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This chapter provides an overview of Islam's historical experiences in interreligious dialogue through highlights of its 'golden ages' in this particular domain of multicultural societal living within its civilization. It examines these golden ages in interreligious dialogue in three notable geo-cultural and historical settings--Muslim-ruled Spain, Chinese Islam in Ming-ruled China, and Indian Islam under Mughal rule--following an introductory discussion of Muslim exemplary treatment of non-Muslims during the rule of the first four Caliphs succeeding the Prophet Muhammad. On the basis of this discussion the author concludes that it is generally the case that interreligious dialogue and cooperation presents itself as a necessary contributory factor of the Golden Age of all religiously pluralistic societies, especially of Islamic civilization.

Pathways to Contemporary Islam: New Trends in Critical Engagement highlights that the current tensions in Islam and the Muslim world are the result of historical dynamics as opposed to an alleged incompatibility between religious tradition and modernity. The emphasis on pathways indicates that critical engagement and contestation have always been intrinsic to the history of Islam. The aim of the book is to elaborate the contemporary pathways and analyse the trends that contest the Islamic intellectual tradition, the relationship between religion and politics, and the individual and collective practice of religion. The collection of essays analyses the current efforts of critical re-engagement with the Islamic intellectual tradition and underlines the historical diversity of Islamic orthodoxies that led to the establishment of various pathways in the practice and role of religion in Muslim societies.

This chapter provides an overview of Islam’s historical experiences in interreligious dialogue through highlights of its ‘golden ages’ in this particular domain of multicultural societal living within its civilization. It examines these golden ages in interreligious dialogue in three notable geo-cultural and historical settings—Muslim-ruled Spain, Chinese Islam in Ming-ruled China, and Indian Islam under Mughal rule—following an introductory discussion of Muslim exemplary treatment of non-Muslims during the rule of the first four Caliphs succeeding the Prophet Muhammad. On the basis of this discussion the author concludes that it is generally the case that interreligious dialogue and cooperation presents itself as a necessary contributory factor of the Golden Age of all religiously pluralistic societies, especially of Islamic civilization.

The past two decades of academic work, have cemented the idea that childhood is a social construction. As such, how children are conceptualized, educated, protected and interacted with differs from society to society, given the values inherent in each social construction. Culture, history and geography all influence the daily lives of children, and the inherent protections that children are offered in each society. This paper examines child protection provisions embedded in Brunei Darussalam by critically reviewing the sparse literature available. While much academic work has been done on Brunei Darussalam’s political system and unique ideology, little has been written on the children of Brunei. Specifically, the focus taken is on the protections offered by the Bruneian legal and education systems, family and cultural institutions, and on Brunei’s international commitments to ensuring child wellbeing. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The issue of a dual system of education has been largely discussed among Muslim scholars and intellectuals all over the world. Efforts have been made by scholars through the proposal of different i...

The main aim of this article is to discuss the meaning and characteristics of Islamic civilisation and its global presence, particularly in the field of knowledge culture. Since both terms have been contested in contemporary scholarship to the point of their critics denying epistemic legitimacy to the concept of Islamic civilisation itself, the article devotes a lengthy discussion to defending its continuing validity and legitimacy. The most serious challenge comes from the concept of world-system developed by a number of Western thinkers, especially Immanuel Wallerstein. The article also explains the meaning of a civilisation’s global presence, which it argues exists at three different levels, namely territorial presence, cultural presence, and intellectual-spiritual presence. It argues that in the case of Islamic civilisation, its global presence exists at all the three levels. Since knowledge culture is presented as the very heart of Islamic civilisation given the fact that Islam claims to be the religion of knowledge, the article provides an introductory discussion of some important aspects of knowledge culture originating from Islamic civilisation that have become accepted through the West as integral parts of our common modern civilisation. The article concludes with suggestions for further studies and research on the theme of Islamic civilisation’s global presence but from new perspectives in the light of new realities in intercultural and inter-civilisational relations.

