Tamaddun: The View of Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas Toward a New Concept of Islamic Civilization

This brief article aims to analyze Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas' thoughts on tamaddun using the philosophy of history as a theoretical framework. This research elucidates that tamaddun is a state of human social life that has reached a high level of morality ( ā dab) and culture for society. The critical elements of tamaddun are al-d ī n, ā dab, and al-'ilm, which accumulate in 'ilm, amal, and i h san. Al-Attas defines Islamic civilization as a civilization that arises amid the multifariousness of cultures of Muslim communities of the world as a result of the permeation of the fundamental elements of the religion of Islam, which those communities have begun to arise from inside themselves, and a manifestation of integration in multifariousness as well as of multifariousness in unity. Al-Attas wants to show that Islam has arranged the Malay-Indonesian Archipelago for the coming modern world as proof that the world has been Islamized.


The General Concept of Civilization
The Malays use the term tamaddun to refer to civilization.In comparison, in the world of Arabic literature, the term tamaddun is also used as a word of civilization by Arabic writers, namely George Zaidan, in his book Tārīkhu al-Tamaddun al-Islāmiyyah.Tamaddun, according to Zaidan (2012), is a result of all good or bad, from happiness or misery, which reflects the phenomenon of al-tamaddun al-Islām wealth such as science, literature, industry, economics, social systems, and behavior. 14n addition to Zaidan (2012), other Muslim scholars use the term, namely Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas.He used the term tamaddun through its placement because it is not only qualified to be used as a substitute for the word hadārah, but there are Islamic characteristics in the term tamaddun.Al-Attas found that tamaddun has an element of religion (dīn). 15Which contains seminal concepts in

The Definition and Concept of Tamaddun
The definition of tamaddun between George Zaidan and al-Attas' has no continuity in meaning between the two.Tamaddun in George views is material (mādiyyah) while al-Attas' means tamaddun in both material and immaterial (mādiyyah wa ma'nawiyyah).Meanwhile, tamaddun, according to al-Attas, derives from the root of the word dal-ya-nūn (DYN), which refers to al-dīn in al-Qur'an and Arabic, and contains various meanings, being connoted but conceptually interrelated.
Significantly, al-Attas explored the Arabic root word dīn ‫)ن-ي-د(‬ into a coherent conceptual idea between one meaning and another.The coherence of those meanings reflected the al-dīn concept as a reflection of the reality of human life that sometimes contradicts both thoughts, words, and deeds.The strength of these meanings is evidence to convey a truth clearly, honestly, and correctly that projects the nature of human life based on experience. 17In the Qur'anic terms, the word al-dīn has two essential and fundamental meanings: religion and judgment. 18The term Islam occurs in the Qur'an eight times. 19n this regard, al-Attas' view, the word al-dīn can be concluded to have four primary significations: indebtedness, submissiveness, judicial power, natural inclination, or tendency. 20Concerning the integrally social nature of religion (al-dīn), al-Attas has deeply analyzed and interpreted the primary meanings of the Arabic root word ‫ن-ي-د‬ and to summarize and conclude that primary substances of the word al-dīn could to four elements, namely human indebtedness of existence of God; human submission to God; the occupy of judicious power; and disposition of natural human tendency or fitrah 21 (to feel submissive and obedient towards God only.In this sense, the goal of human creation is to attain worship and monotheism), which goes back to recognizing the Day of the Primordial Covenant between man and His Creator. 22l-Attas' contemplation of al-dīn (refers to Islam) is not only a concept but the result of attempts at interpreting and translating the word, which projects the human experience.This effort is at the highest source, the Qur'anic revelation, which reveals the covenant (al-mītsāq) between man and God.Therefore, the true religion of Islam means full submission to God.The idea of submissiveness has multiplied feelings, faith, and action.Nevertheless, the main element of human submissiveness to God is the manifestation of indebtedness to God because God has given gifts of existence to humans, so this indebtedness, which includes knowing and recognizing God, has given existence a prerequisite for true submissiveness. 23Thus, the word al-din is a crucial term that provides the origin to a seminal concept that is related and coherent.
