Oleh/By		:	DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD 
Tempat/Venue 	: 	THE ASIA-PACIFIC DEVELOPMENT CENTRE, 
			KUALA LUMPUR 
Tarikh/Date 	: 	26/07/84 
Tajuk/Title  	: 	THE OPENING OF THE THIRD 
			INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON 
			ISLAMIC THOUGHTS 




Assalamu 'alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

Yang Berhormat En. Anwar Ibrahim, Menteri Pertanian merangkap Pengerusi
Seminar; Yang Berhormat Dr. Sulaiman Daud, Menteri Kebudayaan, Belia dan
Sukan; Yang Berbahagia Dr. Ismail Al-Faruqi, Pengarah International
Institute of Islamic Thoughts; Dif-Dif Kehormat; Tuan-tuan dan Puan-puan
sekalian.

Saya mengucapkan terima kasih kepada penganjur, iaitu Kementerian
Kebudayaan, Belia dan Sukan, serta International Institute of Islamic
Thoughts, kerana memberi peluang kepada saya untuk berucap dan seterusnya
merasmikan pembukaan Seminar Pemikiran Islam Antarabangsa yang ketiga ini.

2. Umat Islam di Malaysia seharusnya berasa bangga apabila Kuala Lumpur
menjadi tempat diadakan Seminar ini. Walau bagaimanapun perasaan gembira
itu patut diresapi juga dengan tekad bagi mendapatkan apa-apa manfaat yang
boleh dari Seminar ini. Saya berharap pihak penganjur akan cuba menyusun
beberapa langkah supaya manfaat Seminar ini disebar seluas-luasnya kepada
umat Islam, bukan sahaja di negara ini tetapi juga di serata dunia.

Ladies and gentlemen, 

3. All praise to Allah Subhanahu Wataala for His blessings and salutations
to the Prophet Muhammad, may peace and blessings be upon him. It is indeed
an honour for me to be invited to open this Third International Seminar on
Islamic Thoughts.

4. The last four centuries does us the Muslim Ummah little credit. We have
not reflected the essence of Islam that was once the pace setter of
humanity. Our future must reflect a new approach, we must have clearly
crystallised ideas and well-articulated goals. We can only carry out
orderly and constructive work when the planning is thorough and we labour
towards recognised and acceptable goals. Unfortunately the vast majority
of Muslims including the intellectuals and those involved in the Islamic
movements have overlooked what to most builders is obvious. They know they
must go somewhere but they do not know exactly where to go. We must
therefore plan for the future and this means we need to analyse the past
and take stock of the present. It is clear that man's survival is
dependent on new patterns of mutual partnership and cooperation,
interdependence and symbiosis. This will not be possible without long-term
planning for the next twenty to forty years. We also need to understand
Islam within the context of the contemporary world, with the changed
conditions of life. We cannot recreate the world of the early years of
Islam. The changes which have occurred in recent decades are fundamentally
the biggest changes human society has ever experienced, but in practical
and intellectual terms, we Muslims have not been able to even conceive of
how to reorganise our political, social and economic life to take in the
changes that have taken place. We should reorganise our political, social
and economic life in a way that fully incorporates the injunctions of
Islam to ensure that a socially healthy, politically coherent and
economically efficient and vigorous Ummah would emerge, able to face all
challenges.

5. Consider for example the concept of shura' as applied to economics and
politics. These values are laid down by the Quran and the Sunnah tells us
how the Prophet formulated them, and how early Muslim society
institutionalised them. The question is, how can we realise them in our
life in the closing decades of the twentieth century? What is the pattern
of human relationship which would best realise the values of co-operation
and would lead to the most efficient system of economy? What institutional
arrangements would secure a distribution of wealth and income consistent
with the value of 'co-operation for the good'? Obviously it is not enough
to ask the Muslims to co-operate. This request has repeatedly been
made; and the end product is in front of us. Islamic injunctions must be
given practical content, and its implications explained in concrete terms,
before it can become operational in the economic organisation of Muslim
countries. The large numbers of those involved in the process of
production, the many dimensions in which co-operation must be conceived,
the complex technicalities involved in production, of relevant knowledge
of the actual needs of consumers, of the priorities of the State, of the
intention as well as the circumstances of the other producers, and of the
circumstances of the workers, all these factors have turned the simple
question of how to co-operate into a highly complex one. What is required
now is, if anything, a gigantic intellectual and imaginative effort
involving deep insight into the objectives and scope of these
injunctions. It is only by solving the problems mentioned above that we
can know what co-operation is and how it can be adopted as a way of
economic life in the contemporary situation. Then and then only can Islam
be said to be a way of life. To retreat and withdraw from modern society
is to deny that Islam is for all times.