Ovaj rad predstavlja sintetičku studiju o filozofskim stajalištima al-Farabija i Ibn Halduna iz klasičnog islama te Arnolda Toynbeeja i Samuela Huntingtona s modernog Zapada o temi znanosti o civilizaciji. Na temelju aristotelovske ideje o istinskoj znanosti, ovaj članak dokazuje da su al-Farabi i Ibn Haldun bili istinski utemeljitelji znanosti o civilizaciji. Reformuliranjem tema koje tvore predmet ove znanosti, koju je definirao al-Farabi, Ibn Haldun ju je odjednom učinio razumljivijom i izumio je nekoliko novih znanosti kao njezinih ogranaka. Unutar epistemološkog okvira Ibn Haldunove nove znanosti o civilizaciji, Toynbee se poduhvatio istraživanja komparativne civilizacije, što tek treba zadobiti status znanosti. Nadalje se pokazuje da bi Huntingtonov mogući doprinos znanosti o civilizaciji mogao biti u konceptu politike civilizacije. U ovom stoljeću rafiniranija znanost o civilizaciji može nastati samo ako se sintetiziraju civilizacijska stajališta ovih i drugih mislitelja., This article presents a synthetic study of the philosophical views of al-Farabi and Ibn Khaldun from classical Islam and Arnold Toynbee and Samuel Huntington from the modern West on the subject of civilizational science. On the basis of the Aristotelian idea of a true science, this article argues that al-Farabi and Ibn Khaldun were the real founders of civilizational science. Through his reformulation of the topics constituting the subject matter of this science as first defined by al-Farabi, Ibn Khaldun immediately made the science more comprehensive and created several new sciences as its branches. Within the epistemological framework of Ibn Khaldun’s new civilizational science, Toynbee developed the study of comparative civilization, which is yet to attain its true status as a science. It is further argued that Huntington’s possible contribution to civilizational science would be through the concept of politics of civilization. A more refined civilizational science may only emerge in this century if the civilizational views of these thinkers and others are to be synthesized., Cet article présente une étude synthétique des perspectives philosophiques d’al-Farabi et d’Ibn Khaldoun issues de l’islam classique, et celles de Arnold Toynbee et de Samuel Huntington de l’Occident moderne. En se basant sur les idées aristotéliciennes de la science vraie, cette article démontre que al-Farabi et Ibn Khaldoun ont été les véritables fondateurs de la science de la civilisation. En reformulant les thèmes qui constituent l’objet de cette science définie par al-Farabi, Ibn Khaldoun l’a aussitôt rendue plus compréhensible et a créé de nombreuses sciences nouvelles qui consistent en des ramifications de cette science. Dans le cadre de la nouvelle science de la civilisation d’Ibn Khaldoun, Toynbee développe une étude comparée des civilisations, recherche qui doit encore atteindre le statut de science. Plus loin, il est montré que l’éventuelle contribution de Huntington aux sciences des civilisations pourrait se situer dans le concept de la politique des civilisations. Une science de la civilisation plus recherchée pourrait émerger au cours de ce siècle à la condition de synthétiser les diverses perspectives sur la civilisation de chacun des auteurs., Dieser Artikel präsentiert eine synthetische Studie der philosophischen Ansichten von al-Farabi und Ibn Chaldun aus dem klassischen Islam sowie von Arnold Toynbee und Samuel Huntington aus dem modernen Westen zum Thema Zivilisationswissenschaft. Auf der Grundlage der aristo telischen Idee einer wahren Wissenschaft vertritt dieser Artikel die Ansicht, dass al-Farabi und Ibn Chaldun die eigentlichen Gründer der Zivilisationswissenschaft waren. Durch seine Neu formulierung der Themen, die den Gegenstand dieser Wissenschaft bilden, wie sie zuerst von al-Farabi definiert wurde, machte Ibn Chaldun sie abrupt umfassender und schuf mehrere neue Wissenschaften als ihre Zweige. Innerhalb des epistemologischen Rahmens von Ibn Chalduns neuer Zivilisationswissenschaft trieb Toynbee die Erforschung der komparativen Zivilisation voran, die ihren wahren Status als Wissenschaft noch zu erlangen hat. Es wird weiterhin argu mentiert, Huntingtons möglicher Beitrag zur Zivilisationswissenschaft würde in dem Konzept der Zivilisationspolitik liegen. Eine raffiniertere Zivilisationswissenschaft könnte sich in diesem Jahrhundert nur dann herauskristallisieren, wenn die zivilisatorischen Blickwinkel dieser und anderer Denker synthetisiert werden.

