WORLD HISTORY FROM AN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE: THE EXPERIENCE OF IIUM

AHMED IBRAHIM ABUSHOUK, DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND CIVILIZATION, IIUM

Date : 14th March 2007 (WEDNESDAY)Time : 14:15- 16:15 PM.Venue : PS. XVII, Meeting Room 2, UKM

International Conference on

Social Sciences and Humanities “Innovating Approaches Looking Beyond Conventionalities”

DO WE NEED AN ISLAMIC THEORY AND METHEDOLOGY OF HISTORY?

CREATION OF MAN

REVEALED TEXT

PERIODIZATION OF WORLD HISTORY

PERIODIZATION OF WORLD HISTORYThe Traditional Western Scheme of history

Western European Christian

Europeanized World

Ancient

Medieval

Modern

Greco-RomanJudaic

PERIODIZATION OF WORLD HISTORYThe Reformed Western Scheme of history

Western European Christian

Europeanized World

Ancient

Medieval

Modern

Greco-RomanJudaic

Indian Byzantine Russian

Chinese Muslim

PERIODIZATION OF WORLD HISTORYThe Traditional Muslim Scheme of history

ProphethoodOf Muhammad

Muslim

JudaicPersianArabian

Muslim world

A MODERN UNIFIED WORLD

EUROPEAN NEAR EAST

AFRICAN INDIAN FAR EASTERN AMERICAN

w. EROPEAN RUSSIAN

ISLAMIC NEAR EAST

MUSLIM AFRICAN

NON-MUSLIM

AFRIFCAN

MUSLIM INIDAN

HINDU INDIAN

MUSLIM SEA

CHINESE JAPNAESE MEXICOPERU ETC.

Am

eric

ans

Sinic

Hwang HoValley

IndicSEA

IndusValley

Indic

Hindu

Nubian

S. Arabian

EthiopianAfrican

Sumerian

Egyptian

Aramaic

Persian

Christian

Muslim

Judaic

Greek

Roman

East Roman

Latin Western

CREATION OF MAN

Darwinist ParadigmTawhidic Paradig

“Unity of God, creation, humanity”

Creation of Adam

Human Society

Evolution of Man

Human Society

Prophethood

Civilized

Polytheism

Prophethood

Hereafter

Polytheism

Primitive

Prophethood

Modernity

Post Modernity

MOVEMENT OF HISTORY

Tawhidic Paradigm

Darwinist Paradigm

End of history and the last man

Prophethood

Man

REVEALED TEXTTRIPARTITE DIMENSIONS OF HISTORICAL EVENT

Revealed Dimension

Human Dimension Natural Dimension

ISLAMIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE: THEORY AND PRACTICES

The First World Conference on Muslim Education, Makkah 1977.

International Institute of Islamic Thought (USA), 1981.

International Islamic University Malaysia, 1983.

ISLAMIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE: THEORY AND PRACTICES

The presupposition that the body of secular knowledge in the West is neither as neutral nor as universal as some of its proponents claim it to be.

The social sciences taught at Muslim universities are the products of this secular knowledge, and their methodologies, concepts, and explanations of human behaviour and outlook on life and the universe which are not in harmony with the fundamental teachings of Islam

The universe

Society Man

God

Re-Orientation

of Social

sciences

ISLAMICWORLDVIEW

PROSPECTS OF HUMAN SCIENCE RESEARCH

ISLAMIZATION OF HUMAN SCIENCES

Revealed knowledge Social sciences

Theoretical Framework

Research projects&

Professional practicefield demonstration

THREE MAJOR COMPONENTS OF ISLAMIZATION PROCESS

The mastery of Islamic legacy, a criticalassessment of Islamic scholarship

Against pristine Revealational perspective,the current needs of the Ummah, and

Modern in human knowledge

The creative synthesis of Islamic legacy and modernKnowledge, the creative leap to bridge over the gap

of centuries of non-development

The mastery of modern disciplines,a critical assessment of their

methodologies, research findings, and theories in the light of Islamic worldview

KULLIYYAH OF ISLAMIC REVEALED KNOWLEDGE AND HUMAN SCIENCES

KIRKHS(1990)

Human SciencesDivision

Islamic Revealed Knowledge

Division

English Language & Linguistics

Communication

History & Civilization

Political Science

Psychology

Arabic Language and Literature

Fiqh and Usul Fiqh

General Studies

Quran & Sunna Studies

Usul al-Din & Comparative Religion Sociology &

Anthropology

Departments

IMPORTANT PUBLICATIONSIslamic Interpretation of History

• Abdul Hameed Siddiqi, “The Islamic Concept of History”: criticizes the Western concept of history which has completely eliminated revelation as a source of knowledge, thereby reducing it into the level of mere fiction and myth.

• Syed Ali Ashraf, “The Quranic Concept of History”,Argues that Adam was the first man on the earth and “a completely new creation endowed with spiritual knowledge and blessed with the duty of a Prophet for his children.” It rejects the traditional Western concept that perceives the history of human beings from a gradual evolutionary perspective that had developed from primitiveness to modernity.

• Imad al-Din al-Khalil, Islamic Interpretation of History. Perceives the Holy Quran as a Divine Verdict on world history, where historians could find a number of laws that govern the rise and fall of nations and civilizations.

SINGLE MAJOR Bachelor of Human Sciences (History & Civilization)

No Course content Credit Hours Number of courses

1 . Fundamental Content (introduction to human sciences)

12 4

2. Generic Skills (Language and Co-curricular activities)

13 18

3. History and civilization core courses 72 24

4 . Elective (6 Islamic Revealed Knowledge courses

and 2 other courses from any department of IRKHS or other Kulliyyah which are listed as minor courses)

24 8

Total 121 54

CONCLUDING REMARKS

I share the standpoint of the engagement based on the setting up of a creative synthesis of the Islamic legacy and Western knowledge.

This standpoint may contribute to the development of a pluralist approach to the teaching and learning of world history.

Such an approach may release historians from the prevalent influence of the one-sided Western interpretation of history that denies the authority of revelation as a source of knowledge, and marginalizes the internal mechanisms governing the rise and fall of non-Western civilizations.