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…
On the 17th of March, 2009, the Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak launched The National Integrity Plan report, dubbed “Target 2008” (TEKAD 2008), at the Malaysian Institute of Integrity. The report, purportedly an assessment of the country’s progress in promoting integrity, among others recommends that all the five priorities set in…
In the Holy Qur’an there are several occasions where one can find some accounts of Adam’s encounter with man’s nemesis, Iblis. Carefully attending to those accounts with intelligence, sincerity and honesty can surely help Muslims derive useful lessons, insights and reminders not only about human strength and potentials but also human weaknesses and vulnerability. One such…
Power for its own sake. Budaya “kuasa” untuk “kuasa” kerana “kuasa.” Such is the Malay maxim uttered by the Regent of Perak, Y.T.M. Raja Dr. Nazrin Shah Sultan Azlan Shah, on Jan 15, 2009, in his Closing Address to The Third Islamic Economic Congress, to describe the epidemic besieging the Muslims in Malaysia, particularly the…
It is to be duly noted that one of the distinctive features of the religious, intellectual and scientific tradition of Islam, is the utmost care given to the correct and precise connotation and denotation of terminologies, a feature rendered possible by the root system of the Arabic language. As such, it is commonplace in this…
Should it be tadbir urus or urus tadbir? Those of us who have been reading some recent writings in Malay on “governance” or, more specifically, “good governance,” would have encountered the aforementioned two compound words, although not many of us may have thought it worthwhile to investigate which of the two usages is correct. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka…
By now, I strongly believe, we Malaysians are no stranger to calls for reform of our educational system. So often have such calls been made that they cannot but leave some general impressions. One such impression is that the system as well as its stake-holders is obsessed with examinations at the various levels of the…
In about another week Muslims worldwide will celebrate the coming of the ninth month of the Muslim lunar calendar, Ramadan, the month of obligatory fasting which is one of the five pillars of Islam. Deriving from the Holy Qur’an and the Prophetic Traditions, it has been an established practice among Muslims to remind themselves of…
