By, Spahic Omer
Reviving the Islamic epistemology of tawhid (the Oneness of Allah) is indeed a noble undertaking. In today’s world of prevalent godlessness and rampant immorality, fueled by the subtly constructed and vigorously sustained, as well as imposed, jahiliyyah (ignorance), it is equally a bold one.
However, for it to succeed, tawhidic epistemology ought to clearly define its conceptual framework, scope, and methodology. The prerequisites for its initiation, the milestones in its progress, and the benchmarks and measures of quality also need to be precisely spelled out, and the path leading towards them must be unmistakably delineated.
This is to prevent the whole thing from becoming a mere cliché, a worn-out motto lacking substance. Furthermore, it is to avoid the risk that the entire mission, filled with so much hype and promise, would ultimately turn into a disappointing failure, playing into the hands of critics and creating a fear of any similar reform efforts in the future.
Two of the issues that should be addressed for tawhidic epistemology to court success are making the systematic and comprehensive study of both the Qur’an and the Western worldview compulsory. One may wonder about the relationship between these two.
The unfortunate truth is that Muslims—especially their youth—lack engagement with the Qur’an, resulting in a deficiency in understanding it as the wellspring of the only true knowledge and its enlightenment. This creates a significant spiritual and intellectual void within them that craves fulfillment. All things considered, the easiest and most appealing way to fill this void is through the deceptively captivating worldview of the West, along with its culture and civilization stemming from the former.
Why the Qur’an?
I believe it is a strange and superfluous question to ask why studying the Qur’an should be mandatory for Muslim students.
It is a fundamental aspect of Islam that the Qur’an serves as the source, inspiration, and guidance for Muslim consciousness and life, encompassing everything related to Muslims or described as “Islamic.” Without the Qur’an, there can be no Islam, Muslims, or Islamic cultures and civilization. The Qur’an is the foundation and essence of Muslim identity and the guiding compass of their civilizational trajectory.
Moreover, Islam is an all-inclusive way of life, and the Qur’an is the fountainhead of this life. It likewise functions as a consistent reference point for all human activities, encompassing not only fields that are strictly religious, such as usuluddin, hadith, tafsir, and fiqh, but also those that may appear “distant” and “non-religious,” such as medicine, engineering, architecture, science, and economics. Across all these domains, the Qur’an stands as the first reference and should be acknowledged in that light.
Both life and the Qur’an are Allah’s gifts to humanity. The former, with its honorable purpose, constitutes the core of man’s vicegerency mission, whereas the latter signifies its instruction manual. Needless to say that for the well-being and functionality of both, man will be held accountable on the Day of Judgment.
It follows from the above that Muslims’ understanding of life and their Qur’an must go hand in hand to grasp what life is and how, as well as why, it should be lived. For them, the Qur’an represents the most critical knowledge, while life operates as a set of fluid, open-ended educational procedures. One of their objectives is for the revealed knowledge contained in the Qur’an to be absorbed, comprehended, internalized, and applied within the total context of life and man’s consequential presence in it.
That is how things should be, but unfortunately, the reality is very different. Most Muslims, especially our youth and students, are unaware of the content and revolutionary messages of the Qur’an. The best we can find, and only among some people, are partial and inconsistent relationships with the Qur’an, based on symbolism, superficiality, and inadequacy. Such includes occasionally reading some passages without understanding or caring about their meaning, or treating the Qur’an as a talisman.
I, for one, keep asking hundreds of my students if anyone has ever read, or has been made to read, the whole Qur’an from cover to cover to understand it and contemplate its implications for thought and life. The answer I always get is a resounding “no.”
This raises two disturbing thoughts.
First, if that is the situation in an Islamic university where Islam and its Qur’an are still articulated and well represented, how much more concerning is the condition outside in the rest of the country and in the Muslim world, where Islam and the Qur’an are not as openly and enthusiastically promoted? This certainly does not bode well for the future.
Second, if our students have undergone various forms and levels of education for about 15 to 20 years, and now many of them are at the end of their knowledge-seeking journey, how is it that they have not been adequately exposed to the bedrock and soul of all knowledge and wisdom: the Holy Qur’an? One cannot help but wonder what kind of knowledge they have received and how valuable it is; how well or poorly they have been prepared to face life’s challenges, which can be decisive in determining their destiny in the Hereafter.