In the popular understanding of science education, there is no role for nonempirical knowledge. The purpose of this article is to show that from the perspective of a holistic (Tawhidic) science education, as insisted by Islamic epistemology, a spiritual dimension is not only possible, but desirable. The spiritual dimension of science education could be broad, since it encompasses many types of spiritual knowledge. Within the article’s scope, it is only possible to discuss one limited aspect of this dimension, namely, the spiritual meaning and significance of some natural phenomena mentioned in the Qur’an and their implications for science education. Attempts have been made in a number of Muslim countries to incorporate elements of spiritual knowledge into the science curriculum in schools aiming to enhance the quality of both science and religious education. As a case study, this article looks at the initiative taken thus far by the Ministry of Education in Brunei Darussalam to introduce spiritual knowledge into the school science education and examines the various issues raised that need to be addressed, especially by the authorities.

Islam teaches the virtue of the progressive acquisition of new knowledge as the Qur’an calls upon man to constantly pray to his Lord for increase in knowledge. However, this teaching does not legitimise the pursuit and acquisition of just any kind of knowledge regardless of its ethical implications. The Prophet’s well-known prayer seeking God’s protection from knowledge that is useless serves to remind Muslims of the kind of knowledge that ought to be shunned for the sake of their wellbeing. According to Islamic ethics, each human virtue is attained through the moderation of two extremes. In the case of the virtue of pursuing new knowledge, it is attained as a result of moderating two extreme tendencies, namely, shunning acquiring new knowledge so as to remain in a state of ignorance and indulging actively in the pursuit of non-beneficial knowledge without any constraint. Thus, Islamic ethics of knowledge, by which the pursuit of science and technology (ST second, in the period of decline when they no longer dictated the direction of science and third, in the possible ‘history’ of the future as may be gauged from present Muslim trends in the field. The paper concludes with some suggestions on how today’s Muslims can help pave the way for the creation of a more enlightened scientific and technological culture in Muslim societies of the twenty-first century.

The Malaysian public generally, and political observers and academics in particular, have been following the unfolding of events in the Arab world - the so-called Arab Spring - since the beginning with great interest and also deep concern. There was great interest among Malaysians, because the phenomenon was unexpected and extraordinary. They do feel that the Arabs deserve a real change for the better, especially in the political sphere. However, like many Arabs themselves, they are used to being pessimistic about genuine change in the Arab world. With this kind of pessimism, many Malaysians see the eruption of the people’s protests as something unexpected.

This article seeks to serve as the necessary background and foundation to another article by the author which is to appear in the upcoming issue of this journal. It explains the identity of the Muslim community (ummah) within the framework of the quranic theory of multi-religious identities rooted in a common identity structure for all revealed religions and their respective communities. Tawhidic epistemology is central to the identity of the Muslim ummah. The essence of the ummah is a knowledge-community with its distinctive knowledge-culture founded on the quranic tawhid and the Muhammadan shariah. Tawhidic vision of knowledge upholds the categorical position that all true human knowledge ought to be ultimately related to the unity of God, since all things are ontologically related to their Divine Origin. Muslims today no longer possess the whole of tawhidic epistemology along with its accompanying exemplary thinking culture. The eclipse of tawhidic epistemology has resulted in deviations in thinking modes from established norms rooted in traditional Islamic intellectual culture. Only a sound epistemological order exemplified in tawhidic epistemology may guarantee a healthy thinking and knowledge-culture on which alone the strength of the Muslim ummatic identity depends.

The Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought (RABIIT), the publisher of this volume, has become better known throughout the world as an institution dedicated to the pursuit of meaningful interfaith dialogue on a global scale. Perhaps its most well known initiative is A Common Word, the historic global Muslim-Christian interfaith initiative which has brought together leading Muslim and Christian scholars and public figures from all parts of the world and generated a series of dialogues held in major cities of the West and the Islamic world.

The role of the state in Malaysia through its elected government of the day in promoting and regulating Islam has been visible from day one of the country’s new life as an independent nation. Even before independence in 1957, particularly for those states of the Malaysian Federation that have Sultans or Rulers, the public visibility and role of Islam has always been an integral part of the Malay-Muslim societal life. There is continuity between the pre-independence public profile of Islam and the post-independence one.

