220604P - EPISTEMOLOGY OF ISLAMIC INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE IN MEDICINE

Presentation at the 3^rd Decades of Medical Faculty of Universitas Muslim Indonesia (UM) and 68^th Anniversary of UMI international seminar on 04 June 2022 at 9.30 AM Indonesian Central Time. By Prof. Omar Hasan Kasule Sr. MB ChB (MUK). MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard) Professor of Epidemiology and Bioethics

 
THE MOTIVATION OF INTEGRATION:

• Islam is not a state of being but an action to improve and get better towards the pleasure of Allah. This means that all human endeavors including medicine require the integration of Islamic values to get better.
• Integration is infusing the moral teachings of Islam deriving from the ‘aqiidat and the practical regulations of the shari’at into medicine.
• Integration is not parochializing medicine or creating medicine for Muslims only. It is the universalization of medicine because Islamic values are universal.
• This universality though obvious is misunderstood or distorted by Muslims and non-Muslims.
• A lot has been achieved in the endeavor of Integrating medicine over the past endeavor over the past half century as will be explained below but a lot remains to be done.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS PRE-1980:

• The concept of Islam in medicine was not crystallized at this period. There was however a general interest in relating Islam to medicine as part of the general Islamic awakening that was taking place.
• Islamic medical associations were formed to bring Muslim physicians together for example the Islamic Medical Association of the US and Canada was formed in 1967 to be followed by others in other countries.
• Once the physicians got together, they started asking themselves the ultimate questions: who are we? What is our mission? What is our origin and what is our future? These questions drew them closer to the integration of Islam into their profession, but the nature of the integration was not yet clear.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS 1980-1995:

• During this period developments occurred in medical relief, medical education, and defining Islamic medicine. More IMAs were formed at national and local levels. Medical relief efforts of IMAs became more extensive and sophisticated with major activities in the US, Pakistan, and South Africa.
• The budgets and coverage of these programs grew bigger with coverage of more regions all over the world.
• The IMAs of different countries started working together in networks and eventually formed the Federation of Islamic Medical Associations (FIMA).
• At the same time, interest in the religious education of future physicians picked up with some faculties of medicine such as YARSI in Jakarta and AZHAR in Cairo prescribing an Islamic religious education curriculum.

DEFINITION OF ISLAMIC MEDICINE JULY 1995

• Islamic Medicine is defined as Medicine whose basic paradigms, concepts, values, and procedures conform to or do not contradict the Qur'an and Sunnah.
• It is not specific medical procedures or therapeutic agents used at a particular place or a particular time.
• Islamic medicine is universal, all-embracing, and flexible, and allows for the growth and development of various methods of investigating and treating diseases within the framework described above.
• This definition calls for the basic transformation of medical systems. Islamic medicine thus becomes the result of an Islamic critique and reformulation of the basic paradigms, research methodology, teaching, and practice of medicine. This process of conceptual transformation also called the Islamization of medicine, is described in detail in the paper^[1].

NOTE:

1. https://omarkasule-tib.blogspot.com/2011/05/950709p-islamic-medicine-concept.html

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS AFTER 1995:

• This period witnessed the establishment of many Islamic hospitals and polyclinics in Muslim-majority and Muslim-minority countries. The main motivation was practicing medicine from an Islamic perspective.
• The challenge was that the Islamization paradigm was still in its infancy, and they did not want to wait and decided to move ahead and solve problems as they appeared.
• The first step was to make hospitals ibadah-friendly and shari’at compliant with standard operating procedures.
• In this period medical education from an Islamic perspective became a reality as faculties changed their curricula to reflect Islamic values with a focus on medical fiqh (al fiqh al tibbi) and medical ethics.

ORGANIZATIONS OF ISLAMIC MEDICINE:

• Local Islamic Medical Associations (IMAs)
• Federation of Islamic Medical Associations (FIMA)
• Islamic Hospitals Consortium (IHC)
• Consortium of Islamic Medical Colleges (CIMCO)

Islamic Hospital Amman, Jordan:
 
Islamic Specialist Hospital Kuala Lumpur:
 
Islamic Hospital Bandung
 
Saidina Abubakar Islamic Hospital Uganda:
 
International Islamic Hospital Yogyakarta:
 
Kulliyyah of Medicine Kuantan Malaysia:
 
IIUM Medical Centre:

THE FUTURE:

• Genetic engineering, new reproductive technologies, and gene therapy are producing new ethical dilemmas that will require solutions. Traditional fiqh rulings will not be able to resolve these new challenges and ijtihad based on maqaasid (ijtihad maqaasidi) will have to be used extensively.
• Medical care is a big business. Islamic hospitals must think about Islamizing their business models following fiqh and mua’amalaat. They will need to develop new models of financing health care most likely developing takaful insurance.
• The area of pharmaceutical research and distribution of pharmaceutical has many ethical challenges that will require Islamic solutions.

OVERVIEW OF INTEGRATION:

• Integration of Islamic values into medical education, training, and practice is a prerequisite for quality healthcare in Muslim communities.
• No community or civilization can succeed without basing its development on its own values.
• We can now see the fruits of efforts integration starting in Malaysia more than 20 years ago.
• Integrated medicine is being taught to doctors and nursing and we have several Islamic or shari’at-compliant hospitals.
• We are looking forward to integrated healthcare systems including health insurance, integrated research, and an integrated pharmaceutical industry.
•  Integration of Islamic values in the medical faculty ensures integration of those values in the hospitals by future doctors.

5 COMPONENTS OF INTEGRATION:

• Conceptually we need to teach the Islamic concepts of life, death, disease/illness, and treatment.
• We then need to teach basic medical sciences as evidence of the well-coordinated and well-proportioned perfect creation by Allah and that life processes follow the physical laws (sunan Allah) that the creator set.
• After that, we need to teach the Islamic ethical and fiqh aspects of diagnosing, preventing, and treating disease.
• After that, we need to teach the Islamic concepts of a healthy and balanced family and community and how dysfunctions are the root causes of many human diseases.
• The future of integrated medicine is very bright not only for Muslims but for the whole of humanity because Islamic values are universal and not parochial. It must also be understood that integration is putting value in scientific medicine and not inventing a new type of medicine.