People have not been created to be merely professionals, serving others and their own ideologies or life systems. Instead, they are meant to be servants of Allah, their Creator, and to serve His religion (din) of Islam as the definitive paradigm of existence at all levels. This obligation defines their raison d’etre, while the former is optional and highly flexible. After fulfilling their duties to Allah, a person can pursue any permissible role as a secondary means to their primary calling. Unquestionably, one can easily perform well in a professional role, but the pursuit of being a good human being is far more complex.
The highlighted prompts a series of critical questions. Do we, as a matter of fact, betray our students in the name of education? Do we misguide them instead of guiding them, destroying rather than improving their most vital life prospects? Do we truly enlighten them, or do we contribute to perpetuating their ignorance? This is set against the backdrop that we are here on earth exclusively to attain Allah’s pleasure and eventually end up in His Jannah (Paradise). Life is too short, so messing up priorities will be fatal.
That is why we should stop claiming that people’s human right is education and instead insist that it is genuine knowledge. Knowledge is the goal; education is merely a collection of means, mechanisms, and systems that lead to and deliver knowledge. Additionally, knowledge is sustenance, while education is like the tools and instruments used to prepare and provide it. Those in charge hesitate to affirm this because, first, they cannot guarantee the provision of authentic knowledge, and second, their main concern is controlling the masses, which is achieved through education but undermined by true knowledge.
Tawhidic epistemology should remember the essentials
Due to all of this, tawhidic epistemology should not overlook the fundamentals. The focus should be on increasing our students’ cognitive awareness of the Qur’an and enhancing their intellectual and spiritual engagement with it. The same is expected – recommended – to be translated into a few core university subjects that can be placed under a module termed “Studies of the Qur’an” or “The Message of the Qur’an.”
There should be a few, perhaps four, parts of the module, spanning the corresponding number of semesters. Each subject should carry three credit hours and cover one quarter of the Qur’an. The syllabuses of the module’s subjects should focus on reading, translating, and discussing the pertinent themes of the Qur’an, relating them to the pressing aspects of life. Once equipped with this knowledge, integrating it into other subjects will be much easier and more meaningful. This denotes a root cause from which constructive effects are expected to arise naturally and generously.
It is true that this will present itself as an additional burden for students and the curriculum. While revisiting some segments of both curricular and extracurricular configurations, tweaking and replacing them, is a possibility, trying to go beyond the call of duty, doing more than others expect, and going the extra mile should not be frowned upon either. We cannot do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result.
The truth remains that there are no shortcuts to excellence. To be positively different and to lead others, one must either do different things or do the same things differently and with higher quality. Does the philosophy that while others are “gardens of knowledge,” we are “the garden of knowledge and virtue” not imply this? Yes, it does. We must be prepared for the inevitable and respond to the persistent calls inspired by a groundbreaking vision. Every extremely successful person, institution, and life story features something additional and extraordinary. Being just another follower and doing what everyone else does means embracing mediocrity instead of leadership, averageness instead of superiority, and conventionality instead of avant-gardism.
We should all be wary of engaging, whether directly or indirectly, knowingly or unknowingly, in the unholy struggle to disregard the Qur’an (al-Furqan 30). The Criterion is the word of Allah and His Messenger; hence, we should fully embrace only their standards of quality culture. According to a hadith: “The best among you (Muslims) are those who learn the Qur’an and teach it” (Sahih al-Bukhari). By analogy, those who neither learn the Qur’an nor teach it—so that the Qur’an can be actualized and people can become “walking Qur’ans”—cannot fare well on the scale of Islamic excellence.
Why the Western worldview?
The second component that needs attention in implementing tawhidic epistemology, though not as extensively as the study of the Qur’an, is the study of the Western worldview. The goal is to prepare students to resist the ongoing westernization that takes various forms. Many of our students lack a strong foundation in Qur’anic knowledge and do not possess the necessary Islamic understanding and cultural resilience, making them vulnerable. They are easily drawn to seemingly appealing and harmless ideas, which shows how effectively the West has refined its strategies. This process began with the failure of the Crusades, was institutionalized during Napoleon’s brief stay in Egypt, and peaked during the later stages of colonization.
