TRUE A N D FALSE KNOWLEDGE * Syed M uhammad a / - Na quib a /- Attas Eve ry cu lture h as a " view of th e w orld" w hich i t infu ses int o knowl edge . Knowl edge i s no t so me t hing n eutral. I t is p ossible f or a c u lture to im print i t s own co ncepts a nd va lues into t he body of knowl edge . It is fo r t his r eason th a t Christi a n mission aries an d W est er c ulture h ave so ug ht t o un d ermin e I slam th r ough a mor e s u bt le w eapon - know l edge. Th e y know that Mus lims ar e co n s t a ntly int erested in see king k nowl edge . In fact H oly Qu r 'an m akes m ore t ha n 80 0 r eferences to Ilm , an d t here i s no ot her reli gion an d cu ltur e which e mphasises t h e im p ortance of kn owledge in hu m an lif e a nd in p ercepti on of th e truth to t he sa me ex t en t . I t is f u ndam enta l fo r M uslims to disti n guish and und erstand t he I slamic c oncept o f kn owledg e. On e co uld co mpare th e W est ern co nce p t s , whi ch c ome u nd e r dis g uis e of know ledge, to f alse c urrency. I f y ou s pread this ab o ut , i t w ill g ra dually un d ermin e t he eco no my o f t he c ount ry. F alse curren cy pr e- - tends t o p ossess true v a l ue w h ereas in r ea lity i t h as n o v alue . T h e sa me w it h co n ce p t s . Wh at to th eM uslims m ay a p pe a r to b e t h e truth may in fa ct ha v e no va lue f or him - t hough h e doe s n ot know it . T h e fa lse co nce pt s infil t r a t ed M uslim cou nt r ies wh en t he W est er n pow ers s uc cee de d in c onquering a nd co l onis i ng th em . Thos e no t co lonised we re co nt rolled a nd infl u e nc e d t hrough t heir tr a de a nd ed ucat ion . I wo uld lik e to giv e t he ex ample o f t h e co un tr i es o f S ou t h E ast Asia , b ca u se o f all th e M uslim l ands, t hey did n ot h ave ti m e to d e ve lop t heir ow n M usl im his torians,t hinkers a nd wri ters before arriva l of th e W e s t ern " This i s a com position of extrac t s fro m a n e xtempore tal k de livered by P rof. Sye d M . Al Naquib al Attas to t he FOS IS Co nference in Ju n e 1 975 in M an ch es t er , En gl an d . This co mpositio n is pr e p ar ed from t he t a pe s o f t he t alk by t he o rg a nisers of th e confe ren ce, Ed . 1 imp e ri alism. Of co urse, th e his t o ri ans a nd interpr eters of cu ltur e t h at l ater a rose we re W estern influ enced , so t he M uslims we re c ut -o ff e nt irely f rom t heir un d erstanding o f Is l am as a civilis atio n. T h ey wer e l eft onl y wi th th e pr actice o f I slam in i t s s implest f or m . On to p of t his th e West atte m pt e d a c ult u ra l p olicy - to de - Is la m ise t he Mus li m s so that th e y wou ld b e mor e rec ept ive t o th e ir ideas . For th em S ou t h E as t As ia w as a n expe rime nt . H owever , i t goe s o n in a ll M uslim co untries in v arying d egrees. I wo uld lik e to g ive a n exa mple o f t he so r t o f co nfusion t hat h as a risen in t he minds o f Muslim s. " Is t here a n eco nomic sy tem in I sla m ", t he W est er n ers h ave ask ed. Th ey h ave al so p osed t he p roblem o f ba nking a nd in tere st whil e t he Mus lims s t an d agape with no va lid answ er. Th e Muslim l ead e rs, th emse lv es pr od u ct s o f W es t ern i mperi alism , ar e n ot ab le to re ply. Wh e n t hey as ked t he M uslim sc holars t hey r eceived no a nsw e r. Bu t it i s a ne rror to c o n cl ude from th i st ha t t here i s n o eco nomic sys tem in Is l am. I t is also u nwise n ot to ans wer th e p ersistent a nd c a ll enging qu est i on. I think t h e a nswe r should be t h at fir st , it is not p ossibl e f or I slam n ot to h ave an eco nomic sys t em b ecause i t h as be en cont rolling w orld t r ad e for mor e th an a t housand ye ars; s ec o nd , i t has a m onetary system . I nf act t he cheque was o rigi n at ed b y the M uslims, a nd t his is a fund amental o f ba nking. All t his r evea l s that th e re mu st h ave be en a g reat eco nomic sy stem s ust aini ng t his ac t ivity fo r a t housand years o r m ore . We m ust t h en pro ceed to sa y t h a t w e hav e n ot d efined t h e natur e o f t he sy s te m beca use we h ave n ot yet ma de t he s t udy a nd h ave n ot bee n g iven o ppo r tu nity to do s o . T h e o rie nt a l i st s hav e w ritten a lot a bo ut theology , phi l osophy, t assa wu f a nd hi story, bu t n one o f t hem h ave wri tten ve ry m uch about th e I s -
