Summary of the CASIS Saturday Night Lecture by Prof. Dr. Syed
Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas on 9th
June-22nd
Dec 2012
Prepared by the graduate students of CASIS
Prepared by the graduate students of CASIS
June 9, 2012 was not an average Saturday night. After a decade-long hiatus, Tan
Sri Professor Dr. Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas continues his life-long mission of
spreading true knowledge to the masses at the Dewan Jumuah of the University Technology
of Malaysia (UTM) that night. As part of UTM’s Centre for Advanced Studies in Islam,
Science and Technology (CASIS)’s intellectual contribution to the university, the Saturday
Night Lecture Series feature discourses by Tan Sri Al-Attas every fortnight, with crossgenerational audience in attendance. The Vice-Chancellor of UTM, Datuk Ir. Dr. Zaini
Ujang and Datuk Dr. Mohd. Ghazali b. Mohd Nor from the Board of Trustees of Yayasan
Iqra along with other notable academicians, students and members of the public are
fortunate to be part of this ongoing discourse.
Tan Sri Al-Attas began his Saturday Night Lecture series probing the origin of
civilizations. He stressed the fundamental role of religion in the establishment of civilization.
Fittingly, the audience were transported back in time, at least in their intellectual imagination, to
sample a kind of snapshots in history about the great flood of Gilgamesh which in all
likelihood, is the same epic as that of the Prophet Nuh. Tan Sri Al-Attas boldly challenged
contemporary scientists’ assumptions about pre-modern man, lumping them all and referring
to them as “homo” when in fact, they lacked key attributes of the thinking human – the homo
sapiens. The human intellect gave rise to a systemic order – what we call “law” and
consequentially forming “madāni” or cities that are run efficiently, the highlight of a civilization. This Arabic term originated from the word “dīn” meaning religion, signifying the important
role that religion plays in a civilization.
In his second lecture, Professor al-Attas discussed the importance of language in the
human life in relation to the religion of Islām. A definition of human as ḥayawān nāṭiq or
speaking animal given by past scholars such as theologians, philosophers, and sūfis (high
metaphysicians) has indicated that language is dealing with a way of how to express as to the
meaning of nuṭq itself. From this very root the word manṭiq (logic) is derived which means to
make a systematic logical thinking. However, on the contrary, western scholars especially
sociologists disagree to use the word speaking rather it is a political or social animal, concerning
chiefly with external aspects. Therefore, sociologists have classified religion with the external
aspects only namely culture and tradition which imitates the external aspects to make it looks
like a religion. For Islām, since God Himself reveals to the Prophet through language, His
ayat(s) and kalimat(s) are His words and signs as well. This means that this world is like a book
which its ayat and kalimat are given by God. Hence, a language projects a worldview with its
description to the external world. By and large, in this occasion Prof. al-Attas seems to have
underlined that the crux of the religion of Islām rests on the revelation which takes the form of
language. In other words, the reality of Islamic civilisation lies in its language by which it
successfully transforms the worldview of its adherents, not in physical aspects. The Qurʾān has
Islamized the Arabic language, when Islām came it changes the worldview of the language. For
instance, the word karama-karīm, in the jāhiliyyah period it was meant for honourable people
with many sons, but when Islām came it applies to the quality of taqwā. Yet, through the very
language, secularisation takes place in changing a meaning and putting it within the material
perspectives.