TAUHID IS THE BASIS FOR INTEGRATION:

• Tauhid is the basic paradigm of Islamic thought (fikr), civilization (hadharat), and knowledge (ma’arifat).
• There is one Creator (tauhid al rubuubiyyat) for the whole universe therefore everything living or non-living and every phenomenon must have meaningful integration with everything else because the source is the same.
• We will focus on the integration of Islamic values (qiyam islamiyyat) in medicine in the knowledge that there are other forms of integration.
• Integration of Islamic values into medical education, training, and practice is a prerequisite for quality healthcare in Muslim communities. No community or civilization can succeed without basing its development on its own values.

PROBLEMS OF CURRENT CURRICULA WITH NO INTEGRATION

• Basic medical sciences are not taught as signs of Allah manifesting the structure and function of the human body as a biological miracle of unity (tauhid), perfection (kamal), balance (tawazun), equilibrium (I’itidaal), incomparability (),
• Phenomena of life & death, health & disease, and environmental interactions are not taught within their Islamic epistemological contexts
• Disease management is not taught from a holistic perspective that encompasses spiritual and psychosocial dimensions
• Community health is actually not taught instead community ill-health is taught; we should start by teaching the normal qariyat tayyiba.

TEACHING BASIC SCIENCES AS THE BIOLOGICAL MIRACLE MANIFESTING SIGNS OF ALLAH (AYAT ALLAH)

• Perfection (kamal alkhalq):
• Beauty (jamal al khalq):
• Optimality (ahsan taqwiim)
• Incomparability (‘ajz al shurakaa)
• Balance (miizaan)
• Equilibrium (e’tidal)
• Parity (zawjiyat)
• Environment: physical, biological, chemical

CONCEPTS OF PERFECTION AND OPTIMALITY IN BASIC SCIENCES TAUGHT AS SIGNS OF ALLAH AND TAFSIR AL QUR’AN - 1

• Allah is the best creator, Ahsan al Kahliqin 37:125.
• أَتَدْعُونَ بَعْلًۭا وَتَذَرُونَ أَحْسَنَ ٱلْخَـٰلِقِينَ
• Perfect creation Kamal al Khalq 95:4.
• لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ فِىٓ أَحْسَنِ تَقْوِيمٍۢ
• Beauty of creation (best picture) Ghaffir 64
• اَللّٰهُ الَّذِىۡ جَعَلَ لَـكُمُ الۡاَرۡضَ قَرَارًا وَّالسَّمَآءَ بِنَآءً وَّصَوَّرَكُمۡ فَاَحۡسَنَ صُوَرَكُمۡ وَرَزَقَكُمۡ مِّنَ الطَّيِّبٰتِ ؕ ذٰ لِكُمُ اللّٰهُ رَبُّكُمۡ ‌ ۖ فَتَبٰـرَكَ اللّٰهُ رَبُّ الۡعٰلَمِيۡن
• Best image (ahsan surat) Infitaar:6-8 passing through stages of creation (khalq), making due proportions (taswiyat), balancing (t’adiil), and best image (ahsan surat)
• يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلْإِنسَـٰنُ مَا غَرَّكَ بِرَبِّكَ ٱلْكَرِيمِ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَكَ فَسَوَّىٰكَ فَعَدَلَكَ فِىٓ أَىِّ صُورَةٍۢ مَّا شَآءَ رَكَّبَكَ

CONCEPTS OF PERFECTION AND OPTIMALITY IN BASIC SCIENCES TAUGHT AS SIGNS OF ALLAH AND TAFSIR AL QUR’AN - 2

• Incomparable (‘ajz al shurakjaa) 7:191
• أَيُشْرِكُونَ مَا لَا يَخْلُقُ شَيْـًۭٔا وَهُمْ يُخْلَقُونَ
• All what Allah created has a purpose (23:115).
• أَفَحَسِبْتُمْ أَنَّمَا خَلَقْنَـٰكُمْ عَبَثًۭا وَأَنَّكُمْ إِلَيْنَا لَا تُرْجَعُونَ
• Parity in general 51:49
• وَمِن كُلِّ شَىْءٍ خَلَقْنَا زَوْجَيْنِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ
• Parity of gender Najm: 45
• وَأَنَّهُ خَلَقَ الزَّوْجَيْنِ الذَّكَرَ وَالْأُنثَىٰ 
• Physiological unity… Bukhari 6011
•  مثل المؤمنين في تواددهم وتراحمهم وتعاطفهم مثل الجسد إذا اشتكى منه عضو تداعى له سائر الجسد بالسهر والحمى

CONCEPTS OF PERFECTION AND OPTIMALITY IN BASIC SCIENCES TAUGHT AS SIGNS OF ALLAH AND TAFSIR AL QUR’AN - 3

• The Qur'anic term rizq means sustenance. It refers to to food useful to the body. Rizq is from Allah alone and He provides for all.  Isra: 30
•  إِنّ رَبّكَ يَبْسُطُ الرّزْقَ لِمَن يَشَآءُ وَيَقْدِرُ إِنّهُ كَانَ بِعِبَادِهِ خَبِيرًا بَصِيرًا».
• The alimentary canal is a tube outside the body in direct contact with the external environment. Some food ingested at the mouth exits at the anus without entering the body. Digested food is absorbed by the intestines to enter the internal environment.
• The alimentary canal has a role in balancing the internal and external environments. It takes material from the environment, processes it, and returns it to the environment.
• Human appetite for food (a requirement for survival) is so strong that prayer is delayed when food is presented.
•  إذا أقيمت الصلاة ، وحضر العشاء ، فابدءوا بالعشاء.