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
change . So in Western society chan ge issomething natural. They say tha t society
which docs not change is strange an d un-
Justice is closely connected with fiira-
a state of nature, t hough not of the type
preached by Rousseau. In Western philoso
phy t hey mean jasmania natu re. Bu t what
we mean is t he state when we ma de a Con
t ract wit h God . Allah has asked the sou ls
"Am I no t your Lord?" And we all answered
"Yes", thus we have made a Covenant. Inthis world, those who have iman have con
tinued to 'abide by that Cont ract, while
those who do not are denying themselves
their rightful state.
Therefore th e holy Qu r 'an uses t he ex
pression zulm. According to the holy
Qu r 'an you can be zalim to yourself. In
it lies a very import an t distinction between
t he concept of justice in Islam, and in Greek
philosophy and West er n civilisation. Wh atthey mean by justice is emphasised more
on what I would call the two-person rela
t ion - for example between a person and
another , to ruler and his subjects. Only in
this two person relation can justice of in
justice operate. But in Islam, first justice
t o t he self is ment ioned. I t concerns the
Contract each soul has sealed with Allah.
I f tha t Cont ract is not fulfilled then there
will be a state of zulm and man will be do
ing injustice to himself. He will be in astate in which he ought not to be, therefore
he will be in a state of chaos. He will no t
Some Muslim philosophers say th at it have peace and security. Th is is perhaps
is ridiculous to define knowledge. But th e basic idea of ju stic e and knowledge. I t
it is necessary to show at least some of is based on the idea of Covenant which each
the facto rs involved. One of them is th e U ndividuaLsouLhas_made_with_G_Qd.'l c!2.se connection be tween knowledge and This of course affects t he relationship be-
justice. Briefly, we define justice as the tween th e M s l i ~ an d the St ate . He will no
-state wherebY. things are in their correc t longer consider the ultimate source of his
places - where t he re is har mony. This is loyalty 'to be the State. In Western philos
also connected with fitra and iman. With- ophy, the possibility of certain knowledge
out know-ledge how are we to know wheth er about spiritual matters has been denied an d
things are in their right places or not? people are forced to 'seek happiness, and
When we say "how are we to know" we to se t things right, in a secu lar man ner.
are already using the concept of knowledge. Therefore t hey are forced only to formu
Hence knowledge becomes an integral par t late values within t he context of the st ate.
of the meaning of justice. We must exert They believe each ma n could be happy if he
ourselves to find ou t what should be where, can be put in the right secular place: th e
who shou ld be what , and so on . This is t he citizens in the right kind of job, etc. Theduty of th e Ummah, which it has not ful- educ ational system is also geared to tha t
filled an d has left to only a few to whom it end .
has en trusted much. c:: -------- kiI f we ask t hem the purpose of see mg
knowledge, t hey would say it is to produce a
good cit izen. The Muslim will answer that
t he pur ose of seeking ,knowledge is to .pro
duce a gomLma.n . There is an p r t a n tdifference ; ~ p o l l c i n g good cit i