Tan Sri Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas explained that the word Islam; referring to
religion is new in al-Quran, and had never appeared before. Dīn (religion) conveys the meaning
being indebted. Being in debt, one is in submission and is under obligation (dayn), hence
naturally involves judgement (daynūnah) and conviction (idānah). All of these significance as
well as their contraries involved in dāna are practicable possibilities only in organized societies
involved in commercial life in towns and cities denoted by mudūn or madā’in which in it exist a
judge, ruler, or governer – dayyān. Thus the verb dāna pictures a civilized living; of societal life
of law and order and justice and authority, conceptually connected with another verb maddana
which means to build cities, to civilize, to refine, and to humanize, from which is derived from
another term: tamaddun meaning a civilisation and refinement in social culture.Tan Sri al-Attas
then explained that one pays his debt by returning to Allah s.w.t. One learns to pay debt
(returning) by following the sunnah (words and actions that are the yardstick of the correct way
of living as a believer and viceroy of Allah s.w.t) of the Prophet s.a.w. The best returning or
surrender is those who surrender whole self to Allah s.w.t. Audiences were reminded that one
should not generalize certain culture or religion based on the common people, instead it should
be based on its scholars and religious people. The audiences were also enlightened by a
beautiful verse of wisdom:
“We are like earth. Without dīn, we are like dead earth without water”
– Y.M Tan Sri Professor Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas
In the fourth lecture, Tan Sri Al-Attas then put the question of language into practice
and begins with a discussion on the word Allah. He informs the audience that there are some
who claim that this word was already used among the pagan(jahili) Arabs. If this claim can be
verified then it is a fact which maybe misused by the confused or those with ill intentions. It
maybe that they could use it to support their existing theory which claims that the term Allah
went through a development,that the Prophet(peace be upon him) appropriated it for the new
religion. Tan Sri asks whether if it has indeed been used by the Jahili Arabs,was it a term
whose meaning the pagans understood? Quoting the Qur’an, it was said that had they been
asked who created the heavens and the earth, they would say ‘Allah’. However we can still ask,
is it a word where the full semantic field is understood? Apparently not, for inspecting the
Quran we find numerous verses suggesting the pagan Arabs held erroneous beliefs which were
challenged and corrected by the Quran. At the same time, if it was granted that they knew the
word, it is not something that they constructed, and to prove this, he cites the evidence of the
existence of the past prophets, one of whom was Ismail the son of Ibrahim,the ancestor of the
Bani Hashim. According to the Quran, the term Allah is a proper name that Allah had
revealed to the prophets. Prof. Naquib further argued,quoting Hamzah Fansuri that it is the
name encompassing all names and attributes. If Allah is a proper name which He(exalted be
He) ascribes to Himself, then there is no question about the term being derived from the term
‘Ilah’ which is added to the definite article ‘Al’ suppressing the i sound as some of the
grammarians had claimed.
This discussion serves as a preface to his exposition of other concepts pertaining to the
meaning of the religion of Islam. In particular, he discussed the meaning of submission, which
is of two kinds, that which is done willingly, and that which is done grudgingly.Further only the
religion of Islam is named after its very act of submission, and this is the very meaning of
religion; Submission to God. Other religions are either named after their founders, or the
valley which it first sprang. If truth regarding beliefs is affirmed, the logical consequence would
be to say that some other beliefs are wrong, including other institutionalised religions. Tan Sri
Al-Attas recounted how there is a rising number of people who wants to equate Islam with all
religions, that these groups, quoting some sufi master say that all such beliefs are lights pointing
to the one true reality. But He replies, although it maybe that all are lights, not all are equal,
some are dim like the stars which illumine the night of ignorance, but when the sun rises, the
stars disappears. Unlike the other religions which admit of errors in their belief, Islam does not
admit of error in its central beliefs, and in contrast to other revealed religions only Islam does
not tamper its understanding of Tauhid(divine unity) with Shirik(polytheism).
The 6th lecture deals with man as a form a state to be governed by his self. He said that
“Man is like a Kingdom i.e a state. He governs his soul, heart and his intellect acts as an agent.
The senses are their departments. But if the soul is perverse, the government is corrupt”. Same
goes to the turmoils and chaos in life happens due to our perverseness towards our‘selves’. He
relates these turmoils to the political chaos caused by the desacralization of politics from
human affairs. But this doesn’t mean that we should create revolutions towards our corrupted
government. In this regard Syeikhul Islam , Al-Ghazzali stated that it is better to live in
inequality from the power of this tyrant than to take over power and then imitate his actions.
This is because no one could guarantee that the new power will not do harm equally as the
tyrant before. Socrates has even claimed that 'it is better to live in justice than to do justice'.
Most of the problems that arose in human life caused by men’s unconsciousness towards his
origins, where he comes from, where he is now and where he’s heading. Inspite of this ,our
Prophet Muhammad once said that we should treat this world as a nomad stopping over for a
moment and then went on his way.
In the 7th lecture, he began by bringing our mind's attention all the way back to the day
of the Covenant (al-M th̅ ̅q) “perjanjian yang dibuat oleh semua anak Adam” that this is what
life in this world is all about and this is the basis of religion, to return to that state before we
appear in this world. “Reality comes about because of difference” he reminded us. That there
are so many things in this world, it is because of them being different from one another, that
forms reality. So we, being in this world of many things have to read and interpret their
meanings. That is what knowledge is about, units of meaning organised in a pattern arriving
from outside, at the same time the soul is active in trying to attain meaning, akin to the
biological process of intussusception. This is the sense we understand knowledge as “the arrival
of meaning in the soul as well as the arrival of soul towards meaning". The word ma’n ̅ also
means reality. “Ilmu is higher than ma`rifah .. because it is an attribute of Him", he continued
further as one of Beautiful Names of God is al-‘Al m̅ , the All-Knowing. He elaborated
further...but when He discloses something to someone, then in this sense ma`rifah is higher."