Because the purpose of education in Islām is decidedly religious, but religion, Dīn, as understood by Islam, is not only personal but also inherently social and civilizational. 24In line with this opinion, according to Nasr (2002), Islam reflects the meaning of religion and civilization because Islam is not just a religion but a creator and living spirit of significance for all civilizations. 25ndoubtedly, Al-Attas emphasizes the four meanings, which are the accumulation of aspects of the faith, belief, practice, and teachings lived by each Muslim, both individually and as a community that embodies the essence of Islam.Al-Attas illustrates and interprets that, conceptually, there is a close and tangible relationship between the four meanings.As al-Attas state: 26 "The verb dāna, which derives from din conveys the meaning of being indebted, including various other meanings connected with debts, some of them contraries.In the state in which one finds oneself being in debt, that is to say, a dā'in, it follows that one subjects oneself, in the sense of Islam, exudes the characteristics of life outlook, and reflects Islamic identity.Meanwhile, tamaddun refers to al-Attas' as a refinement in social culture systems.Al-Attas stated:  The seminal concept of the term dīn contains the meaning of civilization, and it is evident with hidden an organized system of life-based on law and justice.The word madinah is the name of the city from al-Madinah al-Munawwarah, which was formerly named Yathrib. 27Al-Attas found there was a close and precise relationship between dīn and madinah, which was evidenced by the events after Hijrah the Prophet Muhammad Sallallhu 'Alaihi Wassalam and his Sahabah or companions to the city of Yathrib was later changed to Madinatu 'l-Nabi.As al-Attas argues: 28 The words tamaddun and madaniyyah are described as "civilization," which means a city based on the culture or culture of the city.If traced from the word tamaddun, it can be described as a place built based on religion.Thus, the term din is a seminal concept that represents the derivation of three primary keywords, namely madīnah, the city or town; madaniyyah, to civilize or humanize; and tamaddun, civilization or refinement in social culture, contained the meaning of civilization. 29Ibn Khaldun asserted that from a city, a society was formed that had various types of occupations and activities, which led rise to a social system, and finally, a city was born, 30 namely the cities of Medina, Cordova, Baghdad, Samara, Cairo, Qayrawān, Basra and Kūfa, which previously was only a community in the city and became widely greater than before or after. 31he primary purpose of al-Attas' tamaddun is to reach degrees of perfection in character and culture through ādab. 32In this regard, al-Attas meant recognizing one's Primordial Covenant between humans and God.Meanwhile, the purpose of "recognition" is to carry out something in harmony with what is in the First Agreement, namely as a kind of "affirmation and confirmations" or "realization and actualization" in a person about what they already know and without it, education will only become merely a process learning only. 33In the same opinion, Ibn Khaldun is devoted to comments on the intellect, aptitude, skills, and habits of sedentary, urban people with a particular manner code (ādab). 34al-Madīnah was so-called and named because it was there that true dīn became realized for mankind.There, the believers enslaved themselves under the authority and jurisdiction of The Holy Prophet (may God bless and give him Peace), its dayyaān; there, the realization of the debt to God took definite form, and the approved manner and method of its repayment began to unfold….The City became, for the (Muslim) Community, the epitome of the socio-political order of Islam; and for the individual Believer, it became, by analogy, the symbol of the Believer's body and physical being in which the rational soul, in emulation of him who may God bless and give Peace!, exercise authority and just government." There is a similarity between the theory of tamaddun al-Attas and the theory of 'umrān Ibn Khaldun in the theory of the birth of a country and civilization that originated from small community activities in a city.Activities that take place affect the surrounding community in terms of science, behavior, and relationships between human beings.However, the authors also find fundamental differences from the theories of al-Attas and Ibn Khaldun.The difference is seen in the elements that evoke the spirit of community activity.When Ibn Khaldun bases science on the progress and resurrection of civilization, al-Attas departs from the religious element, which forms the basis of the life outlook of his community activities.
Al-Attas preferred to use the term tamaddun than civilization when referring to the Islamization of the Malay world, based on the facts and evidence that the Malay language was Islamized and widely used as lingua franca, where that language also projects the Islamic vision of reality and truth (nadzāriyāt al-Islām lil wujūd).