The absence of Qur’anic ideals allowed Western influences to penetrate minds, souls, and lifestyles. This became a viable prospect due to the lack of alternatives and the competitive nature of the situation, as well as the self-proclaimed, aggressively promoted, and absolute character of Western values. The West held a monopoly on generating ideas and creative solutions, marketing them worldwide. It seemed as if the West was the “last man standing,” with the future resting at its feet. It behaved like a civilizational messiah, so to speak.
Students are victims, and we owe them the truth. It is our responsibility to explain to them why things are as they are and where the solutions lie. We must acknowledge that the current situation is the result of Muslims’ long-standing inability to effectively address their growing weaknesses and the increasing strengths of the hostile West. It was the Ottomans, starting in the 18th century, who first failed to understand that the issue was not with the West but within the Muslim community. The decree is based on the Qur’anic principle that Allah changes the external condition of a people only when they change what is inside themselves (al-Ra’d 11).
As a result of this fatal misunderstanding, solutions to the problems faced by Muslims were often sought outside their own jurisdictions, particularly within the context of the West and its rapidly growing dominance. This created a vicious cycle that led to increasing suffering in the Muslim world, which in turn called for more Westernization in the name of modernization, ultimately resulting in complete dependence on the West and its questionable prescriptions. Consequently, Muslims drifted further from their historical identity, their faith, and their true selves, struggling to find their place in a world filled with ideas, values, and standards that were foreign to Islam. The new paradigm and its rules were based on the perception that the less Islam there was, the more Westernization occurred, and vice versa. The two were simply incompatible.
What our students are suffering from today is the result of a poor legacy that they had no choice but to inherit. Since tawhidic epistemology is a comprehensive endeavor that respects the power of the reciprocal relationship between causes and effects, the causes of the malaise affecting Muslim youth should be properly diagnosed and treated. As the future of the Muslim ummah, it is imperative that significant material and immaterial investments be made to support the youth. Accordingly, studying the Western worldview as a segment of an enemy within should be of paramount importance. An independent university-required subject dedicated to this purpose is a must.
Such is more important than studying Western civilization itself, although combining the two and dedicating more time to the amalgam would be the ideal scenario. The reason is that the Western worldview is abstract and subtle, making it harder to identify and analyze. It tends to fly under the radar. In contrast, criticizing and rejecting the material aspects of Western civilization is a more straightforward task. Besides, the elements of the Western worldview are crafted in such a way that they seem alluring and unlikely, at first glance, to conflict with Islam and its ideals. This is precisely how the Ottomans felt and why they easily succumbed to the temptations of the West.
Attracted to the military strength of the West, but framed within its own worldview, the Ottomans—and Muslims in general—were increasingly seeing the West as less detached, less foreign, and less threatening. In retrospect, the West was viewed solely through the lens of its Christian identity, which had long been challenged and dismissed. There was little to no room to engage with the blatant corruptors of faith and betrayers of prophets and God, except for some unavoidable and superficial matters.
But lately, the West has been turning against its old self, shedding its unproductive religious (Christian) image. By adopting new ideological and civilizational paths, it was remodeling itself. Its focus was to view and engage with the world in a new light, starting from scratch, as it were, and from the inside out. The world waited to be discovered and assessed based on the intrinsic qualities and resources that people genuinely possessed within themselves, rather than seeking external sources of inspiration or assistance that lie “beyond” the self and its immediate environment.
And all of a sudden, the vocabulary of the West sounded less antagonistic and less repellent, if not more eye-catching, friendlier, and even more constructive. It was as if the West was emerging from its outdated and discredited cocoons and was reaching out to the inherent benefits of reason and the advantages of life. It wanted to truly live and enjoy life. The language of distorted dogmas and vague beliefs was replaced with more familiar concepts such as freedom, justice, equality, progress, enlightenment, science, exploration, discovery, and creativity. The West was making significant strides from the realm of haram (prohibition) to that of halal (permissibility or lawfulness). It could thus be counted on as a source of benefit and even as an ally.
The West and its civilization as a poisoned chalice
Nevertheless, can we consider all of this to be accurate? The response is a combination of affirmation and negation.
It is true that the West became less Christian and more liberal and open-minded over time. It changed significantly, but not necessarily for the better. It simply replaced the Christian practices of distortion, subjugation, and aggressive proselytizing with those linked to the pagan Greco-Roman traditions. It is no surprise that the first chapter in the evolution of the new West was called the Renaissance, which means “re-birth.”