The main aim of this article is to discuss the concept of family and its values and its place and role as a multi-dimensional institution from the Islamic perspective. The author seeks to show that the Islamic family institution as envisaged by the Quran and as practised by Muslims throughout the history of Islam is at once a religious, an educational, and a socio-economic institution. The family is first of all a religious institution since it is based on the principle of sacred marriage and it exists to serve as an instrument to help man realise the twin goals of his existence in accordance with God’s cosmic plan. The twin goals in question are of servitude (ubudiyyah) and vicegerency (khilafah) and equivalently of man’s perfect relationship with God (hablun min Allah) and man’s perfect relationship with fellow men (hablun min al-nas). The author then discusses the role of the family as an educational institution in the sense of it being the first school for its children dependants where basic religious and ‘secular’ knowledge are both provided. Next to be discussed is the family’s role as a socio-economic institution with particular emphasis on household governance and economic health. This article emphasises the view that societal health, particularly its economic dimension, presupposes family health. A crisis in the family institution can have grave consequences on the well-being of society as a whole. Finally, the author discusses the challenges faced by the family institution in the twenty-first century and presents several recommendations on what needs to be done in response to these challenges.

Since its political independence Malaysia has seen six Prime Ministers, including the present one, Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib, who is himself a son of the second Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak. For a post-colonial Muslim state with a huge non-Muslim population (about 45 per cent) and an uninterrupted run of Westminster-style parliamentary democracy, six Prime Ministers in a total period of 54 years and, moreover, with a smooth line of succession, indicate a kind of political stability rarely found in the Islamic world. Malaysia is also noted for its relative success in managing its ethnic and religious plurality and diversity, especially when considering the fact that in its cultural makeup and setting ethnicity and religiosity are intricately linked.

The content of this book under review seems to justify its title. Those who know Mahathir Mohamad - the former Malaysian Prime Minister - quite well both as a person and as a political leader would have no hesitation in agreeing with the book’s author to call him the Malaysian maverick. Barry Wain has the qualification to write about Mahathir’s political career and his successes and failures as a political leader. An Australian journalist with much experience in the profession, Wain has lived in Asia for nearly 40 years, including covering Malaysia from 1984 to 1992 for the Asian Wall Street Journal.

This article offers a survey of the state of religious tolerance in Malaysia since her independence from Britain in 1957. Its core concern, however, is with the prevailing current public perceptions on the state of religious tolerance in the country, the outstanding challenges to its progress, and the adequacy of measures being taken by the relevant authorities, agencies, and organisations in dealing with the challenges in question. In order to put the discussion on these current public perceptions in its proper perspectives, in the view of the author it would be desirable for the discussion to be preceded by an adequate presentation on the historical development of interreligious relations in Malaysia since independence. Highlighted in this historical account are the salient features of interreligious relations over the decades that helped to determine the nature and extent of religious tolerance, as well as the impact of the Islamic revival in the 1970s and the Western-originated human rights discourse on interreligious relations in Malaysia. The author also discusses the current public perceptions and their understanding of its underlying issues. On the basis of these perceptions he makes several inferences regarding the state of religious tolerance in contemporary Malaysia.

Malaysia's Need for an Enlightened National Policy on Interreligious Peace: A Dictate of Maqasid al-Shari'ah As a nation, Malaysia is characteristically pluralistic and diverse in its cultural makeup. It is precariously balanced in its ethnic and religious compositions displaying a distributive pattern of cultural diversity in its demographic map in a way that is matched by few countries. Its pattern of cultural diversity is particularly distinguished by the fact that there is a close identification of religion with race. Malaysia is only barely a Muslim-majority country. It has a large non-Muslim population comprised mostly of Buddhists, Hindus, and Christians. There are other religious minorities such as Confucians, Taoists, and Sikhs though these are much smaller in size.

