150320P - OUR PURPOSE IS EPISTEMOLOGICAL AND KNOWLEDGE REFORM AS A BASIS FOR COMMUNITY RENAISSANCE[*]

Presentation at a meeting of university alumnia Jakarta and Jogjakarta 20 and 21 March 2015  by Professor Omar Hasan Kasule Sr. MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard)

INTRODUCTION

• The role of education reform in the renaissance of the ummat.
• Reform of education must be preceded by reform of the knowledge taught in schools and universities.
• Knowledge reform is preceded by epistemological reform.
• We therefore need an Islamic epistemological reform to spear-head our renaissance.

EPISTEMOLOGY 1

• Epistemology, a major branch of philosophy, is the science of knowledge, ‘ilm al ‘ilm.
• It is the study of the origin, nature, methods, and limits of knowledge.
• The aim of epistemology is certainty, yaqeen.
• The scope of epistemology includes distinguishing reality from appearance, separating perception from reality, and evidence for truth of a claim.
• Islamic epistemology has fixed parameters from the Qur’an and the sunnat within the tauhidi paradigm and taking into consideration space-time variables.

EPISTEMOLOGY 2

• Islamic epistemology is characterized by objectivity, istiqamat, and three sources of knowledge:
• Knowledge from revelation, ‘ilm al wahy or ilm naqli,
• Rational knowledge, ilm ‘aqli,
• Empirical knowledge, ilm tajriibi.  
• Sheikh al Islam Ahmad Ibn Taymiyah proved conclusively that there is no contradiction between ‘ilm aqli and ‘ilm naqli so there is no need to revisit this issue.

EPISTEMOLOGICAL CHANGE LEADING TO SOCIAL CHANGE 1

• Epistemological change is the key to social change. Islamic civilization started as a knowledge revolution in Makka with the revelation of surat iqra.
• Islamic dawa in the Arabian Peninsula was a knowledge and methodology revolution that underlay the future Islamic civilization.
• The Qur’anic methodology inspired the empirical method and inductive logic.
• Muslim scientists inspired by the Qur’anic methodology experimented and developed science and technology. They corrected mistakes in Greek science that were not based on empirical evidence. They passed on to Europeans a corpus of knowledge in various disciplines that triggered the European renaissance.

EPISTEMOLOGICAL CHANGE LEADING TO SOCIAL CHANGE 2

• Interactions between Muslims and Europeans in the Near East (during the crusade wars) and Spain (during the Muslim era in Andalusian modern Southern Spain) enabled Europeans to learn the empirical method from Muslims.
• This triggered the European knowledge renaissance in the 12^th century and the 14-17^th centuries of the Gregorian calendar.
• The renaissance was triggered by translation of Arabic manuscripts of natural science, philosophy and mathematics into Latin.

EPISTEMOLOGICAL CHANGE LEADING TO SOCIAL CHANGE 3

• The first universities in Europe depended on books translated from Arabic.
• Robert Grosseteste (ca. 1168–1253) was the first European to make extensive use of the thought of Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd and was the first to use the experimental method in Europe (1).
• Roger Bacon  (c. 1214–1294), one of the pioneers of European science, was inspired by the writings of Grosseteste (2) . He mastered Arabic texts on the science of optics by Ibn Hytham and was influenced by AlKindi and Ibn Sina (3).

EPISTEMOLOGICAL CHANGE LEADING TO SOCIAL CHANGE 4

• The knowledge renaissance was the basis of modern European power.
• Renaissance was followed by a religious revolution (reformation), a thought revolution (enlightenment and rationality), a scientific revolution (physical and biological sciences), and a technological revolution (agriculture and industry).
• These were followed by political revolutions, a communication revolution, and an information revolution. These successive revolutions made Europe a world power.

