Mohd Kamal Hassan’s Voice of Islamic Moderation from the Malay Worldpresents a selection of eleven essays written over the past decade in responseto the challenges from a globalization steeped in the post-9/11 climate. Intendedmainly for a non-Muslim audience, it seeks to represent the voice ofIslamic moderation (al-wasaṭīyah) from the multi-ethnic, multi-religiousMalaysian context. One hopes that discussions on this important character ofIslam will provide a collective vision of holistic wellbeing and, at the sametime, recognize Malaysia’s pluralistic nature. The Islamic perspective on theunifying theme of moderation’s universal ethos pervades its three sections –“Promoting the Common Ground amongst Religions and Cultures,” “Changingthe Muslim Mindset: A Civilizational Approach,” and “The Meaning andImplications of Islamic Moderation” – with a focus on the search for its progressiveintegration into all aspects of life.The first section opens with an analysis of “The Expanding Spiritual-Moral Role of World Religions in the New Millennium.” This chapter raisesmultiple social, moral, environmental, political, and economic concerns relatedto pursuing an aggressive economic agenda within the folds of globalizationwhile ignoring religion-based ethics and the human need for a spiritualguiding vision. Under the siege conditions of globalization’s “swiftness, totalityand irreligious mission” (p. 83), there is an urgent need for world religionsto play – as well as be given – a more assertive role in formulatingholistic action plans. States are thus urged to allow religious-based ethics andspiritual values to expand into public life, from business to international tradeand relations, politics and educational institutions.Hassan, however, notes that both proponents and opponents of the separationbetween spiritual values (private) and this-worldly affairs (public)need to fully understand each other’s position in order to appreciate the ...

Syed Farid Alatas’ Ibn Khaldun is a welcome addition to an emerging Khalduniansociology. It represents one of the few socio-historical studies of histhought that pays attention to this North African thinker’s historical milieuand life. Regarded by many scholars as a precursor of sociology, Ibn Khaldun(1332-1406) is also known for his contributions to the philosophy of history.His pioneering work, Kitāb al-‘Ibar, is more than just a historical account ofthe Arabs and Berbers. Popularly known as the Universal History, it containsthe important Muqaddimah (Prolegomenon) that details his “science of humansociety” (‘ilm al-ijtimā‘ al-insānī) or “science of human social organization”(‘ilm al-‘umrān al-basharī).This six-chapter book opens with “Ibn Khaldun’s Autobiography and HisCharacter,” which outlines his life and presents other biographies that providethe socio-intellectual context of his thought. The second chapter, “Ibn Khaldun’sScience of Society,” focuses on his founding of the science of humansociety and is followed by “Ibn Khaldun on Education and Knowledge,”which examines his modern educationist views of pedagogy and knowledgein terms of its social, political, and economic aspects. Alatas shows that IbnKhaldun’s perspective on education, as seen through the various lenses of historyand sociology, was refreshingly different from the then dominant perspectivesof philosophers, theologians, moralists, and jurists.The ensuing chapter, “The Reception of Ibn Khaldun,” situates him in theevolution of Islamic thought and contemporary social sciences, whereas thetwo final chapters, “The Significance of Ibn Khaldun for the Modern SocialSciences” and “Further Reading and Works Cited,” encapsulate Alatas’ suggestionsfor developing a Khaldunian sociology and include a list of furtherreadings, alongside discussions on works ranging from Ibn Khaldun’s biographyto critiques of his methodology.In the introductory chapter, which provides the context for the formationof Ibn Khaldun’s thought, readers are better able to appreciate his empiricallyoriented scholarship. Embedded in the politically fragmented Maghrebian society,his political career as a judge and government official required him toshift his political loyalties consistently. This played a determining role in developinghis ideas on how states rise and decline. Alatas highlights Ibn Khaldun’spolitical involvement as instrumental in his systematic uncovering of theflaws in existing historical works. Ibn Khaldun himself identifies seven causal ...

This article examines the influence of Orientalism on Singaporean historiography, specifically on textbook representations of the indigenous Malay population and the implications for the wider historical imagination. Central to analysing such Orientalist influence is a critical reflection on changes in the way the minority Malays have been portrayed from pre-separation to National Education textbook narratives. The article finds that Orientalist portrayals of the Malays that started during colonial times have been sustained through an increasingly Sinocentric national narrative. Common to both colonial and postcolonial history is the reliance on Orientalism as the dominant mode of discourse.