A nu lytica I R e p o r t s  

ONE-DAY SEMINAR ON 
I S L A M I Z A T I O N  OF KNOWLEDGE 

In trod uc tion 

Salisu Shehu 

IIIT (International Institute of Islamic Thought) in Nigeria, in con- 
junction with the Muslim Forum of Bayero University, Kano, jointly 
organized and conducted a one-day seminar on the Islamization of 
knowledge. The seminar took place on 5 Rabi' al-Awwal, 1417 (20 July 
1996). It was one of a series of programs designed for faculty outreach. 
Therefore, academic staff in the various faculties of the university were 
invited and constituted the primary audience. 

The primary aim of the seminar was to educate and mobilize Muslim 
academicians in the university toward the Islamization of Knowledge 
program. It has been observed that, although a number of departments in 
the university offer Islamically oriented courses and several papers had 
been presented in some departmental and even some international semi- 
nars, many academic staff still do not have a proper understanding of the 
idea behind the Islamization of knowledge. For this reason, all the papers 
presented focused on the concept of Islamization of knowledge itself. 

Of the papers presented, two are included here. The first paper was the 
keynote address delivered by Dr. Bashir Shehu Galadanci, the coordina- 
tor of IIIT in Nigeria. Dr. Galadanci gave a precise and concise summa- 
ry of the journey thus far and the issues involved in the Islamization of 
Knowledge program. First and foremost, he gave a brief analysis of the 
theoretical and conceptual framework upon which the idea of the pro- 
gram was built. He further analyzed the divergent views and the contro- 
versies involved in the program. He then gave a concise historical review 
of its undertaking, the efforts and achievements so far made on the pro- 
gram, and some of the problems usually encountered both locally in 
Nigeria and internationally. 
Salisu Shehu ispresetrtly a lecturer in the Department of Mucatiotr at Bayero University, K a m  



Galadanci: lslamization of Knowledge Seminar: The Journey 271 

The second paper was presented by Professor Danjwna Abubakar 
Maiwada. He is a professor in the Deparunent of Education, Bayero 
University, Kano. The title of his paper is "lslamization of Knowledge: 
Background and Scope." Essentially, his paper gives the philosophical 
foundation of the concept Islamization of knowledge by explaining the 
fundamental differences between the Islamic and secular conceptions of 
knowledge. He also discussed the historical factors that motivated the 
Islamization of knowledge exercise, that is, the existence of two parallel 
and conflicting systems of education-Qur'anic and secular-in the 
Muslim world (a byproduct of colonialism). 

In the second section of the paper, the scope of the Islamization of 
knowledge is outlined and delineated. Revealed knowledge and empiri­
cal knowledge about the real-existential (i.e., knowledge acquired by 
man primarily with his intellect and interactions with the world) are 
given as the basic premise upon which the scope of the Islamization of 
knowledge is discerned. The paper asserts that the two caiegories of 
knowledge are and should be integrated by permeating the entire educa­
tion system with the spirit of Islamic ideology. For this purpose, the 
paper suggests that the work plan proposed by the late Professor Ismail 
al-Faruqi ( 1982) gives the necessary detailed steps and guidelines. The 
work plan is abridged in the paper.