EPISTEMOLOGICAL CHANGE LEADING TO SOCIAL CHANGE 5

• Starting in the 16^th century of the Gregorian calendar, Europeans controlled and colonized many parts of the world and by the end of the 19^th century of the Gregorian calendar they dominated the world.
• European domination today will continue for a few more decades because of their knowledge ascendancy.
• While Europeans developed the Muslim World stagnated because of knowledge decay. Knowledge decay in the ummat started in 3^rd-6^th centuries of the Hijri calendar when Muslims migrated away from the Qur’anic call for seeking knowledge, empirical research, and active ijtihad.

RENNAISSANCE OF THE UMMAT THROUGH EDUCATION REFORM 1

• Renaissance or revival (tajdid) of the ummat will occur through educational and knowledge reform hence the emphasis on Islamic universities and Islamic schools.
• It has to face and solve the challenge of dichotomy in the Muslim education system.
• This dichotomy pits the traditional Islamic education system emphasizing religious sciences (ulum al diin) against the imported European education system emphasizing secular sciences (uluum al dunia).
• Integration of the 2 systems has been difficult because of lack of a sound conceptual basis. An epistemological reform leading to integration of knowledge (IOK) is the way forward and was the motto of this conference.

RENNAISSANCE OF THE UMMAT THROUGH EDUCATION REFORM 2

• Tajdid is a recurring phenomenon in the ummat and is a sign of its health and dynamism. Periods of tajdid alternate with periods of ignorance (jahl).  
• Tajdid requires knowledge, ideas and action related by the following mathematical equation: tajdid = idea + action. Action without knowledge and guiding ideas will not lead to true change. Ideas without action are not change at all.

RENNAISSANCE OF THE UMMAT THROUGH EDUCATION REFORM 3

• Tajdid, therefore, requires and is preceded by a reform in knowledge to provide ideas and motivation on which to build.
• Social change requires change in attitudes, values, convictions and behavior of a critical mass of the population. Attitudes, values, convictions, and behaviors are determined by the knowledge base provided by the education system.
• A good integrated educational system will foster societal revival (tajdid) and a bad one will lead to even more ignorance (jahl)

NEW KNOWLEDGE STRATEGY

• The vision of the knowledge strategy is an upright balanced person who understands the creator, knows his place, his roles, his rights, and his responsibilities in the cosmic order.
• The mission of the knowledge strategy is conceptual transformation of the education system from kindergarten to post graduate studies to reflect positive moral values, objectivity, universality, and serving the larger causes of humanity.

INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE 1

• Integration of knowledge (IOK) is a process of recasting the corpus of human knowledge to conform to the basic tenets of a moral world view.
• IOK does not call for re-invention of the wheel of knowledge but calls for reform, correction, and re-orientation.
• IOK is evolutionary and not revolutionary. It is corrective and reformative.

INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE 2

• IOK is the first step in the integration of the education system as a prelude to integration of values and ethics for social reform.
• IOK has to start with reforming the epistemology, methodology, and corpus of knowledge of each discipline.
• IOK must be pro-active, academic, methodological, objective, and practical.
• The vision of IOK is objective, universal, and beneficial knowledge in the context of a harmonious interaction of humans with their physical, social, and spiritual environment.

THE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY AND IOK

• The Islamic university is the vehicle for IOK.
• The First World Muslim Education Conference in Makka in 1977 identified dichotomy as the main problem of Muslim education.
• Islamic universities were set up to solve the problem of dichotomy my teaching integrated curricula in Islamabad (Pakistan), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Kushtia (Bangladesh), Niamey (Niger), Mbale  (Uganda).
• At the moment such universities are counted in hundreds in Africa, Asia, Europe and America.
• The biggest challenge facing Islamic universities is to develop IOK-based curricula and write textbooks for them.

NOTES

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*    Adapted from the author’s presentation at the 1^st International Islamic Epistemology and Curriculum Development Conference held at the Muslim University of Morogoro 9-11 August, 2014

1. Stanford Encyclopedia of philosophy http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/grosseteste/ accessed February 9, 2015
2. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/48177/Roger-Bacon. Accessed February 16, 2015
3. Paul Edwards (ed) The encyclopedia of philosophy. Volume 1.  Simon & Shuster MacMillan. New York 1996.