6. Examination of other injunctions of Islam convinces us of the same
conclusions. One may ask, what significance does all this have? If we are
unable to understand these injunctions of Islam with reference to
contemporary reality, we have failed to understand Islam itself; we fail
to understand the social conduct desired of us by Allah Subhanahu Wataala
if we fail to operationalise the injunctions with reference to
contemporary reality, and we will not be able to plan effectively for the
future.

7. This is a painful admission. And this is the root cause of the present
predicament of Muslims. Not only have we failed to live up to Islam, but
we have also, to a large extent, failed to appreciate its universality. It
follows, therefore, that to understand the underlying dynamic relevance of
the injunctions of Islam in contemporary society, and to work out the
process of their implications in practice, is an acute spiritual need of
the Muslim Ummah.

Ladies and gentlemen, 

8. Our understanding of Islam will not increase overnight with the
beginning of the 15th century of the Hijrah. A better future for the
Muslim Ummah requires much more effort and strength. The Quran promised
the eternal survival of Islam; this promise does not extend to
Muslims. And Allah Subhanahu Wataala does not change the fate of a society
unless they make an effort to change it themselves. History offers no
support for the idea that simply by the passage of time Muslims will
suddenly undergo a miraculous revival. We, the Muslim Ummah, have to make
a conscious decision whether to remain in a constant state of tension,
between living in the past and only superficially coming to terms with the
contemporary world, or whether we will opt for an Islamic future, thereby
redirecting ourselves to the original path of Islam. Remember always that
Islam, when it came, was a modernising force that brought greatness to the
early followers of the faith; greatness in the field of economy, industry,
the sciences, the arts and military prowess.

9. For Muslim civilisation to achieve its destiny and experience a second
upturn, a balanced moderate approach to Islam and a certain amount of
self-criticism is a prerequisite. We Muslims must learn to be honest with
ourselves. We need to have a balanced approach to this world and to the
Hereafter. The concept of the Hereafter was given to man to broaden his
outlook and not to make him blind to his immediate environment. We must
seek good both in this world and the next. Modern scholars must therefore
be neither too preoccupied with this world nor exclusively entranced by
the next. Both must influence their scholarly efforts and exhortations.

10. It would appear to me that many Muslims have accepted and to some
extent have taken pride in their ignorance with unbelievable
satisfaction. We are in acute social, economic and political agony, yet
many Muslims have adopted a strangely false sense of security: reading the
Quran will bring them 'thawab' or blessings even if they do not understand
or practise it, going out on tabligh or propagation will secure a piece of
paradise, writing phamphlets and propaganda sheets will win support for
Islam. But this preoccupation with gaining merit for self is too
narrow. Muslims must establish a thriving and dynamic society as there can
only be a Hereafter for us if we survive as Muslims. When Muslims have
been wiped out or forcibly separated from their faith, there can be no
Hereafter.

11. If we really want to establish Islam, we must look for the leading
issues of our time and let people know what rights Allah has given them
that they must fight for, what security Allah offers them that they must
look for, and what promise Allah has for them that they must work for. We
must ensure that Islam is responsive to the immediate requirements and
concerns of modern man. If we ask people to accept a whole set of beliefs
and practices, they may run away for they do not understand what Islam
really is. This perhaps is the main problem. Understanding Islam does not
only mean the capability to explain a hadith, or outline the mechanics of
certain rituals or recite the verses of the Quran. Understanding Islam
also means the capacity to explain and put into practice its dynamic and
vibrant concepts in contemporary society.

12. At this point in time, on the one hand, disaster is threatening us and
the very future of mankind is at risk. On the other hand, the existence of
the Muslims as a viable force in the world is in the balance. The problems
we face are complex and worrying. They are not getting any simpler. The
two great challenges facing Muslims are to recreate a living civilisation
of Islam that was once dynamic and thriving, and to make a positive
contribution to the predicament facing mankind. In fact, these two tasks
are the same because Muslim civilisation is the only civilisation that
still preserves its basic teachings intact and has the potential to
provide an alternative to what is called the 'modern' world. It is also
the only civilisation that can provide the much-needed value structure and
spiritual needs which can lead mankind to happiness on this earth. But
before Muslims can do this, there is much work to be done.

13. The first thing Muslims have to do is to plan what sort of future they
envisage for themselves. They can have an aimless future or a planned
future. Current trends show that Muslim society is heading towards an
aimless future. Unless something is done now this trend is likely to
continue, putting the Muslims in grave danger of being separated from
their faith.