In every branch of knowledge, there is ma`rifah also." The professor has already elaborated in
the previous lecture, and he repeated again that `ilm is knowing a thing in relation to other
things, while ma`rifah is knowing a thing as it is in itself, and that the root word `urf means
limit. That is why the word ta`rif means definition, to fine tune it such that what we mean
precisely includes those within the limits of what it is and excludes what it is not. But he
explains also that when He discloses something to someone, then in this sense, ma`rifah is
higher." Al-`ilm and ma`rifah is hikmah". If we understand the classification of the attributes,
`ilm is the main attribute; hikmah is part of `ilm. His Will is dependent on His Knowledge...",
a point he deliberated further in the 10th lecture by basing himself on the second last verse
from Surah Yasin, by pointing to the term emphlahu. He denounced the understanding of
things as if God simply creates things haphazardly like some kind of magic show, “kun, kun,
kun and things just appear. No!", he said. “He created based on Knowledge! If you try to attain
what is unattainable, there will be no end.", Do we have to go to the depths of the sea to sail to
another land?". Towards the end of the lecture, he brings us back to the mithaq now calling our
attention to another convenant, the one made by prophets and messengers, mithaq al-Nabiy.
The prophets themselves, as stated in the Qur'an made a covenant to affirm the prophets that
has come before them and to pledge allegiance to the final prophet and messenger who will
appear towards the end times, our beloved prophet and messenger of God, Nabi Muhammad
Tan Sri Al-Attas started his 8th lecture introducing us then to the last question that we
ultimately need to ask ourselves; “What is happiness?. With that he gave a commentary of his
monograph The Meaning and Experience of Happiness in Islām. Happiness according to him
is not defined as tadribah, instead the more accurate term referencing to it would be sa’ ̅dah.
Tadribah is something that we could calculate and you cannot add scale to happiness. The
reality of happiness (Haqiqah al-sa’adah) relates to two dimensions of existence, and that is the
hereafter (ukhrawiyyah) and the present world (dunyawiyyah). The contrary to sa’adah is
syaqawah which means great misfortune and misery in general (genus). The two dimensional
existence is elaborated further, where he reads a passage from his book
“ With respect to the hereafter sa’ ̅dah refers to ultimate happiness, which is
everlasting felicity and bliss , the highest being the Vision of God , promised to those
who in worldly life have lived in willing submission and conscious and knowing
obedience of God’s commands and prohibitions”
Submission and conscious here is what he means by islam as a verb with the small ‘i’.
The requirement of having a certain level of consciousness when submitting to God is what we
mean by having niyyah (intention) before performing any sorts of action. Analogous to that,
submission to God must also be done willingly. For even Iblis submits to God and
acknowledges Him, but unwillingly. However, Islam with capital ‘I’ constitutes the whole reality
of submission. Islam is not an ideal, it is reality. It is not something we hope to be, it is what we
are. Religion is what we must discover now, know now and practice now. The ultimate aim of
religion is for man to return to their state when we were making our covenant to God. To
return, we have to know who we are and whatever we seek must be relevance to our current
state. He further clarifies the significant difference between Iman and Islam. Iman is verification
in accordance to what is known to be the truth (tahqiq) and that you have to be true to the truth
and confident in it. A person who has Iman must have Islam, but a person who has Islam does
not mean he has Iman. By recognizing and acknowledging the truth, a person will come to
reach Iman. The act of recognizing is clear in itself by the intuitive faculty, the heart (qalb) and
in it is guidance. The intuitive faculty is one of the faculty of the self which is divided into four,
namely qalb (receiving intuitive knowledge), ‘aql (intellect) , ruh (spirit) and nafs (soul) . These
are not names of different objects, instead they’re considered as attributes of the soul due to its
accidental modes of states (they are all the time acted upon). The self is indeed the reality of
man when he says ‘I’. It is important to be conscious of our-self and knowing our-self despite
everything that is changing in us. Allah is always creating and annihilating. Objects, especially the
molecules in us are always anew and similar at the same time. He continues “There must be a
coordinating principle that makes you, you”. The possibility of our intuitive faculty to recognize
truth is only when in it there is guidance. This guidance is only available through God. Without
guidance, it is impossible for one to acquire true knowledge. Because true knowledge is
knowledge that knows its limits. This limitation is not limiting by definition in the Western
sense. Infinitesimal is not something that is in the worldview of Islam. We are created with
limited ability to use our senses so we can see things as they are. If say we were given the ability
to see as far as the eagle could see, and can hear as sharp as the cats ear, how will we be able to
discern the actual thing as it is? If our touch has infinite capacity to touch a single atom,
wouldn’t touching a table be no more than touching sand? We have two groups of sense, one is
internal (soul) and another is external (body). Our internal senses comprises of common sense,
perceptions, imaginations and estimation. Whereas the external ones are the five senses,
namely our eyes, hands, nose, ears and mouth. By using all senses, both internal and external,
than only we can see things as it is. This is how knowledge is perceived, both in an objective and
subjective way. The objective way to see things will describe reality as it is. At the same time,
when the soul participates what is outside itself, it is called subjective knowledge. Both objective
and subjective are interconnected like this, hence not a dualism.