CONCEPTS OF PERFECTION AND OPTIMALITY IN BASIC SCIENCES TAUGHT AS SIGNS OF ALLAH AND TAFSIR AL QUR’AN - 4

• Nutritional habits reflect underlying visions, beliefs, and cultural experiences.
• The alimentary system can be looked at as the final pathway for human corruption because food security is the underlying but often unstated purpose behind a crime, corruption, treachery, amassing of wealth, aggression, and many other transgressions.
• Believers eat to get energy for ‘ibadat; non-believers may eat for enjoyment or to get energy for evil. A believer is satisfied with less food than a non-believer.
• The search for food and its ingestion is part of ‘ibadat. The human is rewarded for efforts to feed himself or herself. The ‘ibadat aspect is emphasized by the fact the feeding starts with the basmalah and end with the hamd.

CONCEPTS OF LIFE - 1

• Life is a complex phenomenon with biological, chemical, and spiritual components.
• Both life and death are earthly phenomena. Life exists in the hereafter, but death does not.
• Humans share biological life with plants and animals. They share spiritual life with angels.
• No other creation of Allah resembles humans in having physical and spiritual life at the same time.
• Levels of life: ruh, the whole living organism, the organ, the tissue, the cell, sub-cellular structures, the molecule, and the atom.
• Humans are temporary custodians of life enjoined to take good care of it. Humans have no control over life or death (25:3).

CONCEPTS OF LIFE - 2

• There is a continuum in human life: ‘adam. hayat al duniyat. hayat al barzakh, hayat al akhirat.
• Human life on earth has a definite time span, ajal. No human endeavor including the most advanced medical procedures can shorten or extend this time span.
• The whole purpose of medicine is to exert maximum efforts to improve the quality of remaining life since Allah alone knows the timing of the ajal.
• The first and most important purpose of life is the worship of Allah, ‘ibadat.  Life can be a happy one, hayat saidat/hayat taibbat, or unhappy, hayat dhankat. A good life is related to good deeds (16:97). Success and failure are experienced both on earth and in the hereafter.

CONCEPTS OF DEATH - 1

• Death can be defined as moral, legal, or biological death. Death could be permanent with cessation of all physiological functions. It could be temporary such as in sleep (Zumar:42).
•  There is a continuous cycle involving life and death. Life arises from death and vice versa (3:27 & 10:31).
• All humans will eventually die, shumuliyat al mawt (55:26). In view of the inevitability of death, hatmiyyat al mawt, it is futile to attempt to avoid death or think of its removal, istihalat daf'u al mawt (62:8).
• The process of death is long. It starts with the humanly understood causes like infection or trauma. The body progressively fails until a point of no return is reached. There is a point during this process when the angels take away the ruh thus separating the essence from the body.
• The process of terminal death following Allah's laws, sunan al llaah, can not be reversed except in exceptional cases of divine intervention such as when Allah gave the prophet Isa (PBUH) the ability to revive the dead.

CONCEPTS OF DEATH - 2

• Death is a transition to life after death, al hayat ba'da al mawt (30:40).
• Death could therefore be a welcome event for good people who look forward to a better life in the future.
•  Death and its occurrence are in the hands of Allah
• Good people welcome death as a rite de passage to a better existence in the hereafter.
• The approach of death is an opportunity for repentance, tawbat.
• Humans are apprehensive about death and fear it
• Wishing for death, isti’ijaal al mawt, tamanni al mawt, in desperation with severe painful illness is discouraged.
• The wish for death, tamanni al mawt can be negative for the escapist who looks to death as a relief from present psychological or physical distress
• Committing suicide, qatl al nafs & intihar, is definitely forbidden and puts someone outside the fold of Islam.
• Death is a trial, ibtila’a bi al mawt and is a calamity, musibat al mawt.

CONCEPTS OF DISEASE TREATMENT - 1

• Every disease has a treatment. Allah did not reveal any disease without also creating its cure. Humans are encouraged to seek treatment. Some people may know the cure and others may ignore it, but it nevertheless exists.
• Humans try, but it is Allah who cures. Al Shuara: 80
• وَإِذَا مَرِضْتُ فَهُوَ يَشْفِينِ
• Disease treatment is part of qadar. Seeking treatment does not contradict qadar or tawakkul. Disease treatment is part of qadr and is a reversal of qadar by another qadar, rad al qadr bi al qadr.
• Preventive medicine, tibb wiqa’i, is covered under the Qur’anic concept of wiqayat.
• The concept of prevention, wiqayat, does not involve claiming to know the future or the unseen, ghaib, or even trying to reverse qadar.
• The human using limited human knowledge attempts to extrapolate from the present situation and anticipates certain disease conditions for which preventive measures can be taken. Only Allah knows for sure whether the diseases will occur or not.

CONCEPTS OF DISEASE TREATMENT - 2

• Curative medicine, tibb ‘ilaj, may be spiritual, physical, or both. Non-invasive approaches aiming at assisting the body fight disease are preferred to riskier invasive approaches.
• Among spiritual approaches to disease management is the use of dua from the Qur’an and hadith as ruqiy.
• Islamic Law gives priority to preventing harm over accruing a benefit.
• There should no dichotomy between spiritual and physical modalities of treatment. Both approaches should be used for the same condition; they are complementary. Each cures the disease using a different pathway. There is no contradiction but there is always synergy. It is a mistake to use one and reject the other.
• Shirk arises when humans seek and expect a cure for a disease from anything other than Allah. Forbidden shirk practices.

A NEW APPROACH TO TEACHING COMMUNITY HEALTH: FAMILY INSTITUTION:

• Gender: each gender has competencies that the other lacks leading to a strong pair.
• Family as a Natural Social Unit: the family must be preserved as the basic unit of society.
• Marriage: start of family formation.
• Parents and Relatives are part of the extended family support system.
• Children: The next generation.