The main element of Islamic civilization is Islam itself.It also needs other elements to be sustainable with the elements of civilization.Consequently, the recognition of Islam properly and correctly will be a good Muslim.Because Islam has two appeals -a call to believe in the existence and unity of God and an invitation to believe in Muhammad as God Messager. 35In this regard, Ibn Khaldun stresses that religion is another element that forms the foundation of society, and revelation is the resource of knowledge par excellence.Furthermore, another element is the quality of the craft and habits, depending on the establishment of scientific instruction in civilization. 36n al-Attas's view, the critical elements of the Islamic education system are sourced from the fundamental key concept in Islam, which should be infused into the body of any science that Muslims seek to acquire, such as religion (dīn), knowledge ('ilm and ma'rifah), man (insān), wisdom (hikmah), right action ('amal as ādab), justice ('adl) and university concept (kuliyyah jami'ah). 37These essential concepts are projecting the true vision about the Unity of God, His Essence and Attributes called tawhīd, and the meaning and message of the al-Qur'an, al-Hadis, and the Shari'ah. 38In 'Abduh's opinion, this was one of the characteristics of the miracle of the Qur'an, to unite words and knowledge. 39ccording to 'Abduh, al-madāniyyah has several necessary foundations: first, rationality to achieve faith (al-nadzr al-'aqlī litahsīli al-īmān); second, prioritizing reason rather than zahir Shari'ah when contradictions occur (taqdīmu al-'aql 'alā dzāhiri al-syar'I' inda al-ta'ārud); third, far from being a heathen-infidel (al-bu'du 'an al-takfīr); fourth, making the sunnah of God's creation as proof or dalīl (al-I'tibār bisunanillāhi fī al-khalqi); fifth, abolishing religious authority (qalabu al-sultatu al-dīniyyah bi al-sultān fī al-Islām); sixth, protecting da'wah from slander (himāyatu al-da'wah liman'i al-fitnah); seventh, loving someone different in belief (mawaddatu al-mukhālifīna fī al-'aqīdah); eight, unity the world with the afterlife (al-jam'u baina masālihi al-dunyā wa al-ākhirah). 40urthermore, al-Attas asserted that al-dīn in Islamic concept referred to a personal and profound reality of human life experience.There is no correct understanding of the enacted total submission as a way of life that can be fully understood without examining the nature that embraces and integrates all these concepts central to Islamic teaching.
Al-Attas believed that al-dīn is a fundamental concept that reflects the diverse meanings and objectives of human existence. 41The concept of al-dīn can naturally be understood as an order to create a society that obeys the law and is built with a good government based on al-dīn.Ibn Khaldun's views are that a religion-based society plays a vital role in the law and guidance of moral conduct. 42e Elements of Tamaddun One of the most important reasons for the rise and decline of Islamic civilization is a severe concern for seeking knowledge.The renewal of the Islamization of knowledge and its proper and productive dissemination and reification will effectively contribute to the rebuilding of Islam as al-dīn and is not only profoundly spiritual but truly civilizational. 44However, according to Ibn Khaldun, the rise and decline of civilization are determined by trade, culture, urbanization, organization, military knowledge, and power, which influence patterns of behavior change in dynasties and become a cycle of dynasties that continues to repeat. 45n modern times, the problem for Islamic civilization today comes from the Muslims' economic backwardness and political weaknesses, particularly from their direct or indirect subjugation by the Western colonial powers in the 18th century.Moreover, this mess is rooted in the required clarity concerning the disposition and scope of knowledge, especially Islam as the religion. 46ecause of the importance of the position of knowledge in Islam and one of the sources of Islamic civilization, it is unsurprising that one identification of the problems of the Islamic Ummah today is a lost scientific tradition.Islamic intellectual tradition has experienced a long period of glory and produced countless works.However, the decline and falling of the supremacy of Islamic civilization was marked by the fall of Andalusia and the Ottoman Caliphate. 47any Muslim intellectuals and leaders in this decade are offering a strategy or solution against the malaise of the ummah.There are at least four groups that contribute by giving priority to their respective fields. 48Al-Attas analyzed that most of the leaders of the Islamic Ummah only pay attention to the outer skin of the core problem or the obvious external causes that lead the ummah to this state of chaos and disadvantage. 49Following this problem, al-Attas also sent a letter to the Islamic secretariat placed in Jeddah on May 15, 1973. 50or al-Attas, the problem of knowledge in education is paramount.The ultimate purpose of education is not limited to the aspects of socio-economic means but to human spiritual goals, too.Socio-economic and political are meaningless, yet they are subject and instrumental to the spiritual aspects.It is a truism, al-Attas' opinion about the dilemmas of the ummah today related to knowledge.Thus, the identification of the problem of the ummah is a challenge stemming from Western thought, which states that entering Muslim thought is a critical concept loaded with Western values.Muslims should return to the history of early Muslim scientific traditions in the Qur'an and al-Sunnah.Muslims should start by paying attention to the improvement of the conception of education, beginning from the university level and down to the elementary school level.