Tan Sri al-Attas, in his 9th lecture, continues with the commentary of his monograph
and he begins with a comment on the Western meaning of happiness in their usage of the
word ‘happy’ which comes from ‘hap’ meaning ‘chance’ or ‘fortune’. In contrast to that, the
word ‘hapless’ is an adjective that means ‘helpless’. On the other hand, Islam carries with it
its own meaning of happiness that is sa‘ādah. The opposite of it is shaqāwah (great
misfortune and misery) and this is similar to the Sanskrit word samsara, which Malay has
adopted as sengsara. Shaqāwah can also be understood as Sanskrit sarbadukka and Malay
serba duka. Pagans in the ancient world and also pre-Christian Europe have vague idea
about the hereafter. On the other hand, happiness in Islam has something to do with the
Hereafter (Ākhirah). Only the revealed religion talks about the hereafter, its punishment and
reward. Secularized religions no longer dwell the concept of the Hereafter because their
focus now is only this world. For example, in Judaism, the Jewish people not only say
‘Amen’ for their prayers but also “Next year in Jerusalem”. Therefore, happiness in Islam
also concerns the Hereafter. It refers to the soul’s experience and this is related to
knowledge because it is food for the soul; deprived of this food the soul becomes lifeless
(ghariban). Man is composed of both spiritual and animal constituents. Man’s animal aspect
performs the functions of growth, nutritive, movement and perception so wealth and security
are external influences on both the body and the soul. We utilize these influences in order
to come to certain state called being ‘happy’. Yet, happiness is not just the state of mind or
bodily pleasure–true happiness does not change once it is attained. If imān is absent then we
cannot grasp the meaning of happiness because it is ever changing. Therefore, in the religion
of Islam, part of happiness is the Muslim being aware that he is here for certain purpose and
not for chaos, nor to produce order from chaos. Furthermore, God is not the one who is
causing chaos. On the matter of returning the self to God, the verse in the Qur’ān “Inna
Allah ishtara min al-Mu’minīn anfusahum” refers to barter trade; that is the exchange of the
self with something better. There is no such thing as imān without islām; a person who has
not submitted cannot know if he possesses imān. Rather, because imān cannot be seen it
can only be seen through a person’s actions.