A NEW APPROACH TO TEACHING COMMUNITY HEALTH: COMMUNITY INSTITUTION:

• Masjid: center of the community
• Ukhuwwat: natural relation among people
• Takaful: a mutual self-help
• Shuura: mutual consultation
• Maal:  economic system

A NEW APPROACH TO TEACHING COMMUNITY HEALTH: COMMUNITY PROBLEMS:

• Life-Style
• Sexual Perversions
• Addiction
• Poverty
• Violence

A NEW APPROACH TO TEACHING COMMUNITY HEALTH: COMMUNITY ACTIONS:

• Dawa
• Enjoining the good and forbidding the bad, amr & nahy
• Social change, taghyiir ijtima’e

  

220605P - EPISTEMOLOGY OF ISLAMIC INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE IN MEDICINE

Abstract of Presentation at the 3^rd Decades of Medical Faculty of Universitas Muslim Indonesia (UM) and 68^th Anniversary of UMI international seminar on 04 June 2022 by Prof. Omar Hasan Kasule Sr. MB ChB (MUK). MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard) Professor of Epidemiology and Bioethics

Integration is infusing the moral teachings of Islam deriving from the ‘aqiidat and the practical regulations of the shari’at into medicine. Integration is not parochializing medicine or creating medicine for Muslims only. It is the universalization of medicine because Islamic values are universal. The movement for Islamic integration started in the late 1970s with the formation of Islamic Medical Associations. In 1995 Islamic medicine was defined as Islamic Medicine is defined as medicine whose basic paradigms, concepts, values, and procedures conform to or do not contradict the Qur'an and Sunnah It is not specific medical procedures or therapeutic agents used at a particular place or a particular time. This definition gave impetus to the establishment of Islamic shari’at-compliant hospitals and Islamic colleges of medicine that implemented the integration program.

Integration of Islamic values in medical education has 5 main components. The first component is teaching the Islamic concepts of life, death, disease/illness, and treatment. The second component is teaching the basic medical sciences as evidence of the well-coordinated and well-proportioned perfect creation by Allah and that life processes follow the physical laws (sunan Allah) that the creator set and which are signs (ayaat Allah) for humans testifying to the power and majesty of the creator. The third aspect is teaching Islamic ethical and fiqh aspects of diagnosing, preventing, and treating disease; this will also include the ethics of new ethical challenges created by new advances in biotechnology. The fourth is teaching what the normal healthy community (qariyah tayyibah) should be according to the Qur’an this includes issues of gender, marriage, family life, parents and relatives, community self-help (takaful), and economic relations. This sets the background for analyzing and solving community problems of lifestyles, addictions, perversions, poverty, and violence.

The success of the epistemological integration will start with the integration of the teacher. The professors who teach the medical science., clinical, and community disciplines must take a diploma course on the basics of Islam so that they can integrate them into their teaching. They also can benefit from the extensive literature on Islamic aspects of medicine available on the internet. They also need to move a step further by writing and publishing their own teaching materials that will integrate the most advanced medical research with the ethical and moral values of Islam.

220617P - IIOK: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE: Historical controversies about integration of transmitted knowledge (ilm naqli) vs rational knowledge ilm aqli)

Presented at the Summer School in Kyrgyzstan on June 17, 2022 by Omar Hasan K Kasule Sr. MB ChB (MUK). MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard) Professor of Epidemiology and Bioethics

1.0 ORIGINS OF GREEK REASON

• Socrates سقراط (d.399 BC) the father of European philosophy asked a lot of questions, provided few answers, and wrote nothing down. He inspired the thinking of philosophers who came after him.
• Plato افلاطون (d. 347 BC) was Socrates’s student. He denied the reality of the material world and taught that the apparent and constantly changing world of concrete objects grasped by the senses was different from the unseen world of abstract objects that was grasped by pure reason.
• Aristotle ارسطو (d. 322 BC) called the first teacher (al mu’allim al awwal) by Muslim philosophers, was Plato’s student who synthesized previous philosophies to create the lexicon and methods of inquiry of today’s European philosophy. His interests were an empirical study of physical and biological sciences, logic, and ethics. He had an impact on Christian and Muslim theologians.

2.0 MUSLIM THINKERS INFLUENCED BY REASON - 1

• Al Farabi, Abu Nasr Muhammad bin Muhammad Al-Farabi (d. 950 CE) was known as the second teacher (al mu’allim al thaani) following Aristotle. He preserved original texts of Greek philosophy and wrote comments and treatises about them. His epistemology was near that of Plato inclined to rational knowledge.
• Ibn Sina, Abu Ali al Husain Ibn Abdullah Ibn al Hasan ibn Ali (d. 1037 CE) was a physician and philosopher influenced by Aristotelian philosophy. He was midway between the rationalism of Plato and the empiricism of Aristotle.

3.0 MUSLIM THINKERS INFLUENCED BY REASON - 2

• Ibn Rushd, Abū l-Walīd Muḥammad Ibn ʾAḥmad Ibn Rušd.  (d. 1198CE) wrote commentaries in Europe. He was closer to the empiricism of Aristotle and became famous for Aristotle.
• Fakhruddin AlRazi, Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Umar Ibn al Husayn al Bakri al Tabaristani (d. 1210CE) was a polymath, a philosopher, a pioneer of inductive logic, and a mufassir. In his book Asas al taqdiis fi ilm al kalam listed 4 alternatives when evidence from aql and naql are apparently contradictory: (a) accept the contradiction, (b) reject both, (c) accept naql and reject aql, (d) accept aql and interpret naql (t’awill). The 4^th alternative caused much controversy.

4.0 IMPACT OF GREEK REASON ON MUSLIM   THOUGHT  -  1

• I have a hypothesis that most controversies among Muslims past and present arise out of how they use the two sources of knowledge.
• ‘Ilm al kalam (the science of discourse) with the main concern about the sources of knowledge (naql vs ‘aql) arose as a defense of the Islamic ‘aqidah using against doubters and detractors who used reason. It also mediated the dispute between ahl al hadith and ahl al ra’ay.
• The main Sunni Schools of Kalam were Maturidiyah and Ash’ariyah which combined transmission with reason. The Tahawiyyah emphasized transmission. The Mu’tazilah went to the extreme of using reason.

