GLOBALIZATION FROM AN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE

How globalization is mentioned as the process involving various dimensions: economic, political, and cultural all having their social impact; its “Task Force” limits its analysis to the economic aspect only;

How globalization is seen as a phenomenon from the economic point of view as a process which integrates the economy of various countries very speedily. It is being guided by ever increasing liberalization in international commerce, and foreign investments take place in a direct manner by a more independent flow of capital. (http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/gh/docs/gh276/sdl-1.htm)

International trade in commodities and services

The flows of capital (FDI) and short term flows

The role of multinational enterprises (MNE)

Reorganization of networks in a big way on the international level

The use of information technology

The Enlightenment in Western cultural history consisting of the total separation between religion and science, secularization, rationalization, and individualization.

The enlightenment in the political arena: the formation of the European nation states, the development of international law, and international conventions.

Enlightenment in economics with money economy, book–keeping, the industrial revolution, and the interaction with national economies;

Innovation in technology; the revolution in means of transport; communications system; manufacture of cars, planes, telegraph, the radio, telephone etc.

The spread of the Western enlightenment through travels, journeys of “discoveries”, colonization, markets, aids and advises to developing nations. (But with certain conditions to the disadvantage of the recipient nations).

Its roots after the WW II including the modernization of culture, the political and economic events, universal entertainment culture, the information technology, cultural and economic Americanization;

Modernization of politics, the neo-liberal market plus democracy almost accepted by the whole world, the rule of law, soft laws, the regionalization process, and the UN system.

Economic modernization: liberalization of the economy, the digital revolution, with the interaction of the global players.

The innovation in miniaturization of products, the dematerialization of products, the ICT revolution, the outer space technology.

The spread of Western modernity through markets, tourism, and aids to developing nations.

Fast communication by virtue of vehicles and communication facilities;

Information can be stored, retrieved, and moved for use;

Money can be sent instantly in commercial transactions;

Decisions can be made very fast because information can be obtained instantly and  communication is easy (with e-mail, video-conferencing facilities, etc)

Education is facilitated by the use of distant learning through the internet etc. without the necessity of attending lectures in universities; even degrees are being conferred on-line.

Access of written materials through the Internet, with data, sounds, and pictures.

The fast expansion of the economy, economic integration can be facilitated throughout the world;

Politically relations can be facilitated by the new technology;

In terms of Islamic education mention can be made of the web sites which are extremely useful for acquiring information on Islamic sciences, like the web site “al-Muhaddith.com”, in which important classical texts in Arabic in various fields can be downloaded, printed and studied; among the texts are those in the field of Qur’anic commentary, traditions of the Prophet, fiqh, creed, spirituality and lexicography. There is an excellent web site “al-islam.com” which makes available Arabic texts in fiqh, almost a hundred of them, which can be instantly studied, printed and downloaded. There are texts on hadith with their commentaries, like traditions of al-Bukhari, Muslim, al-Nasa’I, Ibn Majah, Abu Daud, and so on. There is also available “al-mausu’ah al-fiqhiyyah”. There is Imam Ghazali’s the four volumes of ‘Ihya, then there are articles on him; there is a site on “Muslim Scientists and Islamic Civilization” managed by Dr Zahoor which is excellent for studies in Islamic cultural and intellectual history.

There are Arabic journals and papers including the web site facilitating translation from Arabic to English or English to Arabic. (Alajeeb.tarjim.com) For our region we need a web site facilitating translation from English into Malay and vice versa.

There are web sites of well known scholars of Islam who can be easily contacted by e-mail like Dr Ramadan al-Buti and Yusuf al-Qaradawi, among others. In the West there are traditional scholars like Dr Abdul Hakim Murad, Dr Nuh Ha Mim Keller and Shaikh Hamzah Yusuf.

