251029P - EVOLUTION OF ISLAMIC HEALTHCARE EDUCATION AND PRACTICE

Presentation at the 1st ASEAN Conference on Shariah Compliant Healthcare (ASCOCH 202s) on 29 October 2025. By Dr Omar Hasan Kasule Sr MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard), Professor of Epidemiology and Bioethics

The Concept of Islamization:

• 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 Islamization. Islam = ‘aqiidat + shari’at.
• Islamization is infusing the moral teachings of Islam, deriving from the ‘aqiidat and the practical regulations of the shari’ah into medicine.
• Islamization 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 Islamizing medicine over the past endeavor over the past half century, as will be explained below, but a lot remains to be done.

Developments pre-1980 – Islamic Medical Associations:

• The concept of Islamization of medicine was not crystallized during 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, 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 integration of Islam in their profession, but the nature of the integration was not clear.

Developments pre-1980 – Islamic Medical Associations:

• Some looked at IMA as a normal medical association with Muslim members and thus drew criticism from the general medical associations.
• Some looked at IMA as a forum for providing help and support to students and young physicians.
• Some looked at IMA as a forum for medical and relief programs for Muslim communities suffering from the effects of poverty or social instability.

Developments 1980-1995: Medical Relief and Networking:

• During this period, developments occurred in medical relief, medical education, and the definition of 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.

Developments 1980-1995:  Towards the Concept of Islamic Medicine:

• This was accompanied by a general return to religious practice and religious propagation among youths in universities and physicians in hospitals.
• Following 2 international conferences in Kuwait in 1981 and 1982, the concept of Islamic medicine, as traditional Muslim medicine, evolved and excited many people.
• Traditional Muslim medical practices were survivors of the medicine practiced in the first centuries of hijra. It was a mixture of Prophetic medicine (tibb Nabawi), traditional herbal medicine, and Greek medicine (tibb Yunani). It was preserved and developed to a high level of sophistication in India and Pakistan.
• There were frustrations with the paradigm of traditional medicine being the representative of Islamic medicine, especially in view of its incompatibility with scientific medicine.

Definition of Islamic Medicine in 1995:

• A medicine seminar, organized by the Islamic Medical Association of Malaysia, discussed the issue of what Islamic medicine is.
• Muslim physicians in Malaysia at that time were going through turbulent arguments with practitioners of traditional medicine, who were convincing many patients not to go to hospitals (non-Islamic medicine) but to seek medical care from them.
• This had resulted in disease diagnosis being delayed, and a solution was needed.
• A paper presented at that conference offered a definition of Islamic medicine, and part of its abstract is reproduced here.

Definition of Islamic Medicine in 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, flexible, and allows for growth and development of various methods of investigating and treating diseases within the framework described above.
• This definition calls for a 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 Islamization of medicine, is described in detail in the paper[1].

Developments after 1995: Islamic Hospitals:

• 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.
• This was followed by developing standard operating procedures and criteria based on the shari’at. These were recognized officially, and the hospitals started designating themselves as shari’ah-compliant hospitals.
• These hospitals experienced severe financial problems at the start because they were small, but as they became more popular and attracted more clients, they improved their financial situation.

Developments after 1995: Shari’at Compliant Hospitals:

• By 2000, the concept was implemented in practice at Islamic clinics and hospitals. 
• Patients were drawn to these facilities because they solved their spiritual, ibadat, and fiqh problems. The person-centered approach of these facilities, emphasizing ‘ukhuwah’ above everything, gave immense satisfaction to patients.
• The general social environment of the facility resonated with Islamic culture, making patients feel more at home.
• These hospitals are expanding after overcoming initial problems of financial health (because of small size) and are reaching out to a wider community of patients, Muslims and non-Muslims.
• The wider outreach has forced the Sultan Ahmad Shah Hospital in Kuantan to add provisions for non-Muslim patients in its policies and procedures.

