230915P - RESEARCH PRIORITIES ON EPISTEMOLOGY AND KNOWLEDGE

Presented at a Workshop on Integration of Knowledge held in Harare Zimbabwe on September 15, 2023by Dr Omar Hasan Kasule Sr MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard) Professor of Epidemiology and Bioethics.

 

OVERVIEW: The Problems

• We start from the assertion that 2 internal factors, a knowledge crisis, and a thought crisis, are major causes of ummatic weakness. These 2 factors combine to lead to ummatic malaise manifesting in the religious, social, economic, and technological dimensions.
• The knowledge crisis can be resolved by reforming the epistemology methodology of research in the various disciplines of knowledge so that it conforms to the paradigms of unity, universality, and objectivity.
• The disciplines to be covered by epistemological reform are education (pedagogy and andragogy), social sciences and humanities (sociology, anthropology, psychology, political science, historiography, literature, etc.), natural sciences and technology (medical and health disciplines, engineering, architecture, economics, etc.).
• The thought crisis will be resolved by research that identifies and defines problems of the society and then proposed solutions based on the bird-eye view framework of the higher purposes of the Law, maqasid al shariah.
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• OVERVIEW: The Tasks
• On the practical level, academic seminars need to be held in many places and involving all intellectuals to discuss the 2 crises of knowledge and thought.
• Two types of seminars can be held. General seminars lasting one day will introduce the problems and motivate the intellectuals to make contributions.
• Specialized 1-day seminars will bring together 3-5 specialists in each discipline at a time to present fully written papers on given topics followed by deep and serious discussion after which the authors can revise the papers and have them published online for wide and immediate access with printed versions being made available later.
• Books and articles written on epistemology and thought in other parts of the world can be made accessible by local intellectuals writing reviews that incorporate commentaries that reflect local problems. These reviews can also be published online for wider access.
• A measure of success will be the number of seminars held and the total number of online publications.

 

THE CRISIS OF KNOWLEDGE:

• The most important manifestation of the knowledge crisis is the dichotomy in the education system: traditional vs. imported European. Integration of the 2 systems has failed.
• Removal of the moral dimension in education violated the aim of education to produce an integrated individual.
• The ummatic malaise was due to the knowledge crisis that started with the fall of the khilafat rashidah when the authentic ‘ulama was marginalized.
• Society suffered because the leaders of society with power to influence were in one valley and the scholars with knowledge were in another valley.
• This dichotomy between social leaders and intellectual leaders eventually led to and nurtured the knowledge crisis we have today.

 

THE NEED FOR A NEW KNOWLEDGE STRATEGY:

• Educational and knowledge reform are a pre-requisite for renewal (tajdid)
• The vision of the knowledge strategy is an upright balanced person who understands the creator and knows his place, his roles, his rights, and his responsibilities in the cosmic order.
• The mission of the knowledge strategy is a conceptual transformation of the education system from kindergarten to postgraduate studies to reflect positive moral values, objectivity, and universality, and serve the larger causes of humanity and the environment

 

REFORM OF RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

• Modern research is based on the empirical method that unfortunately ignores other traditional sources of knowledge
• There is no essential contradiction between the two sources of knowledge: human empirical and rational knowledge (‘ilm aqli) and transmitted knowledge (‘ilm naqli).
• Revealed knowledge provides guiding principles for knowledge, science, and technology to build civilization.
• Muslims taught the empirical methodology to Europeans pre-renaissance and thus triggered scientific and technological revolutions in the 15^th and 6^th centuries
• Muslims forgot the empirical methodology during the era of their decline. It is now coming back to them in a new context that reflects the European and not the traditional worldview.
• Muslims accept the empirical methods but reject concepts that reject the Creator and an integrative worldview (Weltanschauung).
• A tauhidi universal, objective, and unbiased research methodology must replace the biased methodology.

 

PRECEPTS OF INTEGRATED KNOWLEDGE - 1:

• Unity and comprehensiveness of knowledge
• Causality as the basis for human action
• Limitation of human knowledge
• Constant and fixed natural laws
• Harmony between the seen and the unseen
• 2 sources of knowledge: ‘ilm naqli and ‘ilm aqli

 

PRECEPTS OF INTEGRATED KNOWLEDGE - 2:

• Khilafat is moral accountability for the ability of humans to change the environment (taskhir) and build a civilization (isti’mar)
• Creation and existence have a purpose (ghaiyat al khalq)
• Truth is both absolute and relative
• Limited human free will is the basis of accountability
• Tawakkul in its correct sense

 

REFORM OF THE DISCIPLINES OF KNOWLEDGE:

• Reform has to start with reforming the epistemology, methodology, and corpus of knowledge of each discipline.
• It must be pro-active, academic, methodological, objective, and practical. Its vision is objective, universal, and beneficial knowledge in the context of a harmonious interaction of humans with their physical, social, and spiritual environment.
• Its practical mission is a transformation of the paradigms, methodologies, and uses of disciplines of knowledge to conform to universal tauhidi values.

 

GOALS OF DISCIPLINE REFORM:

• De-colonizing paradigms of existing disciplines to change them 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 empirical research
• Inculcating morally correct application of knowledge.

 

ROLE OF REVEALED KNOWLEDGE:

• Revealed knowledge gives general principles that establish objectivity and protect against biased research methodology.
• It creates a worldview 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 revealed parameters to expand the frontiers of knowledge through research, basic and applied.

 

PRACTICAL STEPS / TASKS OF THE REFORM PROCESS:

• The first step is a good grounding in methodological sciences of usul al fiqh, ulum al Qur’an, ulum al hadith, and 'uluum al llughat.
• This is followed by reading the revelation with an understanding of the changing time-space dimensions.
• This is followed by clarification of basic epistemological issues and relations: revelation and the mind, the seen and the unseen, faith and work.
• This is followed by a critique of basic paradigms, basic assumptions, and basic concepts of various disciplines using universal epistemological criteria.
• Critical reviews of existing teaching materials are then undertaken to identify deviations from the universal values.
• Publication and testing of new teaching materials is a necessary step towards reform by putting them into the hands of teachers and students reformed material.
• Developing applied knowledge in science and technology from basic knowledge will be the last stage of the reform process. This is because, in the end, it is science and technology that actually lead to changes in society.