By using search-engines like “Google.com”, together with its Arabic version for scholars of Islamic studies, “Yahoo.com”, Infoseek.com” and “Go.to” and others one can seek for information speedily, and if one is patient enough, and is intellectually prepared, then one can even get wisdom from this effort. Allah willing.

Globalization in terms of education can be observed for instance in the use of this information technology and the internet in making education and knowledge open to all; this opening up of information and education to all is unprecedented in the past.

There is further long-distance education which gives students access to education without being hampered by distance;

Relationship between the teacher and the student can take place via e-mails, or video-conferencing facilities, and to this can be added the actual meeting face-to face.

The availability of reference materials on-line, instantly, with encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other texts. The Britannica Encyclopedia can be accessed on-line through subscription. Reference works for example are accessable through “Searchalot.com” which mentions even the “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” by Gibbons, etc. Then there is “Dictionary of Philosophy” which is so useful for understanding modern thought. Even the “Ihya’ “ of Imam al-Ghazali in the original Arabic can be accessed through muslimphilosophy.com. The “Masthnawi-Ma’nawi” of Jalal al-Din Rumi in its English translation can be accessed on-line.

Translation work can also be done on-line by using the web-sites providing such services. For instance for translation of Arabic into English and vice versa mention can be made of the Alajeeb.tarjim.com, which does translation quite well, ectaco.com which does translation in European languages. Apart from that, one can get access to radio programs in Arabic or English and other languages; in this manner one can upgrade one’s knowledge in modern languages.

In terms of education and knowledge, (not to mention business on-line which is becoming something so common now) we can say that information and useful knowledge can be obtained easily, instantly, and stored, and then retrieved easily, through this ICT; as stated above, if one is ready and intellectually prepared, as stated above, even wisdom can be accessed through this technology. Allah willing.

In terms of Islam as a religion and education, through its doctrines and practice, then we can observe that Islam is a religion which comes to this world to bring man to “Allah the Lord of all the worlds”, to prepare him to live in consciousness of His Nearness and Compassion and Justice. The God envisaged by Islam is God of the whole universe not “God of your people”, not “a tribal God”.

Then Prophet Muhammad - peace and blessings of Allah be upon him - is a prophet sent for the mercy of the entire world, coming to save all humanity and not special groups of people.

Hence, Islam comes to embrace universal life of humanity taking the whole cosmic environment as the place for the manifestation of the Word of God and its realization. Hence, instant communication through this technology is an instrument for the realization of this veritable spiritual truth. The prayer of the faithful servant is to the effect: ‘Verily my prayer, my acts of sacrifice, my life and my death are all for the sake of Allah the Lord of the worlds”.

Apart from endorsing globalization in terms of all the positive things with all that it implies, Islam should play its role effectively in utilizing this technology to manifest the ummatic (Ummah) criterion in civilization building, in harmony with its status mentioned in the Qur’anic statement: “You are the best of nation brought forth for (the benefits of) mankind, you enjoin goodness and you prohibit evil, and you believe in Allah…”

Looked from the point of view of realization of the teachings of the Shari’at and the true orthodox creed of Islam, and seeing the forces undermining the same, many of them related to the globalization process itself, either directly or indirectly, we can observe that the duty of the believers to spread the message and its realization is of paramount importance; the aim of the coming of Islam to this world is for guarding religion, human intellect, life, progeny, and human honour and dignity. Hence, this must be the focus for the struggle of the believers in this age, and the ICT should be the instrument for furthering the supreme message. This ultimate goal should not be allowed to be the victim of unbridled market forces and the spread of the secular and Godless monoculture from Western civilization which is at present seems to be supreme above all others.

In the same way, the programmes which constitute the ultimate aims of those holding the helms of affairs for Muslims in the Islamic doctrine should not be compromised because of the operation of “forces of the open market”; the aims being to safeguard religion, the welfare of the subjects whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims, their wealth, the peace and security of the country, the families of their subjects, and so on, as outlined clearly by classical authorities like al-Mawardi in his al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyyah and Ibn Khaldun in his masterpiece Al-Muqaddimah.