Islamic Hospital Amman, Jordan:

Islamic Specialist Hospital Kuala Lumpur:

Islamic Hospital Bandung:

Saidina Abubakar Islamic Hospital, Uganda:

International Islamic Hospital Yogyakarta:

IIUM Medical Centre:

Developments after 1995: Islamic Medical Education:

• In this period, medical education from an Islamic perspective became a reality as faculties changed their curricula to reflect Islamic values.
• Focus was on two areas: medical fiqh (al fiqh al tibbi) and medical ethics.
• Medical fiqh dealt with the impact of disease on the regulations of taharat and ibaadat.
• At a later stage, regulation of munakahaat and mu’amalaat was covered.
• Existing fiqh rulings or new ijtihad by the jurists solved these problems by qiyas and ijma, and physicians and patients would be satisfied.

Kulliyah of Medicine at the International Islamic University, Kuantan, Malaysia:

Developments after 1995: Medical Ethics:

• Developments in medical ethics in teaching and practice were more complex because medical technology created new dilemmas that could not be solved purely by fiqh because they had a moral dimension.
• The first was organ donation and organ transplantation.
• This was followed by assisted reproduction, such as in vitro fertilization, which developed tangential issues of ovum and sperm donation, surrogate motherhood, and disposal of excess fertilized embryos.

Developments after 1995: Medical Ethics:

• Advanced life support technology created issues of deciding to withhold/withdraw life support and how to use brain death as a criterion of death.
• In the genetic area, issues arose regarding gene therapy and genetic engineering. These issues could not be resolved using traditional fiqh, and recourse was to new tools.
• Starting in 2004, the theory of maqasid al shari’at emerged as the main guide in the area of medical ethics.[2,3]

SUSTAINABILITY OF ISLAMIC HOSPITALS

Phases of Development of Islamic Hospitals:

• Starting in the 2000s, more hospitals were established, and they sought to define a niche for Islamic medicine.
• At the beginning, they promoted the concept of an ‘ibadat-friendly hospital that offered an Islamic environment to the patients.
• They then moved a step further by developing criteria, standard operating principles, and standards, some of which were officially recognized, and the label shari’at-compliant hospitals became official and popular in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Standards for Hospitals Based on Fiqh and Muamalaat:

• The standards developed were not always comprehensive, and shari’at advisory boards were required in each hospital to provide continuous guidance about issues that would arise.
• These hospitals applied Islamic fiqh in their operations and training: fiqh al taharat, fiqh al ibadat, fiqh al ‘aadaat, and aspects of fiqh al mu’amalaat.

Standards for Hospitals Based on Maqasid al Shari’at:

• They also developed wider concepts based on maqasid al shari’at to handle complex, multi-faceted issues that do not have direct textual evidence from the Qur'an and Sunnah or the writings of the jurists.
• The five objectives of dinn, nafs, nasl, aql, and maal.
• Wider scope of ijtihad.

Challenges of Islamic Hospitals:

• At the beginning, they faced many financial challenges because they had few patients and did not enjoy the economies of scale of bigger hospitals.
• They have been able to attract a loyal clientele of Muslim patients and some non-Muslims who prefer to be treated in an Islamic atmosphere.
• Since 2010, many have stabilized financially but still face an upward struggle.

The Next Stage of Hospital Development:

• The next challenge facing these hospitals is developing a business model that will accommodate shari’at compliance in patient care.
• We need a model that will involve shari’ah-compliant financing of health care by some form of community takaful health insurance.
• This model will require amalgamation into bigger units or setting up cooperative operational models.

FACTORS OF SUSTAINABILITY OF ISLAMIC MEDICINE

General Awareness of Islamic Practice:

• The proto-concept of Islamic medicine arose during the start of the 15th century of hijra and became concrete by 1995 when it was realized that modern scientific medicine could be practiced within the ethical and legal paradigms of Islam.
• The realization led to several consequences: medical fiqh, Islamic medical ethics, ibadah-friendly hospitals, and shari’ah-compliant medical practice, all supported by teaching and training in Islamic aspects of medicine
• The awareness has been extended and expanded by discussions at seminars and conferences, and is spreading and taking root in many Muslim societies and countries.

