42 Brohi would like the IoK project to reorganise the elements of modern knowledge and to purge it of deleterious elements, which are currently at war with the sanctity of our religious beliefs and practices. He however, still advocates that the desired objective for IoK is to rewrite standard textbooks on principal branches of human learning to make them consistent with the basic principles that are discernible in the Quran regarding the nature of human life, mind and its social behaviour.43 In analysing and critically reviewing the commentaries on the IoK one must state that the proponents and critics are not in any way seeking 'to rescind from the throes of the prevailing knowledge. The argument seems to centre on the individual itself and the criteria that will be used to Islamise (the Islamic worldview), the framework that this will take place (within Islamic epistemology) and the way the Islamisation will take place (methodology).44 Rahman presents an alternative perspective that is not only critical of the IoK work-plans for being too 'enamoured over making maps and charts of how to go about creating Islamic knowledge;45 but opposes the movement because it 'creates propositions, not minds'.46 Rahman is forthright in asserting that whilst knowledge by itself is not a problem, the fallacious utilisation and propagation of it is. The power that is garnered through the possession of knowledge presents the human being with moral contentions and it is this that should formulate the central nexus of Islamisation, not knowledge. Rahman identifies the dire need for the development of thinkers who when they are 'imbued with the attitude that the Qur'n wants to inculcate in us,' are able to first examine our own tradition in the light of the Qur'n and only then critically study the body of knowledge created by modernity.'47
39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 Ibid: 101 Ibid: p. 104 Sardar: 1989; pp 96-97 Ragab: 1997 Brohi: 1993 Haneef: 2009 Rahman: 1988; p. 10 Rahman: 1988; p. 4 Cited: Haneef 2009

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Islamization of Knowledge: Literature Review (Draft) Imran H Khan Suddahazai Davis48 takes this point of reformulating the IoK project a step further and adds that it should be a 'civilisational project of rethinking, taking the Quran as the frame of reference. Modernity itself could, and probably should, be questioned and seen as part of the problem facing Muslims, but from an Islamic frame of reference. Ashraf fails to comprehend why so much emphasis has been placed upon modernising Islamic education in Muslim nations and on the induction of modern disciplines into Islamic epistemology without establishing the right pre-requisites. 49 Thus far a majority of the criticisms cited are aimed directly at Faruqi in particular and the IIIT with little or no reference to al-Attas. This is because Attas has always maintained a pedantic pertinence to the initiation of IoK from an Islamic weltanschauung thus construing all Islamisation endeavours from this vantage point and employing methodologies that are realised from this epistemological foundation. Rosnani-Rossidy point out that Attas does not delineate 'steps' on how to Islamise knowledge, but simply identifies the required pre-requisites of comprehending an Islamic weltanschauung and its metaphysical construct. The point that is utilised, other than the twelve point work-plan, to harangue Faruqi is his translation of the term 'aql' as 'rational' rather than intellect and his emphatic concentration on rationality which parlays an overarching 'secular' approach'. They identify Faruqi to be a 'salafiyyahist- reformer,' whom places a greater consternation on the role of society and the concept of the ummah, whilst Attas espouses the virtues of inside out or 'tasawwuf', a spiritualist formulation of his philosophy on epistemology.50 A point that al-Attas himself recognises as he defines the Islamic worldview to be 'the vision of reality and truth that appears before our mind's eye revealing what existence is all about,' represented by the phrase 'ru 'yat al-islam li al-wujud'. 51 As opposed to the phrase 'al-nazaratul Islam li'l kawn' as purported by IIIT. For Attas the term 'nazarat' connotes a perception that is fundamentally correlated to the physical eye' and 'al-kawn' the physical world (Duniya). This phrase in itself is a microcosmic synopsis of secular western epistemology. Sharifi is also cognisant to this point and asserts that Faruqi's plan is 'too worldly', failing to comprehend the 'philosophy of modern science' and thus overtly extrinsic and 'hence superficial and lacking the spiritual dimension of any true Islamic reform agenda.'52 These are passionate pleas that refute the notion of any Islamic reform which may be centred on acquiescing the principles and methodologies of the secular west. Indeed the various commentators on the issue have proven their wanton disgust at such an approach and thus accuse the likes of Faruqi of pandering to those values which are antithetical to the primacy of revelation and the notion of a higher power that operates beyond the notion of rationality and reason. However, in the critical evaluation and analysis of the literature devoted to this issue it can be also be discerned that the overarching and transcendent value of the IoK project has been analysed with the very tools the commentators allegedly reject, i.e. the subjection of the subject matter to critical human evaluation based on human perception and logic. Therefore, it may not be the case that the IoK project has failed, or Faruqi's position is orientated towards a secularist compromise, but a fundamental failure on behalf of the analysts to foresee that the project is an initiating point that simply identifies a problem and then seeks to establish a 'roadmap' for its development based on the divine sources. Thus it may be that the IoK project has not been understood for what it really is; an umbrella under which great minds can congregate to begin the process of dialogue, investigation
48 49 50 51 52 Davis: 1991; p 231-235 Ashraf: 1984 Rosnani-Rossidy: p. 36 cited: Haneef 2009 Attas: 1995 Sharifi: 1984

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Islamization of Knowledge: Literature Review (Draft) Imran H Khan Suddahazai and formulation. It is the process which Attas perceives to be a necessity in his desire to regain the notion of 'adab' and to produce the human minds that can encapsulate the Islamic philosophy of existence in all domains of knowledge. Thus the failure to produce textbooks may appear to be decisive proof of the IoK not meeting its own objectives or it could be that the desire to produce textbooks has not been realised by those whom it has been tasked to because they are not intellectually and spiritually competent enough at this stage to do so. In summation the observation provided by Kazi succinctly captures the entire ethos of the IoK project in that modern empirical knowledge not a new phenomena as it had already been done in our past when Islamic civilisations came into contact with Greek, Persian, Chinese and Hindu literature, and the product of that IoK became a part of the Islamic framework\heritage we inherited from our scholars of the past. 53

53 Kazi:1993

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