The newly created Western ideas and values were linked to a rejection of religion and external authority in shaping its future. It considered itself as free from divine commands, progressive in thought and action without religious or moral constraints, and capable of mastering its own fate. The entire universe, starting with earth, became the scientific “playground” of the West, where it unleashed— and has continued to do so—its rebellious, insubordinate, greedy, and self-centered nature, all in the name of exploratory science and creative discovery.
As a consequence, the noble pursuit of science was transformed into scientism, where science was perceived as the key to uncovering all mysteries and answering all questions, effectively turning it into an organized “religion.” Moreover, the Western man, driven by his humanist ideology, made himself the center of the universe. Taking on the roles of both creator and destroyer, he also aspired to be the prime mover. In essence, he managed to dethrone, ground, humanize, and debase all gods and deities, deifying himself instead and placing his insatiable ambitions and hopes on the throne of the all-knowing and the almighty.
This way, the Western man became the author of a new religion. He became so faithful and committed to it that followers of other religions could not match his enthusiasm, making the West the most “consecrated” ecosystem and Westerners the most “religious” genus. The West also became so fanatical and exclusive about this new religion that it started to regard it as the peak of human civilizational evolution. The most sophisticated and refined expressions of civilization found a home in the West, which led the Western man to feel obliged to convey and impose the same on the rest of the world.
Thus, the notion of “the mission to civilize” was born, in which the Western man observed himself as the world’s savior. He believed he was destined to save humanity from the shackles of barbarism, primitive regression, and ignorance, often attributed to religions and adherence to vague otherworldly powers, in favor of the infinite potential and assurances found in human intellect, liberty, science, and civilizational progress. And just like that, the colonization efforts were intensified and given a new twist, whose crimes can, at long last, be categorized as Western “religious” terrorism.
Our students need help
Because false and aggressive marketing is the most powerful weapon of the West, and because it is very difficult to identify and separate the little good from the much bad associated with the West and its largely profane civilizational output, our students need significant guidance and support to resist the constant influx of Western influences, especially in the abstract and often intangible realm of ideas. To achieve this goal, the best approach would be to establish a specialized core subject aimed at educating students and helping them navigate the complexities they may face.
The kernel of the initiative is the decolonization of the mind and fulfilling our responsibilities towards young and fragile souls. In doing so, the pursuit of truth must be prioritized. A spade must be called a spade. There should be no hiding from the fact that the majority of the institutionalized West has always been unfavorably disposed to Muslims and the Islamic world. Its support for and involvement in the ongoing genocide in Gaza should silence the last doubters and dispel any lingering uncertainties. Indeed, everything the West does is shaped by its animosity towards established religions, as well as by a blend of self-worship (a journey from humanism to autolatry) and the worship of deified scientism, hedonism, materialism, nihilism, and agnosticism.
Therefore, even the little that is genuinely good from the West is very difficult to separate from its pervasive form of paganism and idolatry. In revolting against religions, the West developed what could be called religiophobia. However, after successfully destroying or incapacitating all religions except Islam, which paradoxically continued to grow and strengthen, this sense of religiophobia morphed into Islamophobia. Most interactions between the West and Islam or Muslims are viewed through this prism. Things seem fine only because many Muslims yield to the pressure and prefer an acquiescent life, often resulting in compromising their faith.
Our students cannot handle the pressure and survive alone. Standing at the crossroads of youth and postmodern absurdities, they need our help. Failing to provide guidance and support to them would constitute a negligent act for which we will bear responsibility on the Day of Judgment. Such may yet amount to a form of betrayal.
It is our primary duty to cut off the supply of harmful provisions and provide students instead with the healthy and undoubtedly best alternatives found within the rich resources of their Islamic heritage, just waiting to be discovered and utilized. That would embody the meaning of true education, which aims to provide genuine knowledge and to create well-rounded individuals who are successful in both worlds—without fearing criticism from others, even if unbelievers, pagans, and hypocrites may be displeased.***
(Dr. Spahic Omer is Associate Professor in the Department of History and Civilisation of AbdulHamid AbuSulayman Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences at the International Islamic University Malaysia.)