Demand for Islamic Alternatives:

• Developments in medical technology, such as organ transplantation, artificial life support, and reproductive technologies created many ethical and fiqh issues that further reinforced the need for further thinking and research on Islamic aspects of medicine.
• Dissatisfaction with current medical practices led many to look at alternative/complementary medical practices and this encouraged Islamic medicine even more.
• The main drivers of this demand are the person-centered approach and solution of religious and social problems in medical practice.

Teaching about Islamic Shari’ah Compliance at Faculties of Medicine and Nursing, Pharmacy, and Dentistry:

• Starting in 1997, the concept became part of the curriculum of several faculties of medicine, while it was also propagated at seminars, workshops, and training programs.
• The Kulliyah of Medicine at the International Islamic University in Kuantan, Malaysia, was the first to incorporate the Islamic input in all 5 years of its medical course.
• Graduates of IIUM over the past 25 years have spread the concept of a shari’ah-compliant hospital wherever they went to work within Malaysia and outside.
• Graduates of IIUM also made contributions by working in shari’ah-compliant hospitals.

Official Support for Shari’ah-Compliant Hospitals:

• The concept of shari’ah-compliant hospitals was promoted further by official recognition when shari’ah standard operating procedures and standards were recognized in Malaysia (SIRIM) and Indonesia.
• This recognition further stimulated public demand for ibadah-friendly hospitals, with the Malaysian Ministry of Health taking a lead in responding to this demand and making its hospitals ibadah-friendly.
• The shari’ah-compliant hospitals have asserted themselves further by forming coalitions and associations that represent their interests.

Research:

• The intellectual and professional dimensions of the concept are being expanded by many researchers in health and shari’ah-related faculties writing masters and doctoral theses on the concept.
• Members of the faculties of medicine, pharmacy, nursing and science produce books, papers, theses on integration of Islam in medicine and shari’ah-compliant practice.
• Cross disciplinary research involving faculties of shari’at and Islamic studies on practical problems arising out of applications of modern medical technology.

Expansion and Growth of the Concept of Shari’ah Compliance:

• The concept is being expanded outside the clinical domain to cover management, finance, pharmaceuticals, and public health. 
• The concept has a great future in many Muslim and non-Muslim countries.
• Of all factors of sustainability discussed above, the most important has been and will continue to be education and training of future professionals on shari’ah-compliant health care.

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 pharmaceuticals has many ethical challenges that will require Islamic solutions.

The Balance Sheet: Achievements:

• Concept of Islamic medicine is well established.
• Islamic shari’ah-compliant hospitals have become a reality.
• Fiqh tibbi has developed to become an independent discipline.
• Islam has been integrated into the faculties of medicine and nursing.

INTEGRATION (ISLAMISATION) OF MEDICAL EDUCATION

The Balance Sheet: Shortcomings:

• Limited coverage: we have not reached all Muslim physicians.
• Small institutions are not yet part of the mainstream.

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 in the 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 values 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.

Problem with the Current Community Health Curriculum:

• Community health starts with community diagnosis, followed by programs that deal with the obvious and external manifestations of the problem.
• Community health should be more about establishing the normal and not diagnosing and dealing with the abnormal.
• We need to remove the root causes of addiction by strengthening community institutions before treating addiction.

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
• Ukhuwwat
• Takaful
• Shuura
• 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:

• Da'wa
• Enjoining the good and forbidding the bad, amr & nahy.
• Social change, taghyiir ijtima’e.

NOTE:

1. https://omarkasule-tib.blogspot.com/2011/05/950709p-islamic-medicine-concept.html 
2. https://omarkasule-tib.blogspot.com/2011/05/040717p-medical-ethics-from-maqasid-al.html
3. https://omarkasule-tib.blogspot.com/2011/05/040717p-ethics-and-etiquette-of-human.html 

251011P - WRITING INTEGRATED TEACHING MATERIALS: TOWARDS ISLAMISATION OF KNOWLEDGE

Presented at a seminar on Islamisation and Integration of Knowledge held at the Islamic University in Male, Maldives, on 11-14 October 2025. By Professor Omar Hasan Kasule MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard)

1.0 INTRODUCTION:

► Islam is an integration of theology (revealed knowledge) and philosophy (rational knowledge). There were controversies in Islamic intellectual history between the revealed and the rational until it was realized that they were integrated.

