The leading global commentators on the future of humanity have often framed one of the defining issues for humanity as the trajectory humankind will take with Artificial Intelligence.
I argue—inspired by the discerning Muslim thinkers of our time—that over–emphasis on Artificial Intelligence by various proponents today at the expense of commanding grasp of knowledge will only cause humankind—especially future generations—to be less intelligent and more susceptible to fallacies, propaganda, and falsehood.
A range of degenerative human traits will also become more manifest: compounded ignorance, lack of a command in language, and the inability to think correctly. All these encourage the mother of all corruption: the Corruption of Understanding of Knowledge.
In the Worldview of Islam, the basic meaning for the term intellect – ‘aql – signifies an (mental) act of grasping, withholding, or binding meaning and knowledge.
The purpose of the intellect is ultimately to discern truth from falsehood. Its role is not limited to thinking about survivability and physical well-being, a very common view today as posited and propagated by cognitive scientists such as the prominent Harvard University’s Steven Pinker.
In contrast, one of the greatest Muslim scholars, al-Ghazālī (d. 1111), stated in his Naṣīḥat al-Mulūk (Counsel for Kings): “The intelligent man is one who sees the spirit and reality of things and is not deceived by their forms.”
Moreover, the intellectual tradition of Islam affirms that the proper use of intellect will lead to wisdom (hikmah), with its extreme of excess being “deceitfulness” and extreme of defect being “stupidity”.
Muslim philosophers such as Adud al-Din al-Iji (d. 1356) in his Al-Akhlaq Al-Adudiyya also recognised the following as subcategories of proper use of intellect, reflecting one’s intelligence: clarity of mind, excellence in comprehension, speed in deriving conclusions, brilliance in conceptualisation, ease in learning, ability to retain images which have been captured by the mind, and the ability to recall that which has been preserved in the mind.
To cultivate one’s intellect to acquire such intelligence, Al-Iji had advised us to maintain proximity with people who possess intelligence and virtue, be wary of excessive amusement, jesting, and disputation, occupy one’s self with learning and intellectual pursuits, select sincere friends, and improve one’s self with challenging self-discipline activities.
In the history of Islamic civilisation, there are abundant accounts wherein activities to cultivate one’s intellect and encourage the refinement of one’s intelligence can be found, even among the rulers.
For example, Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar (d. 1605), one of the greatest rulers of Mughal India, with a population of 110 million people and a vibrant economy, would still find time to read and study the books of earlier luminaries such as Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Hafiz, Sa’di, Jalaluddin al-Rumi under his teacher, Abu-l Fadl.
In addition, in the worldview of Islam, intelligence is not divorced from good character or ethics, contrary to the tendency in modern secular worldviews. This is why the likes of Ibn Miskawayh (d. 1030) remarked in his Tadhib al-Akhlaq (Refinement of Character), “…the first imperative and duty of the intelligent man is to exercise justice with respect to himself.”
Have Muslim nations done enough to build up a critical mass of real intelligent populace leading to an intelligent society?
In Malaysia’s education system, the government, administrators, and teachers nationwide should be commended for the herculean task of shifting the focus from being an exam-oriented one to an activity or process-oriented one, with the goal of enabling more meaning to be imparted in school.
However, there is another major task, which is to ensure the correct meanings is understood by key individuals in the government, ministry, agencies, and schools themselves.
A more meaningful education does not mean more subjects are introduced. On the contrary, a meaningful education experience can occur even with lesser subjects if the government, schools, and teachers understand what constitutes “meaning”, “intellect”, “intelligence”, and “knowledge” from the correct perspective.
A final point on building real intelligence in an age of the widespread influence of AI: the global Muslim community needs to do more to invest their time, energy, and resources to tap into the leading Muslim intelligentsia in their midst and train future Muslim intelligentsia.
For it is they—the genuine Muslim intelligentsia—who will ensure real intelligence continues to be properly cultivated. Failure in this will necessarily lead to the dominance of AI and its proponents, who may consciously or unconsciously undermine real intelligence gifted by God.
In this regard, credit must be given to His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar with the unanimous support of the Ruler’s Council of Malaysia, and the Government of Malaysia led by Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim for awarding the Royal Laureate Professorship to Tan Sri Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas on 23 October 2024, a figure who has proven to be one of those demonstrating great intelligence in modern history.
A part of the written official declaration by His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim deserves to be quoted as a case in point of a proper recognition of real intelligence:
We desire to honour Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas by conferring upon him the special Award of Royal Laureate Professor in recognition of his lifelong outstanding creative and intellectual achievements in universal fields of scholarship, including history, education, religion, philosophy, theology, metaphysics, philology, semantics, art and architecture, poetry and the fine and literary arts, and others.
His unparalleled contributions including founding the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation (ISTAC), Malaysia’s first institution of higher learning granting postgraduate degrees in Islamic science and thought but also Islamic civilisation, thereby extending its scope and benefit to the treasury of world knowledge and civilisations, encompassing human inquiry into the universal sciences.
May God continue to guide us to cultivate the intellect He has gifted us.
