161007P - INTRODUCTION: THE THOUGHT AND KNOWLEDGE CRISES

Presented at the MSA workshop HongKong on October 7-8, 2016 by Professor Omar Hasan Kasule Sr. MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard)

The thought Crisis: causes:

• The thought problem arises from misconceptions of textual applications to contemporary social realities. 
• Many intellectual issues have not been resolved: leadership, human rights, family rights, minority rights
• The revelation (Qur’an and sunnat) has the solution but Muslim intellect has failed to apply these to actual practical problems in the community.

The thought crisis: analysis:

• Rights: human rights, family rights, religious rights, cultural rights
• Marginalization: social, cultural, religious, economic, legal, poverty, and employment
• Internal community problems: ethnic, sectarian, ideological, family breakdown, youth problems 
• Da’awa and teaching of basics of religion
• Cultural and religious dialog with others.

The thought crisis: towards a solution:

• Clarifying basic paradigms using modern terminology 
• Research using the various social science disciplines / humanities to identify and define contemporary intellectual issues (qadhaya fikriyyat mu’asirat) in the community
• Propose solutions based on the bird-eye view frame-work of the higher purposes, al maqasid. 

Manifestations of the knowledge crisis:

• There is pervasive ignorance of uluum al diin and uluum al dunia. There is little respect for scholarship. Wealth and power are considered more important than scholarship. 
• There is neglect of the empirical sciences. 
• There is a dichotomy/duality in the education system: traditional Islamic vs. imported European, ulum al diin vs ulum al dunia. Integration of the 2 systems has failed or has been difficult because it has been mechanical and not conceptual. 
• The process of secularization in education has removed the moral dimension from the education and violated the aim of education to produce an integrated and perfect individual, insan kaamil.

Integration of knowledge (IOK): solution to the knowledge crisis

• IOK is a process of integrating values in the corpus of human knowledge 
• 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.
• IOK is the first step in the reform of the education system as a prelude to reform of society.

Integration of knowledge:

• 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. 
• 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. 
• Practical mission of IOK is transformation of the paradigms, methodologies, and uses of disciplines of knowledge to conform to universal values.

Immediate goals of IOK are:

• De-construction of paradigms of existing disciplines from parochiality to universal objectivity
• Reconstruction of the paradigms using universal guidelines
• Re-classifying disciplines to reflect universal values
• Reforming research methodology to become objective, purposeful, and comprehensive
• Growth of knowledge by research
• Inculcating morally correct application of knowledge.

Role of the Qur’an in IOK:

• Provide general principles that establish objectivity and protect against biased research methodology. 
• Create a world-view that encourages research to extend the frontiers of knowledge and its use for the benefit of the whole universe. 
• Scientists are encouraged to work within these Qur’anic parameters to expand the frontiers of knowledge through research, basic and applied.