► The concept of tauhid serves as the basis for integrating revealed and rational knowledge, as all knowledge originates from one Creator.

► Empirical observation and experimentation show that various types of knowledge and phenomena must be integrated.

► Islamic values are universal and are essential in this era, when science and technology have created new challenges for humanity.

2.0 PHILOSOPHY vs THEOLOGY:

► European Philosophy is a systematic study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence as an academic discipline. It is concerned with truth vs falsehood, right vs wrong. Its 3 main branches are: epistemology, ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Philosophy involves asking questions and drawing logical conclusions.

► Theology is an academic discipline that studies the nature of God and religious beliefs. It originated in Christianity and spread to other religions.

► Islam is one unitary system based on the Qur’an and does not dichotomies between theology and philosophy, but has a long history of controversy about it.

► The discipline of ilm al kalam purported to be Islamic theology, was developed to defend the aqidat against the excesses of Greek philosophy and logic. It has declined.

3.0 NATURAL PHILOSOPHY RATIONAL BASIS FOR UNITY OF KNOWLEDGE - 1:

► Urea was first discovered in human urine in 1727. It was synthesized from inorganic materials in 1828. This broke the barrier between the organic and inorganic worlds.

► The discovery of the atom showed that all physical bodies are made of the same building block.

► The discovery of DNA shows a common basis for biological sciences. The same DNA produces different tissues in different parts of the human body, an indication of a higher order.

4.0 NATURAL PHILOSOPHY RATIONAL BASIS FOR UNITY OF KNOWLEDGE - 2:

► The discovery of the interchange of mass and energy unified the two.

► Brain chemistry has enabled the explanation of mental phenomena that were not known to have a physical basis.

► The common phenomenon of anticlockwise revolution: Earth around the Sun, Moon around the Earth, electrons around the nucleus, tawaf around the Kaaba.

5.0 IMAGE OF THE EARTH REVOLVING AROUND THE SUN:

6.0 IMAGE OF THE MOON REVOLVING AROUND THE EARTH:

7.0 IMAGE OF MUSLIMS MAKING TAWAF AROUND THE KAABA:

8.0 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 empirical study of physical and biological sciences, logic, and ethics. He had an impact on Christian and Muslim theologians.

9.0 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 a philosopher influenced by Aristotelian philosophy. He was midway between the rationalism of Plato and the empiricism of Aristotle.

10.0 MUSLIM THINKERS INFLUENCED BY REASON - 2:

► Ibn Rushd, Abū l-Walīd Muḥammad Ibn ʾAḥmad Ibn Rušd.  (d. 1198CE) wrote commentaries on European philosophy. He was closer to the empiricism of 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 has listed 4 alternatives when evidences 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 4th alternative caused much controversy.

11.0 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].

12.0 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).

13.0 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, later turned against it and wrote Tahafut al Falasifah (incoherence of the philosophers) with a rejoinder by Ibn Rushd, the grandson of 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.

14.0 ILM NAQLI vs ILM AQLI: PURPORTED CONTRADICTION - 2:

► Fakhr Alddiin Al Razi and other philosophers developed the general rule (al qanun al kulli), to handle purported contradictions 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.

IBN TAYMIYAH:

15.0 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.

16.0 IBN TAYMIYAH’S ARGUMENTS AGAINST CONTRADICTION - 1:

► 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.

17.0 THE ESSENCE OF TAUHID:

► The essence of Allah is one. As humans, we cannot reach or understand the essence of Allah. We can only deal with the names (asmaa) and attributes (sifaat).

► Part of the creed is belief in the names and attributes of God. They testify to and help humans understand the power and majesty of the creator.

► The human should, however, not delve into the details of the mechanisms, kaifa, because those are above human intellect and understanding.

► The names of Allah are to be used for Him and Him alone. Humans cannot attribute any of the names to themselves. This includes prophets and the righteous. 

► The sifaat are for Allah alone, and no human or any other creation can have the same attributes. It is a crime to think that Allah’s attributes are similar to human attributes.

