Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
I The Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
A. Malaise of the Ummah........................ 1
B. Major Effects of the Malaise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1. Political Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Economic Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3. Cultural Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
C. The Core of the Crisis: The Malaise of
Thought and Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1. The Present State of Education in
the Muslim World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
.· 2. Lack of Clear Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

II The Task . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. .. .. . . . . . 13
A. Integrating the Two Educational Systems .... ·.. 13
B. Instilling the Islamic Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1. Mandatory Study of Islamic Civilization . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2. The lslamization of Modem Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . 18

III Traditional Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1. Shortcomings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2. Fiqh and Fuqaha (Islamic law and Jurists) . . . . . . . . 24
3. The Opposition of Revelation (Mbhy)
to Reason (:4/jl) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4. The Separation of Thought from Action . . . . . . . . . . . Zl
5. Mundane and Religious Dualism . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

v

IV First Principles of Islamic Methodology . . 33
A. The Unity of Allah (SWT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
B. Unity of Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
1. Cosmic Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . 36
2. Creation: A Kingdom of Ends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 'rl
3. Subservience (Taskhir) of Creation to Man . . . . . . . . . 38
C. Unity of Truth and Unity of Knowledge . . . . . . . 39
D. Unity of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
1. The Divine Trust (Amilnah) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2. Vicegerency (al Khillifah) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3. Comprehensiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
E. Unity of Humanity .............................. 46
F. The Complementary Nature of Revelation
(ffbby) and Reason 04ql) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

V Agenda of the Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 57
A. Agenda Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 57
B. Stages of the Agenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
1. Creation of Understanding and Awareness . . . . . . . . . 59
2. Crystalli7ation of Islamic Thought,
Concepts and Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3. Mastery of the Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
a. Plan Envisioned by the Institute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
b. An Encyclopedia of the Legacy ffbrks . . . . . . . . . . 64
1) Computer Utili7ation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
2) Terminology ................ , . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3) Processed Samples of Legacy Texts . . . . . . . . . . 65
4) Introducing a Thousand ~gacy Works . . . . . . . 65
5) Specialized Legacy Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4. Mastery of Contemporary Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

vi

5. Textbooks in Disciplines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
6. Priorities of Scientific Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
a. Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
b. Behavioral Sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
c. &lucation and Political Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
d. Economics, Administration, Communications,
and the Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
7. Preparation of Academic Cadres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
a. Scholarships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
b. Training Grants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
c. Graduate Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
d. Undergraduate Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
e. University Textbooks and Their Importance . . . 78
f Academic Grants and Supervision . . . . . . . . . . . 78
VI Indispensable Clarifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
A. General Islamization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
B. Islamization of Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
C. Priorities in the Ummatic Scheme for the
"Islamization of Knowledge" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 'ifl
Stage One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
a. Mastery of the Modem Sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
b. Mastery of the Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Stage Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
a. Defining the Main Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
b. Islamic Creativity and Initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
D. Priorities of the Institute's Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
VII Financial Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . en
Endowment and Investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . en

Vll

Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Introduction .. ·. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Appendix A

Working Agenda of the Second International
Conference on the Islamization of Knowledge . . 105

Appendix B

Working Agenda of the Third International
Conference on the Islamization of Knowledge . . 109

Appendix C

Working Agenda of the Fourth International
Conference on the Islamization of Knowledge . . 113

From the dawn of Qur'anic revelation to Prophet Muhammad (~AAS)
to the "Call to Islam" (da'wah) and the establishment of the Ummah as a
universal entity in Madinah, the Islamic community has faced immense
challenges and conspiracies, manifested by direct military aggression and
unrelenting psychological and economic warfare, covertly and deviously waged.
Earlier, diverse opponents-pagan and heretic, Persian and Roman, among
others-sought to trample the Ummah or to check its advance. Thanks to
Divine Providence, however, the Ummah always emerged from these trials
physically and spiritually stronger and more viable. In fact, in response to
these assaults, the Ummah managed to strike at the root of many strongholds
of disbelief (kufr) and to carry the message of Islam to far-flung regions of
the earth, until it became the leading "nation'' and the most balanced Ummah
on Earth-an Ummah of the "Middle Way": "You are the best Ummah evolved
for Mankind" (Qur'an, 3:110).
Because of repeated attacks, the initial enthusiasm and sense of
commitment began to wane in later years; and the onslaught of enemies began
to cause disintegration and weakness in the structure of the Ummah. Still,
these enemies were unable to achieve an overall victory-one that could
completely sweep away the Ummah's faith (imiln) and resolve.
After many attempts to achieve this desired objective foundered, these
enemies set out to investigate and to search carefully for more devious methods.
They concluded that the strength of the Ummah stemmed from its religion
(din) and belief ('aqidah). Therefore, they launched an extensive campaign
to weaken the Ummah's commitment and attachment to its din, Islam; to
change its understanding and application of the Shari'ah; and to tum the great
principles inherent in Islam from an active, motivating, and highly positive
power into a rigid formalism that was incapable of inspiring or of directing
the spirit and lives of Muslims.

 Book author :
This book represents the perspective of a number of concerned and dedicated Muslim scholars. It is a vision which embodies the basic principles of Islamic methodology, coupled with an action plan to realize the reconstruction of Muslim thought and the Islamization of the humanities and the social science. The publisher _IIIT_ present this book to ...