When talking about Muslims and their religion in this country, then it must be said that Islamic Education must be a permanent part of the national education, with the treatment of the Islamic Sciences in the manner maximizing the positive effects in character building of Muslims, and making them skilled citizens in facing the forces of globalization, and of course also making them gaining real mastery of modern subjects useful for their own welfare and the development of the country along positive lines.

In Islamic view of education, there is the Islamic creed teaching people the correct faith about God, the Prophets, the world, revelation and the revealed books, the hereafter and the Divine Pre-Measurement. This is taught in accordance with the correct view in the school of the People of the Prophetic Life-Way and the Community of True Believers (Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamaah). This faith, conviction and world-view should give strength to the believers to face the forces of globalization, while benefiting from them, without losing their spiritual and moral identity thereby.

In Islamic education, believers are taught a life of spiritual devotion to Allah the Creator, by performing the acts of devotions with sincerity, and in this way they develop their personalities to be strong and resilient, with such empowering rites and duties.

In it the believers are taught to realize the virtues which in the most perfect form and level constitute the perfect mode of being. This will guarantee the preservation of the noble values in human personality and society. At present this is undergoing a very severe test indeed. This is taught until today, never mind about what the post-modernist thinkers say concerning their bewildering understanding of the relativities of things.

Further, it is to be observed that in Islamic education we have the concrete example of the role-model of the Prophet - on him be peace and blessings – (the “uswah hasanah” of the Qur’an) which should wean away people from obsession with celebrity culture making people’s life being lived at a very superficial level indeed.

Mention should be made of the necessity for the development of knowledge culture in a very intensive and extensive way; this should be done by Muslims by their utilizing all the facilities in ICT so that they will reap maximum benefit from this, while avoiding the negative use of the medium.

The realization of breadth of vision in religious understanding can be effected through the use of this new technology in the classrooms or the lecture halls, or even in their homes. In short Muslims should embrace this technology as a boon from Allah the Almighty for the sake of empowering the Ummah intellectually.

Then exposure of sound values to students should be done by using all the available means at our disposal apart from the traditional methods available.

Culture of high skill and expertise can be realized by the maximum utilization of this technology with all the hardware and software and peripherals connected to it.

Mercy of Allah can work in wondrous ways to reach most hearts of the people of belief. We hear of the story of the taxi-driver in South Africa becoming a “hafiz” by habitually listening to the recitation of the Qur’an by Shaikh Mahmud al-Husari from the tape recorder. This can happen through the use of the Internet.

How there are multinational giant corporations, 40,000 of them, with their related groups, almost half a million of them, possessing the value of sales five times that of the level of trade between the states in which the corporations carry on their trade.

Being mentioned how from the point of view of cultural development, there seem to be the spread international values, and global values, which in fact are the spread of American values or Americanization.

There is the mention of the Test of Human Psychology - how people are being empowered, as actors for this age, to face so gigantic challenges, with the responsibilities which are so challenging. Mention is made of the financial challenges, challenges in terms of employment, with the various implications, education which has become education for life, the problem of alienation of man, from the realm of nature, with all the repercussions, man being astray from the true aim of life, then there is the problem of anxiety in facing life problems.

Mention is made of information overload in this globalization age, the extremely fast rate of change in things, in the internet era, the virtual era, so much so that much of our human interactions are in the realm of idea, realm of commerce, or institutions, the increasingly large degree of the loss of sense of place or anchoring, because people travel so much and often, and their interaction with one another occurring through the media - the phone, e-mail or others - not directly, not face-to-face; hence the anchoring of someone in terms of space, place, or relationship with real people is being eroded away alarmingly fast.

Question has been asked: Is the human psychology which is maximally prepared to face interaction with a world hundred times less complex, less abstract, less multifarious in things, from the ones we face now, can we face such challenges with such a human psychology? 