18.0 TAUHID AL RUBUBIYYAT:

► The concept of rubuubiyyat is the assertion that there is a creator and sustainer of the universe and all its contents.

► The creator cannot be created and has neither a beginning nor an end.

► The concept of auto-creation, existence without a creator, is untenable because it leads to the logical absurdity of an object 'existing' before it existed. 

► Belief in the oneness of the creator-God, tauhid al rubuubiyyat, is inborn. Any normal human being will innately and instinctively know that there is one creator for the universe.

► Tauhid al rubuubiyyat is a logical imperative. The harmonious and well-coordinated universe can't have more than one creator. No two creators could agree so perfectly without any contradiction – Surat Anbiya: 22. 

► لَوْ كَانَ فِيهِمَا آلِهَةٌ إِلَّا اللَّهُ لَفَسَدَتَا ۚ فَسُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَرْشِ عَمَّا يَصِفُونَ

► Tauhid al rubuubiyat also explains the harmonious interactions in the ecosystem, the food chains, and the food webs. 

19.0 TAUHID AL ULUHIYYAT:

► Tauhid al uluuhiyyat implies worship of one God alone. Nothing else can be associated with Him in worship. 

► Tauhid al uluhiyyat is a logical consequence of tauhid al rubuubiyyat.

► The purpose of the creation of the universe is the worship of God, which is an expression of gratitude to the creator. 

► وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنْسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ. الذاريات: 56.

► All creations involuntarily worship God; it is only humans who sometimes disobey because they were given free will that is misused.

20.0 TAUHID AL ULUHIYYAT: Con’t.:

► أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يُسَبِّحُ لَهُ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَالطَّيْرُ صَافَّاتٍ كُلٌّ قَدْ عَلِمَ صَلَاتَهُ وَتَسْبِيحَهُ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِمَا يَفْعَلُونَ [النور: 41.]

► تُسَبِّحُ لَهُ السَّمَاوَاتُ السَّبْعُ وَالْأَرْضُ وَمَنْ فِيهِنَّ وَإِنْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ إِلَّا يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِهِ وَلَكِنْ لَا تَفْقَهُونَ تَسْبِيحَهُمْ إِنَّهُ كَانَ حَلِيمًا غَفُورًا [الإسراء: 44].

► Kufr, denial of God, is ungratefulness of Allah’s great gift of life and all that supports it. 

► لَئِنْ شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ وَلَئِنْ كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِي لَشَدِيدٌ. إبراهيم ٧ 

► Shirk, associating God with anything else in worship, is an unforgivable sin.

► Shirk is the cause of religious and social anarchy. Shirk arises from not following the dictates of tauhid al uluhiyyat and following other ‘gods’, which leads to social chaos because these ‘gods’ do not have a uniform social law.

21.0 Tauhid Al Rubuubiyyat is the Basis for Fixed Physical and Social laws:

► Tauhid al rubuubiyyat is the basis for fixed and constant laws (sunan) that make the world predictable and enable the development of science and technology.

► The laws or sunan are signs of Allah in the universe because they are constant and universal

► The sunan may be physical. 

► الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ . الرحمن ٤ 

► وَآيَةٌ لَّهُمُ اللَّيْلُ نَسْلَخُ مِنْهُ النَّهَارَ فَإِذَا هُم مُّظْلِمُونَ (37) وَالشَّمْسُ تَجْرِي لِمُسْتَقَرٍّ لَّهَا ۚ ذَٰلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ (38) وَالْقَمَرَ قَدَّرْنَاهُ مَنَازِلَ حَتَّىٰ عَادَ كَالْعُرْجُونِ الْقَدِيمِ (39) لَا الشَّمْسُ يَنبَغِي لَهَا أَن تُدْرِكَ الْقَمَرَ وَلَا اللَّيْلُ سَابِقُ النَّهَارِ ۚ وَكُلٌّ فِي فَلَكٍ يَسْبَحُونَ . ياسين ٣٧-٤٠ 

22.0 Tauhid Al Rubuubiyyat is the Basis for Fixed Physica and Social, con’t.:

► The sunan may be social. 