The author of this article argues that - from the point of view of the ideals of human civilisation as set forth by the Qur'an - modern civilisation, which is largely of Western inspiration and making, has undergone a progressive inner decay while displaying marvels of scientific and technological achievements unmatched in human history. He sees this decay as referring to human degradation or dehumanisation. In order to address his concern, he argues for a restoration of a previously lost unity, balance and equilibrium to contemporary civilisation. He argues that Islam’s main contribution to a possible solution would be an approach based on maqasid al-shari'ah. He concludes by stating that an Islamic agenda of civilisational renewal (al-tajdid al-hadari) is ultimately congruent with civilisational renewal for humanity as a whole.

In Southeast Asia, it is only rarely that issues of Islamic leadership are seriously discussed at respectable forums organised by prominent organisations, even when these are Muslim-initiated or Muslim-led. This is quite a surprising thing - and an unfortunate one. Given the large Muslim presence in the region, one would expect to see the opposite picture as true. Therefore, when I was invited by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in Manila to deliver a keynote speech at its two-day conference in April 2010 on the theme of Islamic leadership in a changing ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) I did not hesitate to accept. At last, I thought, there is a positive change of mindset in the region concerning the international role of Islamic leadership. AIM organised the regional conference in collaboration with the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (IKIM) and the Paramadina University in Jakarta.

I would like to take up the issue of the need to re-examine our traditional approaches to Islamic education. This is in view of certain fundamental changes that are taking place both in the demographic and political maps of Muslim majority countries and in the Muslim perception of Islamic education itself.

This article is intended to comment on the civilisational history of Islam in Southeast Asia. The history is explained and accounted for in terms of the three major waves of globalisation that have impacted the region since the arrival of Islam as early as the eleventh century. The first wave, itself initiated and dominated by Islam, was responsible for the introduction and establishment of Islam in the region to the point of becoming its most dominant civilisation. The expansion of Islam and its civilisation was in progress when the second wave hit the shores of the Malay-Indonesian Archipelago with the arrival of the Portuguese and other Western powers resulting in the colonisation of the region. The third wave, an American-dominated one, manifests itself in the post-colonial period which witnesses Southeast Asian Islam reasserting itself in various domains of public life. The author sees Southeast Asian Islam as the historical product of centuries-long civilisational encounters with the pre-Islamic indigenous cultures and civilisations and later between ‘Malay-Indonesian Islam’ and the newly arriving religions and cultures brought by both the colonial and post-colonial West, arguing that Islam in the region has been significantly impacted by each of the three waves.

In the following paragraphs I would like to highlight the impact of globalization on cultural pluralism and then the issue of how the resulting cultural pluralism might in turn impact the future pattern of the world order. The thrust of my theme is on emphasising the need to better understand the meaning and implications of the changing face of cultural pluralism for our contemporary world. It is also to suggest what we need to do to effectively confront the major challenges posed by the cultural pluralism landscape of our early twenty-first century. In hammering home my points I will take Malaysia as an example, which itself was created out of the cultural pluralism unleashed by the European wave of globalisation during the colonial era. Malaysia is today a Muslim-majority country with a large non-Muslim population thanks largely to what I have termed as demographic globalisation. With all the major religions of the world each having a good number of followers in the country Malaysia is truly a multi-religious society. It is also a good example of a truly multi-ethnic country boasting of dozens of ethnic groups. For more than 50 years now Malaysia has been struggling to create a pluralistic and yet united modern nation out of its ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity. Its successes and failures are all there for everyone to see.

This article seeks to emphasise the need to re-examine the foundational assumptions of modern economics, especially in light of the traditional Islamic idea of economic wisdom and Islamic conception of the science of economics as conceived by Muslim political philosophers. As argued by the philosophers and more generally the epistemologists every academic discipline or every science, including economics is structured on the foundation of four epistemic elements, namely, its subject matter, its premises, its methodology, and its objectives. Any attempt to rethink this science in Islamic terms needs to address in particular the issue of its foundational assumptions. These premises include beliefs about the modern homo economicus, what his needs are, and the kind of society best suited to help deliver these needs both at the individual and collective levels. This article will discuss these premises and the classical subject matter of economics by explaining the meanings of the two classical terms for economics, namely, tadbir al-manzil (lit. ‘household governance’) and iqtisad (thrift, providence, and moderation). It concludes with the assertion that the progress of modern Islamic economics as a true science depends as much on the clarity and solidification of its foundational assumptions as on the building of its necessary institutions.

