The Intellectuals Session One by Safinah

Assalamu'alaikum dear brothers and sisters,

Alhamdulillah, some of us had attended Safinah's new series of talks called The Intellectuals. Session One is conducted by Dr Syed Mohd Khairuddin Aljunied. It's pilot episode kicked off on Wednesday, 4th September 2013. Here we'd like to share what we've gained from the first session. May it benefit us all.

Summary of

The Intellectuals: Session One by Safinah

What is a Muslim Intellectual?

• Person who gained deep expertise in a field of knowledge. (Specialized)

" A scholar and a carpenter is the same. Only that scholars uses their mind but carpenter uses their hand to work. Hence, everyone is equal. The only difference is the way they contributed to the society." - Self-Summarised quote

• He/she is engaged in calling mankind towards the truth as revealed by Allah (Missionary a.k.a Da'wah)

The speaker has emphasized that these intellectuals had worn their Muslim Identity first, followed by their profession/expertise like Philosophy or Scientist.

• They see themselves as the Conscience of Society whose duty is to offer solutions to problems of the day (Reformers)

Why should we learn about the Muslim Intellectuals?

Our Muslim Intellectuals are great individuals but we don't glorify them. However, they should be a means to provoke ourselves on how can we also contribute to the ummah like they did.

Study them, think about them and be like them.

"Medieval Islam was technologically advanced and open to innovation. It achieved far higher literacy rates than in contemporary Europe;it assimilated the legacy of classical Greek civilization to such a degree that many classical books are now known to us only through Arabic copies. It invented windmills ,trigonometry, lateen sails and made major advances in metallurgy, mechanical and chemical engineering and irrigation methods. In the middle-ages the flow of technology was overwhelmingly from Islam to Europe rather from Europe to Islam. Only after the 1500's did the net direction of flow begin to reverse." - Jared Diamond, a world renowned UCLA sociologist, and physiologist won the Pulitzer Prize for his book: "Guns, Germs, and Steel."

Many of us know their past Muslim Intellectuals but most of us neglected knowing the CURRENT Muslim Intellectuals that exist today such as

• Yusuf al Qadarawi
• Syed Naquib al-Attas
• HAMKA etc

So who are the Muslim Intellectuals?

6th-7th Century; The Quranic revolution
The 3 prominent intellectuals during the times of Rasulullah(SAW):

Ibn Abbas, Abu Hurayrah, Aishah r.a

7-9th Century; Flowering of Fiqh

The era of the 4 famous imams, Imam Hanafi(RA), Imam Maliki(RA), Imam Hanbali(RA) and Imam Shafie(RA)

9-10th Century; Codification of Hadith

Imam Bukhari, Imam Muslim.. etc.

9-12th Century; The Making of Philosophy and Science.

Al-Kindi Metaphysics

11-14th Century; The Revival of Islamic Sciences

Imam Ghazali Ihya Ulumuddin

14-16th Century; The Golden Age of Muslim Architecture

The Age of Sinan. Suleyman Mosque, Blue Mosque, etc

16-18th Century The Era of Sufistic Transformation 

The Conclusive Argument From God by Shah Wali Allah of Delhi's Hujjat Allah al-Baligha

18-21st Century; The Age of Radical Reformation.

Reflect

From astronomy to medicine to mathematics to history, which field of knowledge are you interested in?

What can we learn from them?
In the past, Muslim Intellectuals have greatly contributed to the advancement of Islam with their knowledge, particularly, their deep expertise in their certain field of knowledge. It is this that we are lacking right now in our society whereby we lack specialists. So what can we do?

1. Path of intellectuals are alone. Keep on reading and writing. Invest on books and education. The culture that we're living in now doesn't seem to encourage the habit of reading anymore. Books open minds. Make time. Choose a certain field of interest(e.g. medicine, astronomy etc.) and look for a good book.
2. Honor the learned and wise, not pop stars and celebrities. As said above, the purpose of doing so is never to glorify these figures, rather to spur us to reflect on how we can too, contribute to this ummah.
3. Nurture your intellectual passions and talents. Take yourself away from the games and social network and ask yourself, what is my passion? What am I good at? How can these things bring benefit to myself and the people around me? 

All the knowledge is from Allah.
Hence there is no such thing as non-Islamic knowledge. The only 2 knowledge that is forbidden to learn is: Sihir and the Kufr Beliefs.

Reflect on knowledge that we have learnt and realize the wisdom of Allah.
For example, by studying the complex mechanisms of the body system, it makes us 

realize that this great wonder is actually the work of Allah swt. It makes us appreciate that every day, our body works as it has been functioned to, because He has perfectly arranged it. SubhanAllah.

"We will show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that it is the truth. But is it not sufficient concerning your Lord that He is, over all things, a Witness?" - Surah Fussilat: 53

On side notes, there is an article from SuhaibWebb that I would like to share with all of you, "Heirs of the Prophets".

And Allah knows the best.