► سُنَّةَ ٱللَّهِ فِى ٱلَّذِينَ خَلَوْاْ مِن قَبْلُ ۖ وَلَن تَجِدَ لِسُنَّةِ ٱللَّهِ تَبْدِيلًا. أحزاب ٦٢ 

► سُنَّةَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلُ ۖ وَلَن تَجِدَ لِسُنَّةِ اللَّهِ تَبْدِيلًا. فتح ٢٣ 

► سُنَّةَ مَن قَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا قَبْلَكَ مِن رُّسُلِنَا ۖ وَلَا تَجِدُ لِسُنَّتِنَا تَحْوِيلًا. الاسراء ٧٧

► Humans obey the physical laws involuntarily, but they can disobey the social laws because Allah gave them the intellectual ability to make choices and that is why they are rewarded and punished.

23.0 ‘Aqidat Al Tauhid is the Islamic Worldview, Tasawwur Islami, that Underlies Islamic Civilisation - 1:

► Tauhid is the oneness of the creator-God that implies the oneness of the created universe.

► The testament of tauhid is 'there is no god but one God, la ilaha illa al llaahu, consists of a negation followed by an affirmation. 

► Tauhid encapsulates the Islamic worldview and is the basis of Islamic culture and civilization.

► Tauhid is an intellectual challenge since the concept of one God above and beyond human and the whole universe is an intellectual and abstract reality that can be only grasped at the highest levels of intellectual competence.

► Tauhid provides an integrating framework for the whole universe in whose absence there would be irreconcilable contradictions.

24.0 ‘Aqidat Al Tauhid is the Islamic Worldview, Tasawwur Islami, that Underlies Islamic Civilisation - 2:

► Tauhid is the basis for physical and social laws that govern science, technology, and society. The perfection, order, and harmony of the universe and the human body are empirical proof of the oneness of the creator. 

► Tauhid, as belief in one creator and sustainer, gives purpose and a sense of direction to human civilization. 

► Belief in tauhid guarantees eventual entry into paradise with a short stay in hell as punishment for unforgiven major sins.

► Tauhid has implications for our daily life based on issuing from one creator: brotherhood and equality, physical laws of science and technology, social laws, economic organization, and political organization.

25.0 MOVEMENT OF REACTIVE INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE IN THE WEST:

► Realisation that knowledge that solves actual societal problems is multi-disciplinary. Knowledge cannot be compartmentalized.

► Intra-disciplinary integration: within a single academic discipline.

► Inter-disciplinary integration: from 2 different disciplines, for example, the interdisciplinary journal of education.

► Multi-disciplinary integration: from several disciplines, e.g. multi-disciplinary journal of educational research.

► Trans-disciplinary integration: several disciplines addressing a single problem, e.g. transdisciplinary journal of management.

26.0 PURPOSIVENESS (غائية):

► Each discovery leads to another automatically and every new innovation is accepted without questioning; nobody wants to be left behind.

► No overall vision where we are going. Technology has become an automaton that cannot be stopped as long as it generates revenue for the owners.

► The Qur’anic term ‘abath = no wisdom, play.

► Building an elevated place to sit and make fun of those passing Surat Al Shuara: 128. 

► اتبنون بكل ربع آية تعبثون. سورة الشعراء ١٢٨ 

► Humans were created for a purpose and wisdom Surat Muminuun: 115 

► افحسبتم انما خلقناكم عبثا. سورة المؤمنون ١١٥

27.0 BLIND FOLLOWING TAQLIID (تقليد):

► Social media and the commercials force people to get the latest gadget and the latest applications without first asking the question whether they need them: just following the crowd.

► Blind following of the forefathers... Baqara: 170-171 

► اذا قيل لهم اتبعوا ما انزل الله قالوا بل نتبع ما الفينا عليه آباؤنا.... البقرة ١٧٠-١٧١

► The followed will deny the followers… Baqara: 166-167 

► اذ تبرآ الذين اتبعوآ من الذين اتبعوآ وراؤا العذاب... البقرة ١٦٦-١٦٧ 

► Blind obedience of the elites Surat Ahzab: 67 

► انا  اطعنا ساداتنا وكبراءنا فاضلونا السبيل. سورة الأحزاب ٦٧

28.0 THE LOWLY CONCRETE vs THE HIGHER CONCEPTUAL THINKING:

► Enhanced imagery will encourage concrete thinking and discourage abstract thinking which is an essential part of tafakkur/tadabbur al Qur’an.

