This book, originally presented as a paper to the Second World Conference on Muslim Education in 1980, for the first time in contemporary Islamic thinking and in a clear and coherent manner, elaborates new and originally conceived ideas and definitions. Key concepts such as religion (din), man (insan), knowledge (ma'rifah and `ilm), wisdom (hikmah), justice (`adl), right action (`amal and adab) are discussed, elaborated and formulated into a framework for an Islamic philosophy of education. The concept of methodology of scientific research and the study of nature along the lines of Quranic interpretation (tafsir and ta'wil), the islamization of languages and its relation to the Muslim mind and worldview, and the differences between tarbiyyah, ta'dib and ta'lim are all discussed. This is a book of definitions relating to the essential elements in the concept of education and the educational process as envisaged in Islam. Essential reading for Muslim educators and all those interested in Islamic philosophy and islamization of knowledge
Syed Muhammad Naquib Al Attas is a world renowned scholar with over twenty books to his name, as well as many articles in both English and Malay on Islam in various fields - Islamic philosophy, theology and metaphysics, history, literature, art and civilization, religion and education. Some of his works have been translated into Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Urdu, French, German, Russian, Bosnian, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Malayalam and Indonesian.
Professor Al-Attas is Founder Director of the International Institute of Islamic thought and Civilization (ISTAC) which was founded in Kuala Lumpur in 1987 and which began operation officially in 1991. As a research and post graduate institution of higher learning, ISTAC was conceived by Professor al-Attas as a way to realisze this seminal ideas for the creation of true Islamic University providing proper Islamic education through the incoporation of his original ideas and methods for the Islamization of knowledge.