Mention is made of the “Pessimism Syndrome” as a result of the frequent exposure to sensational news from the media - the media always gathering the sensational in its news - hence people formulate their conception of human life based on those sensational news about crimes, misdeeds, and the misconduct of the members of the society. This makes people think that society is much worse than it actually is.

There is the mention of changes in values, for the worse. But it is stated that human nature is constant, unchanging, “human nature is a constant”, but trend seems to show more attraction to multinational corporations - hence towards money-mindedness, and also the attraction to strange form of spirituality, unlike the conventional spirituality of the organized religions of the world. (3)

Also mention is made of “techno-ethos” - that is the trend of adulating technology and its use hence “seems to remove from our lives any kind of anchoring”, making life lose its sense of stability in any way, things which give them sense of direction in life, things which seem so solid and meaningful, beginning with the erosion of the traditional way of thinking about society, including the family, consisting of stable individuals with certain stable characteristics, in reasonably long stretch of time,  showing clear development of human personalities, leading to understanding of things in a reasonable and rational way.

Mention is made of artificial form of human relationship only though gadgets like phones and others; hence enduring and meaningful relationship is being eroded away.

This leads to the relativism of noble values. Hence profound aspects of human relationship and awareness is nullified or negated with all the attending consequences. Hence there is no more commitment to values, and there is increase in crimes.

In the Malay World, attention must be paid to the dissemination and preservation of the Sunni theological formulation, based on the Qur’an, the Tradition of the Prophet, and the Consensus of scholars. The classical deviations must be avoided like Mu’tazilah school, the Qadariyyah, Shi’ah, Jabariyyah, Khawarij, and the Batiniyyah, including their intellectual and theological trends. Theological trends like the one brought by Muhammad ibn ‘’Abd al-Wahhab of the 19^th century also must be avoided: with his view that Adam a.s. being guilty of ‘shirk’, al-Busiri the writer of the famous “Qasidah al-Burdah” as guilty of “shirk”, accusing other Muslim Sunnis as polytheists simply because they ask for blessings at the graves of pious people, or they ask for intercession from God through them (all of which are permissible to majority of Sunni scholars), and consequently making their property and blood permissible for others, with the anti-establishment stance, which finally led to the downfall of the Ottoman Caliphate, the wali al-amr of the Sunni world, even though this occurred after the death of Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab in the 19^th century. Believers should also avoid modern atheistic thought, so as to keep their faith in the correct form; of course the modern thinkers can be studied for the sake of comparative studies in thought.  Muslims should practice the relationship of compassion among themselves and others, and not adopting the culture of hate and combativeness among themselves.

Then Muslims must understand and practice the legal doctrines of the Shafi’I school - with various necessary additions whenever the occasions arise for such necessity - and not confuse people with opinions of independent scholars unless after verifying them with the reputable scholars concerned. Apart from this respect for all the authentic legal schools must be inculcated effectively and fanaticism for any school should be avoided.

The grand narrative of al-Ghazali concerning spirituality and ethics together with his philosophical indications should be understood seriously as intellectual, spiritual and moral guidance in this region. Additional materials can be added whenever necessary whenever the occasions do arise.

The grand intellectual narrative of Ibn Khaldun in the “Muqaddimah” should be exposed to this region so that it becomes another grand intellectual narrative or discourse for this region; this is of extreme importance in view of the necessity for civilizational, cultural and intellectual empowering of the Muslims of this region.

The Muslims are enjoined to strengthen their grasp on learning and skills in all aspects of the sciences necessary for development, apart from their grasp of the teachings and practice of their religion.

Finally Muslims are supposed to be prepared for inter-civilizational dialogue with the other members of the great Asian cultures in this region so that a life of cultural and civilizational understanding and cooperation can be realized, and this is of extreme importance for maintaining our cultural identity and values in facing the forces of globalization.

www.oocities.org/traditionalislam/ or traditionalislam.tripod.com