In this regard, 'Abduh offers a revival of Islamic civilization through the concept of education and teaching reform and the concept of Islamic universities.The reforms in education and teaching are by studying various branches of science, such as literature and natural sciences (al-ūulūm al-kauniyyah), establishing libraries, and building schools. 51While the Islamic university is one of the practical political problems, this is due to the nature of political power that influenced society, especially during the Ottoman Empire, which at that time was in power in the Arab world. 52bn Khaldun's view is that the education process in 'umrān is not only for children but continues to all levels and that education aims to care for and sustain all groups, 53 whether young children, young men, or sheik.Therefore, parents should take care of raising their children without the time and exception from the branches.Intellectual, psychological, physical, mental, moral, and environmental, as he does not inform them when pollution attacks their children.

The Rise and Fall of Tamaddun
Al-Attas's idea of the revivification of Islamic education has in common with Muhammad 'Abduh's idea of educational reform for Muslims.According to 'Abduh, the Islamic ummah experienced ignorance in education from students, teachers, and educational institutions that still use traditional methods in practice. 54s explained previously, al-Attas' ādab concept is one of philosophy's most comprehensive fundamental cornerstones.Indeed, his interpretation is that the problems of the educational, intellectual, and civilizational are rooted in two factors: internal and external.Accordingly, the religio-cultural and socio-political challenges of Western culture and civilization are the cause of the external ones.Meanwhile, the internal ones are represented in three interconnected phenomena: the confusion and error in the conception of meaning and purpose of knowledge, the loss of ādab, and the rise of unqualified and fake leaders. 55he loss of ādab and confusion in knowledge will enhance the rise of all forms of sophism and injustice that certainly damage the moral fabric of any society.According to al-Attas, ādab is a disciplinary action of the soul and mind in seeking good and proper substances in quality and characteristics.Well and appropriate action is the antithesis of wrong and worst action.The recognition of good and evil comes from knowledge, which can save humans from making decisions about their actions.Therefore, ādab is a method of actualizing the recognition of something correctly and precisely, which leads humans to wisdom. 56Al-Attas define: 57

"… ādab refers to recognition and acknowledgment of the right and proper place, station, and condition in life and to self-discipline in positive and willing participation in enacting one's role by that recognition and acknowledgment, its occurrence in one and society as a whole reflects the condition of justice."
Because ādab is a fundamental element of wisdom and justice, the loss of ādab would naturally involve widespread injustice, stupidity (humq), and madness (junūn). 58Injustice meant a condition where things were not in the right places.Stupidity means spreading wrong processes to reach good aims or ends.Meanwhile, madness is the travail to achieve false or wrong aims or goals.The loss of ādab caused several adverse effects. 59ollowing the comprehensive summary mentioned above, the cultivation of ādab is an effort to produce a truly educated (ta'dib) Muslim who is sure of his identity and who is sincere, moderate, courageous, and just in the fulfillment of his duties towards various realities and matters, according to an understood hierarchical order of priorities.Furthermore, it is a truism that the world is, similarly, progressively functioning as a global center where education to intrinsically good men and women of ādab will be more helpful to citizenship. 60l-Attas explained that educated people are good men, while the meaning of "good" ādab includes the spiritual and material life of a man that grows the character of goodness sought later. 61In his view, the meaning of ādab is clear now that a man of ādab (insān ādabi), as understood by al-Attas, is an individual who is fully conscious of his individuality and his proper relationship with himself, his Creator, his society, and other visible creatures of God. 62onsequently, in Islamic thought, a good individual or man should naturally be a good servant to his God, a good father to his children, a good husband to his wife, a good son to his parents, and a good citizen to his country, and a good considerate neighbor to his neighbors. 63l-Attas' view, as an educated man, an actual person on ādab is, for this reason, a universal individual who realizes and practices righteous ādab in himself, his family, his environment, and the world community.A person with ādab can successfully handle multiple universes without losing his identity.
