Commenting on the many marvelous achievements of the modern man with respect to science and technology, Professor Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas remarked in his two important Malay works (i.e.: Risalah untuk Kaum Muslimin, published by ISTAC, 2001; and Tinjauan Ringkas Peri Ilmu dan Pandangan Alam, published by USM Press, 2007) that they have been able to overcome…
That information and knowledge have been regarded as being extremely important in today’s modern, secular life seems obvious. With such widely employed terms and catch-phrases as “empowering people through the ICT,” “knowledge management,” “learning society,” “k-economy,” “knowledge workers,” etc., the promulgations have been effective that no one at present can deny their importance without…
Four days ago, Muslims in Malaysia again did what may by now be deemed as their official annual routine; the commemoration of the Prophet Muhammad’s Birthday-or more famously known in its Arabic equivalent, Mawlidul-Rasul-in special gatherings. As many authoritative scholars have explained, the Mawlid gatherings, in terms of validity, are like any other type of gathering. If such gatherings involve righteous…
By now, Malaysians are generally aware that there have been disputes between the Muslims and the Christians from among them pertaining to the use of the key term “Allah” by the latter. Unfortunately however, it seems that of the whole controversy most Malaysians can be sure only of that much. The rest, judging from the…
The Qur’an in its four verses is explicit about Allah being the one who governs the entire universe(s). (See IKIM Views of May 5, 2009) Al-Mudabbir (The Governor), as such, is a Divine Name and Attribute. In fact, a number of renowned scholars of Islam were unequivocal about it, such as Imam al-Bayhaqi (d. 458 A.H.) in his Al-Asma’…
Compared to the English words “management,” “administration,” and “governance” or the Malay words “pengurusan,” “pengelolaan,” and “penataan,” tadbir being a Malay term that is appropriated from the original Arabic is meaning-wise more stable, clear and definite. It has not undergone much semantic change, thus signifying basically the same thing to different people at different times. In a…
Today is the fourth day of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim lunar calendar. And Muslims worldwide are observing one of the five pillars of Islam, the obligatory fasting throughout the days in the blessed month of Ramadan. It has indeed been an established practice among Muslims to remind themselves of the virtues of…
We have explained before (see, among others, IKIM Views of 29 January, 22 July and 23 September 2008) that in any true epistemic act as conceived of in the religious, intellectual and scientific tradition of Islam, one cannot start from either what is unclear or what one is ignorant of, hoping to grasp what is clear and…
We have had four occasions before (see IKIM Views of 28 October 2008, 23 December 2008, 5 May 2009, and 26 May 2009, respectively) to expound the meaning of tadbir as the proper Arabic term for any act or process that may generally be referred to as administration, management, or governance. It has been made…
We have had some occasions before (see IKIM Viewsof 28 October 2008 and 23 December 2008) to briefly argue that the term tadbir is one of the major Arabic terms meaning administration, management, or governance.This has also been duly recognized by a number of studies carried out in modern times, such as, Muhammad al-Buraey in his Administrative…