5.0 IMPACT OF GREEK REASON ON MUSLIM   THOUGHT  -  2

• The Ash’ari school named after Imaam Abu Alhasan al Ash’ari (d. 936CE) followed the basic tenets of Islam and opposed the mutazilah for their over-emphasis on reason and opposed those who over-emphasized transmission and taqlid: literalists (dhahiriyah), anthropotheists (mujasimiin) and traditionalists (ahl al hadith).
• The Maturdi school was named after Abu Mansur Muhammad Al-Maturidi (d. 944CE). The school agreed with the Asharis on most doctrines and differed on others.

6.0 IMPACT OF GREEK REASON ON MUSLIM   THOUGHT  -  3

• Al Tahawiyyah^[1] took the position regarding attributes of Allah accepting them as they are mentioned in the Qur’an (tafwiidh) without interpretation (ta’awiil). Those who interpreted the attributes were aiming at a complete separation of divine and human attributes (tanziih) and trying to avoid resemblance & anthropomorphism (tashbiih & tajsiim) but were accused of rejecting the attributes (ta’atwiil & nafyu).
• Mutazilah engaged in speculative theology and used reason to reach conclusions rejected by a majority of Muslims for example that the Qur’an was created and not part of Allah’s essence, good and evil can be derived from reason, etc.

¹ متن العقيدة الطحاوية  بيان عقيدة اهل السنة والجماعة للالمام ابي جعفر الطحاوي

7.0 IMPACT OF GREEK REASON ON MUSLIM SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - 1

• Greek thought, logic, and epistemology impacted the ummat in 2 episodes.
• In the first 3 centuries of hijra Muslims translated Greek science into Arabic. They also added their experimental findings.
• In the colonial and post-colonial eras when European education systems influenced by Greek epistemology were imposed on the ummat. The educated elite was brought up on Greek epistemology and worldview. They experienced a dichotomy because these views did not always agree with their Islamic worldview. Unlike the earlier generation, the new generation mostly consumed and did not add to the knowledge in a significant way.

8.0 IMPACT OF GREEK REASON ON MUSLIM SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - 2

• The Qur’an and empirical observation: Driven by the Qur’anic motivation to observe the environment for signs of Allah signs in people (anfus) and the cosmic horizons (aafaaq) [41:53] early Muslims observed and experimented with correcting wrong Greek scientific facts.
• Improved Muslim science passed to Europe during the Crusades triggered the European Renaissance led to the scientific, agricultural, and industrial revolutions that made Europe a World power.
• The decline of Muslim science: Muslims learned and benefitted from Greek empirical science and technology. Muslim scientific knowledge declined by the end of the first Abbasid era due to political instability and Greek philosophy, epistemology, and logic that were more deductive than inductive and discouraged experimentation.
• I hypothesize that Muslim science and technology would have developed more if there was no contact with Greek knowledge.

9.0 MUSLIM SCHOLARS’ REJECTION OF GREEK REASON - 1

• Al-Ghazali, Hujjat al Islam Al Mujaddid Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad aṭ-Ṭūsiyy al-Ġaz(z)ālīy; (d. 1111 CE) wrote The Incoherence of the Philosophers (Tahafut al-falasifa) rejecting the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle and attacking Muslim philosophers like Ibn Sina  Al Farabi etc. He disproved their arguments using logical arguments and texts from the wahy. Al Ghazali’s writings impacted European scholars like Thomas Aquinas (who knew Arabic), David Hume, Dante, Moses Ben Maimon.
• Ibn Rushd responded to Al Ghazali’s attack on Greek philosophy in a book Tahatuf al Tahatuf (incoherence of the incoherence) arguing that reason cannot contradict wahy because they are two different methods of reaching the truth and ‘truth cannot contradict truth’. Ibn Rushd argued that if wahy and ‘aql contradict wahy must be interpreted allegorically (ta’awil) by the people of intellect (ulu al albaab) [3:7].

10.0 MUSLIM SCHOLARS’ REJECTION OF GREEK REASON - 2

• Ibn Taymiyah, Sheikh al Islam Taqī ad-Dīn Aḥmad ibn Taymiyyah (d. 1328 CE). His name is from the female side of his family named after Taymiyah famous for her scholarship and piety. He refuted Aristotelian philosophy. He authored Darʾ taʿāruḍ al-ʿaql wa al-naql (Removing Conflict between Reason and Revelation) also called Al-Muwāfaqa (Harmony). He used logical arguments and textual evidence to prove that clear ‘aqli (sariih al ma ‘aquul) agrees with correctly transmitted naqli (sahih al manquul).
• Lack of contradiction between ‘aql and naql underlies the movement of integration of epistemology (i.epistemology) and integration of knowledge (IOK).

11.0 ILM NAQLI vs ILM AQLI: PURPORTED   CONTRADICTION  -  1

• Intellectual battles arose between the Muslim philosophers and the traditionalists. Abu Hamid al Ghazzali who studied and admired philosophy and later turned against it wrote Tahafut al Falasifah (incoherence of the philosophers) with a rejoinder by Ibn Rushd the grandson in Tahafut al Tahafut (incoherence of the incoherent).
• Greek ideas influenced the intellectual debate about ‘aql and naql and many Muslim scholars wrote about the contradiction between ‘aql and naql. A common thread was giving ‘aql more prominence than it deserved vis-à-vis naql.

12.0 ILM NAQLI vs ILM NAQLI: PURPORTED   CONTRADICTION  -  2

• Fakhr Alddiin Al Razi and other philosophers developed the general rule, (al qanun al kulli), to handle purported contradiction between ‘aql and naql. Al Razi in his book Asas al taqdiis fi ilm al kalam listed 4 alternatives when evidences from ‘aql and naql are ‘apparently’ contradictory.
• The 4 alternatives:
• combine them (jam’u bainahuma) – impossible,
• reject both (radduhuma) – not realistic,
• accept naql and reject ‘aql - not accepted because ‘aql is necessary to understand naql. Rejecting ‘aql means also rejection of naql,
• accept ‘aql and re-interpret naql (t’awiil) – This is the only alternative.