► Thinking about Allah’s creation. Al Imran 190-191. 

► ان في خلق السماوات والأرض واختلاف الليبل والنهار لآيات لاولي الالباب الذين يذكرون الله قياما وقعودا وعلي جنوبهم ويتفكرون في خلق السماوات والأرض ربنا ما خلقت هذا باطلاا  سبحانك فقنا عذاب النار. ال عمران ١٩٠-١٩١ 

► Iitikaaf and qiyam al layl have their impact because they decrease environmental sensory input to allows the mind to think of higher things.

► Concern with the concrete and imagery is reaching extremes in the 4th industrial revolution because people prefer virtual reality to the beauty of Allah’s creation in humans, animals, plants and the earth.

29.0 VIRTUAL VS CONCRETE REALITY:

► Non-believers asked for virtual evidence instead of concrete evidence of Allah’s majesty before their eyes.

► Banu Israil asked Musa to show them Allah before they could believe. Surat Baqara 55. 

► وإذ قلتم يا موسي لن نؤمن لك حتي نري الله جهرة فاخذتكم الصاعقة وانتم تنظرون. البقرة ٥٥. 

► Non-believers challenge the Prophet to bring angels down as a tribe. Surat al Isra 92. 

► او تسقط السماء كما زعمت علينا كسفا او تاتي بالله والملائكة قبيلا. الاسراء ٩٢. 

► Prophet is but a human messenger with the intellectual miracle of Islam. Surat Isra 93. 

► او يكون لك بيت من زخرف او ترقي في السماء ولن نؤمن لرقيك حتي تنزل علينا كتابا نقفرؤه قل سبحان ربي هل كنت الا بشرا رسولا. آلاسراء ٩٣ .

30.0 PASTIME (لهو) vs SERIOUSNESS:

► Robots and other forms of technology perform jobs that humans used to perform, creating a lot of leisure time. This time should be spent in ibadat but is misguided.

► The current culture emphasizes fun and pastime to waste time: games and all sorts of entertainment.

► The lowly life on earth, which is play and pastime, but real life is that of the hereafter Ankabut: 64. 

► وما هذخ الحياة الدنيا الا لهو ولعبوان الدار الآخرة لهي الحيوان لو كانو يعلمون. العنكبوت:٦٤.

31.0 LOSS OF BALANCE (توازن):

► Humans are so engrossed in virtual reality that they have lost the natural balance that Allah enjoined for their life as individuals or as families.

► Balance in dealing with wealth. Surat al Furqan: 68. 

► والذين اذا انفقوا لم يسرفوا ولم يقتروا وكان بين ذلك قواما الفرقان ٦٧. 

► Balance in the rights of the body and the family: story of Salman and Abudardau was background to this hadith. Bukhari 1968. 

► ان لربك عليك حقا ولنفسك عليك حقا ولاهلك عليك حقا فاعط كل ذي حق حقه. رواه البخاري ١٩٦٨. 

► Loss of emotional balance. Artificial emotions of happiness and anger can be caused by the virtual reality with anxiety and depression being more common than elation and happiness.

32.0 LOSS OF EQUILIBRIUM (اعتدال):

► We live in a culture of extremes with loss of equilibrium.

► We are supposed to be a community of the middle (moderation). Surat Baqara 143. 

► وكذلك جعلناكم امة وسطا لتكونوا شهداء علي الناس ويكون الرسول عليكم شهيدا. البقرة ١٤٣. 

► Seek the equilibrium of moderation between the earth and the hereafter, do good and do not do evil. Surat Qisas: 77. 

► وابتغي فيما آتاك الله الدار الآخرة ولا تنسي نصيبك من الدنيا واحسن كما احسن الناس اليك ولا تبغي الفساد في الأرض ان الله لا يحب المفسدين. القصص٧٧  

33.0 LOSS OF PUSH BACK, ACTION-REACTION (تدافع):

► Voices of protest against the current culture do not find a medium. The social and other media are powerful and overwhelming. There is no corrective mechanism to save civilization.