Every civilization has characteristics that distinguish it from other civilizations and are characterized by achievements in crafts and scientific habits. 65Islam as a dīn and civilization also has the characteristics of integrating religion with culture because the religion of Islam developed the culture which reflected the Islamic character and became an Islamic civilization, namely tamaddun.Islam also plays a vital role in stemming the process of secularism, as happened in the Malay Archipelago.

The Characteristics of Tamaddun
Every civilization was composed of the relation between faith and culture.Even culture is one of the core contents of civilization, so one cannot imagine the history of civilization without culture because a nation and a civilization that loses their culture are identical to losing their history. 66The Western culture classifies religion through the medium of art. 67ccording to Al-Attas, Western Civilization is a civilization that grew and developed from a combination of several elements, namely philosophy, ancient Greek and Roman values, Judaism, and Christianity, which Europeans modified. 68Ibn Khaldun has long predicted the disappearance and change of the culture of civilization or country.He explained that every country or civilization reaching the peak of its glory and culture would afterward enter a dark period and begin to experience a collapse to be replaced with a new state of civilization.The new state and civilization do not start their culture early but take the legacy of the old state and civilization, then complete it, creating a more advanced and different culture, although it does not appear directly. 69The past and present civilizations and nations recognized that the influence of ancient Greek science on other civilizations was powerful from its time to the present. 70bn Khaldun dedicates a section of his work to human intellect and its divisions within which he presents his ideas on civic society.By the agency of his practical intellect, man regulates his relationship with others to realize some good in action. 71Al-Attas asserted that the idea of building a civilization through a community of people in Islam already exists in the concept of al-dīn. 72he foundation of Western civilization is a secular ideology with the concept of progress.The central core of Western civilization is to create a good society, while the concept of Islamic civilization is oriented toward creating a generation of good men (Insan ādab). 73The concept of a good man in Islam does not only include the perception that he must be good in the general social sense, but he must first be reasonable and fair to himself so that he can act well and be fair to others.
To discuss the continuity between religion and culture, one must first understand how religion plays a role in forming a culture or vice versa.Therefore, the definition of culture, in general, is identical to the results of human creation. 74According to the Western view, religion is a product of human culture and Moreover, dealing with various levels of reality in the right and proper way will enable it to reach a state of spiritual and permanent happiness here and in the hereafter.This implies that al-Attas' perspective on educational philosophy, framework, and method should strongly and consistently emphasize inculcating ādab as a prerequisite of knowledge towards the various orders of realities.To realize this objective, a new education system must be formulated and implemented in the Muslim community, beginning with the university. 64hus, researchers argue that the rise of Islamic civilization can be traced back to the beginning of educational reforms that teach Islamic science.Here, we found that al-Attas emphasizes that ta'dīb is fundamental for generating good manners and behavior to be civilized.is based on human historical experience, which transforms into religion. 75Religion is the accumulative product of the culture and thought of various customs and civilizations of the ancient Greeks, Romans, ancient Egyptians, ancient Farsi, and European nations.Although it is a religion of revelation, it is essentially a cultural religion and has distorted the teachings of the original religion. 76l-Attas defines culture as a result of man's creation and ways to adapt himself to his circumstances and life, but when Islam is seen as a historical event, there is no truth.Because it is Islam that has led to the emergence of Islamic culture, and Muslim communities are the ones who practice Islam in their lives.So, the results of Islamic practice and creativity are called Islamic culture. 77This Islamic culture will color the characteristics of the history of Islamic civilization.According to al-Attas, Islamic civilization he meant was the history of Malay civilization.