The climax of the series was when in the 10th ,11th and 12th lecture, Tan Sri Al-Attas
alluded the fact that nowadays, values has taken over virtues. Both are not the same as value is
speculative and we put its worth. On the other hand, virtue is a certain quality that was given by
God and that you must put to practice. Virtue consists of ethics and akhaq. Ethics in Islam is
based on revealed religion, whereas ethics in the Western civilization is based on rational
speculation. It follows therefore that ethics in the West is purely speculative in nature and is not
followed up by a practical requirements that confirms and actualizes the truth and validity of
those ethical principles. In Islam, akhlaq is the practical manifestation or ‘acting-out’ of its
ethical principles; a way or a path that has been prescribed by religion in order for a person to
be good and virtuous. In addition, the speculative nature of ethics in the West gave rise to
further questions (or complications) such as: Whether values in Western ethics are descriptive
(noun) or prescriptive (verb)? Whether these values are inherent in the object being evaluated
or these values are given by an external evaluator? Whether these values are then objective –
independent of time, place and person – or subjective? Virtue is correctly translated as fadhilah
in Islam and it refers to an excellence of mind (which is correctly translated as ‘zihin’ in Malay
and is one aspect of the ‘aql) and of possessing discernment, which means not only knowing
what a particular thing or action is in itself, but what it implies, its consequences and ensuing
ramifications. Virtue is not merely speculative, but is a quality that must be put into practice and
that is ultimately based on religion. Four core virtues (collectively known as the ‘mother of
virtues’): (1)Wisdom (to know where to put things at its right places) consists of both practical
(hikmah al-amaliyyah) and theoretical (hikmal al-nazariyyah) aspects and both must play their
respective roles in conformity with each other; the theoretical wisdom pertains to cognition and
knowledge and must be continually trained so that it can ‘guide’ the practical wisdom;
(2)Courage, the Malay word ‘berani’ does not fully capture the virtue of courage as understood
in Islam, for courage also includes patience, magnanimity and forbearance, and does not simply
mean being brave in battle. ;(3)Temperence means to behave in accordance with the
recommendations of intelligence and religion; incorrectly translated into ‘kesederhanaan’ in
Malay when the more correct translation is ‘timbang-rasa’ for it implies an act of determining
the correct measure or balance of a particular deed using the intellect and based on religious
precepts; (4) Justice means to put things in their proper places and when it pertains to ethics,
justice means submitting or subordinating animal soul to the dictates of the practical wisdom,
which must function in conformity with the theoretical wisdom
He then adds on the concept of freedom. Freedom (ikhtiyar) as understood in Islam is
defined as the exercise of choice by a person for the better. This definition of freedom - which
submits freedom to the criterion of good and bad - has several important implications: first, that
ultimately a person is confronted with two kinds of choice: to opt for the better or the worse,
the good or the bad, which gives lie to the supposition that a person is bombarded with
countless choices throughout his waking life for all of these choices is ultimately reducible to
whether it is for the good or for the bad, for the better or for the worse; second, this
understanding of freedom presupposes that the person exercising choice possesses the sound
knowledge (‘ilm) of good and bad, and is able to weigh and discriminate between the various
options presented to him based on that knowledge; third, freedom conceived in this manner is
profoundly linked to a person’s capacity to act in accordance to the right choice and to one’s
accountability for that choice and subsequent action; in other words, with freedom comes
responsibilities and most importantly, freedom is never absolute in the sense of freedom to
follow one’s desire and caprice to the detriment of oneself and other people, but represents a
fulfillment of one’s duties and obligations (amanah) to oneself, to others and to God. It is often
argued that the alternatives must be made known and tried for there to be a true freedom of
choice; hence the argument that one must have the freedom to sin in order for one’s religious
convictions or repentance to be truly meaningful. We disagree with such an argument because
in our way of thinking, man has already been informed of the alternatives through Revelation.
It follows therefore that man does not need to deliberately involve himself in sinful acts in
order to better appreciate the depth and meaning of his religious convictions, just like one does
not need to commit a murder in order to better appreciate the value of life. Ultimately, true
freedom means being liberated from the control and caprice of the lower animal self.
He closed all the 12 sessions with a deep and clear meaning of what it means for us
to be free a man, our capability of using language, having practice religion with adab to
ultimately achieve a state of happiness. The lecture series was highly practical as oppose to
mere theoretical as it deals with our understanding of the very nature of man and our
purpose of existence. All this encompasses of a worldview that one should have in order to
achieve certainty. Ending this article with an analogy Tans Sri Al-Attas recited regarding the
seeker of knowledge :
"Supposing you are going to make a keris or some weapon made of steel.
What do you do? You put it in the fire, you have to take it out, you have to beat it,
turn it, beat it again, put it back into the forge and many times before finally it
becomes sharp. So sometimes what I'm saying also is like that. I have to repeat again,
and again and again... even for years. But then, by the time it is understood, it will
become like that keris. Then it becomes a weapon. Then it becomes sharp. Then it
becomes ready to face enemies."
Written by some students of CASIS : Khalina Khalili , Fiqih Risalah, Nur Idayu
Wahid , Syed Muhammad Muhiyyudin Al-Attas, Ai Wardah Mardiah, Muhamman
Ikhwan Azlan,Sharifah Hajar Al-Mahdaly ,Muhamman HusniMohd. Amin and Wan
Mohd Aimran