► Reaction/pushback against evil. Surat Baqara: 25. 

► ولولا دفع الناس بعضهم ببعض لفسدت الأرض. البقرة ٢٥.

34.0 PROCESS OF TEXTBOOK WRITING - 1:

► The process of textbook preparation should start with general epistemology and curriculum reform seminars to raise awareness of the problem of duality and to propose epistemological and curricular reform as the needed solution.

► These should be followed by specific seminars with discipline experts to explore IOK issues in each discipline.

► Specific working groups should then be set up for each discipline of knowledge.

35.0 PROCESS OF TEXTBOOK WRITING - 2:

► The discipline groups should produce integrated course outlines. 

► Available reference and resource material for each course should be collected.

► Then, a book should be designed and structured for each course (title, units, sections, and chapters).

► Each chapter should be structured as: learning objectives, detailed outlines (headings and sub-headings), key words, the main text, Islamic input, glossary, index, case studies, texts from Islamic sources (Qur’an, sunnat, other books), illustrations (pictures and drawings), chapter summary, review (questions, tests, exercises), and assignments.

36.0 PROCESS OF TEXTBOOK WRITING - 3:

► An editorial board should be set up for each book, consisting of a chief editor and 1-2 co-editors in addition to chapter authors, advisors, and consultants.

► The board will allocate 1-2 chapters to each writer.

► Regular workshops have to be held for chapter writers and editors to review the written material, preferably once every 1-2 months.

► The chapters written must be tested by being used as classroom notes for university students, and feedback and will meet regularly to monitor progress.

► It is difficult to find specialized references on Islamic aspects of the various disciplines. We have therefore designated two libraries, one in Virginia (English references) and one in Amman (Arabic references), to help writers get the references that they need.

37.0 PROCESS OF TEXTBOOK WRITING - 4:

► External discipline experts should review the manuscripts.

► The final versions should undergo serious editing and proofreading.

► A special style sheet has been prepared to guide authors, reviewers, and editors.

► It is envisaged that the book will be 150-300 pages and will be published as an e-book with a few printed copies for libraries. A royalty will be paid to the authors.

38.0 BOOK COVERS FROM EAST AFRICAN TEACHING MATERIALS PROJECTS:

39.0 BOOK COVERS FROM EAST AFRICAN TEACHING MATERIALS PROJECTS, con’t. 1:

40.0 BOOK COVERS FROM EAST AFRICAN TEACHING MATERIALS PROJECTS, con’t. 2:

41.0 BOOK COVERS FROM EAST AFRICAN TEACHING MATERIALS PROJECTS, con’t. 3:

42.0 BOOK COVERS FROM EAST AFRICAN TEACHING MATERIALS PROJECTS, con’t. 4:

43.0 BOOK COVERS FROM THE MALAYSIAN TEACHING MATERIALS PROJECT - 1:

44.0 BOOK COVERS FROM THE MALAYSIAN TEACHING MATERIALS PROJECT - 2:

45.0 BOOK COVERS FROM THE MALAYSIAN TEACHING MATERIALS PROJECT - 3:

46.0 BOOK COVERS FROM THE MALAYSIAN TEACHING MATERIALS PROJECT - 4:

47. WHAT SHALL WE DO?:

► A team from Malaysia can come to hold workshops for potential book authors.

► Provide experts to attend meetings of the review committee online

► Provide reviewers for the books.

► Assist in publishing electronic books for use in classrooms.

48. THE BALANCE SHEET OF THE IOK MOVEMENT:

► The main achievement of IOK is the setting up of integrated schools and universities all over the world. This has been accompanied by the production of integrated curricula and integrated teaching materials. In the areas of banking, finance, and food, integration has been achieved by setting up working institutions.

► The remaining challenge is inadequate research to develop the concept of IOK and to move from adding Islamic values to existing knowledge or subtracting non-Islamic ones to creating new integrated or Islamised knowledge to become creators and innovators and not consumers of knowledge by others.