13.0 IBN TAYMIYAH’S ARGUMENTS AGAINST   CONTRADICTION  -  1

• Ibn Taymiyah rejected the contradiction in his major work ‘Rejection of the contradiction between aql and naql dar’u taarudh al aql wa al naql. The main purpose of the book was to reject the general rule Ibn Taymiyah used rational arguments supported by Qur’an to reject contradiction between ‘aql and naql.
• Ibn Taymiyyah like others in his times looked at ‘ilm aqli mainly as rational knowledge so his arguments are difficult to follow by those in our generation where data-driven empirical knowledge is the main expression of ‘ilm aqli.

14.0 IBN TAYMIYAH’S ARGUMENTS AGAINST   CONTRADICTION  -  2

• The book has a lot of relevant digressions that are difficult to follow for those of our generation who did not experience the philosophical battles in the era of ilm al kalam.
• The conclusion of Ibn Taymiyah was that clear aql (sariih al ma’aquul) does not contradict correct naql (sahih al manqul).
• We can reach the same conclusion from the tauhidi paradigm: all knowledge (‘aqli and naqli) is from the same Creator God so it cannot be contradictory.

IBN TAYMIYAH 1

IBN TAYMIYAH 2

IBN TAYMIYAH 3

IBN TAYMIYAH 4

IBN TAYMIYAH 5

IBN TAYMIYAH 6

 

220617P - IIOK: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE: Integration Of Transmission And Reason

Presented at the Summer School in Kyrgyzstan on June 17, 2022 by Omar Hasan K Kasule Sr. MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard) Professor of Epidemiology and Bioethics

1.0 RE-INTEGRATION OF WAHY INTO EPISTEMOLOGY - 1

• ‘Ilm ‘naqli is revealed and transmitted knowledge whose recognized source is the Qur’an and sunnat; other alleged sources are not unanimously accepted.
• ‘Ilm ‘aqli is rational knowledge based on human intellect, human observation, and experimentation. Historically There was a time when ilm aqli was based on logical reasoning without empirical observation and experimentation. This has now reversed and ‘ilm aqli is mostly the same as empirical knowledge, ‘ilm tajriibi. The question is why reason out phenomena deductively when you can observe them inductively. In practice deduction makes hypotheses that are tested experimentally and the intellect is necessary to interpret experimental findings.

2.0 RE-INTEGRATION OF WAHY INTO EPISTEMOLOGY - 2

• ‘Ilm ‘naqli is revealed and transmitted knowledge whose recognized source is the Qur’an and sunnat; other alleged sources are not unanimously accepted.
• ‘Ilm ‘aqli is rational knowledge based on human intellect, human observation, and experimentation. Historically There was a time when ilm aqli was based on logical reasoning without empirical observation and experimentation. This has now reversed and ‘ilm aqli is mostly the same as empirical knowledge, ‘ilm tajriibi. The question is why reason out phenomena deductively when you can observe them inductively. In practice deduction makes hypotheses that are tested experimentally and the intellect is necessary to interpret experimental findings.

3.0 RE-INTEGRATION OF WAHY INTO EPISTEMOLOGY - 2

• There is no essential contradiction between transmitted knowledge (‘ilm naqli) and rational empirical knowledge (‘ilm ‘aqli). Any apparent contradictions are either due to incorrect empirical observations or due to human intellectual deficiency in understanding ‘ilm naqli.
• There have been confusions about what source of knowledge to use. ‘Ilm naqli is used exclusively in matters of ethics and morality. ‘Ilm ‘aqli is used to answer questions of an empirical nature but requires the guidance of ‘ilm naqli regarding fundamentals like objectivity (istiqamat), ethics (akhlaq), and purposiveness (gha’iyyat).
• We are going to see next how this integrated epistemology solves the problem of duality in Muslim education.

4.0 CRISIS OF DUALITY IN MUSLIM KNOWLEDGE AND EDUCATION - 1

• Traditional Muslim Education: Sciences (natural and social) declined with the general decline after the early Abbasid era. A traditional education system based on ‘ilm naqli (Qur’an, sunnat, fiqh, siirat, language) continued unchanged in its curricula to our day.
• Surviving institutions of traditional education: Azhar in Cairo, Qarawiyin in Fez, Qairawan/Zeytouna in Tunis, Dar al Uloom in South Asia, Pondok/Pesantren in South East Asia, Madrasat in the Middle East.
• Institutions of traditional education that disappeared: Nizamiya of Baghdad, Nishapur, Balkh, Herat, and Isfahan; Timbuktu University in West Africa; University of Cordoba in Andalusia; Ottoman Madrasahs etc).

5.0 CRISIS OF DUALITY IN MUSLIM KNOWLEDGE AND EDUCATION  - 2

• Modern secular European education: was introduced by colonial rulers who marginalized/neglected the traditional Muslim education system as well as its graduates and set up a European system. This became the second encounter between Muslims and Greek epistemology. It presented a world-view different from that of Muslim society.
• Crisis of duality in knowledge and thought: The crisis was due to 2 systems of education with different and contradictory world views and epistemologies. The educated elite of the ummah was bifurcated by education systems. Neither group had the integrated knowledge needed to solve the complex problems of the ummat. Those who studied in both systems were even more confused.
• The consequence of the education crisis was intellectual schizophrenia, intellectual stagnation, intellectual dependence, lack of innovation, social decline, and weakness (political, economic, military etc).

6.0 INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE (IOK) AT INSTITUTIONAL LEVELS - 1

• World Muslim Education Conferences: The first World Conference on Muslim Education held in Makka in 1977 and a meeting of intellectuals in Logano in 1979 recognized duality as the main problem of Muslim education. Follow-up conferences expanded the theme: Islamabad 1400 H/1980 M, Dhakka in 1401 H/1981 M, Jakarta in 1402 H/1982 MD, and Cairo in 1985 M and Cape town in September 1996. The last conference focused on writing teaching materials for integrated curricula.
• Research Institutions on integration of knowledge were set up: (a) IIIT in Virginia USA pioneered by Dr Ismail Faruqi, Dr Abdulhamid AbuSulayman, Dr Taha Jabir Alwani, Dr Ahmad Totonji, Dr Jamal Barzanji, Dr Hisham AlTalib and others. (b) Islamic Education Academy in Cambridge pioneered by Prof Ali Ashraf and many others.