This essay provides an introductory discussion of the impact of the American war on terrorism on Malaysia, a Muslim country with a long record of parliamentary democracy and one of the most developed in the Muslim world. With a discussion of a possible decades-long US military and political engagement with the Muslim world as a background, the essay presents a detailed account of the impact of the US wars in Afghanistan, the Philippines and Iraq on Malaysian national politics, particularly on its political Islam. It is argued that the war on terrorism has benefited Mahathir Mohamad, helping to reverse his declining political fortunes following his sacking of Anwar Ibrahim as his deputy, which influenced his retirement from politics. The essay explains the reasons, external and domestic, for Malaysia's participation in the global war on terrorism and the extent of its involvement, including its leadership role in anti-terrorism in the Muslim world. It also discusses the views of Mahathir and Anwar...

The issue of who is or what is a human person occupies a central place in the history of relationships or encounters between religion and science. The Copernican Revolution, Darwinian Evolutionism, and Genetic Determinism have all contributed in significant but different ways to the progressive undermining of the traditional religious understanding of ‘human.’ From the religious perspective, science aided by technology has progressively shrunk the domain of human distinctiveness. The contemporary debate on the issue of the human person is only the latest in this long series of scientifically and technologically generated feuds between religion and science in modern times. As in earlier cases, central to this debate is the issue of the meaning of human. However, the new factor in this latest debate is the availability of new forms of technology that have the unprecedented capacity to at least transform the physical dimension of the human constitution if not also its psychological and mental dimension into shapes and forms beyond our current imagination.Genetic engineering with its attendant technologies has indeed posed great challenges not only for religion but also for science itself, public ethics, law and governance. In this presentation I will discuss some of these challenges within the framework of the currently deeply contested notion of the human person. I will also discuss the crucial role that interfaith and intercultural dialogues can play in formulating common cross-cultural responses to these challenges. My discussion, however, will be mainly guided by Islamic perspectives on these various issues.

This paper discusses some of the main shortcomings of the debate on ‘Asian values’, especially as seen from the Asian point of view. One shortcoming is the widespread tendency among Western commentators to link the legitimacy of the concept of Asian values to Asia's comparative economic achievements rather than to see in the intrinsic worth of Asian values a source of Asia's own cultural and civilisational aspirations. Another shortcoming is an overreliance on the perspectives and values of Western liberalism in their attempt to understand the intra‐Asian debate on Asian values between the so‐called proponents of authoritarianism and proponents of liberal democracy. The paper concludes with a prediction, that the rediscovery of universal Asian values by Asian intellectuals and political leaders will have an important bearing on the future development of the Asian values’ debate and on the future of East‐West understanding.

This article seeks to present a counter view of the Western critique of contemporary Islam with specific reference to its treatment of the problem of diversity and pluralism. The prevailing Western view of Islam’s experience of diversity and pluralism is that it has failed to positively respond to this important challenge of the modern world. The basic belief underlying this view is that Islam is incompatible with modernity, political democracy, and cultural diversity and pluralism, which are generally considered as the hallmarks of modern Western civilisation. According to this view, only a radically reformed Islam can come to terms with these Western achievements. The Western critique of contemporary Islam is discussed in the context of a post-September 11 world for the important reason that it was the September 11 tragedy that generated a new phase of Western interest in Islam and fresh calls for its reforms. An influential voice in this Western critique is Bernard Lewis who, in his decades of scholarship on Islam, has consistently argued for an Islamic reformation. This article seeks to provide a critical response to the Lewisian idea of Islamic reformation, especially concerning the issue of diversity and pluralism. It argues that a new Islamic understanding of diversity and pluralism is urgently needed in this century, but this can only come about through an authentic tajdid (renewal) that offers fresh interpretations of the religion without destroying its original soul, spirit and character.

Love in the Holy Quran authored by HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan is an English translation of the sixth edition of his second PhD dissertation (in Arabic) submitted to al-Azhar University, Cairo. His first doctorate was from Cambridge University. It is a beautiful book on a beautiful subject, namely the subject of love in all its dimensions and manifestations, both divine and human, as treated in the Qur’an, the hadiths, and the classical works of eminent representatives of many generations of Muslim scholars, particularly prominent exegetes of the Qur’an.