Debates on Islam and Knowledge in Malaysia and Egypt: Shifting Worlds

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This book is a comparative study of the sociological field in two different Muslim societies: Malaysia and Egypt. It analyses the process of the production of 'knowledge' through the example of the modern 'Islamization of knowledge debate' and local empirical variations.

Debates on Islam and Knowledge in Malaysia and Egypt: Shifting Worlds Review

Sometimes erudition gets in the way of an author's focus on his or her topic. That is what seems to have happened to Mona Abaza, when she wrote what was apparently intended as a comparative study of the approaches to the Islamization of Knowledge in Malaysia and Egypt. A social scientist connected with the American University in Cairo, Abaza has not only extensive research experience in her native Egypt and Malaysia, of course, but she has also worked in Germany and the Netherlands. In addition to that her writing betrays familiarity with French literature and an impressive knowledge of general intellectual discourse in the Muslim world, as well as the debates in the field of Islamic Studies. The flaw of Debates on Islam and Knowledge in Malaysia and Egypt is therefore certainly not a lack of data, but quite the opposite. Although the book's title suggests a sufficiently narrowed-down theme, Abaza seems to have been unable to fight off the temptation to include everything she came across during her investigations.

The author's musings on Islamized science, the juxtaposition of Egyptian and Malaysian cultural landscapes, and the position of Muslim intellectuals in a globalizing world are all suitable topics for the introductory reflections of part I. But it is somewhat of a mystery why Abaza allows hers story to derail in the second part, dedicated to "Biographies and Travelling Ideas". Why include Isma'il al-Faruqi, a Palestinian who taught in America, in a book on Egypt and Malaysia? In the same section we find a chapter with the title "Henry Corbin, the absent centre", only to discover that it is not so much about this immensely profound French philosopher-mystic, but the exiled Iranian perennialist S.H. Nasr. This is not to imply that these thinkers are not relevant, but Abaza could have better prioritized what should be in the book and what not. Indeed, the section also contains two interesting chapters comparing the intellectual output of Malaysia's al-Attas/Alatas brothers, but it sorely misses a chapter on an influential Egyptian intellectual.

In the third and final part, Abaza appears to have rediscovered her bearings. She opens with a lucid exposition on the Islamization of Knowledge debate in Egypt,including appropriate cross-references to examples of institutional cooperation and intellectual exchange between Egypt and Malaysia. In "Cultural Invasions" she puts the anti-Orientalist onslaught on Western scholarship concerning Islam into a proper perspective, with discussions of the viewpoints of Sadiq al-Azm, Georges Anawati, and Georges Tarabishi - who have charged those jumping on Edward Said's bandwagon of throwing away the child with the bathwater. "Counter Images: Secular Responses" certainly is the book's strongest chapter. Here Abaza subjects the proponents of the Islamization of Knowledge project to a very critical examination, not shying away from strong characterizations like `charlatans'. Identifying the `Saudization' of many Muslim societies under the tandem influence of 'Salafi' thought and petro-dollars, she presents the work of the late Zaki Nagib Mahmud as a welcome exception to the rule, although he was also not able to avoid some of the simplifications he accused the Islamizers of. Abaza has also taken care to include a contemplation of gender issues in the Arab world and in Malaysia. Apart from observations on the 'usual suspects', like Nawal al-Sa'adawi and Fatima Mernissi, the author also shares some of her own experiences with the 'Sisters of Islam' - a women professionals group from Malaysia.

Finally, the book's `Closing Remarks' are just that; Abaza does not present a coherent round-up of the theme(s) she has explored. Probably this would have been impossible anyway, because of the wide range of topics she has chosen to address. Briefly touching on the impact of the Iranian revolution, Said's Orientalism critique (again), and Leonard Binder's seminal study of Islamic Liberalism, her remarks regarding the connection between Islamization of Knowledge and the earlier mentioned influence of Saudi financial prowess are more to the point. Abaza also returns to the anxiety among young Muslim scholars regarding the dim prospects that international academia holds for them. In relation to this, she could have elaborated a bit more on the interesting distinction she makes between 'cosmopolitans' and 'transnationals', as well as the phenomenon of intellectuals turning into `bread writers' for the Arab press. The same applies to some very valid observations concerning the alleged anti-rationalist stance of many Islamizers of Knowledge and the apparent similarities that can be detected in certain strands of Western metaphysics and spirituality. After drawing attention to the polemical tone of the controversial Egyptian scholar Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd's charges that both moderate and extremist Islamizers/Islamists demonize all their intellectual opponents without discrimination, Abaza's final lines express the hope to have illuminated some of the diversities in an apparently very homogenized Islamic discourse.

In spite of the earlier mentioned shortcomings, Mona Abaza's engaging style provides the reader with plenty of stimulation for further readings in contemporary Muslim thought.

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