14. The Muslim Ummah cannot continue lying inactive like a stagnant lake
-- full of potential resources yet polluted. The Ummah must think about
and plan for its future. Muslims have longed for freedom since they were
invaded by the colonial powers and lost their independence. In some
regions the struggle still continues. Although the Muslims finally
achieved victory over their foreign enemies, their neglect of planning for
the post-victory period robbed them of the fruits of their struggles. They
sacrificed their lives for the sake of Islam, but their sacrifice was made
almost in vain for the Islamic order they envisaged did not emerge. This
is due to the neglect of those who failed to plan for the implementation
of the Islamic system. The Muslims have spent much of their time after
independence pursuing the various "isms" left behind by the colonialists.

Ladies and gentlemen, 

15. There is no escape from planning for the future. If Muslims really
want an Islamic social order, then they will need to examine every aspect
of modern life from the perspective of Islam and make necessary
corrections. The comprehensive relevance of Islam to everything has to be
established on a concrete level and many questions must be researched and
examined. A practical blueprint for the implementation of the Islamic
system needs to be worked out taking into account the practical realities
of today's world.

16. However, planning in the Muslim countries must be more than a
projection into the future of today's dominant trends. It is by no means
enough just to produce five-year development plans as generally these
plans are responses to current situations; they remain dominated by
current events. This is why most developmental planning in the Muslim
countries has not been very successful because although our real problems
exist on the macro level, we have concentrated our efforts on cosmetic
changes for the sake of appearance. Therefore we need to make a careful
cross-impact analysis between various priorities, policies and planning
and various parameters of Muslim thoughts and criteria. Possible greatness
in the years ahead will depend on the greatness of our vision of the
future. While we may fall short of our goals, we must not allow any
deficiency in the clarity and articulation of our vision.

17. Ibn Khaldun uses the word Umran for a dynamic, thriving, operational
civilisation. The Muslim world today needs such a viable plan as an
alternative and to present to the Muslim Ummah convincing visions of the
Muslim civilisation of the future.

18. This Third International Seminar on Islamic Thoughts should plan for
reforming and moving Islamic thought forward in specific areas with a
proper scale of priorities as a step towards achieving this planned
future. The work plan of the International Institute of Islamic Thoughts
in making critical examination of the modern disciplines in the light of
the vision of Islam is an ambitious one, but is essential for the future
of the Ummah. It is indeed true to say, as does the book on "Islamisation
of Knowledge" published by the Institute, that today non-Muslims are the
undisputed masters of all the disciplines. Muslim academicians should
master all the modern disciplines, understand them completely and achieve
an absolute command of all that they have to offer. This is, however, only
the first prerequisite. Then they should integrate the new knowledge into
the corpus of the Islamic legacy by eliminating, amending, reinterpreting
and adapting its components according to the world view of Islam and its
values. The exact relevance of Islam to the philosophy of the disciplines
should be determined. A new way in which the reformed disciplines can
serve the ideals of Islam should be adopted. Finally by their example as
pioneers, they should teach the new generation of Muslims and non-Muslims
how to follow in their footsteps, push the frontiers of human knowledge
even further forward, discover new layers of the patterns created by Allah
and establish new paths for making His will and commandments realised in
history.

19. In developing such a fresh understanding of Islam, in adjusting to
change, we need a number of intellectual tools. We need to develop a
tradition of Muslim scholarship that combines the best techniques of
traditional scholarship with those of modern methods of study and
research. We need to analyse what changes are desirable in Muslim
society. The confusion of some Muslim intellectuals is
understandable. They have not seen the injunctions of Islam in an
operational form and hence they became confused when translating these
injunctions to meet the demands of modern society. Furthermore, they are
trapped in the conceptual framework of the west. Fundamental questions
need to be asked but unless the young Muslim intellectual is provided with
university textbooks in each discipline which allow him to question
present approaches, he will not be able to ask these questions. The aim of
the Institute to produce textbooks in all the disciplines should be
supported.

20. We must aim to develop an awareness of the future and an Islamic
perception which can relate the teachings of Islam to current problems and
meet the coming challenges of the future. Once we have become sensitised
to this perception, we are equipped to analyse modern problems in the
light of the Quran and Sunnah. What is important is the problems we face
and how to formulate practical Islamic solutions to these problems. The
policies needed to solve these problems require Muslims to go against
contemporary fashions to a great extent, as well as to reexamine some
traditions which are seen as Islamic but are not really so. They also
require a bold effort to make an Islamic stand, as well as intellectual
courage and a firm understanding of Muslim societies and the culture of
Islam. The future of Muslim societies is with Islam, for without Islam,
they have no future.

Ladies and gentlemen,

21. I wish you all earnest and fruitful deliberations.

Tuan-tuan dan puan-puan, 

22. Dengan lafaz Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim, saya dengan sukacitanya
membuka Seminar Pemikiran Islam Antarabangsa yang ketiga ini dengan
rasminya.

Wabillahi taufik walhidayah wassalamu 'alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.