7.0 INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE (IOK) AT INSTITUTIONAL LEVELS - 2

• Public Islamic universities to teach integrated curricula were set up in Kuala Lumpur 1983, Islamabad in 1980, Kushtia Bangladesh in 1986, Niger in 1986, Uganda in 1988. These were followed by many private ones all over the World mostly in the 2000s.
• Private Islamic universities proliferated in Muslim majority and Muslim minority countries. They held the lofty goal of an integrated education system but could not achieve much in the short term because of lack of suitable curricula and teaching materials.
• Integrated Muslim schools are found in South Africa, UK, USA, Australia, etc. They have been successful in creating an Islamic cultural and social environment in the school but they suffer from the same problem as Islamic universities due to lack of integrated curricula and teaching materials.

8.0 INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE (IOK) AT DISCIPLINE LEVEL - 1

• The effort to produce integrated curricula and teaching materials lagged 20-30 years behind establishment of integrated institutions.
• IOK has to start with existing disciplines and cannot succeed if started from tabula rasa. Each discipline has developed its unique basic concepts, epistemology, paradigms, methodology and corpus of knowledge.
• Each professor or lecturer must start with his own discipline and within that discipline the course that he/she teaches.

9.0 INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE (IOK) AT DISCIPLINE LEVEL - 2: Practical steps

• A short course on the essence of methodological sciences of usul al fiqh, ilm al tafsir, and ilm al hadith.
• Review books and articles written about IOK in the discipline or similar disciplines.
• In view of the above summarize and critique the main epistemological, methodological, and conceptual paradigms of the discipline.
• Review existing teaching materials from the i.epistemological point of view and identify what to remove, change, or add.
• Prepare a course outline if one does not exist one making sure to include an i.epistemological dimension.

10.0 INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE (IOK) AT DISCIPLINE LEVEL - 2: Practical steps, con’t.

• Prepare an extensive bibliography using both general and integrated sources.
• Submit a book proposal and a research grant application.
• Either singly or in a team (preferable) start writing the units of the teaching material.

 
RECENT EFFORTS TO WRITE TEACHING MATERIALS IN BANGLADESH
 
RECENT EFFORTS TO WRITE TEACHING MATERIALS IN MALAYSIA
 
RECENT EFFORTS TO WRITE TEACHING MATERIALS IN INDONESIA
  

220617P - ISLAMIC INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE: PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE: Basics of Knowledge

Presented at the Summer School in Kyrgyzstan on June 17, 2022. By Omar Hasan K Kasule Sr. MB ChB (MUK). MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard) Professor of Epidemiology and Bioethics

1.0 DEFINITIONS OF ISLAMIC INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE (IIOK)

• Integration of knowledge is the trending concept after the realization that too narrow disciplinary specializations led to a distorted picture of the reality
• Interdisciplinary integration also called horizontal integration is connecting knowledge and skills from more than one discipline (subject area) to solve a specific problem
• Transdisciplinary integration dissolves the boundaries between disciplines and organizes knowledge in terms of real-world problems
• Intradisciplinary integration is arranging and organizing knowledge within a discipline in a coherent way

2.0 DEFINITIONS OF ISLAMIC INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE (IIOK)

• The Islamic integration of knowledge is a form of transdisciplinary integration that brings together knowledge from human experience (ilm aqli) and knowledge transmitted from revelation (ilm naqli)
• Muslim universities and schools worldwide are adopting IIOK to solve the problem of a dichotomy of knowledge that arose because of secular education systems.
• The dichotomy of knowledge leads to intellectual schizophrenia and attendant social and technological problems
• The paradigm of tauhid underlies and makes imperative IIOK
• We shall discuss IIOK in its historical, present, and future perspectives

3.0 DEFINITIONS OF KNOWLEDGE

• The European definition of Knowledge: justified belief in a fact (wrong or right). However, some modern European thinkers insist on the belief being true^[1].
• The Islamic definition of knowledge: Knowledge (‘ilm) is true in contrast to lack of knowledge (jahl).
• Degrees of knowledge based on certainty: ‘ayn al yaqeen (based on human observation) [102:7], haqq al yaqeen (truth behind observed reality) [56:95].  ‘ilm al yaqeen (knowledge of the highest grade) [102:5].
• Progression in knowledge: (a) linguistic: French connaitre (acquaintance) to savoir (knowledge). (b) information science: raw data than information then knowledge than wisdom (hikmat) (c) deduction to induction (d) induction to theory.
• Humans can have knowledge: The Qur’an asserted the existence of knowledge of divine sources [55:1-4]. This debunks the epistemic skepticism about human knowledge.
• Duncan Pritchard ‘The classical account of knowledge, which is the view that knowledge is justified true belief in Epistemology 2nd edition. page 27. First published 2016 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN London 2016.

4.0 QUR’ANIC TERMINOLOGY ABOUT KNOWLEDGE - 1

• The Qur’an uses the following terminology to refer to knowledge: ‘ilm, ma’arifat[as a verb], hikmat, basiirat, ra’ay, dhann, yaqeen, tadhkirat, shu’ur, lubb, nabau, burhan, dirayat, haqq, and tasawwur [meaning conceptualization].
• ‘Ilm is used for divine knowledge as a verb [2:187], as a noun [7:7], and as an adjective [6:73].
• ‘Ilm is used for human knowledge as a verb [2:60], as a noun [2:32], and as an adjective [12:55].
• Ma’arifat (lower than ‘ilm) is used only as a verb [12:58] indicating the acquisition of new information or reaffirming old information.
• Yaqiin [15:9] is certainty and has 3 levels: ‘ayn al yaqiin [102:7], haqq al yaqiin [56:95], ‘ilm al yaqiin[102:5].
• Tasawwur. Understanding is part of a conceptualization^[2].

