It has been a prevalent understanding in the intellectual tradition of Islam that man in his very constitution reflects what is there in the outer world. In other words, man is the microcosmic representation of the macrocosm, the universe at large. Some scholars of that tradition went even further to assert that what is outside…
April 4 began with what by now is an annual affair, the ten-day long Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair (KLIBF) at the Putra Trade World Centre (PWTC). Although it is one of the very few events worth attending by book lovers, it remains essentially an event for players with stakes in the book industry. The…
Not many will dare dispute that knowledge occupies a special position in Islam and the intellectual and scientific tradition it gives rise to. In fact, apart from certain sections or chapters of books in that tradition which have dealt with the various issues pertaining to knowledge, there have also been books which were solely dedicated…
There is no doubt that the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be blessings and peace, is so dear to the Muslims, dearer even than their own selves. To many among them who may be deemed to have attained a higher selfhood, he is in fact their identity. They always hold him in veneration, expressing joy for…
We have explained before that, in the Islamic intellectual and scientific tradition, the Cosmos as a whole-or the World of Nature-is conceived of primarily as an open, grand, created Book, comprising Divine Signs. For those who subscribe to such an understanding, doing science essentially becomes attempts to read and interpret the Open Book of Nature…
In IKIM Views of 13 November 2007, we have explained that in the Islamic intellectual and scientific tradition the cosmos is often regarded as the Created Book, somewhat analogous to the Qur’an as the Revealed Book. The basis of its being so regarded, we have also clarified, is the fact that all the individual entities and events comprising…
In IKIM Views of 28 August 2007, we have pointed out that not only are all the individual entities and events which comprise the World of Nature considered by the Qur’an to be the ayats of Allah (that is, God’s signs and symbols), but the verses in the Qur’an are themselves so called. This, we have also mentioned, has…
Knowledge and knowledge-centred activities have always occupied a lofty and noble position in Islam. As a matter of fact, seeking knowledge in order that one becomes really learned and enlightened in religion, and is therefore qualified to educate the society, is always considered a serious endeavour in the religion of Islam, so serious that those…
There are indeed strong grounds, as demonstrated in a number of serious studies undertaken by Toshihiko Izutsu and Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, for us to consider the islamized Arabic-that is, the Arabic language after the revelation of the Qur’an and as used in the Islamic religious, intellectual and scientific tradition-to be a linguistic-conceptual system that…
“Do onto others as you would wish them do onto you.” Such reads a version of what many people term “The Golden Rule,” (GR) or alternatively, “The Ethic of Reciprocity.” Some even regard it as the ethic of transference of perspective. In many inter-faith and inter-civilizational dialogues held so far, whether in Malaysia or elsewhere,…