The historical and cultural impact of Islam upon the Malay world, which revolutionized the Malay vision of reality and truth into a distinctly Islamic worldview, al-Attas referred to the process that brought about this phenomenon as Islamization, the integral components of which form part of the dimensions of Islām. 78Al-Attas' view of the history of Malay civilization reflects the current Islamic civilization that occurred outside the Arabian peninsula.Islamic civilization is the accumulation of Muslim cultural diversity throughout the world that originates and characterizes the teachings of Islam, as he reiterates in his writings: 79 The history of the Malay Archipelago is the result of the Islamization process, as happened when the Prophet Muhammad Islamized the city of Mecca from ignorance because the meaning of Islamization is the liberation of man first from magical, mythological, animistic, and national cultural traditions and then from secular control over his reason and language. 80l-Attas, from the Malay perspective, is a philologist (language) from Malay Sufism, while his brother Syed Hussein Al-Attas is a well-known sociologist in Malay, with his work entitled The Myth of the Lazy Native in 1977.This factor allows for the relationship between al-Attas and his brother's discussion about the sociological, semantic, and linguistic approach among Islam in the Malay world.81 However, al-Attas proved that he was also critical of studying historical philosophy with the publication of a book called Historical Fact and Fiction in 2011.82 In his work, al-Attas critically introduces the decolonization and revolutionary historical paradigms of Orientalists in the Malay Archipelago, methodologically and epistemologically.83 This latest study contains the formulation of historical concepts and philosophies, specifically the history of the Malay Archipelago.84 However, al-Attas has similarities with Ibn Khaldun in terms of historical philosophy.85 Al-Attas provided a thorough description of the process of converting citizens in the Malay Archipelago through the efforts of preachers, a process commonly referred to as Islamization.This refers to the liberation from the control of secular institutions on one's rationality and communication, as well as the liberation from cultural practices rooted in magic, mythology, animism, and ethnicity that are not compatible with Islam.Islamic civilization is the result of a collective-selective creative process called Islamization.The internal energy source is a revelation-the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah-from the 2.An Implication to Malay Histories 9 AFKARUNA "I define Islamic civilization as a civilization that emerges among the diversity of cultures of Muslim peoples of the world as a result of the permeation of the basic elements of the religion of Islam which those peoples have caused to emerge from within themselves… Islamic civilization is, therefore, a manifestation of unity in diversity as well as of diversity in unity.In terms of cultural history, Malay civilization is an Islamic civilization."God Messenger, while the external energy comes from other civilizations.However, it not only adopts foreign elements but also adapts, accepts, and changes them so that they do not differ from the Islamic value order or 'worldview.'Thus, the integrated blend of culture and diversity that characterizes Islamic characteristics, both in terms of tradition, culture, language, education, science, and so on, and free from non-Islamic elements, is the result of Islamic civilization.
According to Ibn Khaldun, history is one of the sciences studied by a nation and generation.Outwardly, it is more than news about everyday life, countries, and past centuries.Inwardly, it is a review, study, and analysis of various events and their elements. 86Indeed, al-Attas' opinion is a reaffirmation of the opinion of Ibn Khaldun, who was put forward in the fourteenth century regarding the causes of fallacy in writing history.Then, Ibn Khaldun stated that seven caused fallacies. 8710 Vol. 20No. 1 June 2024 Tamaddun, according to al-Attas, is a condition in which people in their social life have reached the level or degree of subtlety of moral and cultural virtues for the entire community.The main focus of al-Attas' was to affirm the importance of ādab in the Islamic development of human character.Tamaddun, as an Islamic concept of civilization, was developed with three stages through human culture's fusion and interaction among community, people, and civilization.First, Muslims who come to other civilizations will offer Islamic teachings.When the offer is accepted, there is an aspect of that culture that Islamic teachings will displace.Second, the reception of the Islamic religion among human culture results in a process such as enculturation, where some contrary customs and traditions are rejected, and the inherent ones can be defended.Third, when admitting other cultures or nations, Muslims will utilize whatever they have achieved; therefore, the resulting process of adaptation, assimilation, and integration of things from other civilizations is inevitable.

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Tamaddun: The Relation between al-Dīn and Culture 8 Vol. 20No. 1 June 2024 16 "Tamaddun, which means the state of life of a sociable human being who has reached the level of moral and cultural delicacy of the whole of his society."