5.0 QUR’ANIC TERMINOLOGY ABOUT KNOWLEDGE - 2

• Hikmat [2:151] is a higher level of knowledge above ‘ilm that interprets and uses factual information within a moral context and is both knowledge and understanding.
• Basiirat [75:14] is a divinely guided use of the senses such that their perceptions are correct.
• Ra’ay [11:27] is an opinion based on rational considerations; it may be right or it may be wrong.
• Tadhkirat[20:3], remembrance or reminder, is needed to maintain knowledge.
• Shu’ur[2:9].  is perception.
• Lubb [2:197] is Intelligence or understanding.
• Nabaa [2:31] Information/data is called nabaa.
• Burhan [2:111] or Sultan [6:81] is proof or evidence.
• Dirayat[31:34] is used to refer to knowing, informing, and understanding.
• Haqq [3:60] is correct or valid knowledge. The term haqq is used with a moral connotation as the opposite of falsehood, baatil [2:42].

6.0 QUR’ANIC TERMINOLOGY ABOUT LACK OF KNOWLEDGE

• The Qur’an uses several terms to indicate absolute or relative lack of knowledge: jahal, raib, dhann, shakk, and yaqeen.
• The worst-case absolute lack of knowledge, jahal [2:273]. is the opposite of ‘ilm.
• Raib [9:45] is an unformulated doubt.
• Shakk [11:62] is a formulated doubt being better than raib. In shakk there are several alternatives but the human does not have the ability to tell which of them is valid or true.
• Dhann [53:28] has doubtful and uncertain knowledge that is higher than shakk.
• Baatil [3:71] is used to refer to the falsehood with a moral connotation.

7.0 DEFINITION OF EPISTEMOLOGY (‘ILM al ‘ILM or the SCIENCE OF KNOWLEDGE)

• European secular epistemology: Epistemology (derived from Greek epistēmē, meaning 'knowledge', and logos meaning discourse) is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge: nature, justification, rationality or belief, sources, and related matters. It generally denies revelation as a source of knowledge. Its schools are empiricism (knowledge from sensory experience), rationalism (knowledge from reason), skepticism (questions the possibility of human knowledge), idealism (everything we know can be reduced to mental phenomena), etc.
• Islamic divine epistemology (nadhariayyat al ma’arifat al islamiyat): a study of the sources of knowledge to reach the truth; the sources determine all other aspects of knowledge. Knowledge can be innate or acquired, useful or harmful, a priori or a posteriori. Human knowledge is limited (cannot know the unseen or the future with certainty). Integrated epistemology re-integrates wahy as a source of knowledge.

8.0 SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE

• Primary sources of knowledge. Revelation (wahy) and empirical experience (tajribat) are primary sources of knowledge.  Reason (‘aql) is a secondary source that envelopes empirical knowledge because it provides the hypotheses and the interpretation of experimentation. As will be argued later in the paper the term ‘aql can cover both rational and empirical knowledge. In the Muslim experience reason as free philosophical speculation not related to empirical reality became jadal and caused a lot of confusion.
• Doubtful sources of knowledge with no unanimity about their independent standing from the primary sources: ‘ilm laduniy [18:110], inspiration (ilham)[91:8], experiential intuition (hadas)[16:78], natural instinct (ghariizat, jabilliyat)^[3],  physiognomy (firasat)[15:75]^[4,5,6], dreams (ru’uyat)[12:5-7], and Sufi unveiling (kashf)^[7].

9.0 SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE, con’t.

• Invalid sources of knowledge: magic & sorcery (sihr)[2:110, 7:126, 113:4]; astrology (tanjiim)[Abudaud 11021]; divination, augury (kahaanat & tatayur)[69:42, 52:29, 36:19, 7:131, 27:47] and other forms of superstition.

10.0 EXTEMISM IS AN EPISTEMOLOGICAL PROBLEM

• Extremism is the failure to use both sources of knowledge in a balanced way.
• A literal understanding of the texts of naql and failure to see the space-time dimensions.
• Out-of-context use of wahy or reason leading to extreme views.
• Confusion of right vs wrong with true vs false or legal vs illegal.
• Failure to appreciate that different sources/evidence can lead to multiple true conclusions.
• Using a wrong source for a question for example looking for a moral solution from experimentation.
• Solving a complex multi-faceted problem using one source narrowly.

11.0 EXTREMISM IS AN EPISTEMOLOGICAL PROBLEM, con’t.

• Thinking of the action without the reactions or consequences.
• Confusing what is old with what is right or true.
• Looking for the simplest solution.
• Failure to understand that a reasonable solution may lead to a result worse than the original problem.

REFERENCES:

1. Duncan Pritchard ‘The classical account of knowledge, which is the view that knowledge is justified true belief in: Epistemology 2nd edition. page 27. First published 2016 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN London 2016.
2. www.alukah.net بكر البغدادي فن التصور رقم ٦٨٩٦ لتاريخ ١٩-٣-٢٠١٥
3. The instinctive animal behavior for example the bees is from Allah (Nahal:68-69]. Humans have instincts of love of women, sons, and material things [Al Imran:14]
4. Firaasat is knowing the inner hidden from the external obvious. Firaasat differs from suu al dhann in that it is based on external signs whereas suu al dhann starts with a negative emotion or feeling like jealousy that leads to negative conclusions. Firasat is based on empirical signs whereas ilham is automatic knowledge without any external medium. Firaasat unlike kahanat does not claim knowledge of the unseen
5. قال أبو الدرداد: اتقوا فراسة العلماء فانهم ينظرون بنور الله يقذفه الله في قلوبهم وعلي السنتهم. وقال رسول الله اتقوا فراسة المؤمن فانه ينظر بنور الله
6. قال ابن القيم: الفراسة الايمانية ..  نور يقذفه الله في قلب عبده يفرق به بين الحق والباطل والصادق والكاذب وهذه الفراسة علي حسب قوة الايمان وكان ابوبكر الصديق اعظم الامة فراسة                        
7. The Sufi’s talk about knowledge of the heart that is above the intellect.