Imbuing Engineering with

Tadbir:
A Preliminary


Dr. Mohd Zaidi b. Ismail
Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia
(IKIM)
Themes to be dealt with
What is Engineering?
What is Tadbir?
Common translation of tadbir :
governance;
administration;
management
The Prophet (p.b.u.h.) once
declared: No mind is as good as
tadbir (La `ala ka t-tadbir) . . .

What does he really mean?
What is the relation between
ethics and tadbir?
The answer lies in
The meaning of the term tadbir; and
The remaining part of the Prophetic
Tradition: no piety is as good as
abstinence; and no nobility is as
commendable as good character [i.e.
ethics] (wa la wara`a ka l-kaff wa la
hasaba ka husni l-khuluq).
Tadbir yudabbir mudabbir
dubur
(tadbir) : verbal noun
(yudabbir) : act / verb (present
tense)
(mudabbir) : actor / agent
(dubur) : the root meaning

Tadabbur () tadbir
Tadbir in the Quran dan
Hadith
Al-Quran:
Yunus (10): 3 dan 31;
Al-Rad (13): 2
Al-Sajadah (32): 5
Al-Naziat (79): 5
Hadith
La aqla kal-tadbir
Idha aradta amran
Al-Sajadah (32): 5

It is Allah Who has created the heavens and the
earth, and all between them, in six Days, and is
firmly established on the Throne (of Authority): ye
have none, besides Him, to protect or intercede
(for you): will ye not then receive admonition?

He governs (all) affairs from the heavens to the
earth: in the end will (all affairs) go up to Him, on a
Day, the space whereof will be (as) a thousand
years of your reckoning.
The meaning of Tadbir
Know the End (via reflection /
thinking) and Act according to such
knowledge.

The Meaning of Tadbir
The meaning of Tadbir
Foresight; prudence; sagacity;
farsightedness; visionary
Governance, administration, and
management to be reinterpreted with the
aforementioned meaning.
Mature Intellect / Mind of a Higher-Order
(Imam al-Ghazzali, 505H./1111C.E.)
Only Allah can perform tadbir in its
absolute and perfect sense; hence His
Name as al-Mudabbir.

End/Consequence/Result vis-a-vis
Aim/Objective /Purpose
Kinds
Good vs. Bad
Temporary vs. Lasting
Intermediary vs. Ultimate
Levels / Degrees
How to know the aforementioned?
And, how to act / do accordingly?
How?
Begin with what is clear:
Clear signs / indicators
Clear ends
Guiding signs / indicators (ayat
alam):
Revealed Book (al-kitab al-tanzili)
Allah as The Last (al-Akhir); the Hereafter (al-akhirah)
Shari ah (the rules of Law with its maqasid and qawa
id)
Created Book of Nature (al-kitab al-
takwini)
Sunnatullah (Allahs repeated acts in His tadbir of His
entire creation) manifested in the various forms of
cause-effect correlation, variably termed as laws of
nature, laws of history, etc.
The Signs and Indicators
ALLAH
(Al-
Akhir)
Al-Kitab
al-Tanzili
Al-Kitab
al-
Takwini
Layers or Domains of Tadbir


An apt description by ibn Tiqtiqa in his
al-Fakhri (said to be composed in
1301):
the determined leader is he whose
decisions precede the occurrence which
makes them necessary, and who
anticipates a pressing danger before its
onset.
In a world where sustainability has
been an increasingly pressing issue,
engineering needs to be imbued with
tadbir in order to realize engineering
for sustainability.
Further readings
Mohd Zaidi bin Ismail. Conceptualizing
Tadbir as a Constituent of Governance in
Islam. TAFHIM: IKIM Journal of Islam and
the Contemporary World 3 (2010): 2747.
Mohd Zaidi bin Ismail and Mohd Sani bin
Badron.. Kuala Lumpur: IKIM, 201Good
Governance: Adab-Oriented Tadbir in Islam1.
Mohd Zaidi bin Ismail. Pentadbiran Beradab:
Faham dan Rencana Dasar. Chapter 17 (pp.
479529) in Adab dan Peradaban: Karya
Pengi`tirafan untuk Syed Muhammad Naquib
al-Attas. Ed. Mohd Zaidi Ismail and Wan
Suhaimi Wan Abdullah. Kuala Lumpur: MPH,
2012.
THE END
THANK YOU