CONCEPTUAL AND PRACTICAL DIMENSIONS OF ISLAMIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE

Abstract

Introduction In the 1980s, the understanding and practice of Islam in Malaysia entered a new phase. The global Islamic resurgence coupled with local Malaysian factors saw numerous important events talcing place. First, in 1981 Dr. Mahathir Mohamed became Malaysia's fourth prime minister. Second, in 1982 the opposition Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) was taken over by new leadership that claimed total commitment to setting up an Islamic state and rejecting nationalism and ethnic politics. Also, in the same year, Anwar Ibrahim, then the president of the Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement (ABIM), joined Dr. Mohamed's government, winning the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) youth movement's presidency and joining the UMNO-led cabinet as a junior minister. The Mohamed administration, unlike its predecessors, openly supported Islamic reform at all levels of society. Islam's role became more than ceremonial; it became a source of values for development, facilitated through the Inculcation of Islamic Values Policy (in 1981) and the estab­ lishment of numerous Islamic institutions such as the Islamic Bank of Malaysia and the International Islamic University, Malaysia (IIUM) in 1983. Although many see these developments as being merely politically motivated to counter the influence of PAS, it is without doubt that Dr. Mohamed was quite consistent with his earlier Views which he expressed in The Malay Dilemma. In his book he described Islam as the “greatest single influence on Malay value concepts and ethical codes,” thus being a